Penumbra

Penumbra 8

Summary: In the aftermath of everything, Birdie has to realize what she wants

Word Count: 5k

Warnings: soft, bonus: smut

Chapter Song: Cherry - Lana Del Rey

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"What does Luke usually do for you when you're sad?" Puppy asked. She'd tried the heating pad, she'd nonchalantly placed a poetry book in front of Birdie and she'd even salvaged the ice cream from the hallway, but nothing seemed to stop the small girl from crying.

"He makes me warm milk." Birdie sniffled.

"Of course he does." Puppy sighed, pouring milk into a cup she put it into the microwave.

"He uses the stove." Birdie called.

Puppy let out another exasperated breath, "what a fucking prince charming."

She tried to use the stove to heat the milk but somehow Puppy had burnt it. Birdie laughed for the first time all day and for a moment Puppy thought things were looking positive.

And then the laughter turned into sobs and Birdie sat on the kitchen floor, head in her hands. Puppy moved next to Birdie, wrapping an arm around her, "what's wrong?"

"I can't stop thinking about the sex!" Birdie sobbed.

Words Puppy had never thought she'd ever hear coming out of Birdie's mouth, let alone in this context, "what do you mean?"

"He chokes people for a living and I'm so mad because he's so good at it!" Birdie cried.

Puppy couldn't hide the smile that worked its way onto her face, "I had that issue at the start too... but it's kinda hot."

At first Puppy thought it had been the wrong thing to say because Birdie shook more, but as she took her hands from covering her face, Puppy realized Birdie was laughing and giggling. There were still tears, but at least she was smiling.

Puppy had no idea what to do.

They sat there together and after a while Puppy helped Birdie to the couch where she finally got some well-deserved rest.

It was almost dinner when Luke showed up again.

He had a bag of take out, Petunia on a leash and a flower pot filled with actual petunia flowers. Puppy looked at it all with wide eyes and Luke began ranting, "so I brought her favourite takeout from the vegan place down the street, I mean, she's not vegan but she likes the rice bowls there, anyways, uh, I went to get her a replacement for her scrunchie but they didn't have the glittery pink ones so I bought everything else they had. Got red, blue, green, yellow, fuck she looks so good in yellow, some black, white to match her little work outfit... uh, got that, then I brought petunia flowers cuz they're her favourite and I also brought Petunia doggo because she might be able to cheer Birdie up-"

Puppy unlocked the door and accepted all the gifts, the dog running into the living room to see Birdie who smiled at the dog licked at her face.

"How long do you heat the milk for? On the stove?" Puppy asked.

"Uh... I mean, there's not an exact time limit, it's based on how the milk looks-"

"Aren't you the guy who microwaved eggs that one time? How the fuck do you know how to tell if milk is heated enough based on how it looks?" Puppy asked.

Luke shrugged.

"He can come in." Birdie's quiet voice came from the couch.

Luke finally snuck a peek inside the apartment, having only been staring at Puppy the whole time to make a point of respecting boundaries.