PTX Sickfics

Developmental Delay

Request for @GoogleBooglePTX

"Es is getting here pretty soon." Scott spoke up for the group, checking his watch. They'd taken a small break from working on their set list, as Kirstie was starting to hit a wall. She was incredibly patient with them, but sometimes couldn't hold her focus on a task for as long as they would like. When it became clear by the way she was playing with the hem of her shirt she was getting lost in thought, they had decided to take a ten minute break.

"We should probably re-group, see if we can finalize this before she gets here to talk about the bus situation." He reiterated, and so they settled back down.

Mitch was sitting with Kirstie, letting her play on his phone for a few minutes as she didn't have much to add to this discussion. The setlist was pretty much finalised and they'd all already decided she was getting a bottom bunk for safety.

"Is that fun, Kirst?" Mitch asked, seeing her playing Angry Birds. She loved that game and in her bedroom in Texas she had a stuffed toy of each bird in the game, and the pigs. She took Bomb to LA with her, as he was the big, cuddly one.

She nodded, not giving him enough of her attention to answer. When she was focused on something it was hard to get her attention without raising their voice and upsetting her.

"Kirst, Essie is here." Mitch told her, nudging her shoulder to get her to look up, as they knew that would grab her attention. Obviously, she loved and cared for them all, but saw Esther the least, as she hadn't been locked up in their apartment with the band when they were trying to get things together for tour.

"Essie!" she exclaimed, passing Mitch back his phone before she pulled the band manager down for a hug. She'd cracked a few of Scott and Mitch's phone screens by not being careful with them, but had learnt to be careful.

"Hi, Kirst!" Esther greeted her, being just as excited as Kirstie was. They'd learned to match her energy to help keep her engaged, meaning when she was happy, they all needed to be, otherwise she'd panic and think she'd done something to make them sad. "Did you have a good day?"

"I'm playing Angry Birds." she said, looking at Mitch so he'd pass her back the phone. He did and she showed Esther, basically asking her to play with her without actually asking. They were about to go on a break anyways so it was fine.

"Kirstie, you can play for fifteen minutes then we have to work, okay?" Kevin asked.

"Okay." she replied, leaning against Esther as they played. The boys made drinks and sandwiches as it was almost lunch time, so they could multitask.

It was an easy game to follow along, and usually Kirstie didn't mind not talking as long as Esther still seemed interested in the game. She'd had to stop her soon, though, around ten minutes in, knowing if she didn't Kirstie would never notice the food.

"Hey, it's lunch time, Kirst." Esther told her, addressing her by name to get her attention. "Can we put the game down for a little bit?" She asked.

"But I'm playing." she whined, looking at the boys, but they were all eating.

"I know, Kirst, but it's time to stop playing now. What did Kevin say?" She asked, reminding her. She was usually a pretty good rule follower, having always liked rules as they made it easier for her to function most of the time, but this one felt silly to her. If she skipped lunch, they knew she'd get easily irritable later, though she didn't see that, not thinking as far ahead.

"Do I have to?" She asked, not wanting to leave the game yet.

"Yes, Hun. You need to eat." Esther nodded, gently taking the phone from her hands so she could give it back to Mitch. "Then after lunch we need to get some more work done."