Custody.

Walking up to the lonely 6-year-old toddler who was currently sitting in the Rockin' Rolls bakery with his eyes stuck at the scene outside the cafe, Gun asked "Hey, kid want anything else ?" flashing a soft smile towards the kid who looked up at him,

"Maybe a happy family "replied the toddler, making Gun's eyes widen in shock at the kid's choice of words.

Feeling a loss for words "Uh... I… uh–" Gun stuttered, finding the adults’ behaviour fascinating the toddler laughed as he replied, "Sorry mister, I'm just kidding " making Gun sigh.

Feeling bad seeing the boy sitting all on his own looking gloomy, Gun took a seat beside him Guns’ eyes followed the young boy's line of vision, only to see the Detective and another lady going crazy, him along with the rest of the people in the cafe could hear shouting and screaming from the tall detective all the way inside.

He sighed, before looking towards the boy beside him feeling a sense of responsibility, “It was Chimon right?” he asked, while the boy hummed back in response not looking away from the scene outside, "That's your mom ?" he added hoping the boy would look away from the mayhem that his parents were causing outside,

Without missing a beat, Chimon shrugged, "Yeah… but she's not the nicest ", successfully stumping Gun yet again, "Wow, I keep forgetting that kids are rather straightforward" Gun mumbled to himself before going back to Chimon, "Why do you say that ?" Gun asked.

Finally looking away from his parents and towards the cafe owner, Chimon replied, "Because… She wants to take me away from dad…", the young boy sighed before adding along “but I dont want her to…he at least I know that cares for me,”.

Hearing the mature words coming from a six-year-old, Guns’ heart felt like it was being torn apart, he hummed as he took a swift glance outside once again seeing the detective almost on the verge of tears as he had a screaming match with the lady in front.

"Has your mother done anything that makes you say that?" Gun asked and Chimon reluctantly nodded back, passing an acknowledging nod Gun replied, “Have you told your dad about it?”.

Frantically shaking his head, chimon quickly spoke, “No! I don’t want Dad to feel worried!” shocked and a little empathetic, Gun quickly put on a soft smile hoping to calm the boy down before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"Guns’ words made the young boy a little nervous, Chimon bit down on his lips looking around.

##

With a small tray of food, Gun walked over towards the table where a couple of hours ago the six-year-old boy was sitting, and now it was occupied by a man with his head in his palms and a frown permanently plastered on his face, "The shop is closed detective, " he said as he sat down beside the exhausted man.

Off lifted his face because of the sudden addition of voice, he looked around and saw no one around, after he was done analysing the emptiness of the cafe he looked towards, Gun, the owner himself who was now in ‘normal’ clothes rather than his uniform which made Off feel flustered and embarrassed by his actions, "I-I'm sorry– I'll leave –" he stuttered bowing his head down apologetically.

Shaking his head, and putting on a soft smile Gun quickly said, "Stay…”, he pushed forward the tray full of food, which included a hot grilled sandwich along with some tea and a bottle of water, “here you've been crying for a while have something to eat and drink," Gun said keeping his soft smile.

Seeing the food and the kind expression Gun held, Off felt more flustered and embarrassed for imposing himself, "It's alright Mister Gun... I'm not hungry, plus I should leave I've stayed for far too long–"

Quickly cutting the detective off, Gun said "You've had a hectic and frustrating day, that many parents dread so, detective, eat up. If you feel uncomfortable because of the sandwich then at least drink water " making Off take a deep breath as he nodded.

Off took a sip of the water first since his mouth felt extremely dry he followed it up by taking a bite of the sandwich which truly was delicious hence making the detective let go of a slight moan while Gun smiled at the response.

Gun let the detective enjoy his food before he started the inevitable topic, "Can I ask something ?", Off looked up urging the younger to continue, understanding the sensitivity of the situation, Gun cautiously said, "I know it's none of my business but, why is your ex taking away your custody over Chimon? I mean can’t you guys continue co-parenting?”

Off took a second to gather his thoughts before he started, "She's getting married, again, and is planning on moving far away, and as per the court ruling she has the majority of the custody over Chimon while I get the weekends. I also have visitation rights so I do get to go and meet him wherever I want, I am his legal guardian too" As he continued to talk he felt confused as to why he was sharing his life story with a man he barely knows.

Feeling pity for the detective and a bit furious, Gun asked, "So if she's getting married then why does she need to take full custody over Chimon ?"

Annoyed Off spoke, " Because as I said they're planning on moving far away, but despite that, they have to let me have at least two days with him or more if I ask them to, and, they have to make sure of it. Or else I can take them to court for denying me visitation. But now she's saying that it'll be a long trip for her weekly...Also…” Off paused heaving a heavy sigh before speaking again, “her fiance wants to legally adopt Chimon so he can be sole his legal guardian… basically, she doesn't want me to be remotely involved with his life. The best she offered was for me to be his godparent.” he scoffed a little as he spoke, “But she said, I still can meet him! As per her convenience, obviously,” he said rolling his eyes.

It took a minute for Gun to respond, he let Off calm himself down as he had been hyper almost all day, "That is some major level bullshit… what about the kid?" Gun asked, his annoyance reaching closer to that of the detective.

Confused Off asked “What do you mean?”, “you know what I mean, I'm talking about Chimon, does his opinions not matter here?”Gun replied annoyed.

Placing a soft smile as he shugged Off responded, “It, unfortunately, doesn't matter, the court will most likely rule in her favour because, for one she is the mother, and, two they are getting married that's a better option for Chimon... plus it doesn't help much that I'm a cop, with not much of life security, nothing is in my favour… it's just not".

The awkward silence that took over made Off sigh as he flashed a soft smile before speaking, "Thanks for the food mister Gun... also for listening to my rambling".

"Wait, stop” Gun shouted making Off flinch, but before he could speak Gun spoke again, frantically “Okay… so, what if you're ex-wife and her husband--no fiance, don't treat him right?, Shouldn’t that come into play? What about then? would you have a chance then?”, Off did understand what the younger man was trying to say but he decided to play dumb to protect his emotions, so he raised a confused eyebrow before asking, "What do you mean?"

Sighing and looking away for a second before looking back towards the detective, Gun said "Look I know this is not my business but, I can't help but feel bad for you… plus you and your kid love each other… and it's not fair for you to have to give him up."

Feeling slightly frustrated, Off replied as he fought his urge to roll his eyes, "What's your point here ?", feeling a bit awkward, Gun looked away as he spoke, “What if your ex isn't the best? not only has Chimon's bio-mother forgotten to pick him up multiple times but there have also been times when she has forgotten to even call you, her new fiance or the teachers, so one of his teachers has given him a ride home super late because your ex wouldn't even pick up the call and not only that but his stepdad has physically hit him multiple times and his mother has not done anything…they've forgotten him outside in the cold ~"

Feeling a sharp pain in his heart listening to the man in front, Off frantically spoke in agony "Stop stop, please… " As he felt his eyes getting watery and soon felt tears rolling down his fist balling up, he gulped his pride down before speaking again “How do you even know this?”.

Gun took a deep breath hoping that the detective would also calm down a bit, "When you and your ex were at each other's throat, I talked to Chimon…and he told me, he did make me promise not to tell you since he didn't want to worry you, but,”, Gun paused to give the other man time to register, before he calmly added, “Uhm… detective, there's more.. and I think you need to know about it all this is about your kid. " Off closed his eyes trying his best not to completely breakdown in front of the man he met a few days ago, he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down before giving a small nod, urging the other to speak, Gun understood the silence that had taken over so he softly spoke again, "They've at times purposefully sent him out of the house and made him stay out in the garden as a punishment... and one of the reasons why his stepdad wants to adopt him is because of the government financing."

Gun felt a bitter taste in his mouth as he spoke he felt horrible saying all the things that the 6-year-old had told him he personally wanted to go and take matters into his own hands, he felt rage towards the lady for doing all that to her son,

"Mister…Gun... " Off said choking on his own words feeling like he was going to puke hearing it all.

Gun snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the detective who looked broken and defeated, "Look I know his words aren't given much weightage without proper evidence during these hearings since he is a kid but I'm sure you can get some evidence against her! Kids don't lie like that! He's your kid god damn it! Don't just sit around and mope! why the fuck do you look like you've already lost!" Gun exclaimed making Off flinch.

Furious himself, Off quipped back, "And how do I do that!”

“You're a fucking detective! This is literally your job!”

"I can't do that! That's a misuse of power!

Confused "Huh? What about a PI" Gun asked, while Off sighed, as he added, “Most PIs in the town don't appreciate us, we dont help Them and they dont help us… not to mention they would cost me an arm and a leg… I dont earn that much, plus I still need to get a lawyer” Off groaned as the list in his mind grew,

Gun crossed his arms in front of his chest, as he spoke again, "What about him ?", his words clearly caused confusion as the older sat in front of Gun with a puzzled look Gun gulped before continuing since he really didn't want to go anywhere near suggesting what he was about to suggest, "What about the man in black ?".