It was late and darkness had set in. Pepper let go of his bike and let it fall against the side of the house. The faint light coming from his workshop caught his attention. His feet shuffled on the patches of grass and dirt that made up their backyard.

He slowly made his way across the threshold and was surprised to see Summer curled up in his recliner. Her sniffles cued him in that she was dealing with a wave of emotions. She was wrapped up in his blanket and turned to look at him as he stepped inside.

Her makeup was smeared down her face. Her bloodshot eyes spoke of how long she had been there and suffering. She wiped her face and turned away from his gaze. “I’m sorry, Pepper. I just needed to get away, and this was the one place I knew I could come and escape.”

Pepper continued shuffling his feet and made his way over to his hammock. He plopped down and let the momentum sway him back and forth. His feet were throbbing from the long day, and having them drift in suspension felt more precious than gold. “You know you’re welcome here any time, homie.”

Her voice was trembling. “I know… still, I just feel like at intrusion when I show up like this.”

The truth was, Pepper couldn’t remember the last time Summer had come over to escape life. But that didn’t matter to him. “Like I said, it’s all good.” He kicked off his shoes and let out a moan of relaxation. “Holy cow, that feels so much better.”

“Dear god, Pepper, your feet stink.” Summer covered her face with his blanket.

He sniffed the air aggressively. “Smells like a hard day’s work to me.”

Though her face was partially covered, he could still make out her disgusted expression. “It smells like funk, rotten trash, rotten eggs, and vomit.”

He twisted his head around and found the bottle of Air Out. A quick spray of air freshener and he leaned back in his hammock. “There.”

Summer sounded like she was about to puke. “It’s in my mouth!”

Pepper chuckled. “You thought you were coming to safety; instead you found yourself trapped in my own personal gas chamber.”

The two couldn’t help but laugh. Summer finally worked herself up to removing the blanket from her face. “I’ve been through enough today, Pepper. Don’t make it any worse.”

Pepper noticed a small smile come over her face. “Hey, guess what?”

“What?” she said with a curious look and a small playful grin.

“You’re smiling,” he said with a snap of his fingers which ended with him pointing finger guns at her.

She blushed slightly while her grin formed into a smile. She wiped her face again and sniffled. “Fine… I guess you’re right.” She took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. “You always had a way of doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Getting me to smile, even during the hardest of times.”

He shrugged and the slight movement wiggled his hammock. “Eh, it is what it is.” Pepper adjusted himself and leaned over so he could see her a little bit better. “Wanna talk about it?”

“No… not really.” Pepper waited for half a minute. As if he knew her better than herself, she blurted it out and didn’t stop. “It’s just been such a rough week. Jackson has been a jerk all week long. Pestering me non-stop. Going through my things, which normally wouldn’t bother me, but for some reason this week it really got under my skin. Then my mom and I got into an argument over my car and my plans for college. She doesn’t like the fact that I’m planning to move in with my friend Rebecca. She thinks I should live in the dorms for at least a semester or two. Then there’s the whole balancing out a job. I feel like my mom is placing this huge amount of guilt on me right now for leaving. There’s finally an opportunity for me to pursue my dreams, but instead of making me feel supported, she makes me feel guilty for leaving her to deal with Jackson all by herself.”

Pepper let out a roaring snore sound. Before he knew it, an empty clay canister crashed against his head. The can clanged to the ground, but he couldn’t control his laughter. Though his head was throbbing from the impact, he worked to catch his breath. “I’m sorry … I didn’t mean for it to be that rude.”

“Pepper Walker, you’re not sorry at all, you dang liar!” Summer’s expression of anger slowly faded, and she ended with a slight giggle. The moaning and uncontrollable laughter coming from Pepper didn’t allow her to remain in such a state.

“Okay, okay … I kinda deserved that.”

“You’re darn right you did.” She rolled her eyes. “I just… I just needed this, Pep. Thank you.”

“You needed to throw a metal canister at my head? Really? That’s what made you feel better?” he said with a shocked expression, rubbing the area of impact.

“You know, now that I think about it, yeah… I did need that. Can I throw things at your head more often? Because that really has made me feel a whole lot better.”

Pepper let out a long exhale and leaned back in his hammock. “You know what? Sure. Whatever floats your boat.”

“So, what were you up to today?” she asked in a soft and tender tone.

“Let’s see… school and work. That’s it… that is all my life equates to now. At least until I can build a new golem.”

“Well, that doesn’t explain all the dirt you’re covered in. Did you get a new job doing landscaping?”

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He froze and glanced down to see she was right. His venture to Kyle’s junkyard had left him caked with brown streaks of dirt from where he’d snuck under the fence. He panicked but quickly composed himself. “I… uhh, well, I fell off my bike. A car swerved towards me and I had to bail into the bushes.”

“Oh my gosh, Pepper! Here I am gabbing about my problems and you almost died! Are you okay?”

“It’s nothing, really. You shouldn’t worry. I didn’t even get banged up. All those rolls Nate has had me perform at the Ohana dojo allowed me to get out without a scratch.”

“Well, you sure are lucky,” she replied.

Pepper sighed in relief. His lie seemed to have passed as truth. The fact was that his little excursion into Kyle’s junkyard hadn’t returned any valuable loot. The shipment that Rhino had talked about had turned out to be a bust. That or it hadn’t arrived yet, and the few scraps Pepper had searched through had already been pillaged by Kyle

Pepper tried his best to quickly move the conversation along. “You gonna spend the night?”

“Is that okay? Your mom and dad won’t mind, will they?”

Pepper turned his head so he could see his friend. “Summer, you lived with us for a while—number one. Number two, I’m fairly positive my mom will have no idea you were ever here. My dad will understand, and finally, item C, who cares?”

Summer smirked and snuggled further into the blanket. “Thanks, Pep.”

***

The loud alarm startled Pepper awake, and he soon found himself tumbling to the ground, landing with a thud. He coughed and worked to compose himself. He wiped his face and realized that Summer’s alarm had gone off far earlier than his was set for.

Summer snoozed her holodex and began to stretch. A long yawn and then she stood up from the recliner and twisted round. “Morning,” she muttered.

Pepper just moaned in response and slowly crawled up from the workshop floor. “What time is it?”

“Six. Why? Don’t you get up this early?”

“No, you psycho. I still have an hour before I would even need to leave on my bike to make it to school.”

“Well, it takes longer to get this face ready for a public viewing. Especially after last night. I’m gonna hop in the shower.”

“Do whatever you want.” Pepper narrowed his eyes and scowled at her.

“You know, you could make us breakfast. Seeing how you have a little extra time this morning.” Summer winked and turned to leave.

Pepper moaned. Sleep was still heavy upon him. He wiped his face and then smoothed it with his hands. Fine… guess a little bacon and eggs never hurt anyone, he thought.

His spirit lifted when he walked into the house and caught the scent of fresh coffee. He immediately headed for the cupboard and reached for the largest glass cup he could find. The quick addition of a few ice cubes and a splash of creamer at the bottom of the glass and then Pepper emptied the coffee pot.

He drank the morning bean juice as quickly as possible to awaken himself. By the time he was sipping the final few drops, his dad entered the kitchen. Trent placed his coffee mug firmly down on the kitchen counter.

Pepper turned to look at his dad just in time to see him tilt the coffee pot towards himself. “Really? You had to finish it off in one go?”

Pepper rolled his eyes. “I’ll make another pot.” He reached for the coffee grounds and quickly began to measure out what was needed for the filter. “You know… they have those individual cup things that you can just instantly make when you want another cup of coffee.” His voice held a slight note of sarcasm.

His dad matched him in the same tone. “You know… just because they make a certain kind of product doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Sometimes it’s about the process rather than the outcome.”

Pepper finished resetting the coffee maker and the machine purred to life. He tilted his head towards his father as he finished pulling out the items he’d need to make breakfast. “What do you mean by that?”

“Do they make luxury cars?” his dad asked, sitting down on one of the kitchen barstools.

Pepped huffed. “Yeah.”

“But do I need a luxury car to get from A to B?” his dad asked. Pepper didn’t reply but just shook his head. “Do I have to compete in martial arts tournaments in order to train at Master Craven’s Ohana dojo, or can I just do the training for the mental health benefits?”

“Okay, I get it. What are you, a drill sergeant or something?” Pepper chuckled as he wobbled his head and performed a joking salute.

“Well… you brought up the topic. Sometimes you might want to be careful what you wish for.” There was a pause, and Pepper began to place the pieces of bacon in the frying pan. Trent then followed up. “You know, Pep there was this guy that was on our base in the military. He was an aircraft mechanic. He was good—really good, in fact. But his skills went to his head.”

Pepper turned and looked at his dad as he washed his hands, then shifted to place some toast in the toaster. “Okay.”

“A mechanic has a set of Technical Orders, or TOs for short. They are step-by-step instructions on every single process that needs to be performed during maintenance of the aircraft. Step 1, do this. Step 2, then do that. You never deviate from the instructions.”

Pepper was now curious as to where his dad was going. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, unfortunately Sergeant Taylor Cormick began to not follow the TOs. His confidence had become arrogance. One day he went out to do work on one of the aircraft’s wings, specifically the landing flaps. He went to adjust one of the hydraulic mechanisms, and when he did that, he was cut in half. All because he didn’t follow his TO and perform one tiny step before continuing to do the maintenance.”

Pepper lifted the spatula that was in his hand and pointed at his dad. “Well, good thing I’m not going to be a mechanic.” He had a smug smirk on his face and returned to scrambling the eggs.

Before Trent could rebuff Pepper’s sarcasm, Summer walked into the room. She was wrapped in a bathrobe and had a towel around her head that secured her hair. “Well, that smells good.” She smiled and continued as she homed in on the coffee. “Boy, I could sure get used to this kind of treatment in the morning.”

Trent pointed his baffled expression towards Summer. “Did my household multiply during the night?”

Summer giggled. “Good morning, Mr. Walker.” She had already poured herself a cup of coffee and snagged a fresh piece of toast.

“And she is stealing my coffee? I swear you kids these days.” He paused and waited for the perfect opportunity when both Pepper and Summer stood close to one another. “Wait a minute … you two aren’t dating, are you?”

A disgusted expression came over Summer’s face. “Eww, gross!”

Pepper was shocked, and his cheeks flushed red in anger. “Come on, Dad! Seriously?”

Trent stood up and started laughing. He poured another cup of coffee and slowly walked into the living room. “My work here is done.”

The two could hear him continuing to chuckle as he went. Pepper handed Summer her plate of food and she leaned back against the kitchen counter.

“Thanks… homie,” she emphasized and sighed.

Pepper took a large bite of eggs and toast and, with a full mouth of food, blurted out, “No problem.”

“You’re sometimes nastier than my brother.”

“I’m surprised your mom hasn’t called a thousand times looking for you,” he commented and started to place the dishes in the sink.

“She did while I was in the shower. I just messaged her back to tell her I was alive and well.” Summer took another few bites of her breakfast. “Okay, I’m going to go do my makeup. We’re taking the bus, right?”

“We?” Pepper said. He quickly changed his voice to mimic his dad’s. “Wow, we certainly are starting to talk like a couple now, aren’t we?”

“Shut up.” Summer sighed and softly backhanded his shoulder as she began to walk off. “Thanks for making breakfast.”

Pepper smiled. Not at anything either of them had done or said. He merely thought of how much fun it was going to be to watch her suffer on the bus ride to school. The mental image of Brent drooling all over her popped into his head and he couldn’t wait.