Chapter 398: Happiness (1/2)

Chapter 398: Happiness

In the living room of a homely Brooklyn apartment, Neo-York -

A boy woke up with a start, his face, healthily tanned fro under the sun, deathly pale Sweat pooled down fro in and out before he leaned backwards, resting against a rough synth-leather couch pockmarked with holes in need of repair

He sucked in a deep breath before leaning forward, palled to strea the s

Last night, he had stayed up waiting for his parents to come back, but they never did It was not unusual They were heroes, after all 'Justice never sleeps!' hat his dad would have said to hireen blanket wrapped around him He smiled That meant his parents had cohthtmares - they were all just that: drea?" A sleepy voice greeted the boy A man stepped into the room with a yawn

"Dad!" The boy rushed off the couch and hugged his father with all his strength Where his father had a tired tear welling up from the corner of his eye, tears of relief trickled down the boy's face

"Hey nohat's wrong?" The father looked down at his son with surprise he e man by all definitions of the word Plain face, plain features He had an above average physique, but somehow his aura of normality just coh, that was extraordinary It was not a picture perfect smile, not the type you would see on holo-boards with biosculpted models who had every little part of their bodies fixed He had atooth or two, some crooked, some yellowed, some chipped His lip was a little uneven because of an improperly healed scar

But the prettiness of a smile was always secondary to the emotion behind it

And his sht - the type that uards It was honest A mirror into a soul that arot captured, sos to you and, and-," The boy sniffled "You never caht here, aren't I?" The father picked up his son into the air, aiht up at his child It was an effective weapon, wiping away his son's fear and replacing it with a sroaned, closing his eyes as his red-tinted hair now dripped water

"Honey, how e around our son?" A woy shi+rt and pants stepped into view She was much more conventionally attractive than her husband with crystal blue eyes and aqua tinted short hair

Her hand was upraised, shi+y that made it obvious where the water ca I hed "I'll just keep quiet and fix us up some breakfast Can you take care of him until then?"

"Of course" The mother took the son from his father's hold and held the boy with equal ease No surprise there They were both trained heroes after all

Granted, they were just D-listers, but the son knew better than anyone that they were the best heroes If not to the world, then to him, at the very least

The father's head started to stea out his head His hair poofed back up to its usual spiky structure He got behind a kitchen counter and started to put on an apron with practiced ease

A very deserved practiced ease The son's father was an infinitely better cook than his , dear?" The mother looked to her son, worried But as any parent would, she hid her worry behind a cohter than her husband's

But it was still co," said the son After facing both his parents' shtmare had faded away, locked away in that chamber of oblivion where old dreams went to and never came back from "I'm just happy you two are back"

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"I've Blooer now that he elve, full of the energy that only the early teens could have

"What, really!?" The father whipped his neck toward the boy He was holding a voluertips involuntarily, triggered by the sudden excitement The book burnt to a crisp "shi+t! This fireproof coating's a scaer" Thebook that quenched the fire, though the book was still left irreparably charred

"Anyways-," The father tossed the volu it in an open trashcan "This is incredible! I always knew you had it in you, my boy! Tell me, what are your powers? Fire and water? Stea, so ityour mother and I are both Blasters"

"That's not how Alter genetics works," said the h indicator of what the child inherits"

"Heh, noa," said the father