Bottle Ol' Oneshots

Gone-Poofless Oneshot

[-Deleted-]

Little droplets of water slipped down the curve of his cheek. They slid down, as if it was a slide, slipping slowly down. Finally, they reached his chin and fell down to the floor, where many other droplets already were. The sky mourned with him, creating tears of its own. The sky was sad, so was he. The sky had more tears, but he had more sorrow. Silently, he looked up, at the unforgiving sky and its dark gray clouds, and did something he did so very often now. He sat there and cried.

And the little boy sitting next to him, watching him as he cried, on the porch only watched. After a while, he reaches over and hugs him.

"Daddy, why are you crying?" He asks. The older looks at him and smiles weakly.

"It's the rain. I'm not crying."

"Yes you are!" The young insists. "Is it him again?"

The father had told his son about him many times but never in full detail. He wasn't ready to be told the truth yet. He'll never be.

"No, it's not-" He chokes up. "It's not Preston."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" He shrieked. Rob sighs and continues staring at the clouds, ignoring the young child screaming and hugging his leg, begging to be told the story.

"You don't want to know, Mason. Trust me."

"But I do! Just tell me!" Mason pouted and crossed his arms. "Or I'm leaving."

Rob starts sobbing uncontrollably. The exact words Preston had said, and he didn't take them seriously, even when all of them were for his good. "Take care of this child or I'm leaving!" "Smile or I'm leaving." "Please, Rob. This is the last time. Come out or I'm leaving."

"I'm sorry, daddy. Please don't cry." Rob turns and hugs his child, grateful for at least one person who still cares.

"It's okay. I'm just-just a bit upset," He mumbles. Mason drags him indoors and out of the rain where he was wrapped in a towel Mason had to drag over due to his size.

"Can you tell me about him?" Mason asks once they're both settled in front of the fire. The fire had dried off both the rain and the tears from Rob's face now, and he shook his head. "Why not?"

"It's the past, and we don't worry about the past."

"You do," Mason points out. "You're always crying about Preston."

"No, I don't."

"Yes you do. You think I don't hear you, but I do. When you're lying alone and crying and I come to see you and you'll just cry, and I'll whisper things outside, but you won't hear."

"I miss him," Rob finally admits. "I miss him so damn much."

"Then why don't you two be friends again?"

"Things happened."

"What things?" Rob hesitates, and Mason looks at him eagerly.

"You."

"What did I do?" Mason wonders with shocked eyes.

"I was worried we wouldn't be able to take care of you. I wanted to put you up for adoption. Preston didn't; he said we'd do fine. I didn't believe him, and I left both of you alone. And he got sick of it," Rob explains. Mason starts crying. "And so he left."

"It's my fault!" He screams. "It's my fault you two aren't together here. It's my fault you're always so sad."

"Shh, Mason," Rob whispers and hugs his son. "Of course it isn't your fault. It's mine. I should've believed Preston. I should've believed in us. See? I'm raising you just fine now."

"I had another dad?" Mason whispers once he stops crying. Rob nods. "Was he fun?"

"Very," Rob smiles. "He'd call you a cactus to say you're a jerk just for fun; he'd cheer you up when you feel sad, and he's nice to everyone."

"Did you love him?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Do you love him now?"

"Yeah, I do." Mason yawns, and he lies his head now in Rob's lap. Rob pats his head softly. He falls asleep breathing 3 words: "It's my fault." Everytime he says that, Rob replies with "It's not your fault." Rob strokes his hair, just like he did with Preston, until Mason falls completely asleep. Only until he knows Mason's completely asleep, does he say the truth.

"It's not your fault, Mason," He whispers. "It's not your fault because he's dead."