Anonymous said:
Bae is nervous around his Dad before surgery or treatment start. They start playing and his pounces on Arthur or tickles him or something, then gets upset because he's afraid he might have hurt him.
endangeredslug said:
Prompt: gold leaves clothes over her house. She wears one of his shirts to bed, the scent of him on her skin gives her yummy dreams.
It had been awhile since the last time Arthur had been to a sleepover. Off hand, he could think of maybe one other time in his life that he'd done anything that could even be compared. He'd never spent the night alone with Bae before, either. The one time they'd even shared a room, Belle had been there as well. It was a little strange thinking back to that night in the hotel all those months ago. He'd been completely terrified at the prospect of sleeping in the same bed as Belle, now he was able to spend whatever time he wanted to with her. They'd had some very adult sleepovers, in fact. What would he have said back then had he known what was coming?
He was changing into his pajamas in Belle's bedroom while she moved back and forth between the bedroom and bathroom brushing her hair and teeth and preparing for bed. He was a little bit in awe of this, more than anything else. He hadn't seen a woman perform those little ablutions before bed since before his wife had left. Cora had always preferred to get ready for bed privately in order to 'maintain the illusion' and there hadn't been anybody else in between who had lasted more than a date or two. Watching Belle, for the first time in a long time, he felt like he wasn't alone anymore.
When she came out of the bathroom she was wearing one of his shirts over her nightgown. It wasn't the same nightgown she'd worn when they had been on vacation together, it was shorter and lower cut and new. If he hadn't had plans as important as the ones he had with Bae, it would have taken an army to convince him to spend the night anywhere but with her.
"Do you know what you two have planned tonight?" she asked him as she went about putting her clothes into the hamper. "Or is he just going to surprise you?"
"It's a surprise," Arthur replied. "So far, though, he's mostly just wanted to ask about treatment and things like that."
Belle made a noncommittal little humming noise before turning to look at him.
"I'm going to call Dr. Hopper on Monday and try to get his appointment bumped up a couple days," she seemed to brace herself for the next little bit. "Would you like me to try to schedule something for you, too?"
He hadn't expected her to ask him anything like that. To be honest, he hadn't really even considered the idea of therapy at all. He'd been with Belle, certainly. Even once or twice they'd gone in together with Bae. He'd never gone alone, before - it hadn't ever really occurred to him that maybe he should. At the same time, though, every moment he spent with someone who wasn't Belle or Bae was a moment he wasn't spending with Belle or Bae. Something in him was rebelling at the very idea of that, at least while everything else was so up in the air and while both of them wanted to spend so much time with him.
"Maybe after the surgery," he finally said half-heartedly. "When we have a better idea of what's going on. Right now I'd rather focus on other things."
She seemed to accept this reason, or at least the implied reference to herself and their son, and moved to perch on the bed next to him and put her arms around his shoulders.
"Whatever you want," she said softly. "Just let me know."
He nodded, putting his hands over her arms where she held him, enjoying her warmth and closeness. If he lived a thousand years, Arthur didn't think he'd ever stop being thankful that Belle was brought into his life along with his son.
"I'm gonna miss you tonight," she whispered into his neck, cuddling into him a little bit. "I love having you here."
"I love being here," he replied. "I love you."
He felt her head tilt a little bit where it rested on his shoulder.
"I love you, too," she said, and he could hear the little smile in her voice. "I don't think we've ever said that out loud before, have we?"
"Bae asked me about it earlier," he admitted. "But otherwise no, I don't think so."
"It's about time, then," she said firmly. "Because I really, truly love you."
She had her arms wrapped tighter around him now, as though worried he might be going anywhere besides down the hall if she let him go.
"So first we had a child together," he said. "Then we met, then we kissed, then we had a custody agreement, then we fell in love, then we decided we were serious about each other, and then we finally started dating, and only then do we actually admit to being in love. I'm a little worried about what's coming next since none of the rest of this was in any kind of sensical order."
She giggled a little bit and leaned back to look at him.
"Next is the happily ever after," she replied. "Just as soon as we get through this last part."
"I like the sound of that," he said softly, leaning forward to kiss her on the lips. "I should probably go join Bae, though."
"Probably," she agreed. "I'll still be here tomorrow night."
"I'd hope so," he teased. "I have to get my shirt back, after all."
"It's my shirt now," she replied gravely. "I scavenged it fair and square. You can have it back when I'm done."
"And when will you be done?"
"When it doesn't smell like you anymore," she said with a shrug. "Then you can have it back."
It felt like his heart might explode from the sheer bliss of that statement. That Belle should love him still sometimes felt like a strange little dream, and that she might want him should be by all rights impossible. The fact that she was stealing his shirt to wear to bed because she liked the smell of him for some reason was the most amazing feeling though. He knew she loved him before she said it, but this little piece of evidence somehow threatened to overwhelm him.
He kissed her again for lack of anything else to say before he stood and walked to the bedroom door. He'd promised Bae a sleepover, and he would deliver on that.
"Goodnight," he heard Belle call after him with a smile in her voice. "I love you."
Belle loved him. That thought buoyed him all the way down the hallway to Bae's bedroom. His son had arranged a pile of pillows on the floor and strung blankets up over the pile into a little fort. The TV had been moved from the top of the dresser to the floor and Bae seemed to be in the process of setting up one of his games.
"Hey Dad," Bae said as he set out the controllers. "Do you wanna play Mario Kart?"
It was going to be a very good night.
Arthur had no idea what time it was, but he knew it was late. His eyes were drooping and Bae had won the last four games in a row (and he was pretty sure that the boy had intentionally lost the one before that). Arthur's eyes were drooping, though, and he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to stay up. He must have dozed off, because suddenly he had a little boy on top of him tickling his sides.
He let out an oof of surprise, more at the sudden weight on his chest than any discomfort, but all of a sudden Bae was recoiling and apologizing.
"It's okay," Arthur tried to reassure his son, having no idea what was possibly wrong. 'What's wrong?"
"Did I hurt you?" Bae asked weakly and suddenly it all made sense.
"No, of course not," Arthur responded instantly, grabbing his son into a hug. "It's alright. After the surgery I'll be sore, but not right now."
He felt his son nod against his chest and let the boy go even though the only thing he wanted was to keep hugging his son.
"Do you have any other questions about the treatment?" he asked, mentally kicking himself for not having been able to alleviate his son's worries earlier.
"I don't know," Bae replied. "Not really."
"Okay," Arthur replied. "But I'm here if you need me."
Bae nodded again, and tried unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn.
"It's probably time to sleep anyway," Arthur continued.
Bae nodded, crawling over to the end table to click off the bedside light as his father climbed into the twin bed. Arthur heard the tell-tale sounds of blankets rustling as his son settled into the little nest he'd made for himself. He was just beginning to feel his eyes start to droop when Bae's voice roused him again.
"Dad?" Bae said. "Are you still awake?"
"Yeah," Arthur replied, because if Bae needed him he would do whatever was in his power to be there. "What's up?"
"What was it like growing up in Scotland?"
Bae hadn't ever asked him about his life before, Arthur realized. Honestly, it wasn't something that he particularly liked talking about. Telling someone you were from Scotland sounded a lot more romantic than actually having grown up there, or at least than the way he had grown up. He was scrambling for something to tell his son about his childhood that wouldn't prompt more questions.
"It was very green," he said at last. "My aunts had sheep and a dog, and when I was there my job was to take them out to pasture in the morning and bring them back in the evening."
He heard Bae make a sleepy little noise, and kept going, hoping to keep this up until his son was asleep.
"I'd be so tired at the end of the day," he continued. "But in a good way. So when I'd come home in the evening, they'd send me upstairs to get cleaned up and on the very good days, they'd have made meat pies and I'd sit down to this beautiful pie with a golden crispy crust, and the smell would be mouthwatering and I'd feel so lucky to be exactly where I was."
Bae was snoring softly now, and Arthur was glad to have gotten through that. He needed Bae to know him, but there were still some things he just couldn't tell anyone. Bae had his own demons, he didn't need to be burdened with his father's.