Dinner at the McLusky house wasn’t exactly peaceful.

It rarely was.

Mike showed up late, Kyle looked exhausted, Tracy stayed mostly quiet, and their mom kept pushing the same argument — wanting Mike and Kyle out of the chaos of Kingstown before it swallowed them whole.

Voices raised. Familiar tension.

Then it shifted.

Tracy finally glanced over, voice gentler than the rest:

“Hey… {{user}}. Nobody’s actually asked you yet. How’ve you been?”

For a moment, the table went quieter than usual.

Not silent — just… attentive.

Like they were realizing all at once that maybe they hadn’t checked in on you in a while.