Clock in || Securitywaiter

20

A/n: Short one w some Ness lore (not proofread bc it's almost 5am.....)
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"Robbie! I've missed you, come here," his grandma opened her arms for a hug, Ness gladly accepted it.
"I missed you too, how've you been?"
"Oh fantastic, Doris and I have been obsessed with pinochle these days"
"You're not gambling or anything now are you grandma?"
"Well.. "
"Grandma!" She laughed, patting Ness on the back and ushering him inside.

"Well how have you been Ness? Last time we spoke things weren't going all that great"
"Uh..things are kind of worse now- but there is a silver lining"
"Oh yeah? Come sit we me and we'll talk about it, my back isn't doing all that great today"

Ness sat on the couch while his grandma went into the kitchen, coming back with a cinnamon chocolate chip muffin.

"I just baked these this morning," she handed it to him before sitting down.
"It's like you knew I'd be coming over, thank you," Ness happily took a bite.
"You're welcome Robbie, now what's bugging you?"
"Well..the topic is pretty insane and also very fresh and I don't know if I want to involve you in that..but I can tell you some good news?"
"I'll accept that, please, go on"
"So you remember how things with my friend Mike were kinda rough the last time I saw you?" She nodded.
"Well that only lasted a day, and uh..we're dating now"
"Really? And is he good to you?"

"I cherish you"

"Yeah, he is, we're taking some time apart right now though, not because he did anything, but because we're too codependent, I mean we see each other everyday yet I've hardly told him anything about me, I wanted some time alone to work that out, I've just been having a hard time with trust.."
"I get that, is he understanding of that? That you need time?" Ness nodded.
"I was the one freaking out because we've never spend more than a day apart since we met, he knows that I need this, it's just weird being in a relationship where I'm not picked at or anything, he just holds my hand and tells me that everything is okay. I..I really like having him in my life, but I feel bad because I hardly tell him anything, he has a lot going on and I don't know if I'd just make it all worse"
"Ness, he sounds like a good guy, you won't be burdening him, do you feel that he's burdening you when he tells you things?" Ness shook his head.
"I'm sure he'd love to be there for you the same way you're for him, you just have to trust him more, I know it's hard for you, what happened to you wasn't all that long ago..but maybe start sharing small things, then build your way up, if he's truly good he'll be patient and let you come around on your own time, just don't keep him in the dark forever"
"I told him about Em," Ness fidgeted with the muffin wrapper.
"Yeah?"
"Mhm, I didn't tell him how bad it was though, no details, no name, or how long ago it was. Do you think I'm fit for another relationship? What if we moved too quickly? We've only known each other for four months, that's not that long"
"You're fit for a new relationship whenever you think so, no one else gets to tell you when you're ready or not, he makes you happy and looks after you, you deserve that Robbie"
"Thank you."
"Mhm, uhm..I had something I wanted to tell you actually"
"You're not sick or anything are you? Because-"
"Nono, nothing like that, it's about your parents actually"
"What about them?" He set his muffin down on the coffee table, not in the mood to finish it.
"They reached out to me, wanting an update on how you're doing," his heart sank.
"And..what did you tell them?" Ness asked nervously.
"They're too goddamn late for that"
"You told them that?" He smiled.
"Yeah, I did write down their number first in case you wanted to contact them though, but that's what I told them"
"And what did they say?"
"They tried to move past that and asked if you got over your phase and finally chose only women," she rolled her eyes.
"No women, just a guy that looks like he just woke up most of the time"
"Does he now?"
"Yeah- wait, I have a picture of him in my wallet, he's sleeping"

Ness retrieved his wallet from his pocket, pulling out the Polaroid of Mike sleeping, he had the one with the two of them on it at home, and he'd slipped the extra one in Mike's drawer while he was at the hospital, he wondered when or if he'd come across it.

"Here it is," Ness held it in front of her proudly.
"Aw he has curly hair"
"Yeah, and freckles, he's adorable- god I miss him," he sighed.
"Well how long has it been?"
"Not even twenty four hours.." Ness blushed, embarrassed.
"Ness"
"I know, I know, I'm terrible at this, I bet he's doing a hell of a lot better than I am, I can hardly hold a conversation for a minute without bringing him up," Ness groaned into his hands.
"I notice that you bring him up whenever you don't want to talk about something difficult"
"I do, don't I? I'm sorry, I do that with him too, I just don't really like talking about difficult topics, I'd rather just talk about something that makes me happy," his grandma nodded.
"I understand, would you want your parents number then?"
"Uhm..yeah, I'll probably just hold onto it for a little while if you don't mind, I don't know if I'm ready to talk with them yet"
"You don't owe them anything, you don't have to talk to them ever again if you don't want to"
"No I..I think I want to, eventually," whenever that was..
"I'm sorry your mom ended up that way, I didn't raise her to act like that, but she changed completely after she met your father, there was no getting through to her.." she sighed.
"That's okay, it's not your fault grandma, people have the power to choose what kind of person they want to be, and she chose to be shitty..I'm just not sure why they chose to be parents if they planned to hardly ever be in my life, kids aren't like toys you toss aside when you're tired of them"
"I wish I had an answer, but that's just how some people are I suppose, nothing you can do about it"
"I've been really lucky to have you, I've never felt that I needed my parents because you were always there for me, I mean you still have all my trophies on display, I never had anything aside from my room that showed proof of my existence when I lived with them"
"You're a wonderful person Robbie, you deserve a whole lot more than what you've been given." She placed a hand on his shoulder, Ness pulled her into a hug.
"Thank you, I'm sorry for not coming over as much lately, I've just had a lot going on, I did miss you a lot actually"
"Oh that's alright, life happens, and you're 26, you've got your own things going on"
"Not usually, but yeah, still, I feel like I could squeeze in at least one day of the week where I come and visit you, or would you eventually get annoyed by me?" She pulled away from the hug, shaking her head.
"I could never Robbie"
"You were when I stopped skating though, weren't you?"
"Not annoyed, I was sad, that was your favorite thing aside from space, oh I wish you would've kept that up, does Mike know about that?"
"No.."
"And why not?"
"I..guess it must've slipped my mind"
"Did it? Or are you scared of letting him in?"

~

When Ness got back home he was met with five voicemails accompanied by a ringing phone, he quickly ran over to pick it up, worried it might be an emergency.

"Hello?"
"Ness you didn't answer for thirty minutes"
"Abby! I'm sorry, I just got home from visiting my grandma, is everything okay?"
"Yes and no"
"What's going on? Do I need to go over?"
"No, but Mike is being a loser and won't get me pizza, he said he's going to make spaghetti, but I don't want spaghetti Ness, we always have it, please help"
"So you called because you want me to get you guys pizza?" Ness laughed in disbelief.
"I called because I miss you, you're fun, Mike is boring when you're not here, there's hardly anything to make fun of him about"
"Well I'm sorry to hear that, is he coming into work tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but I have school so I won't see you"
"Oh, right.."
"I could ask him if you could pick me up instead"
"And then what?"
"You can take me to see Corpse Bride"
"And why can't Mike do that?"
"He's been acting weird, there's something wrong but he won't tell me anything, I think he burnt something too, it smells like it, hold on," Abby set down the phone, moving closer to where Mike stood in the kitchen, he was hunched over the counter, soft sniffles could be heard.

Abby went back to the table, picking up the phone.

"I have to go, I'll call you tomorrow"
"Wait- did something happen? Should I-"
"I can fix it Ness, it's okay, you don't have to be here for us all the time, take care of yourself, okay? Bye"

She hung up, Ness set down the phone, running his hands over his face frustratedly, he couldn't tell for sure what happened, but his best guess was that Mike finally broke. He hoped the two would be okay, maybe they'd get pizza and watch their favorite comfort movies together, maybe they'd talk about what happened, maybe they'd just hold each other for awhile until everything felt okay again..maybe he should try to drop it and focus on himself more.