Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Regto was not very good at a select few things before he encountered Rudo. Technical things, lifting heavy items, or learning sarcasm were some of those.

After Rudo, Regto realized he knew very little.

Swaddling was his arch nemesis.

Rudo absolutely detested it and it was clear it was because he was uncomfortable. Either through Regto doing it too tight, loose, or lumpy. Anytime he reached for the blanket, Rudo would actually start to fuss.

“I promise I’ll do it right this time.” Regto said to the kid who looked unamused. It was kind of cute, especially with his chubby cheeks. “You trust me, right?”

Rudo doesn’t respond in any way of course.

Regto lays him down and sets the gloves on his chest where his little hands can hug and touch. He brings one side of the blanket over, then the other around to lock it in place, and tucks it in.

Rudo still looks unsure but isn’t trying to escape which is a good sign.

Apparently all he wanted were the gloves. Regto’s swaddling was still, quite frankly, shit. He picks Rudo up and holds him close to his chest. “Let's see if I can get you to sleep the normal way, huh?” He is talking more so to himself.

He sways softly but Rudo is just staring at him. He isn’t fighting or making noises, so maybe he likes this?

Regto hopes he is doing a good job.

Regto gives up waiting on the kid to close his eyes and wraps a second blanket around himself to harness Rudo to his chest so he has two free hands. He starts to make himself some food with Rudo against him.

Sure maybe Rudo’s too old for swaddling, he knows that, but Regto is trying to be extra cautious here. Occasionally he will reach up and pet Rudo’s short white hair, then go back to what he is doing.

It takes him a few chores of making the food, eating it, doing the dishes, then sweeping for Rudo to finally fall asleep. When he’s out, Regto lays down on the couch and reads a book to give Rudo the best nap he can possibly give him.

No matter what, Regto’s going to do his best for this kid.

“Do.”

Regto looked over to where Rudo was. He was holding onto a book shelf reaching up unable to grab some scissors several feet above his head.

An item Regto purposefully put out of reach. Sometimes he forgets Rudo watches his every move and understands where he puts things.

“No, Rudo. That item is hot.” Regto said. “It’s sharp, it could hurt you.”

Rudo turned to stare at him like he was stupid.

Very familiar to when Regto had tried to convince him the gloves were dangerous as well.

“Bzz hot.” Rudo said firmly, then touched a book on the shelf. “Ba cuul.”

Regto pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Yes I understand bugs are hot,” Regto had taught him that because Rudo was adamant about picking up ants and bugs that could bite. “And that books are cold,” Regto continued, looking up to lock eyes with him.

“Those scissors are hot. No touching.”

And yet Rudo was unconvinced.

If he saw Regto touching it or if Rudo felt it, then it couldn’t possibly be hot or hurt.

“Cuul.”

“I’m not arguing with you.” Regto crossed his arms. “Come here. I’m teaching you the difference between hot and pain now so we can stop getting off on the wrong foot.”

Rudo gave him a pissed off confused expression then looked down at his feet.

Regto had been teaching him body parts too. Head, hands, stomach, legs, and feet mainly.

“No not literally– damnit. Just come here kid.” Regto pat the couch. He watched Rudo look back at the shelf then crawled over to him and stood up, trying to climb up the couch.

Regto hoisted him up. “Alright. Hot is temperature, like this.” He brought Rudo’s hand to his mouth and blew on it.

“And this is pain.” He nibbled Rudo's arm like before, just enough to slightly hurt but not really.

Rudo was watching and processing. Regto was rather proud with how fast he could pick up and understand words. Saying them was another deal entirely though.

“Can you say it? Pain, or hurt?” Regto tried. “It’s important too so you can tell me if you have a wound.”

Rudo tried but he was babbling nonsense.

Regto really didn’t like using simple words, but some concepts may need to be used. He lightly pinched Rudo. “Ow.”

Rudo moved his arm away and looked offended at him, making Regto snort.

Rudo grabbed Regto’s arm and curled his fingers hard enough that it did actually hurt. “Ow! Ow, damnit stop!” Regto moved Rudo’s arm away and rubbed the spot he grabbed.

“Ow.” Rudo repeated almost flawlessly.

“Yes, ow. It hurts.” Regto jokingly poked his cheek.

“Hot?” Rudo asked, visibly confused.

“I’ll get a better example.” Regto said, scooping Rudo up. He grabbed a lighter and candle and lit it, then held the candle up. “The fire is hot. If you touch it, it will hurt.”

Regto observed Rudo. The baby was clearly nervous and uncomfortable with the flame so close despite it being at least an arm length away.

Rudo held up his tiny little hand. “Hot.”

“Yep. Fire is hot.” Regto then blew it out and touched the wick. When it was cold he offered it to Rudo. “Now it's cool.”

Rudo glanced at him like he could be lying but reached out and touched it.

He loved seeing his eyes widen in wonder and amazement. It was adorable and fascinating all in one to see this kid actively learning about the world and how it functions.

Regto loves teaching him.

He set the candle back down and checked his fingers just in case. They were still black as usual, but nothing hurt from the candle.

Rudo moved his hands together almost like a clap but there was no noise.

It was sign language for more that Regto had taught him. “More what? More examples?” Regto asked. It was hard to find something he could use to teach Rudo about pain without actually hurting him.

He didn’t want Rudo hurt ever, but getting him to be able to tell him if he was was important to Regto.

Rudo pointed at the scissors on the shelf.

“Absolutely not. That can hurt.” Regto said. “It will ow you.” Still, he got an idea. He grabbed the scissors but held them away from Rudo and carried him to the couch where the stuffed bear was.

Regto gently poked the bear with the scissors on its arm. “Ow!” Regto said when he did it.

Rudo was staring curiously.

He loved watching him think. Regto truly wondered what was going on in that head. He set the scissors back on the high shelf and lowered Rudo down.

Rudo crawled over to the bear and was staring at its arm intently while Regto debated what to do today. He could take Rudo for a walk.

Really, he’s been thinking about finding a group of other parents to socialize Rudo with babies his age. He could talk to other tribesfolk and see if he can learn anything from them too.

“Is there anything you want to do today Rudo? We can walk outside, you can take a bath, or play, or anything else.”

Rudo was staring at him as he clearly heard and understood several key words at a minimum. His big eyes tracked Regto as he walked across the room.

To him, Regto was a huge person. Especially sitting down looking up at him. He could often spot his familiar face across the room and even further.

Rudo knew him as familiar though. He was everything and more. Regto was safety and love. He didn’t understand a lot of what he said or did most times, but Rudo never once feared him.

He was only confused and worried when he was showing him the hot fire on the candle.

Rudo struggled to understand him. And now he was being confusing again. He normally played at this time, so why was Regto trying to say they’d go outside, play, and bathe?

That idea sucked.

So Rudo chose to ignore him as he looked around at the toys around him.

He had the big thing that made a soft clicking noise constantly near him. Beside that was the bear that for some reason Regto hurt.

Rudo looked over at him to see he was still nearby and sitting on the couch reading a book.

He looked back at the toys and picked up the biggest one, holding it with both hands as he stared at the slowly moving lines.

Rudo liked that he could hear it. He could feel it just slightly too. It felt alive in a way.

After a while he set it down and looked at Regto again. He was still focused on the book. So Rudo crawled around the couch where he couldn’t see him and into the kitchen.

Rudo held onto the chair as he stood up and reached for an item he saw Regto drop today. Once he felt it, he slid it off and sat down, staring at it.

It was flat and bendy and felt dry.

Rudo instantly put it into his mouth and chewed one end of it. Even after gnawing on it awhile nothing happened so he pulled it out and squeezed it in his hands. It didn’t go back to its flat state.

Weird.

“Rudo?” He heard Regto pipe up from the couch.

Rudo put the item back in his mouth and crawled away as fast as possible because every single time Regto saw him with something in his mouth he always took it away.

From one second to another he was looking at the floor, then to Regto’s face.

Blue eyes were locked onto him, his face scrunched up in thought as he seemed to consider what to say.

“Rudo … .. eat …”

To Rudo he just heard unfamiliar noises until he noticed a few of them were familiar.

And of course the item was pulled out of his mouth.

Regto was speaking again, all sounds he had no idea what they were.

“.. no eat … .. pay-per.” Regto kept repeating one sound while showing him the item.

Rudo stared at the item. All Regto ever did was tell him what the sounds were for things.

“Paper.” Regto repeated again.

Rudo wasn’t even going to attempt that noise since it sounded so daunting. Regto was carrying him around again.

Back to the wall of books. This was his favorite spot. If Rudo ever couldn’t find Regto, odds are he was somewhere a book was.

Regto held one out to him and flipped the pages where Rudo knew some pictures were. “Paper.” Regto repeated.

“Ba.” Rudo said angrily.

“Yes .. .. book .. … paper.” Regto’s words were fast but Rudo did pick up on the more familiar sounds.

Rudo tugged at his coat. He didn’t want to be held anymore. If Regto was in a mood then he’d be stuck listening to him talk about books until he got tired.

“.. … outside? .. .. bath?”

Absolutely not. Rudo tugged his coat harder as a feeble attempt to escape. And he knew Regto knew he wanted down!

“Rudo .. … play?”

He stopped fighting against Regto, kicking his legs with excitement. Finally he was getting the idea.

“Okay.” Regto set him down and Rudo crawled away from him before he could change his mind.

Rudo looked around at the items noticing a very important one was missing. He then searched for Regto and found him far away in the kitchen.

How does he move that fast? Rudo hated how unpredictable he was sometimes. However if he didn’t have something, Regto knew where it was.

So he crawled over to him and clung onto his leg as he stood up, yanking it until he finally looked down at him.

“Vv.” Rudo tried.

Regto stared at him then crouched down. “.. ?”

Rudo didn’t understand most of his complex noises. It was obvious what he wanted. He let go of Regto to move his hands together.

“More? More .. ?”

“Vv!”

Now was the guessing game. However he could see Regto’s reactions were different than normal. He was grinning and seemed excited. “Rudo, .. …!”

Rudo deemed this man stupid. He reached out and grabbed his beard. “Ow! Brat, .. do …?”

Regto picked him up and held him while he did whatever it was he was doing.

Rudo watched him make water appear and vanish just like he did when he was bathed, then set flat hard objects aside he ate off of sometimes. Rudo pointed at it.

“.. .. Rudo? .. water, … … .. bath.”

Regto just made a lot of new noises. Rudo just hoped he wasn’t the one getting a bath right now. Luckily for him Regto kept bathing the items rather than him.

After a minute he saw what he wanted.

“Vv!” Rudo pointed at them.

“Gloves?” Regto said. “... .. gloves?” He repeated, showing them to him.

Finally. “Vv.” Rudo made the noise again so this idiot would understand what he wants next time.

“.. Rudo … gloves .. bath.”

Rudo felt Regto shuffling him around, now holding him in his other arm. He watched as Regto bathed the gloves, washing them off with the water then patting them dry.

“Done.” Regto then handed them to him. “Happy?”

Rudo clung to them tightly and wiggled to get free. Regto set him down and snorted as he took some time to crawl away carrying both gloves back.

“.. carried … Rudo.” Regto said as he followed him.

Rudo chose to ignore him because if he heard another word he’d actually get irritated.

Now with everything he wanted, he started to play.

It was some time later when Rudo noticed it was quiet. Most times something was happening. Like birds chirping. That had taken Regto forever to figure out when teaching him.

Rudo looked up from the blocks he was playing with to see Regto on the couch laying down with his eyes closed.

Rudo crawled over to the book shelf and took a random one back over to Regto.

Normally he’d pick it up and start up his usual words that Rudo was slowly learning. Depending on the book and images he saw, he’d hear familiar words.

But Regto didn’t move.

Rudo sat and stared at him with a glare. He smushed the book into him with no avail.

“Do mu.” Rudo mumbled to himself. He realized that Regto was asleep.

Rudo crawled around and picked up a few other items, sliding them beside Regto on the couch. He grabbed onto his coat and tried for several minutes to climb up, but failed.

The couch was way too damn tall for him.

Rudo looked around and spotted a pillow. He brought it over and stood on it for some leverage, now able to wiggle himself onto the couch.

He sat in front of Regto who hadn’t moved, but he could see him breathing slow and calm. Rudo picked up a book he put on the couch and curled his fingers around it, opening it up to a middle section.

Normally Regto read and spoke to him until he fell asleep. Then he’d wake up in a completely different place with Regto always nearby.

Rudo gave up on the book and laid down beside Regto close to his chest. He was holding his gloves that he had put up here too and stared at the coat slowly moving.

Just like the other big item Rudo played with, Regto made a similar noise. A faint quiet thing that was constant but sounded different to the item.

Rudo closed his eyes and fell asleep beside Regto listening to the gentle thrumming from inside of his chest.

He woke up being held and carried around.

Regto was holding him with one hand while he cleaned up the room, setting all of Rudo’s toys in the bin.

“You awake, Rudo?” Regto asked, shuffling Rudo around until he saw those sleepy red eyes softly glaring at him. He couldn’t help but smile. “Yep. Hungry?”

Rudo brought his hand to his mouth to sign eat.

“Okay, come on.” Regto said as if he was telling Rudo to follow him. He carried him into the kitchen and held up a strawberry. “Want to eat a strawberry today?”

When he got no response he tried again with a pear, blueberries, and others.

Rudo was looking at him like he was stupid again.

“I think I know.” Regto grinned as he grabbed a fruit pouch. He knew sometimes Rudo didn’t want solid foods which was fine. The theory was true as the second Rudo saw it he was trying to grab it.

“Alright kid, hold on.” He sat down with Rudo in his lap and opened it up. Regto froze as he watched Rudo grab it from his hands and bite the end of it, squeezing and eating it himself.

Regto felt so many conflicting emotions at once. He was elated Rudo was clearly learning and becoming a bit independent, but.. he also liked feeding Rudo. It felt nice to help him.

“Well since I have a free hand I can read a book to you while you eat then, hm?” Regto reached across the table and slid one over.

When he woke up from his nap earlier he found Rudo asleep beside him with a book, two toys, and his gloves. How and the hell Rudo got on the couch was beyond him.

Regto opened the book up. It was simple illustrations of animals and a fact about them, normally the noise they made. “The brown dog goes woof.”

Rudo was staring at the book while mindlessly squishing the pouch, his eyes trained on the art.

Regto flipped the page and before he could even speak Rudo bounced on his leg. “B-d.”

“Yep, good job. The blue bird goes chirp.” He pat Rudo’s back reassuringly. Regto flipped the page. “The black bat squeaks.”

Rudo was bouncing again but was too busy eating to speak. He knew why, so waited. After a moment Rudo pulled it out of his mouth. “Mu.”

“Yep, moon.” Regto smiled, pointing at the art of the moon the bat was flying near. Rudo dropped his fruit pouch to grab the book.

Regto sighed softly and reached to grab it and held it to Rudo's mouth, squeezing the parts Rudo missed so he could eat. This kids attention span was small. Then again he was sure all babies were.

However sometimes it was the opposite. Regto quickly got bored of simple books like this, however Rudo would usually sit and stare at a page for minutes at a time as if it was interesting to him.

Regto observed him as he fumbled to turn the page, skipping a few when he did. When the pouch was empty he set it aside to throw away later and carried Rudo to the living room, setting him on the floor.

Rudo instantly lost interest in the book and wandered over to the toys he just got done putting away, taking them out of the bin and playing with them.

Regto watched him play alone for a while, then grabbed one of the gloves and turned it around in his hand. It hadn’t changed at all, not that he expected it too.

He was still worried about it. The book too of course.

He looked down to see Rudo crawling over to him, only staring at the glove.

Regto knew this was unnatural. If it was a teddy bear it would make more sense, but at this point Rudo couldn’t sleep without them. Hell, the kid constantly bothered him any time he was cleaning them too.

Regto lowered his hand and watched Rudo take the glove before crawling back to the toys. He sighed softly, standing up.

He needed to get rid of the gloves and that book. Regto had no idea what the gloves were doing to his kid to make a baby so dependant on them.

It honestly pissed him off at the idea they could be manipulating him. It made him even angrier at himself since he was allowing this to go on.

Regto had the other glove since Rudo was content with just one. If both needed to be together to work then he’d keep one away and try to ween Rudo off of the other.

He stood up to go hide the glove when he heard Rudo make a noise at him. Regto looked down to see his red eyes observing him, clear as day in pure understanding and annoyance that he was about to do something stupid.

“Vv?”

Damnit. Regto realized that maybe trying to teach a kid to be smart could heavily backfire. Regto walked over to Rudo and picked him up.

“Why do you like the gloves? I don’t get it. You have other toys you can play with like the train and bear. Why gloves?”

Rudo was reaching for it while clearly ignoring him.

“Rudo, seriously. Why gloves?”

“Cuul, vv ba do.” Rudo babbled at him with a glare.

Now Regto had to understand why Rudo was telling him cold gloves book regto to him.

“Fine.” He set them on Rudo. “You need a bath though.” Regto held him firmer as Rudo began to wiggle in an attempt to escape.

“Nope. Bath time.” Regto got the sink started to warm water and set out a towel, diaper, soap, and of course the gloves. Not to wash but to keep Rudo content.

He had tried other items with almost no success.

Rudo was distracted gnawing on one of the leather fingers as Regto ran a soapy rag over him in the warm water.

“Rudo, don’t eat the glove.” He tugged it out of his mouth then wiped his face. “Who knows what kind of ancient curses is woven in it?”

Regto actually felt a spark along with goosebumps ripple across him as if it was the gloves getting annoyed.

He was tired of this and losing his mind. He’s only talked to Rudo for weeks except small interactions with strangers. So he talked to items to keep sane, especially those that were a potential threat to his son.

“Don’t get pissy at me.” Regto glared at the glove as he wiped under Rudo's neck then down his back. “Rudo is a baby that you’re making obsessed with you. That doesn’t exactly tell me you’re good.”

He saw Rudo staring at him, mainly his mouth.

Regto always found it interesting the kid was trying to understand but language was just so complex. He washed Rudo’s hair without getting anything into his eyes.

The gloves were quiet and showed no indication Rudo felt anything from them either.

Regto pulled Rudo out and wrapped him in a towel, ruffling him up to dry him off. He slid a diaper on, then put him in warm clothes. Regto drained the sink and carried Rudo and the glove to the bedroom.

“Mu?”

“Yep. It's night time. I know it's a bit early but I’m a bit tired.” Regto explained as he set the bed up. Being a solo parent was exhausting. Constantly tending to another person on top of himself was something else.

He laid on his back with Rudo beside him like usual. However he was staring at the ceiling since his brain was refusing to shut off.

Regto felt Rudo shuffling around, then a glove was whacked onto his face. “Ow, Rudo, why?” Regto mumbled despite it not hurting. He reached up and touched the glove.

Rudo was practically shoving it into his face though. “Vv do.”

“I don't know what glove Regto means.” Regto grumbled, wincing when Rudo pushed the glove against his mouth.

“Ba vv.”

Regto stared at Rudo in the dim moonlight, then wrapped an arm around him. “You’re trying to help me sleep with your glove since it helps you, huh?”

He took the glove and slowly slid it onto his hand, then rested it like a weight on Rudo. The kid almost instantly relaxed, his little hands curled around two of his fingers and squeezing them.

“You sure do show love in unique ways.” Regto hummed, closing his eyes and smiling softly. He realized that saying was hypocritical since he also showed Rudo love in odd ways too.

He wasn’t a mother of a father. He had seen parents dote on their kids, kissing their cheeks or hugging them, making them dance and smiling all of the time.

Regto doesn’t do that. He’s never felt a need. He hopes he smiles enough but that’s not something he did often. He shows his love by learning about Rudo and providing him anything he wants or needs, by always being there for him.

Unconventional and probably not perfect or ideal, but he couldn’t really change his ways.

The next day Rudo was a ball of energy. He was crawling around the entire day or standing up and bouncing in place.

Regto had given up chasing him around and was sat on the ground surrounded by his toys as Rudo wandered around.

Rudo was currently standing up holding onto the table chewing at the edge of it while holding his toy train.

After a minute he looked around for Regto and spotted him sitting near the bookshelf reading a random book he had grabbed from it.

Regto looked up from it to stare at Rudo. “What? You have that look in your eyes like you’re thinking something new.” It was getting easier day by day to understand this kid without words.

Rudo set the train down on the table and bounced a bit.

Regto’s eyes widened and he actually felt his heart race with excitement when he saw Rudo let go of the table. Not of fear at all, but of anticipation that he was about to walk.

He could see Rudo’s hesitation.

Regto scooted closer, his legs splayed far apart so if Rudo fell he’d be bordered, then lifted his arms up. All ways to encourage him to try and that he’d catch him if he fell.

Regto could see his little brain thinking and calculating. Then he held onto the table again, deciding it wasn’t worth the risk.

Regto set the book aside. Rudo would need an incentive then. Before he could even reach to grab a toy or a glove Rudo turned and managed one step before his legs wobbled and gave out.

Regto’s hands moved faster than his brain as he caught Rudo. He picked him up with a bright grin and very lightly shook him. “Rudo! You did it! Look at you!” He pulled him close and hugged him, chuckling a bit from Rudo’s confused fussing.

He stood Rudo back on the ground but held his hand out for him to hold. Regto used his other to guide his feet, one step at a time. “This is walking. Waa-lk.” Regto repeated, helping Rudo take assisted steps to the table. When he was there he helped Rudo hold onto it, then sat back with an excited grin.

“Can you walk to me?” Regto asked.

Rudo looked confused and nervous but showed this with a half glare. He bounced a few times, then reached out for Regto with one hand opening and closing.

Regto held up his arms to catch him if he fell again and watched.

Rudo could stand without holding onto anything just fine, but shifting his weight was harder. He managed one step without falling, but the moment he moved again he fell.

Regto was there to catch him before he could. “That was fantastic Rudo! I can’t believe you’re almost walking. This is amazing.” He understood just why people enjoyed having kids now.

“Wak.” Rudo mimicked him.

Regto beamed again. “A complex word for you! Yep, walk. Are you in a learning mood? I can show you some more signs we need to get you to know like sleepy.”

Aaand Rudo looked disinterested again..

“Sorry, was I rambling too much?” Regto noticed that sometimes if he kept saying words Rudo doesn't know the kid would get tired faster.

He switched to trying terms Rudo would more easily recognize. “I can read you a book and talk to you about it.” Regto said while searching for a baby book Rudo would like.

He was so busy finding one he didn’t notice Rudo moving about. He heard a strange noise from him and looked over to see Rudo was moving his palm to and from his mouth making a ‘bwa’ sound from it constantly.

“No, don’t do that. That’s not words.” Regto lightly chastised, pulling his hand away.

A sudden hot flash jolted through him that felt exactly like the gloves.

The thing was they were on the table, not touching him. Which meant they could make him feel things without physically being on him.

He had no idea why they did that now. All the times before were because he either annoyed the item or threatened them.

Regto looked at Rudo to see he looked pissed, his big red eyes actually full of tears about to spill.

What? What!? Did he do something to make Rudo upset?

“Rudo?” He picked him up from under his arms only for the kid to turn away from him and pout. “Rudo, I’m sorry. What did I do? Am I talking too much?”

Regto held him close and wiped his tears away. “I really am sorry. I don’t understand, but I know you’re upset.”

Rudo still looked irritated.

Right. Use smaller words for now that Rudo understands.

“Rudo is sad right?”

That got a reaction from Rudo who made a strange babbling noise.

“I want to make you happy. How can I do that?” Regto asked as if Rudo could tell him. The baby didn’t move, so either he didn’t understand or didn’t know how to reply.

“Do you want a book?” Regto offered one to him.

To his surprise, Rudo pushed it away. “Ba!”

Alright so that was a no. Rudo hadn’t done this before.

“No book then. Okay..” Regto glanced at the gloves. Don’t you dare shock me again. He silently warned as he grabbed one and handed it to Rudo.

“What about your gloves?”

Rudo seemed slightly pacified but hadn’t forgiven Regto.

“Does something hurt?” He tried.

Rudo seemed to contemplate for a moment. “Do ow.”

He hurt Rudo? What? “Where? Did I accidentally pinch you or something?” He had no idea and started to look over Rudo’s arms for any visible showcase of it.

Rudo looked irritated at his actions and weakly whacked him away.

Regto could only watch as the kid crawled away from him, clearly wanting to be left alone now.

He had to figure out what happened so he could apologize somehow. For now he let Rudo have his space.

Regto tapped the pen against his lips as he stared at his own notes. He had been writing for a while, sitting at the kitchen table where he could watch Rudo from afar.

Thing is, it was time to eat.

From what he read, babies didn’t remember grudges for long. However this was Rudo he was dealing with. If it was written in a book about babies, chances are Rudo did nothing even similar to it.

That theory was proven true when he walked over to the kid who was playing with the alarm clock, train, and one of the gloves. When he saw Regto walking over he booked it away from him.

Regto scooped down and picked him up much to Rudo’s very obvious angry babbling.

“I know you haven’t forgiven me, but I’m not going to let you be hungry.” Regto brushed some of his hair out of his eyes. “Let me feed you then you can go back to ignoring me, okay?”

Rudo was still pouting, his little face conveying he was still really upset by something Regto did.

Regto sat down with Rudo on his lap like usual. He had already made got the food and offered Rudo his favorite: a banana.

Rudo’s eyes lit up. “Nana.” He reached for it and took the small bite from Regto and popped it into his mouth.

“Yeah, banana. A bit rare but I know you like it.” Regto grabbed another piece he cut and handed it to Rudo. He stayed quiet since Rudo was still glaring at him.

So for the first time they ate in silence with Regto making sure he ate until he was full. When Rudo was done he cleaned his mouth and set him down, watching him crawl away.

Though he did see Rudo glance back at him. Maybe to make sure he wasn’t following? He wasn’t sure.

He quickly did the dishes and got a new diaper ready for when he’d have to change it then made himself dinner. As he ate, he tried to focus on thinking about his son in a new way.

If he was a baby, what would piss him off?

… Regto had no idea.

He slowly ate his rice curry as he stared at Rudo, then saw his mouth was moving. He had to strain his ears but he could hear Rudo quietly babbling to himself.

None of them were words he already knew.

Was he practicing? Regto always praised him when he got close to a word correct, but these were just mindless noises.

Regto didn’t want to encourage nonsense.

As he lifted up his fork for another bite he dropped it when a now familiar pain jolted through him.

Those damn gloves–!

Regto stood up to go and find them but just saw Rudo holding one with the toy train in it peeking inside and babbling again.

He quickly connected the dots.

For some reason the gloves did not like him chastising Rudo for his babbling.

Regto sat back down and ran a hand through his hair. Why? He really didn’t get it. It also worried him that the gloves could do this at any point and only chose to do it now.

They were certainly telling him something he supposed.

Regto finished his dinner and put the dishes away. He sat at a distance away from Rudo, then slowly scooted closer.

Rudo kept glancing at him, not at his face, upset he was getting closer but not moving away.

When he was close enough to reach, Regto offered Rudo his finger. “Rudo, I’m sorry. While I don’t get why you’re upset, I know what I did made you sad.”

Rudo turned away from him and his hand. He picked himself up, holding onto the toy bin, then looking back to glare at him, his red eyes trained on his face, then to his outstretched hand.

Regto wasn’t even sure if Rudo knew what forgiveness was or how to teach it. Still, he turned his hand over to display the palm. “I will try to understand why it made you upset, but I want you happy first now that I know what I did bothered you.”

To his surprise, Rudo let go of the bin and took three wobbly steps towards him, grasping Regto’s hand and fumbling when he did.

Regto’s heart rate spiked and he beamed. “Rudo! You– you just walked!” He helped Rudo stand up then pulled him close, hugging him. “You walked to me..” He realized.

Regto squeezed him gently then let go and picked him up. “You are an amazing kid. How do you deal with a stupid old man like me?”

Rudo was babbling nonsense. Regto could hear how unsure Rudo was to speak, like he expected Regto to tell him no.

His heart broke. Regto hadn’t really realized that him telling Rudo not to mindlessly talk without purpose would hurt him like this. He had discouraged Rudo in a way just because he thought it wouldn’t help his talking.

He knew now.

Regto smiled softly at him. “I have no idea what you just said, but I’m proud of you. Always.”

Rudo still looked unsure but more confident when he babbled again.

“Like I said I’m not really good at this.. parenting stuff. We are both learning.” Regto set him on the counter carefully. “I do trust you’ll chastise me when I do something stupid, hm? Or are the gloves gonna do that for you?”

Rudo looked mildly amused as Regto changed his diaper. He was talking more confidently now, none of the noises making sense, but the tone was quite smug.

“I know I’m stupid and you’re smart.” Regto grinned at him. “But you can’t… tickle me!” He ran his fingers up Rudo's sides and under his arms.

Rudo wiggled and let out a squeal, legs and arms kicking.

Regto stared at his face.

Hm.. still not smiling. Rudo still made a happy noise and reacted to the tickling just fine, but he didn’t smile.

He’d been keeping track of that for a while. Regto sat Rudo up and lifted his lips upwards with his fingers. He smiled at Rudo. “Smile, like this!”

Rudo bit his finger gently and gnawed on it instead.

“Alright, that will take some work. Are you happy though? No sad?” Regto asked as he picked Rudo up to carry him.

More babbling that Regto would assume meant yes.

He still had a lot to learn.