on thin ice [karen/frank - marvel]

fifteen: only if you'd like to

[trigger warning: depictions of violence, domestic and drug abuse]

It was almost 9:30 when Frank headed to his locker that evening after shift. The whole squad was still around as none of them liked to leave before Frank did in case he "busted their asses". Frankly, he found it annoying. Most of them just did nothing and lingered in the locker room and he almost felt watched.

Scott always walked out with him, no matter what hour it was.

"How're things at home?" Frank asked, opening his locker as Scott changed his shoes on the bench. He swapped his huge combat boots for tiny white sneakers. Scott had abnormally small feet for a male and Frank was only just noticing. He almost laughed, thinking about how big his were and how two of Scott's put together would probably only be one of Frank's.

He shrugged, quite clearly avoiding Frank's eyes as he focused on his laces for longer than usual. Longer than necessary. He then just shook his head, looking toward him. "Don't know, haven't been there in a week"

Frank turned quickly, eyes widened and brows knitted as he looked down toward him sat on the bench. "Seriously?"

Scott sighed in return, nodding and switching to the other foot to remove his boots. The comparison was laughable. "Seriously"

"Well, where have you been staying?" Frank asked, having paused whatever he was doing just to listen to what Scott had to say. He leaned against his locked, using the bottom of it to rest his elbow upon. It was only then when he realised that it stunk.

"Mason's" Scott replied, almost shamefully.

Frank scoffed, crossing his arms. "He let you back in?"

"He's a big believer in family forgiveness" Scott replied, shoving his boots into a duffel bag. "My parents still hate me though, not that I care. They definitely got their own way after they warned me not to marry Elise. I'm sure Mason will go running to tell them all about my failed, fucked up marriage"

"What are you gonna do about Jesse?" Frank asked, raising his eyebrows a little. He instantly saw Scott's body language change; obviously, a touchy subject that he had probably overthought. Something that wasn't so easy for him as he made it out to be. Frank tried to imagine himself with a child and for a split second it was nice; then it was weird.

Frank had seen how good of a parent Scott was; his locker was crammed full of pictures and tickets to different games that he and Jesse had gone to together. He was always cutting off early to pick him up from school and Frank just allowed it. Scott shrugged, "He prefers living with Elise, I'm guessing. She'd win a custody battle anyway. When does the father of the child ever win the custody battle, huh?"

"You've still got to try, Scott. You can't let your son slip through the cracks of a broken marriage. Once you lose something, you don't go back from it. I know from experience" Frank replied. He suddenly ached for a violent few seconds, everything flooding back to him in a spit of anger. Scott was staring at him and he realised had hesitated so he continued. "I lost something and I basically haven't been the same since. Yeah, you move on and you do new things, meet new people and experience new things. But its never the same. I let this person slip through the cracks too quickly and it changed me. Changed the way I see other people. I know you, Scott, and if you lost him you'd be so angry at yourself for giving up. You never know how long you've got left to fix it once it's broken. You've got to fight for him"

Scott nodded, agreeing but not feeling enthusiastic about it. Frank kept his eyes trained on him, waiting for some sort of verbal confirmation that he would do something about it. But Frank knew he had to work at it more. It didn't get through to him the first time, either. "Mason tells me you walk Mickey and Scuttle every day"