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“Who are you?”
The question causes Benrey to blink at the child sitting on Gordon’s bed. “Uhhhhh, Benrey. Who are you?” He frowns looking around for where this kid could have come from.
“My name is Gordon!” The kid responds which makes Benrey blue screen for a long moment.
“Gordon?”
“Yes!” Suddenly a loud growl comes from Gordon’s stomach. “I’m kinda hungry...”
“Uh... Breakfast right, food time.” Benrey suddenly turns on his heels, heading to the kitchen finding Coomer at the stove. “Yo, we got a situation.”
“Gordon experiencing another glitch?” Coomer doesn’t miss a beat, flipping a pancake over.
“Yes? Small now?”
“Like pocket sized again?”
“No, no like-“
“Pancakes! Do you have syrup?” Gordon asks with a wide grin.
“Mhmm! It’s in the cupboard there!” Coomer smiles cheerfully, “I see what you meant now!”
“Yeah.” Benrey runs a hand down his face. “Kinda funny but uh... None of us know how to take care of a kid? He- Heck even Gordo doesn’t actually know cause he was just trying to do the whole ‘I’m really Game-Gordon and have a child’ thing.”
“I am quite certain it is not that hard!” Coomer laughs pulling the set of pancakes off the pan before putting more on. “Plus there is always the internet!”
“Found it!” Gordon smiles, adjusting his glasses with one hand while holding the bottle of syrup with the other.
“Excellent work, Gordon!” Coomer chuckles. “These pancakes are almost done. Benrey why don’t you go fetch Bubby and Tommy.” Coomer says. Flipping over some of the pancakes.
“Uh yeah sure.” Benrey nods before wandering off.
“Umm...” Gordon kicks his foot against the floor slightly, “I uh don’t know your name sorry.”
“I am Doctor Harold P. Coomer, but you may call me Dr. Coomer or just Coomer if you prefer, Gordon.” Coomer internally sighs, this glitch seems to have a lot of effects to it this time. “Now, Gordon, may I ask how old you are?”
“I’m seven!” Gordon smiles. “What are you a doctor of?”
“I’ve studied a great many things! I know a bit of everything.” Not a lie, having a bunch of clones connected to you as a pseudo hive mind certainly gave him time and access to a lot of knowledge in Black Mesa, even if it was a video game world. “Though my degree was in Biology.” At least that’s what the game had said.
“Oh cool! I’ve watched a lot of documentaries on biology stuff. I don’t think I want to study Biology though, dissections look gross.” Gordon wrinkles his nose, “And I feel bad for the creatures...”
“Well not all of biology is about dissections, my boy!” Coomer chuckles pulling the last of the pancakes and bringing them to the table. “But what does interest you?” Might as well find out more about this younger version of the Gordon they know. Gordon of course was not actually a Theoretical Physicist, but a young man who had gone into Mechanical Engineering instead, however somewhere along the line Gordon had life hit him hard and had to drop out before returning to get a Business Management degree. He hadn’t elaborated much upon that.
“I like space! I like learning about the stars and planets. I’ve thought a lot about becoming an astronaut!” Gordon grins as he sets the syrup bottle on the table. “But... You have to be really tough and smart... I don’t think I’d be chosen.” He gives a small sigh.
“And what makes you say that? You seem quite bright! And you’re only ten!”
“Well... I’m not very good at sports, other kids choose me last all the time... Nobody really wants me to be on their team.” Gordon frowns, “But that’s okay, I have books and stuff, and I can do other things so... yeah.”
“I would want to be on your team.” Coomer chuckles, ruffling Gordon’s hair. “You can always train to get better at sports but you’ve been exercising a very important muscle so far! Your brain!” Gordon perks up and is about to say something but gets distracted by the rest of the science team making their entrance into the kitchen, Gordon shuffling behind Coomer and peeking out from around his leg.
“Benrey said he turned small again, I thought he meant pocket sized.” Bubby huffs, leaning in to look at Gordon who ducks behind Coomer more.
“I told you bro, small, not tiny.” Benrey rolls his eyes.
“Well, it’s a- an interesting change- interesting development from the- the glitches...” Tommy wrings his hands together.
“Something we can figure out after some breakfast!” Coomer says, ushering the others to the table. Gordon sits between Coomer and Benrey, still seeming a bit nervous of Bubby. But as soon as his plate of pancakes is put in front of him, Gordon is quick to dig in after adding a generous amount of syrup to them.
Once everyone finishes up breakfast the science team quickly realize they aren’t prepared to handle a child. Gordon didn’t have any clothes that were kid sized being issue number one, not to mention Gordon didn’t exactly have a lot of toys lying around which a ten year old version of him would be interested in playing with. Bubby volunteered himself to go get some things from the closest store so that they could at least take Gordon outside to a park if anything, but it still meant about two hours of entertaining Gordon. Their bacons were certainly saved by Sunkist being the perfect dog and Netflix, both providing ample entertainment for Gordon in the meantime.
Once Bubby was back, Gordon dressed in the new clothes, and lunch eaten, the team headed to the nearest park and let Gordon run wild. Gordon dragging Benrey and Tommy into a game of pretend where they were cowboys while Sunkist ran around them. Gordon eventually tired out, getting a piggyback from Benrey for the walk home.
Some cartoons and a quick dinner later eventually they put Gordon to bed. Hoping that tomorrow the glitch would be over.
When Benrey checked in on Gordon the next morning, he had to stop himself from absolutely losing it and cackling at the now adult Gordon sleeping soundly in dinosaur pjs that had grown with him.