I’ve kinda wanted to write a lil Dad!John story for a while and this is what popped outta my brain. Pure, pure fluff.
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13) cafune - the act of running your fingers through the hair of someone you love.
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"DAAAADDDYYYY!"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
He heard her small feet hitting against the kitchen floor and felt her wrap her tiny arms around his leg. He was standing at the stove making them grilled cheese sandwiches.
"Careful, ok? The stove is hot."
"I'm a big girl Daddy! I know."
She said with as much seriousness as her high pitched voice would allow. He looked down at her. Her face tilted to look up at him. Her mouth a straight line. It was like looking into a mirror.
Small moments like this that made everything he'd been though worth it. He'd never imagined his life would be so full of love. He cherished these Saturday afternoons with her. While Mom was out at her ceramics class.
"Daddy I wanna play beauty time!"
He reached down and ruffled her hair. “We will. After lunch.”
She let go of his leg and danced around.
He lifted her up onto the kitchen stool and slid a grilled cheese in front of her.
"Small triangles!" She squealed as she picked up part of the sandwich. Chewing it while she wiggled happily in her seat.
After lunch she was off running to collect her beauty time supplies as soon as her feet hit the ground. John laughed as he watched her dart away. She was so fast. Like a little lightning bolt.
"Daddy sit!!!"
"Ok darling."
He sat on the floor in front of the couch. Slouching so that she could reach his hair.
He felt her tiny hands combing through his hair. She was trying her best to be gentle but occasionally she would forget and tug roughly.
"Ouch!" He'd yelp, jokingly.
"Stay still Daddy!"
"I will, honey."
She worked away for a little while longer. Moving his head this way and that.
"Picture Daddy! Pleaaaaase!"
He smiled and picked up his phone. Opening the front camera and taking a few selfies.
"I look beautiful. Thank you sweetie."
His hair was tangled and he counted three pigtails jutting out at odd angles. He laughed to himself.
"I can't wait to show Mommy." He said. She beamed up at him.
"She'll like it. You look so pretty Daddy. My turn now? Please?"
"Yeah, sit right here." He patted the ground in front of him.
"What style this time?"
"Braids, pleaaaaaaseeeee!" She squealed as she flapped her arms excitedly.
"You got it kid. Pretty braids coming right up."
He moved his fingers gently through her hair. Careful to avoid snagging it. She'd inherited his hair. It was so deep brown it was almost black. She sighed happily as he sectioned her hair off and made one braid and then a second. Securing the ends with a bright pink bow.
"All done! Picture time?"
"Yaaay!!!!! Yes please!!!" She crawled up onto his lap, flopping heavily against his chest. They went through a variety of faces. Silly. Serious. Happy.
"Beauty time, John?" Came a voice from across the living room.
"Mommyyyyyyyy!" She squealed and took off running, throwing herself into her Mom's arms.
"Beautiful job on her braids sweetheart."
"Thanks. Like my new hairstyle?" He lifted himself off the floor with a groan and joined his wife and daughter in their hug.
"Oh, yeah. She did a wonderful job. Pigtails suit you." She said, giving one a playful tug.
Summary: Lilah finally gets to meet the tall, dark and handsome man she had been lowkey crushing on for the last four months when his dog gets loose and comes to play with her. Based on the prompt 58: “You smell like a wet dog”
Author’s notes: 1) Canon divergent AU, because I’m adding a bigger time gap between John finding his car in the beginnings of JW: Chapter 2 and Santino coming around with a marker to give John a chance to go back to retirement and properly grieve over Helen. This piece would be set in that time period. 2) Also I’m a big sucker for soft!John, ok? It’s one of my favorite things. I have this headcanon that he doesn’t really know how to flirt or show someone he’s interested in them. I highkey think Helen might have been the one to make the first move between them.
Warnings: none, I think. Unless dogs playfully jumping on people freaking you out.
As often as Lilah could, she went to the park on her lunch breaks. It was a bit of a walk from the office at the Psychology department, but it was definitely worth it for the opportunity of not feeling the pressure of hurrying up with her meal to go back to work; to actually feel the sun and breathe air that hadn’t been artificially renewed and carried the faint traces of sanitizer.
There was this old oak she liked to sit beneath. It provided enough shade to avoid overheating and gave her a great view of the rest of the park, allowing her to people-watch and imagine stories for their lives, one of her favorite hobbies.
Lilah took a bite of her tuna sandwich and checked her watch. It was 12:30 already and her favorite subject of observation was apparently late. He was always there on Tuesdays, along with his blueish grey pitbull. He would sit by the fountain and watch the park with an almost wistful look. He kept one hand resting on the dog’s while he ate a sandwich, sneaking a few pieces of meat to his pet,. Once he was done, he would stand up again and leave, always walking past where she was sitting.
She didn’t know what it was about him that caught her eye. It was more than just his handsome features, that she was sure. Maybe it was the fact that when Lilah first noticed him four months ago he had this air of sorrow and grief. But as the weeks passed that seemed to ease some. She even caught him laughing once when the pitbull got a little greedy and stole the last bite of his sandwich while he was distracted.
And at some point along those weeks, he started looking over and giving Lilah a quick nod of greeting as he walked past her. He apparently also noticed that she was a frequent presence in the park. Lilah would reply with a smile and a quick rub on the dog’s head when it started approaching her for curious sniffles. Probably catching the scent of her cat on her clothes.
This had been Lilah’s Tuesday’s ritual for a while, and she was a little disappointed that they weren’t there today. Their presence always helped to brighten up her day and make her forget that her research wasn’t yielding the data she needed or that Lilah’s advisor had asked her to review their paper for the hundredth time just because the woman didn’t like one of the authors Lilah used as reference.
Resigned that she probably weren’t going to see them today, Lilah finished her sandwich and put on her headphones. She still had another ten minutes before she had to go back, and she was adamant on enjoying every second of it.
Lilah laid back on her elbows humming along the music in her ears, once again counting the days until she would finally defend her dissertation and all of this underlying stress and constant worry would finally be over and replaced with stress and constant worry from an actual teaching position.
Lilah was startled back to reality when something grey, furry and very wet collided with her chest. Her squeak of surprise turned into laughter as the familiar pitbull yapped happily, trying to lick her face.
“Hey buddy!” she greeted, scratching it head and neck, noticing a piece of his leash still attached to the collar by the clasp, the tip torn.
“Where did you came from, huh? Where’s your tutor?” Lilah asked managing to sit up as the dog settled heavily on her lap and she couldn’t help but grin.
“Dog, Off!” A gruffy voice called seconds later and the pitbull moved off and laid down next to her.
“I’m so sorry, he knows better than to jump on people,” the man said, narrowing his eyes at the pitbull.
The dog seemed aware that he did something wrong, because he covered its face with its paws. It was the cutest thing in the world.
“It’s fine, really,” she replied, scratching the dog’s head. “He knew I was a friend.”
“He still shouldn’t have,” he said with a sigh, crouching down and examining the torn leash on his hand. “Most people are scared of him.”
And she didn’t know why, but something told her there was some kind of underlying meaning to those words.
“I’m not,” Lilah declared, watching him as she petted the dog.
“I’ve noticed,” he replied, meeting her gaze. He had the most beautiful eyes.
“What’s his name?” Lilah asked, looking back at the dog, a little unnerved by the intensity of those brown eyes.
“Dog,” he informed, looking down and rubbing his nape, seemingly embarrassed and Lilah giggled. “I’m really not good with names.”
“If it works it works,” she assured with a shrug, sneaking a glance at him. He was watching her again.
Lilah was at loss of what to do or say. It was one thing to watch him from afar and wonder about him, who he was, what he did. It was totally different to have him here, this close, watching her back. She decided it might be safer to keep her focus on Dog.
“Hi Dog!” she called.
The pitbull recognized his name and turned his head towards her. He almost looked like he was smiling, and Lilah chuckled. He was wiggling his tail but didn’t move towards her. She realized that despite running off, Dog was very well trained.
“How about you? Do you have a name?” Lilah mustered the courage to ask, looking back at the man.
“John,” he replied looking almost startled that she had asked.
“But not Doe, right?” Lilah joked.
It was a lame one, but John still chuckled, so she counted as a win.
“No, not Doe,” he answered, eyes darting to somewhere behind Lilah, before he patted his leg once.
Dog got up from where he was lying next to Lilah and moved to his side. John wrapped his fingers around the collar, holding onto it with a firm grip. From what she have seen so far, it didn’t seem like Dog needed to be held down, so she glanced behind herself, noticing a guy glaring at John and the unleashed pitbull. Lilah realized John did it more as a reassurance for other people than actual necessity.
Lilah glared back at the guy watching John and Dog, almost as if to challenge him to say or do something. She knew how to put on a mean scowl if she needed to. She was a Latina woman raised in Hell’s Kitchen after all.
Finally, the guy hurried away and she looked back at the pair in front of her, finding John smiling. It was a small, barely there quirk of lips; almost as if he wasn’t sure how to do it, but it was there. Lilah smiled back and ducked her head a little embarrassed.
That was when she finally noticed the mess of muddy paw prints and grass stains in her clothes and laughed. She had felt her shirt uncomfortable wet as soon as it happened but got distracted by John’s arrival and completely forgot it until now.
Her laughter must have attracted John’s attention to it as well, because he winced as he stood up and offered her a hand to help her up as well. Lilah did a quick double take because, Damn! He was big guy. It wasn’t just height either. He had broad shoulders and chest that filled up his white shirt quite nicely. It was very attractive, and Lilah flushed.
“Please let me take care of dry-cleaning? He ruined your clothes,” John asked, taking a card from his pockets and offering her.
“You don’t have to,” she assured, pushing the card back. “Trust me, making friends with Dog’s probably gonna be the highlight of my day.”
And maybe it was her wishful thinking, but Lilah thought John looked almost disappointed as he pushed the card back into his pocket.
“If you’re sure…” he trailed off and Lilah nodded, gathering the rest of her stuff. It was time to go back to work. “It was nice to meet you, John. You too Dog.”
“I didn’t catch your name,” John asked before she could step away.
“Lilah,” she answered grinning, glad he had asked. “Bye John.”
She petted the pitbull one last time, before she waved at them and started to walk away. Before she stepped on the sidewalk to cross the street, she looked over her shoulder. Her entire life she hated the feeling of being watched and today the feeling of eyes on her was overwhelming.
But it was just John still standing there, holding onto Dog and watching her go. That made her pulse speed up and she smiled. John smiled back and waved.
The stop light opened before she could wave back so she hurried to cross the street with the other pedestrians. When Lilah looked again, John and Dog were gone.
As Lilah made her way back to the lab, she barely noticed or cared that people were giving weird looks and a wide berth. John was still in her head and she knew he would be for the rest of the day.
“You smell like a wet dog,” Was the first thing Sid, Lilah’s friend and fellow PhD candidate, said when she walked back into the office they shared at the Psychology department. “What the hell happened?”
He had finally turned around to look at her, eyes widening in shock at her state. Lilah just laughed, still too giddy to really share what happened. Instead, she dropped her bag at her desk and picked up the backpack she kept under it and headed for the bathroom.
It wasn’t until she finished changing clothes that it hit Lilah: John might had looked disappointed when she refused his card because that might have been his way to try and give her his number, but she completely blew that.
Next Tuesday, as Lilah took her place under the oak to have lunch, Dog appeared by her side tail wiggling, but he remained still, sitting on his hind legs. She noticed the leash still attached to his collar and when she looked up John was also there.
“Hi,” Lilah greeted, breathing and heart speeding up at the sight of him
So, she looked back at Dog offering him a hand for him to sniff. He took it as an invitation and plopped next to her, resting his head in her lap. He looked up with begging eyes, waiting to be petted. Lilah chuckled and scratched behind his ears.
“No wonder he dragged me here,” John commented with that small smile and Lilah noticed he was carrying a brown paper bag with him. Probably his own lunch.
“Wanna join me?” She invited after a second of deliberation. Her heart felt like it was trying to bust out of her chest.
“He didn’t leave me much of a choice,” John replied with a snort, nodding at Dog.
Lilah’s stomach dropped in disappointment as she looked away and pulled her hand away from Dog. Maybe she was wrong last week. Maybe he was just trying to be polite when he offered his card and to pay for her dry-cleaning.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, trying to ignore how Dog kept shoving his head under her hand again with a small whine.
“Shit! That came out wrong,” John sputtered, combing his hair away from his eyes and sigh in frustration. “Sorry. I’m not very good at this.”
“Me either,” Lilah confessed finally relaxing. It was reassuring to see that John seemed as nervous as she was.
For a moment, the two of them just stayed there, watching one another with matching hesitant smiles.
“It’s lunch. I think we can make it work,” she said at last and John’s smile widened.
He sat down, back resting against the oak as well, Dog sandwiched between them.
“Yes. I think we can,” he declared, glancing sideways at her and it almost felt like a promise to Lilah’s ears.
