Turns out, Luan was right. Mira was definitely supposed to be in a booster seat. Luan knew this, now, because though he had gotten the girl's sunglasses, again, he hadn't been able to make it to the right store before he was getting pulled over. Luan swore he was going the speed limit, at least mostly, but apparently he was doomed to be unlucky today.
He guessed the only luck he was entitled to was stealing Mira from her new kidnappers and getting a covering for her eyes before a cop caught him. Yeah maybe he wasn't caught for kidnapping the same girl twice in one day, kind of, but he was still being questioned about something.
"And you're saying you weren't aware you were speeding, Mr….?"
"Silver. And yes office, I swear I didn't mean to cause any sort of issue. I must've just zoned out for a second." He was also on his best behavior, because if he made this guy hate him, it would be easy to look into the fact that Luan had no one like Mira in his life, at least legally.
The man's face, though sagging a bit in age, still held a cutting edge to each of his words. Luan wasn't trying to get thrown behind bars any time soon.
Though now, the edges seemed to dim a bit, eyes widening as he stared at Luan's face hard.
"Silver, you say? That's fine, it's my bad. Please, carry on with your night." It was at that moment Luan felt mired in disbelief. The guy practically ran back to his car, pulling away before Luan had time to even ask if he was in trouble. He had such a good story too!
What just happened? That guy got away so fast it was like he hadn't even stopped to ask questions.
Luan looked back at the little girl, her eyes having drooped closed during their little talk, and felt his body relax a bit. It was rather late, maybe the guy just got his name in case he sinned against the law again.
Oh well, just more time to get her a proper seat. It was, after all, the first thing the cop had commented on when he'd peered into the back seat. Before he ran for the hills, that is.
The general store, the one place he could think of that might sell such things, was still open, even as the hour was slowly growing later.
He was eternally grateful for that fact as he scooped the sleepy child into his arms and went inside.
And just like any person unprepared for sudden parenthood, he had to ask an employee for help in locating the necessary item.
Mira was mostly just sleeping like a dangling monkey in his arms the entire time he was picking one out. He made sure it was an appropriate color for a little princess, and even grabbed her a pair of pjs, since he wasn't sure how long she'd be staying this time.
With tiredness starting to weigh down his own limbs, he paid for the stuff and hooked the drowsy child into the car more securely before finally going home. It had been a long, unnecessarily tense day that he had expected to go differently.
And just like the last time they'd done this, Mira slept on the couch. He didn't have a bed that really suited her small size, and he felt it was asking a bit much to make her sleep in the less than perfect lump of a mattress he called his bed.
She was curled like a little bear cub, blanket clutched tightly in her small fists. He admitted it had been a long day for her as well, seeing as she had barely gotten to go home before being scooped up by men with bad intentions again.
Luan felt his body tense when he thought of what kind of parent would let that happen the day he'd gotten her back from the same thing happening the day before.
Anger almost stopped him from sleeping altogether, but he managed to get a couple scraps in the hours it took for daylight to find the sky again.
Said light made him almost crawl back to his cave, but he supposed he'd have to act like a substitute parent a little longer. And Mira was just waking up.
Setting a steaming cup of cocoa in front of the drowsy princess, Luan took a seat at the couch next to her. He uncapped the milk, dumping a good helping of it into the heat of chocolate before giving it to her.
"We need to talk, little princess." Luan took a sip as he looked down at her, golden eyes finding his silver in tired acknowledgment. Though, the prospect of chocolate sugar seemed to have awakened her inner child, seeing as that was being devoured faster than was even remotely ladylike.
Luan had to get the creature some napkins to keep the brown liquid off her new pjs.
"How did you end up with those bad guys, Mira?" He asked, wiping a brown beard off her tiny chin.
"Mmmmm." She hummed, looking unhappy with the question, tiny fingers clenching around her cup as she looked up at him. Her eyes squinted, pupils shrinking as she curled forward a bit.
"I went to get ice cream with uncle Noa. He said I earned some sugar. But I wanted to pet the puppy by the trash so I ran off. That was when the bad guys grabbed me. They said papa made them mad, so they wanted to hurt him."
She crinkled her nose, face tilting towards him as she continued.
"I don't like them. No one gets to hurt papa!" She clenched a tiny fist and threw it in the air, dark liquid almost spilling from her tipping cup. Luan quickly steadied it, napkins coming into play as he wiped the little that had leaked over the edge.
"Its alright, Mira. I've got you, so no one can hurt your papa now."
She looked at him, as though she wanted to find some truth in the words he'd spoken. She seemed satisfied, a cocky little smirk coming out as she patted his arm.
"Mommy would never hurt papa. I picked you, of course." Luan had a feeling she was taking after her crime boss father with that personality of hers. He wasn't sure if it would end well for the city they ruled, if she managed to possess it all the way through childhood.
Maybe he ought to beat it out of her? Would that work? He wasn't sure if it was possible to destroy a child's delusions when they seemed to just bounce back from every little snag in the road, but he might as well try.
"Mira. You're ugly and stupid…." He felt his momentum disappear the second he met her eyes. Whatever fire Dante had fed her was creating an inferno like a sword that pierced Luan right in the eyes.
Sure, telling a child they're ugly and stupid might seem cruel, but he kind of wanted to see if he could make her less willing to believe in nonsense if she was too busy questioning her assets in life.
He, admittedly, didn't see the hit coming. A smack to the head was his reward for trying to make Mira less deluded, her tiny hand clapping the back of it repeatedly as she yelled at him.
"Don't be mean, mommy. I'm beautiful just like papa, and he said I'm super smart too."
"Okay, alright. I'm sorry, Mira. I just think you shouldn't be so sure of picking mommies off the street, okay?" He was fending off the little fiend, arms up in surrender as he spoke. She huffed, crossing her arms as she towered over his fallen form. For being so small, she almost seemed scary with the look of pure imperiousness she held, looking down her nose at him.
Luan couldn't mistake this kid for anyone less than the biggest man in the city's child. She held an air that screamed royalty, even with the lack of title her family name awarded.
With little chance of a comeback from this strange turn of events that was entirely his own fault, Luan heard a scuff outside the front door.
A knock on the door was all the warning Luan got before he heard a key turning in the lock. He rose, pushing Mira back to her seat and crossing the room in large strides as he met the opening that widened with each step.
No one had the key to this place but him, so whoever it was, they were going to get a swift kick in the ass and tossed to the curb.