Work Text:
Claire’s alarm goes off and she questions whether to get up or not. It’s getting close to the end of September and she always has a physical reaction to that. Usually, she has Leon to help, but ever since the incident with the chip, he’s been radio silent. She hasn’t tried reaching out to him either, so maybe it’s her fault too. Her phone rings and she has a brief conversation with one of her work friends, who told her that she has to come in because there’s work to be done. She goes through her morning routine at the pace of a sloth.
Once she’s completely ready, she grabs her bag to check that she has all of her things. She finishes the mental checklist, then heads to the door. Claire opens her door and she sees a box on her doorstep. It’s wrapped in pink paper with little white bunnies on it, it honestly looks like a gift for a toddler. Since she doesn’t live with any toddlers, she just assumes that it’s for her and that whoever left it has a bad sense of humor. She knows a few people with that, so it doesn’t surprise her. She puts the box inside, then heads out.
The work day is long and beside her better judgment, she keeps thinking about the box on her doorstep. Several people notice how distracted she seems, but nobody asks about it. She’s been working here long enough for them to understand how hard the end of this month is for her. She texts Chris to ask if he’s the one who sent it. When he says no, she gets a good idea on who sent it, which makes her more suspicious. Claire gets home and after getting everything put away, she grabs the box. She sits down on the couch and starts unwrapping it.
It’s a taped up cardboard box, yay.
She pulls her pocket knife out and slices through the tape. Claire opens the box and pulls out the sweater she’d been eyeing last fall. She admires the sweater, trying not to think about how much he spent on it. She picks her phone up because she knows exactly who gave her this. While she’s hesitant to reach out, Leon’s clearly trying to extend an olive branch. She wants to see what he has to say about everything and the radio silence since. She clicks on Leon’s contact and the last time they messaged was the day of the incident. She ignores it and types out a quick message.
Claire: Hey, you got time to talk?
She puts her phone down and turns on the TV to distract herself. She doesn’t feel up to eating, so she goes to bed early, around nine. She’s lying in bed staring at her ceiling when her phone goes off. She picks it up, curious on who would be texting her at this odd hour.
Leon: I don’t have time to talk rn, but I can call you when I do.
Claire thinks it over for a minute.
Claire: That’s fine. Just shoot me a text a few minutes in advance to make sure that I’m not in a meeting or something.
He sends a thumbs up. She smiles. Maybe we’ll be able to work this out. She lays back down and quickly falls asleep.