I'm A Big Boy.

xox

Sam tapped his fingers against the leather of the steering wheel. Impatience commanded his fingers into an unsteady rhythm. Raising a kid really did help him in the patience department, but it was still eating at him. Here he was, sitting in the parking lot with numerous other parents waiting for the elementary school to let out. Normally he would have gone inside to pick up his son, but today the young boy had told him that he was to wait in the car.

"I'm a big boy now! I'm a first grader, I can walk to the truck myself!" Sam remembered Benji squeaking loudly that morning.

The bell chiming shook Sam out of his thoughts and his attention snapped to the door. As expected, a flood of children poured through. There was no sign of his son amongst the stream of children. Even as it trickled down and cars left, Benji was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, Sam considered going in to fetch Benji, but he knew he'd never hear the end of it if he did.

So he continued to wait.

His patience was rewarded when a few seconds later, Benji slowly pushed through the doors. The little curly haired boy was visibly nervous. Only one step out of the door, his little fingers clung to the metal for dear life as he nibbled on his lip. His head scanned back and forth looking for the truck. Sam couldn't help but laugh at his son getting ahead of himself. Benji's head scanned the lot, looking for the truck. As soon as he locked on, he let go of the door and sprinted in that direction. Happiness beaming on his face.

Sam shook his head and exited, getting out just in time for Benji to smash his face into Sam's legs. Small arms squeezed around Sam's legs tightly.

Sam bends down to hug Benji in return, "Hey Buddy."

Benji pulled away and beamed, "I did it, Daddy!"

"Yeah, you did. Good job." Sam complimented as he walked to the other side of the truck, helping Benji get in for the ride home.

Benji was oddly quiet.

Instead of joyously recounting his day like he normally did, Sam had to prompt him to talk. For the most part, he stared at the floor, occasionally rubbing his knee.

"Benji? Is something wrong?" Sam asked kindly, trying to give him as much attention he could while driving.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Benji shake his head. "No. I'm fine." Benji mumbled.

"You sure?" Sam tried.

"Mmmmyeah." Benji nodded, "I'm fine."

But the little boy was anything but fine, but Sam wasn't sure how to coax it out of him. So he just continued asking questions about his day, getting small answers in return. It was frustrating, but just something Sam would have to deal with until the ride was done. And he was just pulling into the lot of the complex.

Benji hopped out, and then made a noise as he landed. It was a noise caught between a hiss and a groan that really set all of the alarms off in Sam's head.

"Benjamin, I'm going to ask again: are you okay?" Sam asked a little more stern this time.

Benji nodded furiously, his black glasses bounced on his face. "Yeah. I'm fine." His voice wavered, just a little bit.

Sam followed behind Benji as they trotted upstairs to their second-floor apartment. He noticed that they were getting slower as they moved up the stairs, and Benji bent down to rub his knee again. Benji dropped from in front of Sam to stand by his side, grabbing on to his hand. It wasn't strange, Benji liked holding onto his or Mercedes' hands.

But then Benji whimpered.

Sam stopped right in front of the door, looking down at his son.

"Benji?" He tried again.

Benji hiccupped, "Yeah?" The little boy looked up; his face was a little red, and his eyes were glassy. Like he was holding back.

"You okay?" Sam asked once again, gently squeezing Benji's fingers.

Benji's eyes went to the floor. He whimpered again, trying to hold back noises. He mumbled some words that Sam didn't catch.

"What was that?"

"My knee hurts." Benji broke out, squeezing onto Sam's hand for dear life. "My knee really hurts."

Sam bent down to look at Benji's knee. It was red and a little bit of skin had been rubbed off. Nothing major.

"Did you fall earlier?"

Tears started forming in the corners of Benji's eyes. "Yeah… I fell on the floor."

"Does it sting?"

"It hurts really bad." Benji said between sniffs. He was outright crying now, and the tears burned just like his knee.

"There, there." Sam leaned in and kissed Benji's cheek. "Okay, we'll fix you right up."

"I didn't want it to hurt, but it just kept hurting." Benji tried explaining as he reached out and hugged Sam. With relative ease, Sam lifted him up, and they entered the apartment.

Walking over to the kitchen, Sam set Benji down. His tiny legs dangled over the edge. He kicked them while he continued to quietly sob. Sam had shoved Benji's backpack of his shoulders, and went to go get a Band-Aid and Neosporin.

"Alright. Do you want Spiderman, or Mickey Mouse?" Sam asked excitedly as he held up to white packages.

A flash of excitement crossed Benji's eyes before something made him turn away from Sam. "Spiderman." He mumbled.

Sam only smiled in return, taking out the Band-Aid and putting both the Neosporin and the bandage on Benji's knee. The boy blinked at it a few times. Kicking his knee out to see if it was miraculously fixed. His eyebrows scrunched together.

"Still hurts a little." Benji stated with a pout.

"Well I know what will fix that." Sam said confidently.

And Benji, who was crying only seconds ago was now laughing out loud as Sam attacked him with kisses. Kisses everywhere. They tickled so much and he couldn't fight Sam away. Eventually he flopped backward on the counter and he surrendered. Sam laughed too.

"Better?"

"Yeah! Thank you Daddy."

"No problem, kiddo."

"Love you, Daddy."

Sam laughed, "Love you too, Benji."

AN: Daddy!Sam makes me happy.