Shade stood in the kitchen of his home, humming along to some song playing off the music station on TV. Shade had managed to get off work early for once and managed to beat his mother home and as a surprise, Shade decided to cook dinner for his mom. Before he got a job, he used to cook dinner for his mom every night but with his job and long hours, it became rare for him to cook. With both Shade and his mother working, home cooked meals stopped being a thing. Neither had the time to cook. So When Shade's boss sent him home early, the first thing he thought about was cooking for his mother.

          By the time Shade was almost finished cooking, he heard the front door open. He turned his head and watched as his tired mom entered the house. At first, she didn't notice her son— and nearly had a heart attack when she looked up and saw someone standing in her kitchen.

          Her hand went to her chest, "Jeez! What're you doing home? You're never home this early." Brenda finished as she entered the kitchen, pulling her son down to place a kiss on his cheek. "You're cooking?" She looked towards the stove as Shade nodded.

"Yeah. Figured since I got off early I would. Haven't cooked for you in awhile," Shade explained as the oven went off. He turned and grabbed the towel by the stove before opening the oven and pulling the skillet out. He placed skillet down on on the stove top and tossed the towel down. He turned to face Brenda, who was now sitting at the kitchen table.

"What'd you make? Smells good," The woman spoke, taking her shoes off and carelessly tossing them into the living room.

"Found a recipe on google called One Pan Baked Ziti and decided to give it a shot. Tried to find somethin' quick. I was trying to finish it before you got home," Shade explained as he made his way towards the living room to grab the shoes his mother had tossed. "Hopefully, I didn't screw it up and it's edible," He joked while putting his mothers shoes down by the door and heading back towards the kitchen.

"I was gonna move those, ya know. You didn't have to move 'em for me," Brenda laughed, "And I know for a fact that this will be good. Everything my boy cooks is good."

Shade smiled, "Now you don't have to." Shade knew his mother probably would have forgotten to move her shoes, she usually did, but it never bothered him. He enjoyed doing the small things like that for his mother. Shade walked to the cabinets by the fridge and pulled two plates down. He went and grabbed two forks and placed them on the side of the stove. Then, he began putting the food on the plates.

          Brenda stood from the table and made her way to the fridge, "You want some soda?"

          Shade shook his head, "Water." The woman nodded, pulling a diet coke out for herself and a water bottle out for Shade before making her way to the cupboard and pulling two glasses down. She poured the drinks into the cups before placing them down on the table. Shade followed behind with the food. The two sat down at the table and ate a long overdue homemade meal and talked about their days together.

☆࿐

          After dinner, Shade made his way up to his bedroom to work on homework. He unzipped his backpack and dumped the entire thing out onto his bed. He let out a sigh as he tossed himself down on the bed. He moved his folders around the bed as he searched through the objects for his phone.

           Finally, he found his phone on the inside of a binder. Somehow, the case was caught on one of the rings. He pulled the phone off the ring and unlocked it, checking his messages. He sent quick replies back to his friends before opening his conversation with the kid from Midtown.

from: Midtown Kid (4:00PM)
Have fun at work!

to: Midtown Kid (7:56PM)
Hey, whats up?

from: Midtown Kid (7:58PM)
Whoa. A message before
two in the morning? You
texting during work now?
Do you like talking to me
that much?

to: Midtown Kid (7:58PM)
Hilarious. Boss sent me
home a couple hours
after I got there. It was
pretty dead tonight so
there was no reason to
keep me.

from: Midtown Kid (7:59PM)
So what took you so long
to text me then?

to: Midtown Kid (7:59PM)
Someone sounds a
little clingy. Are you sure
it's not you that really
likes to talk to me?

from: Midtown Kid (8:01PM)
🙄

to: Midtown Kid (8:03PM)
If you really must know
though, I was cooking
dinner for my mom and I.
I hadn't done it in awhile
and I was home early
enough to so I figured why
not, ya know?

from: Midtown Kid (8:04PM)
Makes sense. So you're
a cook?

to: Midtown Kid (8:13PM)
I wouldn't consider myself
a professional chef but I
like to think I'm pretty good.

from: Midtown Kid (8:15PM)
So what did you cook
for you and your mom
tonight?

to: Midtown Kid (8:16PM)
One Pan Baked Ziti

from: Midtown Kid (8:17PM)
Is that a speciality of yours?

to: Midtown Kid (8:19PM)
Nah tonight was the first
time I had ever made it.
I thought since it was the
first time in awhile that I
was cooking, I'd try
something new.

from: Midtown Kid (8:24PM)
Was it any good?

to: Midtown Kid (8:25PM)
Absolutely. Whenever
this projects over, I'll
have to cook it for you ;)

from:    Midtown Kid   (8:27PM)
Definitely!

          Before Shade could reply to the message, another popped up at the top of his phone. It was a message from his boss. He exited his texts with the kid from Midtown without replying, knowing if he didn't respond to his boss almost immediately he would be in deep shit. His boss hated waited on responses. He wanted answers to his messages three minutes before he even sent his message out. His boss was the most impatient man ever. 

from:    Boss   (8:32PM)
Need you back at work.

to:    Boss   (8:33PM)
Be there in 10

from:    Boss   (8:34PM)
Hurry.

          Shade groaned, realizing he didn't even get the chance to start his homework. He grabbed his things, shoving them into his backpack as quickly as possible before tossing the bag off the bed. He stood up and made his way to his closet where he pulled out an empty backpack. He threw the bag over his shoulder and headed out of his room. He made his way to the living room where his mother was on the couch watching the television.

          She turned when hearing footsteps, "Hey, where are you going?" She pointed a finger towards the backpack Shade had on. Shade looked at the bag and then to his mom.

          "I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back later," He spoke as he grabbed his shoes from beside the door. Shade sat on the couch, putting his shoes on quickly. He pat his legs and stood from the couch only to be stopped by his mother.

          "Hold on," Brenda said as Shade stood from the couch. Shade went to protest but the woman cut him off, "It's late. Why do you need to go out?"

          "Boss needs me to come in for a bit. It's fine, momma. I'll be home in a couple hours," Shade explained and made his way towards the front door. His mom was about to say something else before Shade continued, "I love you and I'll be back soon. Don't wait up for me!" He opened the door and left. He shut the door and jogged away from the house as fast as he could to ensure his mom couldn't stop him.

☆࿐

When Shade arrived to meet his boss, the man was standing outside with a rather angry look on his face. Shade picked up his pace, hoping that his boss was angry at something else and not him. He stopped in front of the man just as the warehouse doors behind him opened and two women walked out.

"Sorry, I took so long, Mr. Kingston. It's a pretty far walk," Shade's eyes darted back and forth between his boss and the women standing behind him. He raised his hand up slowly and spoke hesitantly, "Who are they?" He pointed at the women and his boss glanced back momentarily before turning back to Shade.

"New bodyguards," his boss shrugged.

"What happened to Paul an—"

"Fired. They failed me," his boss explained. Despite not believing that they had only been fired, Shade nodded his head. "We got work to do," he moved to the side and motioned for Shade to go into the warehouse. Shade shoved his hands in his pockets and began walking towards the doors, sending a nod to both women as he passed them. He opened the door and stood behind it as he waited for Kingston to enter.

He looked to the women standing there staring at him, "You guys can go." They said nothing as they entered the warehouse. Shade followed in after them.

Kingston held his hand out to Shade, "Come." Shade walked over to stand next to Kingston, who placed his hand down onto the boys shoulder. "This is Marley and Harley," he pointed to the two women. Shade nodded and held a hand out to them, which Kingston slapped down. "Do not shake their hands. How many times do I have to tell you that? Bodyguards are below us. We don't shake the hands of those below us."

"Just trying to be ni—"

"Nice. I know. You always are. But there's no room for nice in this business," Kingston shoved a finger in Shade's face. "Got it?" He raised an eyebrow at the boy. Shade nodded his head. "Good, let's go." He placed his hand down onto Shade's shoulder once again and guided him through the warehouse. The two women following closely behind.

          "What exactly are we doing here?" Shade asked as they entered an office. Kingston took a seat at the head of the desk while Shade sat across from him. He looked behind him and watched as the women shut the door. They didn't come in and were most likely standing outside the door which worried Shade. Usually, the bodyguards always came in the room when Shade met with Kingston.

          "Worry not, boy!" Kingston laughed as he sat back in his chair. Shade turned to his boss, a confused look on his face. "I can see your worry," he pointed a finger to the door, "I do not trust them to be in on my personal business just yet. That's why they're waiting outside. And I asked you here because I trust you. I trust your opinion. And I just want to know what you think of the new bodyguards. Do they look trustworthy to you?"

          "That's why you called me? At nine?" Kingston nodded and motioned for Shade to answer the question. Shade shrugged, "I—I don't know. I've barely met them. They're pretty intimidating. Which says a lot, I guess, seeing as I have at like a foot on them." Shade let out a small laugh at the end. "I like that their names go together. But that doesn't really have to do with an—"

          Kingston sat up quickly, slamming a sheet of paper down in front of him, "I'm having my team do some digging on them to ensure they're not going to screw me over like the others but I want you to have that girlfriend of yours look into them too. I've heard teen girls can find anything." Shade nodded and was about to tell Kingston he didn't have a girlfriend when his boss continued, "And do not tell her what it is for. You know I don't like outsiders knowing my business. If I find out you told your girlfriend about it, I'll kill her. And then I'll kill you. And I'd hate to have to kill you. I like you." He let out a chuckle as he leaned back, "You may go home."

Shade stood up, grabbing the paper as he did so, "Alright. Will do. But, before I do, when you're referring to my girlfriend I think you mean my friend, Kelsey. She's not my girlfriend. I'm, uh—Girls aren't really my type." Shade finished off quickly and headed for the door, only for Kingston to stop him.

"Ay! Shade!" Shade cursed himself as he turned and let out a small 'yeah.' Kingston stood up, "You like boys? Like fully or just kinda? 'Cause either way, I have a nephew—"

"No, no. I'm fine. I'm kinda enjoying being single as of right now. But if I change my mind, I'll let you know. And yeah, it's, uh, fully. Can I go now?" Shade rubbed the back of his neck, wishing he hadn't said anything and just went with the whole Kelsey being his girlfriend thing. Kingston wasn't one to let things go—meaning Shade would be hearing about this nephew a lot.

"One more thing: Is your mom still available? Ya know, I called her a couple times after our date—"

"You went on a date with my mom?!" Shade's eyes widened as he looked at his boss. Shade couldn't tell if he was more grossed out, surprised by the information. He was also slightly offended his mom never told him about the date. His mom might not know about what his real job was or who his boss was but he deserved to know if his mom was going on dates... Right?

"Yes, yes. Took her out on my boat, had dinner with her, had sex with her—"

"Nope! Nope!" Shade yelled, his hands flying to his ears. "Don't want to hear that. We are done here. I am gone. Goodbye. See you tomorrow," Shade continued yelling various goodbyes as he left the room and made a B-line for the exit.

The last thing Shade heard before he shut the door was Kingston hollering: "You never answered my question!" With that, Shade practically ran home to wake his mother and question her about the date—not at all thinking of a reason as to why he would know about the date.

☆࿐

in case i didn't explain this well: shade's mom (and really everyone) doesn't know about what shade's real job is. as far as they know, he works at a restaurant. which his boss kingston helps keep up the lie with seeing as his fake business front is a restaurant. should i give kingston a face claim? if so, do you guys have an suggestions?

also, this is a 100% guarantee that after shade told peter he cooked he changed shade's contact name from 'english partner' to 'chef boy'

at this current point in time i want to throw myself out of a window bc my dumbass is out here getting my mcfuckin hopes up again despite knowing how this is gonna go down so yeehaw my dudes hope ur all doing swell 💖💘💗💞💝💓

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