The Wife

5: How I Met Your Father

"It was just like any other day when my father brought in this disheveled, beaten-up, young boy into the circus. My father was the ringmaster, you see, so it wasn't that weird for him to bring new people in. But this boy was pretty hurt. In fact, he was bleeding all over my carpet from his scrapes. And my father didn't even tell me his name! He just said 'fix him.' and left the room."

"How old were you, Mama?" Akio asked.

"I was twelve when I first met him. Daddy was fourteen. That means he was two years older than me." Always a good parent, trying to teach math during story time. "He was asleep for the whole time I treated his wounds, which was probably good because they looked like they hurt." You left out the part where Hisoka was practically naked, sensing that it wasn't important to the story.

"Was Daddy sick?" Zenko asked with a mouthful of food.

"Chew and swallow, baby. No, he wasn't sick. He was just really hurt." As you told the story, the memory played back in your mind.

You hadn't wanted to do anything today. You were enjoying your time with your dolls and chewing some bungee gum. "Look at this guy, Dolly, he's bleeding all over my rug. I guess I'll have to stitch him up." You gathered all the materials and got to work. You were used to helping out the circus personnel when they got hurt. Clowns with broken toes, tight rope walkers with rope burns, fire eaters with burns: all were the usual to you. So although, your stitching was sloppy, it stopped the bleeding. "Let's heal up! Heal up! Strange boys need to heal up~ Stop the blood! Stoop the blood! And open your eyes now~" You sung a song for him. As the words materialized into nen, they floated over to the boy and drifted into his wounds. As they glowed lightly, he stirred and his eyes drifted open.

"Who are you?" You asked him cheerfully. He eyed you suspiciously and looked down at his body. "Sorry, it's not very good, I don't usually have to do stitches. So are you going to tell me your name?" He shook his head no.

"Where am I?" He asked in return.

"Glam Gas Land Circus! Home of the odd and the wonderful." You put on your advertising voice. He chuckled. That sounded like the place for him.

"So where are your parents? What are you doing here? Do you have any talents? Do you want some gum?"

"Gum? I love gum." You handed him some of your gum. Strawberry flavored-- your favorite Quickly, he shoved it in his mouth and chewed it like his life depended on it.

"Are you hungry... uh, are you going to tell me your name yet?" He shook his head but affirmed his hunger. "I'll just call you Bungee."

"Why?"

"That's the type of gum I gave you. You seem to like it a lot." You grabbed his hand and pulled him up. "Come on, I'll make you some food. Do you like anything special?"

"Gum?" You laughed at him as you dragged him out of your room.

"No, I'll show you what we have in the kitchen!"

You smiled happily at the old memory. You ended up calling Hisoka "Bungee" for at least another year until someone let it slip what his real name what. Even then, you still called him Bungee. You weren't quite sure when you stopped calling him by that pet name... Maybe around the time Chouko was born. That's when he started leaving home for so long.

"And that's how I met Daddy." You concluded. Chouko was long asleep and the twins were barely able to keep their eyes open. "Alright let's go to bed!" You cheered.

"Noooo, Mama... More stories..." Zenko whined.

"Stories..." Akio seconded. You smiled. Time for your nen ability.

"Close your eyes~ and goodnight~ Go to sleep my twin babies. You'll be dreaming, before long~ Let's just go to sleep right now~" Your nen drifted out of your mouth and onto your sons, pushing them over the edge into a slumber. One by one you carried your children into the tent. As you lay awake, you couldn't help but think more about Hisoka.

I think that's the root of it. What makes him Hisoka to me, instead of Bungee?