This is longer than expected, lmao

Enjoy!

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Kage Short Story: Just Family Problems

*TW: Physical/verbal/mental abuse, victim blaming (kind of), probably some other stuff*

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Kage leaned heavily on James's shoulder, taking in a long drag of his cigarette as he stared at the night sky reflecting on the water under the bridge. Silence hung comfortably in the air along with smoke.

It was these moments that Kage felt the most at ease, and the safest. With James he knew nothing and no one would hurt him, with him, he finally had a home.

Speaking of, he should probably check up on the only other family member he had that actually mattered. It had been a while.

"I think I'll go home tonight."

James shifted, gently nudging Kage into a sitting position and raising a questioning eyebrow. "Sorry, you mean the home you've been actively avoiding since I met you? That home?"

Kage chuckled, casually putting out his cigarette against the sleeve of his jacket. "Yeah, sounds pathetic when ya put it like that."

"Not pathetic, just unexpected." James replied, leaning back on the palms of his hands, dropping his own cigarette into the river below. "Can I ask what sparked this need to suddenly go back?"

Kage shrugged, looking up to the sky. "Just wanna check up on my sister is all. Haven't seen her in a month now."

"You've gotta phone, don't you? Can't you call 'er?"

Kage chewed on his cheek for a second before responding. "I tried, she's been ignoring my calls for two weeks now."

He could feel James's eyes on him without looking. "And you want to go see her?"

"I don't know, I think Martin and Yuli took her phone or something. It's not like her, she doesn't just ignore me."

"You said she was a goodie-two-shoes, right? So why would she get her phone taken?"

Kage sucked in a breath between his teeth, still avoiding looking at his boyfriend. "Well, they probably found out she was talking to me, they hate me enough that they'd do that. Try to either force me back or away completely. That's just how they do shit."

James hummed and gently grabbed Kage's hand, finally causing him to look over. James's eyes were gentle and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Do what you need to babe, as long as you don't get hurt and you come back to me, I have no complaints."

Kage felt himself relax and he smiled. "Thanks."

"Sure," The taller turned serious once more and squeezed Kage's hand tightly, a sinister look appearing in his eyes. "But if they lay one fucking finger on you I'll murder them all."

"Got it, though, who knows, Yuli and Martin may be asleep?"

James snorted. "At ten PM?"

"Eh, they're old. Old people go to bed early."

"Right." James shook his head slightly and smirked. "Just text me in the morning, or if you need anything at all. I'd rather not lose my job because I'm panicked over lack of communication with you."

"Will do!"

"Good, then I'll see you tomorrow. Love you!"

He leaned over and pressed a swift kiss to Kage's lips before shifting to jumping back onto the bridge. Kage smiled.

"See ya then, love you too!"

He watched for a moment as James disappeared back in the direction of their shared apartment before taking a deep breath and slowly pulling himself back onto the bridge and starting the hour-long walk toward the house of his adoptive parents.

Here goes nothing.

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When Kage finally reached his destination, he hesitated.

Realistically, just walking in was an absolutely shit idea. Especially at this time, but, as per usual, Kage hadn't really thought ahead. So, for several minutes, he found himself standing and staring at the house blankly.

Finally, he made a decision.

The window. Specifically his sister's window. Which, in hindsight was probably even worse than just barging through the front door, but he didn't die, so there's that.

Approaching quietly, Kage proceeded to knock rapidly on his sister's window, grinning when her face appeared seconds later, eyes glowing with threatening power. When her eyes found Kage's, however, her expression shifted to one of mild annoyance and she pulled the window open.

"Kage, what the actual fuck?!"

Kage grinned mischievously and leaned against the window ledge. "Violet! Miss me?"

Violet sighed in exasperation, standing back as her brother half-crawled, half-fell through the window. "Of course I missed you, you little shit, but you should be smarter than this, I was ready to kill you!"

"Ah, good luck with that!"

"Oh shut up, you know I could! And keep your voice down, Martin and Yuli are still in the living room!"

Kage huffed, allowing himself to fall back on Violet's bed. "Damn, I hoped they'd be asleep by now."

Violet raised an eyebrow, pulling the window back down. "It's not even late, Kage."

"They're old!" Kage whined, crossing his arms and pouting. "Old people are supposed to sleep early, why does no one get that?"

His sister chuckled softly and perched lightly on the bed next to him. "Sure. So, where have you been? I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk, Yuli took my phone after you called the second time."

Kage rolled his eyes. "Knew it. They fucking hate me."

Violet looked away, eyes dark with sadness, but she didn't deny it.

"Whatever, I'm good. Gotta new boyfriend, he has an apartment we've been sharing, he's really awesome!"

Violet smiled softly. "That's great, I'm glad you found someone."

"Yep! Hopefully you can meet him someday too! We can all be a happy family!"

"That would be-"

She was cut off suddenly as a rough knock sounded through the room.

"Violet! Who are you talking to?"

Kage tensed and Violet flinched. Opening the window now was a huge risk, it would make more unnecessary sound and Kage couldn't get out as quickly as he needed to, plus, shadow travel wasn't a real option right now. With less concentration and time, Kage had less control, and the darkest shadows right now were ones indoors. Kage couldn't risk accidently traveling into someone else's house.

"No one, sir!" Violet's response was quick but shaky, and Martin didn't believe it for a second. Unfortunately.

"I'm coming in!"

Violet gestured to the closet in panicked movements, but Kage wasn't fast enough, and he froze as the door was flung open, quickly adjusting his position to face Martin with crossed arms and a playful smirk.

"Heyyyy, old man! Been a while!"

For a moment, Martin seemed frozen, deep brown eyes slowly filling with understanding and then rage. "Kage! Where the hell have you been?!"

Violet tensed and shifted uncomfortably, eyes flicking between her brother and Martin. Kage, however, just shrugged casually.

"Out. Why's it matter to you, thought ya wanted me gone?"

Martin's eyes narrowed and he took a step forward. "You did not have permission to leave, you have your mother worried sick!"

Kage snorted. "What mother? You mean Yuli? Yeah, no, she's not my mother. My mother's dead, a tragedy really."

"Listen here, you little shit! Me and your mother have done more for you than you deserve, if it weren't for us, you'd be dead right now, and you can do nothing but complain and be disrespectful!" His hands were clenched into fists and his voice steadily increased in volume. "The least you can do is show a little bit of appreciation!"

Kage glared at Martin, anger growing in his own chest as the words were spit at him. "Appreciate you?! You've done nothing for me but talk down to me and make me feel like shit since I got here! I didn't ask for you to adopt me, hell, I never asked for anything from you! You only took me home because you wanted to boost your public image by adopting a 'troubled child,' you've never cared about me, neither of you! So don't expect me to listen to you, you're not my parents and you never will be!"

"Kage? How could you say that?" Yuli's voice interfered before Martin could continue to yell, examining Kage with a cool gaze that didn't match her soft tone. "We've sacrificed so much for you, we were all worried sick when you disappeared so suddenly! You should have at least left a note!"

Out of the corner of his eyes, Kage saw Violet flinch slightly and gritted his teeth. "You don't deserve that much." He hissed, doubling down as he sensed his sister's anxiety. "You're just a pathetic piece of trash who needs to feel validated by the public so you feel better about your stupid, fucking life! News flash, you're not special, and you don't deserve that validation because you are a pathetic piece of trash and you should feel bad about yourself, people like you only deserve to rot in jail and you know it!"

The slap came out of nowhere and Kage staggered back, grabbing Violet's dresser to keep from falling completely. His sister called his name and Martin stood above him, grabbing his jaw harshly, clearly seething.

"Don't you ever talk to your mother or I like that, boy. You know damn well that you're the only pathetic thing about this family, we've put up with your bullshit when other people wouldn't, but maybe that was our mistake. I should have set you straight the second we picked you up, no good could ever come from fucked up pigs like you. I know exactly what you were doing out there, you little whore, smoking, drinking, sleeping around with any guy that would let you in their bed. I knew you were trouble from the second I laid eyes on you, but I was naive enough to hope that you might actually amount to something in the proper environment. Obviously, I was wrong, fucked up kids like you will never be anything but a major annoyance."

Summoning all the strength he could muster, Kage shoved Martin away. It wasn't very effective, considering Martin was over half his size, but it was enough to make him let go, which allowed for Kage to back up towards the window again. His eyes strayed to his sister, who was watching with tears streaming down her cheeks, and Yuli, who held Violet's shoulders tightly, green eyes void of emotion.

"At least I'm not a grown ass man who built his whole career off of manipulation and thinly veiled judgements. That's the most fucking pathetic thing I can think of." He snarled the words, looking back at Martin challengingly. "Oh, and another thing, I don't think you'd get many clients if people realized you hit your own children, ya know, the same ones you claimed to save from abuse? I could destroy your whole career in a matter of seconds, old man."

"You little shit, I should kill you right fucking now!"

He took a couple of steps forward, only to be stopped by Violet's shrill voice. "Papa, stop! Don't hurt him anymore, please!"

Martin wavered for a second before sucking in a breath. "Violet, dear, please leave the room. You don't need to be here right now."

Violet opened her mouth to talk again as Kage cussed under his breath, trying to pull the window open again without turning his back to Martin, but Yuli's voice stopped both Martin's movement and Violet's further protest.

"Let him go, my love. He won't do anything to affect us, he's far too scared. If anything, he'll go sob in the arms of some strange man who only wants to use him like the pathetic little slut he is. There's nothing to worry about."

Her voice was calm, calculated, and Kage found himself freezing under her emotionless gaze, blood running cold. She wasn't threatening, but, somehow, the slightly glowing eyes and tight-lipped expression were much scarier than anything Martin could ever do.

Her husband grunted, rolled his eyes, and waved at the window. "Fine. Go, and don't you ever come back, you little bastard. I swear I will kill you next time."

Kage stayed frozen for a moment longer before swallowing hard and turning to yank the window open, only pausing once more when he was out to look back into Violet's glossy eyes. Her expression told him everything he needed to know and, despite it all, he smiled brightly, saluted her, and winked before turning and racing back in the direction of his and James's apartment, because, yeah, he was totally going to go sob in a strange man's arms and express how much he hated everything like the pathetic little slut he was. The only thing Yuli got wrong was that strange man's intentions. James loved him, really loved him.

Oh, and they might have something to worry about. James was also very willing to barge into the house and kill everyone.

That said, Kage counted this as a successful family visit. After all, no one died!