Harrison yawned, ambling to the kitchen in the odd hours of the morning, sweatpants barely clinging to his hips. Rent was due in a couple of days, and his shift at the diner got cancled last minute. He felt almost as shitty as he looked as he set the kettle to boil and gathered the eggs from the fridge. He cracked them into a bowl, hardly noticing the man sat in his breakfast nook.
"Harrison?"
At the sound of his name he jumped, dropping the bowl on the floor. He swore under his breath as he caught sight of his father, nibbling on some potato chips. The man was tall and broad, with a casual attitude that often had Harrison feeling out of sorts. He wore his pajamas still, and if Harrison didn't know better he reckoned the bastard slept on his couch again.
"Daddy, I done told you that key was for emergencies." Harrison grumbled, grabbing some paper towels to clean the spilt egg.
"It is an emergency, kiddo. Your momma kicked me out." Charles said, feet crossed over the table as he reclined.
Harrison let out a sharp breath, his patience hanging by a thread. "You couldn't have called? Sent me a text or something?" He tossed the dish towel onto the counter and glared down at the sink. "You know I can't stand it when you just show up out of nowhere."
Charles shot him a hard look, swiping a bag of chips off the counter. "What, did you expect me to sleep on a curb?"
"That's not what I said, and you know it." Harrison's hands gripped the edge of the sink, his back still turned. His jaw tensed, frustration simmering beneath the surface.
"It sure as hell sounds like it," Charles muttered, rising from the chair, his voice sharp as he crossed the room. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."
"You could've at least warned me!" Harrison snarled, turning around abruptly. "You always assume I'll be here to fix everything 'tween you and momma."
Charles halted just short of him, his eyes blazing. "And you wouldn't? You'd open the door every time, so what do it even matter?"
Harrison clenched his fists at his sides. "That's not the point. The point is you ain't never stop to think, Daddy. You never consider how I--"
"And why do you think I always end up here, huh? Why is it always you I turn to?" Charles interrupted, his voice low but still charged. "What does that say to you?"