cold winter's night

the meeting

it was the middle of winter and the underground hero eraserhead  was freezing his ass off while perched on top of a local roof. he was in the part of town you don't go to unless you're looking for trouble or drugs. it was the perfect place for him to patrol on a night like this, he was guaranteed to catch someone before the night was over. 

he began his search of someone in need by slipping down every ally, making sure not to skip over any just incase he might  miss something in the dark. 

he was walking down what probably was his 10th ally of the night when he spotted a small figure huddled in the corner of a building and a wood fence, as he snuck closer he realized it was a boy probably 14. he was definitely asleep. he had a torn moldy blanket wrapped around his shivering pale body. 

his heart sunk as he saw the boy had no shoes on, it had to be the coldest night of the year, it was snowing for god's sake. what in the hell was this kid doing here, how long has he been here? 

he slowly reached out to wake the small boy, only to be met with a quick slap to the hand and a kitchen knife to the jugular. he could see the boys hand shaking and the fear in his eyes, this kid probably thought i was going to do something to him in his sleep.. i should have spoke to him before reaching out, he should've known it would only scare him.

"i'm sorry for scaring you kid, my name is eraserhead. i'm a pro hero. i just want to help, could you put the knife down please?" i lowered my goggles to allow him to see the sincerity in my eyes. 

"why-why should i believe you? you're probably lying anyways.. please leave me alone i don't want any trouble.. if this is your spot i can find a new one- uh im sorry.." the boy quickly started grabbing his things, keeping the knife pointed at me the whole time.

god he looked so scared, "kid please look.. uh here's my hero's license." he quickly grabbed the squared piece of plastic from his utility belt. he reached out to hand it to him, he was met with a flinch. 

the boy leaned over slightly to look at the card, not dropping his guard or the knife. after taking a peek his eyes grew wide with realization before taking off running down the alley pushing past him. 

i used my capture scarf to stop him before he could get too far, "please please please leave me a-alone. you're just going to take me back.. you can't take me back.. they can never find me please.." i watched as tears streamed down his face, his words were broken up by hiccuped sobs. 

the kid obviously was hiding from someone, from whom was the question. "you're alright kid, i'm not going to take you anywhere you don't want to go okay? you can come stay at ,y place tonight and we can figure out what to do next in the morning.." he wasn't sure how his husband yamada would react to him bringing a scared homeless boy home with him but he couldn't think of that now. he needed to get this kid warm before he got hypothermia. 

"no i'm not going anywhere with you.. you creep get away from me before i scream... i-i will scream, ill tell whoever comes that your trying to kidnap me please sir leave me be, im fine." the boy spit the words at him, i could tell he was only acting brave, i could see how terrified he was just by looking at his body language.

"kid-"

"don't call me that im 14! i can take care of myself." the boy interrupted me, he was trying to cut my scarf with the steak knife.  

"it's either my house where i can get you some food and you will be safe and warm, or the police station. you choose, because i'm not going to let you sleep out here in the snow so you can die of hypothermia." i was starting to get annoyed, he was only trying to help the poor kid.

"fine, but i'm going to be allowed to leave the first time i feel unsafe alright.. you have to promise me that, if i feel scared or unsafe you have to let me leave.. promise me that or we're not going anywhere." he stopped trying to escape, he even dropped the knife.. he was really willing to go with him.

"i promise okay? now come here." he bent down and turned around so the boy could climb on his back.

"what? why? what-what are you doing..?" i could hear the kid take a few retreating steps.

"i'm not going to let you walk in the snow.. so climb on so we can get back quickly." 

it was silent for a moment, them he felt a pair of small hands grip his shoulders before he felt his whole body weight wrap around his body. "alright then." i whispered before taking off running down the streets that lead back to where  i parked my car a few miles away. 

the boy on his back didn't weigh more than 90 pounds, he could feel the kids rib bones press into his back. he felt sick to his stomach, when was the last time this kid ate anything?

when they reached his black mercedes he unlocked the doors and held open the passenger door for the small boy.  he climbed in silently without looking at him, i shut the door and made my way around the car and climbed in. 

"buckle up." he said fastening his own seatbelt. "uhm..  i've never been in a car before.. how do i do that..?" the kids voice was nothing above a whisper as he stared at his lap his hands shaking as he picked at the skin around his nail beds. "i'm going to reach over and do it for you.. don't freak out ok?" he nodded in return. i quickly fastened his seat belt, he shook even more as my hand pulled back from near his hip.

"you ever had mcdonalds?"