Work Text:
there are a lot of bad days when one is living in poverty. thankfully, there are good ones to balance it out. also thankfully, yuki has someone by her side to lessen the burden.
today is a good day. yuki is returning home from a successful movie shoot with a bag of nice meat, courtesy of shizuo chiba, and she’s gotten off work early. seriously, today is going so well.
yuki smiles, walking quickly and confidently on her way back home. momo-kun hasn’t been able to eat meat in so long, since we don’t have the luxury of buying it often. with this, i can do something for momo-kun. a gesture like this would alleviate some of the guilt she feels toward momo as well — although that’s another topic entirely.
speaking of momo, lately yuki’s been worried about her. the platinum-haired girl’s smile fades when she thinks about this.
recently, momo-kun’s been more tired. i think she’s been working a job or going off somewhere when i’m not home... i just wish she’d get more rest.
momo is dedicated in her work, but yuki wishes she’d let up a little bit. it’s no good to overwork yourself.
her smile returns to her face when she imagines momo greeting her at the door with a big smile of her own and a ‘yuki-san, you’re home early!’ she imagines how the dark-haired girl’s eyes will light up upon seeing the meat yuki’s brought home for her, and her excited impatience as yuki cooks them dinner.
yuki unlocks the door to their apartment and pushes it open with a grin. “momo-kun, i’m home!”
instead of momo, silence greets her.
yuki shuts the door behind her, a bit confused. i guess she must be in another room.
with that, she goes wandering around the house calling out momo’s name. seriously, where could she be? she’s not out and about again, is she?
finally, yuki enters their bedroom, thinking that maybe momo might be in here, or in the bathroom.
“momo-kun? are you in h—”
yuki’s expression falls and she freezes upon entering the room.
the door to the bathroom is wide open, and momo stands in the doorway. she’s stopped moving since yuki entered the room, and most notably, her hands and clothes are covered in blood.
if that wasn’t enough to make yuki’s heart stop, she sees that momo is holding a bloody knife in one hand.
the shock causes the blue-eyed girl to fall to the floor and drop the bag of meat she was holding.
momo’s wears an expression that is both terrified and guilt stricken, and she seems to have lost her words. an inconvenient time to freeze up, no?
despite it all, yuki speaks weakly after the pause. “momo-kun… are you hurt?”
“…no! nonono, i’m fine!” momo promises, shaking her hands. yuki’s eyes are drawn to the blood covering them.
“uhh, you’re home early, yuki-san!” her partner says, but her cheerfulness is obviously strained. “is there a reason?”
“whose is it?”
momo pauses. “sorry?”
yuki looks at her blankly. “if you’re not hurt, whose blood is that?”
momo’s eyes grow fearful once again, after which yuki can feel a pit of dread growing in her stomach alongside nausea.
the answer — or lack thereof — is all she needs to put two and two together.
momo takes a step in her direction. yuki shakes her head. “momo-kun, stop.” her chest hurts upon seeing her partner’s desperate face. “wait, yuki-san, please!”
“i said stop! don’t come close!”
yuki’s arms are raised above her head as if she’s prepared to defend herself, but it’s plain to see that she’s shaking. the magenta-eyed girl kneels down in front of her, gently pulling her arms away from her face.
yuki squeezes her eyes shut. “…knife.”
“i’m sorry,” she’s told, and she can hear some rustling noises, which she assumes is momo putting the knife somewhere where she can’t see it. “…yuki-san.”
yuki peels her eyes open. momo’s hands — they’re still bloody, yuki remembers — cup her face. the platinum-haired girl feels her throat constrict at the stench of iron, so she tries to focus on her breathing and momo’s face.
“…are you going to kill me now?”
momo freezes, looking genuinely horrified. “you— kill— what?”
when yuki makes it clear she has nothing more to say, momo begins to tear up. “yuki-san, i could never even hurt y— kill you?” she laughs sadly at the mere thought.
“...but i understand why you’d think that.” she says this as if it’s painful to admit, as if it hurts her that it’s a fact. “i’m so sorry.”
a moment of silence passes. momo seems to have gathered her thoughts, because she quickly jumps into explaining herself. she ducks her head as she speaks, the fidgeting of her hands not going unnoticed by yuki. “um, i... since we’re not doing that well, and... i couldn’t do nothing while you go out and work so hard for our sake.” she looks into yuki’s eyes here, and it makes her heart hurt. “and... well, as you can tell, i got a shady job. but it pays pretty well...”
she trails off when she figures that there’s nothing more she can say to affect the situation. momo brushes at her watery eyes with her hands, resulting in her face being wiped with blood. yuki figures her face looks the same.
“i just wanted to give you a break, yuki-san,” momo says quietly, her voice breaking. maybe out of all her words, that’s what touches yuki the most. hadn’t she been thinking the same exact thing about momo on her walk home? isn’t that all she thinks about? how can i give momo a break, how can i make things easier for her, how can i do something for her— how can she be mad at momo, how can she have the gall to be scared of her when momo is looking out for her once again?
how can she be anything but hopelessly sad?
yuki brushes at her own eyes now, but it’s too late. she’s already crying.
momo, as always, rushes to comfort her. it stings yuki even more— she was just pushing momo away mere moments ago.
“yuki-san... i’m sor—”
she’s cut off. “i’m sorry.”
yuki’s apology takes her partner by surprise. “h-huh? wait, you don’t have anything to apologize for?!”
the platinum-haired girl shakes her head, wiping away tears as they come. “i’m so sorry, momo-kun. i never thought... i never wanted... something like this to happen. it’s my fault. it’s because i wasn’t reliable. i couldn’t give you security. i couldn’t give you anything.” yuki thinks she’ll choke on her tears if she keeps this up, so she allows herself a second of room to breathe.
“...i’m sorry.”
momo pulls the blue-eyed girl into her arms. “yuki-san, that’s not true! it’s my fault! it’s my responsibility! please don’t think like that. i did this willingly!”
she seems to know that words like that aren’t a comfort to yuki— yuki who feels like her life is falling apart, yuki who feels useless, yuki who can’t even fathom what will be next for them after this. all momo can do now is stroke her back and let her cry everything out.
the two of them spend a long time that way, both still covered in a stranger’s blood.
yuki takes it all back.
today was not a good day.
she should have known better.