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Silco sighs as he stubs out the last of his cigarette against the otherwise pristine brick wall on the outside of Piltover Academy, bracing himself for yet another visit to the principal’s office. Apparently, Violet had gotten into a fist fight. Again. And the boy’s parents were, of course, upset and incredibly concerned about Violet’s continued attendance at the prestigious institution. Violet was here on scholarship after all. An effort to help diversify the student population. Meanwhile, the family Silco was getting ready to face, along with the principal, were legacy alumni.
Silco, luckily, is not a man easily cowed by rich parents. And, knowing the type of person Violet was, the boy likely deserved it. As did all the other rich brats Violet had gotten into scuffles with over the years.
Still, this was not how Silco had wanted to spend his Wednesday afternoon. He’d gotten the call to come pick Violet up thankfully after all his lectures had ended, but it was still a half hour drive from Zaun to Piltover.
Silco knows he’s the last to arrive to the meeting, but he’d decided to take the smoke break anyways. He needed the nicotine, if he was going to deal with idiots for the rest of the afternoon.
When Silco finally makes his way inside, no one in the principal’s office looks particularly pleased to see him. Whether that was because of the situation, or because Silco’s deeply scarred face would unnerve a hardened criminal on a good day, was up for debate. Regardless of the reason, Silco prepares himself for a very long conversation wherein he has to resist taking after his daughter and punching someone in the face.
“This is the fourth altercation that Violet has been involved in—” Principal Salo says as he begins to list off all of his daughter’s numerous faults and previous infractions. Silco had been prepared for the tirade, had been prepared to counter the Principal’s accusations with any explanation he could possibly pull out of his ass for why Violet had gotten into yet another altercation. What he hadn’t been prepared for, however, was for someone else to argue on Violet’s behalf instead.
And that someone was the only daughter of Cassandra Kiramman.
Silco had been surprised to see the girl and her parents in attendance when he’d arrived. She was the only student in the room, Violet and the boy she had punched were being held in another classroom, so the young Kiramman must have bullied her way into this meeting somehow. Typical behavior of a privileged Piltover girl. But Silco had hardly any room to complain, not when the girl was waxing poetry about Violet’s valiant efforts to protect her integrity, and how Violet had apparently been the only student to step in and defend her from what was apparently, blatant sexual harassment from another student.
Caitlyn Kiramman, it seemed, was entirely charmed by Violet, a fact that Silco would need to address with his daughter later. It was one thing to be on good terms with the spoiled children of Piltover Academy, it was another thing entirely to be on such good terms that the other was willing to defend Violet’s integrity in front of an audience. Especially when that audience included the head of the Piltover Police Department.
Silco hates the Kirammans’ on principle, he’s had more than his fair share of unfair police encounters over the years, however Caitlyn’s staunch defense of Violet is much appreciated. As Caitlyn continues listing the boy’s repeated crossing of her personal boundaries, Cassandra’s expression grows darker and darker, and the resolve of the boy’s parents practically crumbles underneath the woman’s stony glare.
Finally, Principal Salo gets frustrated and politely thanks the young Kiramman, before dismissing her and her parents from his office. He tries to shift the narrative back to how everything is still Violet’s fault for hitting the boy in the first place, but the damage is done. The boy’s parents, once incredibly adamant that Violet should be kicked out of the Academy, insist that they would rather forget the whole thing and only want Violet to stay away from their child in the future. Silco barely stops himself from rolling his eyes and making a comment about how it was their son’s inability to not be an asshole that got him on the bad side of the Kirammans’ in the first place.
“Yes I understand, Principal Salo,” Silco says. He then turns to the parents of the boy, and barely holds back a smirk when they flinch at the sight of him. Silco knows what he looks like, knows that the scarring on his face and the glass eye gives him an uncanny valley sort of look that reminds people of the monsters in their childhood stories. “I do hope we can put this unfortunate incident behind us,” he adds, and this time, when he does smile, he shows far too much teeth.
The meeting ends abruptly after that. The young man is brought to the principal’s office by another teacher, and Silco finds himself impressed by the very clearly broken nose and black eye Violet seems to have given him. His parents give Silco one last nervous look, before they shuffle out of the office. Violet is brought in shortly after. She’s got an ugly bruise forming on her cheek, and Silco sighs when she refuses to meet his eyes.
“That looks unpleasant,” Silco says when they leave Salo’s office.
Violet scoffs. “You should see the other guy.”
“I did, actually,” Silco replies, as the two of them start the long walk down the empty hallways to Silco’s car. “His parents were very adamant you should be kicked out of school,” he adds.
“Ugh,” Violet groans, placing a hand over her eyes.
“Ugh, indeed,” Silco agrees. “Lucky for you that you were defending Caitlyn Kiramman, of all people.”
“Wait, what?” Violet asks, turning to him, confused. “How did you know—”
“She insisted on defending you, both to the principal, and her own parents,” Silco answers before Violet can finish. “She advocated rather strongly that the other boy was in the wrong, and you were only trying to protect her from harassment.”
“Really?” Violet brightens immediately. Oh, she’s just as charmed with the Kiramman girl as the other is with Violet. That would be a problem. “Cait said all that? What else did she say?”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Silco chastises her as they get to the car. “What you did was admirable, but still against school policy. You can’t keep getting into these fights, even if you were defending another student.”
“Yeah well, if people weren’t such fucking dicks—”
“Language,” Silco corrects her as they both get into the car.
“Oh whatever,” Violet replies, slamming her seatbelt into place before turning away from him. Silco sighs, knowing that this is not the time to pick a fight with her, so instead focuses on getting out of the parking lot and driving them both home.
When they’re far enough along on the highway, Silco says, “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Violet doesn’t say anything back, but by the way she awkwardly shifts in her seat, he knows his words mean something to her. They don’t always see eye to eye on everything, and especially not when it comes to handling interpersonal conflict, but Violet’s his daughter first, and he will always prioritize her well being above all else. She knows it too.
“Maybe next time try to block with something other than your face, though,” he adds, barely holding back a snort when Violet practically springs up out of her seat to glare at him.
“Hey!” Violet exclaims indignantly, before she laughs when she sees the amused smirk on Silco’s face.
Silco’s pretty sure that boxing lessons are the last thing Violet needs. Violet knows how to throw a mean punch. She doesn’t need another outlet for her violent tendencies. Or maybe, that’s exactly what she needs. At least, Silco hopes so. He doesn’t want Violet to take after him in this aspect, getting into fights every other day, before ultimately getting kicked out of school all together.
Silco had grown up poor, as did most kids who came from Zaun. His mother had worked so many jobs it was a miracle he ever saw her, and fuck if he knew who his father was. He was smaller than most of the boys at school too, and that made him an easy target. Silco learned how to fight better than he’d learned anything else growing up. He’s pretty sure that’s where Violet gets her own fighting tendencies from. Silco could never leave well enough alone either, especially where a pretty girl was involved. That was how he’d met Violet’s mother.
Felicia had been a regular at the bar Silco had been working at when he was twenty-five and struggling to get by, and they got along well, making conversation easily on slow nights when Felicia would stop by for a drink after work. They became fast friends, and it was nice to have someone he liked to help make the hours go by more quickly.
One night, some men decided to harass Felicia, despite the very clearly visible wedding ring, as well her disinterest in their advances. The men hadn’t taken take too kindly to Silco intervening and throwing them out. They’d waited until he was off shift and walking Felicia home to try and jump him. But like most men who’d taken a single look at Silco and only seen weakness, Felicia’s harassers and Silco’s would-be muggers had underestimated who they were dealing with. When Silco was done with them, he’d only suffered a shallow cut to his arm and a bruised cheek, meanwhile all three men had been knocked unconscious and lay at their feet.
Felicia would tell Silco for years afterwards that’s the night she fell in love and decided Silco was going to come live with her and her husband.
Connol had been deeply unimpressed upon finding his wife with a random stranger bleeding out sitting atop on their tiny kitchen counter while she tried to bandage the wound. He’d then pushed Felicia aside and stitched together the shallow stab wound in Silco’s arm with remarkable ease, despite not having any formal medical training. Silco was charmed instantly, and after that, the two of them had stuck to Silco’s side as if they’d been there the whole time.
They were happy for a time, him and Felicia and Connol. Silco had never been one for serious relationships, he was too busy trying to scrape enough to keep himself alive and no one had ever really seemed to want to stick around long enough. But once Felicia and Connol came into his life, Silco learned to let himself be spoiled and loved by two people who were disgustingly affectionate with one another, and, inexplicably, also wanted to share that affection with him. Felicia had always believed Silco was smarter than he thought himself to be, but it was Connol who really took the time to learn Silco’s mind and teach him properly. He’s the reason Silco is even a professor at Zaun University.
At some point in their time together, Felicia had gotten pregnant, and since Connol wasn’t able to have kids himself, it was obvious the father was Silco. Silo had never even entertained the idea of children of his own before Felicia and Connol, but once Felicia had made up her mind about keeping the baby, it felt like another puzzle piece slotting together in his life.
When Violet was born, Silco thought this was it. He’d reached the pinnacle of happiness, and all four of them were going to have a wonderfully charmed life together.
At least, that had been the plan. Until a drunk driver took out both Felicia and Connol when Silco had been dropping Violet off at school. It’s been just him and Violet ever since, and Silco has gone back to fighting for his survival all over again. Only this time he’s got his own daughter to fight for too.
In hindsight, it’s not surprising at all that Violet takes after him. Silco was a survivor, and so was she.
Still, Silco would rather she not get into street fights like he did, which is why he’s standing with her at the front of The Last Punch, a boxing gym that will hopefully teach his daughter not to break her hand the next time she threw a punch at some spoiled brat.
“You want me to take boxing lessons?” Violet asks, confused but also clearly trying to hide her excitement behind it.
“You need to at least learn how to block properly,” Silco says. “No daughter of mine is going to keep getting black eyes from boys who don’t know how to wipe their own noses.”
Violet barks out a laugh, delighted, and then she lightly punches him across the arm, her way of showing affection.
“I thought you’d forbid me from fighting, honestly,” she tells him.
“Oh you’re forbidden from fighting. This,” Silco gestures to the gym in front of them, “is self-defense.”
Violet grins so wide she looks manic. Silco thinks he spoils his daughter.
When they step inside, there’s an older man with graying hair at the front desk who greets them with a wave and gestures for them to approach. Silco notices the man doesn’t even blink at the state of Silco’s face, so that was a good sign already.
“We’re looking to enroll my daughter in classes,” Silco tells the man, gesturing to Violet, who grins. The man, Benzo, his name tag says, nods and starts pulling out some paperwork.
“And how old is the young miss?” Benzo asks, smiling back at Violet.
“Sixteen, gonna be seventeen next month,” Violet answers confidently. Benzo nods and notes that down on the form. He then pulls out a different sheet which looks to have a class schedule listed on it.
“So we have a few options, one of which is a beginner youth class, but if you want more of a challenge, we could also put you in the adult beginner class if your dad is alright with it,” Benzo says, pointing out the different times for each type of class. Silco considers the schedule, and already knows he’ll be enrolling Violet in the beginner adult class.
“Adult class,” Violet says, grinning up at him. Silco raises an eyebrow at her, but ultimately nods.
“Violet’s tall for her age,” Silco says. “She’ll do fine in the adult class.” Benzo nods, seeming to agree with Silco’s assessment. Violet would likely tower over the children if she were to join the youth classes, and it wouldn’t be a fair match up during sparring sessions.
“We also have private sessions available if you’re looking to get competitive, down the line,” he says. “Vander’s just finishing up with another student, actually, so I can get you signed up and then if you want to wait for a bit, he can come and talk with you both.”
Silco knows that Benzo is just trying to up-sell them, but he can’t help but feel a small bit of pride at the idea of Violet being good enough to go competitive. But no, that’s not the reason they’re here. Violet needs to learn how to defend herself properly, and hopefully the boxing lessons will also serve as an outlet for her aggression. Nothing else.
They don’t wait very long before one of the gym’s many doors open and two people step out, one of them a boy about Violet’s age, and the other a man whom Silco assumes is the instructor that Benzo had referred to as Vander.
Vander certainly fits the bill of a boxer, and one that has been working at his craft his entire life. Wide, broad shoulders, thick arms and equally muscled thighs, all packaged into a tall imposing body Silco has no trouble imagining would strike fear into any opponent on the opposite side of a ring.
The most striking thing to Silco, however, is the man’s eyes. They’re a bright, blazing blue, and full of intensity when they meet Silco’s eyes. They regard one another, sizing each other up at a glance, and Silco can tell that whatever the other man sees in Silco, it’s not someone who he considers weak. Good. This was a man who knew not to underestimate others. That meant he would be able to easily gain Violet’s respect. He’s already gained a bit of Silco’s.
“Got a new student for you, Vander!” Benzo calls out cheerfully and then gestures at Violet. “Just had her and her dad sign off all the paperwork to get started.”
Just like that, Vander’s entire demeanor changes. He’d been hard and calculating when he looked at Silco, but his entire expression softens into that of a doting father when he sees Violet waving at him. For some reason, it’s this softness that makes Silco go weak in the knees.
“Very excited to have you join us, Miss—?”
“Violet, sir!” Violet answers.
“Violet,” Vander repeats, his expression now wistful. “I’ve always loved that name.”
“It was her mother’s favorite flower,” Silco says, now feeling wistful himself. He’d been delighted when Felicia had decided to name her that. Connol had filled the entire apartment with violets just days after she was born. It was one of Silco’s favorite memories.
“They’re known for their resilience as well,” Silco adds, moving a hand to ruffle at his daughter’s hair. She immediately raises her hackles like a startled cat.
“Dad,” Violet grumbles, immediately fixing her hair back in place. “Stop being embarrassing.”
“Tough luck, kid,” Silco answers. Vander lets out a roar of laughter, and it’s warm and pleasant to Silco’s ears.
It’s easy enough to fall into a routine of dropping Violet off at The Last Punch on Thursday evenings. The gym isn’t terribly far from their house so Violet has plenty of time to do her homework after school before Silco drops her off for her hour and a half long class. Silco greatly envies the fact that Violet can get a full body workout and not feel like death the next day. He’s pretty sure he didn’t have the kind of stamina when he was at the peak of his physical health.
Oh to be young.
Some days, when he has the time, Silco will stay and observe Violet’s class from the hallway. He’s pleased to find that Vander quickly rids her of her poor posture, her bad stances. As the weeks go by, Silco notices a marked improvement in how she holds herself, confident, not hunched and defensive like she has something to prove to world.
Not the way Silco used to think he had to.
Silco sometimes makes polite conversation with Benzo, when the man isn’t occupied with other patrons of the gym, but otherwise he doesn’t particularly socialize with anyone else who works there.
One day though, a small blur whips past Silco, and his body reacts before his mind processes that this isn’t his daughter he’s stopping from crashing into a wall.
“Eek!” a blue-haired girl screams, but she doesn’t sound scared thankfully, just surprised. She turns up and gives Silco a sheepish grin. “Thanks for grabbing me, mister!”
Silco lets out a relieved breath, and when the girl starts to wiggle, he lets her down gently while also trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. If he weren’t here, the girl may have crashed face first into the wall.
“You should be a bit more careful about where you’re going,” Silco tells her just as Benzo appears from around the corner, looking somewhat haggard. Silco understands immediately. A girl with that much energy would wear out any man. It was strange though, Benzo had never mentioned having a daughter to Silco previously.
“Whoa, are you a gangster?” the girl suddenly asks, her eyes widening as she stares at Silco’s face in wonder.
“Powder!” Benzo exclaims, equal parts exasperated and horrified. “You can’t just ask a man if he’s a gangster!”
“Why not?” the girl, Power replies, in an indignant manner that only girls her age can pull off. “What else would give him those scars and that fake eye?”
“Powder!”
Silco snorts. Children were always so much more honest than adults, and at least this one didn’t seem to be afraid of him. The eye was hardly a sore subject at this point, even Violet knew how he’d gotten it.
“I did get this in a fight,” Silco stage whispers to the young girl, who face brightens up immediately. She didn’t need to know the details of the fight, but he’d give her the sanitized version if she asked. It had been after Felicia and Connol had died, and he’d been angry and resentful at what had happened to them and so he’d picked a lot more fights than he should have.
“I knew it!” Powder shouts victoriously. Before she can ask any further questions however, the doors to Violet’s class open up and his daughter strolling out looking like she’d just taken a beating and enjoy every moment of it.
“Dad, are you lying to small children again?” Violet asks as she steps out into the hallway. She grins when she sees Powder. “Vander’s not going to like it if you give his kid nightmares, you know.”
“Oh? This is Vander’s daughter?” Silco asks, just as the man himself steps out from behind Violet. He looks surprised at first to see Silco on the floor, then when he sees Powder, he lets out a heavy sigh.
“Powder, don’t bother Mr. Silco,” Vander tells her. Powder, however, turns to him with brand new interest.
“Oh! You’re Mr. Silco!” she exclaims, like she’s meeting a celebrity.
“You’ve heard of me, then?” Silco asks with an amused smirk. It wasn’t terribly surprising, he supposed, but something flutters in his chest when he realizes that Vander’s likely mentioned him specifically to his own daughter.
“Yeah, dad says you’re too skinny and that you should—” Powder starts to reply but then her father scoops her up into her arms, causing the small girl to squeal.
“Powder!” Vander chastises his daughter. “What have I told you about gossip?” Then turning to Silco, he gives an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, I promise I’ve said nothing bad about you.”
“Other than me needing to eat more food, presumably?” Silco replies with a smirk, causing Vander to flush hot with embarrassment.
“Hah!” Violet barks out, and then claps a hand on her dad’s back. Silco just barely stops himself from letting out an undignified noise. So she was getting stronger during her classes. “Don’t let him fool you Pow-Pow, dad can eat a whole pizza by himself.”
That had been one time, and only because Silco had forgotten to eat for a little over 30 hours. It was finals season and he was desperately trying to make it to graduation while parenting Violet at the same time. Those months were not his proudest, even though Violet seemed to love having junk food for all her meals.
“Speaking of pizza,” Silco says, remembering now that they have an appointment to keep. “Sevika is waiting for us.”
“Sevika?” Vander asks, surprised. “Sevika Sinha?”
Silco’s eyes widen. “You know her?” he asks, and right then a vital piece of information clicks into his mind. Sevika had been the one to recommend boxing lessons for Violet to Silco last year. He hadn’t taken her seriously then, but after Violet’s latest incident, he’d immediately researched nearby training gyms, having forgotten his conversation with Sevika until this exact moment.
“This is her training gym, isn’t it?” Silco says, heaving a sigh. She was never going let him hear the end of this. Sevika has been trying to get Silco to join her in picking up boxing for years now. Now that he thinks about it, she’s even tried to drag him here once for a free trial class, which they gave to friend and family of members of the gym. Silco has always managed to come up with various ways to avoid going.
Violet, as always, is blissfully ignorant to Silco’s inner turmoil as she turns to Vander in deranged joy.
“Sevika boxes here?” Violet asks, her eyes wide with excitement. She then turns over to Silco. “We need to get her to come to one of my classes! I wanna fight her!”
“Now, hang on,” Vander interjects. “Sevika is at a competitive level Vi, you’re probably not ready to—”
“I can take her!” Violet whoops. Powder whoops in Vander’s arms along with her.
“Yeah, beat her up Vi!” Powder shouts.
Silco sighs again and then sends a bemused smile over to Vander. Vander grins awkwardly back.
“Shall I give her your regards, then?” Silco asks. Vander just stares at him, before shaking his head and letting out a small laugh.
“Yeah, tell her I said hello,” Vander replies, waving them out, Powder still thrown over his shoulder.
Sevika laughs loudly over dinner when Violet tells her about the connection. She promises Violet that when she’s good enough, they can have an informal match at The Last Punch.
“I’m good enough now!” Violet insists, with all the confidence of a teenager.
“The hell you are, runt,” Sevika barks back with a laugh. “You’re good enough when Vander says you’re good enough, and not a moment sooner than that.”
Violet tries to argue more, but eventually she gets caught up in talking about all the new moves she’s learned, the people she’s met, and Sevika invites her to come watch one of her matches that’s not on a school night. The conversation eventually moves onto general discussion about Violet’s life outside of boxing. Silco’s noticed that Violet seems a lot more cheerful about going to school lately, and a part of him is worried that the primary driver for that change is the Kiramman girl. But she hasn’t gotten into any other fights, and she’s doing well enough in her classes, so Silco’s decided to just let that worry lie for now.
“You know,” Sevika tells Silco later when Violet’s gone off to the bathroom. “Vander’s single. And he has his own brat and seems to like yours well enough.”
“Sevika,” Silco says with his best warning professor voice, but Sevika only laughs at him.
“What?” she grins. “He’s definitely your type. Connol was pretty muscular, and Vander’s twice his size.”
Silco lets out a deep sigh.
“I don’t have time for dating,” he replies. “And besides, it’d be unprofessional.”
“He’s not her schoolteacher,” Sevika says giving him an exasperated sigh. “I’m just saying you should have some fun every once in a while. You know. With a man that’ll break your back like a glowstick,” she teases. Silco nearly throws a garlic knot at her.
“You just want an extra person at trivia night at Jerico’s,” Silco accuses her.
“Maybe,” Sevika agrees with a casual shrug. “And hey, maybe Vander can teach your scrawny ass how to fight properly, for once.”
“Really now?” Silco asks with a sardonic grin, remembering the time he’d caught her unawares and bested her. “I held my own just fine again you.”
“That was one time!” Sevika protests. “And you fight dirty!”
“A win’s a win, Sevika,” Silco says.
Sevika grumbles, before going back to drinking her beer.
The next time Silco interacts with Powder, she’s tinkering with some some sort of machine on the floor, though he’s pretty sure it’s not anything related to the gym’s standard equipment. He watches her fiddle around with some wires, close the latch, flip a switch. Nothing happens. This does not deter Powder.
Silco watches her open the latch, move the wires around, pick up a wrench, then tighten some bolts. She flips the switch again, this time without closing the latch. The machine whirrs, a good sign, then it promptly sputters and goes dead.
Silco watches a variation of this happen three more times, feeling both sympathy and amusement as he watches her try to troubleshoot the issue. It’s like watching one of his own students during their labs.
Finally, Powder lets out a cry of frustration and then tosses her wrench. It bounces and then skids across the floor, spinning wildly before it stops just short of Silco’s shoe. Powder looks up at where it landed, and then gives him a tight smile.
“Having trouble?” Silco asks, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. He picks up the wrench as well, for good measure.
“I can’t figure how to make it work!” Powder exclaims, giving up all pretense of politeness and before growling with frustration.
Silco hums in understanding, before he walks over to where Powder is, sitting in the empty spot next to her. Violet’s class wouldn’t be over for another forty five minutes, and Silco didn’t feel like going home.
“May I?” Silco asks, holding up the wrench and gesturing to her project.
“You know how to build robots?” Powder asks, eyes widening with excitement. The excitement of a child who has been dying to talk someone else who understands her ramblings.
“A little bit,” Silco says with a small shrug. Connol had been the one to teach Silco the basics of mechanical engineering, had encouraged Silco to accompany him to lectures, take courses, and then eventually apply to work at Zaun University to work as an assistant under him. Silco was surprised at how quickly he took to studying when the subjects were ones he wanted to learn more about. Connol had said Silco would make an excellent professor one day, once he’d finished his degree.
Felicia and Connol hadn’t been able to see him graduate. But Violet had cheered loudly enough for three people at the ceremony anyways.
“Tell me what’s not working,” Silco says to Powder, shaking himself out of his nostalgia. Powder lights up like a firework at Silco’s words. She must not have many people she can talk to about her tinkering. Silco hopes Vander isn’t the type of parent to discourage her, but considering she feels comfortable working on her inventions at the gym, he guesses Vander is likely at least tolerant of her hobbies.
“Well you see, whenever I try to connect to this part here, this starts to turn on, but then—”
Silco realizes very quickly that Powder is entirely self taught, and it fascinates him. Her soldering techniques are rudimentary at best, and there’s parts haphazardly thrown together with what is clearly trial-and-error logic. He quickly realizes she’s missing a key component to connect properly to her power source and tells her so. Powder groans and slaps her forehead.
“Of course it was that simple!” she groans. “Well, guess I gotta wait ‘til we go home to work on him some more then.”
“What exactly is the purpose of this robot anyways?” Silco asks, now curious.
“Fishbones going to do all the cleaning around the gym!” Powder declares proudly. “He’ll be able to sweep and mop and—and—and wipe down all the equipment! Really quickly too, like Boom! Pow!” she punches the air for added effect.
“Really now?” Silco asks, amused. That would be quite the undertaking for a young girl.
Before he can ask her any more questions, Silco hears the door to Violet’s class open and the sound of people filtering out. Silco hadn’t even realized how much time had flown by. When he gets up to go find his daughter, Powder looks a bit disappointed at first, but she waves him away anyways. Silco promises next time she’s working on something at the gym, he’d be happy to talk with her more about her work, and Powder’s smile is so wide takes up her entire face.
Silco doesn’t know why he’s so nervous. Perhaps it’s because he’s never had a proper conversation with Vander, not without Violet next to him to act as an intermediary. Perhaps it’s Sevika’s teasing from a few weeks ago, and her bringing attention to the fact that Vander was single. Silco had no reason to believe Vander would even be interested in Silco, but he also knows Sevika wouldn’t have brought up the topic if she didn’t they didn’t also believe they’d be compatible. Even though Silco’s been perfectly content with just himself and Violet the last few years, it would be—nice, to have another adult to talk to. Especially one as nice looking as Vander.
Silco groans right before he pushes open the door to The Last Drop. He was getting ahead of himself. And anyways, he wasn’t here for a date, he was here for Powder.
“Oh, Silco, hello!” Vander greets him when he looks up from his paperwork at the front desk. He looks surprised to see him, and Silco think the man is probably wondering why Silco is even here without Violet. “What brings you here?”
Vander has a look of anticipation on his face and Silco’s stomach does an uncomfortable flip at it. He remembers Sevika’s insinuations and suddenly his mouth goes dry. But then he realizes he’s also at a boxing gym, and Silco really hopes Vander doesn’t think he wants to sign up for boxing classes. Silco has watched some of Violet’s classes, and his knees hurt from just from that. There’s no way he’d survive and entire class.
“I wanted to talk to you about Powder,” Silco says, deciding not to beat around the bush. Vander’s eyes narrow, and his posture suddenly becomes defensive and tense.
“Look, she’s just a child,” Vander says in a much more stern voice than Silco is anticipating. “I know that sometimes her stuff blows up, but I promise none of the equipment here is unsafe.”
“What?” Silco asks dumbly, his brows furrowed in confusion before Vander’s words fully sink in. “No, that’s not—Powder’s brilliant.”
That seems to surprise Vander, who barely stops himself from going on what seems to be a well practiced rant.
“Oh—I mean, yes Power’s smart as a whip,” Vander replies with a giant grin on his face. “Took apart one of the rowing machines here one time just because it wasn’t working right, and when she put it back together it worked better than when it was brand new.” Vander’s gone into full doting father mode and Silco can’t help but smile as well. Oftentimes, parents didn’t appreciate it when their kids were skilled in something they didn’t understand. Knowing that Vander isn’t like that just endears him even more to Silco.
“Have people complained about Powder’s inventions before?” Silco asks, curious now.
As if on cue, some piece of equipment whirrs and screeches from one of the classrooms. Silco hears what sounds like loud cursing, probably from Benzo, before a loud crash follows. Vander sighs, and it sounds world weary. Silco supposes that answers his question.
“You wouldn’t be the first person to bring up…concerns about Powder’s tinkering,” Vander admits. “She’s brilliant but she doesn’t always get everything right on the first attempt to improve upon something, and not everyone appreciates her curiosity.”
Silco thinks he understands. His students were constantly breaking things in their inventive pursuits, he can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to have those failures hit so close to home, especially in a business that drives Vander’s entire livelihood.
“Have you considered enrolling her in any engineering courses?” Silco asks.
Vander blinks, confusion crossing his face. “I—she’s a bit young for those, isn’t she?”
“There are classes tailored specifically for children her age,” Silco tells him. “And like you said, you and I both know how smart she is, she could probably keep up in classes meant for adults, if she really applied herself.”
“You’ve got some suggestions, then?” Vander asks and Silco can’t help but smile, finally feeling in his element now.
“Zaun University has some excellent courses for younger students,” Silco says. “They’re usually done in the summer, so that students don’t get distracted by their other studies. Kinda of like a summer camp.”
Vander nods sagely. “I think she’d like that. Powder is mostly here during the summers anyways, so it’ll be good for her to meet other kids like her, I think. Is it something you’re involved in?”
“I’m one of the engineering professors yes, and I do help during the summer courses from time to time,” Silco replies, realizing a bit late that it sounds like he’s trying to sell Vander something. Vander doesn’t seem to notice though, only gives Silco a wide smile.
“She hasn’t stopped talking about you helping her with her project the other week,” he says, voice going soft. “Thank for you that, by the way. I always feel like an idiot when I try to help.”
“She’s incredibly smart for her age,” Silco says. “I’m sure she’ll outsmart me in no time.”
“Yeah?” Vander says, his face going soft. “Then it’s settled then. Why don’t we talk more about this over dinner then? I’m pretty much wrapped up with all my stuff here.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Silco answers easily, already going into parent planning mode. “I can grab Violet, and if Powder’s around then we can meet you both back here and—”
“Vi? Powder?” Vander asks, brow furrowing.
“What?” Silco asks, now confused himself. Had he said something strange?
“Nothing I just—I thought it would just be the two of us, is all,” Vander answers. He’s giving Silco a weirdly intense look now, and Silco feels like he’s failing some sort of test he didn’t know he was taking.
“Oh,” Silco replies. “I—yes, that should be fine,” he adds, trying not to stutter even though he can practically feel his heart doing just that. Vander studies him a little while longer, before he lets out a sigh. It sounds almost disappointed.
“Listen,” Vander says, and Silco braces himself for—he doesn’t know what. “If I’m misreading this whole thing, it doesn’t have to be a date.”
Silco’s entire world tilts on its axis, and it feels like time stops.
“But I just thought that that’s where this whole conversation was going, is all,” Vander continues, seeming to not notice that he’s completely stunned Silco into silence.
Oh.
Oh, Silco’s an idiot. Sevika was never going to let him live this down. Violet was never going to let him live this down.
He clears his throat. They’re both bright red now, so at least there’s some mutual embarrassment going on.
Well, never let it be said that Silco didn’t take opportunities when they presented themselves.
“It can be a date, if that’s what you want,” Silco says, then clarifies, “For the record, I would like it to be, even if that’s not what I originally came here for. I really was just trying to help our Powder.”
Vander grins, and this time when Silco’s stomach flips, he welcomes the new feeling.
Vander takes Silco to Jerico’s, which is cozy enough to be a low key first date. Silco thinks he’s in love as he listens to Vander chatter on about Powder’s various experiments and how much Violet’s been improving over the last couple of months. He finds himself idly imagining a far off scenario where it’s perhaps the four of them here together. He’d always wanted Violet to have a sibling.
Their easy mood, however, is entirely ruined when Silco looks a few table over and sees none other than Sevika herself grinning madly at him.
“Silco?” Vander asks, likely noticing that that Silco’s stopped paying attention to him. Silco thinks he should probably warn Vander, but Sevika’s already approaching thrm, her girlfriend Mel cackling back at their table.
“Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in,” Sevika says with far too much glee. Vander looks between the two of them, then shrugs helplessly with a bashful smile.
“Are you surprised?” Vander asks and Sevika snorts.
“Not even a little bit.”
“Yes, yes, go on and gloat,” Silco sighs. He’s tempted to throw a fry at her, but ultimately decides he’d rather eat it. “I’m still not taking boxing classes.”
“Wimp,” Sevika says at that same time Vander says, “That’s all right.” Sevika gives Vander a look of betrayal, meanwhile, Silco can’t help but give her a smug smile. He’s about to shoo her away to her own table, but then he catches sight of a familiar mop of bright pink hair in the direction of Sevika and Mel’s table.
“Violet?!” Silco exclaims. His daughter whips around at the sound of her name, and that’s when Silco realizes she’s not alone either. And she’s holding Caitlyn Kiramman’s hand. She doesn’t even look ashamed as she waves at him before also walking over to their table. Silco sighs.
All six of them end up crowded together at a single table, and Silco thinks, of course the first date he’s had in years gets interrupted by literally everyone he knows. He’s not terribly upset about it though. Not when Vander’s arm is warm wrapped around Silco’s shoulder, and Violet and Sevika are arguing about the best strategies for fighting. He can see Caitlyn’s besotted look is entirely genuine as well as she listens to his daughter speak, and Silco think good. Violet deserved someone who would look at her like she hung the moon.
“So I’ve been meaning to ask, actually,” Vander says at some point, looking between Sevika and Silco “How do you two know each other, anyways?”
Silco freezes, immediately looking to Sevika, who has a similar deer in headlights look about her. Mel looks absolutely delighted, the traitor. Silco’s about to launch himself across the table to tell her no, absolutely not, you cannot share that story, when he’s betrayed by his own daughter.
“I know this one!” Violet exclaims, far too enthusiastically.
“No, you do not,” Sevika warns, glaring at Violet who only sticks her tongue out at her.
“Sevika thought he was a girl!” Violet continues, laughing when she sees the look of shock on Vander’s face.
“Violet, I will ground you until your eighteenth birthday if you keep talking,” Silco tells her.
“No you won’t,” Violet replies, sticking out her tongue at him now. “Anyways, apparently when dad was younger, he got mistaken a lot for a butch, which ew gross.”
“I can kind of see it,” Caitlyn interjects, squinting, and Silco wonders if it’s too late for him to move cities and change his name.
“No you do not!” Vi screeches, horrified. Silco snorts. His daughter deserved that, at least.
“It’s also the same night we met,” Mel adds, giving Sevika a shit eating grin. “You were so despondent after publicly humiliating yourself thinking Silco was a catch that you fell right into my arms.”
“Oh my god,” Caitlyn exclaims, and her and Violet burst out laughing. Silco groans as Vander starts to laugh too.
“Nothing like a mistaken identity to start a lifelong friendship, huh?” he asks, squeezing Silco’s shoulder. Violet wrinkles her nose at the gesture.
“You’re not gonna be all lovey-dovey all the time now, are you?” she asks, then looks Vander up and down. “I can totally take you, by the way, so you’re not allowed to break his heart.”
Silco sputters. “Violet, please,” he says, trying to keep his composure, but Vander only laugh, squeezing his shoulder again.
“I know you can,” he says. Sevika and Silco both know he’s lying but Violet puffs out her chest anyways. “And you’re one of my best students, so I can’t have you getting mad at me. Promise I’ll be nice to your dad.”
Violet narrows her eyes. “You better.”
Silco wants to protest that, actually, he should be the one giving the shovel talk to Caitlyn, but he can’t deny that the whole interaction makes him feel things he hasn’t felt since Felicia and Connol.
“My knight in shining armor,” Silco teases, giving her a soft smile. “When did you grow up so fast?”
Violet rolls her eyes.
“Just don’t be too gross.”
Silco hums, neither confirming nor denying, and something soft settles in his heart.