Warren sighed, extremely worried. He and Zack were both called on a job to patrol a house for the week. Apparently the people inside were doing illegal experiments.

That wasn't what worried him. What worried him was that May couldn't come.

Having no clue what to do, Warren walked over to Zack.

"Zack."

"Yes, my lovely little elf?"

Warren blushed, but continued. "What should we do with May?"

Zack stared at him for a second, then said, "Simple. We put her with one of the students who are taking care of siblings. Mike, are you okay, you usually think of this quickly.."

Warren sighed. "I do trust my students, I really do, but I'm not sure if they would know how to help her if she gets thrown into a panic about something or if they would be able to figure out anything that could possibly trigger her, and I just..."

Zack gently smiled. "I thought it was the child who was supposed to have separation anxiety."

Warren immediately stopped and gave his husband a look that definitely said "Really, man?"

Laughing, Zack smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure everything will be fine. What could go wr-"

Warren quickly clamped Zack's mouth shut. "You'll jinx it and someone's gonna break an arm or something." Warren let him go.

Zack thought for a moment. "Who do you think should take care of her?"

They both thought for a minute.

Warren came to a decision. "I think it should be Shade. He has two siblings with him. He can cook, and his siblings seem to be able to help with trauma, I have seen them comforting him in the common room. Besides, Shade and May have similar backstories. They could help each other if it goes well."

Zack nodded. "Logical."

Warren nodded back.

Zack looked at May, who was drawing. "It's kind of cruel that we would get called away for the week right after you got back."

Warren sighed. "It can't be helped. I did make a name for myself as an underground hero, after all."

Zack sighed. "You know, sometimes I actually wish you weren't so good at your job."

"But then we wouldn't have May."

"That's true."

The two paused their talking when they noticed May was looking at them. Warren sighed quietly and said, "Let's Get this over with."

The two walked towards May, and Warren picked her up, letting Zack do the talking.

"Hi, May! We're going to need to do a job for about a week, are you okay with staying with Shade and his family?"

May did NOT look happy. "NO!!!" Immediately, she clutched onto both of them.

Warren, concerned, gently worked her fingers out of his shirt. "Is something wrong with staying with them?"

She looked up, and Warren felt his heart break a little at the tear she in her eyes. "He's not you."

Later...

Shade knew that May had gone through a very rough home life, but this was insane. He knew this kind of trauma came only from years upon years of pain that you couldn't stop, no matter what you tried. It made his hair stand on end when she had panicked when Warren and Zack were gone, and it made him insides burn in anger when she broke down at the mere sight of the kitchen knives. Shade had just put away everything that had upset her while Tyler and Ty were in their cat forms, comforting her by laying on her, and Tyler was gently licking her cheek with the rough tongue of a cat.

By now, May was giggling slightly, but there were still tears on her cheeks. Shade sighed, then picked the three up and set them on the couch to sit next to them. Then, he felt that normal itch in his throat and ache in his lungs. He needed to cough.

Quickly excusing himself, he left the room.

May looked up when he left, then wailed, "Why is everyone leaving me!?" The crying increased tenfold, and Shade came back as quickly as possible, quickly picking her up and holding her protectively.

"Hey, Hey, it's okay. I'm here. You'll be safe." Thinking for a second, Shade held her closer and whispered into her ear, "They can't hurt you anymore."

She was shivering. Shade felt his heart break a little seeing her shaking fear of being left alone at all. "Th-They said that if I-I ever left, s-someone worse would c-come after me..."

Shade was at a loss. Some parents were strict, some were cruel, but her parents were completely evil. She was a six-year-old child!

Gently, he held her close, whispering the words he needed but never heard into her ear.

"Don't worry, you are safe now. I will defend you. I won't leave you, I promise I will try. Please don't cry. Everything will be okay."

—

May felt herself slowly relaxing in Shade's arms. He seemed sad, almost, as if someone had never told him what he needed to hear. Beginning to wonder, she got an idea. She began to repeat the words back.

He was shocked. Then he looked like he was about to break into tears, but held it back. May immediately felt concerned.

Oh no, did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble!? Beginning to panic, she felt tears coming to her own eyes. Shade quickly noticed and held her closer. "It's okay."

Those two words, from her dad and papa and now from Shade, were all she needed to feel safe.

It's okay.

It's okay.

After a minute, she turned towards him in his arms. "Shade?"

After a second, he looked at her. "Hm?"

"Are you okay?"

——————————

Separation anxiety from both ends. Next chapter will go into Shade's past. Wow, so fun. (That was sarcastic)

So, May has some severe separation anxiety, which was why Warren and Zack decided to homeschool her. Unfortunately, there's always a time when the parents have to go for a while.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed! Have a nice day! Get ready for a depressing chapter!

Bye