Moon Boy ▷ Flash Thompson

10 - FAMILIAL TENSION

WARNING: MENTIONS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE

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ROSIE DIDN'T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT HERSELF. That was something Flash learned ever since the hearing all those years ago, and all those family therapy sessions they had gone to, she never spoke about herself unless truly forced, having had to be treated as a hostile witness when she began to change her testimony on the stand, finally being dismissed due to her mental instability as caused by the defendant, which had been crucial in the end.

Yet, to this day, Flash never understood his mother. He didn't understand how she could be so understanding of all that had happened to her and her family, so truly accepting of what had happened and filled with loathing, both for herself and for her husband, only to then revert to the same woman who tried to reason that it was her fault, that her husband was a good man, all these things that made Flash sick to his stomach.

It had taken years for him to realize that his father didn't love him, and he still found himself believing that the man did. He still believed he loved him, for all that he said he hated him. He was his father after all.

He didn't know what Jesse thought. She had been there for most of it, and he knew it affected her, but they didn't talk about it. At least, they hadn't in almost a year, and he had wanted to keep it that way.

But there they were, all cooking dinner in silence, their hands shaking and hearts racing and Flash was pretty sure he wasn't actually doing any work, like he was watching himself work from a distance, his vision unfocused as he stared a fixed point on the cutting board, chopping up the vegetables.

He remembered Matthew mentioning something about signs of disassociation since the taller boy allegedly disassociated a lot, but Flash wasn't sure if that applied to him.

But Sabine had added that disassociation was common in people who had been abused, so maybe it should have applied to him a lot more than it did.

He didn't like that word. Abused. His first therapist had tried to explain that it didn't mean he was weak, it just meant that he had been hurt and taken advantage of, but younger Flash—as well as current Flash—didn't want to believe that.

But then he remembered the time he had broken something during football—he couldn't even remember what bone it was anymore, he had had so many nightmares about it that it could've been his neck and he would've believed it—and had begged them not to call his father, because he probably would've broken the other one.

Maybe it was his leg. That sounded about right. Or his arm. That would've made sense too.

He wanted to talk about it to his mom, but she wouldn't talk about it with him, even if she wanted to, and he couldn't talk about it with Jesse, because the last thing he needed was for her to be upset too.

Diana was completely out of the question.

"What time is he getting here?" Jesse asked, shattering the silence, the other two jumping despite knowing very well that it was her who had spoken.

Rosie took a deep breath and replied evenly, not because she was angry, but because she needed to remind herself to stay calm. "About an hour, sweetie, that's why we're just finishing up now."

Flash sighed as he looked up towards the clock, wishing that he could pull out his phone and talk to someone before this all went down. But he had no one, so he simply continued to work, because there wasn't anything else to do but grin and bear it.

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Matthew was dancing in his room. He wouldn't call it dancing so much as running and jumping around in his room with his door closed, hoping that no one would come in while he listened to music at full volume. He always hated how self-conscious he became when he thought of himself doing it, but he loved it when he just did it and didn't have to think.