Chapter Text
“I wanna catch something!!” Those words were repeated excitedly by the small child as he ran ahead of his dad into the forest.
Roman couldn’t remember how much time they had spent hunting, but he knew their time was coming to a close. So his small body just charged towards the trees, almost on its own.
He wanted so desperately to catch something to show his papa that he had done a good job hunting with dad.
“Just stay close! We’re leaving in 10 minutes!” Roman’s dad shouted in his direction.
“Okay, dad!” Roman yelled back.
That would be more than enough time! Roman was sure he could find something in that time. A small mouse or a… A snake! Maybe not a snake. Snakes are dangerous and his dad told him to avoid any snakes.
Roman slowed down his pace from a run to a slow walk, remembering how he was told running towards animals could scare them away. He didn’t want them to run away, because if they did he couldn't catch any of them.
Roman walked around the area. He tripped once or twice on a tree root, but each time he would get back up without much fuss. He’d brush off the dirt from his knees and shorts and keep quiet.
Not a lot of time had passed when Roman heard something. A rustle in the bushes grabbed his attention.
The small boy bent closer to the ground as he waited for whatever was on the other side to pop out. Soon enough it did. It looked similar to a mouse.
"Perfect…!" Roman could barely keep his voice down from excitement.
The 'mouse' looked bigger than the hamsters at the pet store. Roman would always ask his papa if they could get one - and he would always turn him down for some reason. If Roman caught this critter his papa would have to agree to keep it. He just had to!
As his hopes grew so did the animal's awareness of him. It quickly turned its tiny tail towards the boy and ran off.
"Huh... Don't go!" Roman spoke as he jumped to his feet and followed it into the bushes.
"Mousey…?" Roman sulked as he searched through each bush he walked by. He did this a while. He’d walk further and further into the tons of bushes, losing track of time until something snapped him out of his search.
Roman tripped for a fourth time today - he tried to keep count, but what he tripped on felt squishy, like the toys, not hard like the roots of a tree. Roman suddenly felt a pang of fear as he looked down at his feet to see a huge black snake. It was so big and the way it shook its tail at Roman told him he needed to get out of there. And so he did. He got up and just ran without any other thought than getting away from that huge beast. Snakes are dangerous.
Roman didn’t stop until he found another distraction. This time it came in the form of cobwebs that he ran through. The strands now laid strewn about his shoulders and arms. The stringy feeling made the boy stick his tongue out as he picked at the webs, gently dropping them off to the side. Bit by bit.
Once he removed the last of it, Roman’s eyes followed the cobweb as it fell to the ground. There, hiding in the grass, was a spider. This made the child take a step back, he knew not all spiders were dangerous (unlike snakes), but they still made him scared. This feeling made him wish he stayed at home.
Roman looked around in that moment. Ten minutes surely passed. He’d have to go back, but there was one problem. He had no idea where to go.
Roman’s lips curled into a tight frown. When he was lost, he knew he needed to simply stay put. He didn’t move from his spot, staring at the spider in the grass a little while longer. It had black stripes on its body and Roman could see two rows of eyes, with 4 each.
Roman felt icky from looking at it this close. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked around again, trying to distract himself. Why was his dad not calling for him? Was he looking for him? Or did he leave without him?
Roman slumped to the dirt while still hugging himself. He sniffled a bit as he waited. And waited. And waited.
He was scared and sad. That made it hard for him to keep track of how long he waited. Roman looked at the grass in front of him and noticed the spider had climbed up a tree and was spinning a web.
Time had passed, Roman was sure of it. But instead of feeling happy that he had figured something out on his own, he was upset. Very very upset. The child stood up from the dirt. He didn’t think about brushing himself off like usual, he instead tried to remember where he came from. He wanted to try and get back to his dad.
“Dad? Where are you?” Roman called out as he held his hands around his mouth and marched in the direction he thought he came from, that being opposite the spider web. “DAD?” He shouted.
As he walked at a slow pace the child would call out every now and then. Louder and louder, until his voice began to hurt and he could feel fear taking over him again. Roman stopped in a small clearing. It was hard to breathe, so he sat down back on the ground. His face was now red and tearful.
As he cried loudly, through his tears he could see how his noises scared away the animals nearby. Birds flew away and small critters on the ground hid in bushes and holes.
He felt alone and scared… no. Terrified. Did his dad forget about him? Why else would Roman still be here and not at home? Did his dad forget on purpose?
All those questions only pulled at Roman’s small heart and made him cry louder than he thought possible. Was he not being loud enough? Is that why he was so hard to find?
While those questions flooded the boy’s mind and distracted him from the world around him he didn’t notice the two men who had stepped out from the trees. He was so consumed by fear that when he felt one of them touch his shoulder he screamed.
Roman crawled away, like he did from the snake, but he wasn’t sure if he should get up and run like then. He looked up at the two men. One of them was crouched down and had his hand reaching out towards the boy in a way that felt inviting. The other stood a few steps behind. The first thing that stood out to the child is that they wore the same clothes and both had glasses, although the one in the back wore sunglasses, giving him a cool guy feeling. Roman took a closer look at their clothes. White shirts, black vests and pants. Eyes widened when they stopped on the gun holsters on each of their sides. “Are… you two… policemen?” The child asked fearfully, yet hopeful.
The two men looked at eachother and there was a long moment of silence. Roman noticed how the friendly man frowned and it made the cool one cross his arms, before adjusting his shades and giving the boy an answer. “Something like that.”
Roman smiled and sat up slightly. He knew they could help him. The friendly man turned back to face him. “Are you lost?” He asked, worry written plain on his face.
The boy gave him a nod, before recalling the story of how he got here to them. How he had gone hunting with his dad, how he followed a mouse, tripped on a snake and ran into cobwebs until he realized he was truly lost.
The two of them seemed to listen with interest. The friendly one’s eyes shined through his round glasses when Roman shared his excitement about catching the mouse, the cool one stuck his tongue out when he talked about how icky the spider webs had been.
“If you want, you could come with us and we could call your dad to come pick you up! We work not too far from here.” The friendly one adjusted his glasses as he leaned forward and held his hand out to Roman once again. The child took his hand and got pulled back to his feet as the man followed suit and stood up. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Roman cheered at the suggestion.
“Patton… Patton, sweetie.” The cool one began with a hushed tone, speaking to the friendly one, who was apparently ‘Patton’. “I don’t mean to be rude, especially not in front of a kid, but… Are you completely out of your fucking mind?!” The cool one shouted, almost. He was clearly upset with the idea Patton gave and Roman couldn’t understand why.
“No, I’m serious, Remy. We’re going to help…” Patton paused, turning to Roman and kneeling down slightly to match his height. “What’s your name, kiddo?”
“Roman.” He answered quickly, before Patton proceeded: “Roman. I promise you, we’ll get you home safely.”
The child was barely containing his happiness, but much to his dismay it was quickly replaced by confusion as ‘Remy’ pulled down his shades and spat out:
“Speak for yourself, boy. I’m not getting in trouble with Doc again.”
“Who said he’ll find out?” Patton answered as he turned his back to Roman.
“So you are out of your fucking mind!!!”
Patton made a noise with his mouth, clearly uncomfortable from Remy’s behaviour. “Language please!!”
“Fuck your shit, Patton! You’re on your own here. I’m not going to lose sleep over this.” Remy turned his back and headed into the forest, going back to his work, Roman thought. He figured that much, but he wasn’t able to fully understand why Remy was so upset with Patton and why he shouted mean words.
“Is he going to be okay?” The boy turned to the man.
“He… He’ll be fine.” Patton tried to reassure him as it’s all he could do. He reached out his hand to Roman. “Let’s go. I’ll call your dad as soon as we get to my job.”
The boy smiled at Patton and grabbed his hand. “Alright, mister! Lead the way!” He spoke with the same excitement he did in the beginning of this trip. Roman was happy he would get back home.