Chapter 3: Discounted Therapy
 
“So, I have a son.”
 
I paused for a moment, staring at the one that said that. I… didn’t recognize her. Not at all.
 
I was working at the grocery store, going through my usual shift and… who is this woman? Snake-lady with brown hair, curvaceous body and a bit of muscles. I would remember someone like that had she been someone I know.
 
“Good for you,” I replied unconsciously.
 
“No! Not good at all!” The woman groaned, staring away as I continued to get the stuff she bought in her plastic bag. “Like, yeah- being a parent is nice and all… but I am not a good one.”
 
I frowned, still failing to see why she was trying to make conversation with this topic- hell, I had yet to know her name.
 
“Ma’am, if you think that’s indeed the case, then why is he now in your custody?”
 
“That’s the thing! I don’t know!” The snake-woman whined. “The kid says that he wants to know me despite what his mom said but… I am not alright! I am still ‘a moron’.”
 
“And yet he still tries to understand you,” I decided to ultimately engage in this topic just so I could bring it to an end in a pleasant fashion without causing any issues. Plus, the fact she mentioned a ‘mom’ and not a ‘dad’ sure elevated a different curiosity. Am I speaking to a real-life intersex? I heard that there were actual girls with dicks around, but that those were hella rare so… yeah, that would be kinda cool. “Can I guess why?”
 
“Sure, I mean… I shouldn’t be bringing this up to a part-timer-”
 
“Yet you did so you now get a response, miss,” I pointed out flatly, shutting her up on the spot. “To make it simple, I think your son is just trying to know what kind of person you are. Sure, he may be trying to connect to you as his other parent, but he is first trying to understand what I can only assume is your side of the story on why you broke off with his mother by… seeing how you behave around him.”
 
“Well, I have been ignoring him,” The woman pointed out and I sighed. “What?”
 
“Well, it can be seen as a reaction to personal guilt. And I want to say, without making this a trial, that it could be the case. I don’t know you, miss, but I think you have been running around this problem for some time now and it is now biting your round butt. Just take it easy, be considerate around your kid and… this may sound a bit on the nose- but your current worry is proof you will do things right.”
 
The customer frowned. “How can you tell?”
 
“If you were a bad parent, you would be ignoring all this shit and rolling with it- dodging any sort of moral qualms of being a good person or not around your kid. If you were a bad parent, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because you would be more focused on covering your base first and then care for your son next.”
 
“...So, since I worry… this means-”
 
“You have the standard parental fright about right. Yes, it is a thing and you just need to persevere with this shit- not just for yourself but for your kid.”
 
…
 
“Holy fuck, that was far more than I was expecting to find by talking to a random part-timer.”
 
“Truth be told, this is the most random thing I have been getting at work,” I remarked, yet refraining from telling her that there were some close cases to that. Heck, I was being just reductive if I keep in mind the ‘strange’ thing that I have seen at the Pastel Daycare while saying that but… that was out of my work shift here.
 
“Heh, that’s boring. I am Kyra,” She greeted chirpily.
 
“John. And it will be twelve and thirty cents.”
 
She nodded with a smile, and paid for her stuff before leaving. She was soon swaying her butt in a somewhat thankful fashion. This was quite the odd way to entertain a work shift but… it was still within my sanity’s limits.
 
I am still having PTSD from trying to make sense of Cheri’s family tree with the kind of absurd depravity the law of the land has allowed in that ‘circular’ circumstance.
 
The rest of the shift was without eventful developments. Mitsy passed by for some corn and a headpat, Mrs. Charon came to get some baby formula for her daycare, and I had been dodging bug-related issues for two days now…
 
Then my good mind had to jinx the fuck out of me as I would soon find myself walking up to my front door to see a familiar face looking at her own feet through the peephole. No other surprises.
 
I opened the door a bit and I smiled. “Hello there, Swee- oh?”
 
The girl was sobbing as she just bolted for my leg, hugging it tightly and… I closed the door softly before picking her up. She was shivering like a leaf to the wind, hugging me tightly while letting out all those tears without a care of the situation as she was just so…
 
Upset.
 
“I-I hate her. She- she told me so many- many ugly things!”
 
I frowned as I saw how devastated the bug girl was as she snuggled up on my neck while bawling her sorrow out. I patted her upper back and brought her to my bedroom. No, I wasn’t going to do naughty things to her but, seeing her yawn from time to time and given the time this was all happening, I kind of made a bit of a snap-decision.
 
“Who’s she?”
 
“Je-Jewel! She says I didn’t deserve being here and- and eating a good pizza I made. She said I had to have had you make it for me and- and then lie to make myself feel good. She screamed at me when- when I said that wasn’t true and- and…”
 
“Shhh, you silly bug. You are not in the wrong here.”
 
“I-It still hurts.”
 
“I bet it does,” I hummed thoughtfully, having been in similar situations before with kids I had to babysit in those conditions. Bullies were common, even if those bullies were your siblings. “But you can’t let that get to you. Heck, I bet that she doesn’t even mean even half of what she said.”
 
“H-How can you tell?”
 
I sat down by the bed.
 
“Because from what I gather, she was jealous of the fact you had fun and she did not.”
 
“Y-Yeah, and?”
 
“And maybe she felt excluded. In a sense, maybe she feels it far more than you or others would- and I get that she is quite prideful too so she is feeling double-hurt over this.”
 
“Oh.”
 
“Since she is hurt, she is angry and lashing out. That means she isn’t exactly thinking of what she is saying and only trying to hurt you with this. And she did it.”
 
“So that means… She doesn’t hate me?”
 
“I think not. I want to think she is just upset that you had something she wanted and so she wants you to suffer too.”
 
“That’s not nice…”
 
I ruffled her hair a bit. “It sure is not. But let’s continue this conversation tomorrow. Now, how about we share the night cuddling up and you tell me more of yourself, Sweetie?”
 
Her eyes widened. “Only cuddling?”
 
“Yup.”
 
I expected some sadness-
 
“Yay!”
 
But I was pleasantly surprised one of the fuck bugs was fine with mere cuddling. I left her to find her ‘perch’ on the bed as I walked back to the bathroom to finish changing in my sleepwear and… we both cuddled up.
 
Sweet was soon resting her back on my chest as I lied belly up, the back of her head pushing a bit on my chin as her Antennae were enough apart from one another to allow my head to not create any issue for the two of us.
 
As soon as she got nice and primed for a warm sleep, she talked herself into snoring. The girl had a lot to say that she hadn’t the first time we spoke and it was quite easy for me to know that this little one was starving for attention.
 
Sure, she knew of sex and she craved it with moderation, but she was missing having meaningful conversations with others from the way she took my own observations so happily.
 
I soon followed her in the sleeping mood, closing my eyes as I blissfully took on what would soon turn out into… a very tense point for me and a certain group of horni bugs.
 
—-----d-d-d-d—----
 
AN
 
This chapter introduces someone that, for the readers of the old snippet archive, is quite familiar.
 
Here’s Kyra by: Atrolux!