It was really, really lucky that the local drive-in showed second run movies. After everything that had gone wrong this week, Arthur and Belle had decided it was time for a family night and Guardians of the Galaxy was still running if they didn't mind hanging out in the car, which they most certainly did not.
It was the first time Bae had seemed invested in anything since the funeral.
The three of them were cuddled under a blanket sitting in the hatchback of Belle's SUV, Bae in the middle and popcorn in his lap. It was almost just like old times – almost. Belle had been on two dates with her ex this week, and he wasn't really sure how he felt about it. Well, no, he knew exactly how he felt about it. His problem was that the wasn't sure how to stop feeling that way. He had no real claim on Belle, and she was free to date whoever she wanted even if she happened to want to date a too-tall sheriff's deputy with a funny looking haircut and broad shoulders. Maybe George McNabb was what you would call "handsome" but it was in such a nondescript way. What did she see in him, anyway? Besides the aforementioned broad shoulders and height.
He may be a little overly jealous, but he was working on it. This was certainly not like what happened when she went on the date with Michael Tillman, and he wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge. He loved her, and it was now becoming very obvious that she didn't feel the same way. He couldn't blame her for that, but it still hurt.
He did have Bae now, though. He had the little warm boy who was real and alive next to him, and he would have Bae forever no matter what happened with Belle. And he wasn't that he had lost Belle, either. Belle was still here. She was still in his life (and the backseat of his car) and she was still his friend. This is all he'd really asked for to begin with, and he refused to be let down by actually getting it.
Granted, things had been a little touchy when Starlord's mother died and he was kidnapped (he wasn't sure either Belle or Bae were going to get through that one but they'd surprised him). And the soundtrack was pretty good, too. He'd been surprised when he'd become a fan of these movies, but they were the key to Bae's heart. Whether or not they'd turned out to be any good, he'd have appreciated them just for that. By the time of the fake dance-off, Bae was relaxed against his father's arm and Belle had her arms around her son as she leaned against the both of them. It wasn't an uncommon arrangement for them, though perhaps she was holding her son a little tighter than usual, but that wasn't any kind of surprise. He took a chance, reaching his arm behind the both to rest on Belle's shoulder. She didn't flinch, and he wasn't quite sure what that meant, but it still felt good to have them both here for just this little while, regardless of what else it meant.
"Would you guys like to get ice cream?" Belle said as the credits rolled.
Bae looked surprisingly uninspired by the suggestion, but Arthur wasn't really ready to let them go yet.
"Ice cream sounds perfect," he agreed, offering her a smile. "Any Given Sundae?"
She nodded in agreement, hopping into the driver's seat and waiting patiently until seatbelts were fastened and everyone was ready before pulling out into the road and away from the theater.
He wasn't really sure where all this was going. It was a weird situation, when you came right down to it. He was stupidly, ridiculously in love with this woman. She was dating someone else, and he wasn't sure if was serious or not, but she was dating someone who wasn't him and it was slowly eating him up inside. He'd thought he was okay with a platonic relationship, he really had. He was going to have to be okay with it, because he had Bae to worry about and Bae was worth anything, but it was painful to accept.
Belle was beautiful, and she was entirely out of his league. He'd known that longer than he'd known her. This all made sense, in a twisted way. The beautiful girl, the handsome cop, and the creepy old guy who was mooning over her from afar. It had all the elements of a maudlin romance and none of the charm.
The blonde lady who ran the shop was, as always, offputtingly friendly. It was a good thing that her ice cream was the best in town or she'd have been out of business years ago. She made good sundaes, though, and that was really what was important.
Bae was still worryingly withdrawn. The longer it went on, the more concerning this was becoming. He still wasn't sure if they'd handled this all correctly, but as Dr. Hopper had pointed out there wasn't any one right way to handle death and all the could do was be supportive and wait for Bae to come around. He still wasn't sure that they had done the right thing by excluding Belle from the funeral, but then again there's no telling if her going would have turned out alright, either. Milah had been largely estranged from her family even by the time of their marriage, but by the time of the funeral he'd had no idea who might have been on her side. They hadn't wanted to risk someone causing a scene if Belle had gone, or further driving home the point to Bae that he wasn't allowed to love his mother and be sad about Milah's death at the same time.
Nobody ever said this would be easy, and the reappearance of George certainly wasn't doing him any particular favors in that regard. At least they'd kept him away from Bae, though. That much at least nobody had pushed for. She'd not seemed eager to bring anyone new into their son's life, and he appreciated the hell out of that. No matter how shitty and awkward the situation was, a new guy playing dad could really only make everything so, so much worse.
He didn't want to think about that, though. Not right now, not when everything was – at the moment – going as well as could be reasonably expected.