Chapter Text
I really should have seen this sooner. It was so obvious that it would happened eventually and yet I didn’t see it coming. Or maybe I did but for the first time, hope clouded my mind. I keep thinking as I see Kate jumping happily with Nacho in her arms around Tomate.
We successfully rescued Nacho Tomate and Pepino from Dark Workers. It was hard but with help from Federation officers everything ended well.
I was snapped out of my thoughts by Kate's happy voice.
"Nacho, this is my husband Tomato, you can call him uncle or Dada if you want! "
Everyone around them looked at the Tomato and Kate and then at Nacho's reaction. In all this chaos no one took me into account, as if I wasn't there. But before Nacho or anybody else could say anything, Ewron suddenly appeared.
"Kate my bestie, I was looking for you!! I was sooo worried about you. Oh Tomate, I'm glad to see you again. Wait, what's going on here??? "
The sight of them all smiling and talking to each other made me feel a strange prick in my chest. But I decided to not to worry about it. The important thing is that my son and the rest are safe. So without even saying goodbye I went back unnoticed to the reactor. After all, I have a lot of work and I can't afford any more wasted time. Besides it's not like my presence is needed or something. They've got each other now so I can go.
As I've been working in the reactor for couple of hours I couldn't get out of my mind the fact that after all this, my dreams of any kind of family could be shattered. I just can't bring myself to stop thinking about that question from Kate. I don't think Nacho would ever call someone other than me his Dada but the thought that it's possible is stronger every time I think about it. I'd like to think Katie said it in a fit of emotion and without any thought, but it still made me feel like part of her would like it to happen. I may be overthinking this but I can't help it.
Suddenly the alarms from reactors entrance started beeping making me flinch. I quickly glanced at the cameras to see who it was, but before I could see anything, I heard a familiar voice.
" I expected to find you here." I heard him say.
"What are you doing here, Aldo?" I replied with my usually emotionless voice so he couldn’t really tell what my real emotions are.
He looked at me for a moment as if he hadn't heard my question or just decided to ignore it. We stood there just staring at each other. When our eyes met, I quickly looked away. I could never hold eye contact unless I wanted to be intimidating or scary but even then it was only to my enemies or people I didn't really like or respect.
"How do you feel?" he asked, but it sounded more like he knew the answer and just asked to give me the space to talk about it. But bold of him to assume I would tell him anything.
I only blinked at the question and turned around to the table picking up one of the test tubes. I didn't want to think about anything now, let alone talk to anyone.
" I know what you feel." he kept talking." It's really unfair for you after all of this to be here alone.”
" I don't know what you're talking about, besides I'm busy right now." I tried to sound like I didn’t give a fuck but he is too smart and too observant to fall for this.
"You can keep pretending it doesn't affect you but I can see that." he said while taking careful steps into my way. "You are a shell of a person that fights all the time for himself but keeps losing and nobody sees that.”
"Shut the fuck up kurwa!! You know nothing so spierdalaj kurwa!! Leave me alone!" who he think he is. He didn't have any right to come here and say those things to me. If he wants to mess with me he really shouldn't.
"Listen Multi I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anythi..." I didn't even let him finish what he wanted to say.
"Then maybe kurwa stop saying shit, you know nothing about me!!" I was so fucking angry at him I turned around to the table again so I could get himself under control. I breathed deeply and quickly As if I was about to have a panic attack. I leaned my hands on the table in front of me for support and tried to think only about the positive things.
From all of the thoughts I was pulled away by hands that wrapped around me from behind. I concentrated so hard on trying to calm myself that I forgot Aldo was still in the room. And now he was hugging me from behind. I got a little surprised and wanted to break free from the grip but he tightened it and brought me closer to his chest and hid his face into the side of my neck. I immediately stiffened and stopped breathing. I didn't know what to do in this situation, especially since it was the first time we were in such an intimate embrace. I'm sure my whole face, neck and ears are burning, and the fact that I'm very pale made that blush even more visible. We stood there for I don't know how long but Aldo finally broke the silence.
"It's okay you know? I'm here so you don't have to pretend nothing is affecting you." He said it straight into my ear. The warm breath gave me goosebumps all over my body. At this point I didn’t know what was happening to me and what was I supposed to do in this situation. I just stood in his presence, waiting for what he had to say to me, trying hard not to cry. The fact that he managed to calm me down and I'm no longer stressed surprised me a bit. I’m glad don’t get me wrong but I would prefer not to cry in front of him but I'm getting closer to it the more I stay here.
I didn't answer him, so he grabbed me by hips and turned to face him. We stood so close that I could feel his breath on my face. I immediately tensed up and wanted to make more space between us, but he sensed it so he pinned me a bit to the table behind and tightened his grip on me so I had nowhere to run.
Now that he got me in this position I didn't have anywhere to hide and he could see all my emotions written on my face. Especially looking in my eyes where the tears I was hold for so long wanted to escape. Aldo seeing that cupped my face with his left hand. Stroking my cheek with his thumb. I wasn't used to such affection so I finally broke down and tears started to run uncontrollably down my face. Aldo got surprised at my vulnerability and tried to calm me down but seeing that it didn't really help he just let me hide in his neck so I could cry all I needed. I couldn't control myself and just cried occasionally hearing him murmuring words I could barely understand.
Time flew but I cried and cried. I didn't even realize when he managed to move us to the other end of the room. He sat on the chair and pulled me on his lap so we could be more comfortable. Honestly I didn't mind it right now because nobody could see us. And for the first time in my life I didn’t feel like shit or a burden.
After some time I got myself under control and we kept sitting here. He held me not so tightly anymore but tight enough so I felt safe. From time to time his hand wandered from my back to my head in comforting gesture. Honestly it really surprises me how both of us didn’t pull away yet from the embrace. I changed my position a bit so I could lie on his chest and see his face a bit.
Now I could see his face a bit, something downed on me after we locked eyes. Since he got here his eyes never left me even for a second. To think about it was a bit unsettling because nobody ever paid that much attention to me how he does. I found myself looking at him, this time without breaking eye contact. Even the little space between our faces didn't bother me a lot. I didn’t think at this moment. All the crying has really worn me down so I just sat on his legs and kept staring, waiting for any move or word from him.
"Feeling better now?" in soft voice Aldo asked, softly cupping my face.
"Yeah, thanks " I barely managed to say after all that crying. It was a bit embarrassing but the moment his hand touched my cheek I melted into the gentle touch. It was so comforting I wanted to stay here. It didn’t help that his hand was so big you could hide in it.
Seeing my reaction he smiled affectionately and leaned in a bit. Slowly my hand made its way to his shoulder but before I could do anything, something interrupted us.
"Dada? Are you here? " echo of the metal doors were heard across the reactor.
"Shit." I muttered under my breath. Without any thought I tried to stand up and nearly collapsed but thanks to Aldos quick reflex and strength I didn't end up sprawled on the ground. Before I could say more, Nacho appeared in the doorway jumping happily upon finding me.
"Dada! Uncle Aldo hi!"
"Hi Nacho, how are you?" Aldo tried to avert Nachos attention from me so I could make myself more presentable. But Nacho is as stubborn as me so he kept asking
"Dada, what happened?" smart kid doesn't get fooled.
I fixed myself a bit and barely managed to sit down when I found himself with Nacho on my lap hugging me tightly. "Hey buddy, it's okay. Dad's fine, you don't have to worry."
"I'm sorry Dada" said Nacho with tears in his eyes. I immediately held him tight to my chest and started rocking him a little to calm him down.
"Why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong." after I saw little one crying I got worried a bit. I don't have any idea what's it about. I looked at Aldo asking quietly if he knew something but he shook his head. When I tried to ask him more about it he started crying harder and it just made me more nervous. It got to the point I nearly started crying too. But before it could happened Aldo gently placed his hand on Nachos back and started rubbing softly. He relaxed a bit and lifted his head to see who's hand it is. Aldo gently picked him up and Nacho cuddled up to him and started to quieten down. I was shocked a bit but also glad that he decided to step up and help me out with my son.
"Hey sweetheart look at me" Nacho shook his head trying to hide more in Aldos arms.
"Please it's important we talk about it, look at Dada being all sad." At that Nacho unglued himself from the hug with hesitation. When he lifted his face you could see that he was calmed down and didn't cry anymore.
"Good, now please tell us what happened, we won't get mad or anything. You can tell us everything, that’s right Dada Multi?" I immediately nodded at what Aldo said, smiling a bit. With that Nacho got a bit braver and started telling us the full story from the beginning.
Turns out it was about the situation after the rescue mission with Tomate. Little Nacho, when he saw that I was not with him, got worried and wanted to look for me right away, but everyone tried to convince him to stay. The moment Katie began to pressure him more into choosing how to address her husband, he simply started crying and teleported to his room in the reactor.
As he spoke, I slowly stood up and walked towards them. The moment I got close, Nacho held out his hand, so Aldo and I both thought I should take my son back. What was my surprise when he shook his head at that and tightened his hand on Aldo's shoulder while pulling me into the hug. I was a little nervous by the way we were now embraced, but Nacho was happy so I didn't mind. Honestly it was a bit comforting and knowing that Nacho was comfortable with Aldo, gave me pleasant warm feeling but I decided to ignore it now.
"I love you Dada" he said while falling asleep in our arms.
Seeing this, Aldo smiled broadly and gave me his cheeky look. Now being this close I can only look away and hope that he didn't notice the blush on my face.
After that we went to nachos room and laid him to sleep, hoping that he wouldn't wake up later because of everything that happened. "I love you Nacho" I whispered and kissed his forehead at which he smiled a bit in his sleep.
Quietly as possible I sneaked out and when I succeed I was met whit a grinning Aldo who was now leaning against a wall. I just shook my head and made my way to him imitating the way he stood.
"Who would've thought you are such a cute softie for kids" he straightened his posture a bit so he would look a bit taller. As if he needed to do it. He already was tall but yeah let him have this aura moment.
"You are no better than me, so don't make fun of me Aldo" I wasn’t really in a mood for jokes or anything. Honestly after such events I'd like to sleep and never wake up. Aldo saw how I tried to hide the yawn that managed to escape. He proceed to help me to the bathroom so I could get ready. When I was done I made my way to the room but got stopped by Aldo again. I blinked couple of times and saw that now he was in different clothes and had a backpack in his hand.
"I thought maybe you wouldn't want to be alone right now and I remembered how earlier you liked my hugs so here I'm."
"Wow you already invited himself into my home so I guess okay" I tried so hard not to get red again but fuck I failed looking at the now smug look he kept throwing at me. Or maybe his supernatural ass hears my thoughts then I'm so fucking screwed. I got into my head again so I didn't realize when he got close to me. When I finally did I was already enveloped in a big warm hug that made me close eyes and take a deep breath.
"I'm here now, so please get some rest. I'll take care of you" I nodded at that already feeling a bit sleepy. He got ready in five and lied down facing me. It was really dark in the room but we could see the outline of each other. After sometime of staring into space and not falling asleep he laid his arm on my waist and dragged me closer.
"Goodnight" he murdered while kissing my forehead and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I think if I wasn't that tired I would jump out of this bed. So I just stared at him until he pulled me tight against his chest. It was so warm and comfortable we fell asleep cuddled up to each other while I had my head tucked into the crook of his neck. And honestly I have never slept better in my life.