Ronan (Father!America and Male Child!Reader)

Ronan
Father!America and Male Child!Reader

You run down the hallway, bare feet hitting the wood floor and oversized pajamas fluttering along with you. You giggle as you almost slip on one of your race cars in the middle of the floor but you keep on going, trying your best not to slip on your action figures and plastic dinosaurs in the process. Once you make it to your dad’s door you quiet yourself down and push it open. He’s rolled over onto his side, the covers he’d been under the night before covering his face. Your (e/c) eyes glint with mischief as you grip the Captain America pen between your pudgy little fingers. After creeping near his bed side you flip the covers back and find yourself face to face with your very much awake father.

“Gah!” You screech, dropping your pen and turning to make a run for it. He grabs you and pulls you onto the bed with him, tickling your sides so bad that you regret not using the bathroom when you woke up.

“You little troublemaker!” He laughs, kissing your cheeks and tickling you more.

“Dad! Dad stop it! Stop I have to pee!” You squeal between laughs. He smiles down on you, blue eyes bright with love, and stops tickling you. A relieved sigh leaves your tiny lips, and you jump off his huge bed. He climbs off as well, taking your hand and mussing up your (h/c) hair. He slides his glasses onto his nose, covering his blue eyes.

“C’mon little man. You go use the potty and I’ll make you some breakfast.” He runs his fingers through his blonde hair and smiles, walking out of the room with you.
~~

“Alfred…you have to get out of bed…” Arthur mumbles, going over to his little brother’s bedside and shaking him. He’s fully aware that Alfred is awake, but he knows that it’s going to be impossible to wake a man who wishes that he’ll never wake up again.

~~

“Whaddya be when you grow up buddy?” Your dad asks, carrying you on his shoulder. It took him a Toy Story movie, the promise of another Captain America action figure, and a silly dance contest to get you to agree to go to bed tonight.

“I wanna fly airplanes dad!” You say as he puts you down on the floor. You put your arms out like the wings of an airplane and make airplane noises. “Imagine how cool it would be dad!”

“It sure would be cool! C’mon, let’s fly into your bedroom!” He exclaims. Your eyes brighten at the idea and you run ahead, arms spread like an airplane. He follows shortly after, doing the same. The second you guys get to your room the both of you skid to a stop. Both of you giggle and look at each other, a ‘secret club’ type connect sparking between you.

“C’mon little man, we gotta get you into bed. You’ve got that big doctor’s appointment tomorrow.” He mumbles, grabbing your PJs and helping you into them. By the time he’s got you into bed, cuddled up with your Captain America and Woody from Toy Story plushies, your eyes are drooping. He’s about to leave when you put out a hand and stop him.

“Wait dad! You forgot to turn on the nightlight.” He pushes up his glasses and gives you a goofy grin, going over near your bedside and turning on your nightlight. When he moves to leave your side you grab his arm. “Don’t forget the kiss on the head dad!”

“Love you buddy.” He whispers, kissing your forehead. You smile up at him.

“To the moon and back?” The grip on Captain America tightens, worried that he might not say it tonight even though he always does.

“With the help from Captain America inbetween.” A satisfied smile crosses your lips as you snuggle into bed.

“Night dad.”

“Night little man.”

~~

Alfred is staring into your empty closet. Arthur is sitting on your cold, unmade and empty bed watching him, wishing that things were easier. Alfred grabs your still too big hand-me-downs and clutches them as tears start to stream down his cheeks. “I love you buddy... I love you so much…”

~~

“C’mon dad wake up it’s doctor day!” Doctor’s weren’t one of your fears. You had been to them many times in the last few months, getting a bunch of tests done. Once you even had to have surgery, dad still wouldn’t tell you why. Every time you asked he got this sad look on his face, and he would tell you that you were sick and needed to get better. The thing is, you never really felt sick. Sure there were days where everything hurt and you had a really bad fever but that was it. One time you woke up in the hospital with dad crying really really bad in the chair next to you because you wouldn’t wake up, but that wasn’t sick. Was it?

“C’mon dad, Uncle Arthur is in the living room you have to wake up!” You exclaim, jumping on him. He grumbles and grabs you, bringing you down next to him to stop your jumping. He then crawls out from under the covers and goes over to the closet. He throws some jeans and a nice shirt on before putting on his glasses and taking you back in his arms.

“You clean up good buddy! Let’s go, we’ll get Uncle Arthur to buy us donuts on the way there!” He snickers, straightening your button up and fixing a shoelace as he brought you to the car and strapped you into your seat. Uncle Arthur tells you to cover your ears, and you follow his instructions, watching as he yells at your dad. Your dad stops him, and you take your hands away from your ears.

“I’m sorry ______. Alfred, I mean, your dad just needs to know he can’t sleep in on doctor day.” Uncle Arthur smiles softly, backing out of your driveway. Your dad sits in the front seat, looking very upset.

~~

“How does that kind of thing happen Artie? One second he wants to fly airplanes and the next…the next he’s asking why he has to stay in the hospital. Why? Goddamn it why?” Alfred screams, slamming his fist against the dashboard of Arthur’s car repeatedly, tears flowing down his cheeks like a river. Arthur tries his best to ignore his brother’s distressed ramblings, staring ahead into the rainy sky and fixing his suit.

~~

“Dad, how much longer do I have to sleep here? I wanna go home” You sob into the big blanket the hospital gave you. The machines that used to remind you of transformers only made you scared on the nights that your dad couldn’t stay at the hospital with you. Captain America and Woody were supposed to protect you but you felt worse and worse every day. Uncle Arthur can’t even look you in the eye anymore without sniffling and saying that he was going into the bathroom. Him and dad cried all the time. The hospital made them sad and it made you sad too. Your dad just tucks you into the bed and holds your hand firmly in his, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Tonight’s the last night little man. We’re gonna fly away from here tonight.” His voice is raspy from the tears and you can hear Uncle Arthur sobbing off to the side as well. A single tear falls from you but your dad kisses it away and smiles at you.

“Dad I’m scared. I don’t like it here dad.” You whimper. He looks down at you, his inability to do anything in this situation evident in his eyes. He forces a smile and climbs into bed next to you, still grasping your hand in the tightest grip imaginable.

“I love you buddy.” He kisses your forehead. You sniff.

“To the moon and back?”

“With Captain America inbetween.” For the first time in days you fall asleep with a smile on your face.

~~

Arthur looks at Alfred. He’s got a blank look as he stares at the red, white, and blue flowers piled on the tiny casket that’s about to be lowered into the ground. Everyone, including the priest is dead silent as he reaches forward and places your Captain America and Woody stuffed animals ontop of the flowers, to be buried alongside you.

“They’ll…they’ll keep you safe buddy…” His voice cracks, as he collapses to the floor and sobs, everyone watching as the heart wrenching scene unfolds before their eyes. Your casket starts to lower and Arthur helps Alfred back onto his feet, letting the taller one sob into his shoulder as he rubs his back comfortingly.

“Just remember the good things about _______. And how one day, you’ll see him again.”

~~

That night, when Arthur helps Alfred into bed, he swears he hears your excited footsteps.

He swears he hears you giggle.

He swears he hears you say “I love you.”

He swears that when he replies with “To the moon and back?” you exclaim proudly “With Captain America inbetween!”