Fuck You, Pay Me!

16. Far From the Tree

A/N: I was severely sleep deprived while writing this.

"...Toshi?" 

Katsuki isn't sure of what time it was, only that it had to be either incredibly late or annoyingly early by how dark it is outside as he stirs awake from where he'd been sleeping in the passenger seat of the car. Hitoshi's jacket is draped across him so he imagines he must have been asleep for quite some time; they're parked in some rather unfamiliar place. 

Unfamiliar to Katsuki, anyway. Hitoshi seems to know very well where they are. 

The older man has his gaze focused out of the window. He doesn't take his eyes away from the house they're parked in front of, simply reaching over to squeeze Katsuki's thigh to let him know that he's there. The blonde sighs as he goes to sit upright in his seat, pulling the jacket up to his shoulders. 

"Where're we at?" He asks groggily and Hitoshi grunts. "Go back to sleep, baby. I'll wake you when it's time." 

Katsuki sucks his teeth at him, wiping a hand over his face. "Time for what, babe? What are you even doing? How long have we been sitting out here?" 

"Hm? It's…" Hitoshi pauses to check the time. "A little past five thirty in the morning so maybe an hour. You worry too much, baby, it's still too early for you to even be up. Just go back to bed---" 

"Why, so you can leave me in the car to go and kill whoever's in the house that we're outside of?" Katsuki counters, stretching as best he can in his seat. "This is mad creepy, by the way. Are we stalking somebody?" 

"You're not doing anything except sittin' your pretty ass down where I tell you. Don't even think about tryna get involved with my jobs, Kat, I'm serious---" 

" Okay, damn." 

"Good. Now, since you're so curious: I'm not on a job. This is my dad's place. The address he left for us." 

Oh. 

"Then...why are we sitting outside, baby?" 

Hitoshi sighs. Finally looking away from the window to look Katsuki in the eyes. "Cause I don't even know what the fuck I'm doing here. I haven't seen my dad in years; didn't even know where the hell he's been for the last...I dunno. Five or six years? He just disappeared. What am I supposed to say to him?" Hitoshi is, admittedly, not prepared to face his father again. "I basically raised myself after that. Not that I blame my dad at all---I know he had his reasons...but…"

Katsuki's expression softens, hands reaching out to caress Hitoshi's jaw with his thumb. "You're not sure how you'd go about carrying on with him. I understand." He says, leaning forward to kiss him and hopefully help calm his jittery nerves. "I don't know your father but I don't think he's expecting anything from you. You're not going to lose anything just by reconnecting with your father. And if you don't feel good about it, baby, then we can just turn around and leave right this moment. You don't have to force yourself to do this. It all depends on whether or not you want your dad in your life again. Either way...I'm with you."

Katsuki doesn't expect his opinion to mean much. He doesn't have the slightest clue of what Hitoshi's relationship with his father is like. He's not sure of what their last words to each other were. Of what Hitoshi's last memory of him consists of. All that Katsuki knows is that if he had the chance to go back and make amends with his own parents, he'd do it in a heartbeat. 

Granted, his parents didn't introduce him to a life of traumatizing murders and ties to corrupt government agencies but...Katsuki likes to think it relates all the same.