ᴍᴏᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

stuck like glue

trevor has never been good at thinking before doing and penelope has never been good at talking through her emotions. so when the two find themselves in a face to face battle—it's a recipe for disaster.

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"just go trevor." penelope spits, trying hard to keep her cool as she unloads the dishwasher all while avoiding eye contact with trevor, which just made me angrier.

"you—! penelope, i was trying to do something nice, i thought i was helping you out—god, i'm tired of constantly feeling like nothing i do is good enough." trevor argues back.

penelope closes the dishwasher harshly, her face becoming red with rage. it takes everything in her not to start yelling at the man beside her who just broke the news that he had put an offer on an office space for her. ever since peter fired her years before when she was pregnant with ella, penelope's dream has been to open her own practice again, but with ella requiring so much attention, another baby on the way, money, and trevor being gone all the time during the season, ultimately it was easier for penelope to just stay home with ella. she wasn't mad at trevor per say, she was frustrated at the way he chose to do things. he didn't ask her about spending money on the luxurious—highly expensive office space and penelope would have liked to have an opinion in the matter. trevor truly thought he was just doing something nice for his wife, so when he was met with a blank face from her after gushing all about his surprise, his heart nearly broke.

trevor and penelope were both stubborn—an argument was always going to last a few hours at least even if it was stupid. but the more penelope thought over it, the more she started to feel bad. trevor was truly just trying to fulfill her wishes, the location was phenomenal, the office space was beautiful, it was everything she could have ever wanted.

"right trevor because you're treated so poorly around here." she huffs as trevor accepts defeat and ultimately walks out the front door, slamming it behind him.

penelope continues to clean the kitchen mindlessly, trying not to think about her and trevor's fight but it's to no avail. she nearly jumps out of her skin when she hears ella's small voice behind her and only then does she realize she's been crying.

"you yelled at daddy." is all ella says. her small voice makes penelope want to cry more because she was hoping ella didn't hear her and trevor bickering back and forth.

she kneels down in front of trevor's mini me, smiling softly. "i'm sorry you had to hear that babe."

"daddy yelled too."

to further stop ella from asking questions—at least until trevor was home to back her up—penelope offers her lunch, for which ella excitedly nods and squeals almost forgetting all about the depressing conversation they were having moments ago.

trevor arrives at the honda center, head hung low as he walks in for practice. the usual boisterous laugh and large grin absent not accompanying him today and boy does everyone notice. jamie is first to ask what his problem is. trevor shakes his head, giving his friend a smile back assuring him nothing is wrong. mason cocks an eyebrow at trevor for which he rolls his eyes, spitting out an "i'm fine." it isn't until gibby himself comes over to sit beside him on the bench while he laces his skates up.

"not you too—"

"shut up," gibby shushes the boy. "you look like someone just told you your childhood dog died."

trevor sighs. gibby always knew how to read him like a book and there was no point in lying to him. especially because he was half afraid of what the much larger man might do to him if he did.