Time Between Us

Part 1: The Clock Shop

    The ticking of clocks was enough to drive Eijiro Kirishima insane.

    There were roughly 30 of them stacked along the walls of the main room, all ticking to the same one second rhythm. Tick Tick Tick. It was enough to make Kirishima's eyes cross with unfocus, losing sight of the small screws laid out in front of him.

    "Hm," A frustrated sigh left the redhead who was currently hunched over a work table, fingers working delicately on a busted pocket watch someone left at their front door. His mother was a clockmaker, best in her craft and ever so inventive. He was not. Piecing together puzzles was not something Kirishima particularly enjoyed. The gears were always too small, mechanics always too fidgety, and worst of all it was boring.

     Being stuck inside for hours on end piecing together a tiny illusion wheel seemed to be the worst kind of torture. Especially for someone like Kirishima who longed for the outdoors and the excitement it could bring him. To him, anything was better than sitting in that stuffy clock shop all day.

    Somewhere below him the front door slammed shut, rattling the clocks hanging on the wall. For a minute the ticking seemed to stop, taking time to process to commotion before resuming their never ending ticking.

    "Eiji! Are you home?" The familiar call of his mother rang from downstairs, causing him to finally look away from his work and stare down at the doorway.

    "I'm up here mom! Someone left a package for you!" His eyes flickered towards the clocks on the wall, another frustrated sigh leaving his body. Out of every clock in that room none of them told the same time, making it impossible to know how late it really was.

    It was one of his mom's strangest quirks and greatest ironies. Time is an illusion. She would always say, smiling and giving him a 'know-it-all' wink. Achievement is tracked by progress not by minutes.

    However, the only progress Kirishima wanted to achieve was his progression out the front door.

His mom appeared beside him, hand resting gently on his shoulder as she stared down at the watch her son was tinkering on.

"I thought you hated watch making," She said, a pleasant note ringing softly in her voice.

"I... I do," He replied, not bothering to hide his distaste in the subject. He hated watch making, just about everyone knew that. But, hate it or not, he always tried to help his mom. She was always busy. Filling orders, taking care of the shop and caring for her disaster child. He knew it wasn't easy, so he always tried to do his part.

"Well," She hesitated, taking time to choose her words wisely. "Thank you for helping anyways." She kissed the top of his head, taking the bits and pieces of the watch into her hands and tucking them close so nothing would fall.

"If you're free," Kirishima glanced up to meet her eyes. "Theres a few errands I need to run. It would help me out a lot."

A smile tugged at Kirishima's lips as he scrambled up and out of his chair. "Errands?"

His mom laughed softly and he quickly did his best to mask the excitement bubbling throughout his body. "I mean," He slid his hands into his pockets. "Anything to help you out, of course."

His smile grew wider as his mom rolled her eyes, tilting her head towards the doorway.

"Bag is on the front table," She hummed, readjusting the mangled pieces in her hands. "I want you home by dark and make sure not to drop anything." Kirishima glowed in his mothers gaze, nodding his head after every command.

"Yes ma'am!"

She waited for a second, almost seeming to weigh her options.

"Go."

And he was gone.