Disclaimer: Namco owns ToS and its content. I own nothing.

AN: As many of you will notice from my other fanfics, I rarely input dialogues... I need to start doing that, haha. This chapter tremendously lacks dialogue, but I'll be sure to add in more next time. Also, I know I updated earlier than the promised date, but it's because I'm not sure if I'll have time to upload this chapter around the time I've told all of you. So this chapter came out early Future chapters will come on the scheduled time though, from now on. However, there would be some exceptions from to time. Sooo... enjoy this chappie of age 4 of Lloyd (beware, I have started this chapter very crappy-ishly...)!

It had been a year since Dirk had taken in Lloyd as his dear son. Throughout the months that had passed, the dwarf had learned that the 4 year-old boy loved to eat and looked for some kind of food almost every two hours. He was a hungry child, but Dirk was nonetheless happy to keep on obliging and giving Lloyd the bread he particularly favored among the stock he had. It was worthwhile in giving him so much food in one day for the bright and innocent smile Dirk received whenever Lloyd ate was more than enough for a gratitude--the dwarf found it... adorable. Unfortunately, sometimes he grabbed for anything nearby and take a bite of it: a piece of wood, cloth, and the handle of a pickaxe... although Dirk had stopped Lloyd just in time from chewing on the blades of the latter with a horrified look.

Not only that, Dirk had found out that his son was a very artistic boy. When Dirk had first gotten him a piece of paper and pencil to keep him occupied while the dwarf worked on his blacksmithery, Lloyd had drawn what looked like Noishe... a blob of green and white (the sheet he had given Lloyd was brown, oddly). Lloyd had included in three stick figures, though, which was most likely his parents and himself. Dirk was rather down after seeing the drawing, but nonetheless acted casually to show Lloyd that nothing was wrong, although the fact that the child had lost his parents at such an early age still bothered him.

Nowadays, all that every happened was Lloyd eating, sleeping, or doing something artistic--mainly "doodling"--to keep himself busy. Even though it had only been a year, the child had already noticed the importance of Dirk's concentration, and that he needed to have the time to himself. Although at times, he could not help but tug at his sleeves, asking where all the food had went when Lloyd had been the one to eat it all.

As of that very moment, Lloyd was drawing. A brown crayon held in his right hand sloppily with a black one on the other, he was lying down on the floor with his stomach on the ground. Lloyd's legs were lifted up, swishing back and forth as the boy began to produce the image in his mind. Holding the paper down with his elbows--which he found rather uncomfortable, but decided to stick with anyway--he began to draw lines and circles conjoined as if he was attempting to create something... or someone. Lloyd knew exactly what he was going to draw, but had suddenly lost the image in mind. Picking up all the crayons and the paper, Lloyd marched downstairs where Dirk was currently walking, slowly tip toeing to the table while being satisfied by the fact that the dwarf was so concentrated on his work that he did not notice him. Sitting quietly on the chair after finally managing to get on with some difficulty, Lloyd set the materials down on the miniature table Dirk had created for him. As he continued onto his work of art, Lloyd occasionally looked over at Dirk, crayons at the tip of his chin as if he was in deep thought.

It was after the tenth time Lloyd had looked over at Dirk that the dwarf turned around to get something. When Dirk had turned, however, he almost jumped back in surprise, "When did you get here, Lloyd?" He questioned, hoping that his tone wasn't cracking or anything of the sort from such a fright of seeing a child where he wasn't the last time he had looked. However, when his eyes went down to the piece of paper Lloyd was drawing on, he allowed his curiosity to continue on, "And what might you be drawing?"

Lloyd shook his head, "N... no." He said rather nervously, laying his arms down over the paper, crayons still clutched tightly in his hands.

"Come now, why don't you show you father?" Dirk insisted, taking a couple of steps towards the child, who suddenly grabbed paper and jumped out of the chair with his crayons.

"No!" Lloyd shouted in a teasing tone for a child of four, giggling as he dashed up to the second story of the house--his room.

Slightly confused, Dirk cocked his head sideways. After a moment of silence, he shrugged the event that had just occured off, and resumed in his work after retrieving the needed materials from a cabinet. He was quite oblivious to what Lloyd was doing... then again, he had never had any experience with children. That had been a curse for the dwarf; since he had never known how to care for children, he didn't know what to do with Lloyd at first. After one year, however, he had gotten used to it and was hoping that he could improve on being a father over the years. Dirk wanted Lloyd to grow to be a strong young man, filled with the pride he had shown when he was three by refusing to cry. That had been a moment he had never forgotten...

In the meanwhile, Lloyd was still giggling uncontrollably in his room, buried under the sheets of his bed. He soon flung the blankets aside as he sprawled across the bed, forming a star shape as he stared up at the ceiling. When he had gotten to his room, Lloyd shoved the crayons and paper into his drawer, thinking that Dirk would never look there. Sadly, Dirk always cleaned them every week or so, but Lloyd had no idea of that since he always did them in the night. When his giggling had ceased after a couple of seconds, Lloyd was completely still for a long time before he suddenly nuzzled against the pillow, tired from all the effort he had put into his artwork. Closing his eyes lightly, Lloyd was about to fall alseep when--

"... Dinner." Lloyd's eyes snapped open, and he got out of the bed and headed towards his destination: downstairs.

Dirk had finished work just a moment ago, and Lloyd was able to tell from all the work materials currently being put away. This time, the dwarf had noticed him since Lloyd had put in no effort of sneaking towards him. When he saw a light frown on Lloyd's face, concern suddenly broke through. When Lloyd had reached him, all he did was simply tug on his sleeve, causing the dwarf to bend down to hear what the boy had to say. Lloyd's words came rushing into Dirk's ear as he realized what he had forgotten to do.

"Dinner, Dad." He had whispered.

The dwarf had only smiled, mentally kicking himself for forgetting about dinner. Holding back a sigh, Dirk quickly smiled while trying to cover up his shame, and headed for the cabinet. Taking out some bread, meat, and corn, Dirk laid them all out on a plate after heating them up with the fire as Lloyd watched in awe. No matter how many times Lloyd saw the plate being held over the fire, he was intrigued. When the food had all been heated up and set, Dirk grabbed some miniature utensils for Lloyd as he handed them to the child. Shortly after, he dashed towards another storage where all the drinks were kept. Taking out a bottle of milk, he quickly went back to where Lloyd was sitting by his miniature table, handing it to the child after taking the lid off. Lloyd took the bottle with a short gratitude as he began to devour the food before him in record time. Dirk always found Lloyd's way of eating fast quite amusing.

"Slow down while eating, Lloyd! You'll start choking." Dirk insisted, holding back a chuckle from how Lloyd was putting up a show on how he ate.

As Lloyd was occupied was eating, Dirk looked out through the small window of the house. It was quite dark... He had started working on his smithery during noon, and it had only seemed as if an hour or two had passed... however, much more time had passed. Apparently, Lloyd had been napping and drawing all day long while sneaking some food out of the cabinet. Although he occasionally snacked on the stock, Lloyd always ate his meals with Dirk whenever the two were together and had time for each other. This was mainly because Dirk often introduced to Lloyd new food he had never had before about every week or two, and he usually enjoyed them all. However, there was that one time Dirk had given him a tomatoe... oh how he loathed it. Just the mere thought terrified Lloyd, and whenever the red vegetable's name was even mentioned, he ran off. He had given the tomatoe its own nickname with a word he had recently learned... "Taboo".

After Lloyd had finished his meal, he was sent to bed even though he wanted to stay up longer for some reason that Dirk did not know of. The child was only of the age of four yet he was hiding so many things from the dwarf already. And he never revealed them either.

Even though children had their own secrets, this is ridiculous, Dirk thought, shaking his head slightly as he cleaned up the plate and utensils. It was already clean enough from Lloyd eating every single bits and pieces of the food, but it had to be washed nonetheless.

---

By the time Dirk had cleaned the eating utensils as well as his own equipments for smithery it was already very late at night. The moon shined brightly, its light forcing its way through the windows as it lighted up the room. It was with no doubt that Lloyd's room was the same, since it had an open door where it led to the child's own personal balcony--although Dirk had covered up the spaces of the rails of it to ensure that Lloyd did not fall through--so that he may have some time to himself, even though he was still so young.

"... Time to go check on Lloyd," he began to mutter to himself, "and clean his drawer." Little did he know, Lloyd had had something hidden in there that he had refused to show him before...

When Dirk had quietly crept into Lloyd's room, the four year-old was sound asleep, the sheets tossed aside rather unceremoniously to the ground. Shaking his head while holding back a sigh, the dwarf went over to the spot on the ground where the sheets have been thrown and carefully laid it on Lloyd, who graciously accepted it by tugging it with his hand. A faint smile appeared on the boy's face, and Dirk's eyes softened at the sight. Lloyd was certainly adorable whenever he took such action without even realizing it...

Turning his attention back to the second part of his duty, Dirk approached the drawer to clean since Lloyd often kept it cramped and messy. When he opened it, Dirk frowned. There was the piece of paper Lloyd had been hiding from him... curiosity took its toll, and the dwarf picked up the paper and took a look at it. A smile tugged at his face, and he could not help do so. It was a drawing of him. Although it was pretty crude, it was rather well done for a young child... Dirk suddenly felt a rush of happiness from seeing that Lloyd had been taking all of his time that day just to draw his "father". To Dirk, it meant that he had been "accepted" by the child as a father figure...

However, that smile quickly disappeared as Dirk moaned silently. The rest of Lloyd's drawer was a complete mess. How the child was able to keep so many belongings in there often amazed Dirk... Keeping in mind that it had to be done, Dirk began to clean the drawer quietly as to not wake Lloyd. It certainly was going to be a long night. But in the end, when he had finished, Dirk felt a surge of satisfaction as he realized the "nightmare" was over. Then after streching his arms, the dwarf headed for the mattress that was on the ground beside Lloyd's bed, lying down upon it. Ever since he had taken in Lloyd, Dirk had given him the bed while he took the liberty of resting on the mattress. At least it was still in good condition. From being so tired, however, Dirk fell asleep without having any time to reflect on his long day...

---

"... t... ad. d... ad... Dad!"

Dirk launched up from his mattress in complete surprise, his heart skipping a beat from the sudden childish voice. Looking around, he spotted Lloyd, who was circling him energetically, an eager look plastered on his usually happy face. The dwarf almost raised a brow but decided not to as the boy finished up what he had been trying to say while Dirk had still been asleep.

"Breakfast, Dad!" Dirk checked the time to see how late it was in the morning.

He groaned inwardly. It wasn't late in the morning... it was painfully early.

AN: ... This chapter took longer than expected. I seriously don't know how Dirk's really portrayed, so I had trouble writing up what he's like. Lloyd, on the other hand, was somewhat difficult to keep intact on some points, but was overally easy to make sure I didn't go overboard with the OOCness. But anyways, if you liked this, review! Next chapter, age 5, will be up on February 7!