ctdg said:
maybe it's a stupid prompt but can we see bae doing something nice to cheer his dad up ?
Anonymous said:
Are you still taking prompts for TAV? I love this story soo completely I was thinking about how Bae turns to his mother before his dad Mainly because she's been with him all his life What if Bae decided he wanted to sleep in his dad's bed and snuggle to make sure he had every moment with him because he was scared? And possibly decided he would "take care' of his dad and let him know that he didn't need a dad that had a fixed knee that Arthur was perfect? I'd love to see Bae give him extra love
Anonymous said:
TAV prompt: Bae awkwardly asking Arthur how the treatments for his cancer will affect him
Arthur wasn't proud of how long he stood in the hallway summoning his courage to knock on Bae's door. He didn't know what to say to his son except to apologize for dragging him into all this, but it was far too late now. He gathered his courage before knocking on the door. He heard his son say something and pushed the door open. Bae was laying on his stomach with his face resting in his folded arms and Arthur heard him sniffle.
"Go away," the boy said quietly. "I don't wanna talk."
He paused in the doorway for a minute torn between the urge to turn and run from his son's disapproval and the knowledge that Bae needed to talk about it. He braced himself before moving further into the bedroom.
"I'll go away in a little bit," he said, sitting in the desk chair and turning to face the bed. "But I think we need to talk about today."
"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Bae said, still not looking at his father. "I don't really wish you hadn't found me."
"I know," Arthur replied. "It never crossed my mind that you did."
Never seriously crossed his mind, anyway. There was the voice in his head that insisted Bae would have been better off without a father who was sick, but he knew it was irrational and that he'd done a lot of good for his son as well. He couldn't regret finding Bae, even if it hurt now.
Bae nodded his head and Arthur reached out to touch his son's hair, brushing his dark curls away from his face. He felt - though couldn't see - the hair sticking to Bae's dried tears and his heart sank just a little bit more. He'd always meant to make Bae's life better, and now his son was crying because of him.
"Are you going to die?" Bae asked, turning to face him all of a sudden. "Tell me the truth."
"I don't know," Arthur said. "The doctor is very optimistic, but they won't know if it's spread out of my chest until the surgery and the surgery itself comes with a lot of risks, too."
"What kinds of risks?"
"The anesthesia, mostly," Arthur replied, wondering if he shouldn't have just lied. "Infection, but that's not as likely. If I wake up from the anesthesia, if my lymph nodes come back clear and I don't get an infection then I'll almost definitely be okay."
Bae seemed to think about this for a little bit, biting his lip like his mother did when she was deep in thought and looked pensively around the room.
"Okay," Bae said finally. "That doesn't sound so bad. And you're not lying to me?"
"I'm really not," Arthur replied. "I wouldn't lie to you."
"So then why didn't you guys tell me when you started dating?"
"That was different," Arthur said automatically, only halfway knowing how precisely it was different. "We didn't tell you that because we weren't sure how serious it would end up being yet. We wanted to wait until we knew how it would affect your life."
"And then I caught you?"
"Well, yes," Arthur replied, moving to sit next to his son on the bed. "But we were actually about to tell you when I got sick, we just hadn't figured out how to do it yet. It wasn't really a secret anymore, though."
"So then tell me," Bae said. "What's going on with you and Mom?"
"We both love you very much," Arthur said honestly. "And you're the most important person in the world to both of us. But I love your mother very much, too."
"And she loves you?"
Arthur's first instinct - even after everything she'd done for him - was still to deny it, or hedge and pretend. But he'd promised not to lie this time.
"She does," he said with a little nod. "And we're both pretty sure that this is going to be a forever situation."
"Are you getting married?" Bae asked.
Well, that was the million dollar question, wasn't it? They'd talked about having a future, but marriage...he certainly wanted to marry Belle, but in the end it wasn't entirely up to him. She'd lived alone for a long time, after all. He knew she saw a future with him but they hadn't quite discussed the extent of that future.
"I don't know," he said at last. "I'd like to, but that's really up to your mother. Um...don't tell her I said that part, please."
"I won't," Bae replied with a big grin. He always loved being involved in adult secrets.
The two of them sat together for a few minutes, neither one particularly sure where to take the rest of this conversation.
"Do you wanna hang out today?" Bae said after a little while, not quite looking directly at his dad. "Like when we used to go to movies?"
"I'd like that," Arthur replied. "Very, very much."
Bae had talked his dad into lunch and a movie, but they had some time to kill between the two and ended up talking a walk to the playground a block away from the theater. Bae was a little old for the stupid plastic slides, but he liked the swings and Dad sat on the swing next to his while Bae swung. Dad was watching a couple kids and their mom playing on the climbing castle.
Bae didn't really know what to say or do about any of this. After his birth mom had died, Bae had just sort of taken it for granted that he didn't have to worry about losing his dad, too. Especially not so soon after meeting him.
"Does it feel weird?" Bae asked as he dragged his feet to stop his swinging.
"The cancer?" Dad replied. "Not really. It kind of feels like a little bean in my chest."
"How did they find it?"
"The doctor felt it when he was using his stethoscope," Dad said. "I got very lucky that it was in that location or else I don't know when I'd have found it."
"Can I feel it?" Bae asked, although he wasn't really sure he wanted to. He wanted it to not be real more than anything.
"Sure," Dad said, putting his fingers on his chest before taking Bae's hand and placing it over his heart. Bae pressed a little bit and he could feel the cancer there just like his dad had said.
"What kind of cancer is it?" Bae asked as he pulled his hand away. He didn't really know what kind of cancer could be in a man's chest like that.
"It's breast cancer," his father replied. "It's not very common for men to get it, but it's possible."
"Oh," Bae said, trying really hard to keep his voice even. "That's what my grandma had."
Dad seemed to take that news in for a little while, and Bae himself wasn't really sure what to say about it. Dad had the cancer that killed Grandma. Bae hadn't ever met his grandmother, she'd died when his mom was a little girl. He knew she existed because his mom existed, but he didn't really feel any real connection to her or his grandpa, and he hadn't really felt sad about that before but now he was wondering if he should feel more of something for them. Without them, he wouldn't have his mom, after all.
"The movie is going to start soon," Dad said finally. "We should get back to the theater."
"Okay," Bae replied. He was relieved they could move on to something safe now. He didn't know why he needed his dad right now, he just knew that he did.
After the movie, Dad insisted it was time to go home. Mom had been cleaning all day, and bae knew that meant she was upset. She always cleaned when she was upset. When he'd been failing his reading class before they figured out he was dyslexic she'd cleaned the entire garage one weekend.
Mom smiled to see them and kissed both of them on the cheek. Dad stayed downstairs to talk to her, but Bae had other plans. He raided the linen closet, pulling out spare sheets and pillows and bringing them into his room. He used binder clips and thumbtacks and whatever else he could come up with to build a blanket fort across his entire bedroom. He'd ask his dad to sleep there tonight. Dad could have the bed and Bae would take the floor. They could watch movies or play games or anything his dad wanted. Bae was determined to be with his dad as much as he could for right now. He trusted that Dad wasn't lying about being okay, but he didn't want to risk anything, either. He'd only just gotten to know his father and the idea of losing him was way too scary.