Chapter Text
Children from broken homes tend to find each other. This isn’t so much of a concept as much as it’s a fact, a fact well known in the circles that these broken and fragile children roam. They know it, maybe not consciously, but once those whispered words see the light of day (“they’re divorced” “I don’t have a dad” “my mums….’away’ “) a sense of dread seems to lift off their shoulders knowing that they aren’t alone. For six kids in particular, and then some, this was especially true.
Ray woke up earlier than normal, with a strange feeling. Then again for someone with no parents floating around the system, this was kind of standard for him. As bitterly as he’d realized it, he sighed and sat up in the too stark, too clean bed and looked around. He could hear people moving about downstairs, that wasn’t strange at this point in time. Well, this time it kind of was. He’d almost grown used to the people housing him sleeping in after the last house he was in. Before he knew it there was a pawing at his door, and a glameow made its way into the room.
It’d take him a while getting used to that - seeing a cat pokemon in the house. For some odd reason, all the other houses he’d been in were fans of birds or dogs. He was more used to stoutland’s and pidgey roaming the house than he was anything else. Staring down the pokemon, who had jumped to the edge of his bed, he sighed and slowly got up, looking around briefly before tugging out the suitcase from under his bed. He dressed quietly and quickly, shoving his 3ds into the pocket of his hoodie, and crept down the stairs quietly. This family seemed particularly averse to loud noises and dirty things, which is why his backpack and shoes were so far away from his room. This kind of irritated him, but hey he didn’t really have control did he?
Peering into the kitchen he watched as the other foster kid - sorry adopted kid ate at the table, some sort of fruit? He was eating it with a spoon which just weirded Ray out. Grapefruit or something? Whatever. He crept forward slightly, still rubbing sleep from his eyes, glases pushed to his forehead. His foster mother - Mrs. Vega - smiled at him from her position humming at the stove.
“Morning Ray! How about some breakfast, you like eggs?”
Ray muttered an affirmative, and Mrs. Vega chuckled good naturedly before serving him a plate. In order to avoid awkward small talk Ray shoved as much of the food in his mouth as possible without choking, and kept a watch of the clock hanging above the fridge. He wanted to get out of this situation as quickly as possible, as painlessly as possible. Of course it wasn’t their fault, the kid was fine and Mrs. Vega was lovely, but there was something wrong with Ray that never left him in one home for very long. That’s how it had always been for one reason or another, and he didn’t want to get too comfortable before he was forced out once more. It was one of the reasons he never unpacked, never let himself get too cozy in a single house. Sadly, he had foolishly thought the last house would be it since he’d been there for about 2 years. He should have guessed that something would go wrong though, that he’d end up shuffled again once the last household decided they wanted to adopt a baby, and not keep the teen.
Part of him thought it was unfair, another part of him just accepted it as a reality.
He came back to himself before his fork could scrape against his empty plate and he stood, laying it gently in the sink and weakly smiling at Mrs. Vega’s beaming grin before slipping out of the kitchen and shoving his shoes on his feet. He politely informed her he’d be leaving early as he watched the adopted kid (what was his name again?) get ready, and left quickly without awaiting an answer. Today was kind of a big day, and everyone seemed a bit on edge with the ability to sense it. The glameow from before wound around his legs momentarily before darting off outside and toward the neighbor's yard. He clicked the door closed behind him and glanced in either direction, staring down the Tauros in the next yard for a moment, and eyeing the Stantler in the next before heading down the street toward his new school.
-
Gavin was much more excited than anyone he really knew about today. He practically jumped out of bed and got himself ready, ignoring the empty house around him and the notes plastered on the fridge with age old apologies and money for dinner. He stuffed the bills in his wallet and shoved it in his pocket, practically skipping outside and across the street to slam into the door, twisting the knob and letting himself in with a loud crow. The banging of pots and pans in the kitchen alerted him to a presence and he sauntered in, smiling at the woman there. She gleamed back at him, motioning to the table where a stack of pancakes sat.
“If you wake up Geoff you can eat.”
Gavin gasped in reverence, eyes wide and shining as he took off upstairs to wake up Geoff.
“Thanks D!”
Gavin crept into Geoff’s room, watching the pile of blankets on the bed shift slightly with his even breathing. Stalking ever so closer he crept to the edge of the bed, suddenly and very loudly squawking and jumping on top of Geoff, who yelled out with alarm and grunted before rolling over violently and landing on the floor. Stunned for a moment and listening to nothing but the sound of Gavin’s hysteric laughter, he stood up and scowled at the brit.
“Dude are you fucking kidding me? I’m gonna get you for that!”
The sleepy eyed teen was about ready to pounce on the younger before Gavin yelped in alarm and ran out of the room, bolting down the stairs and bouncing off the wall before running for the kitchen. Geoff, knowing he lost the battle already, simply sighed and dressed himself for the school day before heading his way downstairs. He approached the young woman at the sink, cleaning pans, and kissed her cheek. His cousin was a lifesaver for taking him until he could graduate and get a place of his own, and he liked to make it known.
“Thanks D, this dick give you any trouble?”
“Oi that’s mean Geoff!”
D shook her head with a small laugh and motioned for the two to eat, smiling slightly at the sight of the two boys at the table. She took her own plate and took her still pajama clad tush up to her bedroom where she could eat in relative silence. Meanwhile the other two polished off the stack of pancakes with minimal fuss and with feeding pieces of bacon to D’s poochyena Bindi, who took each piece with a gentle mouth and a fervor that amused the two males to no end. Eventually all sleepy things must come to an end, and with little flourish the two stacked the dishes in the sink and made their way out the door to pick up their friends.
“Geoff aren’t you excited?”
“About what?”
“Wot? Wot!? Today you minge!”
“What happens today again?”
“We pick out our starter pokemon you tosspot!”
“Holy shit I forgot all about that.”
“Bloody hell Geoff how do you even remember to put on shoes??”
Geoff jumped into his car, unlocking it for Gavin before starting the engine and sighing. He rubbed his face and pulled out of the driveway, black paint gleaming in the sunlight. The car was beat up, but still usable, and in decent condition. How could Geoff had forgotten? Not that it mattered much to him in general, he already had his pokemon. A pretty little snubbul that he took with him everywhere, still sleeping peacefully in her pokeball strapped to his belt. Him Ryan and Jack had gotten theirs the year previous, being seniors now. He’d been so glad to choose his own pokemon, having been jealous of D for years until he could finally claim his own. Recent years had lessened the idea of battling pokemon as a career and instead allowed the use of pokemon in schools and other such institutions as companions meant to teach children the ethics of responsibility and companionship. While they still learned the basics in school, they’d also learned Care 101 and Battling Techniques to help their pokemon grow as well as the kids who owned them.
Pulling up in front of Ryan’s house the boy was outside already, looking exhausted and exasperated. His miltank was in front of him, arms crossed and looking rather cranky. Geoff honked the horn and Ryan turned to the duo, shrugging his shoulders and throwing his hands in the air.
“Trouble in paradise?”
Geoff remarked with a raised brow.
“She won’t go in her pokeball! Edgar pleaaasseeeee go in? I’ll let you out as soon as we get to school just please?”
Edgar eyed Ryan disdainfully and gave a snort, finally relenting. Ryan gave a small cry of triumph before tucking the pokeball in his pocket and leaping into the car with a bit of a nervous jitter. Geoff laughed until he was wheezing in the front seat and Gavin grinned back at the taller boy from the front seat. Ryan turned pink from the display his friends had seen but scowled and batted the brit away from him when he tried to ruffle his hair.
“Can we just go?”
“Fine fine. Come on we still have to pick up Jack and Michael.”
-
Michael was typically a morning person. It was something he somewhat prided himself on, being able to wake up earlier than others and get his shit together before he really needed to, so he had some time to relax. Today though, today was the start of a string of bad days in which his mother was in a particularly bad mood, and bad moods meant bad things. Bad moods meant bruises hard to hide and tears harder to hide, it meant broken dishes and scrubbing at stains for hours and broken bones explained away by accidents at 3am in the ER. He could already hear his mother downstairs bustling around loudly in the kitchen as he stretched, poking at worn and yellowing bruises on his torso and littered across his stomach.
In the long run it wasn’t so bad, he didn’t have it as bad as some of the other kids he knew. Not as bad as Geoff or Ryan or hell, especially Jack. At least his mother wasn’t dying from Huntington’s. Still sometimes he had to look at his life objectively in order to not suffer from severe panic attacks, and there were a few side effects of this behavior that had bled over into his academic life. Michael was no stranger to fights, enough to get him into even more trouble and the like. While it wasn’t the worst thing he could be doing, he wasn’t sure how else to constructively release all the pent up aggression he felt from being treated so terribly at home.
Sighing through his nose he slipped his way downstairs once he heard his mother’s door close again. There was no sound in the house other than the muffled noise of the television from his mother’s room. They owned no domestic pokemon, his mother thinking them disgusting creatures, but she couldn’t take this day from him. He was excited yet afraid of what would happen today, I mean starters are a pretty big deal. His mother wouldn’t be able to say no, pokemon were kind of a requirement for students to graduate high school. Their ability to care for another creature was deemed very important, and those relationships would continue outside of the classroom.
Lacing up his shoes he stepped out of the house, backpack slung over his shoulder just in time to see Geoff roll up with Gavin and Ryan. Grinning to his boi he yelled out some profanities and climbed in the back seat next to Ryan, reaching forward with eager hands to ruffle and mess with Gavin. Ryan and Geoff watched the two scuffle with amusement for a few moments. The two danced around each other so much and had so much pent up tension it was a wonder the two weren’t fucking yet.
“Alright alright lovebirds break it up and don’t fuck in my car.”
Geoff warned the two before pulling away from the curb, wheezing a laugh as both boys yelped out indignantly. The car ride was filled with pleasant banter as they drove the few blocks and streets it took to get to Jack’s house, but everyone seemed to quiet as they approached the almost pristine yellow house on the corner. Nearly jumping the curb Geoff parked haphazardly and jumped out of the car with a promise to be back, and approached the front door. There was a faint cacophony of noise from inside the house, and nervously Geoff rang the doorbell.
They’d been warned against too much noise, too much sensation. It only seemed to hurt Mrs. Pattillo more than they would intend, but Jack never seemed to mind gentle reminders. The door opened and Geoff was surprised to see not-Jack answer the door. Mrs. Pattillo smiled at Geoff and called back into the house for her son.
“Hello Geoff, nice to see you again.”
“You too Mrs. Pattillo, how are you holding up?”
“Well enough Geoff, well enough.”
The conversation, awkward as it was for Geoff, was mercifully cut short as Jack showed up with toast shoved in his mouth, shrugging on his backpack. The two family members shared a moment of affection before departing, the door closing softly behind Jack. Piling into the car once more the five descended into a quiet chaos that only they could achieve, and bantered on their way to the first day back at Achievement High.
Boy were they in for a surprise.