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the first time sebastian and kay babysit trucy, sebastian is a bit nervous. he's afraid that he'll do the wrong thing and end up being a bad role model, or something to that effect. it isn't his first time meeting trucy, but that doesn’t change much.
kay reassures him that it's easy. there's really no need to worry, just follow her lead.
when trucy arrives, sebastian notices that she stares at the door phoenix left through for a bit too long. kay is the one to snap her out of it, and she ends up being one of the worst role models, teaching her how to pick locks as soon as she could. well, trucy seems to enjoy it, so he guessed it was alright.
they end up putting together a mock magic show, making a stage out of cardboard and letting trucy show just how talented she is. her tricks never fail to impress sebastian, no matter how small they are. even if he doesn't realize it, trucy takes a liking to him.
as fun as that is, she is nine, and she quickly gets tired. sebastian decides to sleep on the couch, giving his bed to trucy, and kay tucks her in while he grabs a pillow and blanket. they both soon follow, going to sleep as well. the house is quiet.
...until a few hours pass, that is, and sebastian is awoken by something pushing his shoulder. groggily looking up, he sees trucy.
"um... sebastian?" she's smiling, like usual, but there's a nervous energy to it this time. "sorry for waking you up."
sebastian sits up. he doesn't mind, really; he hadn't been sleeping well on the couch, anyways. it reminds him too much of his old bed, at blaise's. "it's okay, trucy. what's up?"
"uh..." he notices her glance towards the door again. she's trying her best to keep a smile on her face, he can tell, but it seems to fall a bit more with every second. "can i sit with you?"
okay, so something was bothering her, obviously. that was alright. he could try to help, and he definitely wouldn’t mess it up. hopefully. "of course." sitting up completely, he pats the spot next to him on the couch. she sits down.
for a moment, they sat in silence. he got the feeling she wasn't going to talk on her own. "um," he started, "didn't sleep well...?"
"yeah. i couldn't fall asleep." she was still focused on the door.
well, time to bite the bullet. "is something wrong...?"
the smile breaks, replaced with a small, worried frown. she hesitates again before finally talking. her voice is uncharacteristically quiet.
"...daddy's coming back, right?"
oh.
he'd heard the story. her father disappeared in the guise of a magic trick, leaving his daughter behind. maybe that was a reason he was nervous to see her; he supposed he saw a bit of himself in this child. after all, his mama had disappeared too, so many years ago. for weeks, he had spent most of his time with the front door in sight, waiting for her to come home.
she never did.
because sebastian wasn't good enough, blaise had said. and for the longest time, he really had believed it was his fault. he couldn't imagine what trucy felt, actually helping with the act. helping her father abandon her. even if she hadn’t realized what she was doing at the time.
but he knew how to help her. after all, he'd been through emotions like this, too, and he vividly remembered what he wanted the most.
sebastian pulled out his phone. "do you want to call your dad? seeing him will prove he didn't leave you." because, more than anything, all those years ago, he had wanted to hear something from his mama. anything. preferably to hear that she was coming back, but just some closure would've been enough. he never got that wish, but trucy would still be able to.
silently, she nodded. he entered the number, set it on speaker phone, and handed it to trucy. phoenix picked up almost instantly, despite how late it was.
"sebastian? what's up?" his voice cracked with sleepiness.
he explained that trucy wanted to hear from him. phoenix seemed to instantly understand.
the young magician held the phone gently, as if she was scared that it'd break and she’d lose him. "daddy?"
"heya, truce. i'm here, okay? i haven't left you. i promise, i'll be back tomorrow morning. just like i said."
trucy still looked slightly nervous. "...uh, can i see you...?"
a moment of silence. the noises of a bed creaking and footsteps, before phoenix's camera came on. he hadn't changed out of his hoodie and beanie.
"see? it's me. i haven't disappeared. i promise."
trucy visibly relaxed, shoulders slouching. "o-okay. ...thanks, daddy."
phoenix smiled. "of course, truce. now, go get some sleep, alright?"
"goodnight."
"sweet dreams. i love you."
the line went dead. there was a long minute of silence.
"...are you feeling any better?" sebastian didn't know what to say. he was feeling quite a lot, himself. it was obvious how much they cared for each other, and… it reminded him of a lot of things, really.
"hmm." trucy combed her fingers through her own hair. "...is it okay if i stay with you a bit longer?"
well, he hadn't been going to get much sleep anyways. and if it meant she was alright, it wasn't an issue. "of course." if he knew how she was feeling, she'd need to be distracted if she was ever going to get any sleep tonight. he picked up the tv remote. "want to watch something? any shows you like?"
she considered that for a second, before a small but genuine smile appeared on her face. "well, not really, but... papa likes the steel samurai. can we watch that?"
...was she referring to mr edgeworth? he was too tired to consider the implications of that at the moment.
they wordlessly turned on the steel samurai and settled in for a long night.
~÷~÷~÷~÷~÷~
the next morning, kay woke up to a text from mr wright. he was coming to pick up trucy soon.
she glanced into sebastian's room, only to see trucy missing. uh oh. where had she gone? in a panic, she ran to the living room to wake up sebastian.
instead, she was met with the sight of both sebastian and trucy, asleep on the couch. sebastian loosely had one arm wrapped around trucy while her head rested on his shoulder, both covered in a blanket. sebastian was snoring. on the television, netflix asked if they were still watching what seemed to be the steel samurai.
after a moment of taking this in, she let out a small, breathy laugh, stopping to snap a photo. it was quickly sent to both edgeworth and phoenix.
how was sebby ever afraid of them not getting along?