Chapter Text
“So…What‘s on the agenda today?” Johnny asked almost hesitantly, gazing at a downtrodden V.
“Fuck if I know.” V muttered back, staring blankly into space, having taken Kerry’s offer to stay the night. Hanako and Oda had left, to keep up appearances that everything was okay.
Takemura had slept on a couch near V, and was currently corralling a grumpy Kerry, trying to find something edible in Kerry’s mess of a mansion.
V was outside, staring at the small pond that served as Kerry’s pool.
“You okay, V?” Johnny sat down next to V, watching the younger man with concern.
“What the fuck do you think, Johnny.” V glanced at him, a resigned look on his face. “We were so close for a moment there. Actually had hope that I was gonna survive this. And? Now it’s all gone.”
“Don’t tell me you’re throwing in the towel!” Johnny growled, turning his full attention to V. “What the fuck, V?”
“Not giving up, Johnny.” V sighed, hanging his head. “Just…Fuck, man. I’m tired. Tired of all the fucking batshit crazy bullshit that is my life, okay? It’s nonstop.”
“Your life is weirder than most, I’ll admit.” Johnny conceded, with a grimace. “Normally I’d say just go get fucking wasted and get laid, but…”
“Yeah. Not exactly an option.” V huffed, rubbing his neck with a hand, and letting out a long, drawn out sigh. “Not even sure if I can go back to my apartment, since Saburo knows I live there. Fuck.” V took a moment to text Misty, asking her to take Nibbles back to her place, or to Jackie’s.
“Could crash at Ker’s, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” Johnny proposed, and V shot him a look.
“You really want him in Arasaka’s scope, Johnny?” V asked lowly, and Johnny bristled at the very thought, before wilting, rubbing a hand over his eyes.
“Fucking ‘Saka.” Johnny muttered angrily, and V silently agreed with the sentiment.
“Are we sure we can trust Takemura?”
“Pretty sure he risked his life to tell me Saburo’s plan.” V pointed out, and Johnny grimaced, inclining his head in acknowledgment. “Maybe…Maybe he does care about me after all.” V murmured softly, the very idea making a burst of warmth flood his body.
“Speak of the devil, he’s on his way.” Johnny smirked slightly, glancing over his shoulder, and V did not immediately glance back, his face heating up.
Sure enough, the sound of approaching footsteps made V look up, and back, Takemura standing only three feet away. The older man seemed to be studying him, a strangely soft look in Takemura’s moonsilver eyes.
“Hey.” V greeted softly, his lips quirking into a smile despite himself, and to his astonishment, Takemura smiled back, moving forward to kneel next to V, his hands on his knees.
“Good morning, V.” Takemura replied quietly, not looking away.
“Where’d you go, yesterday?” V asked, after a long moment of silence, tilting his head.
“…I overheard you, with Misty.” Takemura answered, and V froze in place, his eyes going wide. “I needed time to think. I also went to Saburo, to ask him to reassign me. That is when he told me his demented plan.”
“That sick of me already, huh?” V cracked weakly, his heart sinking into his stomach, as he averted his eyes.
“The opposite.” Takemura said softly, reaching out and taking ahold of V’s chin, forcing the younger man to meet his gaze. “I am not in love, not yet. But you have worked your way into my heart. I cannot…I cannot be impartial anymore.” Takemura confessed, his voice a hoarse raw rumble. “Not if it’s you.”
“That…it’s fucked up how romantic that is.” V sighed shakily, leaning against Takemura’s hand, which had moved to cup V’s cheek. “Fuck…Goro.” V gazed back at him, heart in his throat, and scooted closer, resting his head on Takemura’s shoulder. He felt Takemura press a gentle kiss to his hair, and clenched his eyes shut, overwhelmed with emotion.
The moment of course, was ruined by V’s holo going off, and V sighed heavily, sitting up straight.
“Hello?” He greeted, answering the call with a grumpy noise.
“V! Saul’s been kidnapped!” It was Mitch, and his words immediately sent a bolt of panic through V’s veins
“WHAT?” V shot to his feet, “I’ll be there soon, Mitch!”
“What is it?” Takemura asked, alarmed at V’s frantic expression.
“Saul’s been kidnapped!” V snapped at him, wild eyed, and Takemura leapt up.
“I will drive. Let’s go.” Takemura ordered, with a running start towards the car, V hot on his heels.
————-
“I’ll kill them all,” V fumed, stalking back and forth angrily, “Fucking Raffen, bad as fucking corpos, gonna fuckin’ eradicate them all!”
“I appreciate the enthusiasm but maybe tone down the murder vibes?” Mitch tried, earning a wild look from V. “We’re all worried.”
“He’s my dad, Mitch. I’m not gonna let those rat fucking bastards just torture him!” V hissed, running a hand through his hair.
“We can’t send the whole clan after him, it’d leave the camp defenseless,” Carol sighed unhappily, “Not to mention Saul forbid us to go after him!”
“Yeah, good thing I’m not an official Aldecaldo then.” V growled, pulling up his phone, and making a call.
“V? Bold of you to call me.” Rogue answered, with a sultry smirk.
“First and foremost, ew. Secondly, your son’s been kidnapped by Raffen Shiv, his name is Saul Bright, leader of the Aldecaldos. Third, he happens to be my biological father, so please for the love of god never flirt with me again for both our sakes.” V greeted her harshly, with a fierce scowl.
“…excuse me?” Rogue croaked, her eyes wide.
“Did I fucking stutter, grandmother?” V hissed, glaring at her through the holo. “I’m going after him. Just thought you’d want to know if your bloodline potentially ends today.” With that, V hung up, and set his holo to do not disturb.
“That…seemed brutal,” Scorpion commented, wincing at the dark look V shot him. “Jesus, you look like Saul when you do that.”
“Well…You’ve seen the drone footage,” Panam said gruffly, “Think it can be done?”
“Don’t care how impossible it is, gonna do it anyways.” V huffed at her, crossing his arms. “Goro?” V turned to his…boyfriend? Crush? Whatever, he could wonder about the status of whatever the fuck their relationship was later.
“I am with you, V.” Takemura gazed back at him evenly, “We will rescue your father.”
“Let’s go.” V stalked towards his car, Takemura at his heels.
——
Saul felt like an idiot, left alone to wheeze painfully in the dark basement of the Raffen’s hideout.
He should have known it was a trap, but no, he was overconfident, still high off the joy of knowing he had a son.
Now…
Now, it was likely he’d never see V again.
Torn from his thoughts, he realized that it hadn’t been machinery that he’d been hearing, but gunfire.
Shit.
He hoped the Aldecaldos hadn’t been foolish enough to try and rescue him.
To his shock, the body of a Raffen came flying down the stairs, crumpling in a bloody heap at the bottom.
The man let out a pained gurgle, trying to crawl towards Saul, and coughed, “M-Make…Make him stop…” the Raffen begged in a destroyed voice, staring at Saul with a dazed desperation.
Saul jumped, as a boot came down on the Raffen’s skull, killing the ruined man instantly, and his eyes darted up, to see it was none other then Takemura, mantis blades extended.
“Good. You still live.” Takemura said gruffly as a greeting.
“T-Takemura…don’t tell me V is here…” Saul groaned, his heart sinking at the thought of his son putting himself into danger for Saul’s sake.
Another body came flying down the stars, and V stalked after, his expression darkly murderous as he advanced on the whimpering Raffen, and viciously snapped the man’s neck.
V glanced up, and the murderous look in his eyes softened slightly, the younger man bolting over to Saul.
“Are you okay?” V asked frantically, looking Saul over with worried emerald eyes.
“Best to shit, is all. What the fuck are you doing here?“ Saul hissed, wincing as V untied him.
“Not losing another parent, that’s for goddamn sure.” V snapped back, easily lifting Saul into a fireman’s carry. “No one gonna follow us either, place is rigged to blow.” He grunted, following Takemura off into what looked like a secret exit via a long drainage pipe.
Upon exiting the pipe, there was a truck waiting for them, and V carefully placed Saul in the backseat.
“You shouldn’t have come for me,” Saul groaned, “Those bastards wanted to know the location of the Aldecaldo’s main camp!”
“Yeah, well, they’re all dead now, so.” V huffed back at him, a glimmer of pain flickering in his emerald eyes, as he buckled Saul in, before slamming the door and hopping into the driver’s seat.
“V, I didn’t mean…” Saul tried, as V got the truck moving, and Takemura shot him a glowering glance.
“We’ll talk back at camp.” V said shortly, glancing at his rear view mirror. “What the fuck,” He cursed, stepping on the gas, “Goro, we’ve got incoming. Can you handle it?”
“They were unwise to follow us.” Takemura growled in answer, adjusting his seatbelt and leaning out the car window with his rifle at the ready.
The few Raffen shiv cars that dared to follow them were no match for a man like Goro Takemura.
“Just to be safe, I’m not taking you straight back to camp.” V told Saul, turning his gaze back towards the windshield. “Think the Raffen will try to follow us into the city?”
“No,” Saul grunted, “Every time they’ve tried, the city gangs punished them for it. Where are we going?”
“Well…I guess it’s the closest we have to a safe house right now. Goro, can you call Vik, have him meet us at Kerry’s?” V requested, and Takemura nodded, something soft passing between the two that made Saul sit up and take notice.
An hour later, an incredibly bewildered Saul was forcibly sat down on one of none other than Kerry Fucking Eurodyne’s couches, watching as V spoke softly with the legendary Rockerboy while Viktor Vector looked Saul over.
“Before you ask, yeah, V’s life has always been this weird.” Viktor told him, with an amused smile, causing Saul to let out a quiet huff of laughter. “Hell, the last guy he dated was Morgan fuckin’ Blackhand.”
“You’re joking.” Saul’s eyes snapped up to meet Viktor’s own, his eyebrows shooting up.
“I’m really not.” Viktor smirked lightly at him, injecting him with a Max Doc III, making Saul hiss, and sag.
“How in the world does he…” Saul wondered aloud, his eyes finding V again as he heard his son let out a bark of laughter, clapping a hand onto Eurodyne’s shoulder.
“No idea.” Viktor shrugged, crossing his arms. “I’d say a combination of strange luck, and his natural charisma.”
“I…I yelled at him, earlier. Told him he shouldn’t have come after me.” Saul admitted, glancing back up at Viktor, who ‘tsk’ed, shaking his head.
“Yeaah…That ain’t gonna fly. Telling V not to do something, especially when it concerns someone he cares about.” Viktor sighed, with a wry little smile. “My advice? Apologize as fast as you can, before he gets the chance to stew over it.”
“I’ll do my best.” Saul chuckled faintly, slowly getting to his feet. “Am I good to go, Doc?”
“As long as you take it easy, handsome”. Viktor smirked at him, causing butterflies to stir in his gut, and Saul resisted the urge to flirt with the ripperdoc, figuring now wasn’t the time to flirt.
Saul limped over towards V, Eurodyne taking a moment to study Saul with an interested look in his piercing blue eyes.
“So this is your pops, huh kid?” Eurodyne drawled, dragging his eyes over Saul.
“Yup.” V said bluntly, giving Saul a strained smile.
“May I speak to my son, mister Eurodyne?” Saul asked gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest and quickly regretting it, wincing slightly.
“Sure, sure,” Eurodyne rolled his eyes, and wandered off to flirt with Viktor who was packing up his bag.
Saul waited until they were relatively alone to turn back to V, an apologetic look on his face.
“I’m sorry.” Saul began softly, meeting V’s gaze. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m grateful you rescued me, I just…Fuck, V.” Saul sighed, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “I’ve only known you less than a week and yet I know it’d break me to lose you.”
V softened, and exhaled a long, drawn out breath, gazing at Saul with a tired smile.
“I wasn’t gonna let you die. Already lost one dad, not ready to do it again.” V replied quietly, moving to sit on one of Eurodyne’s many couches. Saul sat down next to him, resting an arm around V’s shoulders.
“What happened to the man who raised you?” Saul asked, after a long moment of silence.
“His name was Sebastian, Sebastian Holmes.” V began quietly, staring at his hands, “My mom…She died when I was nine. Sebastian was her husband, and he raised me from then on. He…He was one of the few Bakkers who vehemently protested against joining Snake Nation, and…The next morning, I found his body. One bullet to the skull.”
“Jesus…” Saul mumbled, gazing at V with empathy. “That why you left?”
“Of course it’s why I left!” V snapped, with an incredulous look. “People I’d known all my life murdered my fucking dad, just so the Bakkers could be assimilated into that fucking homophobic cult!”
“Shit, I’m sorry, V…” Saul apologized, and V sagged, sighing again. “…As fucked as it is, I don’t…I don’t even know your real name.”
“It’s Lucas,” V offered quietly, “Lucas Veros Holmes.”
“Lucas.” Saul echoed, smiling faintly at V. “How’d you end up going by V?”
“Just kinda happened, to be honest, when I first met Jackie. I didn’t want to give him my real name, so I kinda just…blurted out V.” V admitted, with a sheepish smile.
“That’s very you.” Saul laughed softly, reaching up to ruffle V’s hair, making him squawk and scowl. “You did tell the rest of the clan that I’m safe, right?”
V paused, a guilty look passing over his face.
“….Knew I forgot to do something.” V muttered, hanging his head.