Lightning resisted the urge to rub his eyes. Or hit his head somewhere to make sure he hadn't nodded off in accident–

It was an exaggeration, he knew. But, just looking at what was unfolding! 

Since when that man had become so civil?!

Lightning's lips pressed together in a thin line. Petir was well aware of the fact his order had been blatantly switched. Yet instead of throwing a tantrum: raging, screaming, slamming the cup, or anything that included destruction, before his eyes was a perfect picture of tranquility. His older version settled the cup down to the table with grace before zoning out the street outside, not once throwing a daggers glare at him.

Where the hell did yesterday's blood-thirsty man go?

Lighting hadn't accidentally put anything weird into the hot cacao cup, had he...? No, it was impossible unless Yaya switched the tags of her ingredients without his notice. And even that, no way he could have mistaken cacao powder, milk, and cream for anything else.

His eyes glued on Petir all the time, watching his movements closely. It was a miracle that he hadn't received any sarcasm, no snide remarks, and even a threatening gaze. That alone push his suspicion further. However, in the end, the man simply stood up and departed, tactful enough to leave the cash under the almost full cacao cup.

Lightning's jaw hung as he watched the retreating back become smaller and smaller until it blended into the crowd at the end of the street. He wasn't sure whether he should feel glad or worry about that out-of-character behavior... Should he fear for his life? Who knew, this could have been one of that man's schemes. Once his guard was let down, there would be a hole on his forehead.

Lost in thoughts, Lightning hit his side to the edge of a table. The collision snapped him out of his trance just to see the tray in his hands bouncing off, as well as everything on it. They were flying in slow motion in his vision. Instinct scream at him to catch the falling objects, but in mind, he knew it was too late–

Suddenly, something inside him crackled, his body jumped on its own. When Lightning came back to his senses, all the things that should have fallen to the ground somehow had returned to his hands, safely on the tray. His surroundings had changed a bit. He dimly realized he had moved two steps forward, and some golden lightning fragments just faded in the air.

The first floor of the cafe fell in dead silence.

Obviously, Lightning wasn't the only one who is aware of the strange phenomenon. It was hard to miss the flashlight and frizzle sound, especially when the afternoon sky had become darker.

Sweat rolled down on his forehead and Lightning gulped at the fatal (?) error he had done. He could feel inquiring gazes burning on his body, the likely source of those things. The customers began to whisper among themselves.

"Mm-hmm?" A small hum cut through the awkward air like a hot knife through butter. "Seems like we'd have to expect an early rain season this year, yes?"

The attention was immediately directed to the cafe manager. Yaya was arranging a set of desserts on the counter as if nothing strange just occurred.  

"Lightning dear, please hurry to put that dirty tray away and bring this to table no.47. We are in a rush." She beckoned, looking at Lighting still frozen on his spot. There was something in her usual smile and gaze that was carefully hidden from the other. Luckily enough, his current frantic mind was still able to catch the message. 

"Ah- Yes...!"

Lighting wasted no more time to make his way to the counter, keeping his face straight. Their casual exchange proved successful, seeing the air inside the cafe slowly come back to normal. After all, a stray thunder of an early rain season was more acceptable than a waiter boy zipping in lightning speed to catch the falling tray. The customers seemed to deem it as some sort of light trick and returned to their chatting with friends.

Escaping the unwanted attention, Lightning let out a relieved sigh and gave Yaya a grateful look.

"Yaya, I–"

A slender finger placed on his lips, effectively cut him off.

"Save it, and be careful next time, 'kay?" Yaya winked, smiling. She swiftly took the tray away and handed him the set of desserts. 

"Off you go. The customers are waiting."

Lightning wove his lips and nodded, rushing off to attend to the said customers. A bit of pink dyed his cheeks.

Due to the change of the flow, the entire point of how his power had activated on its own was forgotten in his fluttered state.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly, much to Lightning's immense relief. By the time their shift ended, the sky had already been pitch black. The boy stretched his arms up after finishing sweeping the front yard. Now all that was left was waiting for Yaya to exchange words with the evening shift employee. Lightning rolled his shoulder. He felt tired, but it was a good kind of tiredness–

A mighty growl cut his trance short. 

Face lit up like a Christmas tree, Lightning hugged his belly, trying to quell that noisy sound in vain.

This traitor! Lighting hissed inside his head,  inwardly grimaced when he heard faint giggles from Yaya and the employee inside the cafe. This was so humiliating. He swore it was the first time his body react like this, and he was not that hungry, nor a glutton!

Lightning glanced up at the pink scarf girl who came up to him, excuses standing in the tip of his tongue. However, a warm hand pats his hair and stopped them from coming out from his lips.

"Easy, Lightning." Yaya smiled, not a hint of teasing inside her voice. "I'm feeling very hungry, too. Shall we go home?"

She rubbed her flat stomach as if to emphasize the words. And though Lightning didn't appreciate being treated like a kid, he did feel less embarrassed. Clearing his throat, he gathered his last dignities and nodded his head.

"... Yes, it sounds good."

Hoping that the red marks on his cheeks would dispel once they reached the mansion. He had enough chagrin for one day.

-----

Petir was on the table this evening. Lightning was sure he was having a deadpan look the moment that realization resigned inside his brain. 

That man stuck out like a sore thumb in the corner of his eyes, so ignoring him was simply impossible. It was fine. It was expected, Lightning guessed. As long as Petir was well behaved just like this afternoon, he could still enjoy his meal, a delicious and tasty meal in peace–

No, really. People just didn't simply change within one afternoon, and with a misplaced hot cacao cup no less.

Lightning was chewing his food with great effort when Petir's eyes dug a hole on his forehead the whole damn time. Karma was getting him back for stalking Petir back in the cafe. Still, to that man's credit, there were some improvements about his glare. It seemed to have less murderous intent than usual, and more analytical and calculative... 

He should have skipped today's dinner, Lightning bitterly thought. Then again, his traitor stomach would have never left him alone. That was the reason why he was sitting here, testing his endurance with the chiller than ice gaze that was constantly thrown on his way while stuffing food into his mouth. Everything tasted rather bland in this current situation, but it was better than having nothing to quell his hunger.

Lightning sometimes found it hard to believe they were technically the same person in the core, he and Pertir. To be more exact, he found it hard to understand why Petir hated him so much. Surely, he hated himself too at some decree. Still, that openly hostile was on another level. He couldn't guess half of the things that were running inside that head of his older version.

He didn't have a good hunch about it.

Only you know about yourself the most as they said. The uneasy feeling inside him increased at Petir's flickering attitude. The last thing Lightning wished for was being assassinated right the moment his guard was down.

Perhaps he should sleep with an eye open tonight, or he could just stay awake.

Distracted by his thoughts and Petir's intense gaze, the boy failed to realize the rest of the adults at the table were ogling at him as if they were watching something very amazing happened.

Their house guest just finished his second portion and processed the third one on his own, without acknowledgment or complaint.

Lightning didn't have a big appetite, anyone who had joined a meal with him once would realize. Unless someone, which spelled Yaya, pressed him, the boy would stop after finishing what was on his plate.

Thus, this new sight was certainly welcomed by the girl in pink, who always worried that Lighting ate too little for someone his age. Meanwhile, the two men at the head of the table raised their eyebrows and carefully gauged it and the possible cause.

Petir, well, Petir hardly cared for such trivial things. He had observed the younger boy without fail from the start anyway.

"... So this is what people call happy eating, eh? Or stress eating? I wonder."

That flippant statement met a scorching, not from Lightning, but from the person beside him. Angin raised his hands up in a mocking surrender then made a zipping motion on his mouth as Yaya gripped her silver butter knife. Anything on her hand could turn into deadly weapons if she wanted, he had learned it the hard way.

Tanah shook his head in resignation. How this family had never had a normal dinner escaped him.

------

After, that glorious dinner, albeit stressful, Lightning followed Yaya to the underground lab with a food tray in his hands, Ocho's dinner. Petir had been the first one to leave the table once they finished. He slid away without a sound when everyone cleaned up. following up with his brothers later. The rest of the brothers also scattered to do whatever they supposed. allowing Lightning to have room to breathe.

However, no one prepared him for this.

Horrible. It was the first thing that came to his mind as soon as Lightning laid his eyes on  Ocho. Even Yaya had to shift her weight at the zombie-like state of the engineer.

Black goggles were missing, along with his white coat. Blonde hair disheveled and heavy bags that hadn't been there when they met this morning appeared under the wearied electric blue eyes.

Just what on earth had happened after he and Yaya left?

"About the damn time." Ocho grunts. "Come in now!"

He grabbed their sleeves and yanked both of them inside with surprising strength for someone who possessed a small body and was in a poor state, and shut the door with his leg. On the way, Ocho pointed to a random table that was empty enough inside the lab.

"Just put them over there and sit down. We have a lot of things to discuss."

Lightning placed the food tray on the table as instructed and settled down on one of the empty stools before Ocho. The blonde dropped down his own chair and reached out his hand. 

"First thing first. Coffee, please."

Yaya wordlessly handed the bottle she was holding. Ocho flipped the lid open and wolfed down half of it in one gulp, ignoring the dry looks sent his way from the other two. Anyhow, an image of a late-twenties man with unhealthy habits overlapped his image in Lightning's mind. He guessed they were not kidding about the engineer's real age. Ocho breathed out a satisfied sigh and let go of the bottle.

"–I found the way to send the kid home."

Lightning's heart leaped on his chest at the news at the announcement. He almost jumped out of his chair to celebrate if not for the following phrase.

"But it is invalid... for now."

And his shoulders slumped quickly, so as his joy.  The disappointment was overwhelming. Imagining you were about to win the lottery but failed at the last number, and that was what Lighting was currently suffering. 

Yaya glanced at his dejected face with a troubled look. She turned to the engineer.

"For now. It means you have found the solution, right?" Yaya asked.

"Yes and no. To be honest, I am not even sure. It feels so frustrating." Ocho tussled up his blonde hair in emphasizing his annoyance. "Like the answer is right in front of you yet it's not. Finding out the way and paving a path to it are two different things... "

He threw his hand up. "Well, we will talk 'bout it later. Let's start with better and more certain news."

What was possible to be better than his hope to return, which was just brutely shattered? Lightning disheartened. He watched as Ocho pulled out a stack of paper before dropping down on the table. He and Yaya exchanged gazes at the dull thud it made, then to Ocho who was looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

After a moment, Yaya picked one of the pages up and read the content.

"... This is...!" She gasped, her eyes opened wide. Ocho smiled smugly in return and bounced his head.

"Yep. I did several structural analyses this morning and the results came out just... Let's say your little friend here isn't even counted as a human, much less a mutant. "

Lighting frowned a bit at the used term, but Ocho paid him no mind and continued. "The construction of his cells is something akin to the chemical composition for lighting. Whoever named him is damn right. This kid is made of lighting! It's crazy!"

"Artificial human or not, the technology to make something like him is beyond advanced to this world! No way in hell this kid belongs to our world unless magic really exists, which, sadly, it doesn't."

He stared at Lighting again, with new light on his eyes. Lightning unconsciously sank a bit and his frown deepened. He didn't appreciate the way Ocho looked at him.  It was the gaze of a scientist surveying a rare sample. 

A tactful cough from Yaya broke the awkward exchange between them. Ocho cleared his throat.

 "Anyway, congratulations. The chance you still can breathe tomorrow just increases."

"Erm... Thanks? I guess..." Lighting replied, unsure how to resort to that statement.

"Save that thank until I successfully convince those paranoid of my bosses to believe this madness." The engineer bushed off his words. Ocho shifted a yawn into his hand and murmured an apology while reaching out for the coffee bottle. However, Yaya was faster. She snatched it before he could and pushed a glass of water in his hand. Ocho frowned at her as if he had been wronged, in which the girl shook her head firmly.

With a pout and an inaudible grumble, Ocho drank the water. 

"Now we are at this." He carried on while settling the cup down. "After that discovery, I ran another structure analysis on his clock, and clothes as a further examination. Interesting enough. Our little friend and his belongings have a different atom structure and wavelength from ours. With the story he told, I dare to say his world and our world hold rather similar characteristics about nature and comprehension, but different in material structure... and so on."

His voice slowly became smaller and smaller until Ocho muttered the last part and something more under his breath. His eyes closed and his body hunched forward. Lightning squinted at the sight in front of him with mixed feelings as silence hung in the air.

... ...

... Was Ocho deep in thoughts or just dozing off?

When he was about to voice his question, the blonde head jerked up. Ocho's normal blue eyes were bloodshot. That alone scared the hell out of Lightning. He bit back a yelp and almost fell off his chair in shock, his heart pounding inside his rib. He had to place a hand on his chest to calm it down.

Yaya, on the other hand, watched them with an amused expression. She seemed oddly used to this kind of weird behavior.

"The real question is. How will we reach it?" Ocho groaned out loud and slammed his fist down the table, startled Lighting once more. "The closest thing our science currently has is an 85-megawatt nuclear reactor capable of firing billions of neutrons into a wall just to evince the existence of a parallel world, not a gate leading to it. Well, that method is matched with some details in the kid's story about how a Teleport Gate is active in his world, with unidentified energy beamed shot in the air and Boom!, the gate appears. Perhaps that nuclear reactor idea is the initial step for our science to reach–"

The more words were poured out, the less they made sense to Lightning. Don't get him wrong. Boboiboy loved science, sure, but that trail just wasn't divided to him. Solar had hoarded most of them for himself. And now his head was throbbing just by trying to catch up with the conversation. It was even worse than the time Boboiboy took a short-life Alien Mop language course from Gopal.

"Ocho, to the point, please." Yaya, having the same issue with him, cut in for both of their sakes. "And keep it short, please."

The engineer sleepily scratched the back of his head with an apologetic smile as he realized he had been ranting. Ocho coughed into his hand before concluding. 

"What I'm saying here is I will have to build a machine that can dig a hole in the space and lead us to the kid's world, from scratch. Yes, as insane as it sounded, that's the only way to send him back." He nodded as the other two stared at him open-mouthed. 

"Of course I have the groundwork that I dare propose that idea. There are some old documents and previous research relevant to this matter in my keeping. Hopefully, our technology is advanced enough to make it possible, somehow."

"Uhmm... I hate to interrupt but..." Lightning raised his hand and the engineer inclined his head for him to continue. "How long will it take?"

He has a feeling he'd hate the answer. Ocho tapped his chin. 

"I don't know. But fastest might be one year–"

"THAT'S TOO LONG!!" Lightning exclaimed. Despite having prepared himself, he stood up when his emotion got the better of him, earning an annoyed look from this world version of his friend.

"Look, kid." Ocho drew on as he crossed his arms, his voice frost. "Building a teleport gate isn't as simple as your... good-for-nothing explanation. It's a delicate process that needs strict calculation, accurate measuring, and careful experiment. You never know what you'll end up losing if you build something as complex as it half-assly."

"Unless you are fine with losing one limb or two after being teleported. Or being dropped in God knows where, I can reduce it by a week for you and be done with it. Less work for me anyway."

Whilst Lightning faltered the biting tone, he had no words to counter that naked truth.  

Yaya sighed under her breath and placed a hand on her temple. Ocho could be very sarcastic when he wanted to be, and it was a heavy blow to anyone who wasn't used to it. The habit of ridiculing with the undeniable fact of his always made it more damaging and worse than it should be.

Not to mention his tolerance was cut short by sleep deprivation and hunger.

"Alright, alright. Let's sit down first." Yaya broke the ice with a clap. "Both of you take a deep breath so we can continue."

The boys (?) turned to her before reluctantly following under her stern gaze. Both Lighting and Ocho refused to face the other. The previous tension air had turned into an awkward one. Yaya handed a cup of water to Lightning before grasping a candy bar on the tray and passed it to the blonde.

"Is there any way to reduce the time, Ocho?" She asked.

"... Can't say there isn't... But–" Ocho grunted as he tore off the cover and munched the long, thin, sweet food, deliberating over the answer. "I need to give it more thought, and it also depends on the Don's decision. So I won't promise anything."

Yaya nodded her head in acknowledgment.  She placed a hand on Lightning's arm, prompting the boy to raise his face.

"Well, then it's not totally hopeless, right? At least we secure a way for you to return. We can work on the issue about time later."

Lightning weaved his lips. He was still ashamed of his previous outburst. But Tok Aba and his father always said if he knew he was wrong, did his best to make up his mistake. Lightning sighed, scratched his non-itchy nape.

"I'm sorry for the outburst just now." He turned to Ocho and bowed his head. "It was wrong of me. And thank you for helping me out. I really appreciate it."

Had he looked up, Lighting would have seen the wonder on the engineer's face. Ocho had stopped to eat his snack and ogled at the boy who had not yet raised his head up until a snicker left his lips.

"What's so funny?" Lightning glared at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Ah, my bad. It's just so refreshing to see Petir being so honest." Ocho chuckled in a good manner, and grinned evermore at the other boy's puffed cheeks. Well, who could stay mad at this level of adorableness?

"It's fine, kid. No harm is done. I'm sorry for this foul mouth of mine too." He said his part after tossing the rest of the candy bar into his mouth. "Just to be clear, I agreed to help you of my own volition. So quit the formalities, you'll put me in a tight spot."

"Besides, it's not like you have a free exemplar running around every day..." Ocho whispered in a singing tone while wiping his lips with the sleeve of his white coat. Electric blue eyes glinted with mischief but it vanished quickly as Yaya narrowed her eyes at him, replaced by a very guiltless smile. The exchange only lasted a brief moment, so Lightning remained in blissful ignorance.

"As I said, we will have to wait for what the Boss says about this." Ocho smoothly switched the topic that Yaya lost her chance to corner him. "In the meanwhile, I will try to fix your powerband. It won't be a problem to leave it here with me for one night, right?"

Lightning nodded his head in affirmation. The engineer didn't miss a beat and addressed the girl beside him. 

"Yaya can you prepare more supplies and bring them to the practice room tomorrow morning ?"

"Sure...?" Yaya agreed, suspicion evident on her features. "But may I know why? For better preparation?"

The corner of Ocho's lips curled up into a smirk. An ominous smirk in that screamed nothing but trouble in her view.

"Let's just say the kid and I gotta do a lot of exercises tomorrow."

____

A low groan let loose from his lips as Angin stretched his arms up. He stared blankly at the white ceiling then tousled his own hair in frustration. It had passed the middle of the night and his task showed no sight of progress.

"What in the world? He did just pop out of nowhere." Angin shouted while lifting a random paper to his face before tossing them behind him carelessly. Trash, all trash. Not a report proved a thing about the existence of his unexpected house guest.

"How challenging. There's barely any information from the story that comes out of his own mouth. That little guy only trusts Yaya..." Angin grumbled to himself, absently scrolling his mouse and scanning the random part of data on one of his many computer screens in his private office. "I've always prided myself on my abilities to obtain information and my network of intel, but I can't seem to find anything about him."

Lightning, the boy bearing an uncanny resemblance to his eldest brother. At first, Angin had investigated him right after he laid his eyes on him out of habit, now he took it personally. The Don also had ordered him specific after all. However, the result remained zero. And it started to get on his nerves because Angin couldn't decide if it was good news or bad news.

"... I want hot cacao... Or a long-term vacation. Hawaii– Nah, even Rintis island sounds good right now." Angin moaned, laying on the clear side of his full paper and keyboards table. At that moment, the terminal beside him whirred to life.

"You are telling me, cugino." A voice came out from it, cranky and listless that left an impression that its owner was much older than him. "Whoever this boy is, he better be worth all the abuse you put on the Family intelligence network and my sleep. Even that good for nothing lo stupido relaxed at home while I had to work my ass off."

"... Blaze is placed under house arrest after leaving his position without the Head's permission." Angin remarked dryly while cursing himself for forgetting to turn off the terminal. The last thing he needed now was a nag.

"It's still better than Working. Overtime!"

The volume blasted from it made him cringe as his ears were ringing. Those two were definitely twins, Angin swore. It was rare for his mild-tempered younger cousin, and also subordinate, to raise his voice at him, but he guessed two sleepless days straight could change people.

"C'mon, Ais. Think this as a little favor you did for your beloved cugino."

Should he feel relieved or offended at the snort he heard on the other side?

"'Little' my culo." Ais scoffed. "Do you think hacking into those international organizations and undercover agencies is a walk in the park? The Aba is all doomed had they sniffed out we poked around their top confidential files. Heck, I even thought it was over when we nearly failed to break M.A.T.A's firewall–"

"Isn't that the reason I had to ask you instead of Blaze, or anyone else, right? You are the best I have." Angin responded smoothly. Growing up alongside a nasty triplet brother taught him one or two tricks about handling the moody.

"... You're lucky to have that silver tongue." Ais grumbled while he breathed out in relief, successfully escaping the upcoming sermon. That kid really should use his strength to finish his job instead of wasting it on nagging at him.   

"Having said that, don't you dare to deny the trustworthiness of my source, caro cugino. I will snipe the hell out of you from the Main House."

Yep, moody people with sharp tuition around him. Angin chuckled awkwardly at the latest message he received. Knowing his cousin's temper, it was not simply an empty threat.

"You wounded me, Ais. How could I do that!" He justified. "And I promise I will repay you handsomely."

There was a short pause. Then something akin to a furious mixed with resigned sigh echoed through the terminal.

"My point is not about the reward... Sure, it sounds tempting and of course, I'll take it. Plus if this was for my family, I don't ever mind jumping into the fire. But," Ais replied. "I'm saying it as your flesh and blood, cugino. You might want to keep your obsession in check or I fear at this rate, you will lose sight of something you cherish one day."

The corners of Angin's lips pulled down a bit. He didn't like it when he was pointed out. Thankfully, years of experience allow him to cover it up.

"Ahhh~ It seems my position has dropped dramatically that a rascal who didn't even live up to half of his lifespan had to teach me the way to live." Angin joked it off. It was fortunate that the terminal only transmitted the sound so that his wry expression wasn't exposed.

"You are only three years older than me." Ais grunted in annoyance, not appreciating his word choice. Despite knowing they couldn't see the others, Angin shrugged, out of habit.

"Well, still enough for an age gap."

"Even so, I am aware that the dead don't just come back." His cousin bit back and Angin was at loss for words. Actually, he didn't want to reply to that statement, because it looked like he was in denial. The silence carried on for a short while before Ais spoke up again.

"Anyway, now you know that kid didn't lie and I don't want to be nosey. The rest is up to you. Dio ce ne scampi e liberi, there would be the blood of an innocent child on our hands." 

Ais mumbled the last part, likely for himself, but it was still recorded and played through the terminal. Angin could only puff out a soft chuckle through his nostrils at the irony of the words. Their little guest's welfare was hardly on his humble 'things to care' list. 

Lightning piqued his interest, sure, but if Petir wanted to turn the boy into a living target board, fine by him. Not like Angin had to tell anyone about his true opinions.

The light dot on the terminal flickered, reminding him someone was still waiting. He took a quick glance at the clock. If Ais deemed it was about time to stop their doing, then he would gladly entertain him. 

"Alright, alright, you won, cuginetto. I will try to keep your words in mind." Angin said, tapping lightly on the device as a signal that their break had been over. "Now please run all the diagnoses once again for me, and summarize the results so we can finally shut our eyes afterward, yeah?"

"... Sicuro." Came out a reluctant response. The transmission was turned off right afterward from the other side, as well as the little smile on his face.

Angin checked to be sure it was off before letting out a long sigh. Apparently,  Ais wanted to press on the matter. Still, that kid had good intuition when he chose to withdraw at the last minute. He didn't know what he would have answered had they continued that talk.

Leaning heavily on the back of his chair, Angin folded his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes and tried to relax while waiting for the report.

Keeping up with this 'normal' facade was so tiresome sometimes.

Note:

Cugino: Cousin

Lo stupido: idiot

Culo: Ass

Caro cugino: Dear cousin

Dio ce ne scampi e liberi: God forbid

Cuginetto: Younger cousin

Sicuro: Sure