Kieran

  Kieran’s day at work passed slowly. Thursday was a slow day for classes, as he only had three total, and was done with them all by 2 p.m. Thursday was, however, an in-office day for him, which left him getting work done in his office for a few hours before he could go anywhere.

  It was somewhat uncommon that students came to actually see him during his office hours. As most of the classes he taught were PC based, and mostly project focused, he spent more time answering questions and offering assistance through emails than actual in-person questions.

  That suited him just fine, of course. It meant that more often than not, he was able to get other work done during his office hours and didn’t need to bring work home with him most days. And this particular Thursday seemed to be going his way, as he was chugging right through most of the work he needed to get done before leaving.

  His mind kept wandering to other things - especially how much he was looking forward to the upcoming raid night. While the group’s prog had all but fallen apart the previous night, probably thanks to his and Firo’s trying to kill each other, he was pretty confident that they would be able to make some progress that night. After all, while the group had collectively wiped a bunch, only a few of those were due to legitimate mistakes, and many resulted in them learning what not to do.

  Puting the raid aside, he had other things to keep his mind occupied that would come first. Thursdays were one of his earlier days, when he would get to leave by four. And if no one showed up for office hours, he was pretty confident he’d get out before that, even. That meant he would need to pick up the girls from daycare and aftercare at the school on his way home, and get dinner made before Natalie came home around 5:30.

  That was easy enough, it was just a matter of what they had at home to make for dinner.

  When 3:30 rolled around, Kieran started packing things up to get out the door. He hadn’t heard from any of his students at that point, and he was done with his work for the day. It was just a matter of making sure no one showed up at 3:45 - but if he left fifteen minutes early, that would be fine.

  As he packed everything up, he kept an eye on the door and his email to make sure no one needed him; and when he saw no signs of anyone at 3:45, he stepped out from his office, locked the door, and was on his way.

  It didn’t take too long to get into his car and on the way. Thankfully, both Aoife’s school and Kat’s daycare were on the way home. Even better, they were located practically next to one another. He stopped by the school first to pick up Aoife from the school’s after care program, as she was usually just sitting and reading quietly by this time, having finished what little homework she had gotten for the day.

  After that, he walked hand in hand with Aoife over to Kat’s daycare to pick her up. When they arrived, she was still running around and playing with the other remaining kids, many of whom would still be there for another hour or two. Kieran smiled when he saw her running around, and waved when she saw him. She made a point to wave at Aoife too, who returned the wave as well.

  Kieran knew all too well how upset Kat would be if Kieran had come without her sister - it meant she’d have a few minutes less playtime, and that was simply untenable.

  Once he had both girls in the car and got the tires rolling, he felt better. It was only 4:15 or so, which left him plenty of time to get dinner taken care of.

  And then, as Aoife and Kat were chatting in the back he heard the words that he was sure every parent with young kids dreaded in this situation.

  “Dad, can we get fast food for dinner?” Kat asked, her voice loud in their small SUV..

  Kieran sighed quietly to himself while considering it. “When was the last time we had fast food for dinner?” He muttered.

  “Two weeks ago.” Aoife said. “When Mom picked us up and we got fried chicken.”

  “And what, exactly, are you wanting for dinner, then, hm?” He asked, figuring two weeks wasn’t too bad. And the girls had been good the last few days, and even helped clean their rooms over the weekend.

  “Cheeseburger!”

  “Nuggets!”

  Kieran chuckled and relented, figuring it would be fine to drop by one of the many such options on the way home.

  Around 5:30, Natalie walked through the door. Kieran and the girls were already around the table, their drive-thru loot scattered around the table. Natalie hung her coat up while the whole family shouted greetings across the house, before she finally walked into the main living area and saw their dinner for the night.

  She put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight to one leg, trying to look as sassy as she could manage, really playing up her bad acting ability. “Burgers and chicken nuggets? Again?”

  “Dad said it was okay!” Aoife said quickly, pointing at Kieran.

  Kieran looked at his daughter, hand on his chest, and gasped. “How could you?” He cried, “Thrown under the bus so fast…and by my own daughter, no less!”

  Kat giggled as Natalie turned toward Kieran, stared him down for a long moment, then let out a massive sigh and shook her head. “What can I say? I’m not mad, just disappointed.”

  Kieran rocked back as though he’d been struck. “Oh! No! Not the disappointment!” And then he rolled off his chair onto the ground, twitched once, and laid still.

  He heard Nat walk up to the table and pull out a chair. As she sat down and started moving the food around the table to get everyone’s meals situated she said, “Now that your father is dealt with, we can eat. Who wants his fries?”

  “Me!” Aoife said, and Kieran could hear her hand go flying up in the air. “Me, me!”

  The distinct sound of fries shuffling around in their cardboard container followed, and a short squeal of delight from Aoife.

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  “And it looks like he had a burger, too. Hm, who wants that?” Nat continued. Kieran remained still, simply laying on the ground.

  “Not me.” Kat sighed. It seemed like she had been ready to beat her sister to the punch for the next auction, but was disappointed it was the burger, which she didn’t like. She was all about her nuggets.

  “I already have mine,” Aoife said, “so I’m good.”

  “I’ll take it then.” Nat said. “And then we’ve got…cola?” She asked, picking up the drink and shaking it a bit.

  “Root beer.” Aoife said.

  “Ah, good old root beer. And who wants-”

  “Me! Me! Me!” Kat shouted.

  “Very well! Thus concludes the ‘daddy’s food auction’. I hope you’ll all attend the next event as well.” The girls cheered as the sounds of ruffling packaging and food being unwrapped hit Kieran’s ears.

  He considered just getting up then, but decided to see if he couldn’t get a little bit of revenge. The girls were clearly focused on eating now, and he waited just another minute for Nat to ask the girls about their days at school and daycare.

  As soon as the conversation was well underway, Kieran made his move. He used the table and chairs as best as he could as cover as he slowly inched his way around the table toward where his daughters sat. It was a slow process, as he was trying to go unnoticed. And it was even more delicate when he made it around to their side of the table.

  He had no doubt that Nat had noticed at least, and was thankful that she seemed to be helping, keeping the girls engaged with silly questions and other whimsical responses to their day’s stories.

  Kieran listened, too, as he slowly slid his way over behind the girls’ chairs and began to climb to his feet as quietly as he could manage. It worked in his favor that apparently Kat and Aoife both had pizza for lunch, and were actively arguing with Nat over the best toppings; the daycare had gotten plain pizzas, while the school had pepperoni.

  Once Kieran was on his feet and crouched behind the girls, he slowly got up so his head was level with theirs, and got right between them. He waited just a moment before saying “Boo”. Not wanting to scare them too badly, he didn’t shout or grab them or anything, just spoke at a fairly normal volume.

  Their reaction was just to laugh. Kieran frowned.

  “We saw you, Dad.” Kat said through her laughter.

  “Did you really think we wouldn’t?” Aoife asked, giggling.

  Kieran turned to face Nat who just looked apologetic. “You!” He said, pointing at his wife, “You betrayed me!”

  “What, by telling them not to say anything?” Nat asked innocently.

  “I…guess! Yeah!” Kieran said indignantly and threw his hands in the air. Continuing on his fake angry streak, he snatched up his food - which never left his spot at the table - and stomped off, declaring, “Since none of you want to talk to me I’m going to eat in the other room!”

  “Kay, bye!” Aoife called, and Kat echoed her sister.

  “Don’t forget to take a napkin or paper towels with you!” Nat called.

  Kieran walked over to his desk and set his food down by his PC, and switched it on. While it was booting up, he grabbed the roll of paper towel he kept by his desk and tore off a double-wide section to use as a napkin. Once he felt like he had everything set up for raid night, he walked back out into the kitchen, the fake anger fully shed.

  He walked over to Nat, and gave her the quick kiss in greeting that they had skipped earlier. “Welcome home.”

  “Thanks.” She said with a grin as Aoife and Kaitlyn both ‘eww’d’ at the kiss.

  Kieran stood up straight again, then walked over to tussle his daughters’ hair. “These two monsters said that the last time we had takeout was two weeks ago, so I figured it was fine.” He explained, as the girls both growled in response to being called monsters.

  “Yeah, it’s fine. Honestly, a fast food burger sounded really fantastic when I sat down, so no complaints from me.”

  “Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Will do, but I think we’ll be alright.”

  “Okay. You two, too. If you need me, you know where I’m at.” Kieran said, and bent down to kiss both little girls on their hair before once again stepping off toward the computer room.

  “Love you, Dad!” Aoife called after him, and the shout was echoed by Kat and Nat, too.

  “Love you all, too.” Kieran said as he flipped on the light in the office and sat down.

  It was 5:47, so he had thirteen minutes until raid time - and that was plenty to eat and get himself fully situated.

  He glanced at the voice channel, and saw that Firo, Ash, Jazz, and Nyx were all waiting for the rest of them. He quickly pulled up Mag Mell to work on getting logged in while he went to work on his burger. No one needed to hear him eating, so he didn’t bother joining the chat until he was basically finished. There were still plenty of fries left, but that wouldn’t make nearly as much noise.

  He munched on a few of them as he clicked join on the voice chat channel.

  “Yo.”

  “Hey Caoimhe, how’s it hanging?” Ash asked.

  “Can’t complain. Just finishing up dinner while we wait for the rest to show up.”

  “Anything good?” Firo asked.

  “Not really. Drive thru burger and fries. The girls really wanted Mickey D’s for dinner.” Kieran said.

  “Oh, man. That honestly sounds delicious.” Firo said.

  “It has its moments, yeah.” Kieran agreed. “Every now and then a good, greasy burger is exactly what the not-doctor ordered.”

  “You shouldn’t listen to that guy, Firo.” Ash said, “He said that he likes White Castle.”

  “I do.” Kieran laughed. “Those little burgers deserve their reputation, but damn are they tasty.”

  “I’ve never had them before! I really want to though - I kinda like the frozen ones.” Firo said, as a chime declared someone else joined the chat.. “They’re really great late night snacks.”

  “Ugh, not you too.” Ash grumbled.

  “Hey, little burgers are probably a better late night snack than the classic gaming standby.” Kieran said.

  “Dew and Doritos?” Ash snorted.

  A crinkling sound came over the chat for a moment, that sounded a lot like a bag of chips, then Firo proudly declared, “A classic never dies.”

  “It should though.” Ash said. “I really should.”

  “Nah, man. Dew runs through my veins.” Evan laughed.

  “Fiona, you’re thirty-five - don’t you think it’s time to-”

  “How do you think I’ve managed to stay alive - and awake - the last couple months?” Evan laughed, “Caffeine.”

  “Yeah, and?” Ash asked as another chime sounded. “There are better options. Just turn all that Dew into black tea or something, like Bisky.”

  “What’s that about me, Mello?” Marissa said venomously in lieu of a greeting.

  “Nothing, ma’am.” Ash said quickly.

  Jazz, who had been quiet basically since Kieran joined the chat, picked that moment to pipe up with, “Oh, did you just “ma’am” her?”

  “I - what?” Ash stammered.

  “I don’t recall whether I owe you for a death yesterday, Mello, but you better believe you’re gonna catch an AoE today. Courtesy of me, of course.” Marissa hissed.

  “Bro, you’re doomed.” Evan laughed.

  “And you’re next, Fiona. I know I owe you one.” Marissa shot back.

  “Hey y’all, I’m back,” Nyx said brightly. “How’s everyone doing?”

  “Pretty good,” Kieran smiled, “Firo is eating Doritos, Fiona has Dew running through his veins, Mello called Bisky “ma’am”, and Bisky is planning to kill him in retribution.”

  “...alright then.”