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Let’s just say Benny wasn’t very sneaky.
“We can hear you, kid.” Brendan said from the other room. Benny gasped and hid behind the nearest bookshelf, fixing his form to hide better.
Footsteps.
“Where are you, hidin’?” Brendan chuckled. Benny stifled a little laugh. He zipped under the couch across the room just as Brendan came up to the bookshelf.
“There you are, Ben!”
Oh, no!! He must’ve seen him!
“Or that could’ve jus’ been my shadow. Guess I’ll jus’ take a little seat on th’ couch and think about where Benny could be hidin’-”
“No! Officer Brendan, do not sit on me!!” Benny cried from under the couch. A small wisp of blue and purple emerged from the couch, forming itself into a small child-like shape. “I am right here!” Benny said, patting his chest. “I need-”
Brendan handed him a pale yellow shirt. Benny thanked him started to put it on.
“Maybe if you want t’ try an’ hide better, don’t leave your clothes hangin’ about. Also, y’don’t have t’ call us Officer Brendan and Officer Gabriel anymore.” Brendan said with a chuckle.
“Okay, Dad.” Benny said, earning another chuckle from the man. He was still struggling with putting on his shirt. It was his proper ‘size’, meaning it was smaller than the ones Emmet used to have him wear, so he was having a harder time. He couldn’t get it over his head. Gabriel switched in and assisted him. Once they got it on Benny properly, Gabriel smoothed out the front of the shirt.
“Emmet got you a new shirt?” Gabriel asked.
Benny excitedly nodded. “Yes! Well, actually it had been Miss Doris, but Emmet picked it out.” He tugged on his shirt. He looked back up at the former cops’ face and pointed to it, his finger getting a little too close. “Your face is looking much better!” Benny smiled.
Gabriel reached a hand up to gently touch his scarred cheek. He smiled back. “Why, thank you, Benny.” Benny gently papped their cheek and climbed into his lap. It had only been about a month and a half since Business… well… ‘stepped down’, and Benny’s visits to the two had gotten more and more frequent. Benny thought of it as ‘checking in on them’, and especially what they had gone through with Business, they really needed it.
“Shouldn’t you be at school today with Emmet?” Gabriel asked. Benny shook his head.
“Miss Doris is still helping me out with school stuff. I do not have to go yet.”
“Well, lucky for you then, huh?”
Benny lied down on his side in the former chief’s lap. He pointed to the TV. “Um…”
“What is it?” Gabriel asked.
“I cannot remember-”
“You wanna watch a movie?” Benny shook his head. “Cartoon-?”
“YEAH!” Benny shouted. He settled down in their lap as Gabriel reached over for the remote. Clicking on the TV, Benny was left with the decision of what to watch. Continuous ‘No’s until the screen landed on a documentary of Mars, which caused Benny to start bouncing excitedly. “That is Home!” He exclaimed, pointing to the TV screen.
“Yeah!” Gabriel said. “It looks very beautiful!”
Benny giggled. “It is!” Then his smile faded. “I miss Home.”
“Would you ever want to go back, Benny?”
“I do not know. It was very boring, and other c… cosmu…”
“Cosmic entities?” Gabriel clarified. Benny had still been struggling a bit with a few new words.
“Yes. They did not… like me very much.” Benny’s gaze lowered to his feet, which were hanging over the edge of both the men’s lap and the couch. “I did not see very many out there, however, maybe three or four. They used to consider me a brother or a sibling of sorts.” He looked back up at Gabriel. “Emmet is a better brother than they ever were.”
Gabriel gave Benny’s back a few pats.
“I am grateful I landed here when I did, Dad. Otherwise I would not have met you or Emmet, or even Miss Doris.” Benny smiled a bit before returning his attention to the TV. Silence droned on between them for a while before Benny said something else.
“Emmet told me what a ‘family’ was a few weeks ago. A family is a group of people who care about you and would do anything to make sure you are safe and loved.”
“Sounds about right.” Gabriel simply said.
“Well, I am glad I am a part of this one.” Benny suddenly turned in their lap and gave them a hug. Gabriel was a taken aback a bit by Benny’s sudden gesture.
“Kid, we’re not exactly a huggy person…” Brendan said, switching in. Benny didn’t show any signs of moving away. Brendan hesitated before returning the hug anyway.
“I love you, Dad.”
“We… love you too, Benny.”
Brendan wasn't sure when they fell asleep or why Benny decided to fall asleep against their chest. All he knew was that he needed to get up and check the time. He shifted slightly, making sure Benny was still snoozing away, and looked at the clock on the other wall. 6:52pm. Wasn’t late enough to go to bed, but early enough to try to cook some kind of dinner for themselves. He gently lifted Benny from their chest and stood up, placing the child back on the couch. Brendan placed a blanket over him and left for the kitchen.
‘He really is a nice kid,’ Gabriel said, just waking up from their nap.
“Yeah. A little bit of a trouble maker, though.” Brendan responded.
‘He gets it from Emmet.’ The two of them laughed a bit at that. ‘It’s been so long since I’ve heard you laugh, Brendan.’
“It couldn’t possibly have been that long, has it?”
‘You’d be surprised.’
Benny dreamed for the first time. He didn’t remember what, he just got a few odd feelings from his sleep. He wasn’t even entirely sure about what dreams were, exactly. He never asked Emmet. He explained to Brendan and Gabriel what he remembered from his dream, he didn’t know what it was or what it meant.
“Sounds like a pretty normal dream t’ us.” Gabriel said.
“Why do I have them?” Benny asked.
“Well… usually dreams have to do with what your mind has been going through a lot recently. A lot of psychological stuff, y’know?”
“Cycle-what?”
Gabriel chuckled. “Psy-cho-lo-gi-cal,” he said slower, “is stuff that has to do with your mind. Now you say it.”
“Psycha- psycholo- logical… Stuff that has to do with my mind.”
Gabriel smiled. “There you go!”
“Do you dream, Dad?” Benny asked, poking the man in the shoulder.
“Well, er, we do… sometimes.” Gabriel simply answered. “Although, they’re more of…
recent
events, Benny, and we’re not so sure you’d want t’ hear ‘em. It hurts us to think about anyway.”
Benny leaned back against their chest and took hold of their hand. “It is okay. I will not make you. I do not want you to hurt.” Benny studied their hand as Gabriel gave them a warm smile.
“Thank you, Benny.”
Benny pointed to their fingers. “Thumb, pointer, middle, … uhh…”
“That’s our ring finger.”
“... ring, and pinkie!” The child looked up the man and grinned. Gabriel congratulated him.
“Why do you call it a ring finger, Dad?”
“Well, it’s probably because rings are meant to be on that finger.”
“But you do not have a ring on your ring finger…” Benny said, confusion in his voice.
The man laughed. “Well, we don’t have any to wear.”
Benny looked back at the hand he was holding. “Why not?”
“Well, we don’t really have a need for ‘em.”
Benny didn’t really ask anymore questions. The two sat in silence for a while, Benny idly fidgeting with the hand he was holding onto. The former cops’ hands were massive compared to Benny’s. The smaller being placed his own hand against the palm of the one he was holding. Gabriel stifled a laugh. Things were calm in that moment. Then, Gabriel spoke up. “You’re a wonderful, kid, y’know that, Benny?”
Benny had curled all of their fingers up into a fist by then. “You tell me that everytime I visit you.” He smiled.
“Well, we mean it! You’re sweet and kind hearted, just like Emmet and your mom. More than a few… other people we’ve known.”
“Thank you!” Benny looked up at the former cops again, Gabriel brushed a bit of Benny’s ‘hair’ away from his face and gave him a few pats on his back.
Emmet came by to look for Benny not long after, leaving the two brothers alone once more. Brendan made sure to tell him that Benny was welcome back anytime and Emmet happily passed along the message to his mother. Of course, he did tell him this every time, and Emmet knows he just wants to drive home the message.
Then the house was quiet once more. The former cops collapsed onto the couch and mumbled to each other in their mind.
‘Babysitting is hard work.’ Brendan said.
Gabriel teased back, ‘Oh hush, I did more than you did.’
They hoped 9:00 pm wasn’t too early to sleep. They slowly dozed off, thinking of Benny as they did.