Chuck Hansen (bulldog) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2014-09-13 23:29:00 |
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Even though he’d been here once before, Herc had no idea how to do this. No one had written a book about what to do when you were taken to an alternate universe and your dead son was brought there not just once but twice. He’d already been out of his element with Chuck before. This didn’t help. Maybe he hadn’t fucked up badly yet, but Herc didn’t think things were going well either. He had a lot of time to make up for. He had a lot to fix. Herc felt a sensation of deja vu when he stepped into the hallway. The last time Chuck had arrived, Herc had arrived at Chuck’s door with Max in tow. This time, there were two others with him - Lucky and Link, because Herc couldn’t bear to think about leaving them behind while Max got to go on an adventure. It’d be easier to explain how much Herc’s life had changed, too. Maybe the dogs would make the news easier to handle. Max had always been good at that, Herc thought as he knocked on the door. He’d always been good at diffusing the tension between Herc and Chuck. It was hard to stay mad at anyone for long with that face looking up at you. The door opened. Chuck rubbed at his puffy, sleep-deprived eyes. It was hard to get caught up on your sleep when you couldn't quite get into a rhythm normal people fell into. A proper sleep schedule just wasn't something that you could count on in the Shatterdome, and even when you got rack time, you could find yourself so easily pulled from it. Two hours on, two hours tossing and turning. Some telly, a crappy beer, or a shower. God, showers. It was nice not having to preserve water. He could get really clean and just stand there if he wanted. Even then, he felt guilty whenever he took in the shower more than ten minutes without doing anything. It was getting easier, though, each time he turned the nozzle on the shower. Twist and voila! There was water, all for him. And it was so nice and hot too. "Hey." Chuck took in the sight of the dogs with a half sniff. Cripes, he was pretty sure there was a little drool at the corner of his mouth. Damn uncomfortable couch. "Wanna come in, mate?" Mate. Herc stifled his first reaction - to frown, even though he knew that language was instinctual for them, even though it was completely innocent - and instead nodded slightly. Getting on Chuck's case for not calling him 'dad' wouldn't help either of them. "Yeah, sure. That's why I'm here." In part, anyway. He wanted to see his son, to see that Chuck really was there. And he wanted Chuck to see his dog again, even though for Chuck, they hadn't been apart for long. Herc glanced down at the dogs. Max and Lucky were straining at the leash, something they never did usually. "Think someone's missed you." Chuck dropped to his haunches. One of the dogs, he recognized sooner than he'd recognize his own face in a mirror. The second he was in front of the wrinkly bulldog, Max began to snort the way a dog with sinus problems does when he's happy and lick Chuck's hands as if he hadn't just seen him right before he'd hopped in Striker. Chuck grinned all the same and succumbed to his dog's whims. "Hey boy. Missed you, didn't I?" They always talked through the damn dog, and Chuck knew it. "Thought I wasn't coming back, huh? Come on, boy, you know I'd never leave you behind." To Chuck, it might have only been a few hours since he’d last seen Max, but for Max? Herc smiled sadly at the pair. For Max, it’d been seven months. Dogs didn’t have the same concept of time that humans did - to Herc’s knowledge, anyway - but that didn’t mean the bulldog hadn’t missed his human. Tears sprung to Herc’s eyes, and he glanced up at the ceiling. Lucky was tugging at his leash, desperate to get to Chuck too. Chuck’s words hit home, hard. He hadn’t thought his son would come back, and they had been left behind. But Chuck had come back, Herc reminded himself, and maybe he’d missed his old man, too. “The younger one’s Lucky,” Herc explained. “Birthday present from you.” He remembered that day like it was yesterday, and he remembered thinking that Chuck probably didn’t want to leave his dad all on his own, since Max was living with Chuck again. “He’s almost a year now.” Both of Chuck's eyebrows rose at that. He glanced up at Herc, pretending not to see the emotion on his old man's face. Lucky managed to tug himself as far as he could go so Chuck scooted until he was sitting on the floor between the two dogs. "Good birthday present." Bulldogs weren't cheap. Chuck seemed to remember that Herc had traded a whole bunch of favors and money for Max. Lucky buried his nose in Chuck's hand, sniffing away. "Cute though." Awkward. That was all that Chuck could think of for this encounter. He wasn't trying to pay more attention to the dogs, but dogs had a way of stealing all of your attention. "Lucky?" "Yeah," Herc agreed, a fond smile crossing his face. "Best present I ever got." That wasn't an exaggeration, either. In all the years since Angela had been gone, Chuck had never done something like that for him. The years she'd been alive had been great, but that puppy meant a lot of things that Herc wasn't sure Chuck recognized at the time. If he did, he never mentioned it, and Herc had never brought it up. That puppy meant hope. That puppy meant his son didn't hate him. He nodded again. "Lucky --" Herc had gotten the name from his old jaeger, because Max was on Striker's logo, and he'd wanted the two to be connected somehow. He'd wanted to have a more positive association with Lucky Seven than he'd had since saying goodbye to the jaeger. "Dunno, maybe it was a bad idea, but…" Christ, why had he brought all three dogs with him? Herc didn't want to unload nearly a year of new information on his son, not when Chuck had so much to deal with already. He'd just brought Link along because that was what they were used to. He cleared his throat. "I was hoping he'd have a better go at it than his namesake. He was a fresh start for us." Chuck could see it. After his mother died, he'd been a lonely kid, holed up in Shatterdomes all around without another kid in sight. Not until Mako came around at least. He'd made friends with the mechanics and learned how to tweak a Jaeger engine before his balls dropped. But it wasn't the same. When they went off for meal times, Chuck usually sat alone, ate alone, left alone. Sometimes, it was because he didn't want to talk to Herc. Sometimes it was just a consequence of age. So Herc had gotten him a dog as a peace gesture, but also as a companion for his lonely son. That damn dog became Chuck's best friend, and his confidente. The things that dog would tell you if it could talk. Even now as Max slobbered all over Chuck, it was clear to see they were never going to be parted. Not even death could do that. Max would just wait it out until he could be with Chuck again. "Did it work?" He looked up into his father's face. That was a big question. Herc wasn't sure he knew how to answer. The things they had to fix weren't going to be fixed overnight, or with just a puppy. It'd been a start, though, and that was more than Herc ever thought he was going to get. He nodded. "It was working. He's a good boy. Never a dull moment, like when Max was a pup. They were there when --" When Chuck had left, and Herc had been alone again. "When I needed them, like Max was for you. And I think the company's been good for Max, too." The dogs had been Herc's connection to Chuck once he was gone, and he didn't know what he would have done without them. Emotion was threatening to get the most of Herc again, so he straightened his back and tried to push it down. He wanted to tell Chuck about how much he missed him, but he was afraid that would only remind Chuck of what happened. That fear had kept him from doing it before, though, and Herc was trying to turn over a new leaf. "I missed you, son." Chuck froze. He hadn't been prepared for an answer like that. In retrospect, he probably should have. He'd been a few seconds away from dying, with his father on the line. It was funny how subtle Chuck could be sometimes, when he was such bluster and sound in everyday life. It was, of course, to cover up his real feelings. Sitting on the floor wasn't how he thought he'd be having this conversation, but the dogs provided him some kind of cover for what to do with himself so he wouldn't just stand their like an idiot. That was a relief. When Chuck got edgy or uncomfortable, fists were usually thrown. Bad words at the very least. "Sound stupid to say I missed you too, even though it'd only been a few hours for me?" Herc inhaled deeply, letting Chuck's words wash over him. The last time Chuck had said anything like that had been right before he'd gotten into his jaeger with Stacker. He smiled. "No, it doesn't sound stupid." It meant a lot to hear Chuck say that. Maybe they'd be all right after all. "You gonna invite your old man in or what? I think we've got some catching up to do." Trying to get off the floor with a bunch of dogs trying to keep you down made for a difficult and awkward trip up. Chuck managed to stay upright, despite tipping nearly past the point of no return. Didn't really need your balance in quite the same way in a Jaeger. That was going to be his awkward excuse, and he was going to stick to it. Once up, Chuck clamped his hand onto Herc's shoulder until he realized what he was doing and just how weird it was. That assaulting hand was moved to his belt loop and then dropped to his sides immediately after. "Come on in. I'd ask if you want something to drink, but I've been sleeping since I got here. And showers. Hot showers that don't turn cold in five minutes.” “It’s all right, you earned the sleep. And the showers.” In retrospect, Herc should have brought a six-pack of beer to share between them. He didn’t think all of what he was going to have to say would be taken well - or was something he should say without a drink in hand. After he stepped into the apartment and navigated the three dogs inside, he shut the door. “We can order in, if you’re hungry. My first two weeks here, I don’t think I stopped eating. Burgers, pizza. We had better food in the Shatterdomes than most people living in those cities could get ahold of, but it’s nothing on what New York City has to offer. Pepper took me to a good pizza place in Brooklyn last year. I’ll show you sometime. You’ll love it.” All this normal shit was beginning to rock Chuck's sense of -- what? That sense of stability, of knowing what the word was like and how it worked. Restaurants everywhere that didn't cater to just the super rich. Clothing stores and malls where the people didn't eyeball everything around them with trepidation. What if today was the day a kaiju got past the Miracle Mile on their town? While the Jaegers were a welcome sight on TV, most didn't ever want to see one in real life, because god, where's the monster? But now they were talking about dogs and pizza places, as if it was ever normal. Chuck couldn't even really remember a time when it was normal, everything with his mom was tainted by the kaiju. Instead of bringing any of that up, though, Chuck just nodded. "Yeah, I could eat. Could always eat." |