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Ian was having a crummy day.
It wasn’t just because he was late to work after the train broke down and the buses all seemed to ignore him, but because he spilled his coffee all down his front and had to miss lunch to make up for being late in and all of it combined just made him grumpy.
It was after five and he needed to get something into his grumbling belly so he went down to the local convenience store to buy himself something warm, pointing to one of the pies in the window.
He rubbed his temples as he waited but just as he was taking the paper bag from the attendant he felt a thud against his knees and looked down with confusion.
There, looking up at him with the biggest bluest eyes he had ever seen was a small child, grinning up at him with only a few teeth and only one shoe. He raised an eyebrow as the child gave a quiet chuckle.
“Hi there,” Ian said. “You lost?”
The kid put his hands against Ian’s knees and gave him a push, smiling up at him like it was just a game.
Ian couldn’t help but laugh, crouching down to get onto eye level with him.
“Where are your mommy and daddy huh?” he asked.
The child’s eyes went immediately to his hair, pointing at it and Ian smiled.
“Red-red-red,” the child said, jumping a little without even lifting his feet from the ground.
“Yeah it’s pretty red,” he grinned. “You like it?”
He reached closer and locked his fingers in Ian’s hair, making him wince, and then the child would not let go.
Well, this is just about on par for this horrible fucking day, he thought to himself.
“Come on, let go…” he said through gritted teeth and the kid just laughed even harder.
It was then that Ian saw someone’s feet appear beside them. He tried to look up but the kid had a really good grip.
“What have we got here huh?” the guy said.
“Sorry, is he yours? He just kind of ran into me,” Ian said and heard the guy laugh.
“Yeah, cheeky little thing threw his shoe then took off, guess I never got the chance to warn you about the hair thing,” he said. “Yev, let go of his hair.”
The kid laughed up at his dad and the guy crouched down with them so that Ian could get a good look. He was stunning.
Dark haired, strong build, and the same brilliant blue eyes as his son. He poked the kid in the stomach and raised a bold eyebrow at him.
“Let go or I’mma tell your mom,” he said. “Let go.”
The kid seemed to consider holding on for another minute but his dad gave him another poke in the side and he released his grip on Ian’s hair… only to clap his hands over the paper bag in Ian’s hands, squashing the pie inside and making him sigh as he ran a hand through his tousled hair.
The stranger grabbed his son – too late to save Ian’s snack – and pulled him into him.
“Shit man, sorry about that,” he said as they both got to their feet.
“No, it’s okay, I’m having kind of a bad day anyway,” he said, giving the guy a small smile.
“Well let me buy you another one of those, this kid is a fuckin’ nightmare sometimes. Terrible two’s or some shit,” he grumbled. “I’m Mickey.”
“Ian,” he said, rubbing his head a little and Mickey gave him a grin as he hitched the kid up higher on his hip.
“Sorry again, kid’s probably never seen someone with hair as red as yours,” he grinned.
“Yeah it’s pretty out there,” he said, fingers running through it again.
“It’s a good colour,” Mickey said.
Ian smiled, looking back up at the kid. “He looks just like you, your wife’s gotta be happy with that.”
Mickey scoffed. “Don’t have a wife, we ain’t that compatible.”
“No?” Ian said as he tossed the crushed pie into the bin in the corner.
“Big messy story, but to cut it short she ain’t really my type,” he said and Ian didn’t miss the up-down Mickey gave him.
He smiled to himself, coughing to hide it as he picked out another pie and Mickey tried to fish out his wallet while the kid wriggled about on his hip.
He paid the attendant and Ian gave him another smile.
“Well, thanks,” he said.
“Least I could do after this guy got you,” he said. “Didn’t hurt you too much did he?”
“Nah, I can take a little hair pulling,” Ian said and Mickey nodded to himself.
“Good to know…” he said quietly and Ian bit down on his lip a little. “You uh, gonna be busy later?”
“I can probably find some time,” Ian said, stomach grumbling loudly.
“I could buy you dinner or something, shut that thing up,” Mickey said with a grin and Ian nodded.
“I’m free tomorrow night if that works,” he said.
“Sounds good,” he reached into his pocket to get out his phone, looking at his son for a second to see him staring up at Ian again. “He’s eyein’ off your hair again, better watch out for that.”
“Good plan,” he said, taking Mickey’s phone to plug his number in.
As he handed it back and said a goodbye, watching Mickey give him one last look over his shoulder he left he couldn’t help thinking that maybe it wasn’t such a bad day after all, and that one day he had to find a way to thank that kid for playing cupid.