Work Text:
“what’s the occasion, mister davidson? you seem more chipper today than usual, it’s sort of freaking me out,” commented melissa, as she looked up from her keyboard over to her boss. chuckling at what she said, ken fixed his crooked bow tie while he strolled past the desk.
“my dear wife, carol, is coming in for lunch. the oak woods library is slow today, so she’s closing to come see me.”
“you mean the hatchetfield library?” asked ted, who was just wandering around the office until he had to go answer a call.
“nope, oak woods! it’s the older one, the library you are talking about is downtown,” replied ken simply and matter-of-fact. as if the topic bored him, ted waved a hand and went to go bother paul, most likely going to complain to him about how their small town has two libraries and not just one.
melissa pushed her oversized glasses up her nose and gave ken a smile. “well, i’ll be happy to see her again. she’s a really nice lady.” she complimented, a love struck sigh coming from him after she said this.
“yeah... anywho! melissa, you can go to my office and get your yogurt. the cinnamon should be in one of my drawers, see you in a bit!” he instructed before walking out of the office room.
once he did, ted shot a look at the girl; “he lets you use his mini fridge? that’s such bullshit!” he scoffed, clearly finding it unfair the former teacher’s pet in high school got a mini fridge privilege.
“if you had stopped touching my things i wouldn’t have to do so!” she shot back, standing up with her palms on the top of her desk. even if carol was stopping by their branch in ccrp, it still is a normal day in the office.
on the first floor, ken stood near the entrance with his phone in-hand, looking down at it like a stereotypical father would. no new messages inferencing she had arrived, which wasn’t a problem at all; he is a patient man, he could wait all day for her. of course when he did see her walking through the doors, he acted like an excited puppy that missed their owner when they left for a few minutes grabbing the mail.
“hi, honey,” greeted carol, a soft smile on her gentle face. she had her lunchbox in one hand and her water bottle in the other, the rest of her belongings in her long skirt pockets.
“hello, buttercup! you look as beautiful as always,” flirted ken, as he slipped his phone into his back pocket and held his arms out. after a quick hug, the couple went to the elevator and pushed the button.
watching the numbers change, ken made small talk with his wife. “barely anyone visiting today, huh?”
“ah, yes, but it’s a tuesday and the kids just got back from break, so they don’t need to study for anything and such. only a few of my regulars came in, too, it is odd,” explained carol, as she thought back on how slow time went while at her job. fortunately she loved learning, so she was able to occupy herself with the returned books she hadn’t read before.
they stepped into the elevator once another employee left it, ken clicking the floor his branch worked on. “not even sylvia stopped by on her break to grab a new book? i could’ve swore she left earlier quickly to do that…”
“i’m afraid to say no, but it makes sense in a way. my library has older works, we haven’t had any donations in months. i might need to find some new published books myself,” sighed carol.
the sigh put ken in support mode, his arm wrapping around her waist and holding her close to his side. “i’ll get my workers to bring in books they do not want! check to see if anything needs to be crossed out or fixed and boom, more books!” he said in a cheerful tone. giggling, carol looked at him with a small smile: “this is why i love you, ken.” she replied then put a quick kiss on his scruffy cheek. his beard always tickled her nose.
in the office, the confrontation between ted and melissa had eased, one happy at her desk with her spoon in her mouth while the other wasn’t seen at his desk - most likely in the break room sourly eating his squished sandwich.
“good afternoon, mrs. davidson!” she said incoherently due to the spoon in her mouth, though it didn’t take a brainiac to figure out what she tried to say.
“and good afternoon to you, too, dear. love the shirt,” pointed carol before looking ahead, the nice comment made melissa yank her spoon out of her mouth and shyly mumble a thanks out to her. after announcing her presence to everyone still in their cubicles, ken brought her to his own office and moved the chair in front of his desk behind it. every time they had lunch together he wanted to sit together rather than the original set up, he excused it as it was “too formal looking.”
both set their lunch boxes on the desk, ken’s patterned with bees and sunflowers while carol’s was patterned with clouds. for a moment, carol stared down at her husband’s lunchbox, a tad bit confused on why he had it.
“what’s the matter, my dove? you look lost.” he asked as he reached into the lunchbox, knuckles brushing against items that usually weren’t in his lunch.
pulling them out one by one, he noticed this lunch wasn’t the foods he preferred, nor did he slip a handwritten test review sheet for chemistry in it. a container with a frosted croissant and berries at the side, a mini water bottle and juice box, a small bag of smartfood popcorn, and a packet of healthy cookies - all of these were their daughter’s favorites, the last thing being a snack throughout the day due to her low blood sugar.
“oh my, i grabbed the wrong lunchbox. oh my god- oh my god, my baby can’t stand half the things i eat! she’s going to go hungry!” exclaimed ken, as he started packing the food again in a panicked way. “bee doesn’t even have her cookies, how do you think she’s doing? oh my god, we need to call the school and pick her up immediately, i can’t believe i put our daughter in danger, lord help me-”
“ken,” cut off carol, as she rested one of her hands onto his and squeezed it. he looked at her with his worried, guilty expression, trying to figure out why she wasn’t freaked out.
“it’ll be okay, one of her best friends knows about everything and even told us he brings in snacks in case bee needed it. if anything had happened, we would’ve been contacted by the nurse an hour ago. they have lunch at eleven-forty, remember?” she said in a soft tone.
that’s right, the lunch bee goes to starts at that time and then releases kids to their next period at twelve-fifteen. it was twelve thirty, and neither he nor carol were notified of anything regarding their child. calming down, he let out a sigh and moved his gaze down at the lunchbox.
“i need to get one that isn’t so similar to hers, dear,” said ken.
“i don’t see how you mixed it up, yours has polka dots,” mentioned carol, hand still holding his.
ken’s mood shifted back to his usual bubbly demeanor, and he used his free hand to snap one of his suspends against him. “yellow is yellow and i am old, don’t expect me to see the difference!” he joked then reopened the lunchbox, listening to his wife laugh lightly at what he responded with to her somewhat sassy observation. the food in it wasn’t something he cares for yet did not mind eating it, it isn’t like bea would want to eat it the following day - old food freaks her out.
popping some berries in his mouth, he took a glance at the chemistry notes and read through the words briefly. “mm, i remember learning this decades ago, can’t believe they are making the kids do all these extra steps.”
“i know, i don’t think i’ve seen some of this in the science books i’ve read,” hummed carol, as she sipped on her arizona tea.
as both of them examined the notes and pointed out how well-organized their daughter was, carol paused mid-bite of her small salad and stared at the paper. noticing her slowly set her fork down, ken looked at her for a moment then back at the sheet, trying to see what made her do this. like she told him where to look telepathically, ken saw writing at the corner of the paper that he didn’t notice at first.
“um... hey, carol? what day is it?” asked ken, as he set down the chemistry notes.
“the thirteenth,” answered carol, her eyes now glued on him with disbelief.
“i was afraid you were going to say that.” he said, getting out of his seat in order to pull his phone out of his back pocket and unlock his phone. on the page there was a side note that mentioned her test was tomorrow, and the day those notes were written was on the twelfth.
bee had a chemistry test that period and did not have her study notes. “first i didn’t have a great lunch, and now i can’t even study properly for this test! i’m so screwed.” she ranted, her hands rubbing her temples to display her distress. the friend who she was ranting to, and also was the friend that brought snacks every day, was oliver; he is a kid that also struggled with low blood sugar, so he knew what to do that day to help her out.
“i have the notes if you need them, bee, though they did get a bit… wet from the rain today,” said oliver, as he picked up his soaked journal. “at least you had an in-door class when it rained this morning.”
“yeah, yeah… i will just have to try my best. if i get a bad grade, i am blaming it on my dad. sometimes he just- ugh, i don’t know,” grumbled bee as she ran her fingers through her dark curls.
as much as she loved her father, there was a few things that just got to her sometimes. she would never express this, however, finding it dumb to stay pressed about it and telling herself that tomorrow is a new day. apologizes usually follow after ken made a mistake, anyway; bee will just have to wait until tonight to laugh about how stressful her day has been then put it behind her. but for now, staring down at the chemistry test that was put on her desk, bee had to do equations regarding the elements.
-
“look bee, i got a new bag! it is pink with uh... looks like ponies on it!” gushed ken to his daughter, who was looking at him in disbelief. it was hours after the events that happened separately for the family, now at the dinner table ready to have a meal carol made from scratch. she knew he’d apologize during dinner, that is how it goes every time, but she didn’t think ken would start off like this.
clearing her throat, bee nodded in acknowledgement and looked down at her empty plate. “that’s cool, dad, your employees will get a kick out of that.”
“oh certainly! i know that melissa will enjoy it then throw a hissy fit when ted calls her an inappropriate name, hah! i love working with them.” he fixed his glasses after setting aside his new lunch pail, his goofy expression falling to a more serious one.
it was terrifying to her how her dad could do that. she brushed her hair out of her face and stared at her dad, ignoring her mom set down a hot dish in the middle of the table and put a scoop spoon next to it.
“listen, kiddo… i’m sorry for taking your lunch, i wasn’t paying attention and i should’ve. i promise i will grab the right one next time and avoid any future mistakes,” started ken.
“it’s- it’s fine, i can’t get too upset. oliver is always looking out for me, and i know in the mornings you will be more of a nut when tired,” relaxed bee, as she watched carol grab their empty cups to go fill it with drinks they’d prefer.
“that’s true! that’s very, very true,” chuckled ken, propping his elbow on the tabletop and tapped his foot. it was hard to hear with only funky socks on, but bee knew about his habit.
and that was that. bee isn’t one to hold onto her frustration, it isn’t healthy and doesn’t get her anywhere; ken is the type to shift from tense topics to lighthearted conversation if it isn’t something that can be fixed in a few minutes; carol stays out of things that doesn’t directly affect her (but she won’t do it anyway if it did.) dinner continued as normal, with random life facts shared and tested to see who has the better education out of the three.