𝐑𝐢𝐨𝐭. [𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍]

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ Nɪɴᴇ.

Birds were chirping and the California sun beamed from the guest house, River laid in the bed, alone and he was up. He has been up for a while, not really use to Alicia not being beside him. Although, he still phantom Flora waking him up at night to go beat the monsters up. The door to the guest house opened and Yanni comes into the doorway, the little boy looks behind him and he makes sure no one sees him come in here as if he was told not to but River was pretty sure that Alicia told Yanni to give River some space. Yanni shuts the door behind him and he happened to have something stuffed in his shirt. The little boy walks over to the bed not knowing that River was awake and watching him.

Yanni looks up and his blue eyes went wide as a small gasp comes from his lips. "Jinkies." Yanni whispered and River raises up, he rubs his head that was pounding but he ignored it and he sighs. "Hey, Yan." River mumbled and Yanni stares at River because the little boy wasn't going to deny it but he gave River such a hard time but River loved him no matter how angry Yanni was towards him. The little boy just didn't know who to blame, he didn't know who to be angry at. "I-I'm sorry, Dad." Yanni says and then he pulls out a Scooby doo plush toy which was Yanni's first ever toy he owned that River gave to him when he was just one years old. River would do the Scooby voice when Yanni was sad, or he was crying, sometimes it would be just be for fun.

Yanni climbs into the bed and he held out the Scooby toy and Yanni frowns. "I'm berry sorry, Rivvy." Yanni says in the Scooby voice, River pushes his hair out of his face as he smiles a little. He motions for Yanni to come closer and Yanni scoots closer, the little boy smiles gently and River hugs him. "You need not to apologize, it's okay." River smiles a little and Yanni leans forward, the little boy kisses River then he hugs River so tightly. "You know you still have me?" Yanni says and River nodded as the little boy hugged him so tightly that it was like he didn't want to let go. "Of course." River mumbled and Yanni strokes River's hair. "I had a dream last night and Flora told me to take care of you, Momma and the baby, I'm gonna take really, really good care of you." Yanni says and River eyes began to water because the little just turned five, he didn't need all this responsibility. All he needed to worry about was being a kid.

River rubs the back of Yanni's head while the little boy sat in his Dad's lap. "Yanni, you don't need to take care of anyone because we're supposed to be taking care of you." River tells him and Yanni wipes his face, he sighs as he looks at his Dad. "Everyone is sad right now so I have to Papa." Yanni frowned and River closes his eyes as he lowered his head. It hurt so bad, his heart was hurting vigorously. Yanni rubs River's back and he kisses his cheek. "Everything is gonna be okay." Yanni whispered and River finally opened his eyes, he stares into Yanni's, they were replicas of River pretty orbs.

"You hungry Dad?" Yanni questioned and River nodded. Yanni gives River the plush toy, the little boy crawls out of the bed and Yanni smiles as he runs out of the guesthouse door. River gets up and he decides on straightening himself up. He does his usual morning routine, changes into some fresh pair of clothes and finished on brushing his hair back into a bun. Never really wore it up, but he thought maybe he could go with another look or just cutting it into his hairstyle he has been rocking since he was sixteen but he felt that he kinda grew out of it so he grows it long making him look more boyish so either or he would still look like a boyish man even though he was but people didn't really take him seriously at times.

Yanni comes back into the guest house and he smiles as he held up a plate. "I brought you back some cheerios. Momma said that she didn't feel so well to make breakfast so I made breakfast for you, I would try to... to make the pancakes but I'm not old enough to touch the stove." Yanni rambled and River smiles as she takes the bowl. "Thank you, John. what did Momma say that was wrong with her?" River questioned and Yanni hummed as he rubs his head. "I don't know." Yanni tells him and River sighed as he sits down his bowl, River gets up but Yanni's small hands pushed his Dad back down gently then grabs the bowl. "No, No!" Yanni exclaimed and River blinked twice, his sudden burst of rage frightening River because it happened so fast. "I spent twenty minutes trying to make you cereal and I'm down here to take care of you because Flora told me to so sit!" Yanni yelled at the end and River stared at the child, Yanni's cheeks were red with anger and his blue eyes were dark.