Secrets Upon Secrets

4 - Gram Willy

'What was I thinking, taking in two random kids?' You ask?

Well...

Perhaps I wasn't.

I've been told before that I have a bit of a savior complex and that my desire to solve everyone's problems is 'unhealthy' but I'm not sure I agree with that.

In a world where everything is constantly going to schist, someone needs to be there to help those in need.

And if that's not meant to be me, then what the hell is my purpose in life?

Crash!

You know what, I'll ponder the meaning of life later.

I hurried into the spare room, (my apartment had two bedrooms,) and found a broken lamp, a trembling boy, and his protective sister standing in front of him.

She looked like she was ready to fight, likely thinking that I would get mad about the lamp.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked as I dashed into the room. "I heard a crash,"

I surveyed the room and took note of everything.

The two seemed surprised and the girl hesitantly nodded.

I still hadn't gotten their names yet, but I was getting to that.

First, I had sent them to get cleaned off and dressed in clean warm clothes. While they were doing that I was making dinner.

I finally had a reason to use my actual cooking skills instead of my new habit of quick and easy college-student meals. (I learned to cook as a kid because my parents were always working.)

After quickly looking over the two I dashed out of the room and grabbed a broom and dustpan out of the closet and hurried back.

"Back up," I instructed, not wanting them to be cut by the broken glass.

I swept up the light bulb and carefully unscrewed the base from the lamp base.

(Thankfully I had a metal lamp post so it wouldn't need replacing. Though it wouldn't be the first time I've broken something.)

The two kids watched in bewilderment as I took the broken glass to the trash and replaced the bulb.

"Are you both sure you're okay?" I asked, wanting to be sure.

I didn't want them to have gotten hurt and been too embarrassed about it to tell me.

That wouldn't have helped anyone.

After dealing with that I heard the timer in the kitchen go off.

"Alright, finish up then come to the table for dinner." I instructed.

"Already then," I said as I put the hot dish on the table, "We've got poppyseed chicken, mashed potatoes, and roasted broccoli," I explained, motioning to each thing as I said it. "Be sure to take some vegetables as well, I know people usually don't like broccoli, I didn't either as a kid, but I found a way to make it so it's actually pretty good," I explained.

The two seemed hesitant to take food until after I did.

After I took a bite of everything they seemed to realize that it was safe.

With little warning, the two descended on the food like feral cats.

After they had about three helpings they slowed down enough to breathe. (I made enough to feed a family of six so there was plenty.)

I ate my food like a regular person and observed them.

"So," I started, hoping they were comfortable enough now, "What are your names?" I asked.

The pink haired girl tensed, but swallowed her bite and answered.

"My name is Alexis," she answered hesitantly, "My little brother's Titus," she explained.

Titus's blue head of hair perked up at his name.

I smiled, "Nice to meet you," I told them, "My name's Gram. Gram Willy,"

Titus chuckled at my last name.

"Yeah, I have a kind of strange last name," I agreed.

"Well our last name is La-vine," Titus said, one syllable at a time. Alexis raised her eyes, as if surprised he was talking.

He looked about nine or ten but still had that cuteness of a child.

"Lavine, huh, that's a fun last name," I noted.

He nodded and jumped into a whole conversation about plants and animals. (You know, typical little boy stuff.)

When I was his age I was all into video games and superheroes. Even back then I'd been dreaming of becoming a LIGHTS Hero.

The interesting thing was that neither of them had mentioned the whole superhero thing yet.

And the way the conversation was going I didn't think they'd were going to.

It was pretty obvious. From the whole costume earlier to Steven yelling at me about identities.

(Did he actually yell? No. But that was probably about as close as I've ever seen him. The guy is like a robot. A great Hero and leader but not a very emotionally engaged person.)

But I knew I didn't need to unnecessarily bring it up.

I'm sure they understood what was going on, and would ask if they felt the need.

Ugg, still got to deal with the backlash from Steven on patrol tomorrow, I thought grumpily.

Knowing him and his professionalism he'd probably already informed my mentor.

Though if I'm lucky this will mean that I'm off the hook for training Carter. I thought, trying to be somewhat positive. Though if I abandon Steven with training Carter all by himself then he'll probably be even more pissed. And I do not need that.

I rubbed my temples and pushed away all the stressful thoughts.

I'll deal with this tomorrow. I decided at last.