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“Daddy!” the little boy jumps off the bus and runs to his little house.
Conner is in the front hanging up the laundry. On the other side of the house is the beach shining in the beautiful evening light.
“Hey sport!” He smiles.
The boy instantly sobers and glares daggers as he runs past their picket fence, “Where’s daddy?!”
He’d just finished his first day of 1st grade and he'd been good! He hadn’t cried or got into a fight or broke a wall or anything!
“Um, he’ll be home in a bit. He’s still at work.” Conner said apologetically, “You’ll just have to hang out with me.”
“Uhn…” He didn’t want to cry but the disappointment welled in his chest.
He’d been so good and he looked forward to seeing daddy again!
Conner freezes up and then rushes over to him, “Hey! Hey! It's all good! Tim’ll be back soon! He wouldn’t want you to cry right?!”
“B-but I miss him…” the little boy crooned.
Conner knelt down and put a hand on his head, patting him, “I know. Me too, buddy. But we both have to be strong so your daddy doesn’t worry about us, ‘kay, Coco?”
He nodded so Conner took the little boy’s hand and led him into the house, “Do you want to go play?”
“Let’s put away your stuff then you can go play okay?” Conner offered.
“No!” he said indignantly as Conner took off his backpack. He quickly ran out to the laundry line and picked up a bedsheet from the basket.
There was only one more to hang up. Conner could only privately smile as the boy tried to reach the string with the clips on it.
He walked over and picked him up so he could reach it but his little hands had a hard time opening the clip and then the sheet slipped from his hands and fell on the grass.
“Ah!” Conner shifted Coco to one arm, picked it up, and handed it back to him. Then he opened the clip and helped the boy put the bedsheet up.
It was difficult to manage but when it was finally clipped up the proud look on Nicolas’s face was worth it.
“Good job, Coco.” Conner told him, and the boy very proudly puffed up his chest.
“I always help daddy.” He said, “That’s why daddy only needs me.” he added pointedly.
Conner could feel the sweat drop from his head. This kid was so cheeky. He decided to ignore that comment.
“Well I’m going to start dinner if you want to um… go play?” he offered again.
“I can help!” he declared.
Ah, Conner should have expected.
When they entered the kitchen Conner got out the ingredients.
“What are we making?” Nicolas asks, staring at the lettuce, beef, bread among the things Conner took out.
“One of your favorites!” Conner has a smile again as he tells the kid, “Hamburgers!”
Nicolas’s eyes widen in awe before he starts jumping for joy, “Yay! Hamburgers!!”
Conner helped him wash his hands and then he let him mix the meat while he put in the ingredients.
He watched as Conner grilled it on the stove.
As he sat at the counter watching he swung his feet and rested his head on his hands, “Conner when is daddy coming home?”
“He’s probably on the way already, Coco.” Conner says, “Be patient.”
“I am!” he crosses his arms, his lower lip protruding out.
“So ah…” Conner says, “How was school?”
“It was fun.” Nicolas says, “I missed daddy but I promised him not to cry or be bad… and I didn’t!”
“Good job.” Conner commends, “I’m sure Tim will be very happy.”
Nicolas sighs as if what Conner said annoyed him, but at the same time he looked pleased, “I can always make daddy happy.”
“That’s true.” Conner finished the burger patties and then laid out the buns, lettuce, tomatoes, condiments and all on the table so when Tim came they could assemble their own burgers.
Man he was hungry but Tim would be home soon.
To be honest Kon missed him as much as Coco. Tim really didn’t have to work but he seemed happier with a job. He built a branch of Wayne Corp in Hawaii and was CEO but it was a small branch and he only had to go in three times a week and when needed accordingly.
“Daddy is happy with me.” Nicolas glared at him again, “So… so don’t try to steal him away, okay?! Daddy won’t like it!”
“What?” Conner asked, “I won’t take Tim away from you Coco. I love Tim and I love you too.”
He rubbed the back of his head shyly, “I… would like us to be a family, eventually. If that’s okay.”
Coco was silent for a while, making Conner’s nerves spike with every passing moment.
“It’s okay.” He pouted looking away.
Conner let out a breath of relief as the front door finally opened, “I’m home!”
“Daddy!”
“Tim!”
They called in unison as they got up from their seats in equal excitement.
“Woah!” Tim shouted as Coco tackled him to the ground and Conner piled on, “Hi?”
“Daddy! We made hamburgers!” Nicolas shouted excitedly.
Conner helped Tim up, as Coco was still stuck on him. He carried him on his hip as he was led to the dining room.
“Oh? Smells so good!” He seated the kid next to him. Conner sat across, giving each of them plates before grabbing his own.
“I did laundry too!” Nicolas boasted, “I was good at school too!”
“Wow, I’m so proud of you.” Tim sounded so sweet and looked so cute as he wiped some ketchup off Coco’s face.
Conner couldn’t help but stare.
Tim turned to him and grinned knowingly, and Conner rolled his eyes away pretending he hadn’t been staring but then grinned right back and decided to stare as openly as he wanted.
Conner raised an eyebrow then it was Tim’s turn to roll his.
Coco let Tim know more about his successful first day of Kindergarten before going to wash up.
Conner and Tim started cleaning up and washing the dishes.
“How was your day?” Tim asked.
“Eh, flew around the island a bit, played some video games, did some laundry, made some dinner.” Conner shrugged, “it was a nice day. Even better now that you’re here.”
Conner gives Tim a quick peck on the cheek that makes Tim flush that pretty pink he loves and his heartbeat a second faster even though Tim would never admit that it does. Conner can hear it though and it always did.
“You’re so cheesy.” Tim nudged him with his elbow as he set the last plate on the drying rack.
He glanced over to where Coco was washing his hands, “He seems completely fine without me.”
A look of loneliness crossed Tims face and Conner couldn’t help but wrap his arms around him from behind and kiss his cheek, “Hey now, he actually missed you very much. The only thing the kid talks about when you’re not around is you, y’know? He tries really hard to be strong for you when you’re not around. It’s pretty cute.”
“Yeah?” Tim asks, leaning his head against Kons.
“Yeah.”
“But he won’t always be like that.” Tim says, and the sadness in his voice is palpable, “This is so stupid. Sorry-”
“Don’t be.” Conner squeezes him a little reassuringly, “One day he’ll grow up and be more independent, yeah. But for now he’s just a kid. A kid who loves and needs you every day.”
Tim nods as he turns around in Conner’s arms and kisses his lips soft and sweet and Conner feels like he wants to drink in all of him.
“Ouw!” Conner shouts, jumping away.
Something had-
Coco. Coco had stomped on his foot, hard.
His arms now wrapped around Tim’s middle protectively between him and Conner.
Glaring daggers he stabbed at Conner with his words, “I take it back! Daddy only loves me!”
Conner could only sigh as Tim asked, “You take what back?”
Nicolas of course doesn’t answer and Conner just shrugs, “I don’t know about that. He might love me a little more after I make him some cookies.”
“C-cookies?” Coco asks.
“Don’t tease him like tha-” Tim starts but then Coco yells, “Let me help!”
And his hand is in Conner’s as he guides him to the fridge to grab the flour.
Tim crosses his arms as he sits and watches the two. Their resemblance is uncanny. They have the same eyes, head shape, and very similar mannerisms.
"Let me do it!" Nicolas has the flour bag in both hands and Conner lifts him by the waist so he could put it on the counter.
"Good job, kid!"
They hi five.
Tim loves them.
---
Note:
There's a fic of what happened prior to this but it's from Coco's perspective, it's in 1st person, and it's very simply written because he's a child and he doesn't really understand things very well. He's really attached to his daddy (if you can't tell by this fic) so his perspective is quite skewed and narrowed in on Tim rather than anything going on around him and he's they type that only cares about and wants to take care of Tim so at first he really doesn't really like Conner but he grows on him.
I don't usually read 1st person fics so I understand if you want to skip it but It's called 'Take Care' and you can read it here on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12238935
Thank you!