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Even someone like Gaston Brown needed to have time to himself sometimes.
"Cap.... aptai... n..."
Apparently today he was not allowed to have it. He'd have just ignored him but he knows the boy would just wait patiently until he got his attention. He raised his head from where he was sitting to look up at him, "What do you want, squirt?"
Nicolas didn't respond, just fixed his father with that odd gaze of his, not entirely dissimilar to that of a curious wild animal. It made sense, of course; after all, he wasn't human.
He didn't have to speak though, Gaston knew what he wanted. Normally he'd just tell him to get lost, but he had to respect the kid's persistence. Dogged stubbornness was certainly a trait he knew well in himself. "You can sit," he said in an offhand manner as he pulled out a flask and took a drink from it.
If he didn't know better, he'd have sworn that had put a smile on Nicolas's face. But no, this kid didn't smile. He barely made any sort of faces at all. Just like an animal, after all. He sat down next to Gaston, and the man was, as always, amazed both by how big and how small the kid was. Sure, he was ridiculously small and scrawny for his age, and he looked especially small thanks to the full length katana that he toted with him everywhere. It was comically too long in his hands. Anyone with a brain could tell he was a runt.
But Gaston could still remember when he was still barely able to walk. Looking at the kid he used to have been easily able to carry around with one hand, it was clear to him that he'd grown a lot. As he took another swig from the flask, he noticed Nicolas staring at it curiously. Looking down at him for a moment, he grins, shaking the flask, "what, you wanna try some of daddy's whiskey?"
For a moment, both Browns had the same expression of surprise on their face. He hadn't meant to say it like that, but it came out that way without thinking.
Well, it's not like anyone was around to hear it. Just one time couldn't hurt; Nicolas knew how he was supposed to address him. As if waiting to see if Gaston would amend his statement, just as he reached that conclusion, Nicolas nodded. It had of course, been more a joke than anything else, but Gaston was by no means a strict enough parent to not mess around with him a bit. He held it out to the boy, still open, “go on, then.”
After taking the flask, Nicolas seemed to examine it closely, even sniffing at it, carefully assessing it before putting it to his lips. Gaston could tell the exact moment when the alcohol reached his mouth, because the boy’s instantaneous reaction was to drop the flask with a violent twitch, followed by a series of sputtering coughs. His face scrunched up, and Gaston couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at how, for that moment, it was easy to forget that the child next to him was anything but normal.
“Didn’t like it, huh?” He asked as he scooped the flask up off the ground and twisted the cap back on. Not much had spilled, as the flask had already been about half-empty anyway.
Nicolas shook his head, his tongue poking out of his mouth. The answer had been obvious, but it was fun to poke at him about it anyway.
Gaston smirked, “Just wait 'til you’re older. It won’t seem so bad then.”
In response, the boy shook his head more emphatically, frowning. He was clearly completely at a loss to why his father would ever enjoy drinking such a thing.
Looking at Nicolas for a moment with a slight quirk to his lips, Gaston reached out and mussed up the kids hair, his hand almost big enough to cover his entire head. Nicolas was clearly confused and disoriented by the gesture, but the frown had vanished from his face. After finishing the motion by shoving the boys head forward a bit, he hooked his arm around him, pulling him in closer to his side. He could feel Nicolas tense up at the touch, but surprisingly, seem to accept it and actually released his grip on the sword to put his hand on the beefy forearm slung around his neck.
Sometimes, Gaston didn’t really mind having Nicolas around. Sure, the kid could be difficult to deal with sometimes, but when he thought about it, really, if he had to raise a monster, he’s glad it was this one. A small grin on his face, he looked down at the boy. He couldn’t get a good look at his face from this angle, but he was fairly certain that he was smiling.