{2} Adult Swim

Story by WSAD on SoFurry

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#2 of Summer Rains

Finally completed this one! Welcome to the first submission from me for the year 2016! This chapter isn't quite like the first, but I still hope you can appreciate it and still eagerly await for future chapters into this story!

Thank you for reading!


_ Adult Swim, no kids in the pool. _

Kevin spent all week, including the weekend, doing more chores than he'd ever had to do in his life. His mother had even scolded his dad for trying to overwork him, but to defend himself, he confessed to her that their son had apparently gotten one too many friends over and had a party that was a bit too loud. This led to Kevin being scolded by his mother and a second time from his father. Having parties without his parent's permission was a breach of trust and disrespectful!

The first time his dad had scolded him was very different from the second time. It was much more embarrassing. Apparently Mars was... much too loud and a neighbor heard them when she and him... did the thing. The overabundance of chores were punishment. He washed his dad's sedan like eight times and that included inside the doors, the hubcaps, which he was instructed to remove to clean them front and back, the head and tail lights, dusting the interior, and vacuuming the floorboards and trunk. It took forever each and every time despite the good practice he was getting at doing it.

He didn't forbid him from seeing Mars though. He just asked if they used protection, and gave him a very hard stare that forbade any lies, and when he got his answer that they had, he simply exhaled and nodded. It was mostly unspoken but it seemed like his dad had no intention of telling his mother, and that was probably for the best.

"Don't you break your mother's heart." He'd said to him at one point. Kevin knew his mother would probably be... really upset. She'd hadn't really been warming up to her much, and finding out the girl she didn't really care for was doing that with him? It was an outcome Kevin best wished to avoid.

"Yessir." He had replied.

He'd seen Mars a few times through the week, but he wasn't allowed to drop anything he'd be assigned as punishment, so she had to rough it on her own until such time as he was no longer being punished. He didn't have the time to tell her what had happened, but her expressions and body language seemed to indicate that she thought his parents had found out what had happened.

The following Monday after a solid week of work he rode with his dad into town. They were going to pick up some stuff for the house at the hardware store. He took the road that drove them near to Mars' dad's autoshop but instead of driving past it he actually took the off ramp that would have put you on the feeder road right next to the shop. Kevin didn't say anything of it until they were pulling in. His heart was beating out of his chest all of a sudden. Why would his dad take him to her dad's shop?

They parked and his dad got out, telling him 'come on'. He felt like a robot marching alongside his dad with joints stiff from nervousness. If something was wrong with the car Kevin would have known about it already. His dad always complained about the car if it had trouble. He hasn't complained about anything in months. Why were they here? He felt a sinking feeling coming over him like his punishment so far had yet to achieve its plateau and only now was he reaching that crescendo.

They stopped at the closest open garage and Kevin could see several vehicles of different makes being worked on by a couple different men, mostly in their 30's. An older man, maybe in his 40's stepped out of a side door in the garage that must have led to the main building and came over to them both, all of his attention aimed at his dad.

"How may help you today?" He was a friendly sounding guy, who then finally paid a bit of attention to Kevin by looking and giving a polite nod down in his direction. He was a tall skinny man, darkish fur and of a breed he couldn't quite tell. He looked a little like Mars, but not as red.

"It's been awhile since I'd had my battery checked out, so I thought I'd drop by and get that done." His dad opened up, then added. "I brought my boy along since he's friends with your daughter I think." And he'd have looked pale as a sheet had he no fur to hide it. The man looked him down so more with an expression he Kevin couldn't pin down.

"So you're the boy my girl likes, then?" He seemed awfully cheery about that once he started saying it. He turned away from them both and shouted out into the garage Mars' real name, Marcy.

"Marcy! C'mere!" A reddish hued head popped up from behind a large 4 wheel drive truck and moved around to its front where they could actually see her. Mars was dressed in oil stained jeans and a ragged white t shirt that was tinged black and brown from laboring in the shop. From personal experience Kevin could tell she must have wearing a sports bra for her chest. Mars saw him and went to smile, but stifled it, looking confused as to why him and his dad were visiting all of a sudden. Perhaps she feared the same thing he was? He didn't even know what it was he was afraid of.

"You can take a break from what you're doin', come on over." He told her. She came on over and he thought he noticed her moving stiffly just like he had been. "Go on and check his battery, Marcy." She looked relieved and retreated away back into the garage and returned a few moments later with something in her hands.

"Your keys, sir." she asked his dad politely.

"They're in the ignition." He told her, and she hurried off to their car. He heard her crank it and then pop the hood. She went around to the front of the car and lifted the hood and set the stick so she could use the device in her hands to check the battery.

"Looks like she knows what she's doing." His dad offered up while he watched her work.

"I'd like to think so. She works pretty hard for me, or as much as she's allowed to. She tells me she'll keep working for me after school."

"They have that community college across town that teaches all about this. Might talk her into doing that." And the dads talked about that for a while, mostly ignoring him like he was a prop. So long as no attention was focused on him he felt a lot better about being here.

Mars returned several long minutes later. "I think the battery and alternator are both working good, dad. I couldn't find anything wrong. I also checked the fluid levels and they are both good."

"Ok, thank you, honey, you can get on back to the Ford." Mars nodded and gave Kevin a glance then retreated back to the 4 wheel drive where she tried her best to vanish.

"Well, if you trust my daughter you can leave with a full wallet." Her dad said.

"I think she knows what she's doing. I didn't think it was time to change anything, but that battery is getting a little old, so since I was going to drive past here I figured I might as well stop and find out." He said. "You've got a hard working daughter, sir. I hope my boy doesn't give her any bad influences." Kevin felt himself going cold. It was like torture. Did her dad know anything about what they'd done?

"From what Mars has said, I'd much likely believe the reverse is more true. She's somehow turned out to be a tomboy." Her dad admitted. "But she seems to think rather highly of you, son. I'm glad she's found friends out there that aren't bad apples. I'm always worried about who she'll end up hanging out with."

Kevin just stood in awkward silence.

"Hopefully my son can live up to her expectations, hmm?" He pinched his shoulder firmly and he jumped. Her dad chuckled at the display. "Well, me and my son need to head out to buy things for the house. Thank you for your time."

"Any time at all." Her dad replied.

They got back in the car and pulled back out onto the feeder. He had no idea what any of that was about and his dad wasn't saying a word. Was this visit some kind of game his dad was playing to further his punishment? He was now very glad they were going to the hardware store.


The day had been fruitful. Jonathan Waters had hoped to finish out the summer with a project under his belt planned and completed. The house lacked a proper patio for the backyard and he aimed to rectify that. Every summer as a boy his father had always done something during the summer that he would enlist his sons for. They'd once built a boat dock for an uncle, and another summer he remembered helping patch up a barn for his grandfather.

He never had much a chance to continue that as an adult, but with the new house and his son being thirteen he knew he could start doing something. That patio needed to be built. Cathy commented that she wished it had an actual porch out back, and he'd cataloged that as something to be mended. It was going to get mended the year they moved in.

Kevin and his lady could help. It wouldn't be fair to Kevin to have only him sweat over the patio. That girl no doubt seduced him and so she can toil under a little labor, too. Only fair. She was a hard worker so it was unlikely she'd shirk the duty, and Kevin might learn something. Seeing a girl work hard in front of him might light a fire under his ass to worker harder than her.

They'd unload the wood into an empty space in the garage he'd made the day before. The lumber didn't look like much with it stacked neatly in bundles, but by the time they were done with it they'd be grilling steaks on it. It was a miracle they'd been able to tether to the top of the car though. Several bungee cords and some rope looped through the open windows and through the car did the trick.

It had been a productive day, and Jonathon felt it was time to cut his boy some slack. He'd worked real hard the past week. He may have overdone it on the boy, but he needed something to measure out a punishment with and it had to be something simplistic enough to raise Cathy's eyebrows. He did not want to have those conversations with her about Kevin and Marcy.

Marcy was an attractive young thing. He could understand why Kevin was smitten. If he'd been his boy's age, he'd be smitten as well by the look of her alone. In a way he was envious, too. Cathy was a pretty thing, but she didn't possess the same kind of curves Marcy was blessed with. Cathy was neat and trim, a bit on the petite side. Gorgeous, certainly, but very Audrey Hepburn with her appeal. Marcy was more a Lauren Bacall with less class and more muscle and curve.

He figured he could pass along the news to Kevin that he'd paid his price. One last warning, then done. He wasn't going to forbid him from hanging out with the girl, and he knew that there was a limit to how much he could control his boy. Marcy wasn't a bad girl, even if Cathy was loathe to admit it. She had strong reservations, but that was just territory of a mother. Women worry about it and men get on with it. Caution versus risk.

He'd start the patio later in the week and today was almost over with. Kevin was in his bedroom upstairs and either playing his game machine or sleeping. The hardware store, the loading and unloading of lumber and supplies, was rough on the boy. He was a bit scrawny and he hoped that a few good years of school sports would put some muscle on him, but Jonathan was worried he might have other inclinations that'd keep away from a bat or helmet. Regardless, it was late, and he and the missus were going to take off to bed earlier. He had an early morning commute each day and she often rose when he did.

In the master bedroom everything was solid oak. The furniture set had been given to them as a wedding gift by her parents and they had found no reason to replace it since. It was a gorgeous dark oak bed frame and bedside tables. Even had a storage bench that sat at the end of their bed. There was a kind of romantic element to the fact that the bed where they consummated their marriage had remained so strong after all the years they'd been together. They'd been married almost fourteen years. They had been wonderful years.

It was comforting to have something like that remain strong in a marriage. Something that was lasting. He'd watched friends, family, coworkers make and break their vows a handful of times. They were less amicable breakups that he'd have preferred to observe. Divorce was an ugly thing and it especially stung him to see it happen to couples that had had children. He couldn't imagine not seeing his son every day. He felt blessed Cathy and him were inseparable.

The sturdy wooden frame that was the reflection of their marriage barely rocked half an inch as he worked himself into his wife with a pleasant rhythm. He enjoyed testing the bed whenever he could. It was like a challenge in an odd kind of way. No matter how hard to fucked his wife the bed never gave. Even after particular rough nights he'd check the frame where piece met piece and he found not a bolt or screw had worked loose.

"We ought to invite the girl Marcy to dinner." he said out loud as he ground his hips into her upturned rump. She was balling up the sheets in her hands as she pouted into the pillow. He had figured that after having Kevin she'd be loose enough to slide into without a hitch, but she went right back to being tight as a glove no sooner than she started breastfeeding his then infant son. She was like a leather glove that struggled to fit a hand.

"Huh?" She whimpered under him. He pulled her fluffy groomed tail up until her asshole was in clear view. His prick was buried in her to the knot. The bulbous meat of that knot strained her lips, but he wasn't trying to tie her, not yet. He was saving his load for somewhere else. He'd miss the sensation of his tip probing the bottom of her channel, but he always loved how satisfying it was to plunder that tush of hers. She always made the prettiest noises as she struggled to take his meat there. Ooh, and whenever she took that knot she sang.

"She's a good girl. I want you to be sweeter to her, I'm sure Kevin would appreciate it." She whimpered again while he slid himself from her to the crown of his shaft and drove it back in with a wet shlick. Cathy always got so wet. She gasped sharply into the mattress from his cock stretching her so suddenly. He pulled himself back again until he popped from her with a slurp. Her juices dripped from her like a lesser man had freshly used her. Her body loved to drool when it was hungry. It filled him with fire to see his wife bent over in front of him with a pair of lips dripping like a street whore. It also stroked his ego that he was the one to turn the sweet puritan woman he'd married into a drooling slut that begged for him to do terrible things to her no decent woman should know anything about.

"B-but, Jonathan..." she whimpered to him again while trying to look back at him. He saw the look in her eyes. She was pouting with those eyes. It was the look she got when she needed him back in her again. Oh, he loved that look. A woman's look of desire was like a drug. It made him stiff. "S-she's trash-E!"

"No." He cut her off firmly. The hand tugging up on her tail was traded out with his other. With his dominant hand now free he tugged at the puckered flesh of her asshole with the side of his thumb. Her little star winked at him. He rolled his tongue and gathered saliva before spitting it right on her pucker. She flinched when it hit and he saw the shiver go through her back. "Be sweet."

"M-mr Waters..." She was looking up at him intensely. A nervous and anxious desire that burned in her eyes from the lamp shining from the bedside table. Her gaze vibrated from the flickering light across her blue eyes. If his erection had a temper, then that look she gave him whenever she knew he was aiming for her back door would have set his rod into a hot rage. He was rigid when he pushed his tip at her bullseye. "Ah!"

"You going to be sweet?" He asked her after he began to sink the first few inches into her tight grip. Her ass always was a challenge that begged to be broken in each and every time. He saved this particular pleasure for her for when she needed to learn a lesson on how to be a better wife and mother. He licked his lips while she squirmed. She wriggling under him as he overwhelmed her with his superior size, body and cock.

"Ooh, Mr Waters..." Her voice waivered and trembled, ending with high notes. He forced himself deeper still. More high notes sang from her lips. He had many inches to sink but she obediently took them all. She couldn't stop herself from clenching her rear tight, but that only added to the pleasure as she rocked her hips into his own.

"You going to be a good girl?" He asked her while tugging up on her tail a little more. He had her stretched hard around her girth as his knot inched closer to her abused pucker.

"Y-yes, Mr Waters!" she pleaded from down on the mattress, which had a damp spot under her mouth from her growing supply of drool. "I-I'll be g-OOD!"

Jonathan shoved himself hard into her until his knot kissed her between her cheeks. She panted and inhaled sharply as she squeezed and swallowed him with her rump. He whispered gentle shh shh down at her while sliding the hand on her rump down her back to run his fingertips across her spine. She whimpered and moaned when his hand found her neck and wrapped around on side of her face. Her fur was soaked with her own spit and she buried her face into his palm affectionately.

"Good girl, Cathy. Be thinkin' of a good dinner to make this weekend for the kids." He whispered to her before gritting his teeth to give her her reward. He wrapped his fingers around her muzzle to keep Kevin from hearing his mother scream like a filthy whore.


Kevin's dad let finally let him off the hook for his misdeeds the next day. He was given a firm hand on the shoulder and reminded that he'd better not break his mother's heart, but he wasn't going to tell him he couldn't have a girlfriend. Those we're his father's words. Girlfriend. He hadn't really thought of Mars as a girlfriend, but now Kevin felt his heart flutter when he realized that maybe that was something that would happen... He was timid and excited at once knowing that maybe that's what they were to each other?

"You understand?" He'd asked him. His voice left no room for disagreement. Kevin could only nod.

"Yessir." He told him in return. While the men had their heart to heart his mother was in the master bedroom on the first floor preening herself up for a trip into town. It took most respectable women an ample amount of time to prepare for a trip into town and his mother was no different. She always had to look at her best whenever she left the house.

Both of his parents were to run off and hunt for a new dishwasher. The one they had at present had started leaking water into the kitchen. His dad, being the sort of man who knew how to roll up a sleeve and do a little DIY, discovered that the dishwasher was not only now leaking, but had several other issues that needed addressing if it was to be kept. It was an old model that came with the house when they'd bought it. Too much money to bother fixing everything that was wrong with it, so his dad had said. His dad said that about a lot of things, and sometimes he wondered if it was just an excuse adults used to find reason to buy a brand new something.

Kevin had a feeling it was more because his dad wanted to butter up his mother for something. They never really argued, at least never where he'd see. His parent's were always seemed civil with each other even when they disagreed. He guessed that was a good thing. Maybe his dad was planning on suggesting something he knew she'd put her foot down on and the new washing machine was a means to get a yes? Kevin wasn't sure if his father was above bribery or not.

"Ok, I'm done. You ready, honey?" His mother stepped into the kitchen where they were at and his father kissed her on the forehead and she batted him away. She was shorter than his father by a couple of inches and it was easy for him to peck her on the forehead for a quick kiss rather than to lean down for a mouth to mouth. Kevin personally would prefer not to ever see his parents make out.

"I've been ready for nearly an hour. Let's git." She made a comment about how she needed more time to pretty up than her handsome husband did. She even laughed when she noticed Kevin's face. "We should be back in a few hours right, honey?"

"Shouldn't be too long, no. We can bring back food. BBQ sound good, sport?" Kevin told him he didn't mind having BBQ, and his mother gave him a kiss on the cheek and they both told him they'd be back soon. They left from the front door to walk over to where his Dad had parked in front of the garage.

Kevin locked the front door after them and saw his dad through the side window by the door pat his mother on the rear, which made her giggle. "Gross." he thought, and he left the door to retreat to something far more pleasant than his parents not acting like parents.


It had been a quiet few days prior to this. He hadn't seen or heard from Mars since last Wednesday and was reaching a point of hunger for her that might have been construed as withdrawal. He couldn't stop thinking about him and her together. He didn't know what to do with himself and so he banished his thoughts away with binge sessions of video games. They weren't as fun without his second player though.

He thought of looking up her dad's autoshop in the phonebook to call her, but he didn't want to get her in trouble while she was at work. So instead he just made excuses to swing out back. He even walked up and down the alley aimlessly a few times and made some lonely trips to the canal. He wondered at times how many times Mars had made those walks by herself before he moved into the new house. It seemed really lonely to be here all by yourself.

His parent's had been gone for about two hours and it was not getting close to 7pm. He didn't think they'd be able to get a washing machine in the sedan, so he figured it would get delivered. Maybe he wouldn't half to help unload it if there are delivery guys being paid to do it. He'd probably still have to help install it. No way his dad would pay to have someone do something he knew he could do himself. Kevin would find himself standing next to his dad in the kitchen while he hooked up the thingamajigs and whatsits just like how Ralphie stood beside his father holding the nuts to the station wagon's wheels. Hopefully it wouldn't end with him eating soap.

It was kinda dark out now, he saw as he looked out his window. The sun had set already, but it was still throwing a gentle amount of light over everything. He was thirsty. The kitchen was stocked with some soda and he was ready get himself one. His mother couldn't scold him for getting one since they'd been gone for two hours and no supper in sight. Well, he supposed she could have scolded him for not drinking from the tap, but their water here was kinda yuck.

There was a knock on the back door. He checked the clock on the microwave and saw that it was now almost 7:30. He creeped over to the backdoor while the knocking kept coming in intervals several seconds apart, getting louder. There was a window looking into the backyard from the laundry room and he peeked out it and saw a girl's figure standing at the door.

It looked like Mars! His heart skipped and he went back to the door to answer it. He felt a mix of excitement and confusion at her showing up so late. He turned the deadbolt and and opened up the door. "Hi!"

Mars was holding her left arm and she looked... hurt. "Can I come in, Kevin?" He stared at her a moment before stepping aside in silence. She walked in quietly and he shut the door after her.


"Ok, so how much is it?" Cathy asked her husband. They were pulling down the drive to the end of their cul-de-sac. It took longer for them to pick out a new washer. Cathy insisted it match the other appliances.

"I can pick up a reliable one for about 500. A guy at work has one for sale." Jonathan told her.

"And why do you need a shotgun again? What's a trap, honey?" She asked him. Several of his coworkers were avid trap shooters on the weekends and he was looking to join them. One of his bosses was always there and he thought it'd be a good way to work himself better into the fold.

"It's a clay disc that you throw in the air and shoot it. It's target shooting, Cath." She frowned. Her family was more city folk and didn't have much to do with hunting and shooting ranges.

"It's a lot of money for something you might not use a lot. Aren't bullets expensive?" They pulled into their driveway and continued their conversation along the way from the car to the door with BBQ in hand. They still had a cluster of boxes and furniture items in the garage that kept him from parking more than his wife's vehicle in the garage. Her car was the newer one anyway and so he felt it was better to keep it lock up when not being driven.

He felt it was going to be a chore to get her comfortable with putting out the money for a shotgun and shells. He had hoped that a brand new dishwasher would soften her up for something he'd enjoy. She commented when they had checked out the house originally that the appliances weren't quite what she was hoping for. At least her new machine would get delivered by Thursday.

Kevin surely locked the door after they'd left so he unlocked it. The foyer opened out to the living room and kitchen with the stairs to the side heading up to the second floor.

"I don't know. We just bought a new dishwasher. Can it wait?" She asked him as they stepped into the kitchen. There sat the young girl their son had hung out with so much and Kevin was with her. She looked like she had been roughed up and the first aid kit they kept in the pantry was out and scattered around the counter top. Both kids looked at like them like they'd been caught in headlights.

"What the hell is going on?" Jonathan immediately asked.


"Kevin, what is going on!" His mother demanded and took the bottle of rubbing alcohol from his hands. She looked caught between the need to care for Mars, who was visibly hurt, and scolding him. "Why is she, why are you hurt, honey?"

"Kevin, what's happened?" His dad grabbed him by the shoulder and looked at him, then at Mars, and back to him again. His mother was grabbing at Mars' face and looking at her arm asking repeatedly what had happened and where she was hurt. His dad kept tugging at his arm and away from the kitchen until they were in the doorway to the foyer.

"She wouldn't say." He told him, feeling cowed in the face of his father. "She knocked on the back door and she was hurt."

"She didn't tell you?" He asked again. He looked over at her again. "Kevin, it looks to me like someone laid into her. You see that?"

Kevin nodded fearfully. He could tell his dad was suppressing a growing anger at something or someone. His mother was using gaux and rubbing alcohol to clean what must have been cuts around her right eye and lip. His dad let go of his shoulder and approached Mars. "Marcy, dear, what's happened to you?"

Mars didn't say anything. She flinched when he put his hand on her shoulder and he pulled it away immediately. Kevin watched his mother push his dad's further away.

"Honey, it's ok. Who did this to you?" His mother asked her in her kindest voice. Kevin felt so far away. Mars as on the other side of the counter with both of his parents between him and her.

Mars kept looking at him, but there wasn't anything he could do. He didn't know what happened to her either, and it scared him. It really scared him, and he wasn't sure if it was showing on his features.

"Don't call the cops, please." Mars finally said, looking her watering eyes down and away. Her voice was weak and threatened to crack.

"Oh, honey, no." His mother gasped. His father stepped back from them both. Kevin felt pale. "Were you hurt anywhere else?"

"My mother will get my dad in trouble. He'll go to jail." She sucked in air and looked like she was trying to hold back a torrent of sobs. He saw his dad visibly tense up.

"Marcy, did you father do this?" He asked her calmly, but he could do little to hide the sound of anger in his voice. He was getting mad. Mars looked at him and her face twisted in an ugly expression.

"My bitch of a mother did this!" She yelled and started crying, her struggle keep back the tears broken. His mother grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. His dad looked confused for a moment then the moment faded. Mars was quietly sucking in air through her nose in an effort to not cry while his mother held her tight.

His dad walked away and grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out into the hall. There was an awkward moment there as his dad patted him on the shoulder while he collected his thoughts.

"What kind of woman is her mother?" he asked him.

"I don't know." Kevin answered.

"She ever talk about her? Say anything?" He asked again.

"I. I don't think she likes her mom. She said she doesn't care what she does. Her parent's divorced because she drinks a lot. I think she gets mad when she's drunk." He told him. He tried to remember everything Mars ever said about her mother, which wasn't much. Maybe for good reason.

"Ok. What about her dad?" He asked.

"She loves her dad." He didn't know what else to add to that. It just seemed all there was to it. He couldn't think of a single thing she'd ever said about her dad that wasn't good. She liked working at his shop.

"Where's Kevin." They both heard Mars from the kitchen. She sounded so weak.


They sat quietly in his room. They both barely touched the BBQ they'd been given. Kevin didn't think his parents ate much either. Kevin had asked her if she wanted to play anything, but she didn't respond. She occasionally sniffed from her previous tears and she wouldn't utter a single word. They sat together in silence on the floor. Their shoulders touched while she hugged her knees with his legs kicked out in front of him.

In the spare room across the hall Kevin could hear his dad moving aside unpacked boxes and some random articles of furniture. The room was just a storage room, but there was a couch in it that his parent's decided would be her place to stay the night on. They had extra pillows and blankets to make it comfortable.

Mars' mom had hit her. A lot.

Kevin's mom had wanted to call the cops as soon as she got it out of Mars' what had happened, but his dad stopped her. The law wasn't always kind to fathers.

"Let's just let her stay here the night and I'll call her father tomorrow and let him decide. This ball is in his court, she's his daughter." his dad had told his mom. She had very reluctantly agreed. Seeing Mars' hurt the way she was had begun to set a strong anger his mother he'd never seen before.

"What mother could do that to their child?" she had asked his dad, he had overheard them talking in the kitchen after Kevin took Mars upstairs.

"Not all mothers are like you." Was his answer.

Mars' mother had gotten drunk and started arguing with Mars' about her coming and going without saying where or when. The fight escalated when Mars' made the point that, "You've never cared before, how come now?". That got her a slap across the face.

Mars' made the mistake of slapping back. Her mother was an overweight drunk but she still worked at the post office and carried heavy boxes of paper and mail every day. She was a drunk that out massed Mars and had muscle hidden beneath her layers. She gave her daughter three cuts across the right side of her face near her eye and lip and a nasty bruise on her arm that made it hard for Mars' to move it.

"Nothing looks broken. She got got hit really hard." His mother had told his dad. "She'll be ok without a trip to the doctor."

Kevin hated the silence. He didn't like this at all.

"Mars?" He said her name. She was right next to him but she felt far away. When she didn't say anything he leaned closer to her and very gently moved his arm to wrap with hers. She let him slide his hand into hers. Her hand squeezed his when their palms met.

"I love you, Mars." He told her, and she started quietly crying. She leaned against him and put her head on his shoulder. They sat together in front of the tv, the Super VES logo spinning on the screen waiting for a cartridge to be inserted. He joined her with his tears.