Sevs sat across the booth from his Father. They were at the same diner that they had gone to for breakfast every day. Father was not a good cook, and Sevs was not old enough to be trusted in the kitchen yet. So they ate out.

Every day last week, they had gotten up and walked a couple blocks to the same diner. Where they were now. Then Father would drive him to the preschool daycare where lunch was provided. Sevs would stay there until Father was done with work. Then he would pick Sevs up, and then they would go to a local restaurant for dinner.

The routine they had started forming might have been comfortable for some or boring for others, but neither of them seemed to care. There was deadness to their interactions. Especially for the first few days. They were lost in their thoughts and going through the motions.

However, in the last couple of days, there had been a bit of a thaw in their attitudes. As they started talking, Sevs found he really liked Father. Clearly, Father wasn’t someone who was used to being around kids. So he pretty much treated Sevs like an adult. Which worked perfectly, as Sevs was only partially a kid.

Their conversations were largely practical. What to eat. What time things needed to get done. Did he have enough clothes? That sort of thing.

Over the last couple of days, their conversations started to come more naturally. It had started at dinner in a nearby Mexican restaurant. After they had ordered, they were sitting awkwardly, when Sevs remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

“How was your day at work, Father?”

Father jolted a little. But his eyes focused on Sevs with a clarity that he had not seen in them for a long time.

“It was alright. There have been worse days. How was preschool?”

“Boring…” and it truly was. Sevs had regained pretty much all his memory and had crystallized the access patterns for his mind, and the last couple of days, there was not much he could do. He still could not grind EXP yet, and talking to a bunch of preschoolers was excruciating.

“I don’t think I am learning anything. We just stacked blocks and knocked them over all day.” Sevs continued to fill in the silence. “What did you do at work?”

“Well, I had to get some quarterly reports from a few members of my team. They should have been done last week, but Varun just had his kid, so is out for a while, and Ivan was… Well, I don’t know what Ivan was doing, but it wasn’t.” Father stopped speaking abruptly and gave Sevs an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complain. I'm sure your day was more interesting.”

“No, it really wasn’t. Has Ivan been having trouble performing at work recently? Is something going on in his personal life that is distracting him from his job?” Sevs was finally having a real conversation, after years of being treated as a child. He was not letting this pass by. Father, however, had just seemed to realize he was a kid and seemed shocked to hear such a sentence coming out of his preschooler.

Father blinked and responded with a slightly dazed tone. “Yeah, he’s been late to meetings and behind on everything for a few months now.” His eyes refocused on Sevs, “Are you doing alright? I understand the need to feel more mature now, but you can still be a kid, ya know?”

Sevs was genuinely touched by the thought, as blunt as it was, but that didn’t really fit with his plans. “Don’t worry Father, I have always thought like this. I usually stay quiet as I seem to unnerve adults when I speak my mind.”

Father had reached out and ruffled his hair. “Never be afraid to speak your mind to me, Son. I don’t really understand kids, but I think we can figure this out.”

For the first time in a week, Father cracked a tentative smile.

So when Sevs’ pancakes and orange juice arrived with Father’s coffee and omelet, he was ready to make his move. He was really not looking forward to going to his preschool. “Father, can I come with you today?”

Father was a rather stoic man, but he still paused while about to take the first sip of his drink. Instead, he set the steaming mug down and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers under his chin. He took a good ten seconds to consider Sevs face before speaking. “Why do you want to come with me today?”

It was not the outright refusal that Sevs had feared. So maybe there was some wiggle room. Sevs had to revise some of the carefully prepared arguments to be less combative. So he had already been expecting to answer this question even though he was planning on posing it himself.

“Well, I want to learn more about what you do. I think I will get more out of observing your day than anything the preschool offers.” Sevs offered the last of his initial points with a joking tone and a smile. “Besides, I am sure the food has to be better.”

Father gave a hearty chuckle, “Well, I am not sure about the food,” without skipping a beat. “I can take you today, but when you get bored, I am not going to take you home. You will have to sit there, doodle on some spare paper, and stay out of the way.”

Sevs was left reeling internally. It was like he had braced for a big tug-o-war and the other side let go of the rope. When he realized Father was truly not going to fight him on this, his face cracked into a huge, boyish grin. He couldn’t help himself “Really! you mean it?” as he darted around the booth to give Father a big hug.

Father sat still for just half a second before returning the hug with unbridled joy. “Of course, Sevs.”