Chapter Text
Mike wasn’t going back to work.
When he got all fixed up in the hospital and started his recovery from getting stabbed, the first thing he did was apologize to Jeremy for forcing him to handle all the pain of bills and money for a bit. Jeremy had called him stupid for apologizing at all.
He had given the kids a bit of a scare. Despite his goal to stay awake to make sure they were okay, he had fainted. He didn’t realize it until someone had told him when he woke up. He couldn’t even remember who, he just remembered asking about the kids.
They were safe. Cassie had a boot on her foot, but with rest she’ll heal up fairly quickly. Gregory’s concussion had been pretty bad, having hit his head twice on two different sides, but there was hope for nothing permanent down the line. The broken nose was bandaged and it gave him a nasty bruise that spread to his eyes.
Even so, they were okay. They were going to be okay. Eventually.
Mike grunted as he pushed himself off the couch, hand instinctively going to hold his healing side. Gregory scrambled off the couch as well and stopped Mike from getting up further.
“No, no, no, what do you want? I’ll get it for you!”
“I’m fine, kid.”
“No, you’re not. I’ll get whatever it is, just tell me!”
“Gregory, I need to go to the bathroom.”
Helplessly admitting defeat, Gregory huffed and sat back down on the couch. He gave him a frustrated glare that had Mike smiling as he left the living room.
The kid is protective. Mike was right, he didn’t remember too much of the night, but he didn’t forget everything. He remembered coming to with Spring Bonnie’s head on his head. He remembered the ticking and everyone screaming, including him. He remembered the smell of blood and everything William had said before he had his head completely obliterated, and he remembered sitting beside Mike while he was unconscious. He had told Mike he didn’t think William was dead. It filled the kid’s nightmares and made him awfully paranoid. He turned that nervous energy into helping Mike while he recovered.
Mike had been worried the kid would be damaged beyond repair like he was after William, but that was far from the truth. He spent every moment with them and stopped trying to hide away. It was terrible how much closer they got because of all this.
He returned to the living room and Gregory was more than happy to pull him back down on the couch.
“Do you think you can teach me how to draw?” He asked.
Mike shrugged. “I can try, I guess. Why?”
“Mother’s Day is coming up soon and I wanted to draw something for Lizzie. She’s practically my mom, anyway.” Gregory leaned up against Mike’s side, pointedly not on the side with the injury. “And then I can draw comics like you do and make you and Jeremy something for Father’s Day. Is that okay?”
Mike smiled something stupid and dorky. The idea of fatherhood still scared the life out of him, but he couldn’t help the exciting feeling whenever Gregory called him his father. He just had to make sure he lived up to the standard.
In some ironically terrible way, seeing William again helped him become a better father figure in his eyes. William was cruel down to the last few seconds of his life, but Mike had almost died that day trying to protect Gregory and Cassie. William would never do that, no matter how much he claimed he was fighting for Lizzie and Evan. Mike wasn’t going to have the idea soiled for him just because his father wasn’t a good one.
Gregory was his kid, and he isn’t ever going to hurt him. He isn’t going to hate him, or beat him, or blame him for his unhappiness. Hurting children was a choice, not something that just happens once they get on your nerves. Mike had gotten extremely angry with Gregory when he told him why he had run off with Cassie, but he never raised his hand at him or insulted him. He never even had the urge to.
How could he? He loved the kid.
Mike scrubbed his hand through Gregory’s greasy hair, ruffling it. “Can you tell me what day Father’s Day is?”
Gregory stopped and squinted his eyes, thinking to himself.
“July or something?” He mumbled. Mike laughed at him.
“It’s your birthday, dumb dumb,” he teased. “First birthday with us too. Do you really want to spend that day celebrating me and Jeremy?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really care about my birthday.”
“Well, I care about your birthday and I can’t name several other people who also care about your birthday. Your first birthday with us. You know Cassie will throw a fit if we don't have a party for you.”
Gregory threw his head back and groaned. As if celebrating his birthday with gifts, cake, and people who loved him was such a burden on him. “Why does it matter?”
God, it’s so unreal how much he loves this kid. “It really doesn’t, but if you’re fine with sharing your birthday with us then that’s fine. It’s within my right to do whatever you want on your birthday.” He pushed Gregory off him playfully. “Now go get some paper so I can teach you how to draw.”
Gregory stood up and Mike expected him to run off immediately, but he stayed where he was for a moment. He had a frown on his face that made the scar stretch strangely. It made Mike worry a little. More than a little.
“What’s wrong?” He asked softly.
Gregory just shrugged again, seemingly bashful. “I dunno… are you sure you’re fine with me calling you my dad? You told me when you were sick that you never wanted to be a dad, and I don’t want to annoy you like that.”
Just like that, Mike was hit with the memory of saying all that to Gregory. He was only half aware of the things he was saying to the kid while fever-brained, but with all the chaos of the next few weeks, he had completely forgotten about it. The reminder made him wince. He was stupid for even thinking like that. Who the hell adopts a kid and then refuses to call himself a father?
“I, um,” he swallowed anxiously. “I don’t really— I don’t know, I was being stupid. I am your father, a hundred percent, I just didn’t want to… to think of myself as a father. Because you’ve seen my dad.” Mike laughed. “I didn’t want to think of myself as that guy.”
“You’re not that guy! He was an asshole and tried to kill us,” he held up two fingers. “ Twice!”
Mike laughed again, wincing at the ache in his side. He touched the injury and tried grounding himself before he could think about the whole killing thing. Killing his father. And almost getting killed himself. And Gregory. Twice.
“Yeah, I know all that. I have a few issues on my end, but I’m still sorry I made you believe you weren’t my kid.” Mike tilted his head when Gregory looked down at his feet, trying to get his attention. “Because you are. You are my kid. And I wouldn’t have done all this if I thought otherwise. Even if I say otherwise. Got it?”
When Gregory didn’t respond, Mike poked at his nice and full stomach until he broke. The boy laughed and smacked his hands away.
“You got that, huh?” Mike pushed.
Another laugh. “Jesus, yeah, I got it!”
He slapped his hands off again and Mike pulled back. He pointed up the stairs, telling him to go get the art supplies so they could draw.
Gregory woke up gasping, eyes snapping open to his infinitely too dark room. He pushed himself to sit up and frantically shifted around to look around the room. He had fallen asleep with his back to the door and had woken up from a nightmare.
He remembers the ticking and laughter, and the snap that caused screams to follow. He remembers hands grasping at a disgusting yellow rabbit head. And eyes so pale they were practically glowing were watching him.
William wasn’t dead. Gregory heard all the screams and pain, but he didn’t believe someone so evil could be killed just like that.
He kicked off his blankets and hopped out of bed, immediately feeling like someone was watching him. Gregory headed out of his room, pausing for just a moment to make sure he heard no one moving around, before running to Mike and Jeremy’s room. He felt the anxiety building again as he knocked on the door. His back was towards the stairs like this. Someone could walk up behind him and grab him so easily. He might be gaining more weight now, but he was still too small.
Gregory frantically knocked again until someone opened the door.
Mike frowned at the hyperventilating boy. He quickly opened the door fully and crouched down to pull the kid into a hug.
“Shh, shh, calm down, it’s okay. You’ll be okay, just breathe.”
Mike was able to look over his shoulder. He would tell him if anyone was sneaking up behind them. He would tell him, and his arms were holding him like they were a shield, so he could start to relax.
It took just a few moments longer to fully relax again.
Mike patted his back when his breathing slowed to a normal rhythm. “Okay, I’m going to regret this, but here we go.”
In one breath, he scooped Gregory up in his arms and stood up with a grunt. He swore as quietly as he could, closing the bedroom door behind him and leaving them out in the hall.
“Fuck, you’re getting too big for me.” Mike grunted again as he walked down the hall to get back to Gregory’s room. Gregory felt his heart start pounding again.
“Wait, no,” he pressed himself against Mike’s shoulder. “Can— can we go downstairs please? I don’t want to go in there.”
“Why not?”
More than a bit embarrassed, Gregory hid his face again. “I wanna make sure no one broke in while we were asleep.”
Mike sighed and pulled him closer. “Yeah, okay, I get that. We fit better on the couch than in your tiny bed anyway.”
Gregory thanked him softly and Mike carried him down the stairs. Once they got to the living room, Mike was once again swearing and grunting under his breath as he lowered Gregory onto the couch. He stood back up and held his tender side.
“Yeah, I already regret that,” he grumbled. He shook it off and turned to the kid. “Do you want me to check the doors and windows for you or are you satisfied with this?”
Gregory would much rather keep Mike in his sights than have him surveillance the area. He shook his head. “I’m fine— can you just sit with me?”
“Yeah, of course, kid.” Mike sat himself down in his usual spot and pulled Gregory close to him. He combed through his hair to help him relax more. Gregory curled up against him. “Do you wanna talk about it tonight? I think it’ll help.”
This wasn’t the first time in the weeks following William’s death that Gregory had nightmares about it. All of this was almost routine. Even so, Gregory had always refused to talk about it directly. Especially when the topic makes Mike so uncomfortable.
This time, he sighed. “Do you think they would let us see your dad’s body?”
Right on cue, Mike shifted in his seat, clearing his throat. “Uh, I don’t know. He’s probably gone by now. There’s no way he’s still sitting in that mall.”
“But if his body is still there— or if it’s—”
“There’s no way he’s still alive, kid,” Mike cut him off softly. He held him closer. “He’s gone. He’s gone, Vanessa is gone, and we’re okay. I’m fine and you’re fine.”
Gregory felt the humiliating pressure of a sob in his throat. His eyes grew wet and he tried to hide it in Mike’s shoulder. He gasped shakily. “I’m not fine.” He wasn’t at all fine. “I almost died. You almost died. I’m so scared, I’m sorry, I don’t—”
This time he cut himself off with a wail. Mike hugged him impossibly closer, trying to hold him together despite him falling apart in his arms.
He couldn’t say anything else and Mike didn’t say anything either. All he did was hold him as his tears became uncontrollable. Gregory hasn’t cried like this since the streets. Since Mike had found him asleep on the park bench and bought him donuts. Or the night he ran from his apartment, tucked behind a dumpster, and cried into his arms as silently as he could. He didn’t want anyone to find him then.
Now he just couldn’t care. He’s been through too much to care.
He clung to Mike to know he had him there. Gregory had almost lost him when he was stabbed. That whole night had been one big screw up, a nightmare.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Mike whispered to him as he cried. He kissed Gregory’s temple and leaned his head against the fault. “It’s okay. Just cry, it’s okay. It’s okay, baby.”
Gregory gasped in his tears, but Mike helped keep him together.