As the family of four sat to eat, Ave and Rey tore away at the chicken with unflinching confidence that they would fall in love with their meal, and right they were.Though not only from the emotion aspect of their dear boy cooking for them, but also from the seasoning, even the burnt edges of the meat titillated their taste buds, at least to Ave and Rey. “Lemme have some!” Sammy asserted, him and Jess were stuck with a pile of neatly cut cheese and bacon potatoes, along with the parts of the chicken that were still intact. Kanoa held out his hand, shaking his head rapidly.

  “No, no! The burnt part is disgusting- and I think I over seasoned the meat…”Unlike his parents, Kanoa had first dug into the potatoes then his chicken. Both parents scoffed at Kanoa’s unnecessary critiques, giving a small piece of the burnt chicken to Jess and Sam. Kanoa postured snapped straight, anticipating some sort of judgement to be cast on either of his siblings faces, as they rolled around and played with the food in their mouth vapidly. Though to his surprise, their eyebrows rose and they both dove for more of the burnt pieces! “Ha! See? But seriously, No guys! You’re too young and it might give you the runs! When you’re older- Like next year?”

  Rey asked, turning to Ave.“Too early. When we say so.”“Like next year!”Rey retorted, smiling while eating more chicken. Both children complied unsatisfied. Kanoa stared at the four of them with curiosity. “Why’s it that my taste is so different from you guys- I love cheese, but you guys don’t, I hate a lot of seasoning, you guys love it- You even like burnt food! It’s not fair! Why don’t we have anything in common!?”“Of course we do. You have your fathers… love language. Yes.”“Oh yeah! My love language! About that Noa- I gotta tell you, however you’ve been practicin’ in the kitchen, it’s been workin’! When have you been practin’? While we’re volunteering?” Rey asked, while scarfing down his plate.“Oh yeah. I uh… I didn’t really know if I would be able to fly for a while, so I’ve been wanting to be useful in some way… Maybe be a chef…?” He asked, intrigued by the idea himself, but still vying for approval.

  “...Well, there’s no need for that anymore, is there?” Ave asked, turning to Rey. “Nope none at all!” Replied Rey cheerfully stuffing more food in his face! “Your only objective at this point of your life is flight. There is no time to be playing in the kitchen…” She said, while continuing to eat.

  He sat watching his family actually enjoy his food, confused. At first the sentence started off less as a question, but a genuine consideration. Even if Kanoa chose his words very carefully, to make the rejection hurt less, he was shocked to find them both, here, eating his food- Enjoying the part of himself he had poured into the meal,only to have everything dashed away. His frown started to cease. As he remembered, not everything was given to them. In an attempt to make himself feel better, he gently pushed the potatoes his parents' way.“Here! You’ve gotta try these!”

  Hesitant at first, both picked a potato from the container with their forks, gently placing it on their plates. Ave stared at it momentarily, judging the cheese.“You and your cheese…”Rey without much of a second thought ate the cheese infested potatoes, chewing methodically. At first Kanoa hadn’t thought he needed to doubt himself, however, as Ave began chewing hers, then swallowed, she couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle, along with Rey.“W-what?” “Your mother and I are actually lactose intolerant. We met that way!” Rey stopped eating. He looked up to the ceiling with a fond remembrance in his gaze. “I can’t believe I almost forgot… The days used to be so slow back then- We weren’t where we wanted to be. I wasn’t a cave diver, and your mom wasn’t a scientist. We both uh- hate- I mean strongly disliked-!”He corrected extending his gaze over to his younger children to serve as an example.“Volunteerin’… So we were completely broke! So one day, we both coincidentally made our way into this old Diner- What was the name?”Ave paused, squinting her eyes towards the wall, as if she were looking for an answer.“Classy… Clee-”“Classy Cleetus! That’s the one!” He said wagging his finger boisterously.

  “We met there- I was by the window seat- You were in the booth to my right and well, with no money to buy dessert your mom comes over to me- and says in the MOST sweetest tone. “Got any money for a cheesecake?”He made his voice into a poor, nasally imitation of his mother, Kanoa stared at his father, puzzled by what he constituted as “sweet”.“Don’t you look at me like that! You’ll get it one day… Anyway, I was flabbergasted cuz I was gettin’ the same thing! But I only had enough money for one- So we both shared, ate it, and had the worst diarrhea of our lives!” Ave shook her head. “It's true… Since then I haven’t been able to look at cheese since.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “What!?” Kanoa exclaimed, utterly confused by where this was going!

  “I don’t get it then- why’d you guys end up together? Why’d thinkin’ about this make you laugh!? And, why’d you both want cheesecake when you knew you were lactose intolerant!? (You’re still chewing it even now!)” “Because…” Ave gulped the last of her cheese potatoes, then lifted her hand to Rey’s cheek, staring at him with a familiar look that shot a pang of euphoria into Kanoa’s head. “You father and I are the type of people where even a taste of something delicious- Something great, is enough for us… Even if we do blow out our insides. It’s our desire for greatness”

  They both leaned in pressing their lips against each other. Sammy and Jess scorned them, though Kanoa seemed in awe. They wanted him to fly for a reason, they wanted him to strive for greatness, he now fully understood. Pulling back, Ave’s eyes stayed on Rey, whereas Rey appointed his attention to Kanoa.“Y’know Noa… When you get a little older, you’d make a-”

  “A really good catch!” She said, her eyes still on Rey. At first Kanoa couldn’t process the sentence, he cringed at how out of left field it was for him. “Hey! Quit stealin’ my thoughts!”

  “Why do you even think that…?” His face bordered on being extremely uncomfortable yet flattered at the thought that his cooking convinced them of this.“Cuz you’re my special boy!”

  Kanoa’s eyes drifted briefly.

  “And, you’re one the most considerate people I know… We really needed this Kanoa… I only hope that one day- After you have your time in the sky, you meet someone who fulfils you- completes you. Someone who you never feel trapped with.” Rey glanced at her, surprised she would be so heartfelt when they were only being playful, Kanoa as well. However, something hadn’t sat quite right with him he thought back to the pills waiting for him upstairs. He knew he hadn’t been fine the way he was, whether he could fly higher than anyone else or not, something wasn’t right about him, inside or out. The thought made his lip quiver slightly.

  “... Not possible…”“What? Why not?! You’re a great kid- ! Anybody would be lucky to-”“No, that’s not it! I just mean that complete part. I don’t know anyone my age- who doesn’t fly, I don’t know anyone who likes to cook, or bake, or hang out in the park fish watching… Stuff like that. I’m too different. I don’t think I’ll ever be as lucky as you two.” Ave, a bit taken back by his self deprecation, was at a loss for words. His siblings, not taking kindly to his negative self-talk, dejectedly played with their food, frowning a bit.“That’s not true at all!” Rey barked with a bit of defensiveness. “Your mother and I may’ve had things in common- but you don’t just like someone cuz you like the same things, it’s cuz you love em!” “Yeah I know that… But don’t you think it always starts with one thing?”Confused, Rey replied.“Well yeah… But you-”

  “I’ve got red hair, I'm fourteen years old, I love talkin’ to animals, I cook, I eat cheese even if everybody else is lactose intolerant, and want to eat it every day of every year, and I don’t fly! The one thing everyone is supposed to do…” He thought back to Sam gifting him the muscle relaxer.“Even for some of the other people like me there… They’d never wanna just hang out with me down here… Not really, I know that… They never could. Especially when I have…”

  He paused, holding his tongue.. “I’m just not like them.”The room became even more silent. Ave stared at Kanoa, possibly reading for any change in expression, though Kanoa felt that if he raised his head, something inside of him would come apart. “Noa… You’re not like everyone else. But that’s what I love about you. You’re special. You’ll fly soon, and then you’ll see the people you’re like, alright?” He said, his words slowly cheering up himself and Ave, though not Kanoa. Not one bit. “Yeah… Okay…. I get it… Yeah!” He gave a feigned smile. Ave’s gaze shifted. “My bad, dad… I was thinkin’ about it wrong… So…….. You guys feel like you wanna…?”Before he could answer a loud moan erupted from Ave’s stomach- A heavy blush ran from her face as Rey’s bladder danced alongside hers.

  “Oh shoot… UH- ME FIRST!” “REY!” As they raced for the bathroom, the children followed them both into their room, swinging past Kanoa. After they leapt past him, Kanoa brought his head down indignantly, whispering to himself. “Body integrity dismorphia…”

  Later that night, as the antics of everyone else died down, Kanoa was left to feel his unwanted-unecessary emotions. There was no chance anyone could genuinely want him as he is. Not his parents, nor his siblings, the world, but especially not himself.

  And so, with quiet footsteps, and pill in hand, Kanoa left the safety of his room, where he would normally absolve his feelings behind closed doors. Instead, he headed towards the sink to pour himself a glass of water. Kanoa began hacking away as he had taken his pill. Down the hall the noise was not at all obvious rather subtle. Although Rey and the kids alike slept with no problem, Ave’s face became drawn with a deep fear, as evident by her pleading moans and constant writhing.