Rainbow Connection, AFTG ✔️

1.7

PORTER
CHAPTER SEVEN

Visiting Betsy the next day was looming over him, to the point where Porter whined to Abby until she took him over an hour early. They played rock, paper, scissors while they waited, but Porter was still vibrating with anxiety when Betsy poked her head out of her office.

"You look nervous—" Bee tried to start their conversation somewhat normally, but Porter raised a hand and shut her up.

He paced for the following minute, then sat across from her with a distressed look, "I want coco."

Betsy obliged without pressuring him further, and Porter spent the time taking deep, calming breaths. He was more stable after three sips from his hot chocolate, and he heaved out a large sigh before he started speaking.

"My parents were criminals," He said shortly. His voice trailed on awkwardly as he searched for the words to tell his tale. Betsy didn't look outwardly shocked, but Porter knew she had to be surprised that he was suddenly opening up about what happened in his past outside of Evermore. "They got involved in crime when they still lived in Mexico. The year my mother was pregnant with me, they got involved with the Moriyama's. I...I don't remember much from Mexico, but I was three when I left, and the twins had been born by that point. W-we'd been running from the Moriyama's for a few months, I think?"

"We went to California. Mostly border towns, changed every month, never longer. We were in Chula Vista when I was nine...and I just remember—" He took another drink and pulled his legs up into his chair, needing the comfort, "It was cold, October maybe. Big black car came down the road and my mom locked the three of us in a storm cellar in the backyard. There were gunshots, so...we were holding each other. I don't know how long we were crying, but our mom opened the cellar doors at some point and I think she was crying too. She brought all three of us out into the yard, and my dad had.."

Porter's voice started shaking, and he took a deep breath to stay calm, "He was in the grass. Looked dead, blood on his face. But Mom took us over to him and he held our hands. I think I started wailing at that point, and my mom dragged the three of us away from him."

"So..." He took a deep breath, "The Master was there, and he looked at each of us for a really long time, and then—well, I don't know what it was that made him choose, but he picked me. My mom was definitely crying at that point, and she kissed my cheek and told me, "Mijo, sé fuerte. Recuerda a tu mamá." And I never forgot it."

Betsy only interrupted once, and she asked him to translate. He'd tried, but forgotten words made his explanation a bit broken: My son, be strong. Remember your mama.

"Well," He cleared his throat, "So, I went off to Castle Evermore. That's when I met Kevin." Kevin; the real reason he was even daring to open up and explain the things he'd done with his family and the things that had happened to him.

"I couldn't speak English, and I barely understood it, so we didn't really know each other for a while after that, but it's when we met. He was ten, James was too. Riko was eleven. Jean was probably a teenager? I don't know exactly, I...you know it's all blurry."

Betsy nodded, "Your dissociation, yes." They'd talked about it enough, and Porter kept talking before they could get stuck on the subject again.

Quickly, in some mad attempt to vomit up his words, he blurted, "I'm very, very gay, Betsy!"

Betsy blinked, missed a beat, and then said, "Thank you for telling me that, P—"

"And not to out anyone, but ay Dios mío, so is Kevin." His legs shook and tapped up and down in his anxiety, and his face creased with distress, "And there are issues."