Welcome to Gaia! ::

With everything going on in his life, Parker had almost forgotten about getting furniture for his new apartment. Almost. It was a good thing Tate was there to ride his a** and demand attention. Something was up, but he didn't know what it was. She seemed like she was the one who had all the free time now. Or maybe it just seemed that way. Before, Parker wasn't with Dani and that whole senshi thing hadn't happened. His days were spent alternating school, detention, Tate, and reading. Now things were more complicated.

For one, he was so ******** tired from patrolling all night that he fell asleep in class, in between class, on the toilet, on the phone with Dani. At least Dani understood. She understood more than anyone now, much more than Tate ever could. It was hard for him not to tell Tate about his new senshidom. He told her pretty much everything else. She was the only person other than Dani who got that out of him, even if they spoke with less enthusiasm and closeness.

That day, Tate showed up at Hillworth to pick Parker up for a little furniture hunting. She had most of her own stuff from her house, but he was surfing Craigslist like it was his job. The hunt had started before the night that changed his life, and lately, Parker had been forgetting about it. When Tate showed up, Parker was still asleep, but she got a visitor pass long enough to come in and punch him in the arm with a shrill: "Did you forget about this again?" This time she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Still half-asleep and poorly dressed, Parker had dragged himself to her car, endured her bitching for ten minutes, and put on a nice face while they collected a computer desk and nightstand for his room. There was a couch offered, but it smelled like piss and had a strange brown stain. The vendor kept telling Tate she had a "pretty mouth" and the two of them high-tailed it out of there before he could command either one of them to squeal like a piggy.

Back in the car, Parker had the window down, but his eyelids kept fluttering. Too ******** sleepy. "Can we take another coffee break? I don't think I'll make it until the end of the day if we don't." His head hit the chair with a thud, and he rolled it to stare at Tate. "There's a place around the corner by the McDonald's."

Normally, Parker might bristle from repeated Tate-punches, but it required too much energy today. Lifting the furniture had taken out what little strength his original coffee had instilled in him. He mustered a vague frown before slumping out of the car after her. Food might be a good idea, get some energy in him. If his new senshi life wasn't a secret, it would have been easy to just tell her that he was out patrolling all night, the same thing he had been doing for the past two weeks. Dani kept telling him to take it easy, to go slow at first, but he couldn't help it. He was a teenage boy who had just been given superpowers. It would be ridiculous to think he could resist using them at every opportunity.

Skipping ahead of Tate in line, Parker ordered a sausage and cheese breakfast biscuit and a large bottomless coffee. There were canisters set up on the far wall with different brews and blends. He eyed the row of identical dispensers hungrily as he passed the cashier his debit card and took a little red stand with the number 3 printed on it. Three. Like the number of youma he demolished the night before. The thought made him wince. There was a large purpling bruise on his ribs from where the last one had caught him off guard. Ranged shooting from rooftops was okay, but hand-to-hand, Parker was a total noob. He had the scrapes and bruises to prove it.

Leaving Tate behind, he beelined for the coffee and filled his cup to the brim with something called Sumatran Wildflower. Whatever. It had the highest caffeine content listed on it. Everything else was irrelevant. There was an open booth by the window, and Parker slipped into it, blowing on his coffee.

He waited until Tate joined him in the booth to answer. "I'm tired. Just... stressed. About not getting into college." It was sort of true. It did continue to bother Parker that he was denied across the boards despite a decent GPA and great SAT scores. He blamed Hillworth for it, and his bad record of behavior. Typical. They'd ******** him over until the end, he was sure of it.

The topic of his sleepiness was not an avenue Parker wanted to go down so he deflected. "You seem to have a lot more time on your hands. Skipping school, are we? Or just trying to avoid Mariska?" The coffee was still too hot. Steam wafted out through the tiny opening in the lid.

An older woman shot Tate a look, and then Parker. Apparently porn wasn't a PC topic for a public cafe. Who knew? To say that Parker never looked at porn would be a blatant lie, but he considered himself on the lower end of the scale compared to most other males his age. Not like he would say that to Tate.

Tate joined him at the booth and destroyed her coffee with enough sugar to kill a diabetic. Parker scoffed, sipping tentatively at his coffee. "Why even get the coffee? Next time just ask for the cup and drink the creamer straight." His coffee was still too hot, and he made a face.

He tried again, tilting it up like it was an explosive that he had to hold just so. Tate kept talking. He could always count on her for that. "No more Zach? Surprise, surprise." Parker knew Tate wasn't in it for real from the start. Granted, he'd never really experienced her being in any relationship for real, but he knew her well enough to detect a certain lack of interest. It wasn't that he expected her to be as fixated as he was on Dani, but he at least expected her to care just a little.

In Tate's brief relationship with Zachary, Parker had never detected any important sense of caring. She seemed more concerned about beating Silent Hill 4 faster than she had the previous three times. Not a good sign. "Dani?" Parker repeated, only half-listening. "Yeah, it's probably that." That was true. It was definitely that. Dani was out patrolling with Parker most nights, and when she wasn't, they texted. Was it bad to patrol and text? Hm... maybe he should ask another senshi that.

"I brought her by the apartment last week. She said she wants to help paint whenever we get it started." Parker twirled his coffee cup on the table out of habit. "That fine?"

Parker snorted at Tate. "Creamer and milk clearly come from different animals, no relation." It was muttered, understated. Insulting Tate breathed in and out of him as easily as she threw punches. It worked for them.

Sipping at the edge of his coffee, Parker closed his eyes and tried to will the caffeine to work faster. If Tate was going to be cheeky, he'd need more energy. He leaned back in the booth and closed his eyes for a moment. "If I didn't know you well enough, I'd think Zach was your beard. Or your brother. First cousin, maybe, of the kissing variety." Parker had only seen Tate around Zachary once or twice, but it was enough. The relationship was labored, awkward, unreal. They seemed more comfortable sitting a few feet from each other and talking than showing any affection. It was nothing like he and Dani, who had a tendency to touch too much in the presence of others.

PDA -- Parker suffered from it.

Parker flashed his eyes open, anticipating a punch. It didn't come. "Sunday works. Steel blue works. Who's Ladon?" It was a name he vaguely recalled, but not one he could put a face to. "I can have Dani be social for me with the new guy."

Parker was starving. By the time they got to the car, he had already unwrapped his sandwich and taken a bite. Through a mouthful of cheesey delicious, he sputtered, "Good creamer comes from cream. Which comes from cows." They bantered back and forth about it, but the conversation died off when Tate nabbed a spot by their apartment.

Their apartment.

Wow, Parker still had a hard time wrapping his head around it.

It was strenuous to move the nightstand, painfully so. Parker was still dogtired. So tired, in fact, that he completely forgot about the tiny kitten that had been waiting for his return all night.

The kitten mewled plaintively and scampered into the empty living room, stumbling over its own feet and faceplanting. It mewed again. Parker stared at the kitten. Stared at Tate. Stared at the kitten. He set the nightstand down.

"I can explain."

Parker opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it. Then closed it. <********.

He couldn't exactly say, I accidentally hit in with the aftershock of my Sand Blast -- oh hey, did I mention I was a senshi? Lying didn't come particularly naturally to Parker either. He believed in the importance of truth and logic above all else. Why deceive? Being brutally honest was much more humane. It was a shame more people his age didn't feel that way.

Lying to Tate? Even worse.

"It's a cat," he said dumbly. "It's our cat." He shot Tate a look. "Or my cat. Whichever. I rescued it. Some idiots were ******** with it." He looked at his feet. "I'll keep it in my room." He looked back to Tate. "It's not like you are allergic, jesus."

Parker needed to work on his deception skills.

Parker would not abandon an animal. Would not. He had a hard time abandoning anything he had an attachment to, and the fact that this was a helpless little kitten who he had inadvertently attacked only made his resolve that much stronger.

When Tate nudged the cat, it mewed, staring at the toe of her shoe. After a few confused glances, it flopped itself over her toe and began to bat at the laces of her shoe. Tate looked down at it. Parker didn't want to risk her changing her mind.

Darting forward, he scooped the cat into his arms. It was confused for a moment, letting out a plaintive mew until Parker curled it to his chest. He shot Tate a wary look. "Okay, my responsibility. Litter box in my room. Just... keep the windows shut. Door locked." The cat mewed.

Parker backed away toward his room like he was holding a very delicate explosive. He kicked it open with his back foot, gave Tate one last wary glance, and then disappeared into his bedroom.

Looks like the little kitten was staying. Now it just needed a name.