Chapter Text
"Good luck, Olivia!"
Before she went on the bus for her first day of kindergarten, she whirled her head around and smiled. "Bye!"
"See you later!"
After the bus left and Kevin and Radford went back to their apartment, the former's smile faded.
"Later."
It seemed like such a simple but abstract concept. The definition seemed like it was easy for one to comprehend, but could also be stretched depending on how one interpreted it.
But the word left a bad taste in his mouth.
For the next seven hours or so, Kevin tried to do work around the house to get his mind off of his woes, but try as he might, it always went back to Olivia.
Meanwhile, Radford had been noticing that his boyfriend wasn't himself as all of this happened. The last thing that Kevin did was simply plop on the couch, still hoping to get an ounce of relaxation, it wasn't long before Kevin started bouncing his foot, a troubled look on his face. Radford noticed this as well.
He did that for a while before Radford suddenly put his hand over Kevin's foot and his expression changed from worry to surprise.
There was a pause as Kevin slowly turned his head before Radford said "What's up?"
He suddenly stood up. "Do you know where we are right now?!"
"…Our house?"
"No! America! Sandy Hook happened a few years before Olivia was born, and remember the bomb threat at our middle school when we were freshmen?"
"W-woah, Kevs! I get that you're nervous, but ya gotta tone it down a little. Our town is a lot safer than when it was before she was born. Trust me, I'm nervous, too, but I'm more nervous about whether she'll make any friends. And to be honest, I was thinking about how we'll be able to imagine her graduating high school and think 'Wow, that seems so far away.'"
"She could very well go through the same thing," he continued to say to himself, not even stopping for a moment to consider what his boyfriend had said, "and I can't bear to see my little angel jump in surprise whenever I accidentally drop something just because it sounds like a gunshot. This type of stuff usually only happens in America, you know. Like, what if our Second Amendment was something else? Something more important. I wouldn't be saying this if it was. Something like…"
His mind went blank. "Oh, but what am I saying? The world's already full of chaotic events, so what's one more?" He chuckled a bit when he finished his sentence. "A shooting. A bomb threat. Maybe even both."
Just then, the door opened. Kevin prepped himself for a second for what he was to see before slowly turning his head.
It was Olivia.
"Oh, honey, you're okay!" Kevin got out of his anxiety-filled stupor and hugged his daughter before asking her "Did anything happen?"
"No," she simply said.
"How was your first day of school?" Radford asked, wanting to change the subject.
"Good."
"Yeah? Did you make any friends?"
"Yeah!"
"Well isn't that a relief, eh, Kevin?"
Kevin's gaze shifted from his daughter to his boyfriend. "Huh? Uh, yeah!"
Kevin smiled as Olivia continued to talk about her day.
But the realization of it only being a matter of time started to seep in. Humans, as a species, despite being the most intelligent beings on Earth, are very unpredictable. She'll meet many more people, good, evil, and in-between. Those people may alter her perspective, and depending on how well her friendships become, they could last forever or crumble within a day, though the latter seemed more likely—nothing lasts forever these days. And if the latter was the case, what would the first crack in the glass be? And when would it happen?