catchacold | Babysitter's Club

"Cool, I love this brand!" Axel bounced off into the room without a single care and the guard winced a little as he watched that kid, all excited and happy. Everyone around this place seemed to know just where this would lead and there was Axel, unaware and desperate to see his father.

As he moved inside, he could see the back of his dad and he felt suddenly nervous. He turned his head back, just to make sure Leonard was with him and then very carefully, he approached the large glass cell that kept them separated and slid the sweets into the hatch that gifts could be deposited. Once he was close enough, he placed his hand on the glass and forced the words out. "Hey dad."

Well, that soon got the Tricksters attention. He turned around and the smile he wore was unsettlingly large. "Kiddo!"

Leonard, a lot less pleased to even be here and really not looking forward to what he expected to witness, still stayed close to Axel, although he made sure to keep his eyes on the boy more than the father, whom he just acknowledged with a quick nod, his hands in his pocket. He knew James Jesse well enough to know he got along with his father, he even admired Lewis' take on having children. He didn't want to even be close to a man like that.

James Jesse was a nice man on first impression to someone as naive as Axel. He spoke very nicely to Axel, he praised him for being so handsome, so tall. "You got your mothers eyes, sport." Axel smiled the whole time, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he asked about his mother and got sort of vague responses. "You know, she was a heck of a dame but she couldn't be tied down. You understand, right?"

"Oh yeah, I get it." He didn't but he wanted to seem like he was cool with it. He saw one of the pictures he'd drawn hanging up in the background and he smiled, dipping his head a little. "You hung up my drawing?"

"Of course I did, it's beautiful. I wanted to brag." James grinned and then looked over his son at the guest in the back. "Who's your friend? He's kinda quiet, isn't he?"

"Oh." Axel turned back to Leonard and bit his lower lip. "That's Leonard. Leonard Snart. He's ... my friend."

"A Snart?" Interesting.

"Leonard Snart," Leonard repeated, because he might be using the Snart name, but being Leonard rather than just a Snart was an important distinction. He looked at Jesse James with a raised eyebrow, not really challenging, but waiting. It was the same way he tended to look at his own father. He wasn't intimidated, hard to be, given this man was caged and had no emotional hold over him. But he had one on Axel and he hated that.

"Ah, I like Snarts. Funny name, great people. I always have fun with them. Like your dad, Lewis. I like him. Heck of a guy." Axel frowned and felt his stomach drop a little. What? No. Lewis was a bad person? And yes, his dad was but that was different. Axel frowned and crossed his arms.

"You know Leonard's dad."

"Oh yeah, we used to play poker before they whacked me in this silly box. We always spoke. In fact, he was one of the reasons I reached out to you." James pressed his hand on the glass and almost encouraged Axel to come closer. Which he did, unable to help himself. "He told me a son is a legacy, something important that can't be wasted. You get one shot at a son. And I thought about you, being out there all alone, and I decided to find you. My legacy."

"Oh." Axel didn't like where this was going. He wanted him to say something else now but he didn't know what. "Lewis Snart is a dick."

"My father tried to have two shots at a son. Lost out though, second kid was a daughter. You should hear my father talk about Lisa some time, Axel." Leonard could say it calmly enough. The anger and hurt was internalised and he had better things to do than to air it in front of some deranged sadist. But he could certainly do what he could to make sure that Axel would never fall for the bullshit he fell for. "He really likes poker too. Once he almost gambled me away."

"What?!"

"Ah, come on, that was a joke. We both did." James dismissed like it was nothing and Axel felt himself getting more and more uneasy. "Life is all about the jokes, Ax. Don't let anyone get all serious with you like that, it ain't all about the bad stuff, it's funny!" James smirked and then looked past his son at Leonard, curious as ever. "Trust me, we all know what we're doing. You were both safe."

"So it was just a joke? Oh. Okay." That was easier to believe. He needed to believe it. "It's not very funny."

"It's not my better joke but stick with me, kid. I'll tickle your funny bone soon."

"Don't know if I call it safe when you have a poker round with some pedo, drunk as all hell and my father decides he could just bet me. Definitely wouldn't call it funny. Granted, maybe the pedo would have been nicer to me, so." Leonard shrugged his shoulders. He might have been young, tiny even, but he had a good memory and the intelligence to piece things together even years after the fact. "But tell us something even funnier. Haven't laughed in a while."

And James did. He told tales, some that Axel found funny because they were dumb and silly, just little jokes but some took a sinister turn every now and again and left Axel uneasy. He was very unsure what to think, he was torn. James was an awful person but he spoke to him so nicely, he praised his art, his looks, his genius. He talked about wanting to hug Axel and Axel wished he could have that.

But he sensed Leonard on edge behind him and certain things stuck in his head. Axel had an idea and suddenly, he just went for it. "Hey, so, when's my birthday?"

"Well. Today's your unbirthday."

"Yeah... but when's my birthday?" Axel asked, frowning a little with his head tilted in the side. "You said you're sad you missed all my birthdays but do you even know when it is?"

Well, that one had James stumped.

"You gotta understand, Ax. He's only got one son, that's a lot to remember." Leonard rolled his eyes, but he focused on Axel, in case that he needed to get him out of here. He was ready. He had been ready since before they even entered.

"You're running out of time, Jesse. Better tell Axel what you really want him to know. Legacy, remember."

"I don't know, kid. I never got a chance to know. They took me away from you. I wanted to take care of you, I could have but I didn't have you. Those bad people did." And that was all Axel needed to hear. He lowered his head and swallowed hard.

"You never asked me. Or what I liked or if I had parents or what I'm doing. Cause you don't..." Axel pointed out as he turned his head back to Leonard, letting his words die there. "I want to make a duck cake." Duck. There. He wanted to go.

Leonard pushed away from the wall and walked up to Axel, wrapping an arm around the boy. He pulled him close and kissed the top of his head, looking over at James Jesse. "He can take care of himself." And, unspoken, Leonard would help with that, whenever he needed to. He held him, arm around him, and walked toward the door, knocking so the guard would open.

Axel followed Leonard out and ignored the knowing looks of the guards and let himself get patted down. He didn't really feel upset right now, just angry. He was angry and he felt used. He thought he finally had something good and like that, it was taken from him. With a huff, he gave Leonard a look once they were outsider and hugged himself. "I bet you're happy. I was wrong. I was an idiot. Congrats, he was a dick."

"I ain't happy. But I'm glad you're smarter than I was. Took me a hell of a lot longer to see through my father's act. Just ask Mick." Leonard unlocked his car and let Axel go in first to give him a moment before he got in afterwards. "Real family's the people that want you around for your sake and vice versa. You already got that, Ax."

"Yeah, yeah." Axel muttered as he did up his seat belt and glared straight ahead. James Jesse had been his hope, the thing he aspired to have, his father - the one thing he wanted more than anything growing up. Of course he had to be a psycho deadbeat because good things could never happen to him. "Why couldn't he just be a normal dad?" Axel asked quietly, feeling himself choke up a little. "I just wanted a dad."

"I don't know, Axel. Why's my father a dick? Why was Mick's?" What was a normal dad, anyway? Leonard headed back onto the road, thinking about what he could do. He had two ideas and he wondered right now which would work better. Thankfully he still had a bit of time to decide. "Or look at Hartley. Genius kid, rich as hell background and his parents kicked him out and left him to die if Mick hadn't stepped in. When it comes to bad parents, Axel, I don't think there is a bottom to the pit."

"It's just annoying. I was hoping when I found my birth parents, they'd be cool. Instead, they're this." Axel put his head in his hands and then slowly ran it up into his hair, tugging on it a little. "I'm going to look like an idiot, everyone kept telling me he was a dick and I said he wasn't. I didn't know." He did. He was just in denial. He wanted something good in his life so much, he may have forced the idea.

"I'm sorry I dragged you here."

"Ain't my first time here, kid. Ain't gonna be my last time either." Leonard turned at a corner and frowned, then finally made up his mind and waited by the next red light, figuring this was the way to go for now. "Nobody's gonna say anything, Ax. If you milk it, Hartley's gonna cuddle you. All good."

"I don't want to. I mean I want cuddles but it's embarrassing. I'm just gonna downplay it." Axel sighed and pulled his knees up, holding them against him in a sort of hug, head buried against his knees. "Man, I fell for it. I totally fell for it. He told me he loved me and he wanted to be with me. He hung up one of my drawings. I did it for him. This proves my point. Trying is pointless! Who even cares?"

"Cause you don't try for the people that should love you but don't, but for the ones that do love you and the ones that need you. Simple as. I try for Lisa. I try for Mick. I try for Teddy. I try for you and Hartley. Hartley needs you too, you gotta know that. Teddy needs you. You're Lisa's best friend." Just pointing all that out and then Leonard parked the car in the parking area of a shopping centre, waiting for Axel to join him once he got out the car.

"I guess. I just wanted what everyone else had. Or has. I just wanted something normal, like a proper family that wouldn't just get rid of me." Axel got out of the car with his hands in his pockets, fighting back the sadness he felt. He kind of wanted to curl up and cry but he knew that wasn't an option. He followed after Leonard instead, trying not to lag behind. "I was dumb, I won't do it again."

Leonard didn't point out that none of his friends had that, unless he counted Teddy, because he knew it wasn't really about that. Instead he was silent as he walked into the shopping centre, heading up the escalator next to Axel and approaching a very pink looking store that proudly proclaimed to be the one stop shop for all baking needs. "You got a wallet in your pocket. Quite a bit of money in it. That's your budget for now."

He said nothing more as he entered the shop with Axel, looking around. "Airbrushing cakes? All right, that's actually cool."

"Huh?" He pulled the wallet from his pocket and frowned, looking around the show and trying to get his head around what was happening. Why were they in a store for baking? What was happening? He wasn't that skilled at baking, he sucked at this kind of thing, he was always too lazy to cook and he didn't know how well he could bake. He stuck close to Leonard, not sure what he wanted.

"Yeah, that's kinda cool. Kinda weird too." He sort of poked the tools, a look of doubt on his face. This didn't feel like his scene. "I guess it'd be fun to play with."

"Just buy some things that look fun to you then. I mean, it's all edible, so in the end of the day, we know Mick will love it." Simple as that. Leonard looked around and picked up some tools that looked so intricate they reminded him of the tools he used on the job and he absently threw them into the basket he'd grabbed. "What looks fun to you?"

Axel shrugged. He was about as forth coming as most teenage boys when people were trying to motivate them to give a shit. He was feeling pretty down, he didn't feel like going to work later and he didn't care much for whatever Leonard was trying to do. But it was Leonard and he was trying to help him. And like he said, Axel needed to react to the love he got from those who gave a shit.

So in the spirit of trying to be less of an awkward dick, he picked up some packets of icing. He liked the colours. He guessed while he was here, he could get the stuff for Teddy's cake and practise. "I guess this stuff is fun."

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