Running On Caffeine Not Adrenaline

Chapter 15

TW: System, biting, mentions of blood

Nova is in his alien blob form thing. He doesn't want to go to work with me because he'll just get trapped in my sensory room again. I try to give him options, but he doesn't want to be stationary. My last offer will be a wing friendly child leash.

"Nova! Fine, wing friendly child leash or I will stuff you in a cage I swear." I cross my arms at the sassy boy. He's acting like a literal child. Maybe this is just his personality as an alien, or he never got to be childish. But he doesn't seem opposed. I make one out of a spare shirt, oh prime I love my powers. I put it on him and adjusted it as I needed it too. "Ta-da! It's not uncomfortable right?" I get a squeak in response. He has two alien forms, a complete regression and then his more humanoid one, there both still small but he can't speak English in this one. It's annoying and he's doing it on purpose. "A squeak doesn't answer shit." He does this sassy waddle thing. "Yeah, you're comfortable. Let's go." I grab the end of the leash and this fucker starts flying. "What the actual fuck..." I noticed his wings. They remind me of dragonfly wings, they are a nice lavender color. He squeaks at me. I can't help sighing.

...

I clock into work. The number of strange stares I get is as expected. Drista comes right up to Nova, inspecting him. He squeaks at her; they aren't kind ones either. She puts her hands on her hips, "Bitch." I was stunned. She isn't one to cuss out of nowhere, nor does she have so much sass. "Why are you both sassy today?" They look at me offended. "Drista has Ran and Tub came in yet?" I begin to walk away. "Yeah, I set them in section H!" "Thanks, now get your ass to work." She sticks her tongue out at me.

I start heading to the H section. Nova is squeaking at me. "I cannot understand you..." He's tugging on the leash. I had it tied to my side belt loop, a nice triple knot. His squeaks become louder. I sigh quietly and continue to walk.

When I reach the section, I can see Ranboo restocking the shelves. "Boob boy! How's it going?" I waved at him. "Hey, Toms..." He says with a tremble in his voice. "Why do you- who is that?" He points to the flying alien beside me. "Uh! Purpled." I smile innocently. "Why is Purpled on a child leash?" Ranboo is obviously concerned about my friend. They'd get along. "Reasons." I don't give further context. "TOMS! Why do you have a little blob with you?" I turn around to see Tubbo right behind me. When did he get behind me? "It's Purpled! He's, my friend." I had hoped he wouldn't push further. "Okay, but why is your friend on a leash?" I sigh. Nova also happens to decide it would be a great time to chuck something in Tubbo's face, then laughs. He sounds like a fucking tea kettle. "Never mind." He places the thrown object back to its spot. "Hey, Tommy? There is a CPS worker here asking for you..." The way Drista said that. She didn't sound angry, curious, it sounded like she was scared. "I'll be right there." I take off to the front.

I get there and see the CPS worker. They used to be my caseworker. Drista is standing beside them, watching me approach. "Miss Apple. Let's take this to my office, yes?" She nods. I look at Dris, "Manage the floor and put Hannah on register if you need too." I escorted Miss Apple to my office. I haven't seen her since the final court date two and a half years ago. I make sure my door is shut. I take a seat, as does she. Nova relaxes on the ground, putting himself between my legs. He won't cause a distraction like that, so I suppose it's a good thing. "Tommy, I hope you know I'm not here to take you back to the system or cause a court case." She folds her hands as she tries to assure me this isn't anything bad. "Your biological father reaches out, inherently he didn't know you existed until recently. Your mom had kept some of your hair, so he was able to get a DNA test. I'm here more so on his behalf to ask if you'd like to meet him." Miss Apple had been holding her breath. Literally. I was holding my breath listening. My leg was bouncing like crazy; I'm trying to take deep breaths. "I- uh. What? Shouldn't he just reach out himself or some shit?" This could easily be a trap. To show my maturity. "Neither biological parent was aware you had already left the system, so when he contacted the agency, he attempted to bribe us to give you up. But we legally can't give him the information because of you decision to keep it under lock and key." Her shoulders are stiff. Her jaw is clenched as she tries to relax. Miss Apple seems scared herself. I hum softly. "Okay, what's his name? Both. Both of my biological parent's names..." I pull out my phone, opening my notes app on my phone. "I- I guess considering the rare situation the eighteen of age is voided." She places a file on my desk. I open it. I stare at the names that are listed at the top.

Kristin Crafter and Shlatt J Score.

"That's...she's a famous model! He's- he's the CEO of that technology company!" I gawk at the names of my parents. At the same time, I didn't believe it. There is no way I come from two famous fucking people. There isn't a way. Kristin is married. She- holy shit she cheated. I see why she put me in the system. If she is my real parent. "Can you arrange a meeting with both? I know I'm not in the system, but they are famous people, they won't bother to glance at me if I try to reach out." I leaned back in my chair. I doubt these are my parents. I kept nothing of how I looked like when I was younger. I used to have dark brown hair and brown eyes but later when I developed my power, I changed myself. But still, I'm curious. Blonde hair, blue eyes, it makes me more appealing to the ladies. That's a half lie, it was more so I would get harassed less due to me being the more ideal person. "Yes! Yes, I can totally set that up. I'll be in contact, okay?" She picks up the file. Miss Apple seemed rather proud of herself that she had seemingly gotten through to me. "Of course, out in public, and I'll be allowed to bring someone I trust. Those are my personal conditions." I watch her face tense. Her brow twitches, she is too easy to anger. "Yes. That should be allowed...I will contact you later Tommy." She gets up and leaves my office. After I knew she was far away I let my lungs get a breath. My cold sweat has me shivering in this cool environment. My eyes dart to the blob under my desk innocently taking off my shoes. He looks up with those big, weird ass eyes. Their one color, no whites, it's strange but easy to look at. Nova didn't even hide the fact that he had done it jokingly, the fits of hysterical squeaks of laughter filled the room. I can't help but laugh as well. It was so harmless and random, but it had him thinking. Nova most likely understood stressful situations seeing as the Villain himself didn't have a place where he lived, at least not a nice one. It was probably worse than a one room apartment. The villain hasn't even bothered to get his own clothes, he most likely has no job and is clearly under-fed. I feel like a parent. However, I guess it's more big brother type shit. "Hey, when are you turning back to normal?" The look of sas I got back was funny. But I didn't know. I can't remember if he's told me already. "C'mon you can't stay like that forever." I watched him roll his eyes and he pointed to the harness. "Oh, it won't grow big with you? A shame...It'd be funny to have a rabid teenager in a child harness!" I cackle. He does not appreciate the joke seeing as he's gnawing at my ankle. The nerves in my ankle aren't fully dead but I can't feel pain there. I can see it getting red. I should probably stop him. "Aye, stop that." He looks up at me. He bites so hard he made me bleed. "Fucking dickhead! Fuck you, damnit- my socks are gonna be stained red because of you, damn bastard." I sigh. I leaned back into the chair. "I really don't want to go to therapy! AHH!" I take a deep breath after I screamed. I just need to release all this anxious energy. I should patrol tonight, even with the heroes crawling around because of Nova.

...To Be Continued