It'll Change Without You [FINISHED]

Chapter five: Haircut

TW:

Mention of abuse

September 16th, Thursday.

[Shadow POV]

I sat at my desk, playing minecraft on my main monitor, discord on the second. "Let's play skywars!" I offered excitedly. "Sure." Nox replied, a green ring wrapping around their icon as they spoke. "I'm still jealous you guys get PCs, and Minecraft, while my parents will barely buy me the clothes I want." Lemon whined, giggling a bit at the end. "But Lemon, Minecraft is the spawn of satan!" I said, doing my best to imitate Lemon's father. "No you." Lemon replied, causing the call to burst into laughter. Nox and I played more, while Lemon watched, the three of us joking and laughing.

"Oh, speaking of haircuts, my mum is letting me get it." Nox said, their low voice filled with excitement. "My mum won't pay for it." Lemon said, sounding bitter. "I'll pay for you." I said, deciding on the spot. "What, no! I can't take your money!" Lemon protested. "It's fine, it's only like.... £100 at the most." I said. "£100?! THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY!" Lemon protested. "Calm down! I said at the most, and I can make more than £100 in about a week anyways." I say.

"No- You can't pay for me." Lemon responds. "Fine, why don't you just pay me back then?" I ask, leaning back in my chair. "Oh, okay I guess." Lemon said, setting on those conditions. "Now you oughta tell your parents." I said. "Right, right, will do." Lemon said, the sound of her bed squeaking implying she got up. The sound of a door closing quickly follows, and I lean forward in my chair, arching my back to stretch. "Okay, wanna play again, or do something different?" I ask Nox.

"Wanna play bedwars?" Nox asked, the smile obvious in their voice. They know I suck at bedwars, and they're really good at it. I sigh. "Sure, why not, what could possibly go wrong?" I said sarcastically, finding Nox's skin in the lobby and running to the bedwars NPC. "Let's go!" Nox said excitedly. The sound of a door opening quietly notifies me that Lemon is back, but the footsteps sound like there's... Three of them. "Nox!" I whisper-yell, and Nox quickly leaves the call. "Freya, how are you today?" Lemon's mother asks, her tone sweet and soft. She acts like this to me all the time, trying not to let others know about the abusive lifestyle Lemon is living in, as if I don't already know.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Smith, how are you?" I ask politely, watching as Nox protects our spawn area in bedwars. "I'm doing great, Freya." Mrs. Smith replied, still sounding sweet. "Olivia told me that you offered to pay for the haircut she asked us to get. Sadly, we can't afford it at the moment." She said. "Yes, I do recall Olivia telling me as such, that's the original reason I offered to pay." I say, quietly hating how odd it is for me to act formal. "Thank you very much. I'll make sure to pay you back for your troubles when I can fund it." Mrs. Smith said. "There's no need, I would do anything to make Olivia happy!" I say. "Thank you very much dear. Goodbye now! John, say goodbye." Mrs. Smith said, the last bit being a low hiss. "Goodbye Freya, and thank you." Lemon's father said, before the sound of two sets of footsteps left the room.

I open my personal messages. "They're gone." Lemon said quietly. "Okay, Nox can join the call now then?" I ask. "Mhm." Lemon said, her bed creaking again. 'You can join again.' I sent the message to Nox, closing the personal chat and re-entering the call screen. Discord makes a beep, and Nox's profile picture -which is a picture of Elmo laying on a bed- appears on the screen. "Hi." Nox said, sounding calm. "Yo." I replied, resetting my fingering on the keyboard for Minecraft. "Let's go!" Nox cheered happily as they won the game.

"You're astonishing." I purr with a smile.

The cliffhanger! Hopefully the next will angst [:

SOrrY FOr No pOSt oN SuNDaY AGaIn