Permit Me a Father Fantasy

A/N: what even is this. i don't even know where this came from. i just got to thinking about that Damn it Jimbo chapter and how much i needed to update this fic & this was born. it can be in the Damn it Jimbo universe if you want it to be, but it doesn't have to be it can just be any old au where silver & jim found a way to stay together after the film ended. i don't even fucking know.

"I…I need to tell you something."

The sudden solemnity in the tone startled Silver a bit, and he paused in his work, hands stilling round the freshly laundered linens, to glance up at the speaker, and gesture for him to continue with a brief nod.

Jim edged a little farther into the room, hands jammed in his jacket pockets, and looking vastly uncomfortable. "I have a—well, I-I wanted you to—I—I…"

Lords, was he blushing? The beginnings of a grin started to tug at Silver's lips – this was going to be good, he could tell. Still, he had better things to do with his time than stand there and watch the kid stammer, so he prompted him with a pointed, "Jimbo."

"I met someone," Jim blurted awkwardly, then immediately looked mortified at his own choice of words. "I mean…I didn't—no, what I'm trying to say is—
"Met someone?" Silver repeated, grin spreading rapidly.

"That's not what I meant!" Jim sputtered, cheeks blazing red. "I mean—I mean, I did meet—no, but that's not—I mean, I…I'm with someone." He released a heavy breath, evidently relieved to have conquered the worst of it. "And…and I…I want you to meet them."

Silver's smirk slipped. "What? Ye want me to—ye want me to what?"

"I want you to meet them," Jim reiterated at once, as though he had long prepared himself for his friend's confusion. "They want it, too."

"Ye've told them 'bout me?" Silver wrinkled his brow. "Hang on, how come ye told them 'bout me, but ye're only just tellin' me 'bout them?"

Jim flushed again, and dropped his gaze to the floor. "Never—never a good time, I don't know. Look, do you want to meet them or not?"

"Never a good time," Silver muttered incredulously. "Any old time would do!"

"Do you want to meet them or not?" Jim demanded, obviously intent on an answer; the instant the words left his lips, his confidence seemed to drain away, and he backed up several steps. "You know what, forget it. It was a stupid question. I just thought—

"Now hang on, Jimbo," Silver dumped the linens unceremoniously on the sofa and folded his arms over his broad chest as he spoke. "Did ye hear me say no?"

Jim glanced up at the cyborg, as if to ensure his sincerity, before a smile slowly took shape on his lips. "We're going out tomorrow—if, you know, you wanted to talk before we left…"

"Sounds good." Question resolved, Silver turned to resume his work, before a new thought occurred, and he straightened, glancing at the kid again. "Hang on, what's their name?"

"What?"

"Name, Jimbo," he repeated, corners of his mouth curling up in a smile. "If I'm goin' to meet 'em, I got to know their name, don't I?"

"Oh." It seemed Jim genuinely hadn't thought of this yet. "Right. Yeah. That…that makes sense."

"Jimbo," he pressed, as it seemed the uncertain stuttering was about to make a reappearance.

"Their…" Jim paused, and took a breath, as if steeling himself, before he continued. "His name is Judas."

Silver almost dropped his linens. So that's what all this nervous fumbling was about! The kid wasn't just trying to tell him he was seeing someone, he was trying to tell him…oh. Oh. It made sense, now that Silver had begun to consider it, but lords, was that it? Was that why the lad was working himself into a tizzy? For gods' sakes, it was like Jimbo half-expected him to express anger or even upset at the news – it didn't matter to him who the kid preferred, so long as he was happy with them.

"Do you…do you still want to meet him?" Jim's voice pulled from his thoughts; when he glanced back, he saw the kid glancing nervously up at him from under the unkempt hair tumbling into his eyes, the familiar set to his jaw that told him Jim was setting himself up for rejection.

Silver abandoned the linens entirely to approach the lad, clapping a hand down on his shoulder and giving him a gentle smile. "I'd love to."

Jim hardly seemed to believe it, even as a delighted grin spread slowly across his face. "You—you mean it?"

"O' course," Silver couldn't hold back a chuckle, reaching up to tousle the kid's hair as he spoke. "Got to make sure he's good enough for my boy, and all."