Chapter Text
Get in the building, get in the proper protective suit, go to the lobby, wait for your turn, get in the helicopter, collect as many golden eggs as you can, get back in the helicopter, go to the lobby, repeat.
All. Day.
The cycle would go on for hours that would range from being agonizingly long like months to feeling like it was mere moments. Regardless of how lengthy or short it felt given the day, it still felt the same to leave the building only to realize the same cycle would be dawning the next day. Mostly a mix of exhaustion, frustration, and just a bit of hopelessness, knowing there would most definitely not be a time soon where it would end.
As Gar finished putting up the last of his things, claimed his ‘rewards’ for working, and prepared to leave, he was definitely feeling the exhaustion. He moved to push open the metal door only to be met with a torrential downpour. He stared for just a moment at the rain, unable to feel anything but just the smallest bit of disappointment. He was too tired to care, even as a rumble of thunder told him it was more than just a small storm. He opened his umbrella which he had started carrying with him everywhere since an… incident… one Thursday, despite that probably being a bad idea in a thunderstorm, he’d rather get electrocuted than deal with the sting of rain until he got home.
He began his trek through the rain and tried his best not to think about anything work related. Unfortunately that was hard when he felt the sting of a wound that would turn into a new scar on his leg, and was reminded that the only reason he had gotten said wound was because he wasn’t paying enough attention to his blind side. Salmon runs maybe weren’t the best idea when you only had one good eye, with the other being one he hadn’t been able to open for years, losing that one to three bad slice marks.
The longer he dwelled on that thought, he realized he couldn’t recall a time now where he had been able to see with both of his eyes.
He wasn’t able to try to think any harder about it, when his good eye managed to catch the sight of two shapes huddled against a wall under an awning. He stopped in his tracks and squinted for a moment, trying to get a better view of what it was. He moved a bit closer and recognized the shapes as two inkling children that couldn’t be more than 4 and 2.
The closer he got the more worried he became. There were no parents in sight, the awning wasn’t providing much protection from the rain, they looked drenched and were shivering, and neither of them looked like they had eaten in a while. They both noticed him immediately, the older one throwing an arm over the younger one as if to protect them.
Gar stopped again and frowned as he tried to formulate the right words to say, translating in his head from octarian to inklish. It came to him easier than it used to.
“My name is Gar…” He started. They blinked at him.
“What are you kids doing out here? Where are your parents?”
The two looked at each other. He hoped they knew what he was asking, he hardly knew anything about kids, especially not the vocabulary levels based on age.
“Mom left us here weeks ago.” The older spoke after a long period of silence. There was another pause as Gar just stared blankly. “I don’t think she is comin’ back.”
Gar was reminded yet again, just how painfully cruel this world is. He was also reminded that 4 year olds don’t always tell the truth, but with the way they both looked, he doubted it was a lie.
Gar looked around for a brief moment, the streets were completely empty, with most seeking shelter from the rain. Like one was supposed to do in a downpour. He looked back at the children who were definitely shaking more than when he had first approached them, and he wasn’t sure whether that was from fear or the fact that the temperature was dropping.
“You’re sure she’s not coming back? Why did she leave you kids out here?” He figured he’d ask though he had a feeling there was a clock ticking somewhere with how long they had before these kids became nothing more than a puddle of ink from all the water they’d already been exposed to.
“Mhm. Dunno why she left us out here. She was mad though.” The older spoke again, but Gar could tell the kid definitely knew why. He wasn’t going to press though. There wasn’t time for that.
“You kids haven’t eaten in a while have you?” He said, crouching down to get on their level.
“No, ‘cept for kind strangers who gave us some lil bits.” The older tightened their grip on the younger.
Great zapfish, these kids were in worse shape than he thought now that he actually got a good look at them, covered in scrapes and dirt.
“Alright, tell ya what. Why don’t you two come with me, I’ll get you dry and have you eat some food, okay?” He said, absolutely sure they would turn him down.
Instead.
“Yes! Yes please!” The older said with an eager nod, the younger speaking for the first time with a simple, hardly intelligible “Pleases?”
Gar didn’t know whether to be relieved that that was easier than he thought, or disappointed that these kids hadn’t even been taught the notion of ‘stranger danger’. He couldn’t imagine what might have happened if someone else had found these two first.
Gar moved an arm to pick them up, knowing it’d be easier to carry them than try to get them to keep up with him. The two practically jumped at him and latched themselves comfortably in his arm. These two were extremely small, so at least he had one free hand to keep the umbrella up with.
As he stood up and started making his way back to the house, it occurred to him what he had just done. It also occurred to him that he couldn’t remember when he had last gone shopping. He didn’t even know if he had food to give them.
Guess that was something to deal with when he got home.
-
Gar unlocked the door after fighting with his key ring for about 5 painful seconds, and he kicked the door open. Of course, today had to be the day that the elevator was going through maintenance, and climbing three floors with two kids was harder than he thought it would be. He walked in and closed the door with his heel, then walked toward his small living space where he set the kids down on the not-so-great couch he owned.
The younger one immediately fell on their side and the older slammed their face into a pillow. Gar didn’t know if he wanted to ask questions about it.
“Okay, you two stay put, I’ll get you something to eat, okay?” Gar said, moving his hands in a gesture as if he was going to push them down to stay in their places.
The two didn’t say anything but they absolutely didn’t move from their new spots. Gar took that as a sign that they were listening to him.
Before he started cooking, he dashed to his bathroom closet and grabbed two towels to dry them up. He ran back to his living room and threw the towels over the two who started to bury themselves in the towels to dry themselves off.
Gar moved to the kitchen and dug through some of the food he had stored. He had heard from a friend that vegetables were good for children, right? But they didn’t usually like them. He looked back toward the living room. Hopefully they’d tolerate it. They needed something actually nutritious.
He grabbed a few other things from his fridge including some eggs, that counted as protein… right? Suddenly it was hard to remember that.
He worked to make the best thing he possibly could with what little he had, and he definitely didn’t have much. He managed to pull together eggs, made a salad with some of the vegetables he had, and made some bacon and crushed it onto the salad he’d made. Hopefully that would entice them enough to eat it?
He finally finished cooking and walked back to the living room to see that the kids had moved and were staring at him with huge eyes. They were both practically vibrating with excitement, which made Gar feel another twinge of sympathy for the kids.
He set the plates and forks on the coffee table and watched as they both tumbled to the floor and immediately worked toward demolishing the food. After all Gar had been told about how much kids tended to not enjoy vegetables, these kids didn’t seem to care, which was probably a good thing. They were eating, after all.
Gar ate a bit of his own food and kept a close eye on them, subconsciously worried one of them might choke with the way they were eating, he wasn’t even sure if they were chewing. He couldn’t blame them, there were times he came home and felt the same way, but he did ask them twice to slow down. The second time, they actually listened and started to eat at a reasonable pace.
“This is good!” the older one finally stopped for a moment to say. “Yum!” The little one added with a clap before they went back to eating.
“Glad you think so.” Gar said with a squint, slightly surprised that they enjoyed the food. Yet, wouldn’t anyone enjoy food regardless of how much they actually liked the food if they hadn’t eaten hardly anything in weeks?
Eventually they finished eating and Gar took up the plates, setting them in the sink, and then walked yet again back to the living room, leaning against his doorway.
“You have a tv! Do ya like movies?” The older one piped up almost immediately and pointed at the television Gar had.
Gar thought about the question for longer than he probably needed to.
“Sort of.” He shrugged. He didn’t get the point of the question. Weren’t there other things to talk about? Like maybe how they wound up under an awning in the rain?
“Love floor.” The younger spoke and fell against the floor, spreading their tentacles as if to hug it.
These kids were so weird.
“Glad to hear that.” Gar felt his eyebrow twitch. “Anyway. You kids really don’t think your mom is coming back?” Gar asked.
“Nope.” The older said plainly, shaking their head. “We waited! She didn’t come back.”
Gar frowned at the response, just imagining two toddlers waiting for their mom to come back was heartbreaking. He shook his head.
“Inkopolis sure is pretty though!” The older continued with a smile. “‘N people sure are nice! ‘Cept when a man chased us with a broom! Was scary. But a nice lady gave us some food after that, so ‘s okay!”
Gar stared at the kid with deep confusion.
“Yep, yep! Nice lady.” The younger rolled on their side and stared up at Gar.
How were they making light of that.
“You kids mean to tell me you were abandoned by your mother, chased with a broom, and stuck in the rain and you’re still… You’ve seen the absolute worst this place has to offer. Yet you’re still here so... So full of hope and whimsy ?” Gar furrowed his brow. He just did not understand these kids.
“THAS IT!” The older one stood up clapping their hands. “SIS!!! SIS!!! I’LL BE HOPE!!! YOU BE WHIMSY!!!” The kid pointed excitedly and the younger one started nodding her head with excitement.
No. Gar did not just name these kids. He did not .
“You two didn’t have names?” Gar clenched his jaw, staring with deeper worry.
“We did. They were BORING!” The older… Hope… said with an eye roll, flopping on the ground. “We are gonna have so many cool aventures!! Av… Ad… Adventu… Yeah!”
Gar couldn’t help but slam his palm into his face and pull it down slowly. Yay! It was his turn to disappoint and let down these kids!
“No we aren’t. By tomorrow morning I’ll get you where you belong. Child services should know what to do with you.” Gar sighed.
“Aww… Really?” Hope looked at him with pure sadness.
Gar tried to remain unmoved.
“Yes. You can stay for the night in my sister's old room.”
“Okay.” Hope’s voice for once sounded drained of emotion.
Gar looked at the clock and then back at the kids, still barely keeping his stern face despite how upsetting it was to see Hope shutdown like that.
“Let’s just. Get you to bed.” Gar sighed.
-
Morning came, and Gar woke up to a horrible cough from the youngest, Whimsy. He had rushed to the room to see Hope patting their sister’s back.
“Mr.. Gar? Gar. She’s sick.” Hope said, continuing to pat Whimsy.
Gar frowned and rested his hand against her forehead. Yeah that was a fever. The rain probably gave her a nasty cold.
“Are we going?” Hope asked after a moment. “Go-“ There was another nasty cough. “Bye-bye?” Whimsy said.
Gar contemplated his options. He could either force a sick kid to come with him to a child services building and sit through hours of paperwork and whatever else was necessary… Or he could let them stay a while longer until she felt better.
The latter sounded better for the kid’s sake, but it also meant he’d be taking time off work to care for her.
Gar leaned back and rubbed his forehead.
“Alright. A week. You can stay a week. We’ll get her better. Then you’re out of here, okay?” Gar said with a tired head shake.
Hope’s eyes seemed to sparkle at that notion and they started to shake Whimsy. “Ya hear that Mims?” Oh great they had already made up nicknames of their names too. “We can stay a week!”
“Stop shaking your sister.” Gar said standing up. “I’m going to go out for medicine… How old are you exactly?” Gar paused and looked at them. He probably needed to confirm their actual ages instead of guessing, since medicine instructions were different based on age.
“She’s two. I’m four!” Hope said almost boastfully, as if being four made someone the coolest squid in Inkopolis. Gar was surprised he actually guessed their ages right.
“Okay. You two do not go anywhere. I’ll be right back .” He said.
He really shouldn’t leave children this young alone. But for now he was just going to have to run as fast as he could to get this medicine and back, because he didn’t exactly have someone he knew would be able to watch them.
He spent the whole trip there and back wondering if he made the right call.