Chapter Text
It’s around 7:00 PM.
Bradley was at the house of his childhood friend, Rick, paired with his other two buddies, Sticky and Cheeks. They had been hanging out for the evening, having dinner, chatting about their days, catching up, the usual. They hung out often, mainly because Brad didn’t have much else to do.
“And that’s when he told me I was at the wrong address, and I drove several hours out for nothing!!” Sticky exclaimed, and all the boys hollered with laughter.
Bradley was smiling, nodding and laughing at their stories, but he seemed more fidgety than usual. He meant to just pick up his painkillers, the ones Rick could usually get because of his friend who worked at the pharmacy. A pang in his chest and a little whisper in his brain told him this was a bad idea. But he didn’t care. He shook it off like nothing and took another sip of his water bottle.
Rick did notice this, however, how he would get a bit quiet and restless when there was something on his mind.
“Brad, you alright? Something on your mind?” He spoke, the other two quieting down and looking back at him. God, it felt like being put on the spot. His head hurt, and it felt like he was nauseous. “I-It’s nothing, don’t worry about it..” Bradley sighed. Face lighting up, Rick stood up without hesitation and set his beer down. “Wait, I nearly forgot!” He stepped out into the other room, coming back with a pill bottle in hand. “Here, I’m so sorry I forgot to give this to you earlier.” The bottle was handed off to Brad, who didn’t hesitate to take one immediately. A little blue capsule containing heavy duty painkillers. Comparable to Opiates, for sure. But he didn’t care. Downing the pill with water, he sighed, “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to make that such an urgent thing.”
“Hey, you’re all good, man. Just be mindful of how much you take, alright? We don’t want you turning back into a zombie like you used to be in college.”
Right, Like in college..
Half an hour passed before Bradley realized he should probably get home. He needed to make sure the place wasn’t crashed and that his son was fine. “Sorry I.. have to get going. It’s getting late and my son is all by himself.” Bradley huffed. The poor thing probably got scared with how long he had been out, only telling him he would be gone for a while for dinner and he wouldn’t get back so late. It was almost 9 now, he had to get home.
The guys nodded and said their goodbyes, letting Brad go for the night. It was just a fifteen minute walk away from his shitty apartment. Nothing too bad, right?
The night was chilly, the trees swayed in the gentle wind and the usual bustle of Olathe’s streets were minimized to near nothingness. Leaves scattered across the concrete sidewalk and empty litter lie around. It was always a shock to Brad thinking Olathe would ever be a clean town.
His footsteps echoed gently, shoes clacking on the hard flooring. It was a nice, rhythmic sound. Brad simply let his mind wander as he walked. Dissociating allowed him to walk to places far faster than if he let his brain sit in the moment. It was probably unhealthy, but he didn’t care. It was something.
Though what snapped him out of his thoughts was the faint sound of a crying baby. It didn’t sound like it came from inside of a house or anywhere like that, but more like outside. Somewhere near him. Brad should not have been thinking so hard about this, but something about the small situation made him fear that he was already having some kind of flashback. Something he couldn’t control. He pressed on, still walking down the sidewalk and attempting to ignore the sounds, but something about the crying sounded terribly off to him. It sounded pitiful, painful, and even desperate.
It sounded weak.
He was afraid.
As he walked, the sound became closer. It sounded as if it came from the alleyway between buildings. It really was outside, it was real, it felt like a flashback was about to hit him like a damn train. He let his fear and curiosity get the better of him.
Brad approached the source hesitantly.
His movements ceased. Bradley froze in his steps as he rounded the corner to the alleyway and saw a lone box lying beside the dumpster. A ragged blanket kept a little baby wrapped in thin fabric. The poor thing was shivering, and their sobs were weak and quiet. He couldn't just leave them there. It would crush his heart.
Too many thoughts raced through Brad's mind, he can't just leave a poor infant to rot. On instinct, he picked up the baby and cradled the cold being close to him. Upon looking down at the box, he noticed bold lettering written on the flap with sharpie,
"TAKE IT”
Anxiety thrummed in the man's chest. Whoever did this was a sick fuck and he would have kicked his ass then and there.. if he knew who it even was. Not a 'him' or a 'her' written on it, but just. 'It.' It made him sick to his stomach. Dissociation was snapped from him as the baby weakly clung to his shirt. Shit, right.. the baby..
Bradley clutched the poor thing and partially covered them with his coat. He had to get home and feed them before anything fatal happened. Heavy steps became running thuds, Bradley needed to get to the warmth of his home. A precious little life depended on him.
Brad finally made it home. He fumbled for his keys and nearly shoved them in the lock wrong before finally making it inside. The baby was still weakly clinging onto him. That's good...
Running inside, he beelined it for the bathroom. Flicking on the lights and setting the poor baby down on the counter. He unwrapped the shitty thin blankets and discarded them quickly, making sure to set a towel underneath the baby. There was minimal mess, but it's not like he was saving those rags anyway. He evaluated the poor thing to see what it needed and--
Oh god, a baby girl.
A huge pang of guilt stabbed Brad, gripping his chest.
No, now is not the time.
Shaking his head, Brad went straight to work. The baby needed warmth and food. She seemed pale and weak. God knows how long she's been without food. Bradley fished out his smartphone and aggressively typed away questions like "what to feed my infant", "how to feed a baby" and "how to tell if my baby is sick". Skimming through his answers, the little girl needed breast milk. There were no women in the household, and panic set in for the washed up man. Just then, a gentle knock on the door.
"Dusty.." Brad muttered, turning to face his tall son.
The blonde boy fidgeted and shied away, afraid that Brad would get mad at him. Though that wasn't the case. Bradley leaned down to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm not upset or drunk or anything. Promise I'm not mad." He began, "But I need you to put your training to the test."
Dustin tensed, his fidgeting hands clenched and he forced himself to stand upright, as if he was feigning confidence.
"That's my boy.. I'll explain to you later, but long story short, I..." He paused, trying to find his words. "I found an abandoned baby girl on my way home. I'm going to need to run to the store to find some food for her before something bad happens. I need you to wrap her up inside a warm blanket and set up the heater. You must keep watch over her condition until I get back, okay?"
Dustin seemed shocked and a bit afraid, but he shoved his anxiety down and nodded. He understood what was at stake, so he moved past Brad to retrieve the baby and get right to work. He couldn't stop himself from fidgeting and shaking, god he was incredibly nervous. But he gently lifted the pale, sickly looking infant, and held her close. Using the towel she laid on, he wrapped her up as best he could and left her little chubby face peeking out.
As Brad had rushed out, shutting the door and locking it promptly, Dustin was left to his own devices once more, though hopefully his dad wouldn’t be out as long as he was earlier. A gentle sigh escaped him and he trekked down the hall into the living room. The walls were bare, some had old framed photos littering the walls. Dusty usually never bothered to ask Brad about any of them, or even look at them at all. Brief glances showed a lot of tinier Bradley in a bowl cut long before they ever met. Probably before he was born.
The knobs to the heater were adjusted, and the oversized boy sat and waited for it to ramp up in heat. The pilot light sputtered, the sound of air softly whirred, and in no time, a click sounded and it flared to life, blasting the boy and the baby with a comforting heat. It felt good with how cold it had been during autumn.
Dusty looked down at the little baby in his arms. She was still whimpering and looked upset, but it could have been a lot worse. For once, she looked relaxed. It made him smile, it’s like his presence was calming. Since no one was home, he quietly spoke to her, as if she could ever understand him.
“Y-You’re.. Really u-um.. C-c… cute. M-M-Maybe uh.. You’ll b-b-be my s-ss… sister.”
He smiled. The thought of having a sister made him feel happy, like he could be a role model to her just like Brad was to him, in a way. Dusty knew there would be an importance to being a good big brother, and he would wear that with pride until she grew up to be big and strong, too.
———————————————————
Bradley floored it in his rickety old car, he had no time to waste. Thankfully his local grocery store didn’t close until 10 PM, and it was currently-
9:45?!
Fuck, Brad had NO time to waste. It wasn’t that far of a drive, but every second was depended on by that poor baby. HIS poor baby.
He made it with no time to waste. It was now 9:50 and he slammed the door hastily, rushing inside past all the other customers just buying groceries late at night. The store was near-empty, that was fine. Brad desperately needed to find whatever breast milk substitute he could find before it was too late. Minutes felt like they were passing by like seconds. They melted away too fast and his head began to spin as each of the aisles had nothing like what he was looking for.
Just then, a voice behind him snapped him out of his panic.
“Hey there! You finding everything okay, sir?”
Brad spun around to face the man behind him. It was a slightly taller, lanky looking man in a uniform with the store’s brand plastered on the front. He had a kind smile, somewhat beady eyes, a strange bob cut, a big nose…
Brad shook himself out of distraction. Still in a fit of panic, he gripped the man by his apron and nearly lifted him off the ground as he begged,
“No! Please help me, I need to find breast milk. I need it!” He shook the worker harder, “Or anything to feed a malnourished baby, please!”
The worker raised his hands up and tried to free himself from Brad’s death grip. “Woah woah man! Calm down-! I-I’ll help you! I know where the baby aisle is!”
That alone caused Bradley to let go gently of him. “S-Sorry. Sorry.” He backed off.
“Hey, all good! I get it sounds pretty dire, huh? Well let me show you down to aisle fifteen and–”
Bradley rushed off and yelled out a ‘thank you!’ behind him.
The worker smiled sheepishly, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head.
“Welp, that settles that, heheh.”
It was 9:55. Bradley rushed down past all the aisles and skidded to a halt when he found the vaguely powdery scented shelves he was looking for. He skimmed the products for whatever he was looking for, but everything overwhelmed him. Bottles of baby powder, boxes of diapers, toys, bottles, formulas, pacifiers–
Wait! The formulas!
Bradley rushed to grab some random box that had the right buzzwords on it, along with armfuls of other necessities, and booked it right for the only open checkout line in the store. No one else was checking out, perfect.
Seems the only guy working at the register was the same big-nosed worker that Brad nearly shook to death minutes prior. Guess no one else was really working as far as he saw.
The worker waved to him with a smile, “I can ring you up here, sir!”
Awkward silence as the man scanned each product for Brad. It felt kinda weird having all these baby products scanned. Bradley just hoped he wouldn’t bring it up and–
“So, getting some last minute stuff for your kid?”
Ah.. great.
“Uhh.. yeah I.. it’s a long story. I just really needed this before the store closed, or else I.. well..”
“Hey! Don’t mention it man, I understand. Kids can be finicky! I know I was shitty when I was born, hahah!” He nonchalantly laughed, “That aside, you’re lucky you came in when ya did. God knows how fussy that poor thing woulda been at night if you didn’t feed them soon, hah!”
Bradley grimaced, thinking of what would have happened if he never got anything to feed that baby he found. “Well, not.. Not really.” He murmured.
As the last item scanned, he placed it into a plastic bag and handed it off to Brad. “Your total is gonna be $65.70, cash or card?”
He fished out his credit card and scanned it without a word. It wasn’t a huge loss, especially if it meant saving a neglected life.
“Great! You’re all set, you want your receipt?”
“Sure..”
Brad took the bags and receipt and nodded to the cashier, who smiled with a stupid grin. “Thanks.. Uh..” Brad leaned in, trying to read his nametag. “Terry..?”
Terry gave him a big thumbs up and smiled widely, “The Hintz always helps, my friend!”
Bradley smiled in return, feeling a bit more cheered up by his demeanor. Guess not everything was so bad after all.
“Anyways, we’re closing up right now, I gotta lock the doors.”
“Right.. Sorry.”
And with that, he walked out of the grocery store into the chilly night air. Terry waved kindly as he locked the main entrance doors shut.
Not such a bad place after all.