The Neighbor Next Door

shared grief

OJ, of course didn't get any texts back, or any response from MePhone at all when he tried texting and calling. That being said though, he did go visit. He had been told, during their last talk when he asked the other to take care of the cat, that he was allowed to come over, if it would help him not worry so much, and well, honestly it really didn't feel much like checking up on him, considering he was asleep the three times he did visit during all this. Which was even further worrying based on the times he went over, but... 3gs was visiting soon. He'd surely take care of things. It wasn't OJ's place. He was just there for emotional support currently, but there wasn't much of that to offer if the other was just sleeping all the time, was there.

Right now, it was Friday afternoon, and he had just gotten home from picking up his kids. They were all in the living room currently, while the two of them talked about their day, giving attention to the cat, who thankfully didn't seem to mind their presence. OJ wondered how this cat managed to be so well behaved despite apparently being a stray, but by no means was he complaining. He worried about how it was going to interact with his kids, though it didn't seem to be much of an issue. It was also easy to manage, just needing to be fed twice a day, mostly just sitting around. He knew it was usually an outdoor cat, but he wasn't really sure about letting it out to wander during this time.

He was also glad it didn't seem to hate the house, not having scratched anything up... At least yet-- but he hoped it would stay that way.

As interesting as it was having the cat in his house though, he couldn't help but wonder when MePhone would feel ready to take it back to take care of himself. He had to of been really low to not feel like he could, OJ remembering a passing comment in one of their texts a month or so ago, something MePhone said about expressing a lot of care for the cat, even during his low points. Of course, he was fine if it took a while-- he just lost his dad, and he was sure that was hard on him, despite the things OJ's heard about the man. Grief just sucked like that.

OJ just wanted to be able to help more, but he knew he couldn't. He'd texted several times, making sure the other saw that he was there for him, letting him know he was available to listen and talk if needed, but he couldn't do more than that. Not if every time he stopped by, the other was asleep. 3gs would surely be able to handle this better than OJ could, anyways. At least, he hoped so. They were brothers. They shared a dad, so surely the older would understand.

OJ blinked back into focus as he realized his kids were directly talking to him;

"How was your day?" Cher smiled, thankfully not making any verbal note of his dads distance today.

"Oh-- well, it was a day. The usual," He just shrugged, keeping up a small smile, to keep up appearances. As far as he knew, his kids didn't know what was going on, and with how heavy this was, he wanted to keep it that way.

It was only as he was making dinner, when Ry approached him, was when he remembered his kids were smarter than they looked. He was wrapping up stirring the sauce for tonights dinner- spaghetti, as Ry came down from the upstairs, slowly making his way to the counter. He looked over;

"What's up?"

"Well um-- we forgot to give this to you earlier, but if you have the chance, give this to the neighbor," He pulled his hands out from behind his back, placing a paper on the counter, before quickly heading back upstairs without another word. OJ just blinked, turning off the oven as he finished up, moving to look. The two of them had put together their own 'get better soon' card. He didn't know how the two found out something was up, and he certainly didn't know what they thought all of this was about, but... His kids really were the sweetest. He'd make sure to leave this on MePhone's desk-- Or hand it over to 3gs to give to the other at some point soon.