Chapter Text
Simon Fischer remembers the day his son was born vividly. He barely made it to the hospital in time, his son wasn’t supposed to be born for another month and a half.
His hand was almost broken by holding the hand of the woman that was now giving birth to their baby boy. Their baby boy would have to be put into an incubation tank with tubes to help him breathe since his lungs hadn’t fully developed yet.
The months were long and hard, there were days Simon didn’t know if his son would make it, and it didn’t help that the woman that was supposed to be his mother had disappeared somewhere. Days were spent with his son, nights were spent on the phone with that woman, arguing about where she was and if she was high again.
She had said such awful things. If he cared so much, he should just take the baby. She wanted to live a life without an infant child to take care of.
Simon was stressed, broke, and didn’t know how he could take care of a baby, but it all seemed to melt away when he was finally able to hold his son for the first time. He was so small and fragile, but Simon vowed to never let anything bad happen to his son - Evan.
Having a job while also having a newborn baby was hard, especially when Simon was also starting his apprenticeship at a local tattoo shop - that didn’t pay super well in the beginning, and they didn’t want an infant in the shop. Simon didn’t want his son out of his sight, so he would resort to odd jobs that wouldn’t care if he had a baby with him - which weren’t a lot.
Simon relied a lot on credit cards and would often go hungry, but made sure his son was well fed. He didn’t have any family to rely on, especially after being in jail a few times for the drugs he supplied.
Simon was at his limit when he finally asked for help from his estranged family. He hadn’t slept in days and was struggling to find a credit card that was willing to take him with his bad credit.
Evan was almost eighteen months old at this point when he finally met his grandparents. The older couple promised to help with the baby and house Simon while he worked and tried to get out of the pile of debt he put himself in.
It took years to get himself out of that debt, and his parents were kind enough not to charge him any rent or utilities, telling him just to focus on the baby and himself.
On Evan's first day of pre-school, Simon was in tears. Where had all the time gone? He had to sit his son down the day before and tell him to take it easy on the running - with his underdeveloped lungs from an early birth, he had asthma. Of course he had informed the teacher and had given a backup inhaler just in case he had an attack at recess.
But, Simon remembered the first time Evan had an asthma attack. He was scared, but Evan was even more scared. Of course he was, he couldn’t breathe. They immediately booked it to the nearest hospital. Everything worked out fine, but Simon was afraid he would lose his son.
By the time Evan had “graduated” from kindergarten, Simon had paid off a good chunk of his debt, was apprenticing at a tattoo shop again, and had a crummy job at a gas station to pay for the supplies he needed. He was looking for cheap two bedroom apartments and was saving up to finally move out of his parents’ house.
Being a single dad was hard, but Simon thought every second was worth it. His son was growing by the day and was a very happy kid who started a very interesting habit of collecting rocks. Most boys his age did this, but Evan started borrowing books from the school library about different types of rocks and crystals. Needless to say, the kid’s rock collection was impressive.
Simon was able to land a two-bedroom apartment when Evan was starting third grade. He was a full-time tattoo artist and was able to quit his gas station job, and was making a good chunk of his debt under control.
Evan started having trouble in school around this time as well. He’d want to draw instead of doing his homework, or go outside to grow his collection. The kid was weird to his peers. He had rocks in his pockets and would draw on his arms to be just like his dad. And, because the teacher thought drawing on your skin was bad behavior, the students thought the same.
Simon would get into many arguments with his son’s teachers throughout Evan’s schooling career. There was nothing wrong with drawing on your arm, are you crazy? Now, Simon would keep a cool demeanor, but there was only so much he could take. He was intimidating to the little old ladies already, a few inches under six feet with sleeves of tattoos - but then he would get mad at someone badmouthing his son, saying how his son was misbehaved, a bad influence for the other children, and was obviously lacking a mother figure in his life.
Simon would obviously cause a scene, but it would stop short if the faculty would threaten to call the police. The last thing Evan needed was a father in police custody. So, he’d back down. But, those teachers were more careful about what they said about Evan to Simon’s face. Who knew what they said behind his back.
Evan spent most of his time out of school at the tattoo shop with his dad. He’d get along well with the other guys that ran the shop and the regulars got to know Evan as well. After homework was done, Evan would draw and talk to the guys at the shop about the new rocks he’d collected.
When the shop was slow, Evan liked to grab markers and color on Simon’s arms, filling his black ink with color. Simon liked to think he was Evan’s personal coloring book when his son got anxious or bored. So, he made a habit of carrying markers in his pockets.
Evan started getting more withdrawn in school, he wouldn’t talk about his interests as much to any of his peers and he would stop drawing on himself - his dad didn’t care if he drew on himself at home, but his dad made him promise just to draw on paper at school. So, he would still draw on his worksheets and notes. He even got a nice sketchbook from his dad on his ninth birthday.
Don’t get him wrong, Evan wasn’t unhappy with his life. He just enjoyed it a lot more outside of school. And he was dreading the start of middle school.
Middle school was a new milestone for Evan, and one that Simon wasn’t ready for as they drove up to the front of Grover Cleveland Middle School. Simon could feel his eyes start to water as he put the car into park.
“You ready, kiddo?” Simon put a comforting hand on Evan’s shoulder.
“Yeah.” He said, his hand in his hoodie pocket, probably clutching on one of his favorite stones for support. “I think so.”
Simon took a breath and then looked over at his son, now eleven years old. First day of sixth grade. Oh no, here come the tears.
“Dad, are you crying?” Evan looked like he was on the verge of tears as well.
“What? No.” Simon wiped his eyes. “Okay, maybe.”
“That’s super embarrassing for you.” Evan also wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
“Ouch, kid.” Simon laughed before leaning over and pulling his son into a hug. “I love you, but stop growing up so damn fast.”
“I’ll try, but I don’t think middle school is the right stage to stop aging.” Evan hugged him back. “Maybe I’ll wait for high school.” He joked.
“Deal.” Simon then placed a quick kiss on the crown of Evan’s head. “You have your inhaler?” He finally let go of his son.
“Of course. And I have your number if I need anything.” Evan undid his seatbelt and took a breath before opening the car door. “Love you too, by the way.”
Then the car door shut and the tears fell as he watched Evan walk up to the school and disappear into the building.
Middle school was a different beast than the last year of elementary school. Evan had a good hold of his worry stone the whole day. The first day was filled with introductions and no homework. Perfect. He could draw when he got to his dad’s work and then some more when he got home later that night.
His last class of the day was science. Science was cool, but he preferred rocks. Evan figured he’d do something with geology when he got older. He wanted to explore the middle school library a bit to see if there were any other books on rocks that his elementary school didn’t have.
His thoughts were interrupted when the science teacher walked in.
Evan’s first thoughts - this teacher looked like his dad’s age. All the other teachers seemed to be older than his grandparents.
“Good afternoon, class.” The older man set his bag on the front desk, looking a bit frazzled. “My name is Mr. Grace, I’m your introductory science teacher.”
Evan started tuning him out and went back to drawing. It was all the same introductory stuff each teacher did throughout the whole day. What’s the harm in tuning out the overarching lesson plan for the year?
Then, Evan’s ears perked up when he heard Mr. Grace mentioned him teaching a very elementary version of geology near the end of the year. “Seventh graders will be able to take a geology course next year if they so choose.”
Evan locked in after that. He even stopped his absentminded spiral drawings that he’d do when he was listening, but obviously not interested.
Mr. Grace had a vibe about him that Evan liked. Like, he had this charisma about him, like he was a cool teacher. But, also wasn’t trying to be cool? It was hard to explain.
“I know it’s just the first day, but I’m sure other teachers have mentioned - sign up for clubs starts now and first meetings start next week. I have a science club I run. If any of you are interested, feel free to grab a sheet from me at the end of class. I’ll need parent signatures since it’s an after school activity.”
Evan had heard all day about clubs, and he was maybe interested in an art club. But, if there was a club about rocks, he was in all the way.
The bell rang, signalling the end of class and everyone filed out, some students stopped by for a sheet about science club, but not a lot. Evan waited till after most of the students left to walk up to Mr. Grace.
His new teacher was packing away notes and different papers and notebooks, but he momentarily stopped when he saw Evan walk up to him. “Can I help you with something…” His words faded out as if he was expecting Evan to say something like-
Oh, right. Introductions were important, right?
“Oh, I’m Evan.”
“Right!” He looked down at his roster of names. “Evan Fischer, right. What can I help you with?”
“Your club.” He started. “I know we are doing a geology course near the end of the year. But, do you do stuff like that in your club?”
Mr. Grace smiled. “Ah, a fellow rock fan?” He lightly chuckled when Evan enthusiastically shook his head. “We can definitely do that! So, are you interested in joining? I’m surprised you aren’t more interested in art club.” He motions to the sketchbook that was tightly clutched to Evan’s chest.
“I mean, I like art, but I really like rocks.” Evan explained. “I like doing art with my dad and he likes that I find rocks interesting, but he doesn’t understand rocks like I do.”
Mr. Grace nods along as Evan lists off his favorite types of rocks, why they are his favorite, and even lists off his least favorite rocks.
And Evan can tell, Mr. Grace understands what he’s talking about.
“So, long story short, can I have a sheet for my dad to sign? I’d like to join.”
“Absolutely!” Mr. Grace handed him a sheet that read the different possible activities that science club offered, and Mr. Grace’s contact email if a parent had any questions.
Evan left the classroom with his slip of paper and a little jump to his step as he walked out of the building to his dad’s awaiting car.
Simon patiently waited for his son to exit the school building. He had a feeling something happened, nothing bad yet - nothing pointed to bad, but something did happen. Just a dad instinct he supposed.
Eventually, he saw his kid bounce up to the car, his sketchbook clutched against his chest like always.
“Hey, kiddo.” He said as Evan buckled up and he slowly pulled away from the sidewalk. “How was your first day?”
“Boring, but Mr. Grace has a rock club so I need you to sign this sheet.” Evan pulled a piece of paper out of his sketchbook and held it out for Simon to read, even though Simon’s eyes were on the road.
“I’ll look at it when we get to the shop.” He promised.
“Mr. Grace really knows about rocks.” Evan started to ramble as Simon drove. “Like, he doesn’t pretend to know like you do.”
“Hey, I don’t pretend! I know plenty about rocks.” Simon couldn’t help but smile at his son’s bluntness.
Simon always had a feeling his son was on the spectrum since the kid could talk. Evan’s last school did some informal testing and let Simon know the results. But, Simon couldn’t afford more professional in-depth testing. Which was okay, it was just a learning curve when it came to navigating Evan’s odd behaviors and bluntness. But, parenting was always a learning curve.
By this time, they pulled up to the tattoo shop and as Simon put the car into park, Evan pushed the paper into Simon’s hands. Welp, better to get this out of the way now.
Simon quickly read over the sheet of paper. “Kiddo, this seems more like a science club than a rock club.”
“He said we could do rocks.” Evan insisted.
“Okay, okay.” Simon continued to read through the list and rocks were on the list at least along with the teacher’s contact email. Simon couldn’t help but smile, maybe this was what Evan needed to make friends his age? “Alright, let’s get inside and I’ll sign this for you.”
Evan beamed and quickly got out of the car, motioning for Simon to hurry up. He just chuckled and quickly got out of the car as well, then pulled his kid into a quick side hug before walking into the shop.
Simon had a feeling this year was going to be very eventful.