Work Text:
It’s always the little things that remind Sebastian of his father. The smell of cigarettes, gasoline, and the sight of dirtied white rags due to oil. Broken picture frames with distressed pictures almost carelessly stuffed inside, as if it had no value. Tools clinking together as a radio in barely working condition struggles to keep up with the songs. It drives him mad.
During Sebastian’s last weekend visit with his father, he was nothing more than an awkwardly disproportionate fourteen-year-old, full of angst, hormones, more angst, and a crave to be unique. He remembered almost vividly the solemn look on Robin’s face, in hindsight a warning. Sebastian doesn’t remember much (and he honestly still isn’t sure even after all these years if he wants to remember this day), besides the parental exchange at the supermarket parking lot.
After grabbing his backpack full of a night’s worth of clothes, Sebastian settled himself into the passenger seat of his father’s car. The ride was awkward, which hadn’t struck the teenager as odd. Rides with his father were always quiet, with the radio blabbering on about mundane sport events or playing the top hits of the 80s. Any attempts to start a conversation in the car were met with short, curt responses from his father. Looking back, Sebastian is still uncertain whether or not he would’ve tried talking more. On one hand, he could’ve made their last visit more meaningful, but on the other, did he really want to make his dad mad?
The next segment of memory Sebastian has is noticing the absurd amount of boxes scattered around the living room, with chicken scratch handwriting of labels. The walls were barren, his father’s minimal decor packed away. He remembers his father mumbling a comment about how he’s “finally getting out of this fucking place”, and “headed for the east coast”, along with a faint “can’t believe Robin talked me into this bullshit”.
Dinner was McDonald’s, Sebastian is mostly sure. He had some sort of fast food burger that night, looking back probably because it’s cheap and there weren’t many other options when you’re about to move. During dinner in the car, he noticed his father sending, what he assumes now, to be angry texts to Robin. Sebastian never got a good look, but swears he saw something along the lines of - “I never wanted Sebastian over…” on the phone.
After dinner, his father appeared to be irritated, commenting how Sebastian was no longer staying the night, “because something came up”. They soon pulled into the supermarket parking lot, Sebastian returned to his mother’s car, and the worst part began.
Robin was yelling, saying that “he’s your kid too,” before begging her ex-husband to say at least a proper goodbye. He retaliated, screaming something along the lines of “I have a new life waiting for me!”, that he never wanted to take care of that kid. He doesn’t remember how long it went on, but does remember that Robin was crying when she got back into the car.
The ride home was eerily similar to the one Sebastian had with his father earlier, except with some small “I love you”s sprinkled in every now and then.