Anyone wanna do a O×O?

"Um…" Wow. As worrying as this behavior was, it was a little endearing. "A friend is someone you know a lot about and knows a lot about you, who you like. And who doesn't hurt you… intentionally." He wasn't great with explanations. "I trust him because I know he wouldn't hurt me intentionally. However, I'm currently on bad terms with him. So uh… yeah" Ugh, he COULD NOT explain the concept of an ex to the kid, so he wasn't about to.

“Oh…” the young boy nodded again before leaning back in his seat. “But if he won't hurt you, why are things bad?” Peter asked, turning to face Chester as he wasn't wearing the seat belt, and likely didn't know about it.

"Geez pipsqueak, lotsa questions right now. Uhh, sometimes even friends have problems. Things happen. Things we can't control. And sometimes it's best to… seperate for a bit, even if you still trust the person." He looked to his side "Now sit down, I don't want to get pulled over because you don't have your seatbelt on." He pointed at the seatbelt hanging next to Peter.

“I’m sorry.” he said, sounding sincere for bothering Chester with his questions as he looked down and leaned back in the seat again. The boy looked to the strap hanging near him and pulled on it, surprised when it moved. If it wasn't for the strange piece of metal on it… it almost reminded him of… He quickly let go of the seatbelt and scooted closer to Chester.

"Oh. You don't know what that is do you? That's just a seat belt. It holds you down just in case the car stops abruptly or we get in a crash. Don't worry about it though, just don't let people see you." He looked back at Pip worriedly. Kid was messed up. And now it was Chester's problem. He might have minded if it was any other situation, but this kid didn't let him be mad. "Also, you don't need to apologize." He turned the car and entered a tunnel leading to the edge of town. It's been a while since he's been to Omar's house. Last time he was there… ugh, he didn't like thinking about it. "Almost there kid"

Pip looked back up at Chester and nodded, he really didn't know much about these kinds of s things. But he brightened a little as he moved back in his seat. “I can do that!” he said once the purpose of the seatbelt was explained. Instead of reaching for it again, Pip made a strap of shadows about the same size as the seatbelt and laid it across his lap. “See? I’m safe.” he smiled, feeling proud of himself for coming up with his own solution.

"WHA-!" The car almost swerved into the wall of the tunnel when Chester saw what happened "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" He yelled at Peter, accudentally a bit too aggressive. His eyes kept switching between the narrow road of the tunnel and the belt of shadows strapped to the kid next to him. "Please. Please explain."

Pip yelled at the sudden movement of the car and Chester yelling at him. The shadow around his lap moved to cover him like a blanket to hide him. “I…” he whimpered from underneath his little shelter. “I can move shadows. It's why they want me back. They make me do things with the shadows.” he made himself answer through small hiccups, trying not to cry.

Chester took a deep breath and whispered to himself "Wow. Ok. Scary scientists experiment on a small child with mutant abilities. I'm in some anime shit. Shit." He saw Pip covered himself fully after he yelled, and he felt bad, even if it wasn't on purpose "Sorry kid, I shouldn't have yelled. I was just… startled. That's not something that happens often here in the outside world." He heard the hiccups and sighed "Don't cry kid, I promise I won't hurt you. We can be… friends" Felt strange to say, but he was getting better at this comforting stuff.

Pip slowly brought the shadows down, uncovering his head but still a bit shaken as he rubbed at his face. He knew what he could do wasn't normal. They constantly reminded him of that fact. Using words like; fascinating, unusual, remarkable… Freak. He let out a shaky breath and looked up at Chester. “Friends? You promise?” he asked, his small voice softer than before.

"Yeah. Promise." He smiled slightly. He didn't smile often, so he hoped it was a nice smile and not a creepy one. He stayed silent for the rest of the car ride. He pulled out of the tunnel, into a neighbourhood at the edge of Thomasine City, Paradiso Haven. "Hey kid, we're here" he said as he parked in the driveway. Paradiso Haven was a series of two story apartments lined up horizontally. The place brought back a lot of memories.

Pip smiled shyly back as the shadows melted back into his version of the seatbelt. He wanted to trust Chester. It helped that he wasn't like the people he had known most of his life. He seemed nice and hadn't hurt him yet. During the quiet of the rest of the ride, the boy looked up out the window and just watched everything fly past until he got dizzy. When that happened, after they were out of the tunnel, he just looked up higher at the stars.
He looked back at Chester when the car stopped and let his shadow belt disappear. “Is this the safe place with your friend?” he asked, looking up at the new building.

"Yep. This is it." He had a sort of bitter look on his face. He sighed and got off the car, heading over to the other side and opening Peter's door. "C'mon." He nodded his head towards the apartment before him "I have a feeling you'll like him. Also, there's no way I'm showing up at his door alone."

Pip slid out of the car, since he's so short, and stayed close to Chester as they walk to the door. “Really? Why?” he asked as he wondered why the man would think that. Though he was also hoping that things weren't so bad between the two that Chester’s friend wouldn't help them.

"He's really good with kids." Chester answered plainly as they headed to the door of the apartment "And he's just good at socializimg in general. I think it's how we became friends in the first place. I'm no good at any of those things and he's… basically the best at them." He sighed, a little dreamily this time, before shaking himself off. "Alright… now or never I guess…" he knocked on the door and it was almost immediately answered by a tall, darkskinned man with an orange beanie, sticking his head out the door, and in a sing song voice, asked "Who is i-?" before stopping abruptly and clearing his throat, opening the door fully. "Chester! Heyyy…" his eyes looked anywhere but at Chester's. "Oh. You brought… a kid?"

“Oh.” Pip nodded, pretty sure he knew what Chester meant… Though because of the boy’s limited experience with people, he didn't think that Chester was bad at it. But he giggled a little at the funny way the door opened, taking a step closer to his only friend when the other man saw him. “H… Hello.” Pip said softly, feeling like he should say something.

"Hey little bro! How's it hanging!" Omar shifted his gaze to fully focus on Pipsqueak. Chester just rolled his eyes with his whole body, crossing his arms. "What's your name?" He asked smiling at Pip

Pip giggled again at being called little bro but didn't move away from Chester. “Pip or Pipsqueak.” he answered smiling back.

"Pipsqueak?" He asked, laughing a bit "Well alright!" He looked back up at Chester's stern face and then back down, smile faltering a bit. "Hey, Pip, you can go inside and make yourself comfortable while I talk to Cheesy here alright?" Chester cringed at the mention of his old nickname. God, Omar was 34 already, when was he gonna stop being so childish. Omar looked back up at Chester for approval "Sure, go for it kid" Chester allowed. Not that he had to. He had no relation to this child except meeting him earlier that day in the woods.

Pip smiled, liking the other man’s laugh. He looked up at Chester when he was asked to go inside and giggled again at the nickname. “Cheesy?” he echoed, not expecting an answer but nodded when his friend said it was ok.

Normally, Pip wasn't allowed to wander without someone keeping an eye on him. Since doing so would get him in trouble… But he wasn't back there anymore so he took this opportunity to look around this new house.

"So, Chester…" Omar began "You have a kid now? Since when?" He asked, not waiting for Chester to answer " I mean, I didn't expect you to be the type to adopt as a single parent, but good on you! Unless you're… not single? Does he have a mom? A second dad? I mean, it was just last year that we broke up. Also what kind of name is pi-" "OMAR STOP!" Chester interrupted "He's not my kid, and I don't have a partner." He blushed a little, but hoped the darkness outside would hide it. " He just… he's a… he" Omar stopped him " Chester. Tell me. You didn't kidnap this kid." He said sternly. " Well, not exactly-" "HOLY SHIT CHESTER WHAT TH-" "SHHHHHH OMAR, THE KID COULD HEAR YOU" Chester covered his mouth " Listen, I found him in the woods after he escaped some kind of lab, I think, and they were chasing him down. I couldn't just let them have him and do weird tests on him." Omar took a deep breath, and Chester unclamped his hand from his mouth, wiping his hand on his shirt. "So… you're saying this is like the plot to some sort of Netlix show. Nice." Chester prepared to roll his eyes, but Omar made a good point "Yeah, basically." He answered. "Cool. Cool. And I'm the safehouse guy. Cool. Glad you trust me like that." He nodded at Chester and gave him a wink. Chester did roll his eyes now. "I'll try and process that over a good night's sleep." He said turning around "You can come in if you want by the way. Been a while" and it has been a while. Chester wished it hadn't been so long. "Yeah." He replied

Given his time in that place, Pip knew enough to figure out what was breakable and to not touch those things. The house was warm and friendly. And full of color. Unlike the plain white and sharpness of where he was from. The way this house was set up reminded him of Chester’s friend. But he couldn't help wondering how long they would get to stay here. Would those men find him again? Chester said that they would be safe here… The shadows around him darkened, ready to hide him again. And they nearly did when he heard Chester and his's friends voice get louder for a minute. He knew they were talking about him so he continued to look around the house moving a little closer towards the door so he could hear them better.

As he walked through the door, the familiar brightness fell over him and he felt the drill of nostalgia in his head. Omar really never changed. "Hey bud" he heard Omar call, and glanced over to the corner of the entry hall, where he saw Pip standing conspicuously. "Were you… listening to us?" Chester asked, a bit guiltily. He knew they were talking about him. Chester hated being talked about behind his back, so he assumed Pip did too.

Pip tried to duck back around the corner when Omar and Chester came in but, apparently, he wasn't fast enough. He looked up at them and nodded. “You were loud.” he said as something of a defense.

"Yeah, we were" Chester made a semblance of an apology. Omar chimed in "Sorry Pip, I didn't mean to yell, I just get carried away sometimes" he headed to the highly colorful kitchen countertop and asked them both "Y'all want anything to eat?" Then added "I know you're hungry Chess, you just came back from a hike right?" He looked him up and down and Chester looked away "No. Not hungry." His stomach decided to growl right then and there "God dammit." He blushed "FINE. I'm hungry. You Pip?"

“Ok.” Pip nodded, accepting the comment about getting carried away. But his nod turned eager at the mention of food. “Yes, I'm hungry!” he confirmed, scrambling over to the counter.

(sorry it's so short… and late. I'm at work rn)

"Great! I got some sweet potato casserole and maybe a caeser salad in the fridge if you want" Omar proceeded. "Yeah, I'll take some of both please and thank you." Chester responded. He pulled out a seat at the blocky pop-esque style chair from the table like it was second nature. He'd been here a lot. Omar went over and looked in the fridge "Oh! I also have gogurts!" He exclaimed, pulling out three long packets of blueberry flavored yogurt "Hey kid, do you know what gogurts are?" He asked excitedly.

Pip had to climb up to get into the chair and still had to sit on his knees to reach the table. “Me too.” he said in response to the food, mimicking Chester’s request even though he didn't know what either of those foods were. “No. What is it?” he shook his head. “Is it good?”

"Tch, is it good… YEAH IT'S GOOD!" Omar raised his arms "Take some" he held one of them out to Pip. Chester held his face in his hands to hide his smile. The dork was the same as he'd always been. His heart ached slightly thinking about it. But that was it. He rolled his eyes after taking his hands off his face. "Kid, as your not lactose intolerant, it's pretty good." He smiled slightly.

Pip laughed a little at Omar’s silly acting before taking the open tube. “What's that?” he asks Chester before squeezing the soft food into his mout. His eyes brighten and he lets out a happy little hum at the flavor. It doesn't take much longer for him to finish off the creamy snack. Though he whimpered a little as he rubbed his forehead. “Ah! Cold.”