Rock Bottom Doesn't Exist (you just keep going down)
The images of people fighting in the streets flashed across the TV screen. Peter barely noticed them, as he sprinted down the street with some angry store owner chasing him down. He's been caught dumpster diving and earned some negative reactions, like yelling, guns pointed at him, threats, and being called names. But none of them have ever reached the point to where he's chased him halfway across Hell's Kitchen. But hey, there's a first time for everything, isn't there? "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." With every step, Peter repeated the word. The infected cut on his foot provided a less-than-kind reminder that it existed every time he took a step.
"GET BACK HERE YOU GODDAMN HOBO! I'M GONNA SHOOT YOU DEAD!" The young store owner threatened loudly.
Peter heard people shout at him and the man chasing him, but he kept running. He heard the man scream after him, as he turned a corner, and disappeared into the crowd, a skill he'd gotten uncomfortably good at. He let out a weak sigh of relief, and looked up, spending a moment trying to figure out how far he'd run. He quickly moved to the side of a building to get out of people's ways, leaned on the wall, and kept his foot off the ground, trying to get it to stop throbbing. "Where am I?" He muttered softly to himself, looking around.
He looked around for a moment, before catching sight of The Ailey Studios, a popular dance studio in uptown Hell's Kitchen. It was at that painful moment, he realized, he'd been running the wrong way. Peter groaned sadly. "God, I am so far from F.E.A.S.T. right now..." He muttered.
Peter picked up his bags, yawned, and glanced at the setting sun. It can't be too late if the suns only just setting right? Early February, so probably, what, 6 o'clock? Peter tried to convince himself he'd make it back without having to use his powers. He really did. But he knew deep down all too well, that it would take him at least an hour to get back, and in doing so he'd have to sprint the whole way. And the odds of him not running into trouble were about as likely as jumping off a plane 5 miles in the air without any water or cushion of any sort and surviving. So pretty slim. He let out a deep sigh and began limping back towards the F.E.A.S.T. shelter.
In the end, it took about two and a half hours, so it was nearly nine o'clock when he got back. He opened the doors to F.E.A.S.T. and stepped in. He was quickly met with the receptionist. "Hey, Peter! I was worried you wouldn't make it back in time." She replied with a smile on her face.
Peter grinned weakly. "Hi, Miss Sophia. Yeah, well I'm gonna be staying here tonight. I just wanted some dinner and a shower, and well, with an infected foot I'm not walking to Midtown." Peter sighed, as he limped into the building.
"Before you go, go check up with Mr. Li! He wanted to have a word with you." Sophia, the receptionist, grinned.
Peter's face fell. "Oh god he's gonna lecture me about 'being out too late' and 'wandering around at night isn't safe'. Like I don't know that already."
Sophia barked out a laugh. "Oh, you know him. He loves children and as of yet you're the youngest patron we serve, so I know he wants to keep you safe." She reassured. "But I don't think that's it. Li's got something planned. He had that big old goofy grin he gets when he has a good idea when he told me to send you to his office."
Peter nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll head up after I get something to eat. I'm starving." Peter snickered, before limping into the shelter.
Sophia stared after Peter with a concerned look. "Where'd you get an infected foot?" She finally asked just as Peter opened the doors.
Peter looked up. "Uhh, I stepped on some glass. I already cleaned the wound, it's really not that bad." He lied.
Sophia gave Peter a hesitant look, before nodding slowly. "Okay. Yeah, alright. Get some shoes out of the container. Don't want to repeat history." She advised, pointing to his still shoeless feet.
Peter nodded, felt guilt crawl in his gut, before continuing into the F.E.A.S.T. shelter. He looked around and sniffed, taking a deep, exhausted breath. He stepped towards the kitchen area and looked up to a volunteer running the kitchen. "Hey, is there any food left?" He asked hopefully.
The volunteer looked up. He had light blue eyes, brown hair, and a black and white striped shirt with light grey jeans. He smiled. "Yep! I'm just making some now, you want one?"
Peter snickered. "Can I get three? I have a brother to bring one to." He asked.
The volunteer laughed and nodded. "Yeah, sure! We have plenty to spare." He said as he pulled out three sandwiches that were wrapped in foil.
Peter smiled happily as he took the sandwich. He looked around, smiling as he saw the familiar face of his brother playing chess with one of the older women at the shelter. "Hey, Harley." Peter greeted, walking over to him and standing behind him.
Harley jumped and looked up, before replying, "Hey, Pete."
His brother, Harley, was undeniably attractive. He was tall, had hazel eyes, and had mid-length wavy hair that he often tied up with a hair tie he keeps. He may be unhealthily thin, due to months of starvation, but he was lean and powerful, a force to be reckoned with. Despite their low rations, he always managed to keep some muscles, and he was one of the few people who didn't have superpowers and could still beat Peter in a fight. Although he was attractive, that didn't mean he was a perfect person. His brother was short-tempered and liked to shoplift on any occasion he can get. He tended to steal whenever the moment calls for it, even if they can last a few days without resorting to those methods. He was smart and he tended to let people know. He enjoyed showing off, especially his knife skills. He carried around a flat blade blue painted steel switchblade and he knew how to defend himself with it. Though, once you got to know him, he was incredibly kind and overprotective.
"Your turn." The old woman, named Maria, told him.
Harley looked down, staring the board, before moving one of his knights and capturing a pawn. Peter pulled up a chair and began narrating the game as a few other frequenters stopped to watch in amusement. "Oh, and Maria moves one of her pawns diagonally to the left to capture Harley's rook! But Harley makes a dashing recovery, by moving a bishop to a safe spot so it won't get caught! Maria makes the daring decision, by putting one of her knights at risk, by putting it right next to a rook. Harley skips out on the chance to capture the knight, and instead- OH! HARLEY HAS JUST CAPTURED MARIA'S QUEEN! MARIA IS IN TROUBLE NOW! THIS GAME IS GETTING INTENSE!" Between each of Peter's dialogue, there had been an almost awkwardly long silence, before one of them moved their pieces, allowing Peter to narrate. Each time he did so, Maria chuckled, while Harley did his best to not laugh and keep a serious face.
"And Harley is in a dangerous situation, as a simple pawn has his king cornered-"
"Peter I swear to god if you don't shut up," Harley said laughing.
"What're you gonna do? Fight me? Come at me you egg." Peter threatened back.
Harley immediately stopped what he was doing and began laughing heartily. "Did- did you just call me an egg? What the hell Peter! What kind of insult is that?" He shouted, holding his stomach as he began coughing. It took a moment for him to catch his breath.
"Uh, the best kind of insult you uncultured swine." Peter snorted back, as he handed Harley a sandwich. He tried his best to ignore Harley's coughing fits, which had become more frequent, painful, and longer as each day passed.
Harley nodded in thanks and moved his king to capture the pawn that had cornered him. Peter walked away and claimed two nearby beds for them. "I'm gonna take a shower, I'll be back in ten."
Harley just nodded turning back to the game. Peter entered the public showers and put his belongings into a locker on the far side of the bathroom, before grabbing the key to the locker, grabbing the provided towel, and closing the locker. He entered the shower, putting the towel on a higher shelf, closed the door, locking it, then undressing. He threw his clothes onto the shelf below the towel and turned on the shower which released lukewarm water. He began washing and let his mind wander as he did so. The truth of his infected foot was that he couldn't stick to walls with shoes on, what with the thick soles blocking his feet. So his feet get cut up by glass, metal, and really anything sharp on the ground. At this point, his feet have built-up dead skin so rocks usually aren't the culprit, but if he steps on a particularly sharp rock, then it could do some damage. This particular injury was from landing on a piece of glass, which absolutely sucked. He very well could have bled to death if he hadn't been close to a pharmacy and had spare cash. Since he's pretty much already actively starving to death, that wasn't fun. The heaviest he can remember him being, after the spider bite, he weighed only 90 pounds. Now, he weighed no more than 68 pounds. Light enough to make just about anyone uneasy. Thank god that the FEAST shelter provides enough food to keep me alive. He had done the calculations, he needs to eat about 14,000 calories a day but the most he gets is about 4-5,000. And he only gets that from not sparing anything. He eats garbage, the school lunches, whatever the school can spare, and whatever he can snag from the F.E.A.S.T. shelter without starving others. He has to visit about four shelters a day to get enough and he's still going to sleep with a growling stomach. Every now and then he'll get some food from saving someone, but it really isn't enough. But yet, he still can't thank F.E.A.S.T. enough. He hasn't done enough to repay Mr. Li for everything he's done. Enrolling Peter and Harley in school, providing food for them, making public showers with doors instead of curtains, the list goes on and on. Peter constantly swears he's gonna repay Li for everything he's done as soon as he has the money to do so, but as each day passes he gets less and less certain that he'll ever reach that goal.
As Peter finished showering, he turned off the water and began drying himself off, before putting on clothes, and leaving the shower. Peter carefully inspected his face in the mirror, before running his hair out of his face, and putting on his beanie. He limped out of the shower room, before heading up to Mr. Li's office as Sophia had suggested. He knocked gently, before hearing Li's familiar voice call, "Come in!"
He entered the room and smiled at the sight of the man. "Hey, Mr. Li." Peter greeted with a smile.
Li looked up and began grinning like a madman. "Peter! I was hoping you'd show up. You caught me just before I left, I have some good news for you. But it ultimately requires your consent." Li said as he bent over to pull a file out of his desk.
He quickly approached Peter. "It'll also require your brother's consent too, I wanted to tell you two at the same time. Is he here?" Li asked.
"Uhh, yeah. Give me a second, let me go get him." Peter turned and left the room, a rush of confusion overcoming him.
He carefully made his way down the stairs, wincing at every step. Finally, he reached the bottom and approached his brother. "Hey, Mr. Li wants to talk to us."
Harley looked up, sighed, and leaned back in his chair. "What'd we do this time?"
"I dunno, but he's got some idea that he needs our consent for."
Maria laughed. "Oh finally, he's gonna do it."
Peter stared at her. "Do what?" He questioned cautiously.
"Oh, you'll find out."
Peter gave Harley a confused look. "Should I be fearing for my life?"
Harley shrugged, mimicking Peter's expression. "Probably."
Harley stood up. "Thanks for the game, Maria." He thanked.
"I should be the one thanking you. Nobody wants to play chess with an old coot like me." Maria replied in a cheerful voice.
"Well, I think anyone that passes up a chance to play against you is passing up a great time," Peter reassured, smiling at the elderly woman.
Maria just smiled and laughed happily. "You boys stay safe." She chided gently.
"We will!" Peter and Harley replied in unison, as they turned to go up the stairs.
Maria was practically a grandmother to the boys, always keeping them company and always having a good-natured attitude. The boys ascended the stairs to Li's office and knocked lightly before entering. Li smiled when he saw the boys. "Hello Harley, how was your day?" He asked kindly.
Harley shifted, an uncomfortable look crossing his face. "It was okay, why'd you wanna talk to us?" He replied bluntly.
Mr. Li chuckled and smiled. "Okay. So I have an idea, but it requires both of your consent, as it revolves around you two."
"Okay..?" Harley encouraged, seeming irritated and confused.
"What's the idea?" Peter added.
"Could you two sit down?" He asked.
Peter and Harley exchanged looks before pulling up chairs and watching him quietly. Mr. Li took a breath and shook his hands before laughing softly. "I was hoping I could foster you two." He said.
Harley's eyes widened at that and Peter felt his stomach drop. Peter felt Harley tense beside him as he glanced up at the man. "I-I'm sorry Mr. Li, we're gonna have to decline."
The dark-haired man stopped and turned to them. "W-what?"
"We appreciate the offer but it's just... we aren't comfortable with something like that." He attempted. "Like, I'm happy you offered, and you've done so much for us, and I do trust you, but it's just... we just can't sir, I'm sorry." He sighed, avoiding his gaze.
Li took a breath. "Could... could you let me try to convince you otherwise?" He began.
Harley stood up so quickly the chair fell over behind him. "The answer is no, Li." He snapped.
"Harley!" Peter hissed, grabbing the cloth to his brothers' denim jacket.
"Look, it's nice and all, but we said no. Respect the offer." He continued, turning away.
Peter watched as Harley turned away and slammed the door shut. Peter flinched at the loud noise and several painful images crossing his mind before he shoved them to the back of his mind and turned back to Li and stood up. "I'm sorry Mr. Li, you know how Harley can be. We appreciate your offer, we really do, but we... we just can't. I hope you understand." He murmured, turning to the door.
"I do, Peter. But that's why I want to foster you, to help you past that." He called after him.
Peter smiled at the words before turning back to him. "Then I hope you can leave your offer open until we're ready to move on." He finished, exiting the room.
He felt a rush of guilt in his gut as he closed the door softly behind him. He winced as he walked down the stairs and looked around for Harley. After a moment, he found him angrily eating his sandwich by the beds Peter had claimed for them. "Harley-" He began as he approached him.
“No, Peter. I don’t want to hear it. He just asked to foster us! What happens when he wants to get rid of us? We get separated and we just go into another abusive household, until history repeats itself.” Harley hissed.
“He was just trying to help! You didn’t have to yell at him!” Peter whimpered back.
“Well, he shouldn’t have bothered! He knows what we’ve been-” Harley began.
“No, he doesn’t! He’s got no idea the shit we’ve been through and we agreed to keep it that way!” Peter interrupted.
“Oh come on Peter, you think he doesn’t know that we’ve been through shit? Why the hell would two homeless orphans be wandering the streets of downtown Manhattan?” Harley questioned harshly.
“I don’t know! But he’s got no idea what we’ve really been through! All he has are guesses that could be wrong or right!” Peter defended.
“Don’t be an idiot. It was a stupid idea coming here in the first place.” Harley snapped, turning around. “We should just leave.”
An angry expression crossed Peter’s face before he shoved Harley to the ground. “Don’t say that! We owe him so much.” He shouted at his brother.
Harley stood back up, before turning and socking Peter in the face. Peter stumbled for a few moments, caught off guard. Harley looked pissed. “We don’t owe him shit!” He screamed at him.
“Mr. Li has done so much shit to help us! Don’t be an asshole. He provides us food, gives us a place to sleep, put us in school-”
“Oh, and schools been such a great place for you.” Harley hissed back.
Peter’s head snapped up. “Don’t you dare-”
“Peter, you get taunted on a daily basis! We all know you can floor them, get them to stop and finally leave you alone, so why don’t you?”
“Okay, I do not get made fun of daily.” Peter snapped back.
“Don’t lie to me, I’ve seen the shit those kids put you through. They beat the crap outta you every chance they get!” Harley pointed out.
“They’re just being idiots! It’s not like their hits hurt me! We both know I’ve been through worse.”
“Not the point! Why don’t you fight back?!”
“Because they’re teenagers! Like us! They may be assholes but they’ll get what's coming to them.” Peter snapped.
“Oh my god do you seriously believe in karma? Look, karma’s a bitch, not because it hits you twice as hard as you hit it, but because it doesn’t always hit back. You ever heard the story where some guy got away with murdering his wife and two kids, and literally, nothing happened to him? He didn’t get thrown in jail, he didn’t get depression or a drinking or drug problem, in fact, he became pretty wealthy off their insurance! Nobody knew he killed them, he lived a good life! People only found out after he confessed in a diary that people only read after he died.” Harley rambled. “Moral of the story, karma doesn’t exist when you need it most.”
Peter went silent, not knowing how to reply to… that. “Harley... We got so off-topic with this. We can argue about the bullies later, but I really think you should apologize to Mr. Li.”
Harley turned around and shouted angrily, clenching his fists. He shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth and scowled. Peter watched his expression change carefully before he swallowed his sandwich and paced in a tight circle. "This is fucking bullshit." He snarled before he let out a long sigh. "I'm gonna cool down then... then I'll go talk to him."
Peter nodded slowly and turned away from him. "I'm gonna head to bed." He finally said.
Harley nodded. "I'll be there in ten." He sighed, leaning against the wall as a concentrated look.
Peter nodded and waved at him half-heartedly, before finding himself in front of the bed. He picked up his duffel bag and held it close as his eyes closed and his mind wander. He laid there for an undiscernable amount of time, but the last thing he felt was his brother crawling into the bed beside him to share what little warmth the two of them could muster up. After a few more moments, he fully relaxed and managed to drift away to sleep, unprepared for the days to come.