Chubby Bunny

[Noise Prince]

((Oh you're always pretty quick, especially compared to me so don't apologize! Haha…))

 

A.J. looked away when Mickey noticed his reaction, and was trying to think of a way to change the topic when he accused him of being homophobic. Homophobic?! Shit! How do you disprove that without sounding gay? But it would be absolutely shitty if he actually thought that.

 

"Just didn't think you'd say something like that," He grumbled. "I'm not… yeah," God, he finally got a real chance to talk with Mickey in forever and this happens. At least he confirmed once and for all that Mickey wasn't homophobic, either.

 

"Yeah, that makes sense. But is it going to be hard to find someone who isn't a dry old british guy?" He chuckled. "But I'll have to pick a random place and try to find a decent documentary on it," He told him. His idea of documentaries on travel was tainted by old school art history videos where an old British dude walked around Stonehenge or Egyptian tombs and spoke with an annoying inflection, like he thought the audience was clinging to his every word excitedly.

 

"Uh yeah, you know?" He paused to think of the way to describe it. He couldn't really use art instruction norms since Mickey wasn't a painter, and he didn't know enough about casting for film to make that comparison. "Like… men predominantly need to be tall, chiseled, and with intense muscle definition. Women are slightly shorter and very thin but also curvy, preferably with a rubber spine. It's like the default attractive for what characters can look like."

 

"Yeah, but I also think a lot of people who are shy will cosplay and dress up, too. You can still blend in, and a lot of people look at the costume more than the actual person, you know? I heard of someone who started dressing up because their first con, they dressed in nice slacks and dress shirt and stuck out like a sore thumb, and that was enough to get him in a crusader get-up." he chuckled.

 

"Me?" A.J. froze again before laughing awkwardly, glancing away for a bit. Him?! Industry hot?! "Well, maybe if I worked out a bit more…" He joked, though he was deeply flattered.

 

"Yeah, sure," A.J. shrugged. He wondered if Mickey was scared of medical stuff or something, since he was already dreading it so much. "It's quicker this way, I think," He said, gesturing to one direction.

[KoBu]

Mickey stared at AJ a moment, "Are you sure? Because you know I'm not exactly straight right?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, pointing too them as well. He had dyed them in his junior year pink yellow and blue. He wanted to do his whole head, but went against that idea not only because his parents wouldn't let him, but he also didn't want to attract unwanted attention....that and the 'are you turned on by pans' joke got old.

 

"Umm if your looking for ones in the 60s to 90s they will be." Mickey laughed when AJ mentioned the 'old British guy's voice. Those were much older films and recorded tv specials most of the time. "Anyway if you really don't want to watch a documentary you could just look up a travel blog online or a travel podcast. Those are nice to listen to when you have either a long car trip, or it's nice white noise when your home relaxing." Mickey suggested.

 

But Mickey suddenly got more depressed at hearing AJ's description about 'default attractive'. He felt like more people where staring at him, despite they were both walkin ? Down a near empty hallway. "Y-you know I think the cuts fine and we're making a bigger deal then we need to be. Imma head back to the apartment and just drink some orange juice and water and I'm sure it'll be fine." He said turning around to do just that, despite the cut was actually starting to bleed a little through the butterfly bandage AJ had put around it.

 

(I'm sorry if this is a littlw shorter then normal, I'm really tired and not feeling to well today but I'll be in and out checking replies)

[Noise Prince]

It took AJ to take a minute to realize what he meant when he pointed to his eyebrows. Then he remembered a few years ago he dyed them! At the time, he didn't really know about any pride flags other than the rainbow and lesbian ones. He was more knowledgeable now, but he hadn't made the connection until now. What were the colors though, again? He was pretty sure it was three, so maybe bi? Didn't pan have three colors too? He wondered if he had any pictures saved from that time so he could double-check. Gun to his head right now, though, he'd say it was the cyan-pink-yellow trio.

 

"Oh, yeah…" He didn't know what more to say, it took too much mental energy to not grin like a clown gifted too many rubber chickens.

 

"Well that's thirty years of material," A.J. teased, glad for the switch in topic. "Oh, yeah, I listen to podcasts all the time when I paint. Thanks, I'll look something up," He told him. "But it's not like I'm adamantly opposed to documentaries as a concept or anything."

 

"What are you talking about?" A.J. turned to look at him. He grabbed his upper arm to prevent him from leaving. "Look at your hand! Remember how much blood there was inside! You definitely need stitches if it's still bleeding."

 

He couldn't understand why Mickey was so insistant on not seeing a medical professional. He was so freaked out by the blood earlier, and he seemed sensitive, but now he seemed annoyed that A.J. wanted to take him to the nurse. It was kind of frustrating that he wouldn't just agree to come along.

 

"You don't… you don't have a phobia or something?" He asked him, loosening his grip a little. That'd be a bit more understandable.

[KoBu]

"I don't want people staring at me, and I don't want the nurse to look at me like I'm a fat ass tub of lard ok!!" Mickey finally blurted out, trying to yank the arm again. "Every time I walk out the door and in public, I feel like people can see my stomach jiggling and all people do is judge and think about how all I do is eat. Or how I'm going to die early gorging myself on snack cakes or junk food or -- or!!" Mickey was nearly brought to tears already.

 

" I just .... I don't want to be outside if I don't have to be ok? And nurses just make it worse!! I try to eat healthy things,the worst I eat is that pasta salad I was trying to make, but no matter what I do or what I eat, I never lose any weight. And nurses, doctors they just throw it back at me like ' Oh you should eat more veggies, oh you need to get a better diet!' " ANd it was true, maybe not exactly like that, but doctors always spoke as if MIckey didn't try to be healthy.

 

Mickey sniffled and cried harder, but let out a shakey breath. " So no I'm not afraid of needles I'm afraid of what people see when they look at me. I'm afraid of being judged and made fun of because I'm fat!" He rubbed the tears from his eyes.

[Noise Prince]

"What?" Was all A.J. managed to respond with, letting his arm go when Mickey fought him more. He knew Mickey was a little self conscious and the fact he was fat was going to contribute to that, but he didn't think he thought about stuff like that. He even thought the nurse would be rude about it?! They were medical professionals! And the idea everyone was staring at him. There were lots of chubby people in the world, it's not like people were really staring at each and every one of them, right? But he supposed that's what poor self esteem did to people.

 

"You can't not get medical care because you don't want people staring," A.J argued. "Unless you're not going to have a viewing, everyone's going to be staring at you when you're dead." He told him. "Besides, a doctor's not going to talk about your weight when you're in for stitches," The thin roommate added.

"If you're so nervous about people staring at you…" A.J. had a younger sister who was in a pretty serious accident and had scars on her face for years. Sometimes when she wanted to do something but was scared of being judged, A.J. caused a diversion. He got in trouble a lot for it but they were in college now. He took off his shirt. "Then I'll be sure they're staring at me," He told him, and pulled off his pants, throwing them over his shoulder, giving the boy a grin. "No excuses now,"

[KoBu]

The moment A.J took off his shirt, Mickey covered his reddening cheeks. He gave out a squeal when the other began removing his pants. " Oh my god A.J put your pants back on!!!" How in the fuck did his roommate just so easily take off his clothes in public like it was nothing!? Mickey pulled up his hoodie over his head and tugged the drawstrings, causing the hoodie to close around his face .

 

" I'll go if you at least put your pants back on!!" Mickey begged at his roommate. Without even waiting for A.J to put those pants on, Mickey began to fast walk to the nurse's office....though, and he will never admit it to A.J even if it killed him, Mickey was grateful to him for trying to make him feel better... and it was funny. Mickey had to hide a snicker along with his blush. It would definately make a funny story to tell his parents later.

But of course, having a hoodie over your face... not the best idea as Mickey walked himself straight into a door that flung open as another student came barging through. The chubby boy gave a yelp, crumpling to the floor holding his nose, groaning.

 

" Ah! Shit I'm sorry!! I didn't see you I swear!!" The other student panicked as they heard the loud thump and then the yelp. Mickey just waved them off saying it was fine it was only an accident. That it was fine he was on his way to the nurse anyway.

Mickey got back up holding his now bleeding nose with one hand and fisting his other hand to keep the finger from bleeding even more.

 

" .... today sucks. " Mickey grumbled to himself as he quickly turned away from the fussing under classman. " Today really fucking sucks...." Mickey cursed. The under classmen watched Mickey scuttle away, he turned to A.J. " Is he with you?" He asked still looking panicked. " I-if he is do you know what class he has? I can get his class work if he has to go to the hospital!!"

[Noise Prince]

A.J. bit his lip and tried not to laugh at Mickey's reaction when it was just his shirt. He went red in almost an instant. Unfortunately he couldn't see what shade they turned when he removed his pants since he covered his face with his hoodie- but he was granted a squeak. This time he couldn't help but openly laugh. He noticed that he had garnered a lot of attention now, but they definitely weren't staring at Mickey now, at least not more than a passing glance since being cocooned in a hoodie was a bit more socially acceptable than G-rated nudity.

 

"What's the matter?" He teased, gyrating his hips a little, but Mickey probably couldn't see, and he left him before A.J. had the chance to put his pants back on. "Wait, okay, okay, they're going back on! Wait!" He called after him, struggling to walk and put his leg through the pant leg at the same time. They were a lot easier to get off, that's for sure. Damn shoes.

 

He laughed, wondering how Mickey could navigate himself while keeping his face consumed by the hood for about two seconds before a door slammed into his face.

 

"Awe, shit!" He exclaimed, chasing after him, more naked leg than pants still at this point. Dear lord that kid had some shitty luck! Mickey was already pushing himself past the kid who hit him in the thinly guarded face with the door before A.J. could catch up. The kid stopped A.J. to ask about Mickey's workload in case he needed to be hospitalized. Pants half-mast, A.J. just about lost it when he brought up the idea of the hospital.

 

"He's not going to the fucking hospital?" He snapped, shoving his shoulder through the human obstacle as he pulled up his pants. "He's not going to need it, chill." He continued chasing Mickey down the hallway, gaining more speed the more secured to his waist his pants were.

[KoBu]

After leaving the other student in the hall along with A.J, Mickey had blinked away the sting of tears from his eyes and found a bathroom to wash some of the blood off. Another groan as he looked at his reflection, "Well.... at least nothing any worse could happen right?" He told himself with a weak smile, before more blood started to flow down. Shit.... where's my nasal spray?

Mickey knew he was supposed to keep track of his hemophilia meds, but he figured since he was doing so much better, what was the harm in missing a day or two... or a week.

 

Digging through his pockets, Mickey pulled out what looked like a normal bottle of allergy nasal spray. Cleaning off the blood again, Mickey stuck it in and gave a quick spray before he snorted and covered his nose to keep himself from sneezing the medication out. Mickey shook it near his ear, almost out... gonna need to find a pharmacey around here. The chubby student replaced it in his pocket before walking out of the bathroom with a tissue against his nose and looked around for A.J.

 

Whoops.... did we get seperated? Mickey gave one more look around-- Oh... was that him? Mickey stood waiting by the bathroom door. After all he did promise A.J he'd go, and the other went to the trouble of trying to make him feel better and getting near naked in public.

[Noise Prince]

A.J. face stiffened when he saw Mickey's face. He put his shirt back on, but that didn't help his scowling. He hadn't seen that Mickey had gotten a bloody nose from the asshole at the door. His face and nose were red from wiping away the blood, but there was still some at the corner of his mouth that didn't get swiped away, and it was also on the mouth of the hoodie. Not to mention he held a tissue at his abused snout, so it was pretty clear it was a nosebleed.

 

"Jesus Christ, Buns!" he exclaimed, he was too upset to realize that Mickey probably didn't need that nickname right now. "Look at you! Fuck… does it hurt? Fuck, I was getting dressed, why didn't you just wait?"

 

He wasn't very good in situations where he felt helpless, or like he had no control, so seeing the boy he'd had a crush on for ages get bashed in the face by a door when he was struggling to keep up due to a stupid joke made him very angry with himself.

 

"Look, we're not far now, so just stay close to me until we're at the nurse's, okay? I swear to fucking god, if you end up at a hospital at the end of this…" His voice trailed into self-targeted grumbling.

[KoBu]

Mickey wasn't sure why AJ was fussing. " I'm fine really... it's just the hemophilia making me bleed alot. It's not so bad I swear!" Mickey tried to reassure his roommate and trailed behind him. Though his voice sounded nasaly because of the tissue blocking up the blood in his nose. " I just need to get more medicine later and I'll be fine."

 

But after a few more strides they made it to the nurse, whom turned and greeted with a smile but then screeched at the sight of Mickey covered in blood. " What did you decide to just dive head first into some concrete!?" She screeched, though it sounded more like the scolding a mother would tell there child after said child had pulled a stunt that the mother had specifically told them not to do. Mickey shrunk in on himself a little.

 

" No ma'am I was coming here fro a cut on my finger and I ran into a door an got a nosebleed..." Mickey mumbled

quietly. The nurse sighed and scowled at the chubby college boy, but still she led him to the bed and set him down. She looked to AJ, " And what's wrong with you dear? Stomach ache? Headache?" The nurse asked as she went to her cabinet looking around finding a more intricate first aid kit to help patch Mickey's finger. She instructed Mickey to hold his head back as he was handed a clean wad of cloth to help stop the bleeding in his nose.

[Noise Prince]

A.J. seemed exasperated at that, his shoulders dropping and eyebrows raising. "Yeah… Nurse'll know what to do," He grumbled as he lead Mickey with him towards the medical office. God, his heart was pounding so much it was uncomfortable. His chest felt hollow from it. The nurse seemed just as pleased to see them.

 

She looked up when they walked in, but with A.J in the lead, she didn't see Mickey for the first second, and almost smiled, until she got a look of the bloody student and screeched. A.J flinched, you'd think that she'd have seen enough blood. Then again, it wasn't exactly common for someone to be hand-dipped in human blood.

 

Thought A.J also couldn't deny that he wouldn't react the same way if he suddenly saw Mickey like this. She sounded like a mom when she spoke. A.J fought a smile, Mickey had a kind of draw to him that made people like and want to protect him.

 

"Oh, nothing's wrong with me." A.J. told her, and pointed towards Mickey. "I just came with him. We're roommates." He explained.

 

He leaned against the wall, peering over the nurse when she moved so he could try to get a look at what she was doing. He was getting a little antsy, standing there. The word hospital kept echoing in his head. He had a hard time shaking it out.

[KoBu]

Mickey sat as the nurse continued to fuss and patch him up. Couldn't do much else with A.J hovering near by. Once the nurse had left to go check into Mickey's files, the chubby student turned to his roommate and offered a brief smile and a thumbs up..... with the same thumb now two sizes bigger with the gauze now covering it and a splint to keep the gauze in place. And a large gauze patch over his nose. "See all better"

 

"Alright, so your records tell me your supposed to be on hemo medication. You've been taking it on the regular right?" The nurse asked, flipping through the papers. Mickey gave a nasal noise " umm ... kinda~" he admitted with a shrug. The nurse scowled, placing her hand on her hip. "How many doses have you missed?"

" Maybe ... about a week's worth..." Mickey mumbled "B-but I keep an emergency pack with me and I used some nasal spray for my nose!" He tried to appease the unamused nurse.

 

She scowled even deeper, and turned her head towards A.J. "You, your his roommate right? Think you can keep him on track till he's back to taling his meds normally?"

No way in hell that should be ok for a nurse to ask a student to do that. Not one in college anyway. Mickey began to protest. "I don't need a med babysitter!" He grumbled. "I can handle it myself, I just slacked since I was doing better!"

[Noise Prince]

A.J. was more relaxed now that Mickey was receiving medical attention. Fortunately it seemed everything was pretty minor and the nurse let A.J hover nearby. Or maybe she didn't even realize since he tried not to make a sound in case he wasn't actually supposed to be there. But soon enough, Mickey was all patched up. A.J. thought they'd be able to go then, but the nurse needed to look at something in his files. Bureaucracy... fuck it. He laughed when Mickey held up his thumb, enlarged with gauze and some support thing. His brief but adorable smile curled under his bandaged nose. He thought it was kind of funny, since he never would have thought a nosebleed needed gauze like that, but what did he know?

 

"You can barely even tell you got hurt," A.J. laughed.

 

The nurse returned with some rather upsetting news. A.J. frowned when he heard 'hemo medication'. He had no idea that Mickey needed that kind of thing. He wondered how long he'd been on it... Not during the past week, evidently. A.J. hated feeling like a parent, he never made a good 'mom friend'. But hey, here was the nurse to play the role and berate him for not being careful with his medication. Though at the same time it made him a little angry that she had the nerve to guilt trip him like that.

 

A.J. was surprised when the nurse addressed him. So she did know he was there. He nodded to affirm they were roommates. The idea of getting to 'officially' be part of Mickey's routine got him a little excited, but before he could accept the noble quest, Mickey protested, to A.J.'s dismay.

 

"Then you'll just have to be annoyed by me once in a while when I ask if you've taken your meds yet," A.J. said with a smile, thinking it was kind of cute that he didn't want a 'babysitter'. He sounded like someone who needed one when he talked like that.

[KoBu]

But it's not fair! I'm not a little kid, I made a mistake, I learn from it! ....."Mickey pouted more before mumbling under his breath "besides I don't want to give you more reason to make fun of me...." The self consciousness was working back in. "And what about when I'm in class? It's not like you can just pop in and shove pills into me. I can deal with taking them myself."

 

The nurse shushed them both, writing out a note. "Here, take this note and give it to your professor after you go and refill your medication, which I'm going to trust that your going straight to the pharmacy after this." She scowled at Mickey who turned a little pale and nodded vigorously, nearly upsetting the bandage over his nose.

"Stop that or you'll start bleeding again!" She scolded. Mickey froze instantly. She whipped around to A.J. again. "You! Keep a close eye on him! If I so much as see him walking around with one drop of blood that's his, I'll hog tie you so fast it'll make your headspin, do you understand!?"

[Noise Prince]

A.J. still thought it was kind of cute that the nurse thought Mickey needed a little extra help. He always was a bit helpless, and he glad to see some things never change. He was more than happy to help out, despite Mickey's protests.

 

"I could text you," A.J. told him. "Or, I could just come into class and shove the pills in, I'm not opposed to that idea," He chuckled. He couldn't help but revel in tormenting poor Mickey when such an opportunity arose. A.J. knew he wasn't the most personable, and the best way he figured he could be friendly with people was by poking fun at them, and there was no one better to mock than Mickey. A.J. was helpless in a similar way as Mickey, in a sense.

 

A.J. wondered if he should go with him to the pharmacy, but he wouldn't be necessary and Mickey would probably refuse if he offered. But that didn't really deter A.J. from wanting to, anyway. The most important thing, of course, was that Mickey just got the medicine he needed to not bleed to death. Dead Mickeys were to be avoided.

 

He jumped a little when the nurse suddenly faced him again, turning her agitation with Mickey's reckless nodding activity on him, an innocent bystander.

 

"Uh..." He floundered a little before saluting. "Yes, ma'am. I'll make sure the only blood you find on him belongs to other people."

[KoBu]

Still wearing a pout, Mickey took the note and got up to leave.

 

" Now be sure to keep taking your meds! I know your in college and being away from your parents for the first time but you need to take better care of yourself." The chubby boy scowled even more at the scolding. He nodded regardless and got up to head to the door and back to the dorm room. Only here for a week, and already, Mickey had sustained two different injuries.

 

Once they were clear from the clinic, Mickey headed to the front entrance. He turned to A.J. " Well thank you for walking me to the clinic. It was very nice of you." He smiled, grateful for his roommate's help and concern. " But I'll be off, see you later." And Mickey headed out the door towards town.

 

Luckily the trip was quick, with a few employees staring for a moment and one asking if he was alright.

Prescription filled, Mickey made it back in time to clean in time to clean up and get ready for his class the next morning.

[Noise Prince]

A.J. could only follow Mickey out of the clinic while the nurse seemed to eagerly hope to drag on the lecturing. He had to agree with what he assumed Mickey was feeling at that point- that enough was enough, they get it. That nurse was worse than his mom with stuff like that.

 

Mickey was definitely in worse spirits now, despite not gushing blood at this point. But he looked at him with a genuine smile when he thanked him.

 

"Hey, that's not problem, I didn't ha-" A.J. was feeling a bit bashful. He couldn't remember the last time Mickey smiled at him like that. But he was cut off when Mickey excused himself to go to the pharmacy on his own before A.J. could offer to tag along. Well, makes sense he wouldn't want to be chaperoned now after everything. Still, A.J. was a little bummed.

 

It wasn't a long trip as Mickey was back with his medications rather quickly. A.J. didn't know there was a pharmacy so close, which was nice.

 

"So, you were able to get the blood drugs easily enough?"

[KoBu]

Mickey looked up as he took of his shoes. " Yea, they already had me on file. My parents must have made a call before I got to university for me" He said bashfully.

" You'd think me going off to college, they'd let me try to look after myself like an adult, right" Though admittedly, he wasn't doing so good a job of that at the moment, was he?

 

" Anyway, did you go to orientation? I still have to pick up my packet for classes and such myself." Mickey asked as he put his meds away and started to clean up the kitchen from his earlier mess. They had left in such a hurry, and now the pasta was all sticky... Oh well pour a little oil on it and let it set for a bit and it'll be fine.

[Noise Prince]

 

Heeyyyyy It's been ages and I'm so, so sorry! All of April felt like finals week ;n;

But I'm on break now, and I've put off replying long enough, I'm sorry it took me so long to finally respond. If you're still into this one, here it is:

 

 

 

"Oh, that's pretty cool," A.J. was a little impressed by that. He didn't know things could just be handled like that, hassle-free, by the parents. "Hey, don't knock it. I've been putting off getting all my file shit transferred, it seems like it'll be a pain. You don't have to worry about it." He told him, shrugging. Besides, he wasn't going to point it out, but he wasn't doing so good at the moment at watching after himself like an adult. Things could have been a lot harder if he hadn't had his files ready.

 

"Oh, yeah, I did the orientation a month ago, so I wouldn't have to do it now." He said with a smile. "You can get the schedule online," He reminded him. "Mine wasn't even ready a month ago," He laughed.

 

"How's the pasta doing?" A.J. asked, seeing Mickey stirring with it a little.

[KoBu]

Mickey gave a less then enthusiastic chuckle, " Yea well when you have a paranoid Dad and a military officer for a mom, you kinda have all your ducks in a row without evening noticing ya know? Mom had it done the day I started packing up..."

 

" Really? But I heard everybody's been having trouble with the online site..." Mickey protested. But didn't push the matter much more. He'd check it himself later on.

 

Pouring in a few drops of olive oil, Mickey stirred the cooked pasta a little before moving to toss out the spinach he was cutting before and look in the fridge for some new veggies. " It's a little sticky from sitting so long but nothing I can't fix..."

[Noise Prince]

"Hm. Well, guess it's pretty lucky when it means less work yourself, right?" A.J. chuckled. His own parents weren't super involved. He was an adult, so as far as they were concerned their jobs as parents regarding him were pretty limited. They'd been weening him off since he was fifteen, old enough for a job, so he was pretty use to handling things on his own. But he forgot how other people's parents stayed their parents. He kind of wished his parents helped take care of the medical stuff. He didn't even know where to begin.

 

"Yeah, I've heard that. And honestly, I had a little trouble the first time I tried to enroll in the orientation, but other than that, I haven't run into many issues myself. Of course, the layout makes it look half-finished so maybe it is, and I've just been lucky," He laughed.

 

"Oh... that's why it gets sticky?" He mused out loud. A.J. had that issue before with pasta, but didn't really know what caused it. He chucked it up to being some kitchen chemistry stuff out of his control, like the level of heat and the type of grains used to make the noodles. Nope, simple as leaving them sit.

[KoBu]

"Kind of. They mean well but sometimes I wish I could learn from my own mistakes you know? I'm happy they support me and try to help but sometimes they can get .... to involved.... especially mom. " Mickey groaned. He was prattling on now. Mindless complaints really.

 

Taking out a few carrots and celery stalks, Micmey brought them to the counter. He looked over at AJ. " ..... would um ..... would you like to chop these up for me? Little nervous to handle a knife now ya know?" He asked sheepishly. Though some part of Mickey knew it was a small pathetic excuse at trying to bond and get to know the other a little better, now being aware that AJ only me at some harmless fun back in their schools days.

True Mickey should be a touch more cautious and he will be .... But ya can't really let the fact that your roommate just made a fool of himself in fro t of strangers to make you feel better go in ackowldged.

 

"Well keep in mind, pasta is basically uncooked dough and dough is sticky right...?" Mickey explained, "just a few things are a little different and so if ya leave it out it just sticks together, normally you should leave it in a little water just enough to cover it, and then when ya come back just star in it and your good to go..."

[Noise Prince]

"I guess that's one way to look at it," A.J. mused. "Seems like there should be some middle ground for all parents, you know?" He thought out loud. "Everyone's either got helicopter parents or they're distant, both are troublesome in their own ways," He agreed. His parents were more on the other side of the spectrum, though he was sure he'd feel similarly to Mickey if his parents were always in his business.

 

"That's fair," A.J. smiled. No wonder he was a smidge traumatized. And he would not exactly be very good with a knife with his injured hand, anyway. He took out a large knife and set the vegetables down on the cutting board Mickey had out. Cutting vegetables with a wooden board... it felt so adult and strange to be handling himself.

 

"Huh... that does make sense, don't know why I didn't figure it out," He thought out loud, as if a little mad at himself. "Good to know, though."

 

 

I'm so sorry for taking this long. It's the same old story, life right now just takes up so much of my time... I need to get better with time management, I'm so sorry