Francis was pretty used to being single. He was just… getting old, he guessed. Mid-forties wasn’t old, he knew that, but it felt like having someone to come home to would maybe cheer him up. Make him feel younger, if you will.
He also knew that living with Padraig and Kaos and their domestic bliss would be good for his soul for a while, but that he would need to find that job and a place for himself pretty soon. Maybe he’d get a dog of his own, or better yet, a cat, so that he wouldn’t have to feel guilty if he didn’t feel like walking the animal.
Once he got out of the shower and got dressed, he felt marginally better and decided to skip the ibuprofen He did take the bottle to the kitchen for the girls though.
“Morning,” he told Minnie who was now sitting in bed, bundled up in a blanket, with a purring Squishy sitting just out of her reach.
“What did you do to my cat?” she asked grumpily.
“I gave her the good food.” He held out the pills to her and she grunted. “Say thank you.”
“Asshole. Cat-stealing twat,” she murmured under her breath, and hissed at him when he reached to pet her hair.
“She’s grumpy when hungover,” Zinnia said when he snatched his hand back.
“Oh I remember. This has happened before. I’m just messing with her.” He smirked, making Zinnia cackle as she sat next to Minnie with a mug of coffee.
“Coffee?” Minnie perked up.
Shaking his head, Francis went to the kitchen. Better let the caffeine and ibuprofen work before trying to talk to Minnie again.
* * * *
They had a nice morning together, making plans about what furniture Minnie would be taking and what the girls would sell on Craigslist for him.
“If you get any money off of the stuff left, it’s yours. I don’t want it,” he said firmly.
They were sat on the couch together, having just had early lunch.
“No, it’s your stuff. Why would we keep the money?” Minnie tried to argue.
“Look, how about we take the money,” Zinnia said and held up a hand when Minnie tried to interrupt. “We take the money, and we buy you a beer when we come to visit you in Wisconsin eventually?”
“That sounds like a deal.” Francis shook hands with Zinnia before Minnie could object.
Minnie groaned, but let it go.
“I’ll miss you guys.” Francis sighed.
“We’ll miss you too, but this isn’t where you belong anymore,” Zinnia replied, reaching over Minnie to squeeze his forearm.
“Yeah, she’s right. We love you, Francis, but you need a change of scenery and whatever—or whomever—has you excited like you’ve been recently, well, it can’t be a bad thing.” She gave him a sideways hug.
“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.” He didn’t comment on the “whomever” because yeah, he was very, very excited about seeing Mark again, but… he knew there would be issues to get over.
* * * *
On Monday morning, Francis was packing his boxes more firmly into the U-Haul when his phone rang in his pocket. To his utter shock, he saw Mark’s name on the screen when he dug it out.
“Mark?” he asked, worried already.
“Francis, my m-mom called, I….” Mark’s breathing came wheezing through the line and Francis sat on the back of the trailer.
“Okay, breathe with me. It’s going to be okay, just listen to my voice.” He guided Mark through his panic attack and eventually the rough sounds died down and Mark groaned long and slow.
“Thank you,” he murmured, and Francis could hear him take a drink of something.
“It’s okay. I’m glad you called. Do you want to talk about it?”
