A hand bops his nose and Sam snorts, then quickly looks up, embarrassed. He sees the same cheeky grin that still brings a dimpled smile to his face and the same sparkling eyes that still brings a happy crinkle to his own. "Hi Jess. So what's your reason for cutting my study today?"
Jess holds up a dusty book, edged with gold, a faded illustration on the front. "Some study of my own. Put down the textbook, Sammy-boy."
He exaggerates a sigh and carefully lays the book down on the dresser. Jess promptly sits on his lap and he pretends to grunt and pokes her belly. She swats him with the book. "What's that?" he asks, curious, and he snatches it.
She yelps. "Give it back!" She snatches it back and puts a finger on his nose, watching his eyes cross as he looks at it. "My book. You listen."
He smirks and says, "Yes, ma'am." He butts the side of her head with his own and rests his chin on her shoulder. "Begin your lecture."
"Well, you know how we've talked about a family, and kids, and stuff?" Her eyes are a bit wider as she looks at him and he breaks into a small smile as he realises she's anxious that she's moving too fast.
"Yeah," he says softly. "White picket fence and all." He kisses her cheek, and she grins again.
"I know it's early, but I really wanted us to refamiliarise ourselves with all these fairy tales so we can, you know, tell the kids stories at bedtime. It's nicer if we tell them and don't read them, you know? I mean, we know them already, but the there's always the finer details we'll have forgotten in our old age..." She trails off as she looks at him. He's fidgeting. "What's wrong?"
"Idnothm," he mumbles.
"Huh?"
"I don't know them," he repeats, louder, his cheeks flushing red. "I never had time for bedtime stories as a kid. My brother read me comic books..." He trails off too. "I dunno anything about Snow Ella and the Seven Cinders or whatever they're called."
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," she corrects. "And Cinderella."
"And Hantle and Grosell, or the pumpkin thing, all those, I didn't grow up with them. I grew up with, um, other stories."
"Hansel and Gretel. And the pumpkin thing is also Cinderella."
"Shaddup." He wrinkles his nose. "Tell them to me."
"Wait," says Jess. "You really don't know any of them?"
He shrugs.
"Didn't you watch Disney films?"
He laughs bitterly. "Are you kidding me? As if Dad would have-" He stops.
"Sam?"
"S'nothin'," he mumbles.
She shakes her head disbelievingly. "You never saw Beauty and the Beast."
"That sounds like it's about bestiality. Is it about bestiality?"
"Mulan."
"Is that a mushroom?"
"Finding Nemo."
"Did Disney make a spin-off of '20 000 Leagues'?"
"Aladdin?"
"A lad in what?"
"The Jungle Book."
Sam pauses. "I have no idea how to interpret that title."
Jess rolls her eyes. "Tarzan?"
"Tars and what? Does tar have a plural?"
"Winnie the Pooh?"
Sam wrinkles his nose. "Winning the poo? What kind of game were they playing?"
"Dumbo?"
"What did you just call me?"
"Bambi."
"What the heck is that?"
"Sleeping Beauty?"
"That doesn't sound appropriate at all."
"Ugh!" Jess throws her hands up. "We are gonna do some serious research."
Sam perks up at the word but wilts as she clambers off his lap and heads to the door. "Wait, where are you going?" he asks, sounding lost, and she looks at him. He looks like a kicked puppy. "Are you going to the library?" he asks in a small voice. "Can I come?"
"We are going to the video store," says Jess, "and you have to come because I need your credit card and your arms. We have a lot of movies to rent."
A/N: I've been working through a truly dreadful block, and everything I write just turns out horrid. This is still a bit dumb but it's probably the best thing I've written in ages, which is quite sad. Anyway, enjoy.
(Also, I realise that Sam would probably be familiar with some of those stories as some are based on legends and books, etc, but let's pretend he wouldn't for entertainment's sake.)