Brutus made two new friends today. Skateboarders coming up from the park just as we were turning toward the door back inside. I can only imagine their view as his head popped over the retaining wall to listen intently as they slowly wheeled ever closer, dropping happy f-bombs while chatting. He clearly caught their attention, and they slowed even more on approach, smiles growing. They got off their boards to pass by, to see better, I think. He followed with his head, and I told them, as they passed out of sight behind some bushes, that he’d love to say hi. The next thing I hear is the clatter of a skateboard hitting the ground and “I can’t pass this shit up.” First one comes round the corner then the other, and Brutus was appropriately petted and fawned over, and called a beautiful dog and a good boy. They wheeled away after a minute, still smiling, and I’m typing this up still grinning, and it was a good way to end the day all around, I think.
I stole @pawtersimms‘ child for this one, because these two are such good friends and absolutely adorable and I love them. Don’t actually know how many I’ll do, we’ll see how the week goes.
“You do realize I’m not bedridden, right? I can make my own food.”
The look Donny got wasn’t impressed, and the tray was pushed onto the counter with a sort of stubborn finality.
“I also know you’re a terrible cook,” Emma told him. “I still remember the incident with that...what was it supposed to be, a cassarole?”
Donny rolled his eyes, trying for a grin and letting it fall away again when it didn’t feel quite real. “It was edible,” he protested. “Just because there was a bit of smoke…”
“You cleared an entire building, Borderlon, I’d call that more than a bit.”
He scoffed. Emma swept a look around the room in the pause, and Donny realized it probably didn’t look extremely encouraging. He hadn’t exactly been good at keeping things organized lately; really, he was lucky to be fully dressed and awake at a relatively normal hour. Emma likely knew all this, but she at least never looked pitying like some other people did.
“How’re you doing?” she asked, and he knew that she genuinely wanted to know, rather than just asking out of obligation.
That, of course, meant he had to be honest about it, and that much was still tough sometimes.
“I’m…” Donny hesitated, his arms folding tightly across his chest as he sank into one of the kitchen chairs. “I’m not great.”
Emma nodded, rolling herself the few feet forward to settle next to him. “All things considered, I suppose that’s expected. Been home for a while now, though, that helping?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Probably. Familiar territory and everything, helps with the memory issues when I know the place so well. Or so they keep telling me.”
“Still having problems with that?”
“I’m not actually positive whether I ate anything yesterday, so…” Donny caught the flash of worry on her face and waved it off quickly. “That much doesn’t happen often, it’s okay. They’ve offered to get someone to be a kind of...live-in assistant if crap like that keeps up, and I’ll take them up on it if it gets worse.”
Emma nodded again and nearly smiled. “But I’d still get to cook, right?”
“Of course,” Donny scoffed, “you’d be free to continue your scheme of fattening me up.” He hesitated again and then freed one hand to scrub through his hair. “Haven’t exactly been keeping up with news, anything noteworthy happening?”
“Nothing much new,” she told him. “You know how bureaucrats work, they’ve been working on the same deals for the past few months, and that’s the ones that are marked as priority.”
“Any news about the water situation?”
“Hopefully soon, we’re supposed to be getting reps from Zakon with the prototypes within a week or two.”
That was the nice thing about Emma’s visits; other than the constant meals, she never actually treated him like he was...damaged or whatever it was people seemed to think. And hell, Donny wasn’t so sure he’d be able to argue with those people anyway. But Emma just fed him -- and he’d known her long enough to know that was just how she handled things -- and talked. Updated him on what was going on in the Bureau, who Jarek had accidentally offended recently, what dumb policies were being pushed through…
It felt normal when almost nothing else managed to these days.
Donny only realized she’d been saying his name when Emma had a cautious hand on his arm. “Still with me?” Emma asked, and he blinked twice.
Another fun part about the lovely mess that his brain was right now: a habit of zoning out and looking like he was on the verge of going back to the violent murdery side of things.
“I’m good,” he said quickly, “I’m good, it’s fine.” His phone suddenly vibrating loudly on the table made him jump, but Donny snatched it up quickly, pulling a face down at the glowing numbers on the screen. “I’ve got my appointment, actually, gotta get a new prescription written up today.”
Emma gave a quiet hum. “These ones working better?”
He shrugged as he stood, absently trying to straighten his shirt out to look at least a little less rumpled. “So far. At least as far as we can tell, Harris seems hopeful.”
Emma collected her dishes from the last few meals she’d brought over -- Donny was pretty certain he’d seen her entire kitchen set at this point -- and he found a jacket among the rest of the mess that actually had the proper keys and money in the pockets. It only took a minute or so of bracing himself before stepping out the door. Residential area or not, Charutan cities were rarely quiet and it always took a bit to get adjusted to the noise again.
Donny caught her shoulder before Emma actually got off the porch, and he had to pause while he tried to piece together the right words. “Thanks,” he said after a moment, “y’know, for sticking around.”
She just smiled, giving a small nod toward her chair. “Hey, just returning the favor.”
He didn’t have to hesitate then, bending down enough to pull her into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.
“Love you, Em,” he murmured, and it was both expected and still a tiny relief to feel her squeeze in return.
“Love you, too,” Emma said, and she waited until he had stepped away before giving him a gentle shove. “Go on, you’re gonna be late.”
Donny actually did laugh then. “Yes, mom.”
A lot of things were shitty at this point, most of them centered around him, but hell, at least some things were still bordering on normal anyway.
