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I gasp. “No.”

Adrien looks genuinely puzzled, holding the worn stuffed rabbit by one droopy ear. “You forgot her, didn’t you?”

“No! I left her at home on purpose.”

“Why?”

“Because I am going to college, Daddy.”

“And?”

“And Rabbit does not need to go to college.”

He looks down at the toy, then back at me, one eyebrow raised slightly. “You took her the first three days.”

I blush. “Inside my bag. Where nobody could see.”

“So just do that then.”

“But what if somebody sees now?”

“Nobody cares, baby.”

“I care.”

Her little black bead eyes seem to hold generations of comfort as he holds her out toward me.

I hesitate, biting the inside of my cheek, then sigh. “Fine.”

I unzip my backpack and tuck her deep inside where she won’t be visible.

Adrien smiles, something warm and unguarded in his expression.

“You’re impossible,” I tell him.

“So I’ve been told.”

I zip the bag shut and look back at him. Something about his expression has changed. His smile is still there, but it seems… sad.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Daddy.”

He reaches across the space between us and gently smooths my hair back from my forehead. “Just looking at you.”

My chest tightens, a familiar ache spreading beneath my ribs. I know that look now too—the distant focus, the slight downward tilt of his mouth, the way his eyes go soft around the edges.

It’s the same one he wears when he stands in front of the shelf in our living room.

The one with Dad’s flag, their Purple Hearts, photographs of them together when they were younger, and some of just me and Adrien.

Adrien brushes his thumb along my temple. The gesture is so familiar by now that it feels like part of my own body.

“Your dad would lose his fucking mind if he could see you.”

My vision blurs instantly, heat prickling behind my eyes. “That’s mean.”