Falling, Fallen (bxb)

Right, son?

TW: Homophobic Slur

"It's a secret okay?" Rose whispered, her hands buried inside the pockets of her leather jacket.

"Can you please hurry the fuck up Rose because you are about to send me into cardiac arrest?" He felt his breath ragged in his lungs.

"Alright." She paused for a second too long before rolling her neck.

"At least tell me what it is about because I'm shitting bricks over here-"

"You have the patience of a grasshopper, fucking hell." She was fiddling around with something in her pocket, but Kit couldn't quite work out what it was, a small piece of paper fell out of it.

"Obviously I'm going to be worried when I return home and the first words I hear are 'we need to talk'. Tell me a time when you heard those words and something good came out of it."

She frowned and shot him a disdainful glance, measuring her words, "I'm leaving. I don't know when, but one day you'll come home and I'll be gone." She shoved her hands deeper into her pockets.

He stared at her like a man waking from a dream, his gaze unfathomably bleak but his brain trying to piece together what she's saying.

"Oh-" He started.

"Wait." She pulled out a lined piece of paper that had been visibly folded and unfolded several times before ultimately just being scrunched up into a ball, "It's got the address on it. You have my phone number still."

Kit didn't know what words would be fitting for the conversation so he just nodded and stayed silent, hoping she'd carry on.

"I've been saving. You know, to leave. Since I was 11." That's the first time their dad hit her. "Mom told me I should. She gave me money to start... Leo is helping me too. We're gonna live together. It's really pretty, you know. Cottage."

"Okay." Kit nodded again.

"It's two-bedroom. If anything happens you come here okay?" She pointed at the scrunched-up paper in her hand, "You're always welcome. Just knock on the door."

"Thanks." He wasn't planning on going, his dad never hurt him before. Well, before the altercation yesterday, but as long as he didn't do anything to anger him too much he'd be fine. He took the paper and clenched his hand around it, his knuckles had gone white.

"Again, I don't know when I'm going. It could be ages, I'll try and stick it out till Thanksgiving so I can see our cousins and shit." Reflections were shimmering in her eyes, "Please don't be mad. You might think I'm leaving you guys with him but I'm not. I'm sorry. I tried talking mom into coming with Cameron but she refused. You know ants can slay an elephant if there are enough of them?" Her eyes were welling up now.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Kit stifled out a small laugh.

"No idea. Something Leo told me." She looked up at the ceiling to try and hold back her tears.

"I don't think you are leaving us, Rose. You need to escape."

"You can't tell dad I'm leaving. I know sometimes you still think that he can be a good guy, and I used to as well. Before I realized that he isn't and he won't ever be again. And-"

She was cut off by being hauled into a suffocating hug, Kit clung to her like she was a buoy in a drowning sea. His eyes were bright with sparks of tears. He was so happy that she could finally getaway. She wasn't leaving him, she was leaving their dad.

Rose patted him on the back before shoving him off and smiling to herself, "Fucking hell, Theo deserves some kind of prize if he's getting you to hug people out of the blue."