𝐑𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐍 .・゜゜・ 𝐣𝐚𝐲 𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐨

iris

KITTY AND RED FORMAN'S BASEMENT
JULY 1995
POINT PLACE, WISCONSIN

leia's dad eventually came down to the basement where the two girls were set up on the couch. rhia looked over at him as he stepped off the final step and made himself known.

"hey." he simply said as leia turns away from him with her arms crossed.

"what?" she responded, not wanting to talk to him at all. this simply watched the two have their moment, not quite ready to speak up yet. the older man stepped to face his daughter and a look of surprise came across his face.

"oh what happened to the nose ring?" he asked, gesturing to his own nose. leia then sat up from her position, taking her legs off of her cousins.

"it was a magnet, i sneezed and it went down the drain." rhia then shrugged at her uncle when he looked at her.

"mines a real one. the only way it's coming out is if it's ripped out." she simply said as he nodded in understanding.

"oh. well i'm heartbroken." he directed towards his daughter as he took a seat in between the two girls.

"you know, when i was about both of your ages, me and my friends basically lived in this basement. we killed time, listened to music, did... other things." he trailed off at the end, looking to rhia who has a look of understanding on her face. he then gestured towards the basement stairs.

"and those stairs right there, that's where i fell in love with your mom." he said as he turned back to his daughter. she returned his look with her own look of disgust.

"oh god, did you do it on those stairs too?" she exclaimed while her comment pulled another look of disgust on her cousin. her dad shook his head.

"no... no." he eventually responded after a bit of hesitation.

"listen, i've been thinking about it, and i think you should stay for the summer." now that comment for leia to looking at him for longer than a second.

"are you for real?" she asked before making eye contact with rhia and looking back at her dad. this moved over to one the seats so that the two can have their own moment.

"yeah. if anyone should have amazing, it should be you. because you deserve it." he was barely able to finish his sentence before leia pulled him into a hug, thanking him. as the two were in the hug, rhia silently went upstairs.

• • •

the next morning, rhia was standing with her grandparents saying goodbye to her aunt and uncle. for some reason, the five of them left donna to get all the bags, so when rhia saw her struggling, she grabbed some stuff from her arms.

"thank you so much rhia, and don't worry about the rest of it. i got it, again." she said as the two went out the door. a few minutes later, the pair came back in as final hugs were being given.

"grandma what are you doing?" the teenager asked as she saw her grandmother hugging his uncle from behind.

"i'm listening to his heartbeat." she replied as rhia slowly separated the two then hugged her aunt before she went over to leia. she then stood next to her uncle as he wrapped an arm around her.