Luan was pacing. It was supposed to be calming, the back and forth motion of your body as you walked. He couldn’t really enjoy it, though. Not with a six year old girl crying in the bathroom. Sure, he had kidnapped her. And yeah, maybe he had told her what he’d have to do if her father didn’t give him what he wanted. But seriously, it's not like he actually touched her or anything. 

With a sigh, he turned towards the door, soft sniffles coming through the crack. 

“Mira?” he called softly, taking a couple steps closer. 

“Yeah?” came a soft croak, as he pushed the door open. She was on the floor, back against the tub as she hugged her knees close. Her red eyes caged a soft gold that looked at him pitifully. 

He kneeled down a few feet away from her, trying to appear less threatening. It was hard, trying not to scare someone so small, when he knew he looked like a gangster. Though, to be fair he kind of was one. Still, though. 

“Will you come back to the room? I promise I won’t hurt you”. He spoke quietly, hoping to pass off volume as actual care. She sniffled some more, a couple tears falling off her chin as she lifted her head more. 

“You said…” a hiccup interrupted her as she tried to talk. 

“Said you would have to hu-hurt me if Papa didn’t gi-give y-you what you want”. More tears flowed after that as she turned further away from him.

Luan didn't want to admit it, but knowing he was the reason this small thing was crying did make him feel bad. Not very gangster at all. 

But he had to get it back, even if it meant threatening a small girl's life. Luan knew, just looking at her sad figure curling in on itself, that he wouldn’t be able to do anything if her father refused the deal. And that was what scared him. He was desperate, on the brink of a mental breakdown, and all he could do was sit and hope a crime lord actually cared for the only family he had. 

Otherwise, he couldn’t very well send the little girl back to a dad like that. He’d have to keep the poor thing, and that was a huge responsibility. Luan didn’t really know how to take care of children, despite the fact he was supposed to have instincts for it. 

Being an omega really sucked. He didn’t look like one, not really. So, he never told people about it, and they always assumed he was an alpha, just because of how scary he was. But he wasn’t an alpha. And he’d never be one. 

Surprisingly, he felt a small hand slip into his, looking down to see Mira had come closer. She looked at him through wet lashes, head tilted to the side. 

“You smell nice, mister. Like flowers”. 

He flinched a bit at the words, realizing he’d unintentionally been secreting calming pheromones. Well, whatever got her to calm down. 

He went for a smile, trying not to scare her back into her little cocoon. She smiled brightly, seemingly forgetting why she had been sad before. 

“Will you be my mother?” 

Safe to say, Luan’s ragged smile died instantly. What was wrong with this girl? He just kidnapped her, and she wants him to be her mother? Sure, he had planned on adopting her if necessary, but that was only taking responsibility for the fact he had kinda stolen her in the first place. 

“Your mother?” he asked softly, thinking perhaps she had been mistaken in her words. 

“Yeah, you smell really nice. I bet Papa would absolutely love you!” she squealed, climbing into his lap as she spoke. Her tiny hands came around his neck, hugging him and basking in his scent. 

“I can’t be your mother. I just kidnapped you. I don’t think your dad will like me just for that. Unless….. Is your dad mean to you?” May as well find out what kind of home life she had while he was stuck in this conversation. 

“No, Papa loves me!!” she exclaimed, smile ever present. Now that the wailing had ceased, she seemed incapable of not smiling while she talked. Of course, it might have just been that his pheromones were doing what they were supposed to. 

“I just know he’d love you too. You're super pretty, and you smell nice. Papa likes pretty things. And- and you could give me a baby brother and we’d always play together and I could teach him how to climb the big tree in our yard and-” He couldn’t help it, he had to make her stop thinking about things that were insane. So, he might have flipped her upside down abruptly. With the dangling, shrieking child in his arms, he went back to the bedroom and tossed her into the mound of blankets on the bed. A louder shriek than the rest came flying out as she was airborne. With a soft thump, her tiny body disappeared into the pile. 

For a second, he wondered if he had killed her. Do children die so easily? But when he went to check, he was unceremoniously jumped on, the laughing fiend dangling from his neck as he tried to stay upright. 

“Let go, tiny menace!” He yelled at her, trying to untangle her body from his torso. She was like a freaking octopus, shrieking laughter ringing in his ears as he flailed. With a loud thump, he fell into the pile she had sprung from. Turns out, that was even worse. Now she unleashed an attack on his stomach with her tiny fingers. 

Luan tried to resist the urge as he struggled, but a few bursts of laughter shot out. Mira giggled with him, thinking torture was fun. Little freak, probably got it from her freaky father. 

“Stop, stop, stop!!” He yelled, finally getting the little cretin off. She was still giggling like a maniac. Luan swore she seemed easier to deal with when she was crying.

Then again. 

Managing to hold her back a bit, he got her to sit down. 

“Listen, Mira. You can’t just start jumping on people. Especially people who kidnapped you!” 

“But you don’t smell evil, mister. I like flowers. So you have to be my new mother!” She really was obsessed with this mother thing. What about him could possibly seem motherly to this little freak. 

“I ain’t gonna be your mother, little freak.” ok, maybe calling a six year old a freak might seem rude. But honestly, claiming your kidnapper as your new mother is probably just as bad. Maybe more. 

“I’m not a freak! My Papa said I’m a princess! And princesses aren’t freaks!” She did seem rather offended. Ok, don’t call children freaks. Noted. 

“Yeah, well. Princesses also don’t try to tickle their kidnappers.”

“Kinapper, kinapper. Don’t you have a name?” She said, her hands opening and closing like they were talking. 

“It’s KID-napper. Not kinapper. And if I tell you my name, your father will use it to hunt me down when he gets you back, so no can do.” 

“You mean, I get to go home soon?” She asked hopefully, golden irises gleaming brightly. 

Luan paused, trying to decide how to answer that. On the one hand, he wanted to say yes, because that would mean his plan was going perfectly. But if he decided her family life was too crumby, he’d have to take her with him forever, so that would definitely mean no. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. 

With a sigh, he gave her a small nod, hoping to pacify her tiny person urges for immediate answers. If it was possible, her eyes seemed to grow even brighter, like golden stars that should have belonged in the night sky with the way they shone. 

“Yay!!!!! Papa will be so happy when I bring him a perfect new wife like you!!” She exclaimed. It was at that moment that he decided: There was no way she was ever going back to that man. He couldn’t let her try to put such thoughts into the mind of a crime lord. What if he decided Luan had done something horrible to her? Or even worse, what if it actually made him consider wanting him. There was no way he’d ever find Luan with the descriptions she liked to pin, but if he ever did, he was screwed for sure. 

With the biggest sigh he’d ever felt leave his lungs, he grabbed one of the blankets on the bed and shoved it over her evil, smiling face. Of course, it just led to more giggles. 

At least, he’d managed to replace the sad tears in her eyes with happy ones, even at the expense of his own sanity. 

Luan just hoped her father would pay up soon. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this creature, with her shrieking laughs and deranged thoughts on marriage. Perhaps, if her father was terrible at parenthood, he could leave her with a family more equipped to handle tiny people. 

That could work.