A Human and a Stork (Storks Fanfic)

What's with the name?

I'll be starting a short oneshot series that all connect with each other starting with this one. I really hope you liked it. Let me know in the comments. Some oneshots are funny, some are sad. Just saying. Enjoy.

Tulip sighed and took off the sweat from her forehead. Her tired eyes glanced at her finished work. With a nod, she left the room to go get some lunch.

The lunch room was filled with, what anyone would expect, birds. Especially storks. With tray at hand, she scanned the room to find one particular stork. A stork that went by the name Junior. He was her boss and her best friend. Finally she saw him sitting in a corner faraway from the crowd with his food and some documents, probably overworking himself. Again.

Tulip smiled and walked towards him. "Hey, Junior."

Junior looked up. "Oh, hey, Tulip. How are you today?"

"I'm fine, thanks." She said as she sat down. "Overworking yourself to death again?"

Junior blushed. He was a little embarrassed about it and put his work aside. "Yeah, sorry..."

"Hey, it's ok. Just try not to work too much. You're not a robot."

"I know." He resumed eating. "How's your family?"

"They're good. I'll go to a baseball game with dad and my siblings next week."

"Nice..."

"You don't like baseball, do you?"

"I'm more of a ping pong kind of guy."

"Why?"

"Good exercise for the wings, I guess." He said as he flexed his muscles.

Tulip tried to avoid glancing at the strong wings. No success there. "Wait, you play?"

"Yeah, I do, but not on professional level-" He was interrupted.

"You should come and visit my family with me next week! Dad plays ping pong, I'm sure you both will get along just fine"

"I'm don't know, I have a lot of work to do..."

"Don't be silly, they'll love you."

"Well, fine, I guess..."

Tulip and Junior ate silently and looked out of the window. "Junior," Tulip said. "I've been meaning to ask you, what's your name?"

Junior looked at her with a confused expression. "What do you mean?"

"Junior isn't a name just like that. That means you have another name, maybe your father's name-"

"Stop." Junior said with authority, but not loud enough for others to hear him.
Tulip stopped in mid sentence. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Junior poked at his food with the fork.

"Come on, I'm your friend. Is it an embarrassing name, don't worry, I won't make fun of you. I actually like the name Bartolomeo. Or if you have second name, why not use that one?"

"It's not that Tulip. Most birds here don't know about it and I prefer it to stay like that."

"Alright, but why don't you want to tell me?"

Junior sighed. He looked down at his food, deep in thought.

"Junior, you're worrying me."

Junior looked up. "Let's go to your workshop." He stood up and grabbed his tray. Tulip followed.

Her workshop was messy, but she had grown fond of it. Tulip walked in and let Junior inside. She closed the door and turned towards him. "Junior, if this is too much of a deal, then it's OK if you don't want to tell me"

"Hunter."

"I know Hunter is gone, why are you mentioning him?"

Junior sighed and turned to face the human. "My name is Hunter Junior." He looked down. "Hunter was my father. Or at least, my gene donator. I don't feel proud about my name, so I just go with Junior. Nobody asked why and I'm thankful for that."

Tulip stared. "Hunter... was your father...?"

Junior nodded. "He insisted I called him Hunter, not dad. And he was always working, so I never really got to know him. And he will forget about me most of the time. Then turns out he was willing to risk the lives of thousands of babies so his company stood tall and proud. And he almost managed to get us killed..." Junior played mindlessly with some tools. "You asked once why I wanted to be boss and I answered that I didn't know, but I did know. I thought that I could make him finally notice me and finally call me son instead of addressing me like one of his employees." He cleaned a tear. "I just wanted him to be proud... so yeah, I don't like my name much."

" I think it's a great name, just not from the bird we like."

Junior nodded. Tulip embraced him like there was no tomorrow. "Now, don't worry. Just cry. Let it all go."

Junior at first tried to contain his tears, but eventually, he just crumbled there and hugged her back.

"I feel alone, Tulip..." he sobbed.

"Hey, you're not alone! You got me and your friends! What else would you want? Hey... it's ok" Tulip gave him a tissue to dry off his tears. "Now clean yourself or people will definitely ask questions."

Junior smiled and took the tissue. He cleaned his face off and smiled back at her. "Tulip, thanks for listening."

"What are girlfrie- I mean- friends are for?" Tulip nervously smiled. 'Nice save, girl'

Junior smiled and walked back towards the door. "You were right on something else, though." He said.

"About what?"

Junior blushed. "I do have a second name. Gabriel."

Tulip gasped. "Why don't you go for that name instead?"

"I would, but everybody calls me Junior, so I don't see why I should change it now."

Tulip smiled. "Alright, but now that I know your name is Gabriel, I claim rights to call you that!"

"Really? You're claiming rights?"

"Yes."

Junior tried to hide his blush with the door. "Yeah, sure, whatever..." and then he left.

Tulip smiled and blushed. Gabriel was a name that fitted him just fine, but Junior was still a better name.

This is based on a headcanon i have that Junior is Hunter's biological son, but never really treated him like one. Expect more to come.