Price was unaware that he had a child, until he met you. Freshly 16 and without your mother, Price suddenly becomes a father to a child that is nothing like him.
You had your mothers face. And her hair.
It was like Price was seeing her again, young and bright eyed in the military bar she worked at. But it wasn't her, the woman he had a brief fling with. It was you, a 16 year old kid that he was being told he now had custody of.
"I didn't know you had a child." Laswell says as she takes her seat across from him. John glares up at her for a moment before looking back down at your photo.
"I didn't know that I did." He admits after a couple of long moments. "We saw each other a couple of times, then I was transferred."
"Didn't keep in contact?" Laswell presses, a hint of judgement in her tone. John glares at her again, shutting your file hard.
"Didn't know there was a reason, too. Besides, this kid shouldn't have to completely relocate to live with me. Don't they have family in the states or close by?" John asks as he stares at your closed file. Even with the manilla folder shut over the top of your photo, he could still feel your eyes bearing through to him.
"No, John. You're the only family she's got right now." Laswell clears her throat, leaning forward so she can give his shoulder a squeeze. "This is going to be hard. I'm one phone call away if you need help." She offers, and Price sighs heavily through his nose, leaning back into his office chair.
The man that picks you up at the airport isn't your father. You'd dug through the internet all the time as a kid, only a generic first name to go off of, and you hadn't found much then. Even with your father's full name, he clearly didn't have social media of any kind.
You had one picture from when your mom met him, a smudged Polaroid of them smiling at the camera, and one other photo you had found when he was promoted to Captain.
Seeing the broad, masked man, who held a sign with your name on it, your heart sank. You were stupid if you thought this man would be any better. He couldn't even be bothered to come pick you up himself.
"Y/N?" The masked man asks as you approach, giving you a nod when you confirm your name. "Which baggage claim is your stuff coming out of?" He asks, crumbling the paper and jamming it into his back pocket.
"Baggage claim four." You mumble, looking around for a moment until you spot the sign and start making your way over. A firm hand finds its way to your shoulder, and instinctively, you pull yourself away to glare at him.
"Don't wander off." He warns, narrowing his eyes at you as he spoke.
"I've been on my own long before my mom died. I'm sixteen, not six." You bite back, turning away from him and marching towards baggage claim. You couldn't help but be bitter, be angry. You'd had it all planned out. Keep working at the video store down the street, keep your money hidden from your mother, and when you turned eighteen, you would move in with your friends.
Maybe it was wrong to feel angry that your mom had died. You know you should feel sad, you kept expecting the feeling to come, but all you could feel was anger. Even in death, she couldn't give you the life you deserved. That you had worked so hard for. Even in death, she was taking just another thing away from you.
You grabbed your suit cases off the conveyor belt, following after the stranger until you reached his car. "What's your name anyway?" You prod, though this time, you try to keep the bite out of your voice.
"I'm Simon." He hums, but he doesn't take off the surgical mask. He opens up his trunk, putting your suitcases inside and slamming the trunk shut. "That everything? John said you have another delivery of stuff coming later." You wondered what this man called your father because it clearly wasn't John. He looked uncomfortable just saying it, probably because he called him Captain instead.
"That's all right now." You agree as you climb into the car, your backpack held in your lap. Simon is silent as he starts driving, navigating out of the airport parking lot and onto the road. You stare out of the window at the scenery passing by. Even with your simmering anger, you could at least appreciate how beautiful the area was. "Why couldn't John come get me himself?"
"He's busy. And you shouldn't call him John." Simon answers, though he cringes internally once he's said it. He knew it wasn't his place to tell you how to feel, but he couldn't help but defend Price.
"He never called at all, so I think I'll decide what to call him." You snip back, now staring him down. Simon stops at a stop light, looking back at you with a look that could make even Johnny a bit nervous. You held his gaze without even a flinch. "You don't scare me. Tell me, how was it having my dad as your dad? Hmm? Is that why you're defending him? Is he your father figure?"
Simon goes to respond, but someone blows their horn, and he realizes the light has turned green. He accelerates, glancing at you from the corner of his eye. Your words were quick and hurtful, and you hadn't even raised your voice at him.
Simon didn't have anything to say, mostly because he knew you wouldn't want to hear what he had to say. How could he tell you that in that moment, you sounded just like Price? He'd keep it to himself for now. When he glances at you again, your jaw is set firmly, arms crossed over your bag, as you stare straight ahead.
If he saw the tears dripping down your cheeks, he didn't say anything.
My dad likes to do this weird thing where he'll show me pictures of myself that are at the very least from like from 2 years ago. When I still had blonde hair. And when he does this he'll tell me how I was "soooo beautiful back then".
The way he tells me this too, he'll make it so obvious that he finds me to have been more beautiful then. Thing is, that was 2 years ago at least, I am older now and a lot changes over 2 years when you're in my age. I look different, and in my opinion, I look so much better now. 2 years ago I was still a kid, now I'm a adult and I've developed my style so much better in every way.
And I contribute this to that I know much more about myself now and I've become more confident in how I express myself.
He says that I "look like myself" in those old pictures. But I don't really agree with that. I am myself now too, I'm actually myself even MORE now. I think he thinks this way and believes that I was more beautiful back then because he doesn't like that I am becoming more goth outwardly. And that I am discovering who I am in a way that he isn't comfortable with. What he doesn't realize is that this is ME. The real me, even if he doesn't like it or find it to be good looking.
If I were to go back to being blonde that would not reflect on who I am now. I express myself through hair, makeup and clothes and I don't think he understands that.
Just wanted to put this down somewhere. It does hurt my feelings sometimes that he says this to me. I really do believe that I look the best I ever have right now.
objectively my relationship with my dad is worse. but my mind apparently doesn't care about logic because my relationship with my mom hurts so much more. because she at least knows stuff about me. while the connection between me & my dad has been entirely 'off' since i was like 12, me & my mom are constantly 'on' & 'off'. one moment i think she's no better than my dad and the next i'm reminded exactly why she's so much better. if i had to choose to live with one of them for the rest of my childhood i'd choose her without hesitation. (kinda random but indian parents really need to start normalizing divorce lmao) in the end, my dad mostly stays out of whatever happens to me and doesn't interact and i'm fine with it now because i don't really like the person he is, but my mom doesn't stay out of it. she's objectively a better person. she's there, she listens, but also she makes things so much worse. well at least she's got more tact than my dad. i feel like the reason it hurts more with her is because at times i actually have hope whereas i've given up when it comes to my dad. my dad doesn't have expectations to meet so he can't disappoint me any more but i know my mom and she is a much better parent than him and sometimes i expect a healthy interaction and when it doesn't happen i'm left disappointed and hurt. idk i'm just rambling atp
Unfortunate announcement time… back to family hell for a YEAR 😭📵
Sooo… I gotta make a lil unfortunate announcement for everyone who sees this. I’m being shipped back to my dad’s house (aka family hell ft. my dad, his wife a.k.a my “stepmom,” and my grandma).
And this time it’s not just two weeks or whatever… I’ll be stuck there for like a whole ass YEAR until I finish my first year of college 💀 The only time I can come back to my mom’s side is for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which feels like forever away. And y’all already know how strict my dad's side of the family (which includes my dad, his wife (my "stepmom", and my grandma) are with me using tech… so there’s a slight possibility I might not be able to post for a while.
But!! I refuse to say goodbye because I don’t wanna believe I’ll be gone that long. Hopefully if my mom + stepdad help me out with some money (and if my mom can talk things out with my dad), I might be able to get back here sooner. If I get enough money, I can get myself a new phone and maybe they won’t be so damn nosy about what I’m doing on it 👀
So yeah. Wish me luck y’all 🙏💔 manifesting that I’ll be back faster than a month. I don’t wanna vanish.
Tagging all my mutuals @ruinationz and @turbotasticnumberone and @cartoon-cat7241 and @cru5h-cascades and @seleyaaaa and @mono-squamblo and @strayfelinez and @strangelilangel and @yukihirop and @rivertheemoo and @meatmedallion and @eeeeeeeeep-lolz and @drownedsilverforever
Additional Note: I also wanna apologize to my two mutuals ( @ruinationz and @turbotasticnumberone) on Discord 🫶💜 Before y’all go “but if you couldn’t be online on Discord, how come you sometimes posted on Tumblr??” — lemme explain. At my mom’s house, she had a strict time limit on how long I could use tech (phones, iPads, etc… not TV tho lol). And the time I was given wasn’t enough to properly hang out on Discord, it only let me do small things like make a quick Tumblr post or scroll a bit. So I wasn’t lying about not really being online — I just literally didn’t have enough time to spend in Discord convos the way I wanted to.
I’m really sorry I couldn’t be on there with y’all as much as I wanted 😔 but maybe you guys aren’t even mad at me and I’m just overthinking (as usual lmao). That’s what happens when I don’t spend enough time online, my brain goes haywire. Either way — I still wanted to say sorry, cuz I do care. 🖤
