Mutant Busters: Insomniac Hell

Chapter Eight. Memories

⚠️TW⚠️ RAPE, ABUSE NEGLECT, CHILD ABUSE, SWEARING, RELIGIOUS TRAUMA, TRAUMA, VIOLENCE, HOMOPHOBIA

Please listen to the tags on this one.
I have marked where the rape is in this chapter so you can skip it. Doesn't add anything other than back story.

To my Shooter enjoyers. I'm sorry.
The rest of the notes at the end.
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You know, growing up poor does teach you one thing. Having animals around can save your life. They would do this by surrounding you and sharing their body heat. The animal that would do this the most was rats. I don't know why I ever hated rats as a kid. They kept me warm, never bit, didn't hurt me. I guess growing up with Sparrow taught me about cleanliness, maybe that's what pushed me away. I'm not quite sure though. Sparrow liked rats.

Must have been something else.

I opened my eyes, feeling warm, comfortable. Unsure of my current location, I took a moment to examine where I was from what I could see. I had my arm around a sleepy Sheriff, who was cuddled up to me. I guess back to back isn't as efficient as I thought. Oh well. We seem to be safe, so I'll just... No. I shouldn't wake him yet. Just as I thought that, his eyes fluttered open. He closed them again and just got closer, maybe he was still cold? Yeah. He even felt cold. Stupid me. I let myself hold him closer. To warm him up of course! Even if he's cute, I'm pretty sure he's straight. Though, he really hasn't been acting very 'straight' these last few days. But then again, neither did the last one. I should stop hoping and just be normal. While I was stressing, I was also holding Sheriff closer, begging for this moment to be just a bit longer. I guess the world must hate me, because I felt him tap my chest. Not too hard, but hard enough to make me let go. His body moved away from mine as he stretched and yawned. Then after, he haphazardly crawled back over to me.

"Am I actually that hot or are you just cold?" I asked jokingly. His eyes shot open and he panicked. It was kind of funny to watch as he came up with excuses to 'cuddle the homies' and constantly reminded me that he was cold.

"And why didn't you push me away the first time? Or the second time? Huh?! Why?!" He yelled in a panic. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as he tried to put the blame on me.

"Well, you felt cold to the touch the first time, and I didn't want to wake you up either, so I guess it was just not being a dick." I replied calmly to his panicking state. His face had a look that stayed there. It wasn't disgust, it was more like shame, and something else. I couldn't piece it together yet. It... It reminds me of something. Something familiar, but distant.

"Come on Max. You have to go to daycare." His mother called. Max was almost done getting ready for his first day. He wore his favorite shirt and his favorite pants so that he'd fit right in. Growing up in poverty made it quite tough to wear fancy clothes, so he did his best to wear whatever he had. Walking to the daycare was also weird. A bunch of random men were calling him and his mother many mean names. He didn't understand what any of them meant, but he wasn't concerned. When they finally made it to the daycare, his mom signed him in and left. The day was spent talking to many of the kids, one of them in particular had caught his eye though. The kid was a regular at the daycare and hung out with the rest of the girls. Her brother was the annoying one, always making the daycare workers uncomfortable. Max didn't like him. One day, during daycare, the lady was talking to her friends. Probably about girl stuff, Max was more into guns and shooting stuff. He still ended up listening.

"You like guys too?"

What did they mean? That was a girl sitting with them. Was it not?