Papers stuck to his face as he rose from the desk. The sun, even if it was the usual England weather, was always bright enough to rouse Aiden from sleep. With slothlike reaction time, he realized that the paper that had just fallen from his face was an essay for a class. A quick inspection revealed that it was semi-readable for a first draft and he placed it back on the desk. What day was it again?
Aiden decided it felt like a saturday. If he was wrong his mother would correct him soon enough by asking why he wasn't at school. Either way, it didn't matter, because every day he was a step closer to the Vongola and finally getting power enough to not need anyone to defend him. Today felt different, too. Something in the air had changed, and he hoped that meant today would be different from all the previous days.
Aiden realized that he hadn't changed before falling asleep and his clothes were wrinkled and messy. If today was different, then he'd at the very least get dressed into something clean. He pulled a shirt from his messy dresser and wrestled for clean pants before getting dressed. Well, he could say they were clean but the only thing he knew for sure was that they passed the sniff test. Which for him was good as clean. He didn't have time to worry about these sorts of things when he had to devote himself to getting strong enough for the Vongola to notice him.
"Aiden! Get up! Your Dad called!" the yelling from the kitchen had Aiden moving towards the voice.
"What time is it?" Aiden asked, half in Japanese due to his lack of consciousness, just about slamming into the chair because he was already set to sit down again.
"Nine. Though, you look as though you haven't slept at all. I thought you went to bed at midnight?" She replied as she flipped the omelette.
"That's when I went into my room. I don't think I could say when exactly I went to sleep," Aiden explained. He sounded a little bored, but if he had energy for emotion he would have used it to keep himself from falling asleep at the table.
His mother shook her light brown haired head. She'd learned that there was no changing his mind a long time ago, but that didn't mean that she was giving up either. "Aiden, I need you to run groceries for me while I meet up with a friend. Your dad might show up later on in the week if work goes well, so I'd prefer to be stocked up on food for when he visits."
"But-""You can invite Kevin if you want, or I could call him. I'm sure he'd be enthused to hang out with you." Her smile was warm, but to Aiden he could see the truth behind the mask. This was her way of getting him to do things. Aiden wanted Kevin at a distance. Kevin wanted to hang out all the time.
"That's not necessary! I'll do it. But if he comes by I swear that if you tell him where I am I'll never come home again," Aiden said, knowing full well that she'd tell Kevin anyway, but it was a hope.
"Aiden, I said I'd be out meeting a friend of my own. If he comes here, nobody will be home."
"Oh yeah.""Honestly, you need to sleep more than you need to go out buying weapons or whatever it is that you do," his mother said as she set the plate in front of Aiden. "Also, you need a shower before you go out, your hair looks like it hasn't even seen water in a week. Which is a feat given that's it's rained off and on for the last few days."
Thus the breakfast passed and Aiden went to the market after a quick shower. He felt fancy, for some reason. Even though his shirt said 'Full Time Beach Hunk' and his jeans looked like he walked on the hems of the legs all day. It didn't take all that much time to reach the center of Goldcrest, where he'd find most if not all the grocery list. The list was three pages, but he figured that he could pay for it all and they'd be fine.
The groups of people and change of atmosphere always pissed Aiden off. What was so great about standing around in groups? They just took up space and blocked the way for other people to get what they needed. He noted a girl leaning on a wall alone and realized that he didn't know where to find half of the list.
Mother's trying to make me have friends again... he thought as he glared at the list. In order to find it all he'd have to ask around.
His mother was an evil genius.