SHORT FIRST CHAP, but guys I can't wait to post more.
SUNNY WAS GIVEN a camera last year for her 5th birthday. He got it from a thrift store. Probably not the best gift to a kid who just left toddler-hood, but what did Klaus know?
She loves it though.
While Klaus was in rehab she will decorate it with different little stickers that she has, specifically unicorn stickers. Sunny loves unicorns, even more than she loves bunnies.
She only loves bunnies so much because her dad had so many nicknames for her but 'Bunny' is his main one. He said it is because she always hops around like a tiny little bunny.
Speaking of her dad, he kinda sucked. But Sunny loves him so much it's crazy. No matter what he does, no matter what he takes, Sunny is always next to him, holding his hand.
And today he was getting out of rehab.
Yay!
Thirty days.
Klaus had been counting down the days until he could leave rehab, not because he believed it had "fixed" him, but because he desperately needed to see Sunny.
Thirty days without his daughter had felt like an eternity, and every second he was apart from her gnawed at him, a constant reminder of how much he hated himself for being the kind of father who needed rehab in the first place.
But despite everything, Klaus knew one thing for sure: Sunny would be waiting for him, with that camera she adored and those big eyes that always looked at him like he was some kind of hero. He hated it.
Sunny beamed up at him, and Klaus felt like the lowest scum on Earth. How could she still look at him like that, after everything? He didn't deserve it. Didn't deserve her. But here she was, clinging to his hand like he was her whole world.
And he hated it.
Hated how much this tiny little human adored him despite everything. Despite how many times he'd let her down, despite all the times he'd stumbled through the door, reeking of booze and whatever else he'd gotten into that night. She still looked at him like he was her hero.
But he wasn't. He was far from it.
But he also loved it. Loved her. More than anything, and that's what made it so damn hard.
"Sunny-bunny!" he called out, his voice a bit too loud, a bit too eager. "Look at you, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. How's my favorite girl?"
"Hello!"
Oh that made Klaus melt. Her little wave.
Klaus couldn't stop himself from pulling her into a hug the second he reached her, lifting her off her feet as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Missed you, Sunny-bunny," he murmured into her hair, his voice rough with emotion he didn't want to acknowledge.
"I missed you too, Daddy!" Sunny exclaimed, squeezing him tightly. "It felt like forever!"
Klaus set her down, ruffling her hair. "Yeah, it kinda did, didn't it?" He said with a smile, trying to ignore the way his heart twisted painfully in his chest. "But hey, I'm out now, right? No more boring rehab."
As soon as he set her back on her feet, Sunny was shoving the camera into his hands, her face glowing with excitement. "Look, Daddy! I put more stickers on it! Isn't it pretty?"
Klaus glanced down at the camera, now completely covered in rainbow-colored unicorns with glittery manes and tails.
It was the kind of thing that should've made him cringe, but instead, it just made him feel that uncomfortable tightness in his chest again. "Oh, yeah, I really like that. It's fancy."
