We're more alike than you think

80. He is not my boyfri...

"First of all, he is not my boyfriend, dad" you explained, trying to defend yourself.

Your cheeks immediately turned into a red tomato. Was he now cracking jokes at you? This was certainly not the topic you thought your father would take up after being away from each other for such a long time, but maybe it was exactly what you needed, something to drag the attention away from the two of you. Still, this was incredibly embarrassing to talk with your father about. This wasn't exactly something he had done in your teenage years, and you were far too old to have this conversation now.

"Oh, sorry, who am I to judge?" he said, throwing his hands innocently up in the air.

He was not gonna lie, hearing you call him dad with a smile on your lips has never felt better. He felt like the two of you could finally take down the walls you had built and talk together. Of course, the dad side of him couldn't help but enjoy how much you got so fired up, blushing and embarrassed by him.

"Well Zemo is a complicated man, it's not that easy," you said and leaned your head against the wall staring out in the room. You started to laugh a little "And even if it was easy, I don't think Zemo is the type to casually just have a girlfriend either. He is a very... I don't know.. pretigues man"

Your dad immediately took notice of how you deflected the question. It was clear as a day that Zemo cared deeply for you and that you cared for him, so your dad couldn't really understand your issue. Of course, he knew that Zemo had a past, but so did you. That could be the key for the two of you. Your differences made you stronger and better. That's at least what it did for him and your mom. He smiled weakly and softened his voice.

"At the beginning after I met your mother, she was quite nervous to be with me considering I was a mutant, dangerously handsome and all that," he started with a chuckle at the end. You looked up at him, and couldn't hold in a little laughter either.

"For some people, it takes time, not necessarily because they personally fear us, but because it's new or strange to them... Your mother was more the curious type, just like you, but her family was very judgemental. When we got married she lost all her contact with her family, simply for marrying me. Maybe Zemo is a bit afraid of your powers, the same way you're afraid of what or how people would react to the two of you" he said and looked down at his fingers.

"Y/n, look at your friends. It's not like they're gonna leave you if you choose to be with Zemo," he said with a light laugh.

Your father had never told you this before, neither had your mother, but you couldn't really blame them. You ran away in your early teenage years, that would probably be the time they would give you this conversation if they wanted to. Through the years it's always been him who knew everything about you, but now it felt like he was opening up to you and letting you in the door. You hated how right he was about you and Zemo. Honestly, with everything that has happened, you had little time to think about a future relationship with Zemo, but every now and then the thought would cross you. You knew your friends wouldn't leave you, but that wasn't what stopped you.

The reality was that you just right now got out of prison, after being caught as a mutant in front of the whole wide world. You knew that because of your past and being the daughter of Erik that you would be facing a jury. It could take a long time before you would be facing trial and meanwhile, you were a free person, but you still had a mission and the whole world was looking at you. What made things even worse was that no matter how things would pan out for you, nothing changed the fact that Zemo was going right back to jail. It wasn't a short trip either, it was a lifetime. In no version of this was it possible for the two of you to actually be together.

"I wish it was that simple, but Zemo is still going back to jail" you mumbled.

It wasn't that your dad loved Zemo, but he could see how much Zemo meant to you. Therefore it hurt him to see you like this. Of course, he knew his own share bit about prison time and keeping the loved ones in the loop, but he didn't want that for you. He wanted you to be happy, to be with somebody you truly loved and who loved you back just as much. Somebody who could take care of you, but also let you shine like the star you were. He had no good advice for you.

"Well, I have been several times in a life sentence. I made it work" he said with a stressed laugh. You could see that he really tried, but you couldn't help yourself but feel more helpless. He quickly took notice of how bad his joke landed and clapped you softly on the back.

"My point was that if you're sure about Zemo, you will find a way to ma..." More couldn't your father say before a Sokovian accent came to your attention.

"Hey sorry, am I interrupting?"

Talk about sunshine. Your eyes immediately went up at him, and you couldn't help but feel a big relief when you saw that he wasn't a beaten-up mess like the rest of the group. Zemo was wearing a simple pair of grey trousers with a white singlet and black braces. He was sweating or had done so and his clothes were far from clean, but he still had never looked better in your eyes. His eyes made you already feel more at home with yourself. You were in your own thoughts dreaming about Zemo until your father snapped you out of your thoughts.

"I think you should answer your boyfri.."

"No, you are absolutely not" you answered Zemo with a weak smile.

You clapped your father on the knee to lift yourself up, giving him a stern look. He could absolutely not walk around calling Zemo your boyfriend when it was far from the truth. It was also embarrassing, especially in front of Zemo. Your dad gave you a teasing smile and clapped your hand on his knee. You turned around to Zemo who simply stood there with his little smile confused at the two of you. You started to walk towards him when he took notice of the struggle you were in. He immediately walked over to you, standing close to you.

"May I?" he asked with a soft smile. You couldn't help but notice that he seemed a bit nervous around your dad. Of course, Zemo was a proper man, but he wasn't exactly the type to ask if he was interrupting, normally he would just take his place. He wouldn't ask if he could help you either but now he did. You gave him a short nod as he carefully placed his hand around your waist, but was above the area he normally laid his hand on you. The second you really understood that it was about your father was when Zemo looked back at your dad like he was checking that your father didn't puke or something. You could hear your father's laughter when you stood by the door.

"Have fun kids, use protect..." you immediately altered the door handle, closing the door before your father could ever end that sentence.



"I am so sorry for my dad. I think he is trying to do this whole teenage dad thing he skipped out on, I really don't know"