As N looked over the dirty, crumpled clothes bundled in their arms, they started to suspect they had been duped.

They really, really tried their best. But in their defense, the boy had left them incredibly frazzled.

In the aftermath of their failure to memory wipe him, they had halfheartedly attempted to flee.

It didn't work in their favour of course. The boy chose to eagerly follow them, shouting about how it wasn't fair "that they got to leave after that epic revelation!" And that he "Had to know more!" At that point, he kind of just kept talking. They tried to ignore it.

Sure, they could always just teleport away, but the path back towards their apartment was out in the open, and the mild frustration of a surprisingly chatty teen wasn't worth the headache of handling whoever saw them in the aftermath. So, they resigned to trying to tackle it the old-fashioned way.

"Please go away," They blurted, stopping his ramble. "You're making a scene."

"But you haven't even answered any of my questions!"

The kid huffed, standing to block the detective's way.

"If you don't tell me- I'll tell everyone about the cool super stuff you did!"

N sighed, shoving their hands in their pockets while they contemplated giving the wipe another go.

'But this kid is immune. Somehow.' They thought.

They took a casual step around the kid and continued walking.

"Wh- hey!"

"I'll answer your questions." They gestured for him to follow. "But you leave afterwards. And please, stop shouting."

The kid beamed and scurried to follow along. He had a little gap in between his two front teeth, N realized.

"Deal!" He squeaked.

"Go on."

"You tried to wipe my memory!"

"Yes." They shrugged. "What of it?"

"Why?"

N rubbed the back of their neck. There wasn't one answer to that particular question, and they figured "I don't need to deal with any freakouts" would not satisfy the strange boy's clear hunger for the fantastical.

"If you know about- things like that. It can put a target on your back. I'm helping people when I remove that...miniscule part of their mind. It's only like a minute of memory gone anyway. Nothing dangerous."

"Oh." The boy's eyes went wide. "Why didn't you finish the job with me then? Am I gonna die?"

"No- you're not going to die." They rubbed their forehead. "It didn't work on you."

"Huh???? Really?" The boy said, pushing into N's space with an excited look on his face.

"Really." They narrowly dodged him, thoroughly tired of the teen's antics. "Possibly an aftereffect of the Hellspawn that swallowed you."

"Is that what that thing was called???"

"Yes."

"This is so cool! You're telling me there's a whole supernatural side to the world, naked to the average human eye?"

"Mhm, in a sense."

"And I'm part of a select few that can see it?"

"...Seems so."

"Then that means, I'm now a part of this secret, super society!? That this is my ORIGIN story!?"

"No." N said, coming to a stop. "This is where you go."

"What? But you promised to answer my questions!" The kid whined.

"I did."

"Like two! That's not fair!"

"I never said I'd answer a lot." They said, turning away from him. "Have a good night."

"You're just gonna leave me alone? I've just been brought into this crazy supernatural life! What if something attacks me, and I die! Won't you feel bad???" He scrambled to stand next to them.

"There are plenty of humans who are in similar situations to you. Any low-level exorcist could help you. You don't even have to worry about magic."

"I can do magic!?"

Inwardly, N face-palmed. They just didn't get how to handle children.

"Could. It's not just a thing humans get to do freely and- why am I telling you this? I'm glad you're alive, but you'll be fine. You have to go home now, and I'm going inside." They threw their hands up in frustration.

"But I don't have a home!" He blurted out desperately. "So that thing could come back and eat me!"

N stopped, turning back to the boy. For the first time, they actually bothered to take in his appearance.

He was short. At least around 5'1". It was hard to make out the colour of his eyes, perhaps a dark gray? Whatever they were, they were very dull, with a singular mole next to his left one. His teeth, despite the gap, appeared healthy enough. However, his tan skin was marked with minor cuts and splotches of dirt. His outfit was nothing impressive, a t-shirt that was likely white at some point, and old, muddy dress pants. The t-shirt had visible spots that had likely caught the bleach he had dyed his hair with. His blond hair appeared flat and unwashed, even vaguely greasy. Most uncomfortably, was his visible lack of shoes.

N nearly slapped themself for being so out of it, that they hadn't registered the state of the teen. It wasn't clear how much of this was caused by the Oddity, but the boy was clearly not in top shape.

The boy shifted at the detective's ruby gaze. Rubbing his hands together, he looked away.

"I'm an...orphan." He said, with a hint of discomfort. "So don't you feel bad about leaving me out in the cold, dark night?"

N looked up, just in time to see the last sliver of daytime fade and welcome the night. They sighed, rubbing their temples.

"Come in then."

Xiao smiled and padded after them like a lost dog.

"Thank you, Detective!"

***

The ride up to their apartment was blissfully quiet. Their place rested on floor 16 out of 18. It was late enough in the evening that they were easily able to walk the strange, shoeless boy along the red and orange carpet to their beige door with a black "232" stenciled across it. They turned the handle and pushed the door open.

"Do you not lock your door?" He tilted his head.

"I don't need to."

"Oh."

They walked in, and the boy hesitated a bit at the door.

"The bathroom's on the right." They said, popping the hallway light on. "You can take a shower, and then sleep on the couch. It's a pullout."

"Oh-I- Don't have any other clothes."

N paused, pushing the bathroom door open. "That's fine. Pass yours out, I'll wash them when you're in there."

"...Will they be done before I am?"

"Hopefully." They stressed, pushing him towards the door. "Now please, you smell like the garbage you were in..."

Which, had led them to where they were now. A mysterious boy was in their shower, and his mysterious clothes were in their arms.

"Tomorrow." They muttered, tossing the clothes into the machine. "Tomorrow I'll find a place for him and then it's not my problem anymore."

As the clothes hit the drum of the machine, they made a strange clanging noise that clothes shouldn't. N frowned and patted around the clothing until they found the culprits.

In the boy's pants was a red leather pouch. It looked like something you'd get from a souvenir shop to put rocks in. It had some weight to it and clinked when they gave it a shake.

'Money.' They thought as they put it onto the shelf next to the machine.

They did one last check to make sure they didn't miss anything and found a phone in the other pocket. One with no case, a cracked screen, and a cracked camera. It had seen better days and was absolutely worse for wear than the pouch. Nonetheless, N placed it right next to it and proceeded with the actual wash.

N took down the laundry detergent, pouring it directly on the clothes. Then, they took down a small bucket from the shelf and filled it with water from the sink within the small room, splashing it into the front-facing machine.

Setting the bucket aside, they took a seat on the tacky neon orange lawn chair their sister had given them (and they had subsequently hidden within the unsuspecting laundry room) as four, long, thick, black, tendril-like things rose from the ground. N nodded their head toward the machine, to which two of the tendrils pushed into and began to aggressively wash the dirty clothes. Once the tendrils had sufficiently cleaned the clothes, they disappeared, allowing the other two to gingerly bring them over to the similarly front-facing dryer. Once the clothes had been placed gently inside, the remaining two tendrils began to noisily swish the cylinder of the dryer round and round, drying the clothes in under a minute.

Satisfied with their work, the tendrils disappeared and N took the clothes out. Looking them over, they noticed that they had managed to get some of the bleach stains out. With an approving nod, N headed back towards the bathroom just in time to hear the water stop running.

Coming to the door with a soft knock, the boy popped his head out suspiciously.

"That was really fast."

"So was your shower." They said, handing him the clean clothes.

"Oh wow, they're warm!" He exclaimed from behind the door.

N leaned against the wall as the boy popped out of the bathroom with a big smile and fresh clothes. He already looked better after a quick shower than he had outside. Happily, he took a seat on the dark teal couch.

"What's next?" He asked.

"Tomorrow, you leave. But you can sleep here tonight."

"Oh." The boy visibly deflated. "Okay."

N made their way to the nearby kitchen and popped on the kettle. The day's nonsense left their want for a coffee into a longing.

"What's your name, detective? You didn't tell me..." The boy called out.

"...Call me N."

"That's a cool name."

"Thanks." They said, pulling down their instant coffee mix. What's yours?"

"O-..." The boy paused. "Xiao. Call me Xiao."

"Okay."

It got quiet for a bit as N watched the kettle boil. They mindlessly grabbed a mug from the drainer, a stupid green one that had a cat that said "I wuv U" on the side. They winced, before putting it into the cupboard and pulling down a much more neutral one. Pastel yellow with pink flowers in a wreath around the top. As they did so, they spotted its sister cup, (the same design but with blue flowers) and glanced back to the living room.

"Do you want something warm to drink? I just boiled the kettle." They called out.

The boy didn't respond. N blinked, walking over to the couch.

"Xiao?" They asked, reaching the boy, who had fallen asleep against the side of the couch.

N sighed. "I didn't even set up the pullout yet."

Quietly, they pulled a soft lilac blanket from one of their loveseats and draped it over the boy.

Looking at the teenager, they couldn't help but feel like they had been a little conned into caring for him for the night. But even so, as they watched the rise and fall of his chest, they didn't particularly regret it.

The sight was almost...nostalgic.

Before they could dwell too much on that thought, they pulled themself away from the scene.

"Sleep well." They said as they turned off the light.

It would all be resolved by tomorrow, they were sure of it.

It didn't hurt to let the boy- Xiao, get some rest beforehand.