Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Kirishima was occupied on the couch. Two fiery bursts of fluff jumped in halting steps up and down the cushions. For once, he didn't have a smile on his face, but his quirk-activated fingers still played incessantly with the dorks. For once...he didn't feel the need to pretend he was fine.
I backed out of the room, retreating to my old bedroom. I had given it to Sam, but now Sam was gone. The days stacked up. I knew I had missed so many days of work that I would be fired immediately upon my return.
What had it been? Six missed shifts? Seven? Had it been last week? Or was it two weeks already?
Last night, I texted the whole Pickup crew. It wasn't protocol, but I wanted each of them to know I was thinking about them. I couldn't help how they viewed me for turning tail and flying away—lord knows how I've looked at similar coworkers who up and bailed. But I'd earned their ire.
I just let them know that I couldn't continue working, that I was sorry to have burdened everyone with my absence, and that I will miss them all. Maybe someday, I had said. Maybe someday, I'll see you again. I muted the conversation until I was ready to see their responses.
I didn't think I had ever used or thought the words "maybe someday" as often as I had since that Sunday night.
The kittens were now almost twelve weeks old. I had taken them into the vet for their first two batches of shots, but there was another date scheduled. Kakashi had been planning to go with me.
How stupid. How could we have ever made plans together?
It wasn't our place to make plans. We weren't in control. Patty had been the puppeteer the whole time. She'd let us have him, but only to make it that much worse when she pulled him back.
Kirishima trained like a mad dog. He kept a wide berth from me, a wildness in his eyes. He thought he'd be next. Thought he'd hurt me. I could see the cliff, could see him teetering off it, but I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to pull him back because I was also on a cliff.
For once, I couldn't just suck it up and do what needed to be done. I'd tried. I literally could not summon anything in me that put Kirishima's needs over my own. Put Talia's, the kittens', Sam's...Kakashi's...
I'm not quite sure what my purpose was. I was that meme of the guy waiting in various settings with his hands behind his back, just staring out into the world, patient.
I was that meme, but it wasn't funny.
I ended up passing my day literally staring at the cracks of light on the blinds in my room until Talia and Bella arrived at the door. Talia had taken one of the keys, so there wasn't even a need to get out of bed to let them in.
Eventually, noises emerged. The rumpling of plastic bags being set down on the table. The warmth of two more humans entering the apartment. The excited greetings from the two daredevils. Kirishima's muted words. Feet on the carpet, creaking against the linoleum.
