Halo (writing dump)
Things still haven't been going so well, but I thought I'd drop by with a little update of some kind. There are uploads on deviantART called "sketch dumps", where artists just dump off all the doodles they've done, any practice works. I figured I'd continue my tradition of throwing my writing doodles at you guys here, because I do try writing every now and again.
Actually, this one is a year old now. I started it at random in March 2015, because I wanted to keep writing about lil' Eduardo. ღ I had a few ideas bouncing around my mind from reading the old '80s Invasion! comics; and it was also inspired by the totally coincidental crack-pairing with Starfire which happened outta the blue when my friend and I did a dA meme. (LOL) I got such a kick outta it, I redrew our happenstance moment, as well as an illustration for a scene I imagined:
:origin()/pre05/fdb4/th/pre/i/2015/008/6/6/goldenfire_by_hlwar-d8d47ld.jpg)
:origin()/pre13/4040/th/pre/i/2015/147/d/0/i_can_see_you_running_by_hlwar-d8uykks.png)
At first I named the pairing "GoldenFire", but I soon started calling it "Halo" because all my scenes, all my character perspectives, all the messages I was hoping to convey, were beginning to be inspired by the song from Starset: ( listen here )
Now, there wasn't going to be much continuation with the whole Starfire ship. That was just for fun; at most, she was going to help Ed learn to cope with his powers. And maybe learn to accept some aliens, since I'm certain he'd thoroughly dislike aliens after the Reach's abduction and experimentation. Not something one would easily get over, I feel.
Anyway, Halo was still something of a headcanon at the start, in every sense. I was thinking about why the creators of Young Justice would change the origins of El Dorado, originally a superhero from Mexico. Ed Dorado Jr. made a lengthy runaway journey to be with his father, leaving from Argentina to Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A.; whereas Mexico would have been a bit more practical. So my geeky fan-theory was because it had something to do with Argentina's own DC canon superheros, the Super Malón. I kinda thought it might be cute to have their leader, La Salamanca, be Eduardito's mother.
I could babble for eternity on canon and ideas/reasoning, but I'll refrain. XD Here's what I wrote out so far, but I'm not sure if I'll ever pick this idea back up.
Halo
a Young Justice fan fiction
Chapter 1.
His father had been rather... abrasive the past few weeks, and Eduardo wasn't sure why. He kept wondering if he'd done something, but not a single occurrence came to mind. He was studying at his best level, he didn't get into fights anymore, and he only had a small group of friends in Taos. There wasn't much he could do wrong.
And he was still "retired" from heroics.
But lately his father barely spoke to him, and he was a little standoffish when he did. It was not like Dr. Dorado's tactics for trying to plead his son to visit S.T.A.R. Labs. Those had been meek and random, full of pleasant niceties in an attempt to win his meta-powered child over. Besides, S.T.A.R. seemed highly uninterested in finding a cure for the meta-gene, and he had no health reasons to return to the testing. His father seemed fine with leaving Ed be.
However, Ed was growing upset at the distance building between them of a sudden, and somehow he knew there was something wrong. It was his turn to not leave the other alone.
So in an attempt to break the morning hush, which became habitual, Ed said in cheerful jest, "Come on, Papá, just let me sign you up." He poked his finger on the laptop's screen, indicating the website he pulled up. "In this day and age, everyone gets girls online."
At the kitchen island, Eduardo Sr. suddenly tensed, shocked. "I thought you were raised better," he said, shaking his head with a slight look of disgust.
Ed laughed. "Sorry, that did not come out delicate. I meant Internet dating." When the senior huffed, he asked, "What are you gonna do when I go to college?"
"The same thing I did-before."
The slight pause near the end caused a pin-prick of old resentment to shoot through Ed; he knew his father was going to say: When you were in Argentina. Even though they had buried the proverbial hatchet, some topics remained touchy.
Maintaining his good humor, Ed tried to keep the conversation going. It was the most words they had exchanged in awhile, and the casual subject, despite the silly awkwardness, was better than the heavy silence. "I can keep it local. I know you are busy."
"Eduardo," his father cautioned, his tone implying his dislike for the topic.
Now feeling hurt, Ed rather forced a side-grin and teased, "Okay, then how about I sign myself up?"
Ever the factual scientist, his father said, "You are underage."
"Doesn't mean I can't tick the '18-plus' box on the user agreement."
It seemed like his Dad was no longer listening, his expression distant, a man lost to the buried thoughts in the back of his mind. "Enough," he finally replied. "Just finish your breakfast and get to school on time." He set his full coffee cup in the sink and picked up his car keys.
"You leaving for work already?"
"Sí, I have much to do."
Yet Eduardo Sr. stopped at the door. Without raising his eyes to his son, he opened his mouth to speak again, then thought better of it; he nodded a farewell instead. Ed bit his lip, knowing something was the matter and he'd been on the cusp of discovering what it was. But his father held back, shut him out, and Dr. Dorado left without another word. Always a rock, cold and stubborn, Eduardo Jr. knew his father would keep secrets to the grave if necessary.
He didn't like it. Since coming to America, and even after everything he endured, Ed finally gained the relationship he always wanted with his parent. Having that acceptance made him notice more than his childhood hopes and pained memories; all the effort to get noticed, the planning and running away, had paid off in the end. Now he actually felt bad for his father, the professional workaholic, especially because he knew how it was to be alone.
And if there was a problem-if he had done something wrong-he wanted to face it head-on.
Turning back to the computer, Ed set his fingers over the home-keys. He closed the online match-making site and opened the email server. He wasn't much of a hacker, but he knew enough to get him access to even cryptic messages. Ed was good at breaking rules, and it took him only four tries to crack the passwords and encoding.
* * *
Eduardo Dorado Sr. quietly sat in the briefing room with the other department chiefs. Not that he had received a promotion, but since Adam Strange was currently on Rann it left him in charge of the Erdel Initiative. He hadn't expected the prompt request for his presence upon his arrival at S.T.A.R., but then open availability was often a requirement when the Justice League was involved.
Black Canary was saying, "We received these images from N.A.S.A.'s observation satellites, taken last month at random in the sector surveillances." The room went black to allow the video monitor to project stills animated in sequence. "It's hard to see, and the satellite doesn't circle completely."
Dr. Dorado tilted his head as he gazed at the space images. It was indeed difficult to discern anything other than darkness and stars, but a grainy haze outlined a shape in the sky.
"A cloaked vessel or container?" a scientist offered.
"That's what we thought," Canary said, "so we've pulled up this video feed from the Watchtower's own surveillance systems."
Now the stop-motion satellite images were replaced with real-time footage. Yet the object in question seemed even more elusive and vague as it disappeared in an instant. The video was repeated, over and over, for them to judge.
"You can see it's there, then gone, which is why N.A.S.A. wasn't all too concerned." Not typical of him, Eduardo felt a rise at that, considering how close Earth had come to destruction from both the invading Reach, as well as the alien Warworld. "We just want to make certain there is no cause for alarm."
A few voices lifted in theories, several in agreement that it was most likely nothing. Eduardo remained silent as he watched the video loop, and, staring at it so openly, he noticed the outline flicker only once, fast, in a ring of dim golden light.
Standing inconspicuously off to the side, the young leader of the Team seemed to catch his narrowed eyes. Aqualad was perceptive for his age, and he asked, "Do you see something, Dr. Dorado?"
Feeling slightly unsure, Eduardo unconsciously smoothed his goatee as he pondered the variables and conditions. He replied, "A hyper-jump. But perhaps..."
"Doctor?"
"It looked like Zeta light."
Now the room came alive with hushed voices. "Is that even possible?" someone asked from behind him. "What about the shield?"
And that's where Eduardo knew his doubts stemmed from. He shook his head. "It should not be possible."
"There could be a breach in the shielding?"
"I will run another diagnostic."
"We need to consider what jumped, and whether or not it's still in Earth's atmosphere," Black Canary said. "So far we see no evidence of any other aggressive alien activity, or any signs of foul play. But after everything else, better to be safe than sorry."
"I feel like we've become the offices for the Men In Black." The displaced joke earned some guffaws and snickers.
"Could it simply be an optical phenomenon?"
"Whereabouts was this seen?"
"Over the South-Western Hemisphere."
As the discussion escalated into various thoughts, opinions, and possibilities, while others still planned out their tests and courses of action, Eduardo couldn't help but feel even more weight settle across his shoulders. He helped construct the Zeta shield, and with Dr. Strange off-world it would become his sole responsibility to resolve any issues. It couldn't have happened at a worse time.
Because he still had to deal with his son...
* * *
After the long day and over-time hours he clocked, Eduardo Dorado Sr. was not ready to face the wrath of his child. He had intended to put the news off awhile longer, especially now. But Eduardo Jr. was not about to give him the chance.
"How could you not tell me?"
The anger hit him like a slap in the face as soon as Dr. Dorado opened the front door and crossed the threshold. It startled him, quite direct and sudden. Ed was standing in the living room, fuming, and it looked as if he had been there all day, impatiently waiting for his father to come home.
His paternal instincts kicked in and he couldn't stop the irritated thought. "Did you not go to school?"
"How could I, after finding this?" Ed went to the table, picking up computer print-outs and holding the stack out to him, an accusation. He repeated, "How could you not tell me?"
His father sensed old days and past fights resurfacing, and his internal barriers rose up in defense. Sighing in frustration, Eduardo Sr. finally closed the door. He was certain it was found out, but still he mumbled heatedly, feigning ignorance much to his discredit, "What are those?"
Ed gave a breath of laughter, a sound of nasty sarcasm. "Your emails, Papá. Your letters to grandfather."
The full gravity of the day-the past month-dropped down on the scientist like the world collapsing. He felt physically drained and browbeaten, pummeled to the floor. However, his son's attitude was harsh but not as he expected; he was sure the severity of the situation still had not presented itself, his junior as yet unaware of the bigger picture. And even now it was too hard to handle.
Passing a hand over his face tiredly, the senior said, "I would tell you in my own time, Eduardo. No entrometerse en mi cosas personales. I will not stand for it."
"¿Me estas jodiendo?" The disbelief in his son's eyes was overwhelming, the rage almost tragic. "Benjamín is my friend. Why would you not tell me he's missing?"
"Did you not phone your grandfather?"
Ed blinked, and the morphing emotions turned to a query, taken aback. "No. Why?"
"So you do not know everything." It was not a question in turn; his son obviously did not learn the entire truth from the computer communications-because a lot of it was too personal and needed to be discussed directly.
"Abuelo, he did not say much else..." The child's hands crumbled against the sheets of paper. The wall went up, Eduardo Sr. could tell; Ed Jr. sensed there was something else to the information, something he didn't truly want to hear.
"Sí, not in emails. We stopped exchanging letters when-"
Oh God, he couldn't say it; he didn't want to. But the boy stared at him expectantly, reproachful, and Ed was right after all. The children were friends and his son needed to know. "Benjamín murió, mijo."
"Died?" At the abrupt word, Ed's eyes widened, first in disbelief and then in shock. He seemed to struggle with the sudden knowledge, and he began moving his head from side to side, slowly, as if the action would make it untrue.
"No, that's not-I-I mean..." In the muted light, his father saw his eyes become glassy and his voice softened into a confused hush. "What happened?"
The grief-stricken child before him was the very reason Eduardo Sr. had such trouble with sharing the news. But it was not the only reason. Uneasily, he answered, "It must have been an accident. He did not go missing, mijo. He ran away."
Ed's head lifted proudly at the phrase, but the glint in his eyes hardened once more. "That's ridiculous. Ben wouldn't run away. It was not in him."
Eduardo Sr. fought to keep his expression passive, but he obviously failed to stay the grave disappointment from his face because Ed's suspicions and sadness turned to a pained offense.
"What?" the son demanded of the father. "I am not stupid. There is something else, isn't there?"
The senior's lips sealed tightly, but he knew the look he fixed on Ed was enough to explain.
"They blame me. Because I ran away. That is what grandfather is saying?"
There was an inner voice telling him not to do it, that his son had enough information to process for the moment, but Eduardo Sr. felt it necessary to put the entire truth out there. "He was your friend."
Ed was slack-jawed and his brows set low defiantly, obviously hurt something so horrid could be pinned on him, like some sort of ringleader. His father saw the tenseness in his frame, his hands curled into fists, and he looked ready to flee. Again.
The flush in his cheeks drained away, leaving the child looking pale and weak. Ed began shaking his head again, his glassy eyes red-shot and angry. "That cannot be. This is insane! They-" Suddenly, those tormented brown eyes held his father's in a challenge. "Do you think this is my fault, Papá?"
He didn't know how to respond, but Eduardo Sr. heard himself say, "It does not matter, Eduardo. You are in America now, you chose to come here. What they do is not your concern."
He did not mean it to be heartless, only as some kind of safety net; he wanted to protect his son, despite the fact he knew children often followed from example, influenced one another through peer pressure and a herd-like mentality to fit in. It was likely a chain reaction. But he didn't want to make matters worse, and so he spoke the words with little reluctance, thinking the facts consoling, the distance between countries a buffer from the accusations.
It didn't prove such as the tears finally fell from his son's eyes. Biting his lip, fighting back another verbal attack, Eduardo Jr. turned away. His father reached for him, trying to find a way to show sympathy, emotions still difficult for him to display openly, but his son jerked his arm away.
"Just leave me alone," he growled, stalking to his room.
Eduardo Sr. could do nothing but curse his own inhibitions and let him go.
* * *
Ed slammed his bedroom door shut. "Asshole," he muttered hotly to the closed entryway. But he wasn't certain who deserved the admonishment more, his father or himself.
To be continued... maybe...
Actually, this one is a year old now. I started it at random in March 2015, because I wanted to keep writing about lil' Eduardo. ღ I had a few ideas bouncing around my mind from reading the old '80s Invasion! comics; and it was also inspired by the totally coincidental crack-pairing with Starfire which happened outta the blue when my friend and I did a dA meme. (LOL) I got such a kick outta it, I redrew our happenstance moment, as well as an illustration for a scene I imagined:
At first I named the pairing "GoldenFire", but I soon started calling it "Halo" because all my scenes, all my character perspectives, all the messages I was hoping to convey, were beginning to be inspired by the song from Starset: ( listen here )
Now, there wasn't going to be much continuation with the whole Starfire ship. That was just for fun; at most, she was going to help Ed learn to cope with his powers. And maybe learn to accept some aliens, since I'm certain he'd thoroughly dislike aliens after the Reach's abduction and experimentation. Not something one would easily get over, I feel.
Anyway, Halo was still something of a headcanon at the start, in every sense. I was thinking about why the creators of Young Justice would change the origins of El Dorado, originally a superhero from Mexico. Ed Dorado Jr. made a lengthy runaway journey to be with his father, leaving from Argentina to Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A.; whereas Mexico would have been a bit more practical. So my geeky fan-theory was because it had something to do with Argentina's own DC canon superheros, the Super Malón. I kinda thought it might be cute to have their leader, La Salamanca, be Eduardito's mother.
I could babble for eternity on canon and ideas/reasoning, but I'll refrain. XD Here's what I wrote out so far, but I'm not sure if I'll ever pick this idea back up.
Halo
a Young Justice fan fiction
Chapter 1.
His father had been rather... abrasive the past few weeks, and Eduardo wasn't sure why. He kept wondering if he'd done something, but not a single occurrence came to mind. He was studying at his best level, he didn't get into fights anymore, and he only had a small group of friends in Taos. There wasn't much he could do wrong.
And he was still "retired" from heroics.
But lately his father barely spoke to him, and he was a little standoffish when he did. It was not like Dr. Dorado's tactics for trying to plead his son to visit S.T.A.R. Labs. Those had been meek and random, full of pleasant niceties in an attempt to win his meta-powered child over. Besides, S.T.A.R. seemed highly uninterested in finding a cure for the meta-gene, and he had no health reasons to return to the testing. His father seemed fine with leaving Ed be.
However, Ed was growing upset at the distance building between them of a sudden, and somehow he knew there was something wrong. It was his turn to not leave the other alone.
So in an attempt to break the morning hush, which became habitual, Ed said in cheerful jest, "Come on, Papá, just let me sign you up." He poked his finger on the laptop's screen, indicating the website he pulled up. "In this day and age, everyone gets girls online."
At the kitchen island, Eduardo Sr. suddenly tensed, shocked. "I thought you were raised better," he said, shaking his head with a slight look of disgust.
Ed laughed. "Sorry, that did not come out delicate. I meant Internet dating." When the senior huffed, he asked, "What are you gonna do when I go to college?"
"The same thing I did-before."
The slight pause near the end caused a pin-prick of old resentment to shoot through Ed; he knew his father was going to say: When you were in Argentina. Even though they had buried the proverbial hatchet, some topics remained touchy.
Maintaining his good humor, Ed tried to keep the conversation going. It was the most words they had exchanged in awhile, and the casual subject, despite the silly awkwardness, was better than the heavy silence. "I can keep it local. I know you are busy."
"Eduardo," his father cautioned, his tone implying his dislike for the topic.
Now feeling hurt, Ed rather forced a side-grin and teased, "Okay, then how about I sign myself up?"
Ever the factual scientist, his father said, "You are underage."
"Doesn't mean I can't tick the '18-plus' box on the user agreement."
It seemed like his Dad was no longer listening, his expression distant, a man lost to the buried thoughts in the back of his mind. "Enough," he finally replied. "Just finish your breakfast and get to school on time." He set his full coffee cup in the sink and picked up his car keys.
"You leaving for work already?"
"Sí, I have much to do."
Yet Eduardo Sr. stopped at the door. Without raising his eyes to his son, he opened his mouth to speak again, then thought better of it; he nodded a farewell instead. Ed bit his lip, knowing something was the matter and he'd been on the cusp of discovering what it was. But his father held back, shut him out, and Dr. Dorado left without another word. Always a rock, cold and stubborn, Eduardo Jr. knew his father would keep secrets to the grave if necessary.
He didn't like it. Since coming to America, and even after everything he endured, Ed finally gained the relationship he always wanted with his parent. Having that acceptance made him notice more than his childhood hopes and pained memories; all the effort to get noticed, the planning and running away, had paid off in the end. Now he actually felt bad for his father, the professional workaholic, especially because he knew how it was to be alone.
And if there was a problem-if he had done something wrong-he wanted to face it head-on.
Turning back to the computer, Ed set his fingers over the home-keys. He closed the online match-making site and opened the email server. He wasn't much of a hacker, but he knew enough to get him access to even cryptic messages. Ed was good at breaking rules, and it took him only four tries to crack the passwords and encoding.
* * *
Eduardo Dorado Sr. quietly sat in the briefing room with the other department chiefs. Not that he had received a promotion, but since Adam Strange was currently on Rann it left him in charge of the Erdel Initiative. He hadn't expected the prompt request for his presence upon his arrival at S.T.A.R., but then open availability was often a requirement when the Justice League was involved.
Black Canary was saying, "We received these images from N.A.S.A.'s observation satellites, taken last month at random in the sector surveillances." The room went black to allow the video monitor to project stills animated in sequence. "It's hard to see, and the satellite doesn't circle completely."
Dr. Dorado tilted his head as he gazed at the space images. It was indeed difficult to discern anything other than darkness and stars, but a grainy haze outlined a shape in the sky.
"A cloaked vessel or container?" a scientist offered.
"That's what we thought," Canary said, "so we've pulled up this video feed from the Watchtower's own surveillance systems."
Now the stop-motion satellite images were replaced with real-time footage. Yet the object in question seemed even more elusive and vague as it disappeared in an instant. The video was repeated, over and over, for them to judge.
"You can see it's there, then gone, which is why N.A.S.A. wasn't all too concerned." Not typical of him, Eduardo felt a rise at that, considering how close Earth had come to destruction from both the invading Reach, as well as the alien Warworld. "We just want to make certain there is no cause for alarm."
A few voices lifted in theories, several in agreement that it was most likely nothing. Eduardo remained silent as he watched the video loop, and, staring at it so openly, he noticed the outline flicker only once, fast, in a ring of dim golden light.
Standing inconspicuously off to the side, the young leader of the Team seemed to catch his narrowed eyes. Aqualad was perceptive for his age, and he asked, "Do you see something, Dr. Dorado?"
Feeling slightly unsure, Eduardo unconsciously smoothed his goatee as he pondered the variables and conditions. He replied, "A hyper-jump. But perhaps..."
"Doctor?"
"It looked like Zeta light."
Now the room came alive with hushed voices. "Is that even possible?" someone asked from behind him. "What about the shield?"
And that's where Eduardo knew his doubts stemmed from. He shook his head. "It should not be possible."
"There could be a breach in the shielding?"
"I will run another diagnostic."
"We need to consider what jumped, and whether or not it's still in Earth's atmosphere," Black Canary said. "So far we see no evidence of any other aggressive alien activity, or any signs of foul play. But after everything else, better to be safe than sorry."
"I feel like we've become the offices for the Men In Black." The displaced joke earned some guffaws and snickers.
"Could it simply be an optical phenomenon?"
"Whereabouts was this seen?"
"Over the South-Western Hemisphere."
As the discussion escalated into various thoughts, opinions, and possibilities, while others still planned out their tests and courses of action, Eduardo couldn't help but feel even more weight settle across his shoulders. He helped construct the Zeta shield, and with Dr. Strange off-world it would become his sole responsibility to resolve any issues. It couldn't have happened at a worse time.
Because he still had to deal with his son...
* * *
After the long day and over-time hours he clocked, Eduardo Dorado Sr. was not ready to face the wrath of his child. He had intended to put the news off awhile longer, especially now. But Eduardo Jr. was not about to give him the chance.
"How could you not tell me?"
The anger hit him like a slap in the face as soon as Dr. Dorado opened the front door and crossed the threshold. It startled him, quite direct and sudden. Ed was standing in the living room, fuming, and it looked as if he had been there all day, impatiently waiting for his father to come home.
His paternal instincts kicked in and he couldn't stop the irritated thought. "Did you not go to school?"
"How could I, after finding this?" Ed went to the table, picking up computer print-outs and holding the stack out to him, an accusation. He repeated, "How could you not tell me?"
His father sensed old days and past fights resurfacing, and his internal barriers rose up in defense. Sighing in frustration, Eduardo Sr. finally closed the door. He was certain it was found out, but still he mumbled heatedly, feigning ignorance much to his discredit, "What are those?"
Ed gave a breath of laughter, a sound of nasty sarcasm. "Your emails, Papá. Your letters to grandfather."
The full gravity of the day-the past month-dropped down on the scientist like the world collapsing. He felt physically drained and browbeaten, pummeled to the floor. However, his son's attitude was harsh but not as he expected; he was sure the severity of the situation still had not presented itself, his junior as yet unaware of the bigger picture. And even now it was too hard to handle.
Passing a hand over his face tiredly, the senior said, "I would tell you in my own time, Eduardo. No entrometerse en mi cosas personales. I will not stand for it."
"¿Me estas jodiendo?" The disbelief in his son's eyes was overwhelming, the rage almost tragic. "Benjamín is my friend. Why would you not tell me he's missing?"
"Did you not phone your grandfather?"
Ed blinked, and the morphing emotions turned to a query, taken aback. "No. Why?"
"So you do not know everything." It was not a question in turn; his son obviously did not learn the entire truth from the computer communications-because a lot of it was too personal and needed to be discussed directly.
"Abuelo, he did not say much else..." The child's hands crumbled against the sheets of paper. The wall went up, Eduardo Sr. could tell; Ed Jr. sensed there was something else to the information, something he didn't truly want to hear.
"Sí, not in emails. We stopped exchanging letters when-"
Oh God, he couldn't say it; he didn't want to. But the boy stared at him expectantly, reproachful, and Ed was right after all. The children were friends and his son needed to know. "Benjamín murió, mijo."
"Died?" At the abrupt word, Ed's eyes widened, first in disbelief and then in shock. He seemed to struggle with the sudden knowledge, and he began moving his head from side to side, slowly, as if the action would make it untrue.
"No, that's not-I-I mean..." In the muted light, his father saw his eyes become glassy and his voice softened into a confused hush. "What happened?"
The grief-stricken child before him was the very reason Eduardo Sr. had such trouble with sharing the news. But it was not the only reason. Uneasily, he answered, "It must have been an accident. He did not go missing, mijo. He ran away."
Ed's head lifted proudly at the phrase, but the glint in his eyes hardened once more. "That's ridiculous. Ben wouldn't run away. It was not in him."
Eduardo Sr. fought to keep his expression passive, but he obviously failed to stay the grave disappointment from his face because Ed's suspicions and sadness turned to a pained offense.
"What?" the son demanded of the father. "I am not stupid. There is something else, isn't there?"
The senior's lips sealed tightly, but he knew the look he fixed on Ed was enough to explain.
"They blame me. Because I ran away. That is what grandfather is saying?"
There was an inner voice telling him not to do it, that his son had enough information to process for the moment, but Eduardo Sr. felt it necessary to put the entire truth out there. "He was your friend."
Ed was slack-jawed and his brows set low defiantly, obviously hurt something so horrid could be pinned on him, like some sort of ringleader. His father saw the tenseness in his frame, his hands curled into fists, and he looked ready to flee. Again.
The flush in his cheeks drained away, leaving the child looking pale and weak. Ed began shaking his head again, his glassy eyes red-shot and angry. "That cannot be. This is insane! They-" Suddenly, those tormented brown eyes held his father's in a challenge. "Do you think this is my fault, Papá?"
He didn't know how to respond, but Eduardo Sr. heard himself say, "It does not matter, Eduardo. You are in America now, you chose to come here. What they do is not your concern."
He did not mean it to be heartless, only as some kind of safety net; he wanted to protect his son, despite the fact he knew children often followed from example, influenced one another through peer pressure and a herd-like mentality to fit in. It was likely a chain reaction. But he didn't want to make matters worse, and so he spoke the words with little reluctance, thinking the facts consoling, the distance between countries a buffer from the accusations.
It didn't prove such as the tears finally fell from his son's eyes. Biting his lip, fighting back another verbal attack, Eduardo Jr. turned away. His father reached for him, trying to find a way to show sympathy, emotions still difficult for him to display openly, but his son jerked his arm away.
"Just leave me alone," he growled, stalking to his room.
Eduardo Sr. could do nothing but curse his own inhibitions and let him go.
* * *
Ed slammed his bedroom door shut. "Asshole," he muttered hotly to the closed entryway. But he wasn't certain who deserved the admonishment more, his father or himself.
To be continued... maybe...