Worlds Apart

18

Shouta was busy washing dishes while Y/N was leaning against the countertops, a dish towel in her hands, waiting for him to be done with the dishes, so she could dry them and put them away. Shouta had suggested they switch jobs like that today, so she could relax a little. She had looked incredibly stressed when she had gotten to the house and while Shouta hadn't explicitly asked what was wrong, she seemed to be appreciating the change in their schedule.

Plus, Shouta figured it would probably make sense to learn how to do the dishes himself, in case his mother got so mad at him at some point that she actually ended up disowning him. All those life skills would come in handy if that ever happened. And if not, Shouta was sure that they'd still come in handy.

If his father went bankrupt for some reason, they'd definitely have no money to be paying for staff. They'd probably even be lucky if they could keep the house. Not that it was very likely that his father would go bankrupt, but there was always a slim chance. But that would suck a whole lot, if Shouta was honest with himself. He tried to imagine himself living the same way Y/N lived and he couldn't see it.

"You look like you're pretty lost in thought. Anything on your mind?" Y/N wanted to know. Shouta just shrugged.

"I don't know, I was just thinking about how my life would look like if my parents kicked me out like today or something." he replied. Y/N gave him a concerned look and grabbed the plate he had just washed up.

"Are they threatening to kick you out?" she wanted to know.

"No, not really. I'm just wondering what I'd do if they actually did it some day." Shouta replied.

"I mean, I'd assume you'd stay with a friend. You have other rich friends, so there's probably not much that would change for you. And then you'd probably get a part-time job while you finish school and work just like the rest of us." she answered. Shouta shrugged and nodded along.

"Yeah, I guess so. Doesn't sound too bad to be honest."

"It's only not too bad, because you have a bunch of rich friends you can still go to. If we assume you have absolutely no friends, that would look quite different. Although I'm sure it'd be okay if you stayed with me for a while. But you couldn't stay long, unless you got a job and actually contributed financially, because we can't feed you more than like a few days." Y/N said.

"Wow, okay, that sounds much more uncomfortable." Shouta replied with a chuckle. Y/N smiled at him and shrugged.

"Well, let's continue this. You go and look for a job, but that's not easy, because you're still in high school. You could get a part-time job like me, but everyone knows you're that rich kid and your chances for getting a job like that are low. Or you could drop out of highschool to do a menial full-time job and just about to be able to scrape together the rent for an absolute shithole. Take your pick." Y/N told him with a grin. Shouta sighed. She was definitely enjoying this, wasn't she?
"So are you saying you wouldn't help me to find a part-time job?" Shouta asked. Y/N snickered.

"So you think I'm not getting enough shit for being seen with you the other day?" she replied. Shouta's eyes widened in shock. Was she actually getting in trouble for being around him? He didn't think it was that bad, even though she had hinted at it. And if she knew, why didn't she say anything?

"Wait, so you're actually getting shit for that? I thought you were exaggerating when you said that..."

"I wasn't exaggerating. And I mean it's just a passing comment here and there and some stupid rumours. I'm sure it'll pass over time, anyway. At least when the next big thing happens, so yeah. Don't worry about it. I'll tough it out or something." she answered with a shrug and nodded at the plate he was holding.