Leafy's alarm rudely woke her and she forced herself out of bed and into her work clothes.
She needed to get Grove up and ready for preschool and ensure he had a lunch ready.
She walked across to Grove's room and gently woke him. He crawled into her lap and nuzzled into her as he yawned and let his eyes adjust to the light.
"Good morning Grovey, you're like a little fluff-ball," she laughed as she neatened his hair.
"Good morning mama," he said tiredly.
"Come on, let's get you dressed," she smiled.
Once Grove was dressed Leafy headed downstairs to get him some cereal and make him some lunch but when she turned the corner of the kitchen, Firey was washing things up.
"What did you do?" Leafy asked.
"Well, it's Monday so I figured you had work and I made you some breakfast," he replied, holding a plate with chopped fruit, yoghurt and French toast.
"Oh, thank you but I can't eat it, I have to make sure Grove gets his own breakfast and a lunch," she sighed.
"Taken care of," Firey smiled, slightly proudly.
Leafy walked over and saw a smaller plate with some cereal and chopped apples and strawberries with some water.
"And you made him lunch?" Leafy questioned bewilderedly.
"Yeah, just some sandwiches with salmon, some spare fruit and one of those yoghurt tube things," he said pointing at Grove's lunchbox.
"How did you know he liked salmon?," she asked with a suspicious tone.
"I think I woke him while I was making the French toast because he came downstairs to see what I was doing and so I asked him what he wanted on a sandwich ," he shrugged.
Leafy sat at the table and took a small bite of the beautifully presented plate in front of her and to her dismay, it was delicious.
She hated the fact that effort was put into it, she hated how he did it out of his own will, it just made it harder for her to keep her walls up.
Grove waddled in and he eagerly went over to Firey to get his lunchbox.
Leafy rested her head against her hand as she watched them high-five, Grove had clearly let go of the whole "Dino-Stealer" thing and Firey seemed happy that Grove wasn't shy.
Although it was a cute sight, she was going to be late if she didn't get a move on. She told Grove to eat his breakfast while she went to the bathroom to freshen up and put some makeup on.
A little while later, she was buttoning Grove's shirt up in the hall, slightly panicking as she always did.
Firey suddenly tapped her on the shoulder, holding out a small lunchbox and a water bottle.
"You never mentioned your own lunch so I made this," he said.
Leafy felt her heart clench as she tried to figure out what to say. The small but sweet smile on his face didn't help things at all.
"Thank you," she answered, much ruder than she had meant to then she placed it in her handbag.
"Have a good day," he said.
"You too," she nodded.
"I'll have a good day too!" Grove exclaimed excitedly.
Leafy sighed fondly as she smiled at Grove, saying goodbye to Firey before leaving for the car park.
"He's a good guy, mama," Grove chirpped from the backseat.
"He is Grove, but mama just needs to make extra certain he's a really good guy," she responded.
"He didn't take my dinosaurs and he gave me salmon, I like him," he stated.
"Hm, that's nice," Leafy said simply.
Grove began to play with his toys as Leafy's thoughts trailed elsewhere.
She dropped Grove off at his preschool then pulled out her phone and texted Firey.
What's the deal with you being alive? Are other people allowed to know?
A few minutes later she got a response.
Yeah, I guess but like don't go telling everyone yk?
Okay thanks
That was all she needed to know, she rushed to work and immediately went searching for someone.
"Gelatin!" she called.
"What's up Leafster?" he grinned.
"Come here," she said, gesturing at him.
Once he was close enough, she looked around to make sure no one was listening.
"Firey is alive,"
"What,"
Gelatin stared at her like she'd gone crazy. "Leafy that's not possible,"
"That's what I thought but he's in the apartment right now and he's very much real," she insisted.
"Leafy, are you okay? People don't just come back from the dead, are you certain it's him," he asked as he shook her by the shoulders.
"It is him Gelatin, he was in my apartment on Saturday night and I nearly hit him with a baseball bat," she whisper-shouted.
"Leafy, it can't be him, he's dead," Gelatin sighed in frustration.
"No, it is him! There's something weird going on but he never actually died in the first place," she explained
"Leafy, you're delierious," Gelatin said as he checked her temperature.
"No, you can come to my place after work and see him yourself!" she said as she stamped her foot.
"Fine, but if he's not there or its some random guy I'm getting you therapy," he groaned, finally giving up.
"Meet me at my car after work, I'll drive," she said before walking off.
Gelatin gave her a worried look then went about his day, but he was still worried about his clearly insane cousin.
As usual the day moved slowly, being a secretary somehow felt stressful and slow at the same time but it's what let her keep the nice apartment and allowed her to send Grove to a decent preschool so she ultimately didn't mind.
Eventually the day ended and Leafy and Gelatine sat in her car wishing the traffic would go away.
"So, how your mom?" Gelatin asked to break the silence.
"She's pretty good, herself and my dad moved to the coast a few months ago so they've just been enjoying the sun," she shrugged.
"Nice and how's Grove?"
"He's great actually, he's eating really well and he's had his injections,"
"Leafy, if Firey is actually alive and in your apartment, where has he been the past few years,"
"He hasn't told me but I'll find out eventually,"
"So, he's living with you?"
"Don't worry, he's sleeping on the couch and I'm not getting anywhere near him,"
"Really? What happened to the ever-loving Leafy?"
"I can't risk it Gelatin, you saw how badly I dealt with his death I can't take it again,"
"How long do you think you'll last?"
"He's hardly even been here two days and he's already making it difficult to push him away,"
Gelatin nodded thoughtfully but then got distracted and started singing along to the radio, Leafy laughed at him, glad that he never changed.
...
Soon they were in the elevator, nearing Leafy's floor and Gelatin felt himself grow slightly nervous.
"Relax, Gelatin," Leafy said under her breath and he gave her a quick thumbs-up.
Leafy opened the door of her apartment with Gelatin walking behind her.
"Hey Firey, can you come here for a minute?" she called.
"Okay," came his voice from the living room.
Gelatin froze when he saw Firey, he walked up to him and squished his face the pinched him.
"Ow, what the hell was that for, Gelatin?" Firey yelped.
"Oh, my god. You're actually alive," he said, absolutely shocked.
"Yeah, I think I know that," Firey glared.
"No-wha, you died," Gelatin turned to Leafy "This guy was legally dead,"
"I'm still not used to it," Leafy sighed.
"So, what were you doing all this time? You can't just up and leave people," Gelatin said, suddenly becoming much more pissed looking.
"Look, I had to leave because of my job. Things got too bad for me to stay and keep Leafy safe. I can't say anything about it yet but I didn't leave on my own will," Firey explained.
"Very convenient," Gelatin snapped.
"Okay, let's keep it relaxed here. Gelatin, can I get you anything," Leafy intervened quickly.
"Oh, no thank you I've got stuff at home," he replied, "Speaking of which, I hadn't meant to stay long I should probably leave,"
"Would you like a lift home?" Leafy offered.
"Nah, I think the train ride will help me process this,"he said.
He walked to Firey again pulled him in a tight hug then whispered harshly into his ear.
"Don't you dare do anything like that to her again,"
Firey didn't get a chance to respond before Gelatin pulled back and patted his shoulder with a grin on his face. "Good to see you though!"
"Bye Leafy, see you tomorrow!" he called as he left the apartment.
...
"He can be scary when he wants to be," Firey coughed as he adjusted his sweater.
"Eh, you gotta love him though, he's looking out for me," she shrugged happily.
"How sweet of him," he said sarcastically. "Do you want to herbal tea, I made some for myself earlier,"
"Thanks, that'd be nice," Leafy accepted.
"It'll be five minutes," Firey told her, walking to the kettle.
"Grove is gonna be dropped home soon, by the way," Leafy informed him.
"Leafy, please don't make me talk to anyone else today," he implored
"Don't worry, I usually pick him up but I asked Flower if she could do it for me today, I'll just meet her outside," she assured.
Leafy walked upstairs to get into more comfortable clothes but there was something off about the apartment, it all looked shinier...
"Hey, did you clean today?" she asked.
"Yeah, I mopped,vaccumed, dusted and tried to make things look neater but there wasn't much to be done since you keep it all pretty neat already," he stated.
"Oh uh, thank you," she nodded.
Leafy closed the door behind her then flopped onto the bed, face first.
"Damn you Firey, you make it harder and harder to push you away," she groaned into her pillow.
================================
Damn, other people know that Firey is alive now
Hope you enjoyed that chapter.
XOXO
LeafCake