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Jonah and Adam giggled as they ran around the playground, the blonde chasing the brunette in a game of tag. Jonah had been hopping over the play sets to escape Adam, able to do it with ease due to him having a growth spurt a couple of weeks ago.
Adam suddenly stopped, making Jonah stop too. “This isn’t fair! You’re tall and can just jump over everything! I have to run around it to try and get you.”
“Well, maybe you should just grow! Then we can still have fun!” Jonah exclaimed with a smile, walking over to other with a bounce in his walk.
“Jonah, I can’t just grow whenever I want to. That’s not how people work.” Adam mumbled, looking at Jonah with a small pout.
“Oh.” Jonah mumbled as he looked at the older kid, chewing the inside of his cheek as he slowly scooted over to him, a small dorky smile on his tanned face. “Got your hat!” He yelled, quickly snatching the red baseball hat off of Adams head and running off.
Adam gasped loudly, looking at where Jonah had run off before beginning to run after him, the older lagging behind tremendously due to how large Jonah’s energy was and how long his legs were now, letting him run pretty fast.
“Jonah get back here!” Adam yelled, watching as the other looked back with a giggle as he ran out of the park and into a random direction of the neighborhood. Adam groaned before he ran into the neighborhood where he saw Jonah run into. Running in, he could see it was just a straight street with multiple houses decorating the two sides. He stopped at the end and tried to see where the younger had gone.
But he couldn’t see him, at all .
“Oh no.” Adam muttered, beginning to jog down the sidewalk, quickly glancing between the two sides to see if there were any openings or if he could see Jonah hiding in between any buildings.
He quickly reached the end, which led to a corner store. Adam hummed nervously as he walked around the outside of the store before going inside to see if Jonah was in there. He might’ve just gotten distracted by something bright or some snack that he saw.
Walking in, Adam quickly traversed all the shelves and the small sections, just to see nothing, no people and no Jonah. A pit formed in his stomach as he walked to the cashier counter, knocking on the hollow wood gently to catch the worker’s attention. The teen girl looked up from her magazine and leaned over to look at Adam easier, almost immediately noticing the nervous look on his pale face.
“Hey little guy, uh, are you okay? You don’t look too good.” She asked, closing her magazine and putting it off to the side as Adam tried to form his words.
“Well- um- my f-friend ran off and..and I don’t know where he went and I can’t find him. Have you seen him miss?” Adam stuttered, looking up at the tanned girl with a worried look.
“Well, uh, what does your friend look like?” She asked, getting up from her seat and walking over to the small shaking child, leaning down and putting a gentle hand on his shaking shoulder.
Adam fidgeted slightly, looking up at the teen with large teary eyes. “Uh- He has brown skin and brown hair, he’s like,” Adam motioned with his hands. “This tall. Um, he was wearing a bright red and blue shirt that he said was about soccer and he was wearing shorts.”
The teen girl began to imagine the description, looking around the store to see if she could connect the kid to anywhere inside.
“Oh! Actually, I do remember seeing him. He was outside and Lt. Davis went up to him and led him away somewhere.” She glanced at the young boy, seeing that he was now looking at the door outside.
“C-can you come with me to tell Jonah’s dads?” Adam asked, looking at the teen with pleading eyes.
The teen hesitated, glancing around the store before sighing and nodding, standing up and grabbing a pair of keys off the counter before turning back to the blonde child with her hand held out. “C‘mon, let’s get going.” Adam nodded before grabbing her hand and following her out of the store.
Jonah looked up at the pale man with a curious look, watching as he grabbed his radio out from his pocket and talked into it before turning back to the kid. “So, you don’t know where you live?”
Jonah shook his head.
Thatcher sighed before looking around, seeing a playground not too far from where the two of them were. “Okay, well, do you know where your house is from the park?”
Jonah nodded.
“Okay, perfect, just..follow me kid.” Thatcher reached down and gently grabbed Jonah’s hand, beginning to lead him back to the park.
Jonah just looked at him curiously, looking at all the little gadgets and tools the adult had on his uniform. “Why do you have so much stuff?” He asked, pointing at the bullet vest specifically, where multiple pockets had different trinkets and tools in them.
“Well, a lot of it helps me if I have to save somebody or stop a criminal.” Thatcher explained.
“Why though?”
The adult looked down at Jonah confused before answering. “Because it’s my job. I'm a cop.”
“Why’d you become a cop?”
Why do kids ask so many questions? Thatcher thought to himself before sighing and responding once again. “Because I like helping people.”
“Why?”
“I just do kid.”
The two reached the park fairly quickly, since they were only a street away from it. Thatcher looked down at the kid and nudged him slightly with his arm, silently telling him to point out the way to his house.
Jonah looked at him before looking at the many roads that connected to the park, searching for the one indicating factor to tell him which was his street.
A while back, he and Adam were riding the blondes bike around the neighborhood. After a while, they both got bored and decided to see who could hold on to the back the longest without falling off while the other went as fast as they could (A game that Jonah won.)
When it was Adam’s turn to be on the back, Jonah had peddled a little too fast for the two of them, quickly losing control and making the two jump off the bike before it crashed into the stop sign at the end of the street. Thankfully neither of them were hurt, but Adam’s bike was broken beyond repair and the sign was now bent slightly.
Ever since that had happened, anytime Jonah would get lost or just forget where his street was, he would always look for the bent sign, which had become more and more easier to spot the more he’s done it.
The 11 year-old quickly spotted the broken sign and tugged on the police officer's arm to catch his attention as he pointed at the street. “That’s where?” Jonah nodded.
Thatcher nodded as well before beginning to walk to where the child had pointed, still holding Jonah’s hand to make sure he didn’t wander off or he lost him.
It was quiet for a while before Thatcher glanced over at the kid, remembering who his parents were.
“So, Jonah, do you like your parents?” He asked, keeping an eye on the kid out of the corner of his eye to see how he reacted.
“Yeah! They’re so cool and Apa makes me really good food and helps me whenever I wanna make something and Dad always helps me with my homework and if I get scared at night!” Jonah exclaimed with a large toothy smile.
Thatcher hummed and nodded, “Did you know that I knew your parents?”
Jonah looked up at the adult curiously. “Really? How? Dad and Apa don’t seem to know anybody.”
“Well, it was a couple of years ago. Your dad had-“
“Jonah! Mijo!” A voice exclaimed. Making the two turn towards where it had come from just to see Cesar running towards the child with his arms out-stretched. Jonah smiled before letting go of Thatcher and running into his Apa’s arms, giggling as Cesar nuzzled the side of his face against the child’s. “Ay Mijo, we were so worried when Adam came and told us that he had lost you. I'm so happy you’re okay though.”
Jonah smiled at Cesar before glancing over the adults shoulder to see Adam and Mark running over to the two of them as well. He jumped out of the ravenettes arms and ran to Adam, quickly tapping him on the shoulder as he ran past him with a loud “You’re it!”
“Hey wait, that's not fair!” Adam exclaimed, quickly beginning to run after the younger.
Cesar and Mark watched them with an amused look on their faces, chuckles and quick laughs coming from the two adults.
Thatcher cleared his throat and caught their attention, making them turn and see the police officer standing there awkwardly.
“Oh, um, hello Thatcher.” Cesar said, a blank look crossing his face.
“Hi,” Thatcher smiled at the two of them, neither smiled back though, instead both Cesar and Mark just stared at him with dark looks. “How have you two been?”
“Good.” They both simply responded.
“That’s good…” Thatcher responded.
It became silent between the three, Thatcher looking down at the ground while rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Cesar and Mark on the other hand looked at each other, seeming to communicate without needing to say any words.
The police officer sighed, “I’m sorry for everything that happe-“
“Let me stop you right there Davis. I don’t want to hear you trying to win us over with your bullshit excuse of an apology because honestly, it’s pretty fucking pathetic,” Mark started, making the other look up at the two of them. “Thank you for bringing Jonah back, we’re very appreciative of that, but it’s not gonna make us just suddenly like you out of nowhere.”
Mark walked towards the other, glaring at him. “You aren’t ever going to win our favor and the day you do is the day you’re dealing with our alternates. You can say you're sorry for leaving the both of us for dead all you want but it’s never going to change the fact that we both almost died at your neglectful hands. Me and Cesar were lucky that we never died, we know that, but knowing that the person who almost killed us is still on the fucking force is nerve wracking.”
He jabbed his finger into his chest. “You can go and feel bad for yourself all you want, we don’t give two shits. All we ask from you is for you to stay the fuck away from Jonah. Today we’re letting it slide but if we ever see you near him again, it won’t be pretty. When you have years of pent up anger, it never comes out well.”
Mark’s glare darkened. “Understood?”
Thatcher nodded. “Understood.”
Mark stayed where he was for another moment
before back off the older man and walked over to Cesar, nudging for the two of them to walk back home, which the ravenette quickly complied, but not without a glare at the officer.
Thatcher let out a sign of relief as the two became too far away, watching as the two tee- No, adults, walked off, his defense still up just in case one of them wanted to run back and continue to look like they wanted to murder him anytime he walked by.
“This’ll be harder than I thought..”