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“You’re gonna get us in trouble.”
“Nerd,” Kai snickers as Logan rolls their eyes.
“You’re in fucking AcaDec,” Logan whispers as Mr. Harrington passes by. There’s plenty of people not paying attention in the computer lab for this glorified point and click assignment but it would be like him to call on the two of them if they’re too loud as he walks on. Kai waits until he’s made it halfway to the other side of the classroom before he rolls his eyes and looks over to Logan.
“Still not the fucking nerd ,” Kai finally replies, Logan making a face as Kai gets back to the task at hand.
Yearbook was, by any measure, the easiest elective that Kai was taking. It barely counted in the long list of things that he worked on, especially since the most that either he or Logan did amounted to editing captions to go onto pages that Charlotte was going to end up removing anyway.
The self-assigned project that Kai was working on now, the one that has Logan awkwardly looking back over to Mr. Harrington and back to Kai’s screen, was more done to piss their editor in chief off than anything else.
If Charlotte was going to waste their time by never adding in the shit they put into the yearbook, then Kai didn’t see a reason why they couldn’t also waste hers.
It’s why he’s looking through old class photos from the yearbook files, piling through different classes and different events that groups from Midtown Science had gone through. Most of them were already done, Charlotte seemingly having fulfilled a long legacy of uptight editor in chiefs but there was one picture in particular that caught his eye.
It’s a class photo in Venice, that first study abroad after the Blip which is wholly unremarkable except for a shirt pattern that catches his eye.
He frowns, clicking back a few photos then clicking forward.
“What are you doing?” Logan asks, Kai’s frown deepening as he nods towards the screen.
“You see anything weird?” He asks vaguely, wanting to see if his mind is just playing tricks on him. There’s a kid in the photos, who’s always just on the edge of blurred— the same person in a blue plaid shirt that seemingly has the worst luck with birds, camera blur, or signs.
“No?” Logan replies slowly, Kai clicking forward a few photos before it’s changed to prom— Logan nudging his shoulder. “Come on, I wanna get out of here.”
Kai purses his lips, clicking back to the photo before closing it out.
“Fine,” he says, “let’s go.” He turns off the computer and tells himself it’s nothing.
Yearbook was a drag, anyway.
“Hey Rodrigo, you got the—“
“Brand new, just for you,” he says with a smile, Javi nodding appreciatively as Rodrigo flashes the jar of pickles. “Think you’re the only one who likes this brand.”
“Nah, come on,” Javi jokes as he moves behind the counter, grabbing his apron as Rodrigo sets the jar down. “You had them when I started already.”
“Good thing too, got to get them shipped special,” Rodrigo replies, Javi making a face as he finished tying his apron behind him.
“For who?”
“Huh?” He asks, the bell over the door ringing signaling a new customer as they both nod.
“The pickles. Who’d you order them special for before me? You cheating on me or something?” Javi jokes with a grin, Rodrigo laughing as he flips him off.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he says dismissively, but pointedly doesn’t reply— Javi smoothing back his hair as Rodrigo frowns. “I… uh…”
Javi’s been working at Delmar’s for the last year and a half— easy gig and easy money, especially with the hours he’s got. He likes Rodrigo as a boss, appreciates that there’s no bullshit and how upfront he is about things.
In the time he’s known him, Javi isn’t sure he’s ever seen Rodrigo Delmar ever look as confused as he does in that moment— muttering to himself as Javi shakes his head.
“Don’t worry about it. You got me now, right?” He says, Rodrigo moving out of the way so Javi can man the register.
He says nothing in return, still stuck in his thoughts before finally shaking his head— a customer coming up to check out as he waves his hand.
“I’ll be in the back.”
“Take your time,” Javi says, nodding to the customer as he rings them up— unaware that Rodrigo is still muttering in confusion as he walks towards the stockroom.
Cade rubbed his hands together, looking at the figurines on display.
“How much for these?” He asks the cashier, the man not even looking up as he smokes.
“Five dollars.”
“For these ? Really?” He asks, looking at them a second time. There weren’t many, eye catching onto a He-Man figurine that looked a little worse for wear. It couldn’t be worth more than about a dollar overall, but he wasn’t really in the mood to haggle. He just needs some toys to use for a prop, Jessica riding his ass about making things look “realistic” – something Cade thought was ridiculous for the sake of a student film.
Then again, she let him crash on her couch for free so he decides it’s worth it anyway, grabbing a handful of them– including the He-Man– and brought them to the counter to pay.
It wasn’t until he was on the set– which really was just a corner of Jessica’s apartment– that she rifled through the toys and asked, “where’d you get these from?”
Cade shrugs, shoving his hands in his pocket as he says, “pawn shop.”
“Damn,” she says softly, twisting one around in her hand. “You think some dad just threw his kid’s shit out?”
“Dunno,” he says, still a little hungover. He didn’t really care who gave the toys or where they came from, not when he cared more about making sure he had a warm place to sleep again tonight. “We good?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” she says, giving him a smile. “Thanks.”
Cade shrugs in return.
Lynn holds her grocery bags tighter, readjusting her grip as she walks up the stairs. She knew it was a matter of time before her granddaughter finally pulled the string and moved her to some kind of nursing home disguised as a “retirement community” that Lynn would rather die than move to. She’s lived in the same apartment her whole life and plans on keeping it that way, the only one of her siblings that’s still alive and in the city.
It would have been nice, she thinks, had her parents decided to move into an apartment on one of the lower floors rather than four stories up– catching her breath at the landing when a door opens.
“Hi Ms. Lynn,” a little voice calls out, Lynn feeling the exhaustion slowly seep out of her as Misha and her mother Amari walk out.
“Hi Misha, where you off to today?”
“We’re going to Ilha’s!” Misha exclaims, little hands raised in excitement as Amari closes the apartment door behind her, Lynn nodding a hello when Amari finishes locking it.
“We’re going to be late to Ilha’s if little feet don’t start moving,” she says, sending Lynn a sheepish smile as Lynn returns it. She steps out of the way, smiling to herself as Misha continues her chatter to her mom and loudly calls out bye Ms. Lynn to her as they move down the stairs.
Lynn’s seen a lot of different families move in and out of this building, a feature of being a long-time resident in one place. She didn’t know who could’ve ever filled the space that May Parker had left behind, but the Noor family felt like a worthy successor.
She missed May, not just for her kind presence and first dibs on good tea and gossip from FEAST, but for knowing a familiar face– someone who understood grief after losing her in-laws and then her husband.
She misses her, making a note to herself to go by and replenish the flowers at her grave– fortifying herself to make it down the hallway to her own apartment. If there was anyone who could’ve moved in, at least it was a family.
She likes to think May Parker would’ve liked that.