Chapter Text
“Of fukin’ course they’d dump this on me, It’s bloody cold out”
Rupert thought sleeplessly, smacking his face with his callused hands in a feeble attempt to stay awake. Mournfully wishing to join his colleagues who are right now happily drinking in the warmth of the pub near the base.
“But nooo Konrad just HAD to dump night patrol on me, cheeky bastard” Rupert grumbled, kicking a nearby rock.
He was thinking of all the way he could get back at the older Bukowski, put worms in his boots, trip him up during inspection, maybe he could ask the trio if they could-
A sudden weight at his side broke him out of his thoughts of revenge, he looked down to see the small shaking form of...
“Henry? What the ‘ell are ya doing out this late?”
Rupert asked, taking note of the small backpack on the younger boy's back.
“....saying goodbye…” Was all Rupert could hear since the kid’s face was still buried into his side. Rupert huffed a little and said “I hope you realize my hip doesn’t have ears Henry” with that Henry’s head moved and without making eye contact softly repeated
“They hate me now, so I’m saying goodbye before I leave forever” Henry repeated and from the quiver in the small child’s voice he was most likely crying.
Rupert sighed and crouched down, brows furrowing.
“Who’s ‘they’?”
“Dad, Ellie and Charles also...”
Henry whimpered, rubbing his already red eyes with the sleeves of his light blue sweater. Rupert just looked even more confused by that statement.
Sure the kid is a handful, Rupert knows that first hand from all the times he babysat the trio. Hell he doesn’t know how Galeforce can handle them sometimes, but he did know that the general would do anything to make sure the trio is safe no matter the cost. Rupert also knew that the Trio were inseparable, always coming up with their next big scheme. Which after a while have Quintin and Victoria end up with the idea to refer to the trio as “Triple threat”
Needless to say, hearing Henry say that they hated him was something that didn’t sit right with Rupert.
“Oi, no offense but I find it hard to believe they hate ya ‘enry”
“...”
Henry buried his face back into Rupert's side, Rupert blinked for a moment ‘oh this is going to be a long night’ he thought, looking back down at the small boy.
“Alright c’mon let's get ya out of the cold and ya can tell me what happened” Rupert said softly nudging the youngest of the trio off his side and towards the parking lot, Luckily he ran into the person who’s supposed to take his shift next, Henry didn’t say anything as Rupert quickly explained why he was heading home a little early tonight.
As he and Henry entered the parking lot and entered Rupert's car. Rupert looked to Henry expectantly through the car’s rear view mirror as Rupert began to drive down the road towards the small military-apartment complex that wasn’t too far from the base.
Henry fiddled with his backpack straps for a bit before saying
“I’m a bad kid….”
Now Rupert probably shouldn’t have chuckled at that, but he was too cold and tired to care, responding with “Sorry for laughin’ but sure ya can be a little shit sometimes but you ain’t a bad kid.”
“But...I messed up… really bad this time Rupert..”
Henry spoke, turning his gaze to the window, and from his shaky shoulders Rupert safely assumed he didn’t want to see him cry.
“How about you tell me what happened and I’ll be the judge of that?” Rupert asked, hoping to make heads or tails of the situation.
“Hmm.. we went to the museum today…Pops was talking with some old guy...they were taking to long so me Charles and Ellie ran off to go play”
“The fact you three didn’t immediately dash off the second you got into the museum surprises me” Rupert asked smugly, earning a soft smile from the child as he turned back to the window.
“Heh Yeah. Anyways we were playing and as we were I… I took Charles’s ear muffs without thinking” Henry said as he hugged his legs close to his chest looking to the rear view mirror to see Rupert’s reaction.
Rupert cringed a little at the statement, knowing full well that the ear muffs were to prevent Charles from a sensory overload, so having them ripped off especially in a crowded museum, Rupert felt bad for the second eldest.
Henry looked down at his brightly colored rain boots as he continued “yeah.. it was a really bad move on my part, I didn’t notice how badly Charlie reacted…”
Rupert noticed whose voice was growing more choked and raspy. As if the boy was forcing himself not to cry again.
“E-Ellie yelled for me to come back and give Charles his earmuffs back but...I didn’t notice… and then before I realized where I was going I...” Henry paused, hiding his face in his knees in an attempt to escape his shame as he finished
“I knocked over the diamond that was part of the exhibit…” if it weren’t for Rupert turning off the car as they arrived at his apartment complex he probably would’ve missed that.
Rupert walked over and helped Henry out of the car.
“And then?” He asked as they walked up the stairs, Rupert fumbling with his keys as they walked towards the rooms in the apartment complex.
“The diamond fell over and it ended up cracking on the side…. and because I ran into the pedestal it was on... the earmuffs snapped in half..” Henry admitted guiltily as the two walked into the small cozy apartment.
Henry sat down on the comfy bean bag in the living room while Rupert sat on the couch closest to the bean bag. “So basically you took Charlie’s ear muffs, didn’t realize how he got overwhelmed by all the sudden noise and THEN not only did you break the ear muffs but part of the exhibit as well?”
Henry glumly nodded as Rupert frowned a bit , sure it was a lot more disastrous than usual and Galeforce and the other two were justifiably mad, But it still doesn’t mean they hate him. the kid’s fukin’ six so he’s bound to make some bad calls and Rupert is pretty sure Galeforce is aware of that fact as well.
“Well, I can see why’d they’d be mad, but where did you get “They hate me” from?”
Henry stared down at his hands, only looking up to grab Lovebug, the hairless cat Rupert’s boyfriend adopted before going missing. That’s a story for another time.
Henry gently picked up the tired cat and curled into a small ball on the bean bag, Lovebug-- or Buggy as the kids liked to call her--responded in kind with a tired meow and purring in reaction to the sudden warmth from Henry. Rupert smiled slightly,
“T-the old guy pops was talking to.. got really mad and told us to leave… After that Dad was really upset and said he was disappointed in me… normally it wouldn’t bother me so much since he normally said it when scolding the three of us…but he only scolded me…”
“I guess that made you feel upset?” Rupert finished noticing how
Henry’s lip quivered slightly as he scratched behind the cat’s ears.
“Mmhm, He did make me apologize to Charles for breaking his headphones and to Ellie for ignoring her and running away from the group…b-but I could tell they were still very angry…” Henry said barely finishing the last sentence before he started sobbing, hiding his face with the sleepy cat in his arms.
The car ride back was awful, it was quiet, save for Charles’s occasional sniffle, still a bit shaken up from the ordeal. Remembering how Ellie kept her eyes furrowed as she focused on everything but Henry.
Henry remembered turning away towards the window when he noticed his dad watching him quietly from the rear view mirror.
Yep it definitely felt like they hated him.
Rupert patiently waited for the child to calm down before sitting next to him and gave him an awkward side hug.
“Henry you didn’t mean to hurt Charlie like that right?” Rupert asked softly,
Henry’s eyes went wide in surprise, he quickly shook his head. Of course he wouldn’t hurt Charles on purpose! He’d rather give up his favorite scooter than hurt anyone in his new family!
“And you now know why you shouldn’t take his ear muffs right?”
Henry nodded, thinking back to how shaken up Charles looked during the ride home, Henry couldn’t look at him too long during the car ride without feeling the pang of guilt in his stomach every time he looked at him.
“And you know why Ellie and yer pops were angry right?”
Henry nodded again, Ellie was mad because she knew what the headphones were for, and probably wanted to chew Henry out for not understanding why they were so important. Pops was probably mad for the same reason, as well as the whole argument regarding the now cracked diamond.
He huddled under rupert's arm, quietly scratching the hairless cats ears one more time before letting her go to roam around the room.
“T-that’s why I wanted to leave… so I wouldn’t be a problem for them anymore…”
Rupert looked down at Henry and thought for a moment before saying “Did you ever try talking to them afterwards?”
Henry didn’t think about that, he was just immediately sent to his, Ellie’s and Charles's room. After that he just packed up his backpack with random stuff and climbed out the window. He didn’t think that far ahead but he felt like he could’ve managed.
“N-no…but it doesn’t matter anymore once I leave” he stuttered, Starting to feel unsure of his whole plan
Rupert raised an eyebrow and poked Henry on the center of his forehead asking.
“And would there be anything to gain once you're gone?”
What would Henry gain? Well, he wouldn’t have to clean up his toys anymore! And he wouldn’t have to do his homework by a certain time, he could stay up late as long as he’d want, He could-
Be all alone.
Charles, the one who instantly welcomed him with open arms when he first arrived, even if he didn’t like the small heists he and Ellie would pull he’d always be there to make everything better with his crazy plans even if things went wrong.
Ellie, she always looked out for him, even when they developed a small rivalry on who could steal the most shiny objects, she was there to protect them and make sure nothing could hurt them. She always made him feel safe.
Dad…. he was always so patient, even in the beginning when henry would hide from him and once actually bit him on the hand, he still stayed and took him in, he always listened to him, he’s busy a lot but still makes time to be with the three of them, and play board games and sometimes stayed with them when memories of his previous parents emerged from the depths of his subconscious. He cared about them, even when he would scold them for their latest scheme he still cared.
and if he left then… he’d lose the few people who carved a special place in his heart.
With that in mind Henry took off his small backpack thinking for a moment before catching the older male off guard with the tightest hug a little kid could muster, grumbling softly about Rupert guilt tripping him and how stupid this plan was… before finally wiping away his leftover tears.
“I wanna go home…” Henry signed, tired from all the talking and crying for one evening.
Rupert smiled, wrapping his arm around the kids neck and proceeded to give him a noogie, much to the child’s annoyance.
Suddenly an idea popped into rupert's head and he got up from the bean bag and reached for his phone.
“Alright ya little bugger just sit tight while I give Konrad a call”
“Wait I thought you were just going to call my dad??”
“Hell no! It’s 9pm, and I’m assuming you didn’t tell the general where you are?” Rupert asked in a jokingly accusing tone. Henry sheepishly shook his head, sinking further into the bean bag, earning a laugh from Rupert as he dialed the older twins number and putting the phone to his ear.
“Thought So, there is a high chance he’s tearing up the base looking for you right now and I don’t know about you but I am NOT dealing with that”
Rupert finished as he walked into the other room, He lied, he would’ve been fine with just calling the general straight up and letting him know. But the thought of Konrad’s drunk ass attempting to calm down their probably already frantic boss was just too funny to pass up.
He’s a bitter bitch, what can he say?