On the Road to Recovery: A Banana Fish Fanfic AU

Ch: 17

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝟎𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝟎𝐧. 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭.

𝐄𝐢𝐣𝐢'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕

Me and Aslan woke up to the kids screaming from the kitchen. Aslan rushed out of bed first and I quickly followed. We ran into the kitchen and saw, Josh, Evan, and Sally standing on chairs holding some type of pot or big spoon.

"What's wrong?!" Ash asked.

"There's a mouse under the table!" Evan yelled. I booked it into the living room and jumped on the couch. 

"You can do it Aslan!" I screamed from the couch. 

"Eiji!" Ash yelled back. "Are you serious!" 

"Yes!" I yelled back. 

"Eiji be a man." I heard Josh yell. 

"Listen to Josh! You're 28!" Aslan yelled. "You're bigger than a damn mouse!" 

"No!" I yelled. Ash came into the living room picked me up and sat me on the kitchen table, right above where the kids said the mouse was.

"Why where the mouse is?" I asked. 

"Because you need to overcome your fear of mice. I overcame my fear of being touched." Ash said. 

"That's because you're brave. I'm not." I said. 

"You're one of the bravest people I know, what do you mean you're not brave?" Aslan asked. 

"I'm a baby. You said so yourself, and so did almost everyone." I said. 

"They probably said that because they saw how strong you really were." Ash said. I smiled,

"Wanna go to Central Park Evan?" Ash asked. Evan's face lit up,

"Yeah!" He said. 

"I just need to get dressed first and we can leave." Ash said. "Good luck with the mouse." He then ran out of the kitchen and into a hall of room. 

"Aslan!" I yelled, not moving. 

"Sorry Eiji." Evan said and ran into the living room. 

𝐀𝐬𝐡'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕

I was chuckling to myself as I got dressed to take Evan to Central Park. While digging through the drawers I found an old worn out book. The title was very faded and I could barely read it, but I recognized the book. 

"Islands in the Stream." I mumbled to myself. I smiled and tucked the book under my arm. I went back into the kitchen and Eiji was still on the table and the mouse was under the kitchen island. 

"Evan are you ready?" I asked him. 

"Yeah." Evan said from the living room. I walked towards the sound of his voice,

"Would you like to bring bread to feed the birds?" I asked. 

"Yes!" Evan said and ran back into the kitchen then came back with a full loaf of bread. 

"We'll be back soon! Have fun Eiji!" I called to him. Me and Evan looked at each other and laughed. 

"No!" Eiji yelled as we closed the door. 

𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧: 𝐈'𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭. 𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭

I was holding Evan's hand as we walked through the park and I found a bench. Evan was 10 feet away from me throwing little pieces of bread at the pigeons. I opened "Islands in the Stream" and started reading it. I've read the book over at least 50 times in my younger years, but since it's been a while I forgot most of what happened. 

I was sitting and reading for half an hour when I saw a teenager sit next to me in my peripheral vision. 

"What book are you reading?" He asked. 

"A book called Islands in the Stream." I said still reading my book. 

"Sounds romantic. You must be the romantic type." The teenager said scooting closer to me, getting all up in my space. 

"Not really." I closed my book and looked at him, "Kid, what are you doing?" He looked at me with a innocent expression but it also read "I'm trying to seduce you!" 

"Just looking for a nice man to take me back to his place for some fun." He said. I raised my eyebrow at him,

"First off, I'm newly happily married, second, you look 15." I said. 

"Love doesn't have age." The kid said. 

"Well your "love" is illegal. I'm 26 and you're 15." I said. 

"That makes it more exciting don't you think?" The teenager pushed up against me more. "Just take me back to your house and you can use me however you want." 

"Oh Jesus." I whispered to myself putting a hand into my hair. Then thought of something.

"Maybe I should call the police and see what they think." I said. 

"You wouldn't call the police on me." The teenager said. I stood up holding my book. 

"I would." I said. 

"Why? You don't like me?" He asked. That made me freeze. I said that exact thing to Senator Kippard before everything else that happened. 

"No. You seem like a nice kid and that's all I think. Now scram before I call the police." I said looking him dead in the eyes with a straight face.  

"Fine. I'll just find someone else to get in bed with me." The teenager said. I narrowed my eyes at him,

"Are you a pr0stitute?" I asked. He gave me a look that read, "How did he know?" 

"I know how you feel." I said. "I can take you away from that suffering. Helping out kids like you is my job." 

"Are you a therapist or something?"  He asked. I chuckled,

"I can show you what I mean." I held out my hand, which he reluctantly took. 

"Evan!" I called to Evan who looked at me. "Let's go." Evan ran up with the bread and grabbed my other hand. 

"Who's that?" Evan asked the teenager.

"I'm Ethan." Ethan said. 

"Are you coming home with us?" Evan asked Ethan who looked at me,

"I think so." Ethan said. 

"Okay." Evan said. The three of us made it back to the car and drove back to the mansion.