Chapter Text
Angus is seventeen and he doesn’t have a family. He walks the streets with a baseball bat in hand.
*
“Last name?”
“McDonald,” he says if asked because he doesn’t remember his parents but he remembers dumpster diving behind a fast food restaurant.
*
His jeans are old, and short in the legs, and his sneakers have holes in them. His t-shirt is dirty and his coat was stolen but he still has his watch on his wrist. The batteries are dead but he wears it. To Angus from Grampa is engraved on the back of it in looping cursive.
*
He wakes up shivering on a park bench, and there’s this huge guy with huge sideburns looming over him so he sits up quick. The guy has a dog, almost Angus’ size but less skinny. He asks if Angus is okay, if he needs help. “I’m fine,” Angus says, and runs.
*
Angus likes the library. It’s warm, the toilets are free and he can stay as long as he wants because no one is going to throw a well-mannered teen out of a library.
The librarian is a nice, quiet man. His hair is on neat dreads unlike the mess of dark curls on Angus’ head. He doesn’t bother Angus when he’s reading. He doesn’t ask why he never checks anything out.
(Because he has no place to take the books to.)
Angus figured out rather quick that the loud, outlandishly dressed person with blond hair is the librarian’s husband and he can’t believe such a couple exists but they seem happy.
“Whatcha reading this time, pumpkin?” He asks because he seems unable to leave Angus well enough alone.
“None of your business, sir, ” Angus says, just to be rude, but the man only laughs, like he’s pleased by the answer or something and Angus hides his grin behind the book he’s reading.
*
When Angus was younger, he liked Sherlock Holmes. He liked mystery novels. He wanted to be a detective, the world’s greatest. But he was a kid back then.
A stupid dream.
*
His glasses are cracked but that’s fine, he can still see through them. His nose is bleeding but it’s not broken, so that’s fine too.
He stumbles into a random café to wash his face. The girl at the register screams when she sees him. The tag on her shirt says Ren and before Angus has time to disappear into the restroom, the door behind the counter slams open. It’s the flamboyant husband from the library because of course it is. He glares at Angus and crosses his arms over his apron-covered chest. Angus glares right back before slamming the door and locking it behind him.
He’s gone before they start knocking on the door. The window was small but he hasn’t had a proper meal in a long while so he fit through alright.
*
He avoids the library for a few weeks because he’s sure there will be questions and he doesn’t want to answer any.
*
Angus is huddled in a corner of a building, not quite covered by the edge of the roof above and it’s raining. A woman stops before him and drops a hoodie onto his shoulders. It’s too big for him, so big that it can’t be hers either. She doesn’t say anything.
She’s short with a friendly face, but she looks strong enough to knock a guy out. She’s already walking away when Angus recognizes the dog.
*
Angus realizes he must skip town soon. It’s when people start to take notice of him, when they start remembering his face that the trouble starts. This town isn’t too small but he's already running into the same people too many times.
*
He is walking, minding his own business when he’s manhandled inside a building by the dog couple. With horror, he realizes it’s the café from before. He thinks about yelling but attention is the last thing he wants.
Angus glares at the light-haired person at the counter before realizing it’s someone else. A twin, he thinks, because they look very similar. She’s talking to a man wearing blue jeans.
Angus is herded into a booth so he takes a seat. The couple sits a table away but their dog settles on Angus’ feet. The animal is heavy but warm, and his toes are freezing so he lets it.
Just like last time, the blond man appears from the kitchen and sets a hand on the table before Angus, leaning on it. His nametag says Taako.
“Tea or coffee, kid?” he asks, and Angus glares at him because he’s not a kid.
“Well?” Taako prods, not giving in.
“Tea. Please. ” Angus spits out, mocking once again but gets a grin in response.
“That’s more like it,” says Taako, and saunters away.
Angus stares determinedly out of the window because he can tell what this is. This is an intervention, and he wants no part of it. He’s almost eighteen, and when he’s eighteen, he can be on his own legally and he's been just fine thus far anyhow.
Angus’ tea arrives, and with it, plates and plates full of food that he did not ask for.
“What’s this?” He asks, suspicious, because it is. Taako frowns at him.
“It’s food, dude. Though you do look like you haven’t seen much of it.”
“I can’t pay for this.”
“Don’t need to.”
“I don’t want your charity.”
Taako takes a deep breath through his nose like he’s preparing to yell. Angus stares hard into his eyes, daring him to.
“Taako!” admonishes the woman at the counter and he deflates. Taako glares at Angus, points at him, then at the food, then at him again. He walks away with a flip of his braid. Angus gets a sheepish grin from the sister after Taako disappears back into the kitchen.
Angus’ stomach growls so he sighs and starts eating.
He’s never tasted anything so good.
*
Magnus and Julia are good people. They have warm smiles and clothes covered in dog hair.
Magnus asks what the baseball bat was for.
Angus stares at him, brow raised, until he gets it. Magnus looks away, an embarrassed flush to his cheeks and Julia laughs gently at him and pats his chest comfortingly to soften the blow.
*
“So. Jeans, huh?” Barry says.
Angus looks down. “They’re sturdy,” he says and shrugs.
Lup grins.
*
Taako and Kravitz’s house has a lot of books. Angus smoothes his fingers over the spines.
“Do you have anything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?”
“No,” says Taako, though it’s not like he would know.
“Not yet,” says Kravitz with a smile.
*
Angus comes home to a cake with his name and eighteen candles on it.