What if... (hfjONE-shots)

...Airy was a Dad (Pt.5)

WHAT'S HAPPENING MY EDGELINGS?!?!

I'M BACK BABY!!!!!

Finally! It feels great to be back at it again! Now with family issues, depression, and writers' block out of the way, I can finally get back at it!

Thank you so much to all the people out there who reached out to check on me and to encourage me to continue doing what I love, which is writing this fic!!! Your support means the world to me!! <3

This chapter is the Airy in Highschool chapter I promised a while back, but from here on out I believe I'm going to start focusing on the DSAU. I have a lot of inspiration for it right now and I'm going to take advantage of it and hopefully finish that AU in around three to four chapters!

Without further ado, I present to you my latest chapter!!!

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The air was hot and humid, stuffy and congested with the aftermath of summer pollen. The mornings rose at an increasingly sluggish pace, and evenings were shrouded in darkness all too quickly. Autumn was fast approaching, and so was the dreaded first day of school.

Airy gazed out the window of his new bedroom, staring at the yellow and orange tipped leaves of the ancient oak growing in the backyard, its thick, gnarled branches clawing towards the clear evening sky. The first stars were beginning to appear in the grayish-purple haze of dusk, the new moon just a faint dark outline looming above.

Tonight would be his first night in this new foster home. He was just glad they got him placed before the first day of school. Transferring mid-semester had never gone well for him, then again, school in general had never gone well for the poor lantern.

It wasn't that he lacked intelligence; he almost always had good grades. It was the social aspect that had always been a near impossible challenge for him. Perhaps it was his slow, awkward way of speaking, or his tendency to avoid eye contact. But the problem was most likely the fact that he rarely stayed in the same school for a full year before having to relocate to a new foster home halfway across the country.

The cause of the relocation differed. Sometimes the home didn't want to (or couldn't) take care of him anymore, or the family decided to adopt a different kid, or - more often than not - an abuse report was filed. It just seemed impossible for Airy to find anything close to stability. He had been tossed around like a hot potato ever since his mother gave him up as a baby.

But everything would change soon. This was Airy's senior year of highschool, and he would turn eighteen early next summer. Finally, his fate would be in his own hands. Airy sighed wistfully, fogging up the window with his breath as he leaned his elbows on the window sill. It was something he had dreamed of ever since he learned that the only thing between him and true freedom was his eighteenth birthday.

No more families abusing the foster system and using the money meant to care for him on drugs and alcohol. No more adults yelling at him for sneaking food from the kitchen at night because they didn't feed him dinner. No more "siblings" hitting him and breaking his toys. Airy had been through so much he felt almost numb to the suffering.

But everything was going to be better soon...

Right?

Airy felt that empty void deep inside him ache all the more when he thought of becoming a legal adult, realizing that he didn't have much time left. Because deep down, he knew.