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“Bye, moms! I’m heading out again!” Hana called over her shoulder as she opened the front door, only to be stopped by the outstretched arm of her buff mom.
“You’ve been going out a lot lately, where to?” Fareeha raised a brow, sipping tea from a cup in her free hand. “A month ago you wouldn’t even leave the room, let alone your house.”
“Yeah, well, who knows. Maybe my room is obsolete. Let me through.” Hana mustered her strength in an attempt to push past her mother, putting all her weight against the roadblock of muscle. “C’mooooooon…Why do you gotta be so O.P.?! Could I get some no clip, please?!”
“Your mother’s right, you know.” Angela took off her reading glasses as she spoke from the living room, tucking them into her hair. “It isn’t like a genius prodigy celebrity to want to go outside.”
“Oh, please, I’m not like you. Now move.” Hana glared up at the protective security guard, waiting until Fareeha sighed and stepped aside. “Thanks~” Hana slammed the door behind her as she left, her pink-turtleneck clad body gone. Pharah sighed again as she took her place next to Angela on the couch.
“All that sighing isn't good for you.” Angela turned a page in her book, putting her glasses back on her face as she scanned the pages. Retention was always a strength of hers.
“I’m just worried, babe. What if she’s getting into something bad?” Pharah frowned at the front door as she crossed her arms, a look of concern drawn across her face.
“Your mother left you alone for roughly….I dunno..” Angela gave a noncommittal wiggly hand gesture as she contemplated. “....seventeen years? Probably. And you turned out fine.”
“....Yeah, sometimes I’m not so sure of that.” Fareeha looked her disaster of a wife up and down, from the sweatshirt she hadn’t washed in weeks to the bunny slippers she had designed to look just like their pet rabbit.
“Well, what do you want to do? Stalk her?” Angela closed her book, setting it aside as she brought the suggestion to Fareeha’s attention. The two exchanged stares for a solid thirty seconds before Fareeha opened her mouth.
“...Kind of.”
“Just say yes, you pussy.” Angela rolled her eyes, irritated as she hauled herself off the couch towards the front door. “Let’s get going.”
“How do you know where she went?” The grass crunched under the doctor’s bunny slippers as they walked down the street, heading towards the park. Angela answered with silence, done putting up with having to hear how concerned Pharah was of their daughter. Eventually they made it to the park, birds chirping in the morning sunlight. It was practically deserted. Angela crouched down behind a hedge, gesturing for her wife to do the same. “What are we looking at?”
“Shh!” Fareeha snapped her mouth shut as Mercy pressed her finger against her lips, pausing before slowly pointing at a pair of people sitting by the fountain. “Look.” Pharah squinted, her eyesight never having been the best as she tried to make out the two faces. “That guy is holding a bag of roasted peanuts. There must be a stand around here.”
“Wait, that’s not even our daughter.”
“How astute of you. Now help me find the food stand.” Angela grunted as she stood up, taking a step before being yanked back down by the security guard, this time a finger being pressed to her lips.
“Wait. Who’s that?” A pair of figures came into view, both holding similiar bags of peanuts.
“Damn, I didn’t even know roasted peanuts were still a thing. What is this, the 1940’s? Twilight zone, I swear.” Hana thrusted the greasy paper bag into the air, several peanuts scattering on the ground. “C’mon, let’s find somewhere to sit down!”
“Roasted peanuts are a gift to humanity, dude! I wouldn’t question it.” Lucio followed the gamer to a nearby bench, sitting down with the most relaxed posture imaginable, his baggy sweatshirt making him look as if he was wrapped in blankets. Some pigeons landed a few feet away, as if by instinct. Hana giggled as she threw a peanut, startling them.
“I swear I've never seen you without those birds. You’re like a mage or something, familiars and all. You ever play good ol’ D&D?”
Lucio shrugged, busy failing to crack open a peanut. “They listen to my music. That’s all I could ask for, ya’know? Ah, finally.” The musician grinned as the shell finally broke apart in his hands, only to shatter and drop the food to the pigeons. He looked ready to cry.
“Speaking of which, when’s your next album dropping? Our collab one.” Hana stared at him questioningly, handing him a shucked peanut out of pity.
“Soon, my man! Almost done with the synthesizer. It’s kinda tough finding material, never realized how much swearing goes into your streams. But that’s what makes it great!” Lucio laughed, bits of legume stuck between his teeth. “If you want it to go faster, I guess you could send me voice clips.”
“What are they talking about?!” Fareeha seethed through clenched teeth, glaring at the two from their hedge. At least he looked okay. A bit familiar.
“Beats me.” Angela yawned, laying in the grass as she absentmindedly tossed peanuts into her open mouth, a greasy bag resting on her stomach.
“Pay attention, this is serious! And...where did you get those?”
“I left. Also.” Mercy grunted as she struggled to sit up, handing her wife a walkie talkie before laying back down. “Set that up for you. Second one’s sitting under that park bench. I wouldn’t be too concerned, though. That guy seems chill.”
Fareeha frowned slightly as she held the radio to her ear, knowing that Mercy was just as concerned as she was, just about different things. Pharah was more concerned about the possibility of drugs, but she knew the doctor was secretly keeping an eye out for more... promiscuous happenings.
“Look, all I’m saying is that Rey never should have been able to beat Kylo Ren in a sword fight! He’s technically one of the most powerful sith! You see Vader hold a blaster bolt in mid-air? No! Stone-cold motherfucker just let’s it hit his robo-hand no sweat!” Hana’s voice rose as she tossed a peanut at her friend. “No damage whatsoever.”
“I dunno.” Lucio flinched slightly as the peanut hit him in the face. “I just thought it was a good movie, ya’know?” Hana groaned, tossing her snacks at the pigeons in an effort to vent frustration.
“You’re no fun.”
“How bout I show you something i’ve been working on. Lil’ side project.” Lucio’s perfect grin spread across his face as he pulled a guitar out from literally nowhere. “Please stop throwing peanuts at my audience and listen.”
Hana looked at her friend, sitting on her hands and swinging her legs as the music started. It was the usual pop tune she had heard many times before: her theme song. The one that he had written years prior. It sounded different this time, though. Something different. She stared at the way his fingers strummed the guitar, trying to place it. Something with the rhythm, perhaps?
“Damn…..He’s good.” Fareeha’s fingers tensed around where she was holding onto the hedge, transfixed.
“Eh. I’ve heard better.” Angela was unamused, finishing off the rest of her roasted peanuts as she flipped a page in the small black book she kept on her person at all times, writing.
“Well, maybe not everyone gets invited to reproductions of the Russian imperial court opera.” Fareeha shot her a disapproving glare as she watched, just as mesmerized as her daughter. “Sounds familiar though. God, why can’t I remember where I’ve seen him before?!”
“Can we just leave? I had baklava in the oven. It’s delicate.” Mercy looked up from her book, bored. “Also I had an interview from that donation to the cancer research institute. He wouldn’t try anything in the middle of the day, anyway!”
“Ah!” Fareeha spun around, pointing an accusatory finger at her wife. “So you are concerned. Knew it. Also. Who makes baklava first thing in the morning?”
“That was….amazing. What did you do?!” Hana was almost in his face, leaning over with deadly curiosity on her face. “Is that for me? Can I use that?!”
“Of course you can, dude! Wrote it for you after all! That’s what kind of a difference an A minor can have.” Lucio slapped his guitar, chuckling happily. “I’ll email it to you. Just don’t tell anyone it was me, ya’know? It’d ruin the collab.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it. Don’t gotta tell me twice.” Hana smiled as she hopped off the bench. “I’ll look forward to it, I’ve been using the same theme song ever since I received the first one, after all. I should probably go home, though. It’s Dieter’s stream time.”
“Ah. Wait.” Lucio reached out, falling short and withdrawing his hand as Hana skipped away. The crowd of pigeons looked at him expectantly, one jumping up to his knee. “Guess i’m taking you out for coffee instead, lil’ guy.” Lucio snickered at his own joke, like the dork he was.
“Ah, shit. She’s leaving.” Fareeha jolted up as she watched Hana leave the park, a skip in her step as she headed home. “Quick, babe, we gotta get there before her.”
“Nope. Sleepin’. I’m sleeping.” Angela rolled over in the grass, eyes closed.
“I thought you said you wanted to go home! C’mon, you can’t cure rabies from the grass.” Fareeha heaved as she tried to pick up her ragdoll wife. “Get up!”
“Excuse you, I can cure rabies from the grass. I can do it in my sleep. Here, watch me.” Mercy yawned as her head lolled to the side, closing her eyes harder.
“Oh my god, fine.” The security guard flexed as she threw the doctor over her shoulder, jogging to the house with the fireman carry. Watching Hana skip along the sidewalk on the other side of the street, Fareeha barrelled towards the house, jumping a neighbor’s fence, bursting through thickets, setting some new records as she finally bursted into the backyard, scrambling to making it through the screen door into the living room.
“Just drop me on the couch. I’m halfway done.” Angela mumbled, giving a limp thumbs up as Pharah gently laid her on the couch, whipping a blanket over her. Trying to look natural, Fareeha dashed to the kitchen, pulling on an apron and glove, pulling the baklava out of the oven just as Hana walked through the door.
“Welcome home, Hana! How’d your day go? Want some dessert?”
“It was awesome!” Hana beamed as she stepped to the kitchen counter. “Uh. What is that?”
“...Something your mother made. She’s curing rabies right now.” Fareeha retrieved some plates and utensils from the cupboard, mildly excited for the honey-drenched pastry.
“Nah, I’m not fond of almonds. I have stuff to do, anyway.” Hana made a quick trip to the living room, dragging Dieter out of his cage before heading for the stairs. “Send dinner to my room, would ya?”
“Sure. But hana?” Fareeha set an authoritative palm on the counter, pausing from cutting the baklava. “If you ever think you need to hide something, tell us. We’re your parents. You should be able to come to us for anything.”
Hana hesitated for a moment, caught off guard before stomping upstairs. “Geez! I know that! You don’t gotta tell me!”
“D’ya really think you need to be concerned?” Angela rubbed her eyes, sitting up from the couch as Fareeha joined her, handing her beloved a plate of dessert. “Also, hand me your cell phone.”
“You can never be too sure of these things. I don’t want her to grow up like I did. Here, babe.” Fareeha dug around in her pocket before handing Ziegler her android. The doctor set her plate to the side, dialing.
“Yes? Is this the chief executive’s office? This is doctor Ziegler. Ja, fuck you. Let me speak to him. Paltry bitch.” Fareeha silently ate her food, the hold music echoing from the phone sounding actually decent. “Hey, Dave? Fuck you. Anyway. Found the cure for rabies. Mhm, that’s right. Anyway, just wanted to let you know i’m buying your company. Ja. Of course you’ll be fired, you’re an asshole. Ja, mass production. Dave, we’ve talked about this. Uhuh. Fuck you.” Angela hung up with the click of a button, handing the phone back to her wife. “Rabies’ll be eradicated by next week. Don’t tell me I can't do shit from the grass again.”
Pharah exhaled through her nose, trying not to laugh with a mouthful of baklava, having already known the outcome. “You got me.” The two scooted closer together on the couch, enjoying the rest of the day as the sounds of Hana’s new theme song could be heard from her room, overjoyed.