Chapter Text
Greasy, brown unkempt hair that clung to his head. Clothes that barely fit his skinny body, peach fuzz on his chin and a shrill laugh that reverberated around the walls of Builder Brother’s Pizzeria.
That was the description of the man who had quickly become the bane of Elliot’s career.
007n7 (seriously what kind of name is that?), was one of Robloxia’s most infamous hackers in history, and unfortunately, Elliot had to live through it. Every single day he clocked into work, he and his fellow employees stressed over whether or not 007n7 would decide to terrorize their workplace again.
Today was no different. Elliot busies himself before the opening of the pizzeria, wiping down tables and preheating the ovens for the chefs. All the while each employee that walked in shared a nervous glance, an unspoken greeting that wished for nothing but a peaceful day, something that they hadn’t had in months.
By the first hour of their opening, customer after customer walked in, ordered and ate. That didn’t compare to the frenzy that lunch rush brought, and with all the chaos every employee had forgotten about their concern with the threat that was 007n7.
But that did not last long. While Elliot greeted people at the drive through, without warning, the sudden blast of a subspace tripmine went off right in the middle of the lobby.
Elliot shielded himself from the smoke and pink particles with the back of his arm. Once the cloud of smoke drifted away enough for Elliot to see clearly, he saw his father’s whole pizzeria in shambles.
“God dammit.” Elliot curses, loud enough to be heard above the screaming and coughing.
Pink stained the floors and even the walls, patrons scrambled for safety beneath knocked over tables. Escape was not an option, the doors were blocked with large studs. Elliot sighs and grits his teeth in frustration, the trip mine was too powerful to be one that was handed out to Robloxia’s admins such as Taph. This type of power could only be achieved through exploitation.
The delivery boy steps out of the comfort of his counter and steps through the wreck of the lobby, trying his best to avoid staining the bottom of his shoes with the pink substance. He doesn’t give any comforting glances to the crowd.
“007n7!” Elliot shouts into the empty space. “Let’s just get this over with!”
To an outsider, Elliot would look completely insane, but this was a daily occurrence. 007n7 would come (maybe with N0li), scare off all the customers and any interns, then revealed himself as if he was some sort of famous robloxian worthy of praise (and to many people he was, much to Elliot’s disdain).
Other employees around him, even the ones who were used to 007n7’s antics shyed and hid behind Elliot.
After a few brief moments of silence, the man himself pops up right in front of Elliot. Floating above ground with his arms crossed, a smug smile on his face.
“Y0u C4LL3d?” He asks, in that same annoying text quirk he always used.
Elliot rolls his eyes, “Don’t waste any more of my time.”
007n7 cackles, it’s annoying and glaringly obvious he’s playing it up more than he needs to. He’s trying to scare the employees and the customers that were trapped inside the lobby. Unfortunately, it works on everyone but Elliot. “Aw,” He coos. “I kN0w y0u m1ss3d m3!”
“That couldn’t be farther from the truth, asshole.” Elliot mutters the curse under his breath.
The hacker huffs, unmotivated by Elliot’s lack of cooperation. With a flick of his script he completely changes the skybox to advertise his hacking group, plastering the motto inside the pizzeria as well.
“Th1s pl4c3 c0uld us3 a littl3 m0re… pizzaz!”
007n7 summons skeleton NPCs, walking around and terrorizing the crowd. Then, as a little cherry on top, he throws in more subspace tripmines to cover the whole place in pink.
Behind the blocked doors, there’s someone banging on the other side. Two voices yell for an answer from the inside, from Elliot’s guess, they were probably admins.
007n7 doesn’t waste any time teleporting himself outside the pizzeria.
Elliot ran out the back doors, the ones not blocked by studs, finding 007n7 in the middle of the field, thankfully, surrounded by admins.
Builderman was always the first one on the scene, his hands on his hips and a face that said he wanted to be anywhere but here. Dusekkar silently stood behind Builderman, even if the pumpkin was hiding his face, his dissatisfaction emanated from his very being.
“SHIII##…..” 007n7 mumbled, quickly trying to swipe his script into view before it was blocked by Builderman.
The head admin walked up towards 007n7, “This is exhausting, you know that right?” He seethes at the hacker. “I waste so much of my time here dealing with you when I could be doing something that actually betters Robloxia.”
Continuous tapping came from 007n7, trying his best to get his hacks to work.
Elliot walked up to the hacker, placing a tentative hand on the back of his shirt. 007n7 flinched, hanging his head low, that stupid smirk still on his lips.
“Let me walk him to his house, if you can undo the damage inside, please.” Elliot asks.
Builderman and Dusekkar look at each other, muttering silently towards each other before Dusekkar shrugs.
“Okay, you sure you're going to be safe though, Elliot?” Dusekkar’s pumpkin head tilts. “You don’t even want us to send him to Banlands? We can call Doombringer here.”
Elliot feels the way 007n7 flinches under his touch just at the mention of the Banlands and Doombringer’s name.
The pizza boy smiles, he hears the shift of 007n7 moving away from his hand and looking towards Elliot with what looks like mercy. “Don’t worry about it, Dusekkar, I’m sure he doesn’t have the heart to do any real damage.”
“Y0u d0n’T h4v3 t0 W4lK m3 h0me,” 007n7 says once they’re out of earshot of Dusekkar and Builderman. “I c0uld eas1ly g3t 0ut of y0ur ha1r with th3 c00lgui…”
Elliot walks besides 007n7, keeping his distance while still maintaining watch of him. “First of all, please cut the weird talking.” The other man rolls his eyes. “Second, there’s always a chance you can just teleport back to the pizza place to wreck it again once Builderman and Dusekkar leave, I’m not taking that risk.”
“First of all, it’s called leetspeak.” Seven chides, speaking in his normal voice. It was the first time Elliot ever heard it without that weird autotune hurting his ears.
“Second of all, do you really think I’m that dumb? Builderass is gonna be surveying it like his life depends on it now that I’ve striked there.”
The hacker walks with his hands behind his head, as if destroying Elliot’s whole workplace meant nothing to him besides the thrill and the laugh. “Maybe I’ll go and torment Natural Disaster Survival, give you guys a little break.”
That’s always how it went. 007n7 would rotate the places that he would target, to make sure he always kept the admins on their toes. Elliot had learned his tricks and routine after long years of torment.
Elliot rolls his eyes, despite himself he feels his lips curving into a smile. “Wow, thanks so much. Will you be back in 3 to 5 business days?”
That gets a real laugh out of 007n7, “Nah, I’ll just walk in and order a pizza without a single hint of fooling around just to mess with you guys even more.”
Elliot snickers, it’s difficult not to fall for 007n7’s charm. It frustrates him, he’s supposed to be upset with the guy, not laughing alongside him.
He had always been a naturally polite person, and he never liked raising his voice unless he had gotten too frustrated to keep a smile on his lips. 007n7 always knew just what to do to break off that mask of kindness that Elliot had, no matter how hard he tried to keep it together in front of the crowd.
But Elliot doesn’t have it in him to ever truly get upset with 007n7. He’s angry, obviously, but he can never seem to just start yelling at the guy every time he causes trouble at his job.
“If you did happen to finally get your act together,” Elliot says, staring up at the bright afternoon sky. “I would be glad to serve you.”
007n7 cheek’s flush red, unsuccessfully trying to cover it up by fiddling with his pink rimmed glasses.
“I’m sure one bite of our pizza would change your mind on our place.” Elliot smiles, despite himself, he can’t even help his kindness towards the one person who deserves his hate.
Finally composed, 007n7 smirks back up at Elliot. “Everyone’s right about you, being kind is like second nature to you.”
“You have every right just to drag me to an alleyway and beat the SH#@ out of me… maybe even ask Doombringer to smash my head in with that hammer and sentence me to an eternity in Banlands with the rest of Robloxia’s scum.”
Elliot shakes his head, stopping with 007n7 in front of a small but clearly lived-in house. “It’s weird, isn’t it?”
“You have all the malice to make my life even more miserable, but you’ve been messing with our place less and less.”
The pizza boy fully turns to 007n7. “You’re letting yourself get caught, aren’t you?”
007n7 doesn’t say anything, but his bottom lip trembles and his face is red from embarrassment. He was clearly not ready to be called out by none other than Elliot Builder himself.
“I’ve seen the way you… just how you,” The hacker stutters with his words. “You always greet people with a smile, no matter how terrible your shift is going. I even saw you once giving out a free pizza to a family who was short on a dollar.”
“N0T Th4T I W4TCH Y0U 0N PURP0S3!1!1!1!!” The hacker quickly says, blushing more than he ever has during the walk to his house. “I just happen to see whenever I’m waiting for lunch rush to be over so no one’s in the middle of the pizzeria when I go and hack.”
Elliot smiles, flattered by how attentive 007n7 was to how he treated his customers. Everyone always told him he had great customer service, but they never saw the small details. Not to mention his lack of deliberately hurting civilians, he was certainly a nuisance, but he wasn’t a harmful nuisance. Elliot could laugh to himself about that little moral 007n7 seems to keep to himself.
Maybe there is something more to 007n7 than just being an asshole.
“Didn’t know a hacker had it in him to pay attention to someone else’s feelings.”
Much to Elliot’s amusement, 007n7 was so sheepish that he stared straight down at his black sneakers.
“0K I’LL S33 Y0U S00N, ELLIOT, BY3!1!1!1!!1”
The hacker runs to his front door and slams the door shut.
A smile forms on Elliot’s face as he catches 007n7 watching him through his front window. He waves and walks away back towards Builder Brother’s Pizzeria.
What a mess, the delivery boy mutters to himself.
When he returned to his workplace, Builderman and Dusekkar had already left, and the lobby was back in tip top shape. Just like Elliot had asked them for. Some of the customers had even come back, eating their pizza peacefully at the tables.
Elliot greeted his coworkers and headed to the back to the employees lounge. His dad was hunched over the coffee maker, pouring himself a fresh brew in his old white mug.
The delivery boy takes a deep breath, getting ready for whatever his dad had to scold him for this time.
“Elliot, I saw Builderman and Dusekkar fixing up the place when I got here.”
Elliot picks at the skin between his fingernails, “They were just helping me out.”
His father takes a sip from his mug, walking over to where Elliot was standing, sitting down next to him. “I saw the leftover pink residue on the floor, who was it this time?”
“Just 007n7, dad.”
“Shameful,” He mutters under his breath. “And here I thought he had finally found something useful to do with his life.”
Elliot shrugs. “People like that never change.”
“Why weren’t you here cleaning up?” Builder gets up from his seat, “Leaving it to two distinguished admin who have better things to do with themselves gives our establishment a bad look.”
”I was making sure 007n7 made it to his place so he wouldn’t come back.” Elliot’s voice raises, he avoids his father’s pointed glare. “Besides, the pizzeria was closed while they were cleaning, no one would’ve seen.”
“You have no business getting involved with low lives like that… scoundrel.” Elliot grits his teeth. “Leave the dirty work to the admins, your top priority should be running this place properly.”
Elliot still doesn’t respond. Staring down at his black shoes, the skin on his finger has been completely ripped off. He knows where this is going, his father will mention the passing on of his business down to his oldest son. When he’s gone, he wants to make sure that Elliot Builder will run the pizzeria exactly how he wants it.
“Elliot Builder,” His father begins, reaching out towards his son. “I want to make sure that you’re ready for the responsibility that will come when we pass this establishment down to you.”
Builder wraps his arms around Elliot, and slowly, Elliot hugs him back. “I’m sorry that I’m hard on you.”
The next time that 007n7 targets the pizza place, he starts it off subtly. Maybe the buttons where cashiers took people’s orders would change to all show cheese pizzas, or the tv screens above the counter would flicker and Elliot would swear that he saw the words “Did you miss me?” on it.
Elliot didn’t think much of it at first, he smiled at the thought of 007n7 snickering to himself changing the screens in the pizzeria, that same red and black holograph lighting up his pale face.
A couple of more orders are boxed and delivered and the front door jingles as someone walks in to the front counter. Elliot, swift as always, is the first to greet the customer. His usual customer service smile is quickly replaced with confusion, but amusement still glimmers in his eyes.
“D1d y0u m1ss M3?” 007n7 asks.
He wore the same clothes he did when Elliot walked him home; the black shirt with a print of a cat, his baggy jeans that seemed to barely hang onto his hips without the help of his belt. This time his brown hair was combed down slightly under his hat, although the strands still seemed greasy, Elliot had to applaud the guy for his effort. Through his combed hair Elliot could see small protrusions that seemed to be red horns, he had never noticed that on 007n7 before.
If Elliot was a crazy man he would’ve thought that 007n7 was dressing to impress him.
The delivery boy smiles at the callback, “I thought you said you were going to walk in here without a hint of fooling around?”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” 007n7 smirks at Elliot. “Maybe you’re just going crazy, I barely walked in here.”
Elliot rolls his eyes, forcing his smile down to try and hide his excitement, “Well you can’t just walk in here and dawdle around, you have to at least order something.”
“Well, here’s the thing,” 007n7 shifts around on his feet. “Pizza isn’t really my go-to grease food,” The hacker points to the burger hat on his head, “I prefer burgers.”
“Well, bad luck then, Seven.” The nickname rolls off of Elliot’s tongue smoothly, and he savors the grin on 007n7’s face when he hears it. “You walked into a pizzeria.”
“Really? Then why does it show cheeseburgers on your menu?” 007n7 points to the screen above Elliot’s head.
When Elliot sees the screen, it takes half of his willpower to stop himself from laughing so loud that he catches his manager’s attention.
“Dude, you’re gonna have to change that, my manager’s gonna be so pissed off.” The pizza boy points to the large cheeseburger covering all the items on both screens, the words “order now!” beneath it.
“Let him be pissed off then, he can choke on my D1CK…”
Elliot shakes his head, he wholeheartedly agrees with 007n7, but he doesn’t have the heart to say anything crude.
With the conversation dying down, 007n7 thinks on his feet to keep that smile on Elliot’s face.
“But you’re not one for pissing people off,” The hacker swipes up that familiar red and black screen, and Elliot hopes he isn’t about to do something stupid. “How about a little help in the kitchen instead?”
A tap on his screen, and three freshly cooked pepperoni pizzas appear out of nowhere in front of the chefs, who look down at the table in disbelief.
“Wow,” Elliot gasps. 007n7 crosses his arms, a smug smile on his face at being able to amaze the delivery boy. “We could get through the lunch rush like a breeze with that power.”
“Not power, just pure coding, baby.” The pride in 007n7’s voice is glaringly obvious, but Elliot doesn’t mind. With another flick of his hand he takes two pizza slices, he hands one over to Elliot. “Taste it, it’s just like the original version.”
“Oh no, I can’t, I’m not supposed to eat on the job.”
But 007n7 doesn’t let up, he practically shoves the pizza slice in Elliot’s face. “Come on, you work your 4SS off every single hour of this grueling minimum wage job, you deserve a little treat.”
It doesn’t take much convincing, Elliot takes the pepperoni slice and without a second thought he bites into the food. 007n7 was right, it tasted just like their own.
“Good?” The hacker asks.
“Tastes just like the original, that's for sure.”
007n7 eats his own slice in 3 bites, wiping the crumbs with the back of his hand then cleaning that same hand with his jeans. Elliot can’t say that he isn’t too surprised that a notorious hacker and public enemy number one is somewhat of a slob.
“I see those old ovens of yours still give you trouble.” 007n7 swipes his script back into view, walking behind the counter next to Elliot. The delivery boy watches keenly.
In a second, the furnaces blast, the warning lights blinking at the dumbfounded chefs. They quickly pulled out crisp and fresh pizzas.
Elliot smiled at the sight, if 007n7 was more interested in helping out the pizza place then he doesn’t mind inviting over the man from time to time. Of course, only when his manager was off somewhere else.
The furnaces were still burning, the flames starting to envelop around the small kitchen. Every one of Elliot’s coworkers backed up slowly, nervous about the fire catching on their aprons. Though a bigger problem arose when a spark caught on the kitchen’s table, it was a small flame at first, but quickly spread throughout the whole corner of the table.
“Seven?” Elliot turned towards the guy, who was tapping sporadically on their holographic screen. “What’s going on? Turn it off!”
“There must be some sort of coding error or glitch,” 007n7 stammered, bringing up multiple screens to try and identify the problem.
Elliot turns back to the kitchen window. The fire was continuing to spread throughout the kitchen, there was no time to be standing around and trying to find a solution that would barely solve anything.
The pizza boy rushes to the back doors, the heat coming from the kitchen doors was suffocating. Black smoke had already started to drift through the hallways. He rushed all the cooks outside and walked up towards the flames, leaning down and trying to find the emergency shut off.
He finds it, but before he gets the chance to push it, an arm tugs him backwards off his feet.
“You’re going to burn yourself.” 007n7 hisses.
Elliot turns back to him, ready to yell his ear off before the hacker hands him a fire extinguisher. But by the time the delivery boy turns around and gets the hose ready, the flames are threatening to engulf the two.
“What the hell is going on?” A sharp voice sounds behind them. “Elliot, get out of there and call the fire department!”
007n7 flinches when he hears Elliot’s manager, that voice has kicked him out more times than Elliot could count off the top of his head.
Elliot is slow to his feet but once the shock wears off he pushes past his manager to the telephone at the front, he doesn’t bother explaining 007n7’s presence.
He can already envision the scolding he’ll get from his father once this whole fiasco is dealt with— the thought alone drowns out all the chaos that surrounds Elliot.
The fire hadn’t caused too much destruction, but the pizzeria would still have to be closed for repairs for a week at minimum. His father hadn’t even spared him a glance when he walked through the pizzeria, surveying the damage and already budgeting the money needed to repair everything.
Elliot goes home early that evening. Thankfully he didn’t live with his family anymore, so he could mope around his apartment without his father giving him disappointed stares from across the hallways.
The delivery boy arrives at his front doorstep, he glances down to search for his keys in his pocket when he notices a small white paper sticking out from under the welcome mat. He reaches down to pick it up, it’s blank on the front, but when Elliot turns it around there’s writing on the back.
It reads: “Hey Elliot, I’m super sorry about everything that happened today. If there’s anything I can do to help you know where to find me.” - Seven
Frustration washes over Elliot and he grips the paper so hard it threatens to tear in half. He moves his fingers to the corners of the small white paper to rip it before he stops himself. Looking down at it again and staring at the writing. He focuses on the “I’m super sorry”— 007n7 had drawn three lines under the phrase.
Elliot doesn’t throw the note away.
Lunch rush was dying down, and Elliot was slouched over in the employee break room. Fanning himself with his visor and wiping the sweat off his forehead.
After 007n7’s fuck-up years back, the pizzeria had reopened with vigor. People rushed in like never before, ordering like they had just gotten their hands on Builder Brother’s famous pizza and needed more. Elliot’s relationship with his father never healed after the whole situation, but he was grateful to be given another chance to prove his worth at the new establishment.
The front entrance ringed, Elliot jumped up from his chair and fixed his visor back on his head. Smoothing out his bright red uniform as he stood in front of the counter.
“Hello there, welcome to Builder Brother’s. May I take your— 007n7?!?”
At least, the man in front of him looked like the infamous hacker.
His usual unkempt hair was combed down and curled under his ears. The peach fuzz he had as a teenager was now fully grown into stubble on his chin and neck. His blue button up hugged his body perfectly, he had gained the perfect amount of weight, his shirts no longer hung off his waist. He had that perfect dad body, chubby, but not by too much.
Even his red horns had grown enough that his brown hair curled around the protrusions, but it seems he attempted to try and hide them with his hat, albeit unsuccessfully. His matching red devil tail curled around his leg to try and conceal it.
When he smiled, his teeth were no longer covered up by his dumb braces. “Hey Elliot, I know you or your father aren’t too happy to see me, but the little guy is hungry, and he won’t eat anything but your pizza.”
It takes Elliot a while to process everything so that he can form sentences. “Little guy?” His jaw hangs open.
007n7 smiles brightly, “Oh right, you haven’t met him yet!”
“This is c00lkidd!” 007n7 showed off a bright red toddler in his arms, the kid babbled and giggled. “c00lkidd, say hi to Elliot!”
c00lkidd just babbles on unsuccessfully, but 007n7 grins with each sound that the kid makes.
Elliot stares back at the toddler and 007n7. He was expecting the hacker to make a comeback at the pizza place but not like this.
If there was anyone in all of Robloxia who was the least likely to adopt a child out of the blue and actually have what it takes to raise them it would be without a doubt the man who stood right in front of Elliot now.
“c00lkidd?” Elliot says, “Like… your hacking group?”
“Baby names are difficult to come up with, alright?” 007n7 chuckles, though when he sees Elliot’s unamused face he quickly swallows his laugh, “I’ve retired from hacking just so you know— I'm putting my full attention on this little guy.”
“Do you even know how to raise a child?”
007n7 shrugs, “It can’t be too hard,” c00lkidd reaches over to the counter trying to mess with the buttons displaying food. “He isn’t too much trouble.”
c00lkidd manages to slip out of his dad’s grasp enough to press the buttons on Elliot’s tablet, he spams the pepperoni pizza button. 007n7 pulls him back quickly.
“Not too much trouble, huh?” Elliot says unamused, watching c00lkidd giggle mischievously.
The family of two made a very odd companionship. A retired hacker and his adopted son with bright red skin would surely garner stares from passersby, they were certainly already gaining attention at the pizza place.
“How did you even adopt him with your track record?”
“About that…” 007n7 trails off, “Somebody just left him on my doorstep one day and I didn’t have the heart to just leave him alone again at an adoption center with no guarantee that he’d be adopted just because of the way he looks.”
Elliot scoffs, unimpressed with the other’s sympathy, “You’ve certainly had a change of heart in just a few years.”
007n7 smiles sheepishly and all Elliot could do to prevent himself from lowering his mental walls that protected himself from this psycho was scoff and shake his head like a disappointed parent.
“Well I see your customer service has not changed one bit.” 007n7 says, “That winning smile still looks as good as ever.”
Elliot rolls his eyes and smiles begrudgingly at 007n7’s cheesy attempt at flirting, “You have a lot of nerve coming back to this pizza place when you’re blacklisted and flirting with the employee of the month.”
“What?! I never got told I was blacklisted?”
“I thought that it was obvious considering the amount of posters we put up around the pizzeria.”
007n7 glances around the lobby, looking at each blacklisted poster with his face plastered on the front.
“I can pay you extra for each order..?”
Elliot grits his teeth and places an order for a pepperoni pizza from his coworkers in the back, “Just don’t get yourself seen by my manager and it’ll be fine.”
“Elliot.” 007n7 suddenly reaches across the counter and grasps Elliot’s hand gently. c00lkidd also tries to lean down and grab at the pizza boy’s hand, babbling gleefully. “Thank you, really. I promise I’ll prove to you how much I’ve changed— for you and for this lil’ guy right here.”
Elliot doesn’t have to look up to see the sappy look on 007n7’s face. He already feels his soft brown eyes burning into Elliot’s very being and making the fluster on his face much more worse than it already is.
He breaks away from 007n7’s warm hand, “Don’t cause me more trouble than you’ve already have, Seven.”
There’s something so different in the way 007n7 carried himself, Elliot noticed it in the way he talks and how he walks. Younger 007n7 wouldn’t have acknowledged the bad past between the hacker and Elliot, his attempt at flirting would’ve been much more embarrassing. Hell— younger 007n7 wouldn’t have even thought twice about taking in a small child.
When he feeds c00lkidd pieces of pepperoni pizza, watching as his son chew with delight, he stares down with a softness Elliot has never seen before in him.
007n7 continues to bring over c00lkidd to the pizza place for the next few days, days turn into weeks and weeks eventually turn into months. Elliot would question if c00lkidd was being fed solely pizza but decides against it, the man was a first time father.
Elliot had been watching c00lkidd grow up alongside 007n7. He was the first to hear some of c00lkidd’s first words, which included ‘papa’ and ‘pizza’ much to 007n7’s delight.
“Seems he’s good with his p’s.” Elliot had remarked as c00lkidd continued to babble on the two words that were getting him attention.
“I just can’t believe it.” 007n7 squealed. “He was always such a babbler as a baby, but he’s never tried to speak actual words!”
Elliot smiled, 007n7’s mood was rubbing off on the pizza boy.
After that day, when c00lkidd wobbled up to the counter (because he had also learned how to walk in the span that 007n7 had been bringing him over to the pizza place), he always started to babble his two favorite words. Trying his best to order the pizza himself as he struggled to keep his body weight slumped over the counter.
“Hi, Mr. Elliot!”
Elliot was lazing around with his back to the front entrance when a young high pitched voice greeted him. He turned around confused, “Hello?”
It was c00lkidd, grinning brightly up at him. “Good morning!”
“Where’s your dad?” c00lkidd had walked in the pizzeria all by himself, Elliot can’t even see 007n7 trying to catch up to his son in the windows.
c00lkidd prances around the mostly empty lobby, “He didn’t wake up when I jumped on his bed so I decided to walk over here by myself like a big boy!”
“Daddy says that I’m getting old enough to do things on my own now!”
“c00lkidd,” Elliot sighs. “Do you know your father’s phone number?”
“Oh my goodness, c00lkidd what are you doing here?” 007n7 rushed towards c00lkidd’s side, hastily checking his son’s face and arms for any disturbances.
“I wanted to get pizza for you so you didn’t have to wake up, dad!” c00lkidd pulls away from 007n7 and beams up at him with pride.
007n7’s grin is sheepish with fatherly pride, he turns to Elliot, “Thank you so much, Elliot.”
“I’m so sorry if he caused you any trouble while I was gone.”
“No, no, not at all.” Elliot says, “He was just running around the lobby and watching the cooks in the kitchen.”
c00lkidd tugs on his father’s sleeve, “Can we get pizza now, papa?”
“Sure kidd, let me just get my wallet,” 007n7 reaches down to his pockets but comes up empty.
“Here, papa!” c00lkidd hands 007n7 his wallet with delight, “I took it so I could pay for the pizza!”
007n7 sighs, “Thank you, kiddo.”
From that day on, Elliot had 007n7’s phone number saved on his phone for whenever the father was too busy with c00lkidd to go to the pizzeria together to pick up lunch. Elliot made personal deliveries to their residence as the other employees were way too terrified to even come close to 007n7. Elliot tells himself he does it because he could use the extra money, but none of his coworkers seem to buy the excuse.
One morning, Elliot had gotten a text from 007n7. Not surprising, but it was a little late in the morning, it was getting closer to lunchtime rather than breakfast.
Elliot packed the pizza and got started driving over to 007n7’s address, the father didn’t live far from the pizzeria– maybe that’s why he always targeted the pizza place in his exploiter days– Elliot thinks. The neighborhood is familiar to Elliot, the houses are packed full with families whose kids always enjoy their pizza on weekends. Including 007n7’s house.
The delivery boy unpacks the pizza off the back of his moped, he wastes no time striding his way up to the front door and ringing the bell. Being swift and nice was his employee motto after all!
The front door opens, and an extremely exhausted and shirtless 007n7 opens the door.
“Oh, Elliot,” 007n7 grumbles, scratching the back of his head as he yawns. “Sorry, c00lkidd barely woke me up to tell me that he ordered pizza.”
Elliot’s brain short-circuits, 007n7’s body was… enticing.
Of course, the man had chub to him, garnered by the years of softening that fatherhood brought, but it was the type of chub that you feel obligated to run up to and embrace. His waist was still curved and his biceps were fattened just right. Body hair ran down his chest all the way to his belly.
“Seven?” Elliot forces himself to look away. “Put a shirt on, man.”
“Huh?” 007n7’s voice still has the edge of sleepiness in it, it makes Elliot’s brain fry even hotter than it already is right now. “Oh! Sorry… you can place the pizza on the table, I’ll go grab my wallet.”
007n7 cracks the door open as he unceremoniously shuffles himself into one of the rooms in the back, his tail swinging across the carpeted floor.
Elliot composes himself before stepping into the home. He’s never been inside before, only ever getting glimpses whenever c00lkidd pushed past his father and grabbed the pizza box out of Elliot’s hands before 007n7 even had the chance to pay.
The living room is littered with all sorts of toys and crayons, no doubt belonging all to c00lkidd. Elliot is too busy staring down at the mess that he doesn’t notice 007n7 walking out of his room with a navy blue shirt on.
“c00lkidd!” 007n7’s voice makes Elliot jump slightly and he rushes to place the pizza on the dining table. “I thought I told you to clean your toys off the floor before bedtime!”
The kid in question runs down the stairs, still wearing his drakobloxxer styled pajamas. “But you said I could stay up to finish my block castle!”
“That doesn’t mean you just leave it there until morningtime.”
c00lkidd huffs and stomps his feet on the ground, frustrated with his father’s nagging about cleaning up after himself.
“How about this bud, you can go and set the table and once we’re done eating I’ll help you clean up, alright?” 007n7 says gently, bending down and placing a hand to calm down a flustered c00lkidd.
The kid’s reaction is immediate, he perks up and quickly runs to the kitchen to start placing down plates and cups for everyone.
007n7 sighs, “Sorry about that, I’m still teaching him about clean-up time.”
Elliot chuckles softly, watching c00lkidd climb up on countertops to grab plates. “Just as stubborn as his father, I see.”
“Guess I have no one to blame but myself,” 007n7’s signature sheepish smile graces his lips. “I’m always getting calls from his teachers about how rowdy he can be sometimes.”
“Sounds like a son of yours alright.” Elliot says.
“He’s way better at his academics than I was back in the day, if you want to count differences as well.” 007n7 watches closely as c00lkidd places each plate down on the table. “I’m so proud of him, he’s come so far considering what he has to go through at school.”
Elliot looks at 007n7, the father stares at his son with such pride, but Elliot sees the flickers of somberness in his glassy eyes. He wonders if he’s the only one in Robloxia to truly notice the emotion in 007n7’s eyes. What was Elliot thinking? It didn’t matter whether or not he could differentiate the conflicting feelings in an ex-exploiter that almost ruined his workplace!
“What do you mean?” Elliot asks.
”Oh you know how kids can be sometimes,” 007n7 says, “Bullying and teasing others just for the way they look.”
“If they think c00lkidd looks odd I wonder what they’ll think when they see the admins that run this city.” Elliot jokes, getting a laugh out of 007n7. “If you don’t mind me asking, why is he red?”
007n7 crosses his arms, “Doctors say it’s just an odd deformity in his skin, c00lkidd calls it being c00l.”
Elliot giggles, and 007n7 smiles brightly back at him.
c00lkidd runs back into the living room abruptly, “I can’t reach the pizza box, dad!”
“Come on then, kiddo.” 007n7 leads c00lkidd back to the kitchen, “I’ll help you out.”
Together, c00lkidd and his father finished setting the table. c00lkidd grabs his own pizza slice and digs in straight away, spilling melted cheese and pepperonis on the floor. 007n7 watches fondly, swiping off any pieces of food that might’ve fallen on his son’s face with his thumb.
It’s a surreal feeling, when you see the person you hate (or as much hate that Elliot can have in his heart), treating another with such love that you’ve never seen in them before. 007n7’s never been a loving kind of person, spite always laced the corners of his smirk and made the glint in his eyes all the more brighter.
Now, that glint in his eyes is much softer. Elliot catches himself smiling along as if he was a part of the family, he wipes it off his face along with his embarrassed blush.
“I should get going.” Elliot doesn’t mean to interrupt, but he feels as if he’s intruding on an intimate moment. “It was nice serving you.”
007n7 lifts his head, that same soft glint in his eyes staring right back at Elliot.
“Thank you so much, hope we didn’t give you too much trouble for it being so late in the morning.” The father says sweetly.
“Yes, thank you Mr. Pizza Boy!” c00lkidd interrupts, mouth full of melted cheese and pepperonis.
“c00lkidd!” 007n7’s face reddens with embarrassment, “He has a name, son.”
Elliot chuckles, “It’s fine.”
c00lkidd doesn’t understand why he had gotten called out, but Elliot’s reassurance brings his smile back to his face. Perhaps Elliot shouldn’t have interjected, but the boy was too cute to be reprimanded for such a small mistake.
Elliot starts to make his way towards the front door, turning the knob and placing his left foot onto the pavement before a hand grips onto his right forearm.
The delivery boy looks up to see who had stopped him only to see 007n7 digging through his front pocket, most likely trying to find his wallet.
The proximity drives Elliot crazy, 007n7’s soft brown hair brushes against the tip of Elliot’s chin and he can hear the father’s slow breathing. He sees the gentle rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathes in and out.
By the time 007n7 hands Elliot the money– his warm, soft hands grazing over Elliot’s– the pizza boy is so disoriented that he drops some of the dollar bills and coins.
“Elliot?” 007n7 yells after the pizza boy, who’s rushing back to his moped, stuffing the money that had stayed in his hand in his pockets. “You dropped some of your money!”
What the hell was he doing? Acting like he was a part of this inherently messed up family and getting his panties in a twist from seeing the man who ruined his life by destroying his job. He didn’t deserve to be swooned over as if he was some saint.