Work Text:
Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Mami laid on her bed listening to her alarm go off. It’d been going off for the past few minutes but she was in too much pain to stop it. The dull pain in her side was the only part that had been stopping her from turning off its infernal racket.
She pushed herself up, wincing in pain and gripping her side. She grabbed her phone and finally turned off the alarm. 7:32… I need to start getting breakfast ready… Mami gritted her teeth and stood. “C’mon Tomoe… You’ve dealt with worse in your life…” getting up was more painful than she thought.
She grabbed her hair clips and left her room, while pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She lightly knocked on Nagisa’s door. “Nagisa dear, you have to wake up. I’m going to start getting breakfast ready.” As she told her daughter that she opened her door to see if she was away.
And in all her glory she was. “I’m up… I’m upp…” Nagisa croaked. “What do you think you’re gonna make?” Nagisa rubbed her eyes.
Mami thought about what she could make. “Probably something quick, I overslept today…” Mami felt bad for lying to Nagisa but she also didn’t want her to have to see her in pain.
“Okie…” Nagisa stood up and stretched. “I’ll start getting ready…” She said while moving for the closet.
Mami smiled, knowing that Nagisa would be chipper once she got to the table. She closed her door and made way for the kitchen, opening the fridge. It was well stocked. Something simple, something fast… Eggs, always a good choice… Browning beef would take too long… Hmm… Meat Pies for the bakery? Not quite a dessert but it could be a specialty item that only comes around every once in a while… Mami chuckled. Maybe he was right… I may be a more savvy business woman than I thought… she sighed as now she had two sources of dull pain on her body. You know what? Eggs and toast should be more than enough for today and for now… I’ll just need to do better tomorrow. Mami grabbed one of her multiple egg cartons and on impulse a small thing of green beans and closed the fridge.
She grabbed a pan and put it on the stove, throwing a pat of butter in it. As the pan came up to temp and the butter melted she filled a pot with water and started to boil it, as she waited for the water to boil she grabbed four slices of bread and placed them in the toaster.
She held the back of her hand over the pan… Hot enough… She cracked two eggs in, knowing that Nagisa liked hers over hard, she started on her two first. “Water’s boiling… dump in the beans…” She grabbed the bag of green beans and threw them into the pot. “Not the healthiest but I don’t care right now…” The toast smelt like it was almost done, so she threw some salt on the current eggs and cracked two more eggs in, for her over mediums that she loves so much.
“Oooo! Eggs!” Nagisa said entering the kitchen. Shunk! “Toast is done!” Before Mami could ask, Nagisa was grabbing plates, forks and knives for the food to set on.
“Do you need help with your hair at all dear?” Mami asked.
“Nah!” Nagisa had already started pulling her hair into its trademark side clumps.
Mami flipped both partitions of eggs over, before giving them a light tap. One side was rather hard while the other was still slightly jiggly. She evacuated them onto the prepared plates, she then grabbed the slices of toast and buttered half of them and finally she drained the beans and added them to the plates.
“You should finish your food quickly, Nagisa. As school starts soon.” Mami said as they sat.
“I know, I know!” Nagaisa said while taking a bite of toast. “I still got time though.” She said while putting a little more butter on her slice.
“You finished your homework after you and Yuma did your club activities, yes?” Mami asked before taking a bite of an open faced egg sandwich.
“Mhm.” Nagisa nodded, mouth full of food. “We did it with a few of the other music club kids at the mall.” She shrugged.
“You didn’t cheat on it did you?” Mami questioned.
“It’s English! We couldn’t cheat if we wanted to!” Nagisa said, clearly stifling a laugh.
“Madoka knows English.” Mami said casually.
“That’s because she lived in America or whatever, right?” Nagisa raised an eyebrow. “So of course she’d know English!” Nagisa’s phone buzzed, she grabbed it and looked at the screen. “Crud!” She shoveled the last of her eggs and toast into her mouth and swallowed. “I gotta go! Uh…” She looked down at the untouched beans on her plate. She opened her bag, grabbed her lunch and placed the uneaten beans in with her prepared meal. “Alright, mom, I’m going!” Nagisa made her way to the door.
“Have a good day at school!” Mami called to her. “And tell Yuma I said hi!” As she heard the door close she winced in pain again. She unfortunately couldn’t just stay at home and writh for the day as she had to get ready for work.
The walk to work felt more agonizing, not because it was long or that there were lots of people, it was her side. She knew it was going to be like this all day so she just had to power through it. It was nothing she hadn’t dealt with before, so she just had to grit her teeth and move forward with her day.
Getting to her bakery, she walked up to the second floor in order to put on her work outfit. It was a simple work outfit, a long sleeve shirt with a small yellow ribbon on its high collar, a knee length yellow skirt, a pair of thigh high light brown socks with thin white lines on them, a pair of yellow shoes and finally a beret with a large feather on it.
It was a bit much for a bakery that only really had one person working at it, but Mami had wanted to have a fun and cute outfit, even if the only people who really worked at the shop were herself and Nagisa every once and a while.
As she left to go back down to the main part of her bakery a man called to her. “Mrs. Tomoe!” He greeted her casually. “We just dropped off your order.”
Mami lightly bowed. “Thanks for doing this again.”
The man waved his hand dismissively. “Eh, no biggie. Here’s your order slip.” He handed Mami a piece of paper with all the items she had ordered and got back into his truck.
Mami poured over the paper and nodded. Everything should be here… She looked at the small stack of boxes and bags of industrial confectionary ingredients. She grabbed one of the boxes and lifted with her back “Ow ow ow ow ow!” The dull pain in her side suddenly decided to make itself known.
“Need a hand?” Came a familiar voice from the other side of the box.
Mami craned her neck over to see blue hair. “Sayaka? What are you doing here?” She asked.
Sayaka shrugged and took on the weight of the box. “Eh, just getting myself some coffee and thought I’d treat myself to one of your cookies.” She said as she placed the box back on the stack. “But are you okay? It sounded like you were hurt.” Sayaka raised an eyebrow towards Mami.
Mami felt her face flush with embarrassment. “I mean… I’m in a little pain but nothing to get me down!” Mami awkwardly laughed. Sayaka did not laugh.
“Does Nagisa know?” She asked.
Mami felt a knife of fear puncture her heart. “Uh… No…” Mami fell in on herself a little bit.
Sayaka wiggled her lower jaw in thought. “How about this?” SHe grabbed Mami’s beret from her head and placed it on her own. “I can man the store down here and you can relax upstairs?” She posited.
Mami wanted to argue but she didn’t have the strength. “Sure…” Her shoulders fell as she walked back up the stairs. “You know where to put those right?” She called down to Sayaka.
“Yep!” Sayaka called back. Mami nodded and continued up the stairs. She was back where she had started, alone in a room with a dull pain in her side. She felt this was as good a time as ever to use the kotatsu that she’d placed up here. As she sat down there was a knock at the door as it opened. “Heeey~ I have something that’ll help with the pain.” Sayaka said.
Mami looked up from her sleeves. “What is it?” She asked.
“Warm water and a rag?” Sayaka lofted a hand towel and a small bucket. “It’ll be easier to do if you take your shirt off…”
Mami once again felt embarrassment crawl into her cheeks. “I- I could just pull my shirt up…” She mumbled into her elbow.
Sayaka knelt down to Mami’s level. “Mami, I have seen a girl without her top on.” Sayaka was clearly trying to stifle a laugh.
“I know! But I just feel like this is weird!” Mami sank her head further into her arms. “I didn’t like it when we were in school and I don’t like it now…” She grumbled.
“But do you want to have a wet shirt on all day?” Sayaka said blankly.
Mami barely mulled it over in her mind. “You win…” She said as she pulled her shirt off.
Sayaka dunked the towel into the bucket. “So, which side?” She asked.
Mami patted her right side. “Right side…” She winced in pain as the hot towel was placed over her.
Sayaka patted her on the shoulder. “Think you’ll need any sort of pain killers?” She asked.
“No… I’ve been able to deal with the chronic pains without them for a while now…” She moved the moist towel over on her side a bit.
Sayaka nodded in agreement. “This is from the second crash right?” She asked quietly.
“Yep…” Mami took in a deep breath. “That crash took a lot out of my life…” Mami smiled a bit. “But it did give me her…” Mami had a mental image of walking with Nagisa.
“Yeah…” Sayaka stood. “Well, I’ll leave you here, gotta work!” Sayaka waved as she left the room.
Mami laid there alone with her own thoughts, some were good, some bad. Images of her husband, images of Nagisa, images of her friends, images of the crash, images of a hospital room, images of her husband’s grave. “I think you would’ve liked her, dear… She’s everything I wanted out of a kid…” She said wistfully into the empty room.
There was a knock at the door. “Mom?” Nagisa’s muffled voice called from the other side.
Mami must’ve not realised how much time had passed. “Dear don’t open the door, I’m not wearing a shirt.” Mami peeled the damp towel off herself and threw her shirt back on. “You can open the door now.” She called to Nagisa.
“The door slowly opened to reveal Nagisa. “Sayaka told me you were up here and in pain…” Her face was flush with red. “How long have you been in pain up here?” She cried.
Mami winced from emotional pain. “All day… I’m sorry for not telling you dear…” Mami’s words felt tired.
Nagisa’s pupils dilated. “Why didn’t you tell me this morning!” She shouted. “I’m fifteen mom! I’d be fine with going into school a little late to help you!” Nagisa looked so hurt.
Mami winced again. “I just didn’t want you to worry about it today…” Mami said.
“I’m fine with worrying about it a little bit! As long as I know you’re okay!” Nagisa spread her arms out.
Mami looked down. “But you’re already worrying about so much… I didn’t want to be an extra weight on you…” Mami mumbled.
Nagias dropped her school bag, ran over to Mami and wrapped her in a hug. “I don’t care! Next time this happens I’m helping you, okay?” Nagisa said. Mami chuckled. “There’s nothing funny about this!!” She yelped.
“No no… It’s just…” Mami returned Nagisa’s hug. “I guess I’ve rubbed off on you more than I thought…” Mami smiled. They sat there for a few seconds. “Okay…” Mami stood. “How about we go downstairs and enjoy a treat? I feel like I’ve more than earned the right to spoil myself today.” Mami tried not to think about her expanding waistline.
“I agree!” Nagisa said as she grabbed her bag. “Do you still have any cheesecake left over?” She asked.
Mami walked over and placed a hand on Nagisa’s back. “Of course dear.”