Five AMam. Five flipping AM. It was their day off, and all August could do was stare at the ceiling. They were still in some pain, but it was manageable now. The girls wouldn’t be up until six. Beau would honestly sleep until eight or nine if given the chance. So of course, of all of them, they had to wake up at five AM, not really in a state to help out or do anything except maybe go to the bathroom.

Very carefully, August started sitting themselves up so they could at least do some things on their laptop. Beau was snoring softly as they adjusted themselves and turned it on. There was a nice light routine for mornings like this. It normally involved making some tea and then coming back with the thermos. Today it was more along the lines of sipping what was left of last night’s water and reading some online comics. The horror Brook would have if she found out August really did read those things the kids read. Brook just about had a heart attack when she found out they did ClickClack sometimes.

As they went through the comics, clicking away on all the updated ones that were bookmarked, they tried to think of what they could do today. At least a small thing to bring some romance to the day. Making breakfast was out of the question. So was making lunch, honestly. God they remembered the days they could get up early and pack a fancy lunch for everyone. Maybe they could do something in a bit? It would be a bit hard but not undoable. It wouldn’t be super fancy but maybe some little octopus hotdogs at least. The girls had fun biting off the heads sometimes.

For now, it was too early to be thinking about that and if they even tried, little Tux would be all over them. As it was, the cat was lazily looking at August from the end of the bed, yawning and waiting. As soon as someone got out of the bed, that meant little kitty broth bags. Which also meant the cat would be all around the first human’s feet trying to be sweet and cute about it.

“Not today, Tux,” They said in a hushed voice, not wanting to wake up Beau.

“Muurrr.”

They watched as the cat walked over to the top of the bed, rubbing up against the laptop and pushing the screen down, demanding attention. August sighed and gave a small smile. Closing the laptop, they gently picked up the cat, setting him onto their lap and petting him. “Fuzz butt, are you gonna help with the plans?”

A purr was the only thing heard as the laptop was set in its night time resting spot on the bedside table. Something about petting the little black and white short hair would always make August more and more sleepy. “Energy vampire, that’s what you are. I got things to do, you know.”

“Mur?” Tux gave a friendly lick, as if to protest the doing of things. After a few more minutes August was asleep, half slumped back down into the bed with Tux snuggled up between Beau and them.

Sadly the peace didn’t last long as the sound of the bedroom alarm and the girls’ alarm went off at the same time, jolting August awake, spooking the cat and making Beau grumble. “When’s summer break again?”

“Eight months? And you still have to get up with me.”

Beau slammed his hand onto the old alarm clock, looking at them. “Maybe, but that’s later at least.”

As August got out of bed, she saw Beau hurry out, with Tux following close behind begging for the morning treats. “Better than my legs.”

Out came the cane, on went the no slip socks with some struggle, and out came August. Just in time for the girls to start fighting over the bathroom. “I need to poop, Raven!”

“I need to brush my teeth!”

August shook her head. “Alexandra, use my bathroom. Raven, next time let your sister go first. Have you even gone?”

“I need to pee!” And the door slammed shut. Ah, the normal chaos of the morning.

As they got over to the kitchen, Beau was already frowning. “Aug, let me handle everything, ok? You’re still in pain.”

They didn’t know why hearing Aug like that from Beau always felt so nice on days like today. But it didn’t change the fact they really wanted to feel useful. “Let me do something Beau.”

He sighed. “Ok. How about you make the sandwiches for the girls?”

“All right.” It was better than nothing. August sat down, and he moved everything to the prep table. August knew Beau meant well, wanting to do everything. But they just didn’t feel right when it happened. He already did so much. In fact they were pretty sure the kitchen floor was a lot cleaner than yesterday. Oh well, no time for that. Within minutes, the two of them had everything prepped for the girls. The sandwiches and some bunny apples, and whatever other goodies Beau had set up. August didn’t really get to see, sitting so low compared to the kitchen counter. The girls came over and squealed a bit.

“Bunnies!”

“Heart sandwich!”

The two girls hugged her at the same time. “Thanks, Mom!” they said in unison before going to put their lunches in their backpacks. Next year they’d probably be too big to ask for such cute lunches. Unless Bentos became cool at school again. It was hard to keep up with the current trends.

Beau smiled a bit. “I don’t get reactions like that unless I add in cookies.”

“Well, cookies are pretty sweet.” She carefully got up. “But not as sweet as that cereal you are trying to give me. Can I have something else?”

“What, you don’t want . . . frosted spook puffs?” Beau was reading off the box, looking like he couldn’t even remember what it was supposed to be.

“Not for breakfast at least. Cheese and toast?”

“And a banana.” He broke one off and handed it over. “You start on that, and I’ll work on the rest.”

August hobbled back across the floor over to the armchair. The girls were already in their shoes and went to grab their cereal, excitedly talking about the art class they were going to be in later. The discussion moved to who would beat who in the next swim meet. As she listened to them talk and poke at each other, the love of her life sat down next to her, handing her a plate with cheese and toast and some of the iced tea from the fridge.

“Can’t have you dying of thirst.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” She leaned over and gave a small kiss. Tried to. Beau hadn’t shaved in a few days again.

“Gahhh!”

“Sorry, I’ll go shave.” He nearly set down his cereal when August put her hand on his arm.

“Sit down. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Well if you promise . . .” He smiled that sweet smile of his. “So what are you going to do today?”

“I’m guessing no stores or anything besides resting?”

“Nope. But I do know the RPG updated last night. You could have some fun and then know about the cool hip things the teens are doing.”

“Oh, yes. Hello my fellow cool teens. Ya-yeet!” The two of them started laughing. “God, do you think this is how our parents felt?”

Beau’s laughter slowed. “You assume mine tried to keep up. But I bet the kids at the library are glad you are trying.” He squeezed her hand, and August relaxed as soon as he did. Why that always worked she’d never know. “But in any case, you love pack monsters. Play it today, veg out for once. I’ll try to keep up with everything. Hell, we even have leftovers.”

Before she could answer, the girls chimed in. “OOOOOOO, Daddy! You cussed!”

“You did cuss, sweetie.” August picked up her toast. “Maybe you’ll have a time out later.”

“That’s what you get, Dad; you can’t just break the rules.”

“Ok, ok! Come on, girls. Eat up and then load up. You don’t want to be late.”

It wasn’t long before breakfast and more light hearted conversations wrapped up and August found herself alone in the house. She’d be fine. More importantly she could start talking to some of her online chat groups for some advice on how to get started. In forums full of fellow nerds and geeks, surely someone had run into this before. August wasn’t the oldest nerd online, at least.

Sadly, within ten minutes of making that call, said nerds were throwing every bit of ‘spicy’ advice at her they could.

Letting out a slow breath, she started typing again.

Eyescream42:*OMG guys. It’s not bedroom trouble!*
Bennitenny: *You said romance*
Eyescream42: *Romance does not automatically mean sex!*

August just watched as everyone started to get off topic about if they were the same thing or not, which led to someone else talking about the spicy comic they were making, and someone else wishing more games had spicy things and well. August now had regrets. She might not be the oldest person online, but she did forget sometimes going online reduced maturity levels by half or more.

She was about to give up when she got a DM from her bestie, Beck9824.

Hey I can’t talk now but I have some ideas that can help. VC during the girls practice?

It only took a moment for Beck9824 to respond. Sounds good. Talk then.