I am beyond thrilled about this chapter for three reasons. One, it's just been so exciting to have my mojo back for writing these chapters, I feel super pumped. Two, this is a Shiloh-centric chapter, and I love her. Shiloh is my OC who originally existed to date Louie but then I diagnosed him with gay and then I diagnosed her with gay and so I write her as May's partner, with her and Louie dating for a bit in high school before they realized they were gay. So they have this very close friendship, joking and "flirting" all the time.
Third and most important, this chapter is dedicated to my wonderful friend Sally (ablesisters on ao3) because it's her birthday! Happy Birthday, my love!
Shiloh held the giggling toddler, tickling him as he squealed and begged for daddy to save him, while Boyd took a video on his phone instead of saving his son.
"I'm gonna eat you!" Shi threatened, blowing raspberries on Mo's stomach.
"Nooooo! I don't taste good!"
"I think you taste yummy," Shi argued, opening up her mouth wide, teasing, her eyes widening in surprise when Mo stuck his little fist in her mouth. Ew.
"Okay, okay, I was wrong. You taste bad, little stink bug."
"I'm a cuddle bug," Mo argued as Shiloh set him down. He immediately latched on to daddy's legs as if to prove a point, and Boyd was happy to indulge in the cuddling.
"Says who?" Shiloh asked, finding a lot of joy in teasing her new favorite nibling.
"Says papa and daddy."
"Where's your papa anyway?" Shiloh asked, shooting Boyd a glance.
"Uh, you'll see," Boyd said with a smile, pulling Mo into his arms and glancing at the bedroom.
Shiloh strutted over to the bedroom door and knocked, "Come on, Lou! Girls' day waits for no one!"
"Mm, yeah, just a moment, Shi, putting myself together."
"You can do your makeup in the car, Louie."
"This is a little bit more important than makeup!" And then he went silent for another minute before the door slid open and Louie walked out.
Shi's mouth hung open.
"Louie, you're walking."
"Yeah, well, not all the time. But yeah. Today I am walking. Couldn't miss girls' day." He leaned against the door frame and when Shiloh noticed she wrapped a supportive arm around his waist. Boyd beamed at the sight, despite having been there these past few weeks as Louie built up to this. Mo stared at Louie in awe.
"Papa's tall."
"Still not taller than daddy," Boyd smirked.
"If I could wear heels right now I'd make you eat your words, Boyd."
Boyd laughed and came over, kissing Louie, and letting Mo also kiss Louie in his baby way.
"Keep him out of trouble, Shi."
"Oh, no, I'm the one who gets us into trouble. But Daisy will be there to drag us out of it."
"Alright, well, have fun. Love you, Louie."
"I love you too." After one last kiss, Louie and Shi headed out, Shi keeping Louie steady where the robotic enhancements couldn't.
Daisy, who was driving the getaway car, was equally surprised to see Louie walking, though she'd at least been privy to the knowledge that this was what he was building up to with the hours of physical therapy and the dedicated work with Dr. Gearloose.
"Looking good, Louie," Daisy complimented.
"Ah, it's a simple floral button-up I got two years ago, nothing to write home about, not like that stunning dress you're wearing."
"I didn't mean the shirt, Louie. I meant the legs."
"Oh! Yeah. This old thing," Louie laughed, feeling a little awkward flaunting his million-dollar miracle. He knew a lot of people weren't in the position to get to a place where they could walk again. He aimed to change that for anyone who wanted the opportunity. Right now they were in the testing phase but the results, so far, were promising.
"Tell us everything about your new legs, Ariel!" Shiloh said, excited despite her teasing tone.
"It's recycled Jailbird material," Louie said, "which saved a bit of money. The rest of the JB armor is trashed, last year's mistake I guess, but Gyro will be using the blueprints to find a way to produce these on a larger scale, affordably, for people who need them. There will be a lot of customization so it's not as if we can mass-produce them, but Gyro thinks there might be a way to use 3D printing? So we're looking into that. And of course, working with the physical therapist was a must, so we need to make sure that's accessible to anyone who needs it…"
"You're doing something amazing, kiddo," Daisy said, smiling in the rearview mirror.
Now that he was a parent himself it was a little strange to still be a kiddo to someone, but Daisy could call him anything.
"I'm trying to. I spent too many years doing things for selfish reasons."
Shiloh shifted uncomfortably in the front seat, clearly not liking Louie's assessment of himself.
"Protecting your family isn't selfish."
"Yeah," Louie agreed flippantly, "but that's not all I did."
"But you did all that to protect your family, didn't you?"
"I can't keep making excuses for myself, Shi. We're not teens anymore, not everything is about intent. I fucked up and I owe the world a debt."
Shi squirmed in her seat before finally mumbling, "Just try not to get hurt again, dipshit."
"I'll be careful… I love you too, Shi."
"Yeah, yeah, let's talk about this wedding already."
Daisy was glad she didn't have to lecture her kids about getting along or put anyone in time out.
"Excellent idea, Shiloh. We can talk over lunch, as planned."
"Do you guys mind if we run a few personal errands after, as well?" Louie asked sheepishly.
"Like what?" Shiloh shot a look at him.
Louie laughed and ran his fingers through his hair, "I need a haircut. Only times I've left the house lately were for doctor stuff, business stuff, or Mo stuff."
"You do need a haircut. I wasn't going to say anything about it," Shiloh joked.
"I know just the guy, too. One of my former Jailbirds is a barber and I owe him a visit."
"Louie, you're working again. We're here to discuss your wedding, not your empire."
"Yeah, okay, I guess you're right, Shi. Lunch and wedding talk, and maybe a basic haircut somewhere else…"
"That we can do. Need anything else while we're out?"
"A date with my husband might be nice?" Louie joked.
"Yeah, having a kid is a lot," Daisy said, "imagine having six."
"Thank you for taking care of us when we were kids, Aunt Daisy."
"I loved every minute of it. Even when things got hard."
"I feel the same way about Mo. I just can't wait for us to fall into more of a routine…"
Daisy burst out laughing.
"Oh, Louie… There's no routine, there's no normal. Being a parent will always be a little crazy."
"But did the crazy ever become normal?" Louie asked.
"More or less. You'll get the hang of it eventually, hon."
"Ducks don't back down," Louie whispered, as Daisy pulled into a little diner parking lot. Louie had suggested the pub but Shiloh wouldn't let Louie work on his first day out.
Shiloh stood at the ready to help him out of the car, she'd always been there for Louie to lean on. Things had gotten busy with his organization and now with Boyd and Mo, but Louie never forgot about his first soulmate.
She leaned into him a little as they walked in, whispering, "How much you wanna bet we get clocked as boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"Which one am I?" Louie joked.
"Whatever you want to be, sugar."
"Alright, babe. My husband doesn't have to know." They'd played this bit a lot, the odd couple, cute on paper and entirely dysfunctional in real life. Louie was more than a little glad they'd left it as friends before it was too late and they'd gone and had a kid together or something.
"I'd suggest we run off and get eloped but you already did that. I don't even know why we're having this second wedding," Shiloh said, as they slid into a booth together.
"Don't say that," Daisy scolded lightheartedly, "everyone is very excited about your second wedding, honey."
"Would've been cooler if I was in the wedding party," Shiloh said with a shrug.
"Because being my wedding planner and officiant isn't enough."
"I'm just saying, everyone else got to be a bridesmaid or a groomsman."
"Not everybody, not Lena or Gosalyn, they're working security."
"Yeah, alright, okay. I'm just saying I would have killed it in one of those suits."
"You can wear a suit," Louie said with a shrug.
"Speaking of suits, let's talk about your wedding suit. You still want to match with Boyd?"
"Absolutely. We toyed around with one of us wearing black and one of us wearing white, traditional wedding colors and stuff, but I think we were wanting to match almost completely, so probably black suits with a couple of subtle details differentiating us?"
"What's the color scheme?" Daisy asked, taking out a little sketchbook and beginning to jot down ideas while they waited for their french fries.
"Blue and green."
"Oh, sea colors, very smart. Very trendy."
"Gay colors," Shiloh said more knowledgeably.
"Gay colors?"
"Y'know the lesbian flag that looks like a sunset? Gay men have one that looks like the sea. It's very nice. Very trendy."
"Sun and sea solidarity," Shiloh said, wrapping an arm around Louie.
"Maybe I should start calling you my sunshine."
"Then I'll call you my seaman."
Louie made a face, "Don't call me that."
"Aye, aye, captain."
"You're no longer my sunshine."
"Are you breaking up with me? In the diner where we had our first date?"
Louie looked around and lit up, "We did have our first date here, that's awesome! I almost forgot about that. I should buy this place. Preserve it."
"May and I had our first date at a taco truck, and it was raining and the tacos got all soggy, and she still kissed me afterward. I'm so lucky…" Shi had a dreamy look on her face that only appeared when she talked about her long-time girlfriend.
Louie got a glint in his eye, "Enough about my wedding, when's yours, taco girl?"
"Your comebacks aren't even funny anymore. So juvenile. We're not teens anymore, Llewellyn. And for your information, my wedding is never going to happen if May doesn't freaking propose." You could tell how worked up she was getting based on her using freaking instead of fucking. Swearing was light-hearted, cussing was heated.
"You're not gonna like to hear this, Shi, but you could propose if you wanted to marry her."
Shi pouted a little.
"I know, I know. I just had this dumb Barbie movie dream that my perfect person was gonna swoop in and propose, which is stupid because I don't need that, but…"
"It's valid to want that, Shiloh. Have you guys talked about marriage?"
"Yeah, definitely."
"Then maybe you should tell her that you want her to propose."
Daisy nodded encouragingly.
"May's crazy about you, honey. She just might need to be told a little more directly what you want out of the relationship."
Shiloh pressed a kiss to Louie's cheek.
"Thank you. I'll talk to her. Now, I suppose we should get back to the wedding at hand…"
They spent the rest of lunch munching and chatting about the wedding. Then, in a spur-of-the-moment decision, they decided that they not only needed to get Louie a haircut but also a proper makeover. So they took Louie's hair and nails back to the condition they were in college, loaned him some lip gloss, got him to tie the floral button-up so you could see his belly button, and found a pair of shades to complete the look.
"Now Mo and I match," Louie mentioned, fiddling with his new sunglasses.
"Mo is more stylish than you," Shiloh said.
"Yeah, thanks to me. Do you think Boyd could dress him that stylish? That's all me."
"He's gonna be such a diva."
"Good, I'd rather him be a diva than a pushover. He's smart, he's gonna do great things."
"Of course he is, he takes after his dad," Shiloh commented.
"I hope so. If he's half as cool or smart as Boyd, I'll be the proudest man alive."
"I didn't mean Boyd."
"Oh. Well, maybe it won't be so bad if he takes after me a little."
"Don't sell yourself short, sailor." They pulled up at the house.
"Thanks again for girls' day. It was great, the wedding is really starting to feel real. Love you, Aunt Daisy. Shi, you gonna walk me to the door?"
"So demanding," Shiloh rolled her eyes but she was happy to help, realizing that Louie was worn out from a full afternoon of walking around. He was still finding his sea legs, after all.
"Well, if you want your good night kiss then you have to walk me to the door."
"I think you should save that one for your husband."
"That's fair. Are you going to talk to May tonight?"
"I may. I don't know."
"Well, you're worth it, you know? You deserve a fairytale ending."
"Save that sappy stuff for your husband too."
"I love you, Shiloh."
"Love you too, Lou. Have a good night. Tickle Mo for me."
"I will."
Louie let himself in and Shiloh returned to Daisy's car, all three of them feeling pretty good about girls' day.
Boyd was on the couch, a sleeping Mo on his chest and a sleeping Mars on his legs.
"Help me," he whispered, half-joking before his eyes widened at Louie's new old look.
"You look hot." He almost forgot to whisper, taking in how young and reinvigorated Louie looked. Boyd's eyes lingered a little at where the shirt was cropped and Louie bit back a laugh. He had forgotten how horny Boyd got whenever he wore a crop top.
Louie managed a spin, gesturing at his frame, "Dad bod."
"My own personal Dream Daddy Simulator."
"I've always fancied myself a bit of a Brian, maybe with a dash of Robert."
"A healthy sprinkling of Robert."
"And you're a Hugo for sure."
"What? No, not the nerd!"
"Whatever you say, Dr. Gearloose-Duck."
"How was the wedding planning?"
"Excellent. We're so close to snagging a venue I can taste it. How was your day with Mo?"
"Oh, fantastic. We read some more Percy, played Clue, and I showed him the first few episodes of Gravity Falls. And before you say he's too young for that, our kid is weird. He likes that kind of thing. The only thing that scares him is the ocean."
"Too bad we live right next to the ocean."
"Yeah, well. He'll get used to it. Reading The Sea of Monsters probably didn't help, though." Louie didn't try to pick a fight, getting used to the craziness and his and Boyd's different parenting styles. He simply joined the cuddle pile, pressed a kiss to Boyd's cheek, and let the excitement of the day fade into the calm of the night.