A/N: At last, due to unpopular demand, the award-losing author returns with the final rendition of his long-abhorred fic
[Prologue - It's the Little Things, You See]
The universe has a strange way of doing things: Roman liked to think that it has a fucked up sense of everything.
Clouds had been accumulating over the city for days. Always in the morning from around seven to ten, colouring the sky dark and grey yet not a single drop fell. Then today came, and it poured.
He was familiar with this particular rain. He knew the taste of it, the smell of it. It was rain from the Sanus Sea, blown to the east by dusty Vacuan winds. For an instant he was back on the main deck of HMS Courageous; binoculars in hand as they slipped out of port. Vale slowly engulfed by the horizon.
Roman Torchwick dressed casually: black waistcoat over an orange shirt with sleeves rolled up, black trousers, and leather shoes—the latter regretfully so with this weather.
He took a puff of the cigar; played the smoke inside his mouth, swirling left and right—it smelled like walnut, tasted bitter with a slight tinge of cinnamon and cocoa. Exhale. The orange-haired man pulled his tobacco away and looked around.
It was twelve past fifteen in the afternoon; right during lunchtime. A couple of tables across him were four suits huddled together, likely talking smack about their boss; directly behind him were a young couple, happily chatting away and romancing one another. A quick glance inside revealed the bustling interior—families and friends, laughing and joking about as servers went table to table in succession like automatons.
The man looked away to the streets as the host greeted new patrons. Cars passed by, so did the occasional pedestrians with their umbrellas bobbing up and down. The weather was easing off; from a deluge, to shower and drizzle, before a humid mist blanketed the city. Roman knew the calm won't last so he made haste.
"Check please."
Roman took off, leaning into his cane as he strutted to where he needed to be before the rain resumed.
Splish-splash. Roman tried his best to not step into a puddle of water, an almost impossible task. It had been five minutes and he was almost there. The sky rumbled again.
Just in the last block, the pedestrian light turned red. A police cruiser went past him, the two officers staring at Roman as they took a slow turn right. He tipped his head, and they nodded in response before driving off.
Green.
He crossed rather leisurely: left foot, right foot with cane; left foot, right foot with cane. The third building, made of red bricks upon a limestone base. It was similarly designed like the surrounding buildings. He scaled up the stairs, and stopped halfway.
Roman took a step back, taken out of his autopilot. He looked left, he looked right: and except for some passers-by, no one seemed to be with the boy.
What boy? The boy sitting on the top of the steps.
Roman turned back to him, his tranced look slightly putting the man on edge. This seemed suspicious. That was what Roman warned himself, but that still didn't stop him from approaching the boy.
He doesn't even seem to realize Roman's presence at first, as indigo orbs blankly stared forward until the owner was tapped on the shoulder.
"Kid, you okay?" Asked Roman.
It got his attention but the boy didn't respond. He stood up and looked around, an expression on his face akin to confusion before he stared up at Roman with head tilted to the side. The ears on top of his head drooped low and his bushy tail behind lazily swung left and right.
What the hell?
The boy snapped out of his previous state. A blink and a couple of confused look-around before going into an all-out panic; head snapping left and jerking right, animal appendages that once stood calmly twitched with his tail trying to reach between the legs.
"Hey, are—" Roman regretted taking that step forward.
The child let out a scream when he noticed the man, an ear-piercing scream, the loudest scream Roman has ever heard, and he kept going while stumbling backward.
That was a very unexpected reaction. Roman watched as the boy kept backing up, only stopping once the wall was against his back, all the while erratically looking around his surroundings.
And the presence of an unfamiliar man certainly did not help the situation.
"Shh… hey, hey—it's okay!" Roman tried getting his message through the boy's incessant screaming. Walking back towards the street, he noticed the lack of anyone that could've heard the deafening screech from earlier before reapproaching the boy; this time slow and low. "It's all right, I ain't gonna hurt you."
The boy's screams slowly decreased before halting to a stop. He appeared to calm down slightly. Slightly. Screaming was replaced by erratic breathing, his eyes kept darting around between Roman and everywhere else as if trying to find a way to escape.
"Why are you here all alone? Where are your parents?" he asked while slowly getting closer to the boy.
Roman kneeled when he believed there was a comfortable space between them, but the child was still very wary. Seeing this, he forced a smile and raised his hands.
"It's all right… I won't do anything to ya. Okay?"
Roman felt like he was interacting with this—forgive his unfortunate phrasing—small animal who would run off if he made one wrong twitch. Roman knew exactly what he felt; it was a different type of hesitance he received a couple of years back, so he knew what he should be doing.
"I just wanna help." He did physically what he did then metaphorically—Roman stood and waited. An arm stretched forward, he waited for the boy until he wanted to move. "Will you let me help you?"
The little one had a brief back and forth, to Roman and the hand offered to him. He soon seemed to realize that the man in front of him wasn't a threat, at least that's what Roman would like to think.
The boy slowly reached out for Roman's hand. He still looked unsure, but at least more trusting than before.
"Mhm," the simple response was all that Roman needed. He gave the boy's hand a light squeeze, just a simple sign of reassurance, he thought.
The sky roared. Roman looked to the clouds and sighed. Closest police station's a few blocks down from here...
Brief dejection turned back into a smile, Roman briefly glanced at the bag hanging on the boy's left hip. "Whaddya say we come in my place for now? Stay warm and out of the rain."
Animal ears twitched. The boy took a quick scan and nodded.
"So, what's your name?"
"Yon…" he mumbled.
"It's good to meet you, Yon." Another thunder rumbled through the sky as Roman led the boy into the building. "I'll help find your parents, okay?"
Thank you for reading, and till next time!