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Gepard was busy in the restricted zone, he was doing a patrol to make sure no creature got close to the civilians, it was quite mundane he had a few guards around him, until he heard a loud sound, a trash can falling over on an alley near by, he held his weapon tight and approached the position with his guards close behind him.
"Show yourself or we-" he froze mid sentence as he saw what made the noise, a small kid hiding behind the recently tipped over can trembling, the child couldn't be older than six, how did he get here? Gepard made a signal with his hand so the guards would stand down as he approached the kid, now that he was closer he could hear the crying coming out of him.
"Sorry kid this is a restricted area you can't be here, I don't even know how you got here..." Gepard looked concerned at the small boy he had blue hair and tears were streaming down his face and his expression was filled with confusion.
"B-but I don't kno-ow how I got here" the boy cried out, he dressed similar to a few underworld kids, ragged oversized jacket, shoes from different pairs and pants with multiple patches all over it, but it was different... but he didn't look like fragmentum Gepard could tell that, Gepard decided to kneel in front of the boy with a gentle smile to try and comfort him.
"Hey it's okay, can you tell me your name? Maybe I can find your parents" he asked gently, assuming they were underworlders based on his appearance.
"S-seppo.... Ilmarinen" The boy spoke looking at the captain with familiar green eyes... No Gepard was just overthinking it, the kid was just an underworlder maybe that eye color is more common down there? He couldn't think about him now, there was a kid here that could be in danger.
"Okay there Seppo, I'm Gepard the captain of the guards, how about I take you back to the city and we can figure out how to get you home?" Gepard said softly, he had always been good with kids, he is glad this is coming in handy now because the little boy nodded and approached Gepard shyly "I'm going to carry you back okay? That way we can get back faster" he almost said 'back to safety' but he didn't want to scare Seppo, who gladly agreed to be carried. Gepard picked him up making sure the boy was holding him before he got up and walked back to his men.
"We need to return to the city immediately" he spoke, his captain voice back as he ordered his men, who immediately understood the situation and started to march away, Gepard remained in the center so the little boy would remain safe, he seemed to be still scared... He should order the men to check the area they found the boy in later, maybe they would find clues on how he got there.
When they arrived at the safety of his office on Qlipoth's fort he did just as he thought, telling his guards to bring anything of interest as he put the boy in the ground, the kid started to look around with curiosity, it was mostly documents so nothing a kid would be interested in... He seemed to like the view from his window though. Once his guards were gone Gepard approached Seppo who had his face pressed against the window in awe.
"So Seppo how old are you?" Gepard asked, hoping to get more information about him, he was a lost child after all, he probably had parents looking for him, if not parents at least Natasha would be worried about a missing underworld kid, he knew how deeply the woman cared, he should contact her once he was sure Seppo wasn't from the overworld.
"Five" he said proudly, seemed like he was getting more comfortable, good, Gepard hates seeing children cry, but that smile... This kid does look a bit like Sampo, the blue hair the eyes, did- did Sampo have a kid?! No he couldn't Gepard was just overthinking this, Seppo told him his last name when they met and it sure wasn't 'Koski'.
"So are you from the city here?" He pointed to the view of Belobog, he knew kids probably saw the under and over world as separate cities so he decided to make this easy for Seppo to understand, the kid got a small frown and shook his head, seemingly remembering now that he was actually lost "Don't worry I know someone that will help you, I just need to call her" he explains quickly hoping the kid won't cry again, he looked around before grabbing a few blank papers and a few pencils, hoping that they would distract him while he called Natasha.
Gepard picked his phone and called the doctor, he stood away from Seppo as he drew, he hoped this would be resolved quickly, he wanted to make sure the kid was back to proper caretakers soon, he was glad when he heard Natasha pick up the phone with worry in her voice.
"Gepard...? You don't usually call" it was true he usually contacted her during an emergency, well it kind of was.
"On my patrol today I found a lost child,I believe he is from the underground" Gepard explains pacing a bit on the spot he was looking at Seppo "I don't know how he got to the restricted zone" he added, reminded of the way the boy cried in confusion when he found him.
"Oh? You are lucky, I was just talking to Lady Bronya in her office, I'm sure yours is not far, I can go right now hold on" she hung up immediately, Gepard was lucky, the woman was normally in her clinic, well if she was there he would probably go with Seppo. Gepard waited up for a bit before there was a knock on his door.
"You can come in" he opened the door letting her inside the room, she immediately got in looking at Seppo, she had a confused expression on her face as she looked at him, well that wasn't good, Natasha was familiar with most children in the underground so he assumed she knew him, Seppo looked up from his drawing, he saw the woman and waved shyly before getting up and approaching Gepard hiding behind him "Don't worry she is here to help" he looked at Seppo with a gentle smile.
"He looks a lot like Sampo" Natasha said what Gepard was thinking when he saw the kid but didn't want to believe, he looked at her with a worried expression "But Sampo doesn't have a kid..." She adds, Gepard didn't know why he felt relief, why would he care if Sampo had a kid?... Not his problem, Natasha kneeled infront of Seppo with a gentle smile, he luckily wasn't as tense as before when he looked at her "Hello dear, can you tell me your name? I'm Natasha"
"Seppo Ilmarinen" he spoke, even though he was more comfortable he was still close to Gepard's leg, Natasha smile and nodded.
"Are you from the underground? I don't remember seeing you there" Seppo shook his head making both Natasha and Gepard confused "then are you from up here...?" Natasha asked only for the kid to shake his head again, his eyes were growing a bit watery at that "where are you from? We want to get you home"
"Kalevala... Can you take me home?" Wait, what? Now this was growing confusing, what was Kalevala? Where did this kid even come from?? Noticing their confused faces Seppo started to cry "I wanna go home" Natasha instantly went to comfort him but Seppo was holding Gepard still, the doctor looked at the blonde who simply nodded and kneeled down petting his hair, Seppo allowed it.
"We will try our best okay, don't worry" he started to comfort him when he heard a knock on the door, he looked at the direction and sighed "come in" he ordered, and soon a guard walked in with a bag, Gepard picked Seppo up once more and the kid held on to him seeing to calm down a bit.
"Sir, I found the items that were near the boy" he spoke placing them on Gepard's table, Gepard nodded, now this could give them some answers, Natasha already approached the items and Gepard allowed the guard to leave, Natasha was already looking through the stuff having a confused expression in her face Gepard approached her with Seppo on his arms still.
"Gepard... This is Sampo's stuff" she spoke removing some smoke and sleep bombs and money, it definitely was Sampo's, Oh Qlipoth, was Seppo really Sampo's kid?! Why did he feel so upset?! Why did he care so much?! "What is this? 'Fountain of youth water'?" Natasha's words cut through his mini mental break down as he saw a bottle with clear liquid inside "Curio that can make you look and feel younger" Natasha read before looking at the bottle, the cap had been open and some of the liquid had been drank, Natasha looked at Gepard both made eye contact before both looking at the boy in Gepard's arm slowly at the same time....
Oh
Oh no fucking way
"But his name isn't Sampo" he spoke knowing they both made the same realization at the same time, the boy wasn't paying attention, it was getting late and he was growing tired after all, Natasha put the bottle down and covered her mouth looking even more horrified.
"Sampo's birth name isn't Sampo Koski... He told me when he was drunk and confirmed to me when he was sober, he changed his name as a teenager which means... The most likely possibility is that..." She took a deep breath before she said what they were both thinking "Sampo is Seppo, Sampo Koski turned into a kid" Gepard couldn't believe this, it just couldn't be true.
"Hey Seppo I know you are tired but what do you remember from when you were in that alley before I found you?" He asked the boy who looked at the bottle, he pointed at it.
"I had that in my hands... Then you showed up" he said before looking at Gepard with a frown, Oh no, he really was Sampo, it was a kid version of Sampo!! But he was such a sweet kid... What happened?! "Gepad, can you not take me home" even the way he said his name wrong was cute.
"Not today, but I'm sure we can get you home tomorrow" he spoke turning to Natasha "this definitely isn't from Belobog, we should contact the nameless, can you keep Sa- Seppo?" He asked and Natasha shook her head making Gepard frown.
"My clinic is full, I don't have space, and I would like someone to keep a constant eye on him, I can contact the nameless and check on his hideouts if he has anything else, you keep him for tonight" the worst part is that he couldn't even complain, she was reasonable, he could keep him for the night, hopefully he didn't turn back and rob him.
"Sure, I'll keep him, text me if you need any information" after that Natasha left leaving Gepard alone with little Seppo, he decided not to think how this was the child version of the man that made his job harder and more annoying.
----
Gepard was carrying Seppo to his place, the sun had already set and the streets on his way home were pretty empty, he was glad he just wanted to go home and rest and hope that by tomorrow Sampo was back to normal, the kid was slowly dozing off on his arms, it was honestly pretty cute, if Sampo had a kid would he look like his younger self or would they be a mix of them both?... Woah?! What was wrong with his head, why was he imagining him and Sampo having a kid?! As if that would ever happen, they were both man after all, why would he even want a kid with Sampo?! He hated Sampo!! He was red as he was approaching his home, he unlocked his door and walked inside.
"Is that a kid?" Gepard froze when he heard the words, he looked at his living room only to see that Serval was there, he totally forgot he asked Serval to come fix up his heater, he was so busy with the whole Sampo thing he even forgot his living room was warmer that it was this morning.
"Gepad, I wanna pee" Seppo whined before Gepard could explain to Serval about the current situation, Gepard just nodded and put Seppo down guiding him towards the bathroom, he opened the door.
"Can you go by yourself?" He asked, and Sampo nodded walking in and closing the door behind him "call me if you need anything" Gepard sighed before turning around and almost jumping when he noticed Serval had followed them there, of course his sister was curious, it's not everyday your brother shows up with a randomly kid.
"So since when did you and Sampo have a kid?" Gepard actually turned red at that comment, what?! How did she come to that conclusion?! "I mean the kid does look like him and you are crazy for the guy"
"I'm not crazy for him! He is a wanted man, I have to keep my eye on him" Gepard had an offended tone in his voice "And he isn't even Sampo's kid..." The blonde man sighed before he opened his mouth to say the absurd reality "He is Sampo, seems he was affected by something and now he is five, Natasha is looking more into it and I'm taking care of him" Serval looked surprised at that but before she could ask for more details the kid called once again.
"The sink is tall!" Seppo whined and Gepard could hear the sound of jumping and what sounded like feet on the drawer under the sink, Gepard's eyes widened as he rushed inside.
"Wait!! Don't climb it!!! I'll help you!!"
After he help Seppo wash his hands he took the boy to the living room so he could talk to Serval, he once again gave some papers to him, and the boy went back to drawing, though he was clearly sleepy but he refused to go to bed saying he could stay up late... He would see how long that would last.
"So that kid is a child version of Sampo?" Serval looked shocked looking at the boy, before turning to look at her brother.
"I learned a lot about Sampo from this... Like how his birth name is Seppo Ilmarinen and how he... He isn't from Belobog" It was so shocking but it had to be true, the kid didn't recognize Belobog and told Gepard he was from Kalevala, how did Sampo even get here? Before the trailblazer the rest of the universe didn't know about their existence... It was all so confusing
"I'm sure he'll be back to normal soon, tho I doubt he will explain everything to you... Might be a good excuse for you to talk to him" she shrugged and before Gepard could open his mouth she lifted her hand to stop him "I know you are not very good at realizing your own feeling, but you have a crush, not long ago he threw a rose at you before running off and you were all red and looking at that single flower like it was the most beautiful thing in the world" Gepard blushed at that, he couldn't explain himself he put a hand above his hand and grabbed his chest, that caused Serval to laugh "You do that too, when you are talking about him you hold your chest, like that would stop your heart from beating fast"
"Stop being so observant... Stop noticing things about myself before I do" Gepard's voice was trembling, fuck! He had a crush on a criminal, what was wrong with him, he was a Landau, he should be dating a noble girl but his heart chooses a man that constantly teases him?! Serval gently rubs his back.
"He passed out already" she chuckles pointing at the little boy already with his head against the table sound asleep, Gepard laughed softly, he knew he wouldn't stay awake long "I'll leave now, call me tomorrow" Serval hugged him before leaving making sure not to make much noise to not wake Seppo up. Gepard got up and approached the kid gently picking him up and placing him in the couch, he turned back to look at what he was drawing, it was messy but he could see what looked like colorful masks all over... Weird but Sampo was a weird adult so it didn't surprise him much. Gepard walked out of the room bringing a blanket and gently covering Seppo who was already drooling on the couch pillow.
Gepard was finally able to lay on his bad, he had a shower and got dressed in the quietest way possible, do parents have to do that constantly, sounded exhausting. Gepard yawned turning the lights off and comfortably getting ready to sleep but not long after he heard footsteps approaching his room, Gepard sat up and saw the silhouette of a small child at his door.
"Gepad...?" The kid's voice was trembling making Gepard turn on the lights, now he could see Seppo pouting and looking at the floor with the pillow in hand "I don't wanna sleep alone" he looked up at Gepard with big pleading green eyes, how could he say no to that, he lifted the blankets so Seppo could climb in, the kid smiled "Thank you" he got up in the bed placing his pillow beside Gepard and laying down, the thoughts of having a child with Sampo hit him like a truck once more, having their kid join them in bed because they were scared, them having the same eyes as Sampo, fuck he was really down bad wasn't he, he just couldn't think about it.
"Goodnight Seppo" he turned off the lights and laid down with his back turned away from Sampo, he heard a soft 'good night' coming from the boy, the kid basically glued himself to Gepard's back, like he was scared Gepard would disappear if he wasn't in contact with him, Gepard let him and he was luckily able to fall asleep.
-----
Gepard woke up with a small feet in his cheek, he groaned noticing Seppo was basically kicking him out of the bed, he looked and saw the boy spread like a starfish upside down with his feet on the pillow, how did he manage to get on the position? Gepard sighed picking his phone he should call Natasha and tell her about the current situation, he had hoped Sampo would have returned to normal by now, even though he would probably die from embarrassment if he woke up with a grown Sampo in bed with him, before he could call her he received a call from Caelus, he looked surprised and immediately picked up
"Trailblazer, what can I do for you?" He immediately went to a professional voice, he knew the guy would probably not mind Gepard being more loose with him, but Gepard wouldn't be able to do that to the hero of Belobog.
"Hey! Uh Natasha called me yesterday... I mean I think it was yesterday time can be different in outer space..." The Trailblazer mumbled a bit before going back on topic "uh anyway, she told me about Sampo! She also send me a pic of the Curio, I talked to a... Friend? Yeah a friend of mine, she collects them and she told me about this one in specific was made by a pathstrider of remembrance, nothing dangerous just made to get old memories, the effects are temporary they should only last twenty four hours" Gepard sighed in relief, since he found Sampo late afternoon yesterday it meant that this afternoon Sampo would return to normal
"Thank you" he spoke with a smile, he was about to talk more when when Seppo woke up looking at the blonde.
"Hungry " he whined looking at Gepard making the blonde nod.
"Forgive me Caelus I have to hang up, We can talk more when you visit Belobog" he spoke, Caelus said his goodbyes and Gepard hung up the phone looking at Seppo "I'll see what I can make for breakfast come with me" he didn't want to leave the other alone after the 'climbing the sink' fiasco from yesterday.
Seppo followed him into the kitchen sitting on the kitchen table and making little origami out of the napkins, Gepard decided to make some pancakes, he had the ingredients and he loved them as a kid so Seppo might too, he finished making them and put a plate infront of Seppo who looked at it in shock, Gepard didn't understand the expression.
"Woah! You have so much food!!" Gepard felt his heart hurt, it was two pancakes each, they weren't very big, what was Sampo's childhood like if this was a lot of food, he didn't pay that much attention before but the boy was skinny. "Thank you for the food!!" He said and started eating small bites savoring every bite, Gepard felt another sting in his heart, how different were their childhoods, he never had issue with food, his table was always filled with all types of food and here Seppo was savoring every small bite because he didn't know when he would eat again. Once Sampo finished he smiled wide to Gepard picking one of the napkins he was folding and handing it to him.
"Oh? Is this a flower?" It looked like a flower, it wasn't that amazingly made but it was clear he had a passion for art... Could Sampo still do these kind of things? The boy nodded happily.
"Yeah! It's a rose, cause you are really nice" he said proudly before blushing "When I'm older I'll take care of you" he spoke with a shy expression, Gepard covered his mouth so he wouldn't laugh, was Seppo flirting with him? Was he like this since he was a kid, at least as a kid it was just cute and Charming, as an adult he was just annoying, Seppo noticed Gepard covering his mouth "Don't worry I'll be super strong when I'm older my friend told me so!"
"Your friend?" He asked with a chuckle, Seppo nodded rushing to the living room, Gepard followed him there, the boy picked the image of the masks he drew yesterday and showed it to Gepard.
"Their name is Aha!! They are my friend" Aha...? Gepard swore that sounded familiar but he didn't remember where he heard it "They said they'll help me be super strong!!! And all then I'll help grandma!!!" He said super proudly and excited Gepard simply nodded, he had nothing better to do, it's not like he could go to work, he was sure Natasha already warned Bronya of his current situation given she didn't call him yet.
"So you live with your grandma?" He asked as he sat on the couch, Seppo hopped on the couch sitting beside him and nodding once more, Gepard admits he was curious about Sampo's life, how his childhood was like, he already realized it was rough.
"Yep! She is super cool, I'll be strong and help her!!" A five year old talking about how he wanted to help his grandmother, how he wished to support her, he felt his heart breaking a bit, he simply leaned in and gently rub Seppo's hair making the boy look at him with confusion.
"You are already pretty strong" Gepard said gently making Seppo smile wide and hug Gepard tightly, Gepard chuckled softly rubbing the boy's back.
"Marry me please" Seppo spoke suddenly making Gepard burst out laughing.
"Ask me again when you are older" he teased him, huh, it was the first time he managed to tease Sampo, and it was when the other was a kid... How sad.
-----
Taking care of a child was harder, Seppo was a sweet kid but he was hyperactive, he kept jumping around and when went out he almost lost him five separate times... Once they got home Gepard groaned and laid in bed before Seppo hopped on the bed with a wide grin.
"Can we go outside again?" He asked with bright excited eyes causing Gepard to shake his head with a sigh.
"Seppo, we just got home" Seppo pouted a bit before jumping off the bed and rushing to the living room, Gepard couldn't help but chuckle getting up and following the boy to his living room.
"We can't go out bu-" he froze mid sentence at the sight of a grown Sampo in his living room looking confused around, rubbing his forehead before his eyes met Gepard.
"Shit... That actually happened? I thought it was a fucked up hallucinations, guess that weird drink is the real deal huh?" He spoke more awkwardly than usual, he probably realized he spoke too much about his past to Gepard, the blonde just sighed.
"Though your past confuses me it doesn't change anything" Gepard just sat on the couch too tired to do anything else, Natasha was the strongest woman she knew if she was able to handle children like that so easily, Sampo looked at him before sitting beside Gepard on the couch, slowly getting back to his usual self as that shit eating grin returned.
"Sooo... Ya still have feelings for little old me?" He teased making Gepard blush, but he chuckled.
"As a kid you were asking me to marry you, so I should ask the same thing" Gepard couldn't believe his eyes as he got Sampo to blush, Sampo was blushing over something he said!
"Well yeah, is it that surprising that I'm into you?" He was clearly flustered but Sampo was honest with his words "It's just, there is a lot more to me that you don't know..."
"Then tell me about it" he said looking into those green eyes that captivated him.
"It will be a while to explain, how about I get us dinner? Is it a date?" Sampo flirted making Gepard laugh a bit, oh how ridiculous.
"Of course... Seppo" he teased making Sampo speechless and embarrassed, he felt his heart flutter, he couldn't wait for their date.