Work Text:
You sat in the green room, between Lanino and Elnina as they played some sort of racing game. They weren't your babysitters or anything, you just sort of sat between them at some point. They liked you. More than the others, anyway.
"Who do you think races better, little cutie?" Elnina giggled at you, eyes glued to the screen.
"Obviously me, dewdrop. Come on." Lanino retorted with a smile, leaning over to boop your cheek before letting out a yelp as that action caused him to crash his car in-game. He leaned back with a loud groan as Elnina laughed at his loss playfully.
"Aunt Nina wins." You laughed. Lanino crossed his arms but smirked.
Tenna burst through the stage doors, arms up in the air, voice booming as always. You peeked up over the chair and climbed up on the back, nearly falling off (Elnina jumped to hold you to the chair, muttering about how you almost gave her a heart attack).
"THERE YOU ARE!" Tenna rushed over to pick you up (Thanking Elnina profusely under his breath) before swinging you around, making you laugh, hugging you to his chest and smiling as a flower popped from his nosetip.
"How is my little darling?"
He kissed your cheek, making it feel all fuzzy from the static. You kissed the side of his head in return, smiling.
"Watched you, watched games all day. I had fun. Uncle Ramb made me stop watching you when that music video came on though."
Tenna tensed up and, if he had eyes, would have looked to the side in relief. Thank HELL Ramb got you to not see that music video. It wasn't explicit or anything, not really, but...it'd be way too much for someone your age. He looked to Ramb with a silent, desperate "THANK YOU", and got a small smile in return.
He put you on top of his head, smiling as you patted your hands on his screen. Tenna walked around with you like that, asking his employees about the shows, timing, etc. This was boring, but...you got to be a hat.
Hey. Hey! You were a hat!
You began to pat his head to get his attention, but he gave you a 'one minute' gesture as he spoke to Mike about some show timing. Felt like it took forever.
Tenna finally finished, head tilting up to let you know he was listening to you.
"Yes, dear?"
"Dad. I'm your hat."
"You sure are my ha-"
He laughed, and his next words caught in his throat, and he froze, standing still. Uh... Wait, what's... Why is he standing so still? You peeked down, seeing his screen was black.
"...Dad..?"
Tenna began to shake as he slowly reached up, taking you off of his head and holding you in both hands in front of him. His display was still black, and he rubbed your cheek with a thumb. His voice came out incredibly small, but he didn't shrink down.
"....You...called me...Dad."
Oh. Oh! You did. Huh. Guess at this point, it felt natural to do so. He took you in, cared for you, called you his child almost immediately, but you only recently just called him this. You began to say something before Tenna let out a delighted sob, hugging you tight and crying.
"HONEY! YOU CALLED ME DAD! YOU CALLED ME DAD!!!"
Tenna was downright sobbing at this point, twirling around with you in his arms before going to his knees, rocking back and forth. He kept repeating 'you called me dad' over and over. You let out a small laugh and hugged his head as best you could.
Man, if he had tear ducts, you probably would have been soaked with tears by now with how hard he was crying about this. Tenna was overwhelmed, but extremely happy. He let up a little bit and leaned back onto his knees, looking down at you. You smiled.
"Hi, Dad."
A high-pitched, happy sound left him and he kissed your forehead, pixelated tears dripping down his display from unidentifiable eyes. You kissed the side of it.
"H-hi, honey."
He sniffled, looking at the floor. Seemed to be still in disbelief. A laugh left him, antennae drooped.
"You called me Dad...."
Squirming around in his oversized hands, you moved to hug his arm, your cheek on his arm. He was shaking. Still crying.
"Love you, Dad."
His voice cracked harshly as he told you he loved you back. It took him all of 5 seconds before he hugged you close again, sobbing out loud in joy with you giggling against him. He's gonna be like this for a while.
