Espresso Cookie/Espresseleine Oneshots

Oneshot 8 || Angst

E and L's age: 14

Espresso never liked eating dinner with his family.

It always ended in him getting yelled at by his father for no reason. Plus, eating was a waste of time. Studying was more important, and eating just set him back. But Father always forced him to eat dinner with them, no matter how much Espresso begged him to let him skip it.

He wasn't sure why Father made him come to dinner since Father always shouted at him, even if he wasn't doing anything to anger him. Simple yelling would turn to punches within minutes, and most of these fights ended with Espresso trying to stop a bloody nose. It almost seemed like his father was trying to start a fight every single dinner like he enjoyed it.

Espresso's favorite dinners were when Father was out getting drunk or working. Those dinners were silent and peaceful, and he was grateful for every second of those moments. Those days didn't come too often, though, which sucked.

Mother was the one who always cooked the food, and the food always sucked. Everything was either scarily undercooked or disgustingly overcooked. The foods that were supposed to be dry were always damp, and the foods that were supposed to be moist were always dry and crisp. Still, Mother, Father, and Latte always seemed to eat it willingly. And anytime Espresso dared to complain, Mother would go off on a long rant about how he should be grateful she bothered to feed him. Espresso always shut up after that.

He groaned quietly as he forced down a spoonful of broccoli that literally tasted like shit. He looked over at Latte, who was quietly eating, like always. She never complained about the food. Although she did tell Espresso one time that Mother's cooking skills "may not be the greatest".

His eyes trailed up to his father, who was watching him carefully, waiting for Espresso to do something wrong he could yell at him for. Father was honestly insane. Father's eyes narrowed at him and he looked back down at his food.

"Latte got a school award for having straight A's throughout the school year," Mother spoke, setting down her fork as she smiled at Latte. "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart." She reached across the table, holding her daughter's hands.

Latte smiled sheepishly, looking down. "Oh, it's not that big of a deal..."

"Of course it is a big deal!" Father said in a scarily happy voice. "We were blessed with an intelligent daughter. I'm so grateful for you. And I'm sorry I wasn't there to see you get the award—I was busy."

"Busy getting drunk," Espresso thought as he impaled his sliced up fish sticks with the fork and swallowed it.

"It's fine," Latte said before glancing at Espresso, giving him a look to ask if he wanted her to bring up his award as well.

He nodded subtly.

She turned back to her parents. "Espresso got an award too."

Mother raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Did he?"

Espresso sat up a little straighter.

"Yep! He got a straight A's award, too!" She smiled, hoping they'd congratulate him as well.

Father turned to look at him. "Good. I wouldn't be very happy if you didn't get straight A's."

"I know," Espresso said, feeling his shoulders drop. He frowned. He was really hoping they would be proud of him.

His father noticed the sadness enter his face, and he grinned. "Were you expecting me to be proud of you? Proud of your straight A's?" He asked in a mocking tone. "Proud of your pathetic and ordinary grades?"

"No." Espresso looked down.

"You were, though." Father leaned forward. "Why the hell would I be proud of you for straight A's? It's nothing special. When I was your age, I had straight A's without even trying. Latte has straight A's easily. You have straight A's and you expect praise? Please, you're pathetic." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.