#if the timeline is linear bradley was 17 when the move got realised so yeah he could have given the papers to ice

[pollyna]

Tom is fifty-one when he enters a tattoo parlour for the first time. He says "Hello, I'm here to fix an appointment for a tattoo", showing the girl behind the desk two pictures of a robot. He walks out, ten minutes later, with $100 of deposit left behind and an appointment for two weeks from that moment.

(To be there at that time, he has to reschedule half of the meetings and the hirings that day so that his secretary looks at him like he lost his mind for the rest of the day.)

(At the tattoo patrol, Mindy signs the appointment as "Tom the hot dilf", Caleb laughs, "So you want this one?" and Mindy answers, "If you don't let me tattoo him, I'm going to make sure you're not available that day." All smiles and sunshine

(Mindy can be scary when she wants.)

It's Wednesday, and Tom is early, but what's new about that? Mindy is already waiting for him, a cup of coffee between her hands while she explains her ideas for the tattoos he showed her.

"What's the story behind this?" she asks, while she starts tracing the lines on Tom's body.

"I'm-" Tom starts before stopping once and then a second time.

"Sorry, I'm noisy. Don't feel like you have to share." She smiles, biting the inside of her cheek, trying not to blush too much.

"No, it's not a problem. I'm not very used to talking about this stuff with strangers," he answers a couple of seconds later, making a strange expression when the needles trace over a particularly sensitive area on his skin. "I'm in the Navy, and I'm gay. I thought that the Navy would have been my whole life, with nothing behind it, and if something was not surely the family I wanted, then something happened, and I got the whole package: a husband and baby. We were watching the iron giant when he presented me with the papers to legally become his dad. A little after that, he walked out our door, and I hadn't seen him for ten years. And now I'm in a position comfortable enough to get a tattoo because the only person who's going to ask me to strip when I'm at work is my doctor, and I know him for long enough; he won't rattle me out," he finishes, laughing softly. "I hope—I know getting inked won't solve the situation, but I hope my boy will like it whenever he sees it."

Mindy has to stop working to pick up a couple of tissues for Tom and herself.

"I'm sure he is going to love it."

"I really hope so; I really do."

(Mindy gives a brownie to Tom with all the instructions on how to take care of the tattoo, and she gets to give him a hug too, just before he walks out of the shop. When Tom hugs her back, she thinks the guy, whoever he is, must have been the luckiest son of a bitch because her dad never gave him such a food hug.

Three years later, a tall, curly guy walks in, followed by a man she is sure she has already seen somewhere.

"Tom!" She smiles. "It's unfair how you got even hotter since the last time I saw you," she says, all cheeky and smiley.

A man behind Tom, whom she hadn't noticed before, laughs. "Yeah, Tom, you get unfairly hot for sure," he says, looking at the man, batting his long eyelashes, and smiling all sweetly at him.

"Please, dads, not here too," the taller guy says, a hand already covering his face. "Can you guys stop flirting for two seconds? Please?"

"To be fair, I would flirt with him too, and even more openly, if he were my husband," Mindy answers. "So you're the kid?"

"Yeah," he says, a hand flying to his pocket. "I would like to take an appointment to have this tattooed."

He says this, showing her a drawing of a bolt.

"I have a spot now, if you want. One client cancelled their appointment yesterday."

The guy smiles at her before turning to the two men. "You don't have to stick around; I can take a cab home after."

"Nah, baby goose, we will get cosy on the couch and wait for you," the short man answers before taking Tom's hand in his and turning towards the couch.

"See you later, baby goose," Tom adds, a hand on his cheek. "We're going where you left us."

The guy smiles softly, almost a little lost. "I see you later than, papa."

The last thing Mindy sees before closing the door behind them is Tom kissing the other man's forehead while his hands rest over the place Mindy tattooed Tom years ago.