Projection (Male reader x Female OC)

048

"Just in time."

Mom says as she loads the last of my bags in the trunk. "Couldn't have planned it any worse," I chuckle. "Lucky for us, my mother thought that the best way to spend my time is to get my license as soon as possible even at my own expense."

"Saves us from driving all of this cross country and let you fly all the way there," she digs her hands in her pockets. She looks at the car with a slight smile, taking a few steps away from me. "It's a far drive either way, will you two be okay out on the road?"

I lift my shoulders into a shrug. "The last person we have to worry about is me, I'm afraid that Rin might just get bored on the way there and find some random ways to keep herself entertained, which scares me."

"Her entertaining herself?"

"Her having to think for herself," exhaling dramatically, I roll my eyes.

With a snort, she crosses her arms. "I'm sure she'll be fine. Speaking off," she gestures at the car parking on the opposite end of the street. The two of us turn to face them with Rin practically climbing through the window, I might even child-lock her seat just to fuck with her.

If that's even possible.

She rushes towards us leaving her dad to pick up the bags, I meet her with a smile only for her to ignore me and instead tackle my mom completely. "I am going to miss you so much, mother that I never had."

"Here we go."

"I know this will come off as weird but I hope that you also kind of felt the same like I was a slightly less hormonal daughter... but less thinking about the possibility of incest that may or may not exist there. But I am happy that I've been part of this family for a long time now."

"I'll miss you too, Rin."

"Promise?" She looks up at her with hopeful eyes.

I grab her arm and yank her away, "Leave my mother alone. You've got plenty of single parents over there so please let me have mine without you having your grubby hands trying to have part of mine."

"It's fine, (Y/N)."

"My hands are not grubby," she sneers at me. "Hi, by the way."

"Yeah."

She rolls her eyes at me as she turns around to take the bags from her dad, "Are you two ready to set out then?"

"Hi, sir." I greet him with a firm handshake.

Rin snorts, "Hi, sir."

"You keep her safe."

She'll manage that on her own. "Promise to do that."

"We should leave now before we all get too emotional and it gets physically hard for me to do anything but feel like a little bird walking away from the nest." She crosses her arms as she leans against the trunk. "I'm fine either way."

Her dad chuckles, "Looks like Rin's willing to do nothing but leave. So you two hop on along and get going."

I nod as I turn to hug my mom tightly. "Thanks for everything, promise to be as annoying as possible checking up on you."

"I'll hold you to that." She returns the hug. "Drive safely."

Then heading towards him he steps forward to hug me, I awkwardly shuffle under his weight and manage to force myself to hug him back. "I'll... do my best to keep her out of trouble like a responsible adult."

"You are family, don't have to make any promises to me when I know you'd have done exactly that already." He pulls away from me still holding me by the shoulder. "But yes, please take good care of her."

With a firm nod, I wave the two of them goodbye. Rin hops into the passenger seat beside me and rolls the windows down instantly. The two of us take off waving goodbye and onto the road for a very long road trip.

"Isn't it so sad," she sniffles. "I was going to say something like two baby birds leaving the nest of one single parent but then it kinda like hit me in the head that it would have been very fucked up to say something like that aloud."

I roll my eyes at her. "I assume you brought music."

"Yeahp," she lifts herself in her seat to start digging into her pockets. "I feel like the guy with the good internet, you, should have picked the music. But then I remembered your taste in music is about as good as your taste in women so I thought I'd have to my part."

"What have you got me in for?"

"About 900 songs give or take. So either we are listening to some weird phonk shit, or the heaviest metal you could possibly imagine." She makes herself comfortable in the seat as I see her smile at me. "Can you believe it? That us two idiots are doing this of all things?"

I shake my head slowly. "I do believe it to be true for one of us."

"Me? Right?"

"Yeah. Like you got someone pregnant and ran off because you knew your dad was going to beat your ass... now it would have made more sense if you were the one pregnant."

"Yeah... 'bout that."

"No."

"Yeah."

I furrow my brow as I keep my eyes on the road, "Please promise me that there's no way that you are in any way pregnant."

"No no, I promise."

"You are lying."

"I am not."

"You are."

"Maybe I am."

"Please admit it?"

"I admit it."

"That still sounds wrong."

"What do you want me to say?"

"That you-" she kisses the side of my cheek.

"You haven't fucked up yet." She sinks in her seat, "But if I have to say, if anything I am like a cat in heat endlessly bitching to be put in my place. But you just wouldn't take the hint instead you just wanted to 'study'."

"Shut."

"Okay," she plugs in the USB and works the stereo. "Thanks for sticking it through for my sake, know that I haven't been exactly easy on you but..."

"Are YOU okay?" I express that I shouldn't even be considered when talking about that.

"Yeah."

"Good."

She giggles to herself. "Fuck me I'm an idiot," the music starts playing and she falls back in her seat, I shoot her a smile to see her return that exact same smile to me. It could have been a lot of things but at the very least that smile said to me more than words could have.

And that's probably all that we need these days.

That smile from someone special.

I pray that everyone finds that smile, because lord knows I thought I'd never find mine.