one good thing | second squad/reddit crew oneshots

Superhuman?

(Couple things before we start: 1) that picture is hella cute but they look smashed, and prolly were bc some of the shit that Henry tweeted last night lmao. 2) this is rlly long, sorry. 3) why the fuck was Henry in a fur suit at insomnia?)
(Word count: 2599 words {for reference my oneshots are usually 1000 words)

"Don't let anyone know. Henry, keep your head down. You'll get through this, if you stay out of it." At the time, his mother's words confused him. As she held his small hands in his, eyes filled with tears and worry. Henry's eyes burned a blazing orange, eyebrows furrowed in worry. There was crashing and banging outside, a world on fire it would seem.

"Mum? I'm scared." The young boy replied. His mother breathed in shakily, pulling him close. Something crashed upstairs, dust falling from the ceiling.

"Stay here." She said quietly. Henry clung to her hand, until his small fingers finally fell to his side and he watched his mum approach the ladder that led her away.

"Don't. Please." Henry begged. The crashing was becoming louder. Henry's mother began to climb the ladder. One or two rungs up, one hand resting on the floorboard to pull her out into the war outside.

"I love you." She said, a tear slipping from her eye, before pushing up the floorboard and pulling herself out of it. The floorboard clanged shut with a bang and the ladder shook, crashing to the ground.

There was banging above Henry's head, and he fell to his knees, staring straight ahead at nothing. Tears slid down his face.

He flinched at the sounds of screaming. His mother. He heard her screaming, shouting, fighting, all the lot. And then a dull thud. Silence.

10 year old Henry sat in silence for hours. The dull thud repeated in his head for those hours. He ran back and forth. Was it his mother? He blamed himself. Why didn't he go and help? Why didn't he stop her from leaving him? Why, why, why?

Although silence was his main beat, he could occasionally hear faint gunshots in the distance, reminding him he couldn't go yet. Not unless he wanted to end up dead. Eventually, the young boy fell asleep, his head falling on dusty walls. When he would wake, it would be to a silent world with no gunshots. When he wakes he would silently prop up the ladder, silently open the floorboard. He would tiptoe down the hallway of his broken home, and fall flat footed at the sight he would see. It would confirm his previous thoughts, the thud was his mother, as her blood was now touching his shoes. He would then hate himself for years to come, and think of how while she was dead, rotting above him, he was quivering below. But now, he lies asleep, his mind at a somewhat peace.

10 years later. Present year.

Henry yawned, blinking a bit. He felt his contact lens, and cringed. He always hated those things. He should take them out, though. His original plan was to take them out after recording, alas he had forgotten and had kept them in way too long. He stood, stretching, and made his way to the bathroom.

He stared into the bathroom mirror, peeling one blue contact out to reveal his burning orange eye. Soon, two flame filled eyes were staring back at him. He felt much more normal, flicking the two lenses into the bin.

He returned to his room, sitting back in his chair. Discord popped up with a notification from Ani, asking to join a group call. He accepted, soon being greeted by the voices of a few of his friends. The call picked up, Henry conversed with his friends for a while, leaning back in his chair. They discussed the upcoming trip to Denver, which of course Henry was going to. And slightly worried about. Having bright orange eyes that glowed in the dark because they represented flames, wasn't exactly easy to hide. That, and the sometimes uncontrollable feats of fire that would sometimes burst from him. This seemed to only occur when he hadn't used his power in a while, but he rarely used it anyway. If anything, it was just an inconvenience to his life. He spent more time hiding it then he did using it.