Me or him

Chapter seven

"You ready, Ty?"

Tyler nodded and wiped his snotty nose from his earlier crying. Atlas grabbed Tyler's opposite hand, and stepped out of the house, but right when Tyler was about to step out, he started crying again. Atlas sighed and threw his head back, frustrated. As much as he hated to make Tyler cry, this was best for the both of them if they wanted to stay together with no interference.

"Tyler, come on, I know you don't want to, but I don't want you to grow up and regret this."

"Dah, I don't want to!" He stomped and threw himself on the floor, but while doing that, he hurt himself, which made him start to scream louder.

Atlas picked the little boy up, brought him back into the house, and sat down on the couch with Tyler in his lap.

"Listen, Ty. If you want to stay with me here, then you have to go to his house."

"I don't want too!"

"I know you don't, but sometimes we have to do things we don't want to get the things we want." Atlas sighed, tired of going back and forth with the boy.

"No! I go next time."

Atlas knew that if Tyler begged one more time, he would most likely give in, but he has been doing that so much that he can't afford to do it again, so he decides to try to bribe the little boy.

"How about if you go, I'll get you a surprise." He negotiated.

Tyler started to cry again as he laid his head on Atlas' shoulder, knowing Atlas wasn't going to break this time. "Why do I have to go?"

"He's your dad, Ty."

"I want you to be my dad!"

"I still am, but this is just how it works, Bubs."
———

"How are you?" Atlas nodded in acknowledgement toward the man when he opened the door.

The man had his permanent mug on his face, but he nodded back. "I'm fine. You're finally bringing my son to see me." The man held his fist out for Tyler to bump, which he did. "Hey man."

"Hi." Tyler frowned, but went to hug the man. The man picked Tyler up swiftly.

"I've been busy."

"But we had an agreement, did we not?"

Atlas gave him a tight-lipped smile and said, "You can come pick him up yourself sometime, or maybe pop up and see him. I don't have to drive all the way across town to drop him off. I'm not obligated to."

"I like when Dah drops me off!"

Atlas chuckled a bit while the man grew annoyed at the nickname his son gave Atlas.

This man isn't a bad person, at least not to Tyler, but Tyler just can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that this is his real father and Atlas isn't.

Atlas raised Tyler while the real father watched in the shadows and saw him for a day or two every couple of months, so to Tyler, this man was a stranger.

The deal was that even though Atlas had custody of Tyler and the two men had some animosity between each other on behalf of the mother, Tyler's father could still come and see him from time to time.

Tyler's mother signed for an open adoption, but since the father never signed the birth certificate, it didn't apply to him. After a few blood tests, it was declared that the man was, in fact, the father. He wasn't given custody.

With Tyler's grandparents on both the mother and father's side not wanting custody of him, and the court not taking the case as seriously, 20 year old Atlas was surprisingly able to adopt Tyler.