Solangelo Oneshots

Edmund

Will's POV
Being a single parent is hard. Every morning I go to work, then I come home and do college classes online. All while taking care of my beautiful child. I love her more than I love life itself, but she can be a lot.

"Edmund, how was your day?" I ask. She doesn't respond. She never responds. I wish she would, but she doesn't, she just walks away. And once again, I am alone.

I lay in bed contemplating life. I try to sleep, knowing I have to wake up early tomorrow, but I can't. Edmund is at the bottom of my bed, humming in her sleep. I think about the day I adopted her. I think about the day I found out she was allergic to cheese.

It had been a long day. I was really looking forward to eating a grilled cheese sandwich and watching The Housewives of South Dakota. I made my sandwich, fed my child, and went to set up the show. I walked back to the kitchen, slightly ashamed of my entertainment choice, when I saw Edmund lying on the floor.

"Edmund, you're so silly." I had said, thinking she was being lazy. "Edmund?" I went into doctor mode, checking for a pulse. It was there, but she was barely breathing, so I had rushed her to the hospital. She ended up being fine after a day or two. But now my house is a cheese free zone.

I fall asleep, dreaming of cheese, housewives, and the day I adopted Edmund. I was at a grilled cheese festival.  She was lying on the ground, covered in nacho cheese, next to a giant Aaron Burr statue made of cheese. The statue reminded me that this was a dream, because in real life, the statue was much smaller, and it depicted George Washington. It didn't depict him well, and I'm pretty sure it was just a slightly melted lump of cheese that someone had mislabeled. It really shouldn't be that hard to figure out which cheese blob was supposed to be George Washington.

Edmund had been lying on the ground next to the cheese lump. What kind of sicko leaves a baby alone in a parking lot? I picked her up and brought her with me to my car. She was so sleepy and cute. I drove her to the police station and told them what happened.

"This really isn't police stuff." They had said.

Disgusting. So I took responsibility and raised Edmund as my own.

I tie my tie and say bye to Edmund. I'm going on a date tonight, because, like I said, it's hard being a single parent.

"Hi." I say. "I'm Will."

"Hey, I'm Nico." He replies.

We just sit there for a few minutes, enveloped in silence before I panic and start telling my story. Soon, Nico is staring at me while I eat my cheese quesadilla.

"And that's why I always order cheesy food, but I never bring home leftovers."

"Hm." Nico nods. "I wasn't wondering, but I'm really glad you told that story." 

"Do you have any stories about your life?" I ask, wanting to know more about Nico.

"I do, actually," He says before launching into a story of his own.

"Wait, Will." Nico says, hours later, back at my apartment.
"What's wrong?" I ask, "Do you not want to do this anymore? That's fine."
"No, I do. But... won't we wake Edmund?"
"Probably not. She's always awake at night anyway. She's more of a nighttime cat."