Trollhunters Angst Oneshots

Old Wounds

                                                                     In which Jim’s dad shows up at his house, and Jim doesn’t take it well.
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Jim, Douxie, and Claire were all hanging out at Jim’s house. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and luckily gumm gumms and goblins weren’t causing any trouble, so they got to relax. Poor, poor Toby had a dentist appointment, but Jim promised to make him something delicious once he could eat solids again. So there they were, sitting on the couch watching Gun Robot, eating various snacks and just enjoying eachothers company. Claire was leaning on Jim, his arm around her shoulder, while Douxie was on Jim’s other side hogging all the m&ms. They were content, happy, and were having one of their rare moments when they could genuinely relax. So, of course, something had to ruin it. The doorbell rang, startling the three of them. Jim sighed before gently moving his arm off of Claire. “I’ll get it.” He made his way to the door and opened it up, only to see an unfamiliar man standing there. “Can I help you?” Jim was straining to remember if he had ever seen the man before. He took a good look at him. He was tall with jet black hair, exactly the same as Jim’s. His eyes were green and he was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. He felt familiar to Jim, but he wasn’t sure why. The man was staring at him with wide, nervous eyes. He almost looked like he wanted to run away, but he took a deep breath and began speaking. “Uhm, hi. Are you Jim?” The man’s voice was gruff, and he sounded just as nervous as he looked. “Yeah, that’s me.” Jim was getting a bit suspicious of the odd man, wondering if maybe he should go get a gaggletack. “Right, good, yeah. I kinda already knew that, you do look a lot like me. But you, you have your mother’s eyes.” The man was stammering, but he had a smile on his face. Jim was getting seriously weirded out, still trying to remember if he had ever met the guy. That is until he realized something the man had said. “I…I look just like you?” Jim carefully said, not liking what the man was implying. “Yeah, uhm, sorry. It has been a really long time, and you were so little when it happened, It makes sense that you don’t really remember me much, but, uhm…Jim…I’m your dad.” The man seemed unsure of everything he was saying, like calling himself a dad was the weirdest thing in the world. Jim felt as if the world had stopped. He remembered now. It had been so long that he’d forgotten, but seeing him now, that was definitely his dad. No, not his dad. That man was a damn sperm donor at best. Jim felt boiling hot rage fill him as the shock dissolved, immediately going to slam the door in his face, but getting stopped by the man’s food who then pushed his way inside the house. “Look, Jim, I understand that you’re mad, but I just wanna talk!” The man was slowly coming closer to Jim, but he wasn’t having it. “Talk!? You wanna talk!? Are you fucking kidding me!?” Jim backed away further, not even wanting to be near the guy. His expression was one of hurt, but Jim couldn’t care less. Douxie and Claire came speeding into the room a second later, alarm on their faces. “Jim, what’s going on?” Calier questioned. Both of their expressions turned from alarm to protectiveness when they saw the scared and angry look on Jim’s face and that he was deliberately backing away from a man. They both rushed to stand in front of Jim, shielding him from the guy. “Who the hell are you?” Douxie spat, getting the sense that he was an unwelcome visitor. “I’m Jim’s father, and I really just wanna-” The man started, but was cut off by Jim. “No! No, don’t you dare call yourself my father! After you left us! After you abandoned me and mom! And now you come back 10 years later calling yourself my dad, demanding to talk to me!? Fuck you! Do you have any idea how much mom suffered because of you!? She’s exhausted all the damn time because she has to work twice as hard to make up for your deadbeat mistakes! So no, you’re not my father! And I’m not talking to you, ever! Now get. Out!” Jim was screaming, anger coursing through his veins. “Now come on, you can’t talk to me like that!” Jim’s father yelled. Claire stomped up to delusional man as Douxie tried to calm Jim down, murder in her eyes. “Actually, he does get to talk to you that way. Because you’re not his father, and you have zero authority over him, and zero right to barge into his house and demand anything from him. Now you better get the hell out.” Claire was pissed at the audacity of this man. He looked annoyed and affronted. “Who the hell are you to be butting into family business!?” He screamed at her, seemingly having lost his cool. Claire stomped down hard on his foot and jabbed a finger at his chest, a look that would scare Gunmar painted on her face. “I’m his girlfriend, you deadbeat fuck, and I’m also the person who’s gonna call the police if you’re not out of this house in the next 5 seconds.” She spat with venom in her voice, pulling out her phone for emphasis. The man looked a bit afraid, but then angry as he shouted “Fine!” then turned on his heel and left, stomping into his car and driving away. Claire breathed a sigh of relief, taking a deep breath as she walked back over to Jim who was just staring at the ground, a very worried Douxie trying to coax him into sitting down. They looked at eachother, unsure of what to do. Until Jim suddenly started crying. He was sobbing, big hot tears streaming down his face. He pounced on Claire, pulling her into a tight hug as he sobbed. She hugged him back, Douxie joining in. It was rare to see Jim cry like this, so open and vulnerable. Seeing his father again had reopened a wound from a long time ago, one that was never properly healed but instead just hidden. He had thought that he was over his dad, over hating him, and definitely over missing him, but seeing him again, getting yelled at by him again, it brought it all back full force. Claire and Douxie held Jim for a long time, letting him cry it out until eventually his sobs reduced to sniffles and he pulled away, wiping his eyes. He looked a bit embarrassed now, and he was about to apologize for breaking down like that, but Claire and Douxie saw where he was going with it and stopped him. “No, no. No apologizing, okay? This wasn’t your fault, and you don’t need to apologize for showing emotion. That guy was a jerk, and he deserved to get yelled at, and I’m so proud of you for standing up to him. You don’t need to apologize, alright mate?” Douxie reassured his friend, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Yeah, there’s no reason to be sorry. We’re sorry that this happened, but this wasn't your fault. We love you, Jim. I love you.” Claire wanted to make sure her boyfriend felt better. Jim smiled, feeling much better than before. They all ended up back on the couch, Douxie had surrendered the bag of m&ms to Jim, and Claire was back to snuggling up by his side. Jim still felt a bit sad, and a bit angry, but with the love of his life and one of his best friends by his side, and Gun Robot on the TV, he felt safe and happy. Now if only Toby was back from the dentist, then it would be perfect.