Catalyst

The end

The boy was thirteen before he met his father. He had never been concerned with having a second parent, and simply knew that he had one, somewhere, in the vastness of the world. He knew his mom had been a teenager and had simply assumed that his biological father was also a teenager, possibly even an older man who might have gotten in trouble if anyone had known. When the boy was a small child, he'd had fantasies. A man would show up, always tall and broad, with dark, curly hair like him, and his Mama's face would light up and he'd run to him. That obviously would never have happened, and he never mentioned his fantasies to his Mama.

He was a couple of months past thirteen when his androgynous rock star idol Rachel Berry got into a car accident while driving through Ohio with her ex-fiancée, model Amber Law. They'd announced the end of their engagement through their separate tumblr pages – he only followed Rachel's because it was more his style, full of text posts of things she'd noticed and pictures of things she'd eaten or saw, sometimes songs she'd covered, not promotional like Amber's which was always plugging this or that – and were driving to Rachel's house to gather Amber's things when a speeding eighteen wheeler nearly crushed the small hybrid. Rachel took the brunt of the impact and was airlifted to the best state hospital in closest distance. Amber only had a few broken bones and was sent to the local hospital.

He was watching the accident on the living room TV, which had the best sound and screen, when Mama walked in, laden with grocery bags. He paused it to get up, grab the heaviest from her, and put them in the kitchen. He kissed her hello, a little upset that he still had to get on his tip toes to kiss her cheek, and went to the car to grab the rest of the groceries. They normally went shopping together but he'd had summer baseball practice and she'd told him to go straight home afterwards. He was putting everything up when his Mama came into the kitchen, pale faced, eyes dewy, "Sweetie, what's that on the TV?"

He licked his lips, "Just the news, Mama. The – the band I like? Faction Phenomenon? Their lead singer got into an accident."

"And you wanted to watch it?" She asked, brow furrowed, mouth tight.

His shoulders hunched a little, and he mumbled, "I wanted to see if she was okay."

The severe look on her face lightened and she kissed the back of his head, "Mama's sorry, it's just that I don't like you looking at gory things."

The boy could admit to being glad that she didn't. He'd gone to Slade's house for a sleepover, and they'd watched a scary movie that was more gore than psychological and he'd nearly thrown up. Slade had felt bad afterwards, had rubbed his back as he fell asleep in apology.

"I know, Mama," He replied, and allowed himself to be cuddled a little before finishing with the groceries. He returned to the living room and pressed play on the remote to finish watching the scene, sitting on the couch. Mama was passing by on her way to her study and stood still to watch it.

The camera was on the helicopter lifting the lead singer away, and the reporter's voiceover, "EGOT winner and lead singer of multiplatinum band 'Faction Phenomenon' Rachel Berry was also in the accident, and sustained severe injuries. Paramedics that arrived at the scene said that no major organs were hit and that with proper physical therapy, she should make a full recovery."

He sighed in relief, even as his Mama made a sort of choked sound.

"Berry is well known for her veganism and activism, particularly when it comes to lgbtq youth and is the first out intersexual celebrity. Her interview with Diane Sawyer is scheduled to come on tonight at 9:00 pm, eastern standard time, 6:00pm pacific."

His Mama took a deep, shuddering breath, and said, "Asher, darling, do Mama a favor."

He looked up, "Yes?"