Chapter Text
Darryl Wilson woke up at 6:30 am just like he did every single day. He still rolled over out of habit even though he knew nobody would be there.
It's been just over a year since that happened. Therapy worked (mostly) for Grant, but unfortunately, it was too little too late for the high school sweethearts. Carol didn’t want to hurt him any more than she had to, so she offered him full custody and to leave town. Darryl said she didn’t have to but they both knew it was for the best. She still maintained almost daily contact with Grant and texted Darryl occasionally, but only ever about their son. Darryl kept saying he’d try to get back out there, but everyone knew that was unlikely. Even Grant knew that his dad probably wasn’t going to be getting back out to the field anytime soon, if at all. Darryl himself won’t admit it, but deep down he knows he found something out about himself there that he refuses to accept.
He stumbled out of bed and down the stairs. He noticed the Christmas tree in the living room had the lights on, he swore he turned it off when they went to bed last night. And it looked, different somehow, but he couldn’t quite point out how. He shrugged it off as nothing. He thought maybe Grant had done some rearranging with him noticing. Darryl continued into the kitchen and started cooking breakfast. He scrambles up 2 eggs, cooks 2 slices of bacon, and throws two pieces of bread into the toaster for Grant. He plates the bacon and toast in the shape of a smiley face, a gesture Grant will never admit he loves, but he very much does. Darryl sets that plate down at Grant's spot at the table, then places the bowl with his eggs next to it and slips a fork into the bowl.
Darryl does this exact same thing, in the exact same order, every single day for Grant. Ever since that happened routines have become very important to Grant. They were before, but usually, he was fine with going with the flow. Post-everything he’s gotten a lot more uptight on following routines and schedules. Darryl noticed this almost immediately and complied as well as he could. Grant had been through a lot and all Darryl wanted to do was make life as easy as he could for his son. That wasn’t the only change Darryl noticed either. Grant was never a super talkative kid, but after coming back he’d slipped into being selectively non-verbal. Sometimes Darryl wouldn’t hear his son's voice for days, and he’d only communicate through writing and gestures. Darryl could live with that though. Again, he’d do whatever for his son. If Grant didn’t want to talk Darryl never forced him.
Right on schedule at 7:05, Darryl looked at the stairs but saw no Grant walking down them. Darryl starts to low-key panic. Grant is almost never late down the stairs, and on the rare occasion he is it wrecks his entire day. Darryl makes sure nothing on the counter is going to burn, then heads upstairs and down the hall. He reaches the end and lightly pushes Grant’s door open. It's already cracked open because Grant can’t sleep with the door closed, which was a bit of a problem when they went on their week-long road trip for Grant’s 13th birthday, but with melatonin and Grant holding onto Darryl as tight as he could, Grant was able to get through the 4 nights at the hotel. Darryl can see that Grant is still fast asleep, which is extra weird because the alarm is blaring. Darryl reaches out and lightly shakes his son awake.
“Hey shooter, you ok buddy? You’re late waking up,” Darryl says as he sits down on the bed as Grant stirs.
“Huh?? Daddy why can’t I just sleep in more? School doesn’t even start until 8:30,” Grant says groggily, putting his head back down and re-closing his eyes.
“ Daddy? Sleep in? Who is this kid and what did he do with Grant?” Darryl thinks. He brushes away those thoughts and responds. “Grant you can’t go back to sleep. You know how your day goes when you don’t follow your schedule.”
“Ahh, you’re exaggerating. I’ll be fine. Just let me go back to sleep Dad.”
“Ok, this is really weird. He’s not following his routine and this is way more talkative than he normally is this early. Maybe he’s going back to how he was? Not really how that works Darryl, he’s not just going to all of a sudden drop his coping mechanisms. He wasn’t like this last night……” Darryl thinks. “Grant I’m being serious. Wake up and come eat your breakfast, I don’t want you to have a bad day,” Darryl says firmly.
“UuuuuuuuUUUUuuuugGGGggggHHhHhH. Fine,” Grant bemoans. He complies with his Dad’s instructions and rolls out of bed to follow his dad down the stairs. He sits in his chair at the dining table and begins to methodically eat his breakfast. Unlike Grant, Darryl likes to mix up what he has for breakfast. As he cooks his sausage links, Darryl watches Grant from the kitchen. He’s looking to see if Grant eats his food in the right order. Grant puts ketchup on his eggs, shovels exactly half the bowl into his mouth, then moves onto a piece of toast, then eats a slice of bacon. When he swallows the bacon he eats the other half of his breakfast in the exact same order. Darryl is almost surprised at this but is mostly relieved that Grant has gone back to normal. Grant finishes his breakfast and goes back upstairs to shower and get dressed without a word. Darryl sits down at the table with his breakfast and plans out his day. After he drops off Grant at school he needs to go grocery shopping today, they’ve been running low on a few things. After that, he has to-
Darryl Wilson checks on Grant in the rearview mirror. He panics. Why was he suddenly driving?