Chapter Text
Merle wishes he could say something profound as to why he was up at three in the morning, like his keen dad sense is just that good at knowing when his kids need him, but it’s almost entirely luck. In reality, he’d just been bingeing The Fantasy Office and lost track of the time.
So when he hears the pitter patter of little feet in the living room, he can only think that he was just in the right place at the right time.
The sounds of shuffling drift in from the kitchen. Shuffling and sniffling. And with a regressor whose sleep schedule is a coin toss between nightmares and night terrors, that’s never a good sign.
Merle slides off the bed and pads into the kitchen.
Taako is standing in front of the open fridge, anxiously sucking on his pinkie as he surveys his food options. He looks so much younger when he’s like this, in his rumpled PJs with his hair hanging messily in his eyes.
“Hey, kiddo.” Merle says.
Taako turns to him, staring like a teary-eyed deer in the headlights. His other hand is tight around the fridge door handle, and only gets tighter as he struggles to think of a response.
“It’s kind of late to be up and about.”
“I was hungry?” Taako says, sounding so unsure of his own lie that he phrases it like a question.
“Well, get something good so we can share. I could use the company tonight.”
He heads back to his room, pretending not to notice the look Taako gives him, the one that proves just how hard the gears are turning. He may not admit that he needs comfort, but if it’s for Emmy, well, that’s a different story.
He’s such a sweet kid, no matter how much he likes to pretend he’s a demon.
Taako joins him a few moments later with a bag of cookies. Merle rolls his eyes. He should’ve known better than to leave little Taako in charge of getting food. Still, he’ll take it. It’s not like he was really hungry in the first place.
“So how about a story before bed?” Merle suggests. He props himself up against the pillows, so Taako is nestled comfortably against his shoulder. “I’ve got one cooking up that you are going to love.”
Taako doesn’t perk up like Merle expected him to. In fact, he almost looks nervous. “Emmy, can I tell the story tonight?”
Merle blinks. “Uh, sure thing, bud.” He’s been sitting on this story for about a week, but he supposes he can wait a few more days. Taako would probably appreciate it when he’s in higher spirits anyway. It’s got a dragon and everything.
“Okay, but you have to promise not to cry, because it’s just a story.”
Oh, that’s not a good sign. Still, he swallows back his fear and tries his best to look calm. “I promise.”
Taako stares at him for a moment, and while it’s clear he may not completely believe Merle, he still continues on. “Good. This one is called ‘The Scariest Day.’”
Merle gets the sense his promise is definitely going to be broken.
“Once upon a time, there was a very pretty elf who was also a prince. He was very handsome and very funny and very smart, and he liked to travel with his royal babysitter Sazed.”
It would be easier if Merle hadn’t heard that name before. But he had. Not often, and until now, he hadn’t even realized the significance of that name. He’d only heard it a handful of times, when Taako was half-stuck in one of his night terrors usually. At the time, it had sounded like gibberish.
“Sazed wasn’t mean, ’cept when he was mad, but that didn’t happen too much. Mostly the prince just had to keep his head down and make his own fun. Sazed was really bossy, but the prince liked him anyway, because he was the only person in the whole country that wanted to take care of him. It was hard for him, though, ’cuz the prince was a brat, so the prince was very lucky to have him, even if Sazed didn’t like to do much with him. Mostly Sazed just told him what to do. ‘Bedtime, prince.’ ‘Naptime, prince.’ ‘Color time.’ ‘Quiet time.’ Always quiet time.”
Taako’s eyes moved to a blank space on the wall, his gaze and voice getting further away.
“Sazed agreed to take care of the prince years ago, some time after they started their journey together. He was never fully prepared, not like he thought he’d be, but the being tired, the never wanting to play, that was new.”
Merle silently offers his hand, slipping it into Taako’s to help ground him. Taako barely notices. The only acknowledgement he offers is the rhythmic strokes of his thumb to the back of Merle’s hand, like he’s timing out a song and smoothing a crease at the same time.
“One day the prince wandered off where he wasn’t supposed to and ran into some monsters. He was feeling bored and teeny, so Sazed told him to play off in the woods. They were big and scary, huge bug monsters the prince had never seen before. Of course, the monsters weren’t the problem. Not only was the prince very cute, very funny, and very smart, but he was also very good at fighting. The problem was once they were gone, the prince felt even more bored and even more teeny.
“The prince wanted his sippy, which Sazed kept with all his other little things in a locked box, so he popped his thumb in his mouth and went to go find the royal babysitter. What the prince didn’t know was that Sazed was already trying to gather a crowd. He wanted to be famous on his own, without being connected to the prince, and wanted to impress everyone with how well he could cook. Needless to say, it wasn’t very good for either of their reputations when almost everyone in town saw the grown-up prince acting not-so-grown-up.
“Usually when he was mad, Sazed would take the prince’s arm really hard and pull him away, ’cuz people seeing the prince acting like that reflected badly on their entire kingdom, but today was really, really bad, and Sazed was really, really angry. He grabbed the prince by the back of his collar and took him away.”
Taako takes a long pause. His breathing has gone very shallow, so when he pauses, he pulls in a long, strained breath before he can continue.
“It was no use, though. The damage was done. They’d have to leave immediately. Find a new town to stop and pray that word of the prince’s behavior didn’t spread. With any luck, this town would forget about the peculiar prince that acted like a baby, but that meant they couldn’t ever come back and remind them. This little town would always be marked with a big red X on every map they owned.”
Merle takes to stroking Taako’s hair just to give his other hand something to do. He knows he wasn’t always the best dad, but hearing stuff like this makes him pissed. Who willingly takes on a kiddo when they don’t want to? He wouldn’t pretend to understand fame, but if he had a kiddo with a reputation to look out for, he wouldn’t be letting the kid wander around in the first place!
Taako melts into the touch. If he wasn’t so troubled, if he didn’t look so completely unable to sleep, he might have dozed off under that soothing touch. He continues his story. “Sazed didn’t normally get this mad, but today he was furious. He grabbed the prince by his neck and threw him against the wall. When Sazed got mad, his words always ran together, like his brain was moving too fast for his mouth, so it was hard for the prince to understand what he was saying. He could hear words like ‘wasted time,’ ‘wasted money,’ and ‘embarrassment,’ and that was enough to get the gist.
“The prince tried to protest, but Sazed only tightened his grip and slammed the back of his head against the wall. It hurt so bad the prince saw stars. Then he said something the prince would never forget. ‘You’re lucky I tolerate you when you’re like this. No one else would. If it weren’t for me, you would’ve ruined everything.’”
“That’s awful!” Merle blurts. It’s the first thing that comes to mind, no matter how inane, and it does what he needs it to. As Taako speaks, Merle watches him get further and further into his own head, the film of tears covering his eyes, but Merle’s interjection grounded him enough to keep him from falling completely into the past.
“Shh! No interruptions, Emmy!” Taako pouts. He gives Merle a reproachful look. “Telling a story…”
“Sorry, munchkin.” Merle blinks twice, hoping the tears in his eyes aren’t as visible as they feel. “Keep going with your story.”
Taako takes in another shallow breath. Despite Merle’s best efforts, he still goes back into his head with ease. “The prince didn’t get up for hours. He was so scared that Sazed would come back that he couldn’t even bring himself to get off the floor. Even when he heard Sazed go to the front, mount the horses, and start moving them to their next location! He might have stayed there all night, except his butt was numb from sitting there all afternoon, so he went to bed.
“The next morning, Sazed felt very bad, so he brought the prince breakfast in bed, and he even stopped the horses at a really pretty lake so they could play later! That was how he said sorry, because he wasn’t very good at sorry. That was okay, though. The prince understood Sazed didn’t mean it.
“Sazed always got nicer when he was guilty. It didn’t happen often, but it happened. When the prince was sick, it would happen, but usually, it was after he hurt the prince by accident.”
“How many times did he hurt the prince?” The biggest battle comes from keeping his voice soft and hiding the fact that he’s boiling over with anger.
“Only that time. That’s why it’s the scariest.”
“But you said he grabbed the prince’s arm sometimes?”
Taako shrugs. Is he really still defending this guy? “Okay, that hurt too. But not as bad. Arm grabbing only hurt his arm, and not much. But this hurt his head and his neck and his heart. That’s why it made him sad.”
The stretching silence made it clear that Taako would do nothing to elaborate on his story. Apparently just talking about it was catharsis enough to help him calm down. He looks like he’s due back asleep any minute now.
Merle doesn’t suppose it’ll hurt to press him just a little. “What happened to Sazed?”
“He left.” Taako says simply.
“He left?”
Taako nods. “He got tired of being a babysitter and quit.”
“Maybe that’s for the best. It doesn’t sound like he was very good at his job. That was very mean of him, treating the prince like that.”
“Mm.” Taako nods, but he doesn’t quite sound like he believes that.
Merle swipes a stray lock of hair from Taako’s eyes. “Got any more stories in there? Anything about what happened to the prince?”
Taako gives a little yawn, sinking back into the pillows. “No more.”
“There’s no more?”
“Story machine broke.”
Merle chuckles and draws the covers up around Taako’s neck. “Well, thank you for sharing the story with me.”
“It wasn’t too sad?”
“It was a little sad, but nothing Em can’t handle. I’m just honored you wanted to tell it to me in the first place. I know it takes a lot to share a sad story like that.”
It’s a relief to finally see the corners of Taako’s mouth turn up in the tiniest ghost of a smile.
“You can’t tell Maggie, though. Sad stories make him cry.”
“I won’t. But you might want to tell him yourself one of these days. Even if it makes him cry. He’d probably still like to know.”
Taako sighs. “I know. But not tonight.”
Merle chuckles. “Definitely not tonight.”
“I can stay here?”
“Well, I’d hope so. Because I’m certainly not carrying you back to your room.” He gives Taako a peck on the forehead. “Get some sleep, kiddo.”