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25 saint mercy (i)
The cloud of Gansey's horrid mood hangs over the morning inside Monmouth Manufacturing. It's an insistent storm, tumbling and bumbling over the top of his curly brown head as he adjusts his glasses and slips into the space next to Mercy at the kitchen counter. The key to Gansey's fleeting moods is just to weather them like a storm. Feel the breeze and let them pass. Wordlessly, Mercy passes Ronan the milk as he shakes rainbow, sugary cereal into a bowl before pouring in the milk and shoving it into Gansey's hands. She blows her nose in her tissue and throws it at Ronan. He scowls, dumping it in the bin.
Lifting her legs allows Gansey to reach into the cutlery drawer underneath her and pull out a spoon, Mercy wrinkles her nose. He takes out a second spoon, and a third. Mercy takes the first one and dips into the bowl of cereal, grinning as the sweetness floods her taste buds and the crunch of goodness sounds with each bite.
Still without talking, they finish the bowl of cereal, each teenager taking their spoon to the sink. Gansey puts his in the dishwasher. Mercy rinses her spoon and leaves it in the sink. Ronan throws his spoon on the bench. It's a quiet but succinct affair, moving around each other with ease.
As Mercy's eyes track Gansey and Ronan through the kitchen, she realises something:
She's never felt this relaxed before.
Mercy shakes out her curls, pulling Gansey's wrist towards her to check the time.
"It's time to go." She says.
Gansey's tasked with ushering the muttering old man into the outside world. Mercy is tasked with the arguably harder ushering of the Lynch brother. She kicks at his heels. Wordlessly, Ronan takes the cereal box off the kitchen counter as they exit, shooting her a look of contempt. Mercy locks the door behind them. One after the other, Gansey and Ronan crawl into the soulless Suburban. Malory joins them, taking up the majority of the room in the back seat.
