No Breaks

'The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it, move with it and join the dance.'

 - Alan Watts

***

"Argh."

A boy woke up, groaning lightly, "Where am I?"

His hazel eyes looked around the huge yet small room. The room, which couldn't house a full-grown man, now felt wide and spaceful to him.

"Is this..." He paused for the dramatic effect, "Another world? An Isekai?"

Goku, that was his name.

Going by the name, one could tell how crazy his parents were about Dragon Ball. The boy inherited their madness. A madman for science, he was.

The last thing Goku remembered was finding an alien space-ship and trying to open it with a screw-driver. Of course, he always kept a screw-driver on him. For scientific purposes only.

Naturally, the ship exploded, blowing up Goku's soul with a strange chemical. An ingredient which transferred his soul to this boy's body.

A faint sense of nausea hit Goku when he realized that the age of the boy was between 5-8 years. The body wore some khakhi-colored, baggy pajamas, not having a single injury.

Dissimilar to his name's brutish origin, Goku hated fights. A pacifist. And it wasn't because he couldn't fight well. No, he simply hated hurting people.

Such a man had 'killed' a boy by taking his place. To avoid the moral delimma, Goku gave up his thoughts entirely. Focusing on his current situation more.

Goku glanced at the room, "Is this the boy's room?"

The hued, pink room had a bed, a study table and three doors, one of which was a closet. It gave off the same feminine charm that Goku's ex-girlfriend's room had. Sadly, she broke up with him because he was more interested in computer motherboards than her.

Various posters were stuck on the wall while the floor had many toys scattered around. One of the posters belonged to a hot lady in a Captain America costume, Captain Carter if one went by the name written on it.

There were also posters of a bio-tech company called Oscorp all over the place. This gave rise to a terrible feeling within Goku.

"Don't tell me," He gulped in horror, "This is Marvel?"

He jumped out of bed, throwing away the blanket on one corner. Though he jumped on the toys, none of them stabbed him luckily.

Luck, the only thing that Goku could proudly say that he lacked. If he didn't get hurt while jumping out of bed, then only one of two scenarios awaited him.

Either his bad luck was cured or the world was trying to coax him into lowering his guard and aiming to hit him hard.

"I think it's definitely the latter," Goku sighed and moved towards the door, "First, I need to know who I am."

He moved towards the door and clutched the door knob. It took a lot of courage to open that door. For all he knew, there could be infectious zombies on the other side.

Marvel was a deadly place. A place that buried more heroes than villains.

- Click!

But stagnation or hesitation wasn't an option. Goku bravely stepped forward.

"Oh, this is the bathroom," A blush creeped up on his face, not expecting this turn of events.

'How was I supposed to know that this wasn't the bathroom? This is my first time in this room.' Goku justified his mistake, instead of accepting the blame.

Moving swiftly, he moved and opened the correct door. The pathway lead to the second floor of a common, old house.

A 2-floored house with creaky floorboards. Each step made an eerie, screeching sound.

- Thud!

'On a second thought, I should stay in.' 

He was a bit scared. The emotions of a 5-year old was more dominant than he initially thought. Hence, Goku decided to check his face first.

The bathroom in the boy's room had a horizontal, rectangular mirror. Though fogged up by the faulty heating, it had no cracks and could be used after a good cleaning.

Goku wiped the mirror with a nearby tissue and glanced at his reflection.

Caucasian looks with cute dimples on each side of his face. His hazel-tinted, almond-shaped eyes revealing great fear and curiosity. The cold skin had a deadly pale tint to it. 

If not for the beating heart, one could consider him as dead boy. Thankfully, the color returned slowly and steadily.

For a boy, this body was too petite. Maybe it was younger than 8. Definitely older than 5 though.

Touching his skin, he pulled it slightly and winced in pain. This was no mere dream or illusion.

'This is reality,' He reaffirmed his prior statements.

"PETER!! Are you up!?"

A loud voice rang out in the house, flinching Goku. Whose name seemed to be Peter.

"Is Peter my name here?" Goku, now Peter, said as he walked out of the room, "Whatever the case is, it doesn't seem like there's any danger for now."

Although the voice was loud and rough, it held warmth and care in it. Anyone with a loving family could feel that.

'Is that person my mother?' With a confused mind, Peter slowly stepped down the creaky stairs, 'I need to fix this too... If I get the chance.'

As an independent adult, Peter had experience in fixing things without calling the experienced professionals.

The 1st floor of the house was nothing much of a surprise. A simple living room, a kitchen co-joined with a dining room, one washroom and another bedroom.

"Pete, what are you dilly-dallying around for? Hurry up or May will get angry."

A rough hand, along with the voice, came from Peter's back and ruffled up his hair while pushing him forward.

'Woah!' Shocked by the sudden 'attack', Peter almost screamed but held back and turned his head to look at the person behind, 'She's familiar. Is she the aunt of this body?'

She had some grey hair on the sides of her head but her face couldn't be called anything other than youthful. There was a hint of wisdom in her black eyes. A warm smile embellishing her pink lips.

Her body seemed strong, a clear outline of mucles could be seen through her outfit. 

The woman behind, Bea Parker, tilted her head as she looked at a non-respondant Peter, 'Is he alright? He's a bit dazed.'

"Are you okay, Pete?" She asked in a worried tone and touched his forehead with the back of her hand, "You seem fine. No fever, at least."

'But his skin is too cold.'

But the pale skin of the boy made her feel that something was wrong. It wasn't her fault nor was Peter sick. His body was recently dead and just returned back to life.

Neither Peter nor Bea knew about it.

Peter smiled sheepishly and spoke awkwardly, "Y-yeah, I'm fine, A-aunt?"

"Aunt? Why do I hear doubt? You sure you're okay?" Bea forrowed her brows. Her hand kept patting Peter softly, trying to reassure him. 

"Doubt? No doubts, Aunt. Definitely not!" Peter understood that she was her aunt and went with it, moving to the dining room, "Let's go, don't want to keep her waiting, do we?"

Peter didn't know May was to him so he slyly used her pronouns. Hopefully, May didn't identify as a man, that would cause more problems.

"Yep," Bea popped the 'P' and hurried along. She too feared the other woman.

In the dining room, another woman awaited their arrival. Her age wasn't much different than Bea's.

Unlike Bea, she seemed more youthful and joyous. But she lacked the distinct muscles that the former had. 

May Parker set up the table and watched as Peter and Bea entered the room.

"You two are late! Hurry up!!" She chided while glancing at the clock on her wrist, "The school bus leaves in 25 minutes. And you aren't even dressed, Peter!"

Bea calmed May down, "Don't worry about Peter, I will take care of it. Relax and enjoy your breakfast, May."

Both Bea and May worked so Peter had to use the school bus. As it was the first day of school, Peter would have a good chance of making friends when using the school bus.

Ignorant about the upcoming trial, Peter sat down on the table, he gazed at the breakfast. Dissimilar to the outrageous breakfast in movies, there was only a toast, a few scrambled eggs and milk.

'Isn't anyone else coming?' Peter waited for the other members of the family, if there were any. Bea found this behavior strange.

Bea took a bite of her toast, "Do you want to take a rest today, Pete?" From the start, she had been paying more attention to him after seeing his pale face.

"No-no, I'm fine."

"Bea, he's a growing boy. Give him some space." May scolded Bea while she devoured the scrambled eggs, they were partly undercooked. Making the woman retort back before anyone complained, "Hey, today was Bea's turn. If you have problems, take it up wth her."

May threw Bea under the bus without any remorse or guilt.

Peter nodded along, eating his food in a hurry too. The faster he got out of this situation, the fast he could find out who he was.

"Aunt Peah, I'm dopn!" While munching on the last piece of toast, Peter declared. Eliciting a chuckle from May, "Calm down, Peter. We're not in that much of a hurry."

They could always drop him off if he missed the bus. The school was nearby.

By now, Peter had gathered a small amount of information, 'These two aren't kidnappers or zombies. Their names are Bea and May. Bea is my aunt while May... might be my mom. There doesn't seem to be anyone else in the family.'

Peter glanced at the nearby photoframes, which only had the 3 of them.

"Let's get you dressed up, Pete! First day of school is a memorable event."

Bea stood up and grabbed Peter, bringing him out of his shock, 'First day of school? Elementary school?'

The boy was clearly not old enough to enter junior high school or high school.

Picked up by his underarms, Peter had no choice but to dangle in the air as Bea took him to the closest shower, 'Wait, I can do it myself! Ahhh! This is going to be embarrassing.'

Bea kissed May on her lips, pecking her lovingly before leaving, getting no response from Peter.

'Hey, I'm not against people loving whoever they want. Why do you think I would react? Wait, does this mean that May isn't my mother? Since Bea is my aunt and she is her lover, May is my aunt too? As a great man once said : This is hella confusing, brah!'

.

.

.

After 15 minutes, a despondent, despairing Peter glanced at the world with cold, lifeless eyes, 'She saw it... She saw it all! Is this hell on Earth?'

"What are you doing?" May pushed Peter forward, slinging a bag over his shoulders and patting his shoulders, "Okay, you're ready."

The duo rushed out to the bus stop while Bea was waving them off.

The station itself within a 5-minute walking distance.

Many other parents stood at the station, preparing their kids for school. One of the kids was crying, scared about leaving his parents and going to school alone.

A feeling that many children agreed with. But they didn't cry or wail. Which was a bit better than the boy.

The curious thing about this situation was that the crybaby was the only boy in all the students gathered there, excluding Peter.

It couldn't be explained by saying that this neighborhood had less boys because even the adults were all females. Not a single man could be seen among them.

'Oh, wait, there is one,' Peter thought. His eyes glancing at the man, who stood away from the station and smiling at someone. Surprisingly, 6 women replied with flying kiss, which no one found strange.

'Either that guy is a well-known casanova or something's weird about this world. Well, as long as it's not zombies, I can take care of myself.'

May stopped at the station and kneeled before Peter, fixing up his clothes, "Peter, this is your first day at school, play nice with your schoolmates. Don't talk with strangers. Don't eat anything you find on the ground. Head straight to home after you return, don't wander around! Bea will be there but I don't trust her enough to take care of you!"

Patting Peter's head, she smiled kindly, "Do you understand all that?"

"Yes, you don't think Aunt Bea's mature enough to take care of me. Got it!" Peter replied cheekily, his prior nervousness started dissolving when he saw no immediate danger around him.

"Heh." May scoffed and pulled on his nose before standing up and waiting for the bus.

In that moment, a certain realization hit Peter.

'Wait, I haven't been in this world for an hour. And school's already started. Can't anyone catch a break around here?'