Liam excitedly swung open the door to his house, his father standing behind him.

  He was just informed that his mom would be coming home early, and he couldn't wait. The day was extremely boring with Mavik, having been ignored all day, but that's what he had his dad for. Besides, he was used to it.

  Although the reason why Cir was coming back early wasn't specified, it was the least of Liam's worries. All he cared about was getting to see his mom already, and he knew that would happen when heard a car pull up in the driveway.

  Liam ran out the door, reaching the car with stars shining in his eyes from excitement.

  "Mom! Mommy! I missed you!" He excimed at the sight of Cir slowly getting out of the car, before lunging to wrap himself around her leg in a hug.

  He could feel a hand patting his head, smiling bittersweetly as the woman mumbled "Hey, Lee. I missed you too."

  After spending a few moments nuzzling himself into his mom’s leg, he let go of her, trying to reach up to take her hand. "Come on, mom! Let's go home! I found a cool bug for you, it's so cool!" He tried to expin, his words limited but expressions of the happiness he felt endless.

  By that, of course, he meant he rescued it from Mavik. The man had a zero tolerance for bugs, and he would kill them whenever Liam would find one. If the little boy were to pay as much attention to his father, he would see his already annoyed expression darken at the knowledge that he had hidden it from him. However, the part that bothered him more was the fact that the house was dirty rather than the way his own son saw him.

  "Oh, did you now?" Cir asked, crouching down to Liam's level. She paused for a moment, smilking at him. Liam could have sworen that he saw his parents exchange gnces, watching the way her smile faltered when she looked at Mavik. He frowned.

  "Well, how about you go get it for me, and I'll be inside in a moment?" Cir offered, gently drawing the child's attention back to herself, “Your dad and I need to discuss something. Don’t worry about it, okay? I love you.”

  Liam beamed, nodding excitedly. "I'll go get it!" He chuckled, before running off to do just that.

  It didn’t take him long to go grab the bug he had trapped under a pstic cup, hiding it in his hand as he ran back out to go look for his parents.

  When he saw them, the frown returned to his face momentarily. They were talking, but neither looked very happy. His mom was always so nice to him, unlike his dad, but she looked nothing like that now. Did she always act like this when he wasn’t around? Was she just like his dad to everyone else?

  He could hear them talking even from there. He always hated loud noises, and it made him want to turn away and leave.

  Looking the other way, he noticed something a bit… weird. There was a small pink feather, just ying on the ground. He moved closer to examine it, before he saw it was a trail of them.

  His eyes followed the feathers, seeing as they were all coming from a specific car. A luxurious, pink car, adorned with those feathers all over it. He grinned, thinking how pretty the car looked. He had to go closer and check it out, it looked so nice and fluffy.

  The car was just far away enough to be out of sight from his house if you weren’t looking for it, which was surprising with how noticeable it was. It looked so shiny, Liam couldn't help but walk up to it.

  He’d never been so far away from his house alone, but his dad always told him he was very independent, like when he lets him py outside by himself. He’d just have to puff out his chest and be a grown up, like he does at home.

  Finally reaching the car, now completely out of his dads's sight, he ran his hand through the soft pink feathers.

  The moment his hand made contact with the soft feathers, he heard the sound of a door opening, and he spun his head around to look at who had exited it.

  Before him appeared a tall blond man, covered head to toe in simirly pink feathers to the ones on the car. He had a scowl on his face, although the gsses he was wearing made him look silly.

  "Who are you?" The man questioned, his tone low.

  Liam grinned, finding the man's silly appearance to be quite appealing. "I'm Liam!" He excimed, moving to face the tall man, "I like your car,"

  The man sighed, seemingly unsatisfied by the answer, which confused him. Although, that thought quickly went away when he spoke up again. "I don't care. Haven't you heard of the stranger danger rule, kid?"

  Liam frowned, thinking about it for a moment. It was something that Cir had repeated to him multiple times, mostly because he keeps talking to people he shouldn't. "Maybe..." He drawled before his tone turned optimistic again, "But I told you my name, so you know me! We aren't strangers."

  Although the man's expression was hidden by his gsses, Liam swore that he could see a fsh of amusement appear. He shook his head slightly and sighed. "I'm Dyn. And don't touch this car, it costs more than your whole bloodline. Where are your parents?"

  After pausing for a moment to think, Liam turned his head towards his house, pointing to it. "Over there! Mommy and dad are doing the yelling together because she came home early.

  Dyn raised an eyebrow, a hint of interest across his expression. "Yelling, you say? Huh," He hummed in thought. "What's your mom’s name?"

  "Cir!" Liam excimed.

  The tall man grinned. A big, satisfied grin, highlighted by the way he took off his gsses and leaned down to look at the boy closer. He had pretty blue eyes, which made Liam giggle.

  "That's a pretty name she has~" He chuckled, pausing thoughtfully.

  "I'll tell you what... How about I’ll meet you here again in a few days, and you can introduce me to your mom? Then we can py, all three of us. We’ll be friends!"

  Liam nodded excitedly, rushing forward to embrace the other man's leg in a hug. "Okay!" He excimed, before making a small pout and adding "But bring lots of food! Mom always gives me hers, but she looks really hungry. You have food money, right? So you can do that!”

  Dyn smiled, gently removing the boy from his leg before slowly walking back to the car. "I will," He hummed, pausing for a second before adding "For now, how about you go back home? And... don't mention me to Crumbs, alright?~"

  “Crumbs?”

  ”You know, your mother.” He paused again, before adding "It's like... our little secret. Friends keep each other’s secrets."

  The boy grinned, waving to the tall man as he got in his car. "I won't!" He excimed, before turning around to head back. He was so nice, he thought, he even gave his mom a nickname.

  Liam ran back to the parking lot, his hand still wrapped around the bug as he excitedly imagined his mom’s reaction.

  It wasn’t long before he reached his parents, although they were still loudly arguing. The sound made him pause, an uncomfortable sensation going through his body. Whenever this happened, his mom or his teacher always told him to try and focus and calm down. He stood there for a few moments, breathing, keeping just enough distance.

  "Well, what did you expect? What are we supposed to do now?" Mavik asked, his tone cold and agitated.

  "I don't know!" Cir excimed, her tone frustrated like Liam had never heard before. "I don't know, okay? I can stay at home for now, and I'll look for another job. I just- I was fired for no reason, and I don't know what to do. I tried to mention a wsuit, maybe we could-"

  "You think I'm wasting money on a wyer for you being zy?" Mavik scoffed, making both his son and partner flinch a bit from the harshness in his tone. "You need to get that job back. I'm not going to single-handedly support your family."

  Cir blinked, her face turning pale. "Mavik, I-" she tried, only to get cut off by a few words that made her look so devastated it hurt Liam to just watch.

  "I've heard enough. We're over."

  His tone was cold and harsh, making Liam stumble back. His mind didn't comprehend his words, only how his voice sounded. He was used to his father talking like that, but never to Cir. And even if his mom would never admit it, he knew those things hurt her. And that made him feel… bad. A kind of bad that makes him feel like his body was Being crushed. He started to shake.

  He watched as Mavik headed inside the house, leaving him and his mom there. She looked like she wanted to cry.

  He ran up to her, gently tugging at his shirt. “Mom?”

  "L-Lee! Are you alright, baby?" She asked, her tone quickly changing. She crouched down to be on the boy's level, giving him a warm and gentle smile.

  "Um, y,yeah..." Liam mumbled, although it didn't sound very convincing. He sniffled, tears welling up in his eyes. "Why, um, w,why was dad being mean to you?"

  She sighed. "He's... it's not exactly that. There’s just a lot of grown up things on dad’s mind, alright?" She attempted, trying to keep a positive face. "Do you wanna show me that bug you were talking about earlier, the big one you found?"

  "Oh! I," Liam started, gncing down to his hand where he previously held the bug, only to see it empty.

  He was so sure that it was still there, despite him opening his hand multiple times and carelessly letting it go. "It... It ran away..."

  A soft chuckle came from Cir, which soothed Liam a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. Don't worry, Lee, I'l sure you'll find another one. We can go looking for some if you want."

  Liam looked up at his dad, smiling again. His mom was so nice, it wasn't fair that Mavik shouted at her. Usually, he only gets yelled at when he does something bad, but his mom just came home early. That should be good though, shouldn’t it?

  "Okay!" He cheered with a chuckle, throwing his arms up in celebration. "Can we go back home now?"

  Cir smiled, gently scooping her son into her arms and cradling him. She gnced back at the house for a moment, thinking. "Sure, but let's wait a little. I think we should let your father calm down a bit."

  Although the way Cir's always calm tone faltered at the st part didn’t go unnoticed by Liam, he didn’t say anything, being too focused on nuzzling into his mother’s neck like a clingy cat. "Mmm, okay." He hummed, looking around for a few moments. If they're staying here, he might as well introduce his mom to that pink fmingo man, shouldn't he?

  Seeing his son suddenly look around, Cir raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

  Liam blinked, shaking his head. "No, I was just looking for... for..." He paused , the memory of those words fshing back in his mind. Te smile widened on his face.

  "Oh, hum, evermind." He chuckled innocently.

  "Are you hiding something from me?" Cir asked, her tone almost pyful. It wasn't very like him to act like that, always being an energetic loudmouth, but he did really like that funny man. And he always appreciated being humoured.

  "No, no," Liam shook his head with another chuckle, "Nothing at all!" He insisted, grinning as his mom continued to tease him.

  They stood like that for a bit, continuing their pyful banter. Liam was just gd to get to spend more time with her, even though the thought of Mavik still lingered in the back of his mind.

  -

  Notes:

  Reality really can seem honeyed from the eyes of a child, doesn’t it?