Family Nonetheless

by Luminous Comet

...Stays Together

The door fell into the lock heavily behind them. Adagio put down her purse and finally slipped out of her shoes. Her sisters did the same, taking off their boots in heavy silence. They were just about to slink off, before Adagio caught their hands, though her grip was tight out of stress rather than anger. "Girls. Let's clean ourselves up first, but we need to talk."

The others shared a tired look. "I'm not mad anymore," she promised. It was a lie, but a white one at least. She didn't want to be. She left the two of them with the bathroom while she just quickly washed her face in the kitchen. She would look like a right mess without taking her makeup off properly, but at least she could get the dried tears off of her cheeks.

After a few minutes, her sisters joined her again in the living room and she held open her arms. She would have expected groaning and comments about how she was getting soft, but tonight they didn't argue with her and sat down with her. She pulled them both close again and closed her eyes.

"I love you," she said softly and as earnestly as she could muster with the load of an entire workday and the panic of the evening still weighing on her, "You're my sisters, no matter where you came from." She could feel the tears stinging her eyes again already, but she continued even has her voice faltered. "I'm sorry we ended up like this. I'm sorry I can't give you more than this."

"Adagio." Aria pushed herself up out of the hug a little but stayed close to her. "You know what your problem is? You take your role way too seriously. We're all responsible for what happened."

"Yeah," Sonata added sadly, by contrast cuddling closer into Adagio's shoulder, "You work so much but you're really not our mom. And you don't have to be."

"You shouldn't have to be," Aria confirmed, then added after a short pause "I'll quit school and work more."

"We discussed this." Adagio tried to sound stern, composing herself again. "You need to get diplomas if you want a better future."

"Yeah, well, my grades are shit. And I can probably get my boss to put me in full-time. We'll earn more money and save half the school fees."

Sonata hesitated, looking at the both of them, before Aria pinched her cheek. "You stay in school. Make friends or whatever."

"No fair. You don't get to treat me like a kid." She pouted and lightly batted her hand away.

"No, she's right," Adagio affirmed, "At least one of us has to get a proper education. And that's definitely not me." She wiped her eyes carefully, aware of the remains of makeup she still had on.

"And we'll get to those vocal lessons faster," Aria mumbled, settling back again.

"And therapy," Adagio added, to the groans of her sisters. "Girls, we have trauma!"

---

Adagio was awake a few minutes before her radio clock switched on. She took a deep breath and blinked, getting her eyes used to the light, stretched and yawned a little so she'd be ready to properly get up. As soon as she enjoyed the peacefulness of this moment a while longer. It was only a matter of minutes, anyway.

The minutes stretched on until finally there was a knock on her bedroom door. She sat up and stretched again while the door opened by itself.

"Dagi, you better get up if you want breakfast," Aria grumbled, poking her head in, "Sonata is going to eat all the cereal."

"We have bread, you know," Adagio said with a tired strain in her voice, "And eggs."

"Okay, your loss." Aria shut the door again. Adagio sighed and pushed herself out of bed, doing some vocal exercises while she made her bed. She got dressed and came out into the hallway just as Sonata was shoving a big lunchbox into her backpack.

"I'm auditioning for the play today, so I'm coming home later," she announced while struggling with her boots.

"You're home before us anyway," Aria pointed out bitterly, "I'm gonna get stuck carrying all the boxes again today."

"Well, good luck, I love you," Adagio said casually as she headed into the bathroom.

"Uh-huh!" Sonata said brightly just as she rushed out the door.

Adagio put on her face and took some extra time to check over her hair again, just to make sure it sat right, before heading to the kitchen and quickly frying two eggs. A short breakfast later, she took her purse and headed out with Aria, walking alongside her to the mall.

"So, I found an open therapy spot," she said after a few minutes of walking and listening to music.

"Not it," Aria said flatly, putting her finger to the tip of her nose.

"Aria, you have trauma."

"We all have trauma. You go first."

Comments

[Oreng Pingvin]

Beautiful
And I'm wondering why fic went to "completed"?

[Luminous Comet]

11332658
Because it was completed from the beginning. I wrote all three chapters as a complete story and meant to put it up that way.
I just failed to actually change it to "Completed" before submitting and noticed a short while after.

[Oreng Pingvin]

11332910
Ok

[Allsmiles]

(I enjoyed this. Lovely little slice of life and dealing with problems. Well done!)

[Luminous Comet]

11334957
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for the feedback.

[Starswirl the Beardless]

This is a very well-written story you have here. Excellent character writing, and an excellent portrayal of realistic suffering (almost too real for my tastes). The pacing was good; not too long, and not too short. It's a shame this hasn't gotten more attention than it has. You should really add some cover art to your stories; that goes a long way to getting viewers.

[Luminous Comet]

11335835
Wow, thank you, that is a pretty strong compliment.

And thank you for the advice.
Cover art is missing from all my work except my main project and even for that it's somewhat generic.
Guess I'm just having trouble finding the right ones.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

"We all have trauma. You go first."

Some things never change.

[Luminous Comet]

11645844

Doesn't she mean put makeup on her face?

Not sure how common it is, but "to put one's face on" is a colloquial term for putting on makeup.