"Mom, can I go to the movies on Thursday?" Your daughter yelled down the stairs.

"It's a school night, what time?" You yell back.

"Like 9?"

"Need you back by 10, girly, try an earlier one."

You can hear your daughter grumble.

"She's 17, she can stay out past 10," your husband murmured in your ear, stepping behind you. "Dinner smells nice," he says softly.

"All the more reason for her to be back by 10 so she can get a good night's rest. She's in her junior year she's got SATs coming up and she needs to focus. She can stay up as long as she wants once she's admitted to a college."

"Let her live a little." He sighs.

"Hi guys!" your daughter says distractedly as she enters the kitchen

"Hi darling," Choso smiles at your daughter. "What's the bag for?"

"I'm going to study at a friend's house, I'm going to miss dinner. Sorry mom," she says, kissing your cheek.

"You better actually study," you grumble. "Whose house are you going to?"

"Stacy's." She answers simply.

"Tell her I said hello." You smile as she turns to leave.

-

You wake from your nap drowsy, you flip your phone over. The time reads 10:30. You groggily walk up the stairs to your daughter's room to kiss her goodnight, only to find her bed empty.

You walk back down and find your husband reading in the kitchen with a cup of tea. "Cho, where's our kid?" You ask, confused.

"Still at Stacy's." He responds, taking a sip, never taking his eyes off the page.

You roll your eyes and grab your phone. You dial her mom's number.

"Hi Evelyn, can tell my daughter she needs to get her ass home."

"Of course." She chuckles. You can hear her calling Stacy's name in the background, and then a brief conversation. "Hey, Stacy's saying she left a little bit ago, for a classmate's house."

"What-okay, thank y'all so much, I'll call her phone." You can feel your stress rising.

"Cho call your kid."

He looks up from his book, "She's not at Stacy's?"

"Nope, she left a bit ago for someone else's house."

"Whose?" He asks confused.

"We're gonna find out."

-

"Hello?"

"Hi, sweet girl, it's 10:36. Your mom's concerned about you." You flick his ear. "Your mom and I are concerned about you," he corrects.

"Sorry. me and Stacy lost track of time."

"Really, because we just talked to Evelyn and she said you'd left."

You hear her pause.

"Hm," Choso prods, "What happened?"

You're grateful you're not the one on the phone. Choso has a very calm demeanor; there's no anger in his voice at all, just curiosity. You, on the other hand, are seething.

There's a voice in the background. A male voice. You can vaguely make out the words "who are you talking to?"

Immediately Choso's demeanor changes. "Darling, whose voice am I hearing?" Still calm but you can hear the edge in his tone.

"It's my friend's, I'll be home in 15." She answers quickly before hanging up.

You slowly inhale. "I'm not dealing with this tonight. Debrief me in the morning." You say, turning to your bedroom.

-

And to her credit, your daughter does arrive home 15 minutes later.

Choso hears the door softly open.

"Hi-" She starts.

"Where were you?" Your husband cuts her off, not raising his voice.

"A friend's house" she mumbles.

"Which friend?" His eyes narrowing.

"You wouldn't know him, I've never mentioned him, he's in my chemistry class. I needed help on a few problems."

"And you couldn't text him the problems?"

"I don't have his number."

"But you have his address?" He stares.

"Stacy gave me his address."

"And she couldn't have given you his number?"

"I learn better in person." She rolls her eyes.

"Let's see that homework."

"What"

"I want to see what you guys worked on."

Her eyes widen slightly, but she takes out her binder and rummages through it."

"I left it at his house." She mumbles.

"How convenient," he hums. "How long were you there?"

"Like an hour, we had a bunch of questions."

" Right, and what's the friend's name?"

"Tilak," she says softly. Clearly embarrassed.

"Tilak." He repeats. "Well, I'm glad you're home safe. Tell Talik to bring your homework when you see him in class."

Your daughter nods before turning to her room.

Choso sighs as he puts down his book and walks to the sink to rinse his cup. What are we going to do about that, he thinks.

-

You wake up bright and early to send your daughter off to school. "Good morning sweet girl how'd you sleep?" You ask as she walks into the kitchen.

"Good." She yawns.

"I'm glad." You smile. "I think Yuji's gonna be here later."

He came over every now and then to eat all the food in your fridge or watch a movie. He's lived with you and Choso since you bought the house, but now that he's in college, you see him every now and again.

"Nice." She beams.

The two of you discuss your plans for the day before you see her off. You start preparing your lunch for work when you hear the door open.

"Good morning Yuji." You smile.

"Morning sis!" He smiles walking over to the fridge. "Nice, there's leftovers in the fridge." He exclaims, taking out yesterday's dinner.

"Feel free to take those back with you, there's enough to share with Gumi and Nobara."

"Fuck them this is for me." He says between bites.

"Good morning." Choso smiles at the two of you. You slightly smile back.

Yuji looks between the two of you. "Are you guys fighting?"

"We'll see," you respond. "What's the verdict?" You look at your husband.

"At a boy's house," he responds.

"Doing what?" Your eyes narorow.

"Chemistry."

"Right. Boy's name?"

"Tilak"

You hear Yuji choke. You both turn.

"Who is he?" You ask.

"What kind of uncle would I be to help get my sweet niece in trouble?" He states sweetly.

"Yuji" Choso threatens.

"Whatever, he's one of my friends' younger brothers."

"And?" You prompt.

"He's a cool guy, he's on the lacrosse team, I helped him with his technique a bit when he was starting out. He volunteers at the animal shelter in his free time. He's not the worst person she could be hanging out with."

"And he's good at chemistry?" You question.

He stalls, "Well, I'm not sure about that."

"What?" Choso questions.

"He's not super great in math, so I can't imagine he's a stellar chemist."

"Oh my god." You groan.

"Do you have his number?" Choso asks.

"Yes." Yuji says hesitantly.

"Invite him over for dinner tonight."

"He for sure has practice tonight."

"We can do tomorrow." Choso says simply.

Yuji types away on his phone. A moment passes. "He can do tomorrow but he can't stay too long because he's got a movie to see after."

"We can accommodate," you mutter.

-

Thursday evening comes soon enough. You both make a nice enough dinner. You prepare the pasta, while Choso makes rolls.

"Do you have a plan at all?" you ask.

"I want our daughter to make her own decisions. If this is who she wants to hang out with I'd like to meet him."

"So we're having a normal dinner? No intimidation? No, trying to convince him we're crazy so he leaves her alone?"

"Nope, normal dinner."

"Ok." You say.

-

Your daughter comes down the stairs not long after. "Whose car is in the driveway?" She asks, panicked.

"Our guest." Choso smiles.

"Sorry niece." Yuji says from the couch.

"You fucking didn't!" She exclaims.

"Look I'm really sorry, make it up to you later." He says quietly, glancing at you and Choso. "You'll be fine, it's one dinner."

The doorbell rings. "Would you look at that, our guest is here," Choso says, heading towards the door. "Thank you for joining us." He smiles.

The boy is a bit shorter than your husband but still a good height; he's taller than you. He's got an athletic build, a charming face; if you weren't frustrated with your daughter, you'd congratulate her.

He smiles brightly, "Thank you for having me, sir."

"Welcome, Tilak. Feel free to wait on the couch, we're almost done setting up." You smile softly.

"Anything I can help with, ma'am?" He asks.

"If you could get-"

"He's a guest, dear." Choso cuts you off. "Please, have a seat on the couch. We'll be done soon."

"He offered." You shrugged. "Yuji come grab the plates." You ask.

Yuji smiles at Tilak as he passes him, "good luck." he mouths.

Nearing the couch Tilak pauses. "Oh- I didn't know you were related to Yuji." He says, surprised.

"He's my uncle." Your daughter responds sheepishly. My dad and mom pretty much raised him. We're only a couple of years apart."

He hums. "It's nice to see you."

"Dinner's ready." You call.

You all take your seats. You sit next to Choso, and Yuji sits between your daughter and Tilak.

Yuji shares the past few weeks of his college experience. And his adventures with Megumi and Nobara.

"And that's how we ended up at the hospital."

"Jesus Christ." You mutter.

Your husband takes it as an opportunity to change the topic. "So, Talik, you play lacrosse?"

"I started my freshman year, I really enjoy it! I'm hoping to play in college as well."

"You can join me in Jujitsu Tech." Yuji nudges him, smiling.

"That's the goal." He responds smiling back.

"And what do you think you'll study?" You ask.

"I'm not quite sure, but I really want to be a vet. I really like animals, so I'm leaning towards that."

"That's lovely." You respond. You can feel your daughter relax. "Do you have any pets?"

"I have a few: a bird, two dogs, a cat, and a rabbit."

"You've got half the cast of Looney Tunes." Your husband jokes.

He chuckles, "My grandparents have a farm, with ducks, pigs, and cows. So I certainly do. I really loved working on the farm."

"Gotta be disciplined to enjoy that." Choso remarks.

"That's one of my virtues." He jokes.

Choso smiles. "So how'd you meet our darling daughter?" He asks.

Finally, you think to yourself.

"Dad." Your daughter grits.

"We have chem lab together." He says, ignoring the tension. "We usually get paired together."

"That's nice, and do you like my daughter?" he asks casually.

They both choke. Yuji breaks into a grin, shoving his face down.

"Don't answer that." Your daughter exclaims. "Dad, he's my friend, stop being weird."

"I was just wondering." He says.

The rest of dinner continues calmly. You can see that your daughter and her friend are mildly uncomfortable, but he does a decent job at hiding it.

"Thank you so much for spending dinner with us, here's some treats for your home." You say handing him a basket. "I've got cookies, lemon bars, brownies and some good tea packets in there. My husband really likes them. You say, nodding at him. "Tell your mother we say hello." You smile. "And drive safe."

"Will do ma'am, thank you for having me." He smiles turning to leave.

You close the door behind him.

"Let's chat" you say, looking at your daughter.

-

"You like him?" You ask.

"I already said he's my friend." She says, rolling her eyes.

"The friend you were going to the movies with today?"

"Maybe." She mutters.

"Come here." You say softly. "Come sit next to me." She obliges, curling up next to you on the couch. "You know I love you so much," you say as you trace shapes on her shoulder.

"Yes." She responds softly.

"And you know I want to see you succeed."

She nods.

"So you understand why I don't appreciate you sneaking around?"

"I wasn't sneaking around."

"Sweet girl, you said you were going to one place and went to another. That's sneaking around."

"I did go to Stacy's house." She points out.

"And then we couldn't find you because you left Stacy's house and didn't tell us where you went. That's sneaking love."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to stay out that late or scare you guys."

"What were you doing over there?" You ask softly.

"We just talked." she responds.

"Wrong try again."

"We just talked."

"Try again."

"Mom." she groans.

"Nope wrong answer."

"Fine, we made out."

"Ding there it is."

"What are you going to ground me now?"

"No."

"No?" she repeats, confused.

"You're not grounded, I'm mad at you for lying, but I'm not grounding you. He seems nice enough. You could be doing worse."

"You like him?" she asks.

"I didn't say that."

she hums.

"I don't want you over at his house."

"Mom-"

"Don't push it. You can go to the movies or get ice cream. I don't care what you two do as long as you're in public. And Yuji's tagging along."

"What-"

"Public and I want Yuji in the area."

"fine," she grits.

"I love you so much." You say kissing her head. "You're not having kids at 17."

With that, she jumps off the couch and heads to her room. "Bye mom," she says rolling her eyes.

"I don't want to hang out with them." Yuji complains.

"You owe her one, you ratted on her."

"You guys threatened me!" he exclaims.

"Yuji honey, you cracked under no pressure."

"Whatever. You guys are paying for whatever activity you have me chaperoning."

"Gladly." You smile. You reach for your purse. " Here's $20, they're seeing a movie at nine. Have fun."

-

"I'll have earl grey, love."

It's late now. Just you two are awake, the kitchen lights are off, the moonlight guides your movements.

You nod and begin preparing the mugs.

"She's a good kid." you sigh.

"She is", Choso agrees. "You don't need to worry about her half as much as you do."

"What did you think of the boy?" You ask.

"She could be doing worse."

You grin, "That's what I said."

"You're a good mother." He smiles at you.

You pause.

"You are, she's going to be okay. You can't protect her from everything. You shouldn't; she won't grow properly if you do. She needs to do a couple of dumb things."

You sigh "I guess so" you say, handing him his tea.

And that's what you loved about him. You both loved your daughter more than life itself, but went about it in completely different ways. You focused on your daughter's academics and extracurriculars. You wanted to protect her as much as possible. You tried not to be overbearing, to let her have a life outside of her busy schedule, but it's hard at times. And that's where Choso comes in, to tell you to chill out every once in a while. He reminds you that she needs other experiences. He convinces you to let her skip school to see a concert, let her go to a party or two every now and again, let her triple-pierce her ears. He reminds you to let her live.

" I love you." You murmur. placing your head atop his.