For some context, Tad and his sister are based on the kids anti-matter Ed from the Trinity (which I think came out in 2008, I think) had. I managed to read a bit of it online and felt bad about what happened to them. Although they are basically OC's at this point, only really sharing first names with the characters they're based on. Honestly, I'm not really sure what to tag them as. It's also important to note that Tad, at least the way I picture him, is meant to look like Ed.
They stood next to each other in silence. Edward’s gaze was cast down toward the boy.
Tad sighed; he hated these stupid fucking games. He wouldn’t even be here if his sister weren’t.
“What are you looking at me for?”
“Am I not allowed to look at my son?”
“Oh, so I’m your son now?
“Christ, Tad, let’s not fucking do this-”
“I sure didn’t feel like your son when I waited for you to come back.”
“How the hell do you even remember that? You were three.”
He didn’t remember, not really, but he remembered how he felt when he realized his dad was never coming back. Stephie wasn’t even born yet when Edward left; the only version of him she knew was the one she built of him in her head, and Tad sincerely hoped that she would one day see Edward Nygma for what he really was, not that he tried to hide it.
He was doing it again. That look. Tad hated that look. It was like disappointment and hatred rolled into one, and it felt like a sucker punch. He didn’t know why he let it affect him this much. He didn’t care what Edward thought of him; he could go to hell for all he cared, but that goddamn look.
“Holy shit, stop looking at me like that!”
“Like you hate me?! Like breathing the same air as you is an offense to you personally?!”
He was quiet now. Edward dropped his gaze and turned his head. He muttered an ‘oh’ so quietly, Tad almost couldn’t hear it. He inhaled deeply and exhaled with a sigh.
“I’m aware you don’t want anything to do with me.”
The sternness of Tad’s own voice, impressive for a boy of 13, silenced Edward again, but only for a moment.
“That’s the look my father used to give me.”
Tad stopped for a moment. He never talked about their grandfather to either of them.
“Every time I was in the room with him, he’d always look at me like-like-,”
Edward stopped himself. He clearly hadn’t meant to even start that.
“I don’t know how else to look at you. I-I don’t know what you want from me.”
Truth be told, Tad didn’t know either. He didn’t think he wanted anything from this man.
“You don’t have to come around here, you know.”
His eyes briefly landed on his sister.
“Until she sees the kind of person you really are, yeah, I do.”
“And I’m not just talking about you walking out on me.”
Their father was a dangerous man, and Tad knew that; his little sister refused to see it. Edward had never harmed either of them, but who's to say he wouldn’t? Tad trusted him as far as he could throw him.
“...me leaving was the best thing I could’ve done for you.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”
He angrily turns and leaves. It started with walking, but it turned into running. He ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. He looked at himself in the mirror, and, not for the first time, saw his father staring right back at him.
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