TWO
Head in the Clouds

Elias smiled at Mars when she came out of their neighbor's house later that day, bounding up to his side. She was all grins when she stopped by him, braced teeth on display.

"Guess what!" she chirped, moving in front of him and walking backwards as they made their way back home.

"What?" Elias mused. She was in a good mood.

"You have to guess," Mars drawled. "Come on. Guess!"

"Is it school related?"

Mars pursed her lips. "Yeah, kind of."

"Kind of?" Elias chuckled, pulling the house keys out of his back pocket when they approached the front door. "Okay. Does it involve one of your classmates?"

"Yep!"

Elias gave her a quick look, frowning. "Don't tell me a boy asked you out."

Mars' smile dropped. "You're so annoying."

"I was kidding," Elias said, ruffling her hair, ignoring her protests as she tried to swat his hand away. "Just tell me. I'm terrible at guessing."

"You're so boring," Mars groaned, flipping onto the sofa once they got inside the house. Elias rolled his eyes, sitting on the arm of the chair. "This girl invited me to her birthday thing next weekend. It's a sleepover."

Elias raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? You think you'll be okay if you go? You haven't spent the night at someone's house before."

Mars nodded rapidly. "Yes! There'll be a bunch of other girls there, too."

"If you really want to go, I don't mind," Elias told her, though he couldn't get rid of that inkling of concern sitting inside of him. He'd never gone a full day without her in his sights. But he had to trust that this girl's parents would make sure they were all okay. "You said it's next weekend?"

"Mhm! Friday and Saturday."

Elias nodded slowly, giving her a serious look. "If you change your mind at all while you're there, don't be afraid to call me. I'll come pick you up."

"I'll be fine," Mars whined, sitting up, pushing her hair out of her face with a pout. "I'm not a baby."

"I know you're not," Elias replied, lips twitching. "You don't have to be a baby to be afraid of something."

Mars nodded, then got to her feet abruptly. "I'm gonna go to my room."

"Homework first if you didn't finish it already before you play that game," he reminded her, watching as she started racing up the stairs. "I mean it, Mars!"

"Uh-huh!"

He sighed and slipped off the arm to settle into the cushions, leaning his head against the back of the sofa. Usually he wasn't this exhausted after work, but those new guys... they could talk a lot. They had forced Elias into conversations when he thought they wouldn't. It was a nightmare, socializing was.

"Hey, pretty boy!" was what Buzzcut said after Elias had finished serving them. He turned to find him grinning, leaning forward, chin on his palm.

Elias had always hated when people called him that: pretty boy. He knew he wasn't the most masculine looking guy out there, but he wasn't close to being feminine either. He refrained from rolling his eyes.

"My name's Elias," he said, hoping that would give him a hint.

It didn't.

"Yeah? I'm Marco, nice to meet you, pretty boy." Elias had a feeling this guy wouldn't be his favorite customer. "I had a question."

Elias stood before him, reaching for his notepad. "Do you need something el — "

"No, no, nothing work related," Marco said, waving a dismissive hand. Elias frowned, slowly moving his hand away from his pocket. "You got a wife?"

Elias blanched. Before he could even think of a response to that, one of Marco's friends slapped him on the back of his bald head. He cursed and gave his friend a bewildered look, as if he couldn't see the absurdity of that question.

"Sorry," said the one who hit him. He had curly black hair and brown skin, a friendly look on his face compared to his companions. "He doesn't have a filter. He likes getting into people's business."

Marco scoffed. "Damn, Felix. You make me sound like an asshole."

"You are," said the other three in unison, that Roman guy staying quiet, as always.

Elias cleared his throat. "I don't. Is that all you wanted to ask — ?"

"A husband?"

"Marco!" Felix hissed, slapping him again.

Elias was growing flustered, partially because he'd never been asked this shit before, and also because Felix kept giving him sympathetic looks.

"I don't," Elias said through gritted teeth. "Why are you asking me this?"

Marco pointed at his hand. "You have a ring."

Elias looked down, finding the cheap, plastic ring Mars gave him that she got from one of those machines. You know, the ones that encourage gambling to kids at a young age. He took it because she got a duplicate, and he hadn't really taken it off. It was Mars' version of a birthday gift for him, so he saw it as something special.

"It's a gift from my daughter," Elias told him, dropping his hand. He held back from adding a bitter, "Satisfied?" He'd dealt with disrespectful customers, but he had no clue if that counted as disrespectful or just plain nosy.

"What?" Marco bursted, dragging out the vowel. Why was he so shocked? "So you're a single dad, man? Respect! You know, I was raised by a single mom, so I know how tough it can be. I bet you're a great dad, man."

Elias blinked. "Um, thank you." He hadn't expected that. Usually when he revealed he was a single father, he got one of the following:

"Oh, where's her mother?"

"She needs a mother figure in her life. A woman raises a woman best!"

"Oh... how old are you?"

Or just a dull, confusing: "Interesting."

Never once had he gotten a response like Marco's.

"No problem," Marco said with a grin. "How old is she?"

Elias' frown deepened. "Why?"

Marco held his hands up in defense. "I'm just trying to make conversation, man. Put the claws away."

Felix facepalmed beside him. "Marco, leave the poor guy alone."

"Wait, wait, I have more questions though..."

All that talking left Elias so, so tired. He desperately wanted to go to sleep, but he had dinner to make and a duty to make sure Mars went to bed by ten.

Though he supposed taking care of someone was better than being alone.

___

He got Mars to school earlier than usual the next morning, and when he decided to stop and get coffee before heading to work, he realized just how painfully routine his life was.

This was the first time in a while that he even slightly broke his usual schedule. It was an odd feeling. He kept checking the time on his phone as he waited for the coffee and croissant he ordered, anxious that he was running late when he knew he wasn't.

There were quite a few people, mostly adults since it was 7 AM and most tended to go to work around said time. Elias being one of them. He looked around as he waited, eyes stopping on a familiar face sitting at a booth near the front window.

Was his name Ross? Rome? It was something like that. Now that Elias wasn't busy, he could see him better.

He had a larger build, broad shoulders and all. His skin was tan, almost a golden brown, complimenting dark hair. He had a black undercut, while the hair on top was a disheveled wine red. Elias couldn't see his eyes that well, but he had a strong face structure with a long, broad nose. A Roman nose — aquiline.

Roman. That was his name.

He was alone this time, earbuds situated inside his ears, thumb tapping along to whatever he was listening to against his phone screen. Elias couldn't tell if he looked sad or angry. Either way, he seemed very unapproachable. Like he was lost in his own little world.

"Elias?"

He looked away and smiled at the woman handing him his order. He left after that, heading straight to work. He had the perfect amount of time to get there. His day was going smoothly so far.

He sincerely hoped it stayed that way.

When he got there, he was immediately stopped by Gale, who grabbed him by the shoulders, looking like she was about to gush over him as always, but she suddenly stopped with a soft gasp.

Elias eyed her warily. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"Those bags," she whispered in horror. "Eli, when was the last time you slept?"

"...Last night?"

Gale smacked his arm. "You know what I mean!"

"Ow. Uh, I didn't get to go to bed until midnight."

"What? Why?"

"I have an entire child, Gale. I am the only parent."

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't act smart with me." She pinched his cheek, making him hiss in pain. "You better get some sleep tonight. Take it easy today, okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I will."

She patted his cheek, then placed a light kiss on it before returning to taking orders. Elias rubbed the spot, knowing some of her hot pink lipstick came off on his pale skin.

Elias sat at one of the barstools to eat his croissant and finish off his coffee. It wasn't busy, and those who were there were already being waited on by Gale. So, he had time to relax for a couple minutes, which he was glad about.

He wanted just a bit of time before he got into working. To let himself wake up a bit more.

His eyes were fluttering shut at one point, and the one thing that kept him from falling asleep right then and there was that loud ass bell above the door. He jerked up, blinking rapidly, looking back to see who had come in, and if he would have to serve them.

Elias furrowed his brows at the sight of Roman once again by himself. Hadn't he just been at that coffee shop? The man glanced at Elias, nodded once in greeting, then sat down with a stool between them, fiddling with the corner of the menu.

It took him a second to realize he had a job to do. Elias stood and trashed his croissant bag, setting his coffee to the side and rounding the corner of the counter to stand before Roman. He cleared his throat.

"Uh, sorry. You're... not with your friends today?"

Roman shook his head.

"Ah, okay. Thank God." He internally cursed at himself when he realized what he said, and felt even more embarrassed when Roman met his gaze, one eyebrow raised. It had a slit near the end. "Sorry, I didn't — not... I didn't mean it in a bad way. Just — they're loud. For mornings."

Roman kept staring. Fuck, Elias thought. I just insulted his friends. He's gonna wait until I get off and beat me to a pulp, isn't he?

Elias quickly slid his notepad to Roman. "Write down what you would like when you're ready. I'm sorry again."

He turned around and met the amused eyes of Gale who had just finished checking up on customers. "Did you hear that?" he whispered. She nodded, and Elias groaned quietly. "Shit. I shouldn't be allowed to speak when I'm still tired."

She chuckled and squeezed his shoulder as he passed. "He probably agrees with you. Don't worry about it."

Elias hoped that was exactly it.

He grabbed his phone out of his bag to check it, finding three texts waiting for him. Two from Mars, and one from a clothing brand he forgot to unsubscribe from.

best daughter ever :DD -
dadddddddd

best daughter ever :DD -
cn we have pizza for diner

Just after he read that, another one followed.

best daughter ever :DD -
can* dinner* can we plz

dad (-: -
If we get it today, you can't get it tomorrow

They had a schedule now. Every week he would make dinner every night, and only two times out of each week would he allow fast food. It was because he was worried about money, and he wanted to keep her on the balanced side of eating healthy and still getting to eat like the pre-teen she was.

If something special happened, then those two days became three.

best daughter ever :DD -
thts ok!! i am really craving pizza kailey was eating some in class

Elias huffed out a quiet laugh. He put his phone away and walked back out, approaching Roman with an easy smile. "Have you decided?"

Roman nodded, pushing the notepad his way, then immediately burying his face in his arms. Elias wondered if he was tired, too.

He looked down at what he wrote, pleasantly surprised by the words in parentheses below his order.

(I thought it was funny. They can be loud, you're right. They know I'm here though, so they're coming. Sorry).

Almost as if on cue, the sound of motorcycles was heard, and soon after, the door was being shoved open to reveal four loud men dressed in all black. And at the front, the loudest of them all:

"Rome, you snake motherfucker," said Marco, dropping down beside him and trapping him in a headlock. "Shoulda invited us, you little shithead."

Just with their arrival, the easy morning became far busier.

___

A/N: just read the aot manga haha i'm fine haha i didn't cry the whole time haha what do u mean

all i gotta say is: aot is easily one of the best, if not THE best, anime/mangas of all time. that shit is a mf MASTERPIECE. it has taken hxh's place of being my favorite anime

if u haven't seen AOT yet...... this is a sign u need to watch it. that is all ok bye