This month, I am attempting to tackle two month-long prompt challenges, possibly because I am insane. This here is the first chapter of my Dad December fic, No Longer in the Dark. Please enjoy!
@daddecember Day 1: Lost in the Woods + "Close your eyes."
Fandom: Countryhumans
Relationship: Alaska & Hawaii & Texas & US
I was staring out of the window above the kitchen sink when Alaska ran in with his winter coat in his arms. I looked over, curious.
“Papa, can you take me into the woods?” Alaska asked.
I smiled, glad it wasn’t something serious. These kids were extremely accident prone, believe it or not. “Sure, I’ll take you. Did you ask Hawaii and Texas if they wanted to go?”
“Hawaii said she was too tired, and Texas said he didn’t want to go.” Alaska began to rock on his feet.
“I’ll trust that you’re telling the truth, and that you don’t just want to leave your siblings out of it.” I stopped leaning on the counter and ruffled Alaska’s hair, which was met with a small squeak of annoyance. I laughed. “Remember your gloves and your boots, Ala. And also remember to tell me if you’re cold. I don’t want you to get frostbite.”
Alaska nodded vigorously, and I was slightly worried that he would give himself whiplash with how aggressive it was. He then ran out, and I followed him, although I walked. I got my gloves and coat from my room. My boots were by the door. I had halfway laced the first boot when Alaska came running to put on his own shoes. It didn’t take nearly as long as to put them on as mine did. Mostly because his didn’t have laces.
“Come on, Papa, come on!” Alaska ushered, practically bouncing on his feet.
I laughed again and finished tying my boots. “Be patient, Ala,” I gently chided. I stood and called through the house, “Texas, Ala and I are going in the woods, you’re in charge!”
“Alright!” Texas called back. Hawaii bid us goodbye with a shout. I took Alaska’s hand and opened the front door.
The rush of cold air made me shiver. I exhaled a cloud with each breath. I was quick to step outside and shut the door behind us, worried about losing the heat of the house to the weather.
Alaska smiled wide, pulling against my hand as he tried to run ahead. “It’s so pretty out here!” He giggled, pointing to the snow and looking back and forth between it and me. I couldn’t help but grin with him, his joy spreading.
“Let’s get going, then!” I began to jog, which was about equivalent to Alaska’s run. I led Alaska to the woods, and in particular, towards a trail that we had walked a few days before. Alaska’s smile seemed to be frozen to his face, never leaving for a second.
Alaska’s laughter died down as soon as the crooked, leafless branches of the birch trees that made up the forest created a shield between us and the sky. Alaska stared with wide eyes, and let go of my hand to spin in a circle. He soon returned to my side, but he couldn’t stop looking around.
I tried to focus on the path more than the scenery, even though it was pretty. Snow covered most of it, much like the rest of the ground. My only real indicator between the path and the woods was how far apart the trees were. It left the path pretty clear, but only if you were going straight. It only really got sketchy when there were bends and turns.
Alaska stopped for a moment. I stopped as well, and looked to where he was staring. A pinecone stood out of the snow, only a little bit of its top poking out of the snow. He let go of my hand and ran over to pick up the pinecone. When he returned to my side, he held it up to me like a prize.
“Papa, look, I found something!” He cheered. I couldn’t help but to smile and crouch down to get a closer look. Alaska stopped holding it up and cradled the pinecone in his hands. “Isn’t it cool?”
“It’s very cool,” I responded, unsure how else to tell Alaska that I liked the pinecone too. “Do you wanna take it home?”
Alaska nodded and hummed “Mhm!”
“Well, let’s finish walking first, then we can go home. I think Hawaii would like to see it.” I almost stood up, but something behind Alaska had caught my attention. I only caught a glimpse of it, and it was in my peripheral vision, but I definitely saw movement. I looked up.
It looked like there were birch trunks moving on their own, as if they were the jointless legs of some freakishly tall creature. I was confused for a minute, but then it hit me.
Alaska he tried looking behind himself to see what I was looking at. I covered his eyes and gently turned his head back to face me.
“Papa, what’s happening?” Alaska’s voice trembled, if only slightly, and I just prayed that he wouldn’t try to fight me on this before we got home.
“I can explain when we get back, but for now, please listen to me,” I whispered. Alaska nodded, and he held the pinecone tighter. “Close your eyes. Do not open them until I tell you to, okay?” He nodded again, and I hesitantly took my hand away from his eyes. They were closed.
I picked Alaska up. I turned around, then closed my own eyes. There were very few turns in the trail so far, so it wasn’t too precarious. Still, there was risk. I took a deep breath and began to pray that we didn’t walk off the path.
“What’re y'all doing? You’ve been gone for an hour!” Texas shouted, and I opened my eyes. Texas was standing in the doorway of the house, and I sighed in relief. I ran to Texas and ushered him back inside.
“I’ll explain in a minute, alright? Just- I’ve got to make sure we’re safe. There’s things out in the woods, and we just need to take precautions, is all.” I knew I sounded panicked, but I had a hard time focusing on keeping myself sounding calm when I was on the verge of panicking.
Texas gave me a strange look but didn’t question it. He backed away from the door as I stumbled inside with Alaska still in my arms and closed it myself. I carefully put Alaska down on the floor, but Alaska refused to let go of my sleeve. I saw that his eyes were still tightly closed.
“You can open your eyes,” I murmured. Alaska opened his eyes, and began to cry silently. I picked him up and hugged him.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay. We’re gonna be okay,” I soothed, kissing his forehead. Alaska held onto me, still crying. I turned to Texas. “Help me close the blinds, and tell Hawaii to not look out the windows.”
“What if she fights me on it?” Texas asked, crossing his arms.
“Just say I told her not to.” I walked to the nearest window. “Come on.”
He ran to wherever Hawaii was and told her. She didn’t fight back, at least not loud enough to be heard, so he helped me close the rest of the blinds. After we were done, I asked him and Hawaii to wait in the main room. I followed them shortly after.
“Okay, what’s happening?” Texas asked.
Hawaii nodded. “Yeah! You’re being weird.”
I sighed and sat on the floor with them, even though there was a couch available. The kids were weird like that. Alaska still held onto me. “Look, there’s… creatures in the woods that are only mean when you look them in the eyes. Your Uncle Canada said they weren’t going to be anywhere close to here, but he was wrong, and they’re nearby.” Hawaii glanced at the window. “But if we stay inside and keep the blinds closed, we’ll be fine. It’ll only be for a few days, I promise.”
Hawaii nodded again, and Texas didn’t give any response. Alaska let go of me, but didn’t ask to be put back on the floor.
“Do we have Monopoly?” Hawaii murmured, breaking the silence. She fiddled with her hands.
I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, we do. I’ll get it out. Who wants to be banker?”
“Me!” Texas and Hawaii shouted in unison. Thet glared at each other, and I laughed.
“Rock paper scissors for banker,” I told them. “Best of three.”
After about two hours of arguing over who owned what property and how much to tax someone, as well as winning conditions, the game had finally concluded. Hawaii and Alaska were both tired at that point, and went to their bedroom to take a nap. Texas and I were tasked with putting the game away.
“You weren’t telling the whole truth to them,” Texas said, making sure he had all of the property cards. “They’re little, I get that, but you can tell me.”
I hesitated at first. I paused counting the little green and red houses and looked up at him. “I wasn’t,” I admitted. “Those creatures… they’re tall. They have jointless legs that look like the birch trees out there. If you look them in the face, which sort of looks like a branch, they’ll try to crush you.” I gathered the little pieces in my hands and put them in their place in the box. “They have to stay in the forest, unless they’ve been looked at. Clearings, like where we are, are safe unless they’re mad.”
Texas hummed. “Can’t you fight em?”
I scoffed, halfway between a laugh. “No, no. These things are tough. You can burn them, sure, but they’ve got thick skin. Nothing can really get through it. They weigh a lot, too. It doesn’t help that they can track you better than a hound.” I looked up at him. “Fighting them is basically a death wish, unless you can aim and run with your eyes closed in the woods.”
He looked at the closed blinds, then looked back at me. “And we’re safe here, right?”
“Safe as we can be.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “Trust me. They hate clearings as much as they hate being looked at.”
Texas smiled, and I felt relief wash through me. "Alrighty."
Summary: A young (like toddler aged) Izuku cries, homesick and afraid. He shouldn’t have trusted the man with red eyes.
Trigger warnings: Implied/referenced kidnapping, and a young child in distress.
Wordcount: 1,025
@daddecember
--
Izuku sobs, curling up. The bed underneath him feels wrong, strange and unfamiliar. This room is strange and unfamiliar, too. It’s not home, and he doesn’t like it!
Only the blanket he used for naptime at daycare that day (or was it yesterday? The day before that?) smells like home. Like the laundry soap mommy uses. He holds it close to his face, breathing in the scent. It’s soft, too, and when he rubs it against his damp cheek, it makes Izuku feel the tiniest bit better.
“Izuku,” a monster says, standing in the doorway.
He tenses up, tossing the blanket over his head. Maybe if he’s really quiet, the monster will leave him alone. Or better yet, maybe it will take him home. Mommy and daddy are probably worried sick about him.
At the mental reminder of his parents, Izuku bursts into a fresh round of sobs. He tries to breathe through them, just like his daddy taught him. But it’s hard.
The monster comes closer. Through the thin fabric of the baby blanket, Izuku watches through watery eyes as its clawed hands reach for him. His cries grow louder and harsher. He trembles, heart beating so loud he can hear it clear as day.
The blanket is gently removed from his head.
“Izuku,” the monster says again, softer. There’s an expression on its face that he remembers seeing on his daddy’s face when he found Izuku crying during a thunderstorm. “It’s okay. I promise.”
The monster’s red eyes remind him of Kacchan and his daddy, but Kacchan is the coolest person ever! And daddy would never make Izuku feel like this. (Shamefully, the monster’s eyes were one of the reasons that Izuku followed it back to its house. Red, in his mind, is the color of safety. Of warmth. Of home.)
It softly hums a song under its breath (if Izuku listens carefully, he’s pretty sure his daddy has hummed this song before, too), using the pad of its thumb to brush some of the tears away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I wanna go home!” Izuku shouts, flailing his arms and legs. “I want mommy and daddy!”
The monster scoops him up, sending a new wave of fresh panic to roll over Izuku. The boy wriggles, screaming as loud as he can.
“Leave me alone! Leave me alone! I wanna leave! Wanna go home! Home! Homehomehomehome-”
His words blur together, only framed by a singular word. He struggles a great deal, kicking and trying to dig his nails into the monster’s skin. The monster seems to ignore him, carrying Izuku out of the room, down the hallway, and straight into another unfamiliar room - a living room this time.
It sits down in a recliner. The chair rocks back when they sit down. The monster readjusts Izuku, laying the boy across the monster’s lap and guiding his head to the center of its chest. The steady rhythm of the monster’s heart makes Izuku feel the slightest bit calm.
The monster strokes his hair, brushing back his bangs off his tear-soaked face. He exhales in a shuddery breath, body still shaking like a leaf. A kiss pressed to his forehead.
“I’m sorry, Izuku,” the monster murmurs. “I really, truly am. But I couldn’t let that monster hurt you.”
In spite of his fear, Izuku glances up at the monster. “What?”
His head is pressed to the monster’s chest once again, firm but gentle. The lub -dub of the monster’s heart quiets any protests that Izuku might have had.
“I knew your uncle. A long, long time ago.”
In a small voice, Izuku mutters, “I don’t have an uncle.” And he doesn’t. Mommy would have told him if he did. Mommy knows everything.
“Because your dad k- made him go away. Yeah,” the monster says, more to himself than Izuku. “You had an uncle until your dad made him go away. Far, far away.”
“Why?”
“Because your uncle and dad were brothers, and your dad couldn’t stand it that your uncle wanted to make his own decisions. So, he….” The man pauses mid-sentence. A hand returns to Izuku’s hair, sitting idly on top of the unruly mop of curls. It stays there, and when the man makes no indication that he’s going to move, Izuku looks up at him.
Their eyes meet, and he swears that he sees the man have to blink back tears. One escapes, sliding down his cheek.
“You look so much like him, too. Not a perfect match, of course, but when I look at you, I see Yoichi’s nephew, not….” the man trails off. Idly, he plays with Izuku’s curls. “You have his curls. His mannerisms. But not much else. You aren’t a villain. You aren’t evil.”
“Wanna be a hero,” Izuku mutters, helplessly. His eyes are half-lidded. It’s been a long day, and the exhaustion is finally hitting him. “Wanna be like All Might.”
“I know,” the man murmurs. A hand slides down his face, shutting his eyes. “Dream now. We can discuss this more later.”
Izuku fights sleep, needing answers to his questions. “Who are you? Are you a hero? Was my uncle a hero? Can I go home if I go to sleep?” The man shushes him, hand sliding down Izuku’s face again.
“Shhhh….you can call me, Kudou. I was a good friend of your uncle’s many years ago. Your uncle was the greatest hero I have ever met. And the only way you’ll find out is if you close your eyes.”
Izuku wants to argue, because that isn’t a yes. And if it isn’t yes, then he doesn’t want to take the chance that the man won’t let him go home when Izuku wakes up.
But a hand is slid over his eyes for a third time, and the exhaustion is getting harder to fight. So, Izuku settles for a sleepy, “don’t wanna.”
The last thing Izuku hears before sleep pulls him under is the man’s quiet laughter and the lub-dub of his heart.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
Lub-dub.
–x-x-x-
“I promise, Yoichi, wherever you are, to keep him safe. I won’t let All for One hurt him, too."
