[ Buddy Daddies | Oneshots ]

[ lost ]

Miri was having a fantastic time. She was talking to all sorts of people and making so many new friends. She got to pet some cats and saw some people walking their dogs up and down the streets. She thought it was funny how the dogs kind of looked like their owners. She didn't realize just how lost she was until she tried to show Rei and Kazuki a flower she had picked from the cracks in the sidewalk.

"Papas!" She held the little dandelion up high in her hands, turning around quickly with a wide smile set on her face.

Her papas were not there. They hadn't been there for some time now, almost 15 minutes.

She lowered her hand and her smile dropped.

"Papa Kazuki? Papa Rei?" She looked all around, searching for even just a glimpse of her dads, but to no avail.

Miri had been alone before. She had gone on trains and walked miles without the supervision of an adult. She had been left in houses alone for hours at a time, left to fend for herself when she needed something. She was used to not having a grown-up with her all the time. But this time felt different. She had gotten used to being near an adult she knew and trusted, but now she was surrounded by strangers, she had absolutely no idea where she was going, and no semblance of where she was. She was truly lost.

Her heart skipped a beat at the realization and an ounce of dread pooled in the pit of her stomach.

But she wasn't going to give up just yet. She held on tighter to the dandelion in her hand and watched all the moving people of the sidewalks. She decided that asking people if they had seen her papas would be her best course of action.

"Hey, you! Mister!" She pointed and shouted at a man wearing a business suit. "Have you seen my papas? They're this tall–"

She jumped up the best she could to demonstrate how tall they were.

"–and one of them has got blond hair and is good at cooking but not as good as Mama and the other one's–"

"Kid, I'm busy, I don't have time for this," the man grumbled and walked away. How rude.

She looked around again, trying to find anyone that seemed like she could help her. She spotted a presumable mother with two children a bit older than Miri herself walking and decided to approach them.

"Hello Miss, I'm looking for my papas," She told her, "Have you seen them?"

"Oh! Well, what do they look like?" The mother asked, quiet concern settling on her face.

Miri beamed at the interaction, becoming more and more hopeful that she would find her papas again. "Papa Rei's tall but shorter than Papa Kazuki and he has black hair and he always looks so grumpy but I love him anyway–"

The woman nodded, letting Miri go on and on about her papas.

"–so have you seen them?" She finished.

"I don't think I have, darling, but I could take you to the police station and they could help you find th–"

"No!" Miri protested, she certainly did not like the last interaction she'd had with officers. They had scared her.

"I'm sorry, but that's the only way I could help you right now." The mother frowned, voice gentle.

Miri shook her head furiously and quickly thanked the lady before running off where the woman had lost track of her.

Once she had slowed down, her stomach started to growl. Man, was she hungry. She thought about sweet potatoes and Papa Kazuki's cooking. Her mouth watered.

She made her way into an alley, sitting down and hugging herself, shivering. It was getting darker and colder by the second. She looked down at the dandelion, somewhat beaten, but still in her hands.

The sensation of hot tears pricked her eyes and her chest tightened, and she knew that she was about to start crying. She couldn't help it. She was lost and she didn't know where her papas were and it was getting colder and colder and she was hungry and–

"Hey there, little girl," a man of medium build dressed in black made his way over to her, standing above her somewhat menacingly, "are you lost?"

Miri paused, unsure of what to do. She nodded.

"Well then, why don't I help you find your mama and dada then, hmm?" The man bent down to pick her up and she stumbled away from him, avoiding his touch.

The man scowled, "Come here, you, I'm only trying to help!"

He quickly managed to grab ahold of her wrist and hauled her up into his arms, making her drop her flower. He wasn't very gentle.

"Let go of me!" Miri shouted, trying to get out of his grasp.

She remembered what Papa Kazuki had told her not long ago. "If someone tries to take you away, all rules about manners go out the window–"

"All of them?" She asked, incredulous.

"All of them." Kazuki had nodded, "You bite, you kick, you scream, you make a big big deal out of it, and you let anyone around know that you don't know who that person is, okay?"

"Okay!"

She furrowed her brows and bit into the man's arm, hard. He screamed and she screamed back, hitting and wriggling and making a scene, calling out for her dads.

"Papa!" She howled.

She heard a response, faint, but still a response. She almost couldn't believe her ears.

"Papa! I'm over he–" The man slapped a hand over her mouth and no matter how many times she licked his hand, he didn't let go.

He wouldn't have to, however. Kazuki did that for him.

The blonde had appeared behind the man as suddenly and as quietly as an owl, kicking him in the back and cracking more than a few bones.

Miri was flung out of his arms and into Rei's, who had caught her just before she hit the ground.

She looked at him and he looked at her. She wasted no time in immediately bawling her eyes out.

"Pa– papa Rei," She sniffled through her tears, "I was so sca– I was–"

She wailed and Rei frowned, clearly uncomfortable. He handed the four-year-old over to Kazuki, who took to tearfully apologizing and comforting her quickly, and set his sights on the man struggling on the ground instead.

An intimidating, silent fury rested cold on Rei's face, his pistol aimed between the man's eyes. Kazuki covered Miri's eyes for a moment, and when he uncovered them, the man was laying limp with his face all mutilated. Miri stuck her tongue out at him, and hoped that he had bad dreams.

"Let's go home," Rei stated. Everyone agreed.

----

im so pumped for the episode tomorrow! anyway hope you enjoyed this, and thanks for all the reads holy shit!!

1142 words

written 2/2/2023