A Zoo in the Fog (PersonaxZoophobia)

A Little Lie

            Jackson was extremely nervous after the meeting with Zechariah. What would he do? Would he try to stop them? Would they be able to keep this up? Would Zechariah try to help them? These thoughts kept rushing through his head, until his mother's words snapped him back to reality. "Jackson? Are you worrying about something again?" She asked, a little worry in her own voice. She knew Jackson well, and rightfully so. He was her son. But sometimes that means a lot of his secrets were shared with her.

Jackson looked to her and bit his lip. "O-oh, it's all good. Really mom." He said that too quickly to be comfortable.

His mother let out a sigh. "Jackson, if you're stuttering, it either means you're nervous or you're hiding something." She would reply. They walked on to the diner they were going to. It wasn't all that far, but the awkwardness Jackson provided made the walk feel that much longer.

"What? No, mom, it's all fine. Really..." Jackson rubbed his arm a bit, looking down a bit. Another he did while he was nervous, averting eyes. His mother gave him a worried look as they walk into the diner. They've been there so often they have a specific table they always go to. A booth set down by a window overlooking the front of the restaurant. They made their order and Jackson's mom focused back on Jackson's mood.

"Please Jackson, you can't keep bottling things up inside." She gave a little sigh as she looked away. "I feel like I'm kept in the dark with things you do."

And now Jackson feels bad. His mother knew all too well on how to guilt him. But this time she seemed tired. Like things around her were becoming a bit too burdensome. "I didn't... go to a club today. I had to talk with Zechariah at school." Jackson admitted to his mother.

"What? Why? Did something happen?" His mother seemed even more worried now. She knew Zechariah was a peacekeeper. It was him who kept her away from the crime scene of Camilla's death after all. Couldn't have 'nosy reporters' in a crime scene.

"I... actually went to see him about making one for me and my friends!" Jackson soon blurted out. Well that was going to bite him in the ass later.

His mother's tone shifted almost immediately from worry to a smile of joy. "Jackson, this is great! Wonderful even! You're finally breaking your little shell!" She pulled him in for a very tight hug. "Oh, what's the club about? Can I help out at all?"

Jackson nervously chuckles. "Well, it's uh... cultural appreciation!" Damn, now he had to remember all this. It didn't feel right to lie to his mom, but if he was going to do this, and Zechariah did somehow help them, maybe they needed a cover story. "We take our time to learn about the different cultures over the world and the many vast ones in the city."

Jackson's mother seemed to giggle with delight, not letting Jackson out of the hug. "It's so good just to see you... doing things. With all that's been happening, I was worried you'd retreat into that shell of yours. But you finally broke it!"

Jackson didn't know this would delight his mom so much. It felt nice just to see her smile though. "Hey, he might say no. He needs to see if he can actually sponsor it." He said, trying not to get her hopes too high.

It was a bit, but eventually Jackson's mom let him go. "Oh, it's alright. But you're starting to go out more. I know with the... luck and everything, it gets harder, but... you're doing better." A joyous tone still rode along her voice. "You even had Autumn over. It was really nice that you went to help someone in their time of need"

Now that, Jackson couldn't lie about. Even though Autumn somewhat brought it on him to return to the TV world the second time, he's slowly beginning to smile more. Maybe fighting the shadow and admitting those things inside of him really did help. Jackson wondered as to why he didn't get a shadow, and how ugly his would actually be. He almost didn't want to even think of it, but curiosity always drew his mind back to it. Though he pushed the thought back and gave a little smile. "He's... he's a good guy mom. He needs some help and I wanna help him." Jackson said, leaning against the table.

"Oh, this calls for a little celebration later!" Jackson's mom gave him one more hug. "Maybe you can bring all your friends over too."

"I would like that." Jackson gave a little smile. Well, it's going to be an odd little get together, but maybe one he could look forward to. "Let's enjoy tonight though. Just the two of us."

Jackson's mom took a deep breath, her smile never faltering. "Alright. I'm just... so proud of my baby boy." She kisses his head and Jackson lightly chuckles, a little bit of a red blush staining his cheeks.

"C'mon mom..." Jackson softly said. His mother let out a little giggle in response. Maybe Jackson could try doing a bit more with others. It seemed to make his mom happy at least, and inside him, he felt a little more happy with the few new friends he has.