Disclaimers: I do not claim to own anything, Tintin and all of his friends and enemies belong to Moulinsart.
The Captain had been busy with his paper when it had happened. It was part of their routine, he would read the newspaper and grumble over politics and skip over the sports and Tintin would go through all of his post, of which there would always be plenty for him to read, a mixture of fan mail, correspondence and if they were lucky, an assignment.
A loud sound burst through the Captain's train of thought and Haddock jumped at the bark of a laugh that broke the quiet of the morning. He looked up to see Tintin with a hand clasped over his mouth, as though he was as surprised what came out of it as the Captain was.
"Didn't realise you got a lot of funny post," he remarked, raising his eyebrows.
"I don't. It's-" the hand returned to his mouth again, clearly trying to put a stop on all the unwanted sounds spilling from it.
It wasn't at all like Tintin. It wasn't often that the Captain saw the lad out of control and he was clearly trying and failing to hold onto it. He couldn't see how the post could rattle his friend so much.
"You all right, lad?" Haddock asked, dark bushy eyebrows now knitting together, because something was clearly off.
It took Tintin a moment to speak, pulling the hand away from his mouth for the third time.
"Yes, I- er…" he frowned down at the telegram in his hands, clearly thinking hard. A full minute had passed by before, he blurted out, "my father's dead."
The Captain recoiled, spluttering. Out of everything he had been expecting to hear, that was not on his list. He didn't even know Tintin had a father until now, or any family of that matter. There had been no mention of them and, though the Captain couldn't deny he was a curious man, he didn't ask questions or press for anything that Tintin didn't want to give. It came as a shock, but doubtless it would be an even bigger shock to Tintin.
"My boy- I'm so sorry- I-"
But before the Captain could carry on fumbling over his words, Tintin stood up.
"It's fine," he said abruptly, "I mean, it's… It's not, but… I just…" the boy's cheeks were flushing red and Haddock could see that he was becoming flustered. The lad was supposed to be the unflappable one, it was usually his job to go blundering about and getting himself in a tizzy. But the Captain had come to know that death brought out all sorts of sides of people that weren't expected.
"It's all right lad," the Captain said softly, making Tintin pull up short, his mouth clamping shut, "it's all right"
Tintin's cheeks were burning and Haddock could see the telegram trembling in his hands, "I…" the boy's words were failing him fast, "can I…"
"Thundering typhoons, of course you can leave! It's your home as much as it is mine!"
Haddock saw the corner of Tintin's mouth twitch and heard a mumbled thank you, before the lad turned and all but ran from the room.
