They're Your Hero
A/N: Hey everyone, I wanted to write a Kid and Papa G fic for a while, so here we are. This is inspired by that conversation George and Flo had during season 2.
Just for context, the first few prompts take place pre-season 1 and the other two are set in the middle of it. This fic was written before season 3 came out.
Enjoy!
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1. Nightmare
Blinding light. Deafening horn. Sharp screams.
Red.
Kid shot up, goosebumps travelling up his body. His trailer was dark, and he couldn't see much through his fuzzy vision. He clutched his blanket as he tried calming his breathing. Papa G's voice came in.
"Freakin' out? Breath it out…"
Once he got his breathing under control, he managed to relax a bit. He reached over to one of his action figures, green with a red cape, and sighed as he looked down at it, frustrated. He shouldn't be afraid. He couldn't if he were to ever become a hero.
The rumbling thunder outside made him flinch and he realized the sound must have been what gave him that nightmare. Another roar of thunder got him pulling his blanket over his head before deciding to head out of the trailer. He didn't feel safe here. With nothing beside his blanket, he yanked open the door and slipped out. Lightening flashed somewhere and he pretty much bolted across the junkyard to the old house.
The place was just as dark, and he swallowed before puffing up his chest. There was nothing scary here. He shuffled over while clinging to his blanket through the darkness and screamed when he saw a silhouette peering through the other door.
"Kid?"
The boy cracked an eye open and flinched when the light turned on. He looked again to see George standing there in his pajamas.
"Oh, It's…It's you, Papa G."
"Of course, it's me. Now what in the world were you doing here?"
Kid scratched the back of his head, berating his jittery mind. "I…I had a bad dream and didn't wanna be in my headquarters tonight," he sighed and looked away, annoyed at himself for admitting such a thing. What hero would let the world know they got so scared of one little nightmare?
The old man's face softened, and he approached him. "It's alright. Happens to all of us."
Kid raised a brow. "But what were you doing here, Papa G?"
"I heard the storm outside and was planning on bringing you in," he said as he went over and locked the door behind Kid.
This made the boy bury his face in his hands. He could have saved himself the embarrassment if he stayed back there for another minute.
"Now let's go to bed. There is enough room for a little fella like you." The old man came over and took Kid's hand only for the boy to pull away, face burning.
"Papa G, I'm not four!"
He smiled. "Well, is it okay if it's your Papa G who wants you to hold his hand? I'm not a big fan of storms either."
Kid faltered and seriously thought it over before resigning. "Okay, as an ally of justice, I guess it would be the right thing to do," he said and let the big hand take his smaller one.
"Thanks, Kid," Papa G chuckled before leading them to his room.
The storm raged on outside yet having the old man with him made Kid feel safe and he drifted off.
2. Fight
"I-I'm really sorry-"
"How could you!"
The memory snapped George out of his bleary thoughts, and he stared down at the wrecked bike with a sigh. The boy cherished this thing, having been thrilled when George bought it for him and took it wherever he went.
He had been backing out in his car without realizing the boy had left his bike on the ground to grab something from the trailer only to hear a sudden crunch. When the boy came out, his smile dropped, and a stunned look took over his face after finding it crushed under the car's wheel. It had broken George's heart when Kid's horrified eyes found his and he realized what happened.
It hurt, the way the boy yelled at him teary-eyed before dashing away despite his cries. He had called Mo's Oasis to see if the boy went there, but Flo said she hadn't seen him since morning.
He traced his hand over the bent form of the bike and slumped. Despite his desperate reassurances to the boy, there was no fixing this thing. Giving up, he went back home. Ignoring the coffee mug that had long gone cold, he sat at the kitchen's table and buried his face in his hands. He didn't feel good at all. He rarely fought with the boy, and he honestly wished they never did. He wanted him to be happy more than anything else, but he was responsible for the devastated look he last seen the boy with.
If he had paid more attention, none of this would have happened.
He gazed around, his tired eyes tracing the dim, empty kitchen. Whenever the house was this quiet, a lonely feeling would creep into him. Kid was always full of energy and brightened up this old place when he's around, but the boy's angry words from earlier left a heavy weight on his heart.
Hours past and dusk came. George was growing increasingly worried. He thought about giving the boy some space, but if was still out there hiding somewhere then he would have to go look for him before it got dark. He went to the porch anxiously and was just heading to his car when he spotted a blonde mob of hair down the road and practically sprinted there to find the boy resting by a streetlight. "Kid!"
"Oh, Papa G," he mumbled dejectedly and stared down at his feet. Guilt ate away at George once more.
"Kid, I'm really sorry about what happened. I'll make it up to ya! I'll get you a new and better bike, I promise!"
"No, stop it!" Kid muttered.
George's face crumbled. "Kid…I-"
"No, I mean…you shouldn't be the one apologizing here," Kid quickly added.
"But I ruined your bike."
"It was an accident, and I shouldn't have left it on the ground. We could buy a new one, but…" He trailed off as tears welled up in his eyes again and he came over to hug George's leg. "You're the only one here for me, Papa G, and I said some really awful things to you. I'm really sorry."
George's eyes misted over, and he knelt to give the boy a proper hug. "It's alright, Kid. I forgive ya." He pressed his bearded cheek against the boy's head. "But I still gotta own up to my mistake. I'll get you a new one, and I promise you're gonna love it."
Kid laughed. "Thanks, Papa G."
3. Sick day
Kid shivered when a chill ran through him and covered himself with his blanket, an old thermometer stuck between his lips. Piles of used tissues surrounded the waste basket. He had been feeling miserable and gross for two days now.
"I'm back!" Papa G came in with two cups full of something green and brown, causing the boy to gag.
"Not another of your recipes, Papa G!"
The old man chuckled as he took a seat next to him. "Sorry, kiddo, but if you wanna get better then you gotta start chugging this," he said and passed him the cup. Reaching for the thermometer, he checked his temperature and hummed.
"Slightly better, but ya still got a long way to go."
"Do I really have to drink two of these?" Kid groaned.
Papa G shook his. "Nah, this one's for me!"
"Huh?"
"Well…I know you don't like the taste of these, and even though I'm not sick, I thought it would be fair if I had some too." Papa G said and took the second cup. With a quick move, he drank half the thing and lowered his cup. His left eye twitching for a second, he beamed. "See? It's not so bad!"
Hesitating, Kid forced himself to drink the smelly concoction in one go and immediately shuddered, setting the cup back on the tray. He really, really didn't want to know what Papa G put in this. With a huff, he sank back into his pillow, wishing he was outside riding his bike, hanging out with Jo and the others or just anything except laying in bed all day.
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"Ah, relax, Kid. You'll be better in no time," George said and then realized something was missing. "Hold on, where is Charles?"
"Right here, fool." Chuck said from behind a barrier of junk, covering himself with a blanket.
George stared at him confusedly. "What are you doing over there?"
"He's scared of catching my cold," Kid explained.
"I'm not! I just don't want your filthy earthling germs anywhere on me. Who knows what they'll do to me?" Chuck growled, barely masking the unease in his voice.
George chuckled. "I didn't know you could catch a human illness, buddy. Your body is kind of different from ours." He pointed at the alien's missing half. 'Kind of' was quite the understatement.
"I have no way to be sure, but I refuse to greet my great leader as a slimy weakling like you!" the alien said and flinched back when Kid sneezed and wiped his nose with a tissue. "Ugh, disgusting!"
George shook his head with an amused grin and turned to see Kid flying an action figure in the air in boredom. "You know, a few radio tunes do cheer me up when I'm feeling down."
Maneuvering his way over the mountains of tissues and scattered actions figures, he knelt in front of a little radio left over a box. "Here we are."
The second he twisted the knob an electronic screech blasted out of the radio, startling them out of their wits. Covering his ears, Papa G slammed his hand over it and the sound died down, replaced with an upbeat song.
"What was that?" Kid groaned, removing his hands from his ears.
"Thanks. I've been deafened," Chuck said from his spot.
"Darn thing. Something must have gone wrong with the signal or somethin'. Scared the daylights out of me," Papa G said with huff only to meet Kid's curious stare. "What is it?"
The child bit his lip before asking. "Hey, um, do you like superheroes, Papa G?"
He blinked. "Huh? Well, they do have the fanciest-looking costumes," he said awkwardly, sinking back on his chair. It struck George for the first time that, despite how crazy the boy was about superheroes, he didn't have many he could discuss this kind of stuff with. There was the alien, but he doubted the two could have a conversation without arguing with each other. This made his heart ache a little.
"Yeah, and they fly around beating up bad guys and saving the day!" Kid gushed only to end it with another sneeze.
"They get smacked around a lot, too." Chuck added, which got him a glare from Kid.
George rubbed his beard, chuckling. Normally, he was against violence, but decided to let the kid have this moment. "That's true, Kid, but I think the saving part is what makes heroes great. Nothing like swooping in at the right time and giving someone a hand when their scared or hurt, right?"
An unreadable look passed over the boy's features for a moment then he smiled faintly. "Yeah."
4. Special
Trying to catch his breath, George rubbed his back while watching another spaceship flee as giant Rosa taunted them on. They were dealing with alien invaders all day. Part of him wanted to think he was too old to spend his noon running around for his life and dodging laser bullets, but he shook the thought away. Old or not, there was no denying that he felt quite happy with these kids, no matter what they were doing.
"Way to go, Local Heroes!" Kid called out, hovering above them. "Now let's head to the obstacle course. We've been so busy today that we haven't done our daily hero exercises yet!"
George and his clones shared a wince, feeling a tad regretful for having built that obstacle course now.
Jo groaned. "No, Kid. That's enough for today. Let's go back," she said and opened a portal to George's house. The team hopped through it and landed back in the junkyard. It was late afternoon, and the sky turned a vivid orange shade.
"But heroes need to train to get stronger and-whoa!" he flailed around as he tried to get himself steady only to end upside down with his cape dangling in the air. The others couldn't help a chuckle. "Not funny," he grumbled.
George decided to give him a hand and pulled him down. "There you go," he said, patting the boy on the head. He turned to the team. "Alright, just wanted to let everyone know I'm mighty proud of what you all did today. Since everyone's been working super hard, I planned a little surprise."
Sending his two clones to the kitchen, the two came back with a tarp and a basket. "I thought a little picnic would be a nice way to celebrate," he grinned at Jo sheepishly. "And jo is always the one taking care of the food for us, so I thought I would take the responsibility for the night."
"Oh, thank you!" Jo sagged in relief. "And you know what? This whole thing doesn't sound too bad either. I'm gonna call mom and Rosa's parents to tell them we'll be staying over for a bit."
"Yay, picnic!" Rosa cheered, running around his two selves as they set everything up.
George nodded and was in the middle of taking out a plate filled with sandwiches and two thermoses when Jo called out.
"Kid, where are you going? Aren't you joining us?"
George looked over to see Kid floating away. The boy smiled back at them.
"Nah, you guys have fun. I have an obstacle course waiting for me. I gotta get better at flying, so I'll be ready for the next invasion!"
"Hold up, Kid. You can't go. I made your favorite!" George held out the sandwich with 'For Kid' written on its wrapping.
While Jo and Rosa giggled, Kid's face turned red, and he groaned. "Aw, Papa G. That's not fair!"
"Come now, Kid. Even heroes deserve a break every now and then." George smiled as Kid finally floated down to join them.
"Fine. Thanks." he sighed and accepted the sandwich. They ate together while the sky shifted from orange to purple and the stars began to show.
George was watching Kid feed Tuna a piece of his sandwich when Rosa suddenly asked.
"Hey, what about lobster boy?"
"You're right, Rosa! We should invite Charles over to eat with us!" George said excitedly. They couldn't be sitting here eating when the moon man was all alone in that trailer.
Kid quickly protested. "But Papa G! He's a bad guy!"
"Well, what if this will get him on our side?"
"As if I could be interested in your revolting earthly food!" Chuck called out from the trailer, peering through the window.
"Um, how long were you listening in on us?" Jo asked with a raised brow.
"I…I just have strong hearing," Chuck stammered, poking his right antenna.
"Whatever. You're still not welcomed because this is, um, is a victory feast! Yeah, for us heroes!" Kid boasted proudly. Chuck gave an eyeroll.
"I wouldn't want to eat with losers like you, anyway. Especially the idiot who makes food for his own clones!" Chuck pointed at the two Gs who stopped midway on biting from their sandwiches.
George frowned and opened his mouth only for Kid to step in.
"Hey, the Gs are a part of the team too, you know! Besides, you don't get to judge us when you're the guy who trashes my comics yet can't put them down!" he added, arms crossed smugly.
Chuck stared and looked ready to explode. His eyes darted to Rosa for a second before quickly reaching for his translator and presumably turning it off. He began spewing a bunch of gibberish in his alien language at them.
"What's going on with lobster boy?" Rosa asked innocently.
"Let's…just ignore him, okay?" Jo told her with a nervous grin.
Grumbling under his breath, Chuck slipped back inside.
Jo snorted. "Do you think he's reading them right now?"
The boy grinned. "I bet."
"Shut up!" came the flustered shout from the trailer, causing them to snicker.
Rubbing his neck, George spoke up. "Hey, um, thanks for standing up for me and the Gs back there, Kid."
"Don't worry about it. I'm an expert when it comes to dealing with Chuck by now," Kid said with a shrug and grinned sheepishly. "And don't listen to him. I think you're great, Papa G."
George blinked in surprise and warmth filled his chest. The boy always found a way to make him feel special and much more than he could dream to be for an old man like himself. He wouldn't have thought of himself as anything 'great', but this little kid was ready to tell the world he was. You've always made me feel like some hero, but you've actually been mine.
"Thanks, kiddo," George said, pulling him into a sided hug.
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A/N: Thanks for reading!