Flame 3

He was sneaking into his room again. The soft glow of the moon and streetlights helping him make his way around. He took off his mask and checked the mirror, no obvious bruises.

He sighed in relief.

Justin let himself fall into the old chair at his equally old desk. On pullingbout his phone he could see the time was 3am and he also had an unopened text from Travis.

Usually, they could talk on an earpiece but Justin had damaged his in another fight a few weeks prior and despite Travis' unmatched skill at inventing, the raven-haired genius still had to search for parts in a way that wouldn't draw too much attention.

He decided that he'd read the text later and got to pulling off his costume and getting comfortable to watch Aidan's interview.

Some part of him was aware of how unhealthy this crash was but it was hard to stop when thy had knw each other for so long.

He pulled his eyes away from the screen and they landed on a framed photo on his bedside. His immediate infatuation left him, replaced by numbing sadness and a reminder of why he became Firestarter in the first place.

The picture was of his mom, she was short and plump, a lively smile plastered on her face as she laughed for the photo. She wore a red dress, that radiated as much warmth as her messy blonde hair.

He knew his dad had taken that picture a long time ago, maybe at the start of their courtship, before his birth.

All Justin could remember about his mum were distant cooing noises and lots of giggling. Her laugh echoed deep in his mind.

Then there were her screams.

Accompanied by the flames. Burning orange and gold licking at them both.

According to his dad, the only thing that had been alive in their burnt rubble of a home nearly seventeen years ago was him. Tiny crying baby with little idea of what he had just survived.

Everyone said it was luck, a miracle or something in between, but Justin knew the truth. For reasons he only came to know about four years ago, the fire hadn't been able to hurt him.

It killed his mother though and he could've help but feel it was his fault.

He never got to know her.

He often wondered what it would have been to grow up with her presence instead of just his dad who couldn't help burning toast. He smiled, a bittersweet stretch of his lips as the thought of how worse things could be crept up.

He had to keep looking at the brightside.

'No use being angry all the time.' He remembered Aidan saying oh so long ago.

He focused his mind on something else, like how his seventeenth birthday was merely a couple of days away and he knew what he wanted his present to be.

Last year, his dad got him a car magazine and he'd circled the particular model he wanted in red and wrote it he words, 'I want this one!'

Was it demanding and obnoxious?

Probably, but his dad loved him that way.

He filled his head with sweet dreams before letting his head sink into the cool embrace of his pillow.

***

The morning of his better came a lot quicker than Justin anticipated. He rushed down the stairs in his might clothes, hoping to snatched the keys to his new car but he was met with an empty kitchen.

Thursdays meant his dad left early for work.

Though, he still found it suspicious. He surveyed the kitchen before his eyes found the note on the counter.

'Don't expect a car, get into a good university then we'll talk.'

He was so mad he incinerated the note before letting out an annoyed huff. He grabbed the broom and got to cleaning the mess up before he had to find some new crazy explanation.

On getting to school he had to dodge several prank water balloons in the parking lot. Not getting hit was top priority as his body temperature was hot enough to cause steam to come off his skin.

Once again, he wasn't ready to explain anything to anyone.

"You got mad reflexes, man." One of his friends, Tiana Raves, said as she covered his head with a deep blue head warm.

He found her odd most of the time as she was always behaving like an airhead. A head warmer, at the end of February, really?

"You dodged every water balloon." She waved a dark-skinned hand around enthusiastically.

"I hate getting wet." He stated simply.

She giggled, "Wet."

He groaned, "I'm surrounded by perverts."

"Happy birthday my gorgeous blond," Travis announced his arrival and pulled out something from his bag before handing it to Justin, "For you."

"'Sweet Boyz' magazine?" Justin read out.

Tiana let out a snort of laughter as Travis hurriedly snatched it.

"Wrong present." The raven flushed before place the proper book in Justin's hand.

"A new series for me to get addicted to, are you sure you want me to pass school?" He grinned flipping through the book. Contrary to what people thought on first meeting him, he loved reading. He'd gotten his hero name from a book. That was how much of a nerd he was. He used to read to Aidan and another friend of his when they were younger.

Nothing beat sitting with a good book. On the other hand, he had no qualms about writing bad reviews of anything trashy. Just for the fun of it.

"I like hearing you rant for a full hour about how it never ends satisfying enough." Travis joked, "What are best friends for?"

"Ass."

"What about me?" Tiana cut in, "I gave you a present that'll be more useful."

"By December." He pointed out in exasperation. They were both exhausting but he wouldn't have them another way. "You're both amazing."

He grinned as he stuffed the items in his locker and was about to suggest they head to homeroom when his name being called down the hall caught his attention.

It was Aidan calling him and drawing the attention of almost half the student body.

Aidan reached Justin, hastily searching through his bag, "Hey there, birthday boy, I got you something...hold on...just gotta..."

"You sound stressed."

"Flying to New York in two hours."

Justin managed to stop the clear frown from ruined his cool expression, "I thought no more traveling until after school."

"I told Maya to stop doing things like this but she claims it's very life changing." He managed a genuine smile,e to the blond as he pulled out a black, leather bracelet, with silver studs spelling out Justin's name. "I'm so sorry Justin, I swear we'll catch up when we're back."

"When's that?"

"A week or two."

Just felt he had no right to feel as angry as he was. Maybe he wasn't so ready to let Aidan running off into the sunset like some happy little pop-star.

Yet all he could he could do was nod at those pleading blue eyes. Aidan gave him a fist bump and jogged off towards the exit.

"You're staring big boy, c'mon, let's go." Tiana said gently pulling at his sleeve. He let she and Travis pull him towards homeroom.

It was on the way there that his phone rang in his customized ring tone. Travis had come up with the brilliant idea to connect the emergency hot line to Justin's phone and their earpieces.

"I'm not feeling well." He said before turning to leave to the bathroom.

Travis reached a hand out but hurriedly retracted UT knowing he'd just be pushed away.

Just raced down the halls, he couldn't wait to be out of this stuffy build and out in the open once more. He really needed to punch something.