Strength.

9

        I like to say that I can survive in awkward situations, but this was not one of them. I glanced at the clock. It was only a little after 5 pm. Mom was standing at the doorway, narrowing her eyes at Aomine and me. She obviously thought wrong, whatever was on her mind, but she straightened herself out and approached the lump next to me.

"Who're you," she asked, about ready to drag him out of her house. Aomine had no chance to talk, as my mom kept interrogating him, not giving him a chance to answer any of her "questions." I sighed, and put my spoon in my soup, slightly pushing the bowl away. She paused as I began to say, "Mom, this is Aomine Daiki. He's a classmate I have to tutor. He came over since I couldn't go to school and help him study. He was also supposed to bring handouts but apparently that was too much work." I glared at Aomine, putting on an act as to why he was here. I seemed cool on the outside, but panicked internally at the thoughts she could be having. I assumed what I said was the truth. I don't know why else he would show up here after school.

She backed out of his face, holding her chin, and nodding in understanding. She then noticed the bowls of soup sitting in front of us, and looked to the stove. You could practically hear her mouth watering. It was like the Niagara Falls on drugs or something.. "Um.. What do you have there..?" she asked us, pointing as our bowls. I looked at my bowl, and back at her, keeping a blank face. "Melted chicken ice cream, basically." I said, closing my eyes, pretending to be a food critic. She furrowed her brows, and her face twisted in disgust. "That does not sound good," she said, but continued to look into the pot. "It's really just soup, right? You were just being weird." Mom grabbed the ladle from its holder in the middle of the stove, and stirred the film that started to form over the top. "Who made it?" she asked, looking in between Aomine and I.

Mom was startled by Aomine's voice. She hadn't expected him to say it was his, I guess. "I made it," he said, and motioned for her to get some if she wanted. When she sat on my other side and put some of the soup in her mouth, she was strangely silent. I turned her chair toward mine, and was surprised to see rivers of tears pour down her cheeks. She had a happy smile on her face, and seemed contented. She only sighed, and let her shoulders droop as the stress from her job that day melted away. My face bursted into flames as she whispered, "You guys have to get married, and give me grand babies, and come to my house with them and let me spoil them and meet my 20 new cats--" I couldn't listen to all of her rambles anymore. I clamped my hand over her mouth, and hid my face from Aomine in my hair. Mom isn't a good whisperer, and you could tell he was feeling uncomfortable around her.

I gathered all of our soup bowls, head down, and started to wash them. I felt a dainty hand on my shoulder, and turned slightly to see my mom smiling at me slightly. "I'll wash up, you go with him and finish studying," she said, taking the bowl in my hand away from me. "No, you've already worked so hard today, I couldn't let you do this," I said, taking the bowl back. "You're sick! You need to relax and finish your studies!" she said, grabbing my sponge. We argued back and forth, until a bigger hand took everything out of our reach. "I'll do it. You ladies should relax after a long day of work and sickness," my mom gasped, trying to reach for the bowl. "I can't let you do that, you're our guest!" she exclaimed, giving up on trying to get the bowl. He shook his head, and finished washing whatever dishes were in the sink, and put the leftovers in the fridge, while I went upstairs after grabbing my blanket. Mom was watching TV downstairs.

I threw myself onto the bed, and rolled completely around so I could be wrapped up like a burrito. I felt sleep ebbing away at me, as my soft pillow cradled my head. The soft sound of my wall clock put me to sleep.

AOMINE'S POV

I didn't really want to do the dishes, but watching people, especially family fight over something so dumb wasn't in my best interests, and since Y/n's been helping me and my mom out a lot, it was the least I could do. After I finished putting the last of the soup in the large tupperware, I washed the pot and ladle, putting them in their appropriate spots. I walked to the living room where the only sound I could hear was from, and as a floorboard creaked underneath me, L/n's mom's head whipped around, and she smiled at me. "Hi, Aomine-kun. Y/n went upstairs to her room. It's the f/c door on the right. I nodded and turned around, walking towards the dining room where the stairs were, but stopped when L/n's mom called to me. "Aomine-kun, wait a moment, please," she said. I was slightly startled by her soft voice. I gave her my full attention.