As I continued to look out the window with Fidel, continuing to talk with him despite the bird giving me nothing more than tweets, chirps, and occasional pecks here and there as responses. After leaving for around ten or so minutes to take a shower, once I came back out, straightening out my black shirt as I did so. It wasn’t too much longer before I had suddenly heard the sound of a car’s engine, the sound making Fidel suddenly fly to land on my shoulder as I stared at the car. It was a red truck, a truck that somehow always managed to stay clean and near spotless despite it having to trudge through three hours' worth of desert countryside just to reach the city!
But, the sight of my Father getting out of the car with a groan and a small crack of his back, I couldn’t help but scoff.
“Hey, Father!” I called out to him, his hands reaching up to fix his glasses before he turned his head towards me.
A wide grinn came onto his face as he waved. “Hey!” He laughed.
“I’ll be right in; I haven’t seen you or Anaku in hours!” He continued, causing me to push myself away from the window and close it.
Fidel merely stayed perched on my shoulder, the feeling of him huddling closer to my neck as he let out a tiny squeak of a sigh making me chuckle.
Although Fidel didn’t treat Dad like he did with strangers or any animals that happen by, letting out almost banshee-like screams of tweets as he dive-bombed them and overall did anything, he could to chase the intruder away, the bird still never failed to make it clear
that he didn’t like my Father for some reason. He was more than comfortable with Dad, me, or the old woman two miles down the road picking him up or giving them rub their finger against his chest but when it came to Father?
He acted more...cold? Father did everything to get the bird to like him, even giving him extra treats but it just never worked.
“How was work?” I heard Dad ask as soon as I walked into the living room, Father immediately going to sit on the couch with a tired groan as he ran his hand through his shaggy curly blonde hair.
An explorer is what Father worked as, it was just something one could obviously tell by the way he acted and approached life in general. He was three inches taller than me; his skin seemed to be freckled everywhere but obvious with scars and wounds old and new while his cheeks were freckled. He had a pair of sky-blue eyes that were covered behind a pair of glasses, I almost never saw him without a standard black choker around his neck while he seemingly slept in a bracelet made out of purple scales and he had a build similar to my own.
It was more athletic-looking but it was stronger nonetheless. However...his job? If it didn’t leave him being away from home until midnight then it left him leaving the country for possibly days or weeks on end, no matter how risky or dangerous the job was. He’d never fail to take it and in all honesty? I didn’t know whether to narrow my eyes at his recklessness or find it admirable, but at least I could confidently say it was bordering on the former.
“Ah...busy as always sweets, I’m trying to score an expedition to go to Brazil. I hear they have a cave that has so much gold in it that it’ll make kings look poor! Who knows? Maybe I can steal some for all of us?” He said, playfully sticking his tongue out at the suggestion while Dad only raised a brow and shook his head with a sigh.
He handed him a bottle of water. “You really need to take a break, Maxwell...” He huffed.
“But, please don’t steal, we’re doing just fine. Besides, what kind of standards will you be setting for our son? Stealing and such”
“Bah." He scoffed, waving his hand dismissively.
"Kid's sixteen, he knows it's bad to steal Anaku."
I shrugged as I went to sit down next to him, the sound of Fidel suddenly letting out a shocked chirp telling me that Father attempted to pet him.
“I don’t know, I say that it can be good to steal from time to time,” I commented.
Immediately, I could almost feel Dad’s glare begin to create holes in the back of my head. He always had to be so righteous...it was true in some ways! If Dad really did talk to Father later tonight then we needed as much money as possible, but, not even mentioning the fact that I tried to avoid as many sketchy situations as possible.
There weren’t even any stores around, who was I going to steal from?
Myself?
Suddenly, I felt Father place a hand on my head with a snort. “Stealing isn’t right but, if you’re going to do it, make sure it’s for the right reasons, will you? Much more, don’t get caught.” I nodded my head, the conversation slowly but surely starting to fizzle out between us before Father quickly cleared his throat.
“Anywho...Chelidon-” He nodded at me. “-Loving husband of mine-” He nodded at Dad. “-I'll be going upstairs to take a shower. I smell.”
“Oh no, you don’t.”
“Huh?”
“I left something out in the fields near the forest, why don’t you go and get it for me right quick? You can even bring your son.” Dad asked all of a sudden before a small groan escaped Father.
“Really? Why can’t you-”
He was soon interrupted by a sharp glare. “I have household chores to complete, surely going out to retrieve something shouldn’t be an issue?” Dad huffed as he placed his hands on his hips.
“And, if I recall correctly, you said you wanted to find more ways to spend time with your son.”
I narrowed my eyes, why did I not see this coming...? Dad always tried to find ways to get me and Father to hang out! It was...awkward, in all honesty? Even though I respected him greatly as he adopted me and I had his last name, Abrecan, that didn’t mean I felt all that used to him being around, not to mention hanging out with him! He was constantly at work; we didn’t have too much in common much less have anything we could do or talk to one another about!
This was a bad idea. “You both need to spend time with one another-”
I rolled my eyes.
“-A father that doesn’t have a strong bond with their son is setting him up for failure.” Dad continued before I let out a groan and got up from the couch.
“Can’t I just go back to my room? I’ll even do chores with you Dad!”
“No,” Dad answered sternly.
“Go.” Dad continued, causing me to scoff before I headed outside with a shake of my head.
I couldn’t believe this! Being forced to hang out with Father? I didn’t want to!
I understood why there were days when he worked long into the night or periods of time where he would be gone for seemingly months.
He was an explorer; it took him out of the country often but...I saw no reason to be forced to hang out with him.
I’d treat him with respect and greet him happily whenever but nothing more than that.
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