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Jimmy knew he was in for trouble when he saw a kid hanging around the train.
He caught a glimpse of them in the corner of his eye as he slammed on a bolt to nail the rails firmly in place. The morning sun warmed his already hot skin, not helping the sweat running from his arms and forehead. No clouds were around to provide him or the others working on the railroad any shadows.
They disappeared as soon as Jimmy laid eyes on them and he straightened up to get a better look. He frowned, sending his deputy a quick glance. The man had seemingly already noticed the kid. He too stopped with his work and dropped his hammer. His back popped when he stretched and he groaned at the heat.
Jimmy eyed the man for a second. “Scar, put your shirt back on.” Then he nodded towards the train, and the head that peeked around the edge. “That one of ours? Shouldn’t be hanging around the train.”
His deputy shrugged. The mentioned shirt hung by the train but Scar made no move to grab it.
A deep sigh escaped him. Where was the kid’s mother? Surely he’d warned his people enough to let them know not to get too close to the train while things were still under construction. He laid his hammer down, wiped the sweat from his brow to swipe it against his grimy shirt and stepped onto the sand to find the kid.
He didn’t know how he’d missed the strikingly white toga or the wings on his back and feet. But his steps stuttered as rounded the corner and saw the kid. This wasn’t a kid from Tumble Town. They came from Stratos.
They weren’t just any kid either. He didn’t need to look twice to recognise the son of Joel and Sausage. Hermes.
“Oh-” he stopped himself to look around. If the kid was here, either father couldn’t be far. But he looked, and he turned around, and he scanned the horizon. Neither Joel nor Sausage were anywhere to be found. “Where’s your dads?”
The kid just stared up at him. Mouth sealed, hands folded behind their back, purple eyes wide.
Right, the kid never spoke. “Is Joel around?” A shake of their head. “Or Sausage?” Another shake of their head. He stopped his mouth from falling open. “Are you here alone?”
The kid smiled and shook their head a third time. From their satchel, they grabbed hold of something and pulled it out carefully. They hugged it to their chest and shyly looked back up to him. It was a toy. A toy resembling him. With a sheriff hat, badge and boots, complete with button eyes and string coming out of the back.
He had to take a deep breath to stop himself from seething and glaring down at the kid. It wasn’t the kid’s fault. They didn’t know any better. Joel had started the thing.
So he forced a smile on his face and kneeled down in front of Hermes. “I see. Is he watching over you?”
They nodded, holding the toy by its hands.
Jimmy wanted to sigh. He had duties to attend to, but he couldn’t just leave the kid to fend for themselves. He couldn’t leave them with a random mother from Tumble Town either. Everyone was busy this time of the week and Hermes had to be watched with a careful eye.
“Okay then, what do we do with you?” he mumbled, mostly to himself. His eyes moved over the town. They fell on the horses by the stables, on his own specifically. He had yet to take care of them. So he hummed and offered Hermes a smile. “Do you want to see what a real Sheriff does during the day?”
Their eyes lit up brighter than the sun. It melted his heart right away and he took back everything he’d said about the kid. He would protect them with his life.
“You’ll be my deputy for the day, I’m sure Scar won’t mind. Come on.” He hesitated a moment to hold out his hand but Hermes grabbed it as soon as he did, holding tightly onto three of his fingers.
It turned out Hermes didn’t mind the burning heat of the sun. After they’d taken care of the horses — turned out Bullseye liked them even more than Jimmy did — and scraping together lunch for the both of them, even Jimmy had to tap out. The sun had moved to stand high in the sky without a cloud to give some relief from the onslaught.
Hermes finished his juice and just ran out to play in the sand. They’d even taken out a donkey toy he recognised as Jeremy from their satchel to play with their sheriff. Jimmy on the other hand, sagged in his chair and sighed out a deep breath as he battled the heat.
When the worst of it had gone, he took Hermes to show them the church and prison. They were most excited to see the cells inside the prison, despite there being no criminals to inhabit them. They showed their toy sheriff everything Jimmy explained too. The smile on his face became more real each minute he spent with them.
Then came the moment that the sky started to darken. Jimmy looked up, hand over his eyes to shield from the glare, and looked to the mountains. The sun still hovered over the peaks but came dangerously close to touching them. Hermes had to go home or stay the night. Despite them coming all this way on their own, he hesitated to send them back alone too.
He took them to the train where he’d found them earlier that day. Scar and the others were still hard at work but at the sight of the Sheriff, his deputy paused his work and came running. “Still no sign of their fathers?”
He shook his head. “I can’t just let them fly home alone. I- that’s dangerous. I’ll find a bed from somewhere or give them mine and they’ll stay the night.”
“Why didn’t you just bring them home when you found them?” Scar crossed his arms over his still bare chest but Jimmy couldn’t find it in himself to say something about it this time.
And he’d raised a very good question. Swallowing, he glanced at Hermes who was observing the train and tracks. “I should’ve. Stratos is hours away from here if I took Bullseye. Sanctuary is another story but … yeah, I should’ve.”
Scar only started to grin. “You don’t need to explain yourself to me, Sheriff. I knew you didn’t hate the kid. You can just bring them home tomorrow, no big deal.”
He let his shoulders relax. “Yeah, of course.”
At that exact moment, something collided with the sand behind them. In unison the trio turned around, Jimmy instinctively pushing Hermes behind him a little. But the fear went as quickly as it came when he recognised the massive form of none other than Joel himself.
“Where?” the god boomed. His fists were clenched by his side and his eyes sparked yellow with lightning. “Where’s my son?”
“Relax, drama queen. They’re right here.” He fought a sigh.
Joel’s eyes snapped over to him and then to Hermes behind him. Instantly the anger and lightning dissipated. The god shrunk in size right in front of them as he marched over. “Oh Hermes, what were you thinking? I was- we were so worried when we couldn’t find you!”
Hermes at least looked guilty as they were picked up. Joel hugged them tight and breathed out in relief. “I’m so glad you’re okay. No one hurt you, right?” With that he sent an accusing glare to Jimmy.
“Nothing nor nobody harmed them, I personally made sure of that,” Jimmy said, staring back with the same piercing stare. Scar excused himself quietly from the presence of the two emperors. “I watched over them all day. They were safe .”
Joel looked away then. His hand caressed Hermes’ back gently. “Thanks,” he said. It sounded like it cost effort to say, but Jimmy would take it at this point. At least he wasn’t being made fun of. “We need to go home to make it before sunset. Bye.”
He said nothing else before he left together with Hermes. Jimmy waved at Hermes. They waved back and smiled brightly. As soon as the god and demigod left the city, Jimmy started missing the kid.
“You’ve ruined my son.” Jimmy glanced up against the sun to see a rather pissed looking Joel. Not pissed enough to destroy the entire town with lightning, but pissed enough that he took a step back.
He let his hammer fall into the sand and buttoned his shirt back up. In the presence of a god, he couldn’t get away with looking sweaty and dirty even if he’d been hard at work.
“What?” he stammered out as soon as the sentence actually registered in his mind.
Joel scoffed, stepped aside and pointed towards his son. His son who now had a hat not unlike his own but slightly too big for their head. His son who wore a golden but clearly fake badge on their chest. His son who held a lasso and failed at swinging it properly. They were trying though, their focus on a poor cactus that hadn’t done anything wrong.
He couldn’t keep himself from laughing. “I’ve ruined your son? I actually think they might be better off this way. Little deputy Hermes. Has a ring to it, don’t you think?”
He grinned at the way Joel’s fingers twitched with electricity.
“It’s not funny. They’re obsessed with the whole cowboy thing now and it’s your fault.”
He shook his head, heart filled with amusement and adoration. “Should’ve watched where they left to,” he mumbled and coughed into his fist to hide his laugh.
Joel’s head whipped around to him at neck-breaking speed. Somewhere far away, thunder rumbled. Jimmy wasn’t scared of him though. Not this time. Finally he had something to tease Joel with.
“They even call you uncle when they’ve met you only, what? Two times? Three? It makes no sense. But when I tell them not to do that they get mad! What did you say to them? Is this magic?”
He shrugged. “I just showed them around and they loved it. Maybe they were just bored of your white halls and temples and wanted to see some colour and sand. The life of a cowboy is a little more exciting than that of a god. Just a little.” He pinched his fingers together to show how little, but then widened the gap until it was as wide as his fingers could go.
Joel stared at him with the most unamused expression he could muster. “I hate you. You’re not their uncle. We’re not staying for long.”
They ended up staying until the sun had fallen well below the horizon. They ate by the campfire and he even showed Hermes how to cook the food like a real desert-dweller. All the citizens were careful but sweet towards both them and Joel. Slowly during his stay, Joel softened up. Jimmy even caught him genuinely smiling as he spoke with some of the Tumble Town residents.
Hermes yawned as they sat next to Jimmy and watched the fire. He extended the blanket given to him by Scar and wrapped Hermes into it. His heart melted more into a puddle when they leaned their head against his shoulder.
He didn’t mind the new title of Uncle Sheriff, not in the slightest.