Work Text:
Nathaniel clutches at his mother’s skirts, knuckles turning white as his eyes glance around the park nervously. His gaze doesn’t linger on any one thing for too long. Instead it moves around continuously, always on alert. Nathaniel bites down on his lip, not knowing what to do.
“Nathaniel, love, come out from behind me. Go on and play for a little bit.”
Nathaniel gazes up at his mother eyes wide, a tiny bit of fear in them. His voice is shaky as he asks, “What about dad?”
His mother’s eyes harden, turning cold and flinty but the smile on her face only grows, lips curling up at the corners to a grin.
“He’s not here, love. You can go play. I promise he won’t hurt you.”
Nathaniel’s grip loosens slightly, his mother’s skirt slipping from his fingers. He steps out from behind her, legs still unsteady. He’s ready to dart back behind her in a moment’s notice.
But when his father doesn’t suddenly appear, Nathaniel grows a little bolder. He looks around cautiously, eyes catching on the playground in the middle of the park.
Nathaniel looks up at his mother a silent question in his eyes. She smiles, gaze warm and affectionate; a hand skims his head, the fingers a welcoming weight. His mother drops a kiss to his forehead, murmuring, “Go have fun. I’ll be watching from those benches okay?”
Neil nods once before he’s off. There’s a not quite smile on his face as he runs, the wind whipping his hair. His lungs but he pushes on, only stopping when he reaches the looming structure of the playground.
He glances around finding his mother’s reassuring smile. He grins at her before he races over to a slide, his heart pounding in the best way possible; excitement.
Nathaniel can’t remember the last time he was this excited. He runs around the playground, a grin on his face and laughter tumbling out of his mouth. He only stops when he hears a frantic, “Andrew! Andrew, where are you?”
He glances around, gaze stopping on a woman. She had a worried frown on her face, hands twisting nervously. Her eyes were glassy, like she was on the brink of tears. Nathaniel’s laughter fades and he looks around, only calming when he spots his mother chatting with a few other women,
He looks back at the lady who was still searching. Her lips tremble, body shaking.
“Pssst…”
Nathaniel glances around confused.
“Over here.”
There, sticking out from underneath one of the slides, was a head of blonde hair. Curious, Nathaniel shuffles closer warily asking, “Are you Andrew?”
He’s surprised when a smiling face pops out at him. Nathaniel rears back, heart beating furiously.
“You’re smart. How’d you know?”
Calming down, Nathaniel shrugs fingers toying with the edge of his sleeves shyly.
“Why are you hiding from your mum?”
Andrew’s face darkens, amber eyes turning murderous. It was an odd look for a little boy who only appeared to be 11 years old. It was the expression of a child who had suffered through much more than they should’ve.
“She’s not my mother. Her name is Rachel and I hate her.”
Nathaniel furrows his eyebrows wondering how Andrew could hate someone who obviously care a lot about him.
“She seems worried about you. Why don’t you come out?”
A flicker of uncertainty appears on Andrew’s face as he glances over to where Rachel was still looking for him. He slips out from underneath the slide, brushing dirt off from his jeans.
He grins down at Nathaniel asking, “If I talk to Rachel, will you play with me?”
Nathaniel glances back at his mother who was still talking to a few ladies. He looks back up at Andrew who was still grinning at him.
For a brief second, he worries about the fact that he had been out in the open for too long. His father could come and get him at any time. Fear spikes through him as Nathaniel thinks about all the things his father has done to him, but then he gazes into Andrew’s eyes feeling the anxiety ebb.
Nathaniel turns shy shifting his weight from foot to foot, before he eventually says, “Okay, for a little bit.”
A bright smile appears on Andrew’s face; he takes Nathaniel by the arm, dragging him towards Rachel. After Rachel finally calms down, making Andrew promise her that he won’t run off again, she releases him sending the two boys off with a smile.
For the rest of the hour, Nathaniel forgets all about his father. He forgets that his father was hunting his mother and him. He forgets that he wasn’t safe at all. He doesn’t dwell on the fact that he could be caught at any time.
Instead Nathaniel indulges in sweet smiles and easy laughs with Andrew, who doesn’t once ask for his name. The two are inseparable, racing one another and having fun.
That is until Nathaniel’s mother finally comes over, eyes pinched and lips pulled tight in a frown.
“Time to go, love.”
Both boys frown before Nathaniel relents, a sigh escaping from his lips. He starts to walk away with his mother, not saying goodby to Andrew before he turns back around to say, “Nathaniel, my name is Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel can hear the low gasp from his mother and he knows he’s going to regret this later, but for the time being seeing the the grin appear on Andrew’s face makes it all worth it.
He smiles at the blonde haired boy, happy to have had a last few moments of pure happiness. And for the next 8 years while Nathaniel is on the run, becoming these different people that fracture him bit by bit, he occasionally pulls out the memory of telling that blonde haired boy his real name. It’s the only thing that keeps him going.
When eight years pass and Nathaniel is now Neil without a mother, he meets a blonde haired boy named Andrew, a smile forming on his face as he thinks about the last day he had been nothing but a mere child.