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English
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Candy Hearts Exchange 2024
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Published:
2024-01-11
Words:
453
Chapters:
1/1
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8
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17
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The More Things Change

Summary:

Rick, nearly twenty years later, attends a graduation.

Notes:

Work Text:

The morning is bright and sunny, not too humid, and Rick begrudgingly admits it is a nice enough day for central California. It isn't usual for him to be out at this hour of the day, or even awake, necessarily—working in a bar will do that to a body. But he made a promise to the girl, and Rick's never broken a promise he made to her yet.

Rick sits on the bleachers with Ilsa Lund on his right and Victor Laszlo just beyond her and watches the principal of Balboa High drone on about Buccaneer Pride and how hard the students worked to get here and Rick is getting antsy. He fidgets with the buttons on his shirt until Ilsa takes his hand and pulls it down to her lap and Victor reaches over to squeeze both of their hands. Neither of them even look away from the ceremony. It's all muscle memory for them now.

With his hand in hers, he relaxes a little. Nobody, not nobody, is going to ruin the girl's big day, not even a principal who doesn't know when to stop talking. Rick runs his eyes over the crowd of mortarboards seated in folding chairs on the football field, and after a few minutes careful consideration finally spots her midway from the front, on the aisle. Little Rose (who's not so little anymore) sits ramrod straight, eyes fixed on her principal. He knows her well enough to imagine she's all but vibrating, waiting for her big moment. He sends her his best thoughts.

Then, at last, the principal slows up and finally announces the valedictorian, Rose L. Laszlo, and Rose bounces up from her seat and trots herself up to the stage. The assembled masses clap. Victor lets out a high-pitched whistle that makes other guests give him withering glances that slide off him like water from a duck's back.

Rose bounds up to the podium and launches into the speech she's spent the last six weeks practicing. Breathe, kid, he thinks, and after a moment she pauses for a deep breath and keeps going, a little slower, a little more clear. Rick's chest feels weirdly tight. She's doing it. She's really doing it.

Just like they practiced, Rose recites her speech. She's such a natural that you'd never know this wasn't off-the-cuff. Out of the corner of his eye Rick can see Ilsa mouthing the words along with her daughter. They all three of them know the piece front and back by now.

When she's finished, the audience claps. Victor sweeps to his feet, a standing ovation, and Ilsa follows suit. What the hell. Rick joins them. After all, this is their girl they're applauding.