CH. 4 - A Loving Family and Some Life Advice

A little later, Wolf opens the door to her house quietly and closes it behind her quietly. She looks around before noticing a small head sitting on the couch watching TV. She tries to sneak behind it when the floor creaks beneath her feet. She winces as she slowly looks at the head but it doesn't flinch. She pauses for a moment before shrugging but when she turns to continue, a boy is standing in her way.

"Where were you?"

Startling Wolf, she screams a bit and tumbles backwards over the couch and onto the floor, revealing a dummy with a wig on it sitting on the couch. Wolf groans a bit as Husky, her little brother, approaches her. 

"Why were you out so late?"

Wolf gets up, rubbing her head.

"What's it to you?" She notices the clock on the counter. "And it's not even that late!"

She shouts at her brother as he crosses his arms and looks away.

"I was just concerned for my sister. Is that so wrong?"

Wolf crosses her arms too and looks at him.

"You forgot the password to Disbow+ didn't you?"

Husky sweats a bit and looks away before turning back to her.

"It's not my fault you made the password something stupid!"

"Well it's not my fault you got a big fat head!" She shouts back. He looks stunned.

"Woah, you took it too far."

"You're right, I'd like to apologize."

They say, shifting from yelling to proper in an instant. They stand in silence for a moment before Wolf speaks.

"Pussy."

Husky turns and tackles Wolf angrily. They wrestle for a bit before their mother exits her room with an irritated look, awoken from a nap by their noise.

"Cut it out you two! Why are you always bickering?"

They let each other go and stand up.

"We're not bickering Ma. It's how we show love." Husky says.

"Even if he's got a big head."

She snickers, walking into the kitchen as Husky gets angry.

"I DON'T HAVE A BIG HEAD!"

He shouts back. Wolf enters the kitchen and begins thinking about food as Jackal looks at her, slightly surprised.

"You gonna cook dinner?"

"Mhm!"

She answers with a nod as she goes into the fridge. She looks for a moment before standing up with an idea.

"How does refried beans and leftover fries with a sprinkle of cheese sound?"

Husky droops.

"You really just throw anything together, huh?"

He says from the couch as Jackal sits next to him, bopping him in the back of the head lightly with a disapproving look.

"Be grateful to your sister. Have you finished your homework today?"

Husky looks away.

"No.."

"Then get on it."

She commands as Wolf smiles and begins cooking. A little later, the three of them are eating together with Wolf and Husky on the couch and Jackal in a comfy chair beside it. Husky eats happily as Wolf looks at him.

"Not bad, right?"

"It's pretty good, not as good as Ma's cooking but still good."

Wolf gets annoyed and starts rubbing the top of his head hard, intentionally trying to hurt him.

"Next time you cook then."

She says with an irritated tone. Wolf's mom sighs with satisfaction before getting up and kissing her on the forehead.

"Thank you sweetpea. It was very good."

Wolf smiles happily as her mom brings her dish to the kitchen. Husky pouts a bit before Jackal jumps behind him, kissing his head as well.

"Don't think I forgot about you!"

She says playfully as Husky laughs.

"Ma! Stop!" He giggles.

Soon, the night comes to an end and everyone retreats back to their rooms except Husky who's stuck at the counter doing his homework. Wolf closes her door behind her and sits down on her bed. She looks around a bit with an almost lost or unsure look as she sighs and pulls out her phone. She gets a softly surprised look.

"Phoenix texted me a couple hours ago. Whoops."

She begins to reply when she hears a knock at her window. She turns around confused and crawls on her bed to her black curtains. She pulls them back only to see Phoenix at her window with a smile on her face. Wolf screams and falls back onto the floor, shocked by her sudden appearance.

"Sounds like Phoenix is here."

Husky says casually. Wolf groans on the ground as Phoenix opens the window and climbs through, giggling to herself.

"Sorry Wolfy, didn't mean to scare you."

"Nope, totally fine. Seems like it's everyone's thing tonight."

She strains as she gets up. Phoenix sits on her bed in her grey croptop and red leggings as Wolf sits up.

"So why are you here?"

Phoenix pouts a little, playfully.

"What? I'm not invited here anymore?"

Wolf stands up with a sigh.

"That's not what I said."

She responds as she approaches her closet and opens it up.

"I had a feeling you got into another fight, so I came to check on you."

"Well, like I always say, does it count as a fight if I won so easily?"

She asks as she begins to pull off her hoodie, revealing a bare back. Phoenix blushes slightly as she falls on her back onto the bed, looking away.

"Yes Wolf, you know that's a fight, regardless how easily you win."

Wolf puts on a new shirt and turns to her.

"In that case, I did! And it was.. Well, not awesome, but I beat the guy with two punches!"

She says happily until a pillow is thrown at her face.

"That's not something to be proud of! How do you expect to get a proper job if you're always getting into fights?"

She asks, slightly annoyed. Wolf takes the pillow off her face.

"Hey, there's lots of jobs involving fighting."

"Would you take any of them?"

"No way. They're boring as shit." She says confidently before thinking about it. "Although, heroes do get to fight villains and Torn with powers…"

Phoenix chuckles and looks at her in disbelief.

"You, a hero? If there's one thing you hate more than bullies, it's the idea of being a hero. Besides, you'd need powers to do that."

She says confidently as Wolf laughs awkwardly, looking away nervously.

"Haha yeah, right…"

Phoenix notices her obvious behavior and looks at her.

"Wolfy. Is there something you're not telling me?"

She asks softly as Wolf gets even more nervous.

"Well, I mean, I have lots of secrets! Things I don't tell you."

Phoenix gets off the bed and starts approaching her.

"That's not true. You're an awful liar and you never keep anything from me."

She speaks softly as she gently grabs Wolf's hand causing her to blush and get even more nervous.

"Wolfy.. Do you…"

She speaks slowly as Wolf shuts her eyes when Phoenix yanks Wolf towards her with a big smile on her face.

"Do you actually want to be a hero, too??"

She asks excitedly as Wolf looks surprised and a little confused. Phoenix quickly composes herself a bit and backtracks.

"I mean, do you want to be a hero? Like, just you."

She lets go of Wolf's hand as Wolf responds.

"If I did, why would you be so excited about it?"

Phoenix clears her throat and looks away defensively.

"Is it something you're interested in? At least it would be something to start you in the right direction. Any career is better than none."

Wolf rolls her eyes a bit.

"Here we go…"

She mumbles as Phoenix gets offended.

"Excuse me, dumbass! It's not my fault you're either indecisive, incapable or just flat out won't tell me what you want to do!"

"That's not what I meant…" She puts her hands up in defense.

"Well, that's what it sounded like! All I'm doing is caring about you and everytime you just blow me off. It doesn't always feel great, you know."

She turns away with an upset look. Wolf looks at her with a conflicted look, unsure of how to make it better.

"I'm sorry, Phoenix.. It wasn't supposed to be mean, I just…"

She trails off as Phoenix slowly looks back at her. She looks at Wolf struggling to find the words and sighs softly. 

"It's fine. I'll just.. try to remember not to ask so often."

She says softly, a little upset at the situation. Wolf pauses before looking at her with a soft smile.

"Sooo you gonna spend the night?.."

She asks as Phoenix chuckles softly. 

"Sure, but you get the floor tonight for being such a dumbass."

Wolf smiles wide and salutes her.

"Understood!"

The girls eventually prepare for bed and turn off the lights, Phoenix laying down in Wolf's bed and Wolf under some blankets on the floor. After a bit, Wolf looks at the bed where Phoenix lays and peaks over the edge. She looks at her with big eyes before hastily crawling onto the bed with her blankets and curling up on the base of the bed by Phoenix's feet. Phoenix looks at her before rolling her eyes and smiling as they both fall asleep. 

At school, in a large field and in their physical education uniforms, Tadashi throws a ball at Wolf casually as she catches it. 

"Did you hear Killian talking about the ASA again last night?" Tadashi asks.

"Pff, yeah. He mentioned it at training a couple days ago, too. I guess the thought hasn't left his head." Wolf responds.

"What do you think about it?"

"The ASA?"

Tadashi nods.

"I dunno, nothing? Is that an answer?"

Tadashi raises an eyebrow at her, giving her a look as she chuckles a bit.

"Right, well, I don't really think much. I mean, getting there would be the equivalent of getting in some mega college, wouldn't it?"

"Except they have students there as young as 8 years old."

Wolf droops a bit at the comment.

"I don't know if that makes them better or not…" She then straightens up and gets an unsure look. "That kind of exclusivity, it just rubs me the wrong way." She says, tossing the ball back to Tadashi.

"Learning how to help people and become a hero rubs you the wrong way?" He asks, kind of sarcastically. Wolf glares at him.

"No, dickhead, I mean the status. You have to be some special case to go there, right? People would literally kill for even a chance, you don't think that idea goes to their heads? Why wouldn't they just let anybody who wants to be a hero in? Isn't more heroes a good thing?"

She questions, spilling her thoughts to her friend. Tadashi pauses for a moment and looks down, still catching the ball they're tossing with ease.

"I suppose it could go to their heads but that would go against being a hero, wouldn't it?" He looks at her with a smirk. "Have you even met any heroes who are full of themselves like that to backup your claim?"

Wolf nods, taking his point.

"Fair, fair, I haven't but don't tell me you haven't seen those hero superstars on the internet. The ASA isn't the only one who makes heroes, after all."

As she speaks, a boy walking on the path close by around the field whistles at her in a toxically flirtatious manner. Wolf gets a slightly upset look before turning and throwing the ball at his face, hard, knocking him over. Wolf turns back to Tadashi and shrugs.

"Now we don't have a ball."

Tadashi shakes his head with a smile before casually reaching his arm out and stealing a ball from someone who backstepped next to him, preparing to throw the ball. He lifts it up to Wolf as if saying 'Problem solved.' as the boy walks away with an upset look. They continue to toss the ball as Tadashi speaks.

"So you think Killian shouldn't want to join the ASA?" Tadashi asks.

"What he does with his life is none of my concern. Besides, you need Type powers to join-"

"That's not true. Technically anyone can join."

He cuts her off as she rolls her eyes.

"Okay, yeah, sure but if you want a real shot to join, you need to be special in some way. Otherwise, good luck."

Frustrated a bit by his logic, Wolf's tone gets slightly more irritated.

"Either way, why should he want to join a stuck up academy that gives you permission to do good? Just another reason heroes are so-"

"Are so boring. I know, you say that everytime the topic comes up."

He says, mocking her a bit. Wolf pouts as Tadashi smirks at her.

"Speaking of which, Phoenix told me that might all be an act."

Wolf grunts and drops to the ground, sitting while covering her face with her hands.

"It's not an act." She then looks up at Tadashi. "Phoenix is just being stupid-"

As she finishes, Tadashi pelts her in the face with the ball.

"So caring about your future is stupid?"

Wolf sits back up and looks at him with a conflicted look before looking down.

"No…"

"She only keeps asking about you and your future because she cares about you, despite the fact that you repeatedly duck her questions to the point it hurts her feelings."

Wolf looks at him with a surprised and concerned look as Tadashi looks more serious.

"And she only lets it slide because she's so kind, especially to you. But I am not."

He approaches her and looks down at her with a serious look.

"I really care about you and want to see you succeed in life. What is your purpose? What is it that you want to achieve?"

He asks, really pressuring her to answer, not allowing her to ignore the question anymore. Wolf gets a conflicted and stressed look for a moment before answering.

"My only purpose in life is protecting the people I care about." She says softly while looking away. 

"Is that all you want?"

She looks at him with a serious look.

"That's all I need." She stands up. "And the strength to do so."

Tadashi gets a slightly frustrated tone as he sighs. 

"So why do you bother going to training? You seem to have all the strength you need, so why waste the time and effort? There's got to be more to it?"

He asks, knowing his friend well and being as observant as he is. Wolf hesitates with a nervous look as she looks down at her palm. Tadashi notices her hesitation and stress so he takes a breath and steps back a bit.

"Look, I only mean to help Phoenix and you." He looks at her softly. "She's starting to get really worried about you. Every year that passes only brings us closer to adulthood, afterall."

Wolf looks at him softly too.

"And of all the years she's known you, she's only ever seen you do one thing that even remotely relates to a career, act heroic, in her eyes."

Wolf nods a bit and rubs the back of her head.

"Yeah…"

She says with a conflicted look before sighing in frustration and throwing her arms behind her head.

"Main, emotions are hard. What am I supposed to do?"

Tadashi adjusts his glasses a bit.

"I don't know but maybe showing her something, anything you're interested in would help."

Wolf's face lights up as she gets an idea.

"That's a great idea! I'll just show her!"

She says enthusiastically before rushing off. Tadashi watches her and sweats a bit.

"I know that look. She's about to mess things up." He says with worry on his face.