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Sometimes the mornings are difficult. Not because Hop is almost always perpetually running late for his work with Sonia, but because of the nights before that bleed into sunrises and mornings with Gloria. Before either of them realizes it, it’s morning and their nights of conversation are paused with the greeting of sun.
Curled up together on Gloria’s window seat, the two spend their nights talking about everything, the way they used to when they were kids, laying out their hopes, fears, and burdens for the other to know, to share. Sometimes the words are spoken, threaded together in hush tones lest they alert Gloria’s mother to his presence after hours, and sometimes no words are needed at all, feelings instead felt through his hand on hers, in the way she leans back into his arms and the way he holds her there as if she belonged there all along.
On this particular morning, there is chaos, trepidation as a rapt on the door awakens both of them from their peaceful doze. From the other side of the door, Gloria’s mother calls out to her, “It’s breakfast time!”
The sing-song call is grating to both their ears as they part and fumble in surprise, Gloria quickly falling to the floor in a loud tumble.
“Gloria, are you alright?” Her mother calls, the brass doorknob begins to wiggle.
Quickly Gloria staggers to her feet, her hands on the doorknob before the door itself can open. “I’m fine, Ma! I’ll be out in a bit.”
The gentle assault on the doorknob stops, and Gloria can swear her mother chuckles on the other side of the door. Whatever that was about, she has bigger things to handle.
Turning around with her back pressed to the door, Gloria watches Hop yawn, feeling around blindly for his lab coat in the dark. The room is darker than she expected for a morning in Postwick, but the sound of rain outside her window made it clear as to why. The sun that would usually awaken them long before her mother rises is hidden behind dark clouds, leaving her room in gray shadowed light, muted.
Opening her window to the weather outside, Hop hisses at the sudden wind and rain impeding the room. Scrambling in the dark, she tosses what she presumes is his lab coat at him and rushes him towards the window.
“But Glo, it’s raining outside.” He protests, one foot on the ledge, holding the frame. Sleep still clouds his eyes as he falls out of her window into the bushes.
Popping her head out, she apologizes. “Sorry! Just run around and knock on the front door. Tell my ma you’re coming over for breakfast or something.”
Tangled in her bushes he grumbles, attempting to free himself of the brambles. With the rain and wind, it’s difficult for him to find traction, to get on his feet. Mud is everywhere and she has no idea how either of them is going to explain that.
“Gloria!” Her mother calls again, and Gloria does her best to steady nerves, taking a deep breath, opening the door as if she just woke up, as if she isn’t just coming from kicking her boyfriend out the window.
Sitting at the kitchen table, her mother places a cup of coffee in front of her, setting down the breakfast biscuits and eggs on the table.
At the door, a weak knock sounds from the other side. “I wonder who that could be.” She murmurs, bringing the coffee to her lips casually to hide the lie.
Opening the door, her mother laughs long and hard, and when she looks up to see why, it takes all her effort not to spit out her coffee out there and then.
At the door stands Hop, encased in a layer of mud and dirt with her champion cape in his hands… which meant his lab coat was in-- oh.
With a smirk on her face, her mother steps back. “Welcome to breakfast, Champion Hop.”
They were going to be hearing about this for ages to come.