Lets Talk about Life

"Only child too," Jude confirmed. "And really just the one parent. My mom left before I - well, I mean, when I was born, so it was always just me and my dad. I used to wonder about that a lot. About what, uh, normal family relationships were like."

He couldn't help but smile a bit when Gabe looked down at his phone.

"I think she's got a pretty good reason to worry, considering what happened to Halcyon. Did she even knew you did the villain thing?"

He'd been right when they said they had a lot in common, although he hadn't known even the half of it. He found himself smiling without even realizing it, mentally running through the similarities.

"Similar enough. My dad found out I was doing the hero thing when he walked in on me, ah, helping myself to some of his gear. He was going to give me the fifth degree, but then I saved his life so he was doing the whole 'well, I GUESS I'll let you do it' thing. Plus, he's planning to start up a restaurant here. Or take one over. Something like that."

The difference didn't particularly matter. What mattered was him in charge, not who started it.

Even their histories though.

"I mean, kind of the same. I never asked about my mom, and my dad never talked about her. I grew up having absolutely no idea, and I only found out the truth like... in the last year. Since the hero thing happened. I actually spend a brief period where I was half convinced I was a clone."

He basically hadn't stopped grinning the whole conversation.

"You could do one of those... genetic testing things? To get an idea of your makeup."

He could undetstand that. Secrets had cost him his arm. They'd almost cost him his life. Jude and secrets were not on the best of terms.

"An Italian place," Jude said. "He used to run one in Halcyon City. Back at home I'd have said I wanted not part in any of his businesses, but here... I think I'd help out. I don't have to sleep, so I could easily do stuff like night prep. Like, I'm not a chef, but it's not like it's particularly difficult to dice ingredients or anything like that. I'd want to help out. To... make sure it's okay. And just..."

Jude scratched at the back of his neck almost absentmindedly. "To be around him, I guess? To be there and see him more."

He totally did, and Jude found himself trying to hide his blush by taking a big bite of the sandwich. Not blushing. Just eating a sandwich. Probably got some sauce on his cheeks or something, right? But definitely not blushing because he'd just been slammed with a pretty big compliment.

"I don't think I'm anything special," he admitted after a moment. "I just had luckier circumstances than most. Like, that's the only thing that decided which side of the law we were on back in Halcyon city."

He had at least a general idea of why Gabe had gone to that life. To pay his mother's debts, or something like that. Loan sharks. Something to that effect, and it was something Jude had felt obviously awkward about. For some reason he couldn't figure out, almost every one of his friends had been born either below the poverty line or pretty dang close to it.

Okay, yep. Gabe was really good at flustering him, and Jude wasn't the kind of person who got flustered particularly quickly. His cheeks were good and red, and no amount of sub consumption was going to cover that up. It was just embarrassing.

Jude reached up, rubbing absentmindedly at his neck once more to try and hide his embarassment.

"I... guess?" He said, not quite willing to actual argue. He didn't want to agree, but he couldn't fight it either.

"It's just good to have a fresh start. To do the... normal teenage thing. To join clubs and get part time jobs and have normal teenage problems. Did you, uh, date back in Halcyon?"

For all the past is in the past, Jude couldn't help but wonder.