For Aaron Stewart, survival means self-control.
It is actually quite the easy principle. If your foster sibling steals something from you and you try to get it back - if you scream or fight or cry - you are the problem child. But if you don't do any of that, if you just swallow it down and stay docile and compliant - then, sooner or later, the thief will get too cocky, or someone else will lose their patience, and then they will be the problem child. Not you.
And so, when you observe as things that would've been fine a month ago become reason for punishment, when you catch them doing the maths and see the moment they realize that it doesn't add up, that it's just not worth it, you can still hold on for a little longer. It is always the problem children they think of first, after all.
After he found out about his magic, it was simply another type of self-control that became his saving grace. He didn't care for his clothes or his food or any of his material needs. Not anymore. Quite the opposite, he felt bad for the kids that stole them. Because he was now in possession of something nobody else had: a way out.
All he needed to do to get into the school - to get away from here - is pass a test. One single test. A single test that will change the entire trajectory of his life. And the best part? He has been inadvertently training for this exact test his whole life. He needed self-control to survive then. He needs self-control to survive now. If you think about it, there really isn't that much of a difference.
He skips school. He skips meals. He goes back to his roots, back when he still hadn't learnt that acting out hurts no one but himself. He gets written up multiple times, but he doesn't care. Because he can make dirt swirl around him and let the wind blow the hair out of his face and one time he even managed to walk on water. It is all about self-control. Aaron Stewart is an expert in self-control.
When he steals the money, he thinks of his father, trapped behind bars of steel for who knows how long. (Too long for it to be any good for Aaron). Then he shakes his head and buys the bus ticket. He takes some extra money for food and water, too.
(He refuses to become his father. This is just for himself. An emergency. Just once. He is a master in self-control. He will not become his father.)
His new life begins in an abandoned airport in Virginia. Everywhere he looks there are families. Excited kids and proud parents. That's...fine. Or at least, he can pretend that it is. Once they are beneath the earth - completely cut off from the world above - they will all be equals, after all. The only thing that matters will be the magic.
And, well. Aaron is a master of self-control.
fun fact: this was all written while we were forced to evacuate our house bc of a fire. no one is hurt, everything is fine. but I'm feeling like a real fanfic writer now lol
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