Author's Note: In honour of Father's Day.
Middle Man
by: mazzie may
"Pumpkin pie!"
"In here, Dad!"
Johnny tosses his bag of luggage‒singular, he's learned to pack light‒on the floor as he passes through the kitchen, stopping at the island to check the stack of mail. Cassie stays at his place while he's gone (or even when he isn't), and keeps up on things around the mansion, like a good girl. She wanders in from the entrance to the den, a hood on her head.
"Welcome home."
"Thanks, honey," he says, keeping his eyes on the envelops he flips through. "I trust things are hunky dory?"
"Mostly," she says, sliding onto a stool. "Drowned a male prostitute in the pool."
"As long as I don't have to meet your dates."
"Dad!"
Her laugh is so pretty and he smiles at her from behind his sunglasses. He reaches for them a moment later, though, and sighs. "Alright. Show me."
Cassie feigns ignorance. "Show you what?"
"What you did to your noggin this time."
She blows out a breath as he tosses his sunglasses down, and she reaches for her hood.
Johnny groans. "Cassandra."
"Aw, c'mon! Look how cool this is!" she insists, pointing to the metal in her still red ear. "Couldn't you just cry?"
"...Yes."
"Daddy. You don't think this is cool?"
"No." He rests his elbows on the counter top, looking her in the eye. "Your mother is going to have a stroke."
"Meh meh I'm a general, meh meh," Cassie squeaks, rolling her eyes. Johnny snorts, pushing himself up and walking around her into the living room.
"First of all, that impression of your mother is dead on. Second, that will never not be funny."
His princess follows him. "So I was thinking, since we both know the General is going to be uncool with it..."
"You mean a throw a fit?" he grunts, sitting heavily onto the couch, reaching for the controller to change whatever crap Cassie had left on.
She sits in the recliner catty-corner to him. "Yeah that. I was thinking, maybe..." and she reaches out and pokes his knee. "You could tell her."
Johnny shoots her a look. "Ah, yes, my favourite pastime: taking your lumps."
"C'mon, Dad. It's just hair."
When he gives her a quizzical look, he realizes he'd been so distracted by the new piercing, he hadn't noticed her new haircut. "Oh, for Pete's sake, Cassie, come on. I was gone for only a week."
"It's super in right now!"
"You are killing me, honey. Correction," he pinches the bridge of his nose. "Your mother will kill me."
"So, you'll tell her?"
His glare has nothing behind it. She blinks those big blue eyes, but it's overkill. He can't tell her no for anything.
"Only if I get a hug out of it."
She squeals, hopping up and rounding the back of the couch to throw her arms around his neck from behind. "You're the best daddy in the whole wide world, Daddy!"
"Yeah, yeah," he sighs, sounding overly inconvenienced. He pats her arm and then the seat next to him. "Get over here, and rot your brain with your old man."
Cassie happily complies, rolling over the top of the couch and landing at his side, placing her head on his thigh. Johnny pats her head, but feeling the shaved lower scalp of her extreme undercut, he thumps her on the forehead with the remote control.
She laughs.
Author's Note: Just a little snip it. The title and summary are vague enough I could come back to this. Review, if you could!