Katalina Lucas (half_hell) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-03-26 14:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, aaron, aaron x kat, kat |
Supportive
Who: Kat and Aaron
When: Tuesday October 10th, evening
Where: Kat’s house, Black Cove
Status: complete
Kat Lucas wore a shell as hard as diamonds. Despite being exhausted thanks to a mostly sleepless night the night before-- so much to do and not enough time to do it-- she was refinishing a water-damaged lap desk she’d found at an estate sale. Normally antiques were not to be trifled with, but it was fairly useless as it was. With the damage repaired as much as possible, she could sell it at a profit. She had her hair tied into a messy updo and was dressed in paint-smudged yoga pants and a huge t-shirt that had belonged to a former boyfriend. Nothing she’d let customers or the general public see her in, but she was only expecting her brother, and he’d never judge her for her fashion choices.
She dabbed on another layer of finish, seated in a corner of her front room on the floor, a tarp beneath her and her messy project. There was a slightly blank expression on her face as she worked: that was Kat attempting to sort her own emotions. Aaron had called her earlier asking if he could come by, and of course she’d said yes. The two of them had always been closer than, for instance, she and Caden. But she had a pretty good idea what Aaron was going to tell her, and she couldn’t help but wonder why she was the last to know this time. Caden had filled her in already with his usual brand of snarky asshole-ness, and while she was grateful for the intel, Caden had a way of making everything seem like the worst thing ever.
Outside, a car turned onto her street and slowed, then turned into her driveway, and she quickly rose to wash her hands before her brother could get to the door.
After a day full of tension with Gavin, Aaron was more than ready for a friendly face. He needed one that was specifically a member of his family, and besides his nephew and niece, that only left one person, his sister Kat. Aaron had called her after his shift was over to see if he could go over there instead of straight home. It had been quite a while since he’d been to Kat’s place, and he felt like he really needed her advice. She was younger than him, but she was smart and she didn’t always have the cynical, aggressive outlook that his brothers did. Aaron just hoped she wouldn’t tell him the same shit -- that he was ruining his life and would fuck this up beyond all recognition.
He stopped at the store to get a six pack of beer and a bottle of Kat’s favorite wine, then drove over to her house. Once he parked the truck in the driveway, Aaron gathered up the alcohol and walked up to his sister’s front door and knocked.
Kat hadn’t been living in Black Cove long, and sometimes her brothers liked to tease her that she thought she was too good for them now. That wasn’t true at all; it was more that she’d finally made something of herself and thought she deserved to have this place, a location she could use for her work and to make a happy life for herself. Aaron hadn’t been over since she’d first invited them all to see it, but she was glad he’d called to come by now. Sometimes she got so lost in everything she was trying to accomplish that she didn’t spend enough time with her brothers, niece and nephew. Then other times she smothered them. It was a delicate balance that she hadn’t quite mastered despite years of trying.
She’d dried off her hands on her t-shirt and opened the door right after Aaron knocked. “Hey, handsome,” she said, giving him a bright smile. “C’mon in. I see you’re bearing gifts. That’s definitely the right approach.”
“Hey,” Aaron greeted back. His answering smile was faint, but it did feel nice to have someone actually happy to see him. That might not last long, but he would cling to it for the moment. He turned the wine bottle as he stepped inside so Kat could see it, then moved out of the way so she could shut the door. “Were you working?” he asked, glancing at her clothes. It was pretty obvious that she was, but Aaron wasn’t sure what else to say. He was feeling downright despondent, and he’d never been great at hiding his feelings, especially from his siblings. “Sorry to like, interrupt.”
“I’m always working,” Kat said dryly. “If I hadn’t wanted you to come by, I would’ve said no.” And she would have. Kat was very tuned in to what she needed, because one thing she’d learned in life was that she couldn’t necessarily count on anyone else to be, and if she hadn’t felt she could spare the time, she would have told him so. That being said, it would have taken a lot for her to say no to this particular brother when he wanted to see her, especially with what Caden had told her. “C’mon.” She locked up and then led her brother through the kitchen, where she snagged a wine glass from a glass-fronted cupboard, and then into her sunroom at the back of the house. It was the only room where she departed from vintage only; a comfortable couch, loveseat and square coffee table were arranged in the center of the room and the ceiling to floor windows displayed a jungle of plants in baskets, pots and plant stands. Not that there was any sun to be had now, but it was still one of her favorite rooms.
“Have a seat,” she invited, taking one herself and placing the wine glass on the low table in front of her. Now that she’d seen the wine, it was exactly what she wanted. “Bad day?” Probably a foolish question, but she wanted him to approach the subject without her revealing that she already knew at least some of what was upsetting him.
Aaron was sure that was true, Kat would’ve told him to just go home, she would catch up with him later. It wouldn’t have been the first time, but he was glad she’d made time for him tonight. Considering the age and gender -- and attitude, honestly -- differences between Kat and Gavin and Caden, Aaron had always felt like he was her closest brother. They’d all tried to protect her as much as possible from the shittiness of their parents, but Aaron had felt the most responsible for her ... until she’d grown up enough to get smarter and more mature than him. Nowadays he kind of felt like the youngest in a lot of ways, but he was glad he still had a relationship with his sister.
He sat down on the loveseat and set the six pack down by his feet, pulling one bottle free and cracking it open. Aaron knew it was possible Gavin or Caden had already told Kat about the baby, but she wasn’t jumping right into it so he might as well. “Pretty bad, yeah,” he murmured after his first swig. Aaron sighed and ran a hand over his short hair, then looked at his sister. “Mila Moretti’s pregnant. And it’s mine. We’ve been seein’ each other for a little while, but ... not long. And it’s kinda ... I dunno, everybody’s mad about it. Except us.” He flopped back against the couch cushion and took another swallow. It wasn’t at all how he’d wanted to announce he was going to be a daddy, but the joy about it had been stolen out of him today.
Kat had such mixed feelings about her upbringing. Her parents hadn’t been fit to raise a litter of cats, much less four children, and it still made her angry to recall how helpless they all had been for so many years. She’d been protected from so much, and she knew she’d been fortunate to have her brothers to take care of her. She and Aaron were so close in age that they’d been shielded by their oldest two brothers… maybe she got along with Aaron so much better than the other two since they were more equal in circumstance and more of a match personality wise, even though Aaron was sweeter than she’d ever be. At any rate, he’d come to her when he needed someone, and that made her happy in a way she couldn’t have described in words. She poured herself a glass of wine, glancing at him when he came out with it immediately.
“Someone give you shit for it? Let me guess: Caden.” She paused for long enough to sip from her glass before setting it on the table in front of her. “He told me. I can only imagine how much of an asshole he was to you.” If there was a soft side to Caden Lucas, Kat hadn’t seen it, to be honest.
“Gavin too,” Aaron mumbled miserably. Shockingly, Gavin had been worse than Caden -- Aaron still couldn’t believe he’d confronted Mila and tried to talk her into an abortion. Even though he hadn’t used those exact words, that had been the core message, that she should get rid of it. Aaron wasn’t surprised to hear that Caden had told Kat the news already, and he was sure Caden hadn’t painted it in a positive light. Aaron cared more about their eldest brother though -- Kat knew Gavin was more like a father to him than their own father, and it just hurt Aaron so much that he thought Aaron was that much of a fuckup. “Gavin tried to talk Mila into getting rid of it the other night. Said it would ruin both our lives and that I would abandon her with it.” He was more sad than pissed about it now, and it showed. “What’d Caden say?” Aaron asked, looking up at Kat again.
Kat's head whipped around so fast to look at her brother that her neck popped, and she winced and lifted a hand to rub it. "Gavin did that?" There was honest surprise in her voice. Gavin, who'd married a girl at sixteen because she was having his baby. She'd been ten when her nephew was born, and she could still remember thinking that he was an amazing gift. She'd probably worried the shit out of Gavin and Olivia wanting to be around the baby, hold him, play with him. She'd been too young at the time to grasp many of the nuances of the situation, but now she wondered if Gavin had tried to get Olivia to do the same thing. She reached for her wine glass and sighed when Aaron asked what Caden had said. "About what you'd expect," she said. "He asked if you'd told me you knocked Mila up, said you were screwed, and blah blah ad infinitum."
“Yeah ... fucked up, huh?” Aaron knew that Gavin thought having a kid at sixteen gave him special insight, and maybe it did in just the sense of ‘babies are hard work,’ but nothing else about their situations was the same. Mila wasn’t batshit crazy like Olivia, they were both grown adults with jobs and not sixteen and terrified, Aaron had already been around babies with Jasper and Amelia, he knew some ropes already. He wasn’t clueless, and he didn’t feel like any of this was ruining his life. Except maybe putting heavy strain on his relationship with his brothers. Aaron sighed heavily at what Kat said and scratched at the back of his neck. “I don’t feel screwed. I dunno, maybe I’m just too stupid to see it,” he muttered. It was easy to say he wasn’t going to let his family get into his head, but when it was coming from so many sides, it was hard not to.
Kat took a long draw from her wine glass as if to fortify herself, put it down and then half-turned on the cushion next to her brother’s, drawing her legs up and reaching one hand over to his shoulder. “They’re concerned,” she said, although she thought it took a special brand of fucked up for Gavin to take it upon himself to tell Mila she should abort the baby. “I am too… but there’s only one important question, really. How do you and Mila feel about this? Do you want a baby?” Had her brothers even bothered to ask Aaron that question, or had they jumped in blindly with what they thought was right? Her fingers gently caressed the cloth of his shirt, and her gaze was intent on his face. She knew Aaron felt things deeply, and her instinct was always to try and make it better for him; it was the truth that sometimes she felt like the older one.
Aaron snorted at the word ‘concerned’; that was the most diplomatic way to put it. More like they were meddling assholes who didn’t trust him to run his own life, much less help raise a human being. Maybe they were right, but entertaining that thought just made Aaron want to cry. If they didn’t think he was ready now, would they ever? He didn’t meet his sister’s eyes until she asked him what he wanted, and it hit him that she was the first in his family to do so. “I want it, yeah,” he said, his expression open and vulnerable. At least he could be with Kat, she was on a very short list. “I mean, I wouldn’t have gotten her pregnant on purpose right now, it’s real early, I know that, but now that it’s here ... we wanna keep it, both of us. And she’ll be a really good mom, and I’ll work really hard and not be like dad or Gavin.” He swallowed thickly, his voice wavery as he added, “I wanna meet my kid, Kat. I always wanted some and I already love it.”
“See, you’ve already got an advantage if you know not to be like dad,” Kat said. Her smile was radiant, and she felt a surge of emotion trying to take her over. Breathing through it, not wanting to fall apart when this was about Aaron and not herself, she nodded at him. “Okay. Then don’t listen to any bullshit our brothers spew at you. You’re a good person and you can do this. Even if you and Mila don’t end up staying together ‘til the end of time, you can still do what’s best for your child.” She was neither stupid nor blind, and she was fully aware of what Aaron’s romantic life had been like thus far. However, there’d never been a child involved, and she fully expected that he’d do what was right. He wouldn’t be their dad, nor Caden (thank Jesus) nor Gavin. He’d be Aaron Lucas, and in this situation that would be just perfect.
She was going to make him cry, but that had always felt okay with Kat. She could have the same hard edge to her that the rest of them could have, but the two of them had always been able to be soft with each other too. “C’mere,” he mumbled, leaving his beer bottle between his legs to twist and wrap both arms around her for a hug. It was kind of an awkward angle, given how they were sitting, but Aaron clung for a few moments anyway, his overheated face buried in Kat’s neck. He thrived on any bit of praise from his siblings even under normal circumstances, and hearing he was a good person from Kat was like an oasis in his current desert. He managed not to outright cry, but he was a bit watery-eyed and sniffly as he sat back. “That’s all I want now,” he muttered, using his wrist to wipe one eye. “What’s best. And uh ... thanks, Kat.”
Maybe their childhoods had been terrible, but to Kat, this was what family really meant. Being there for each other, caring for each other as best they could. Somehow, she and Aaron had that part down at least when it came to the two of them. With their brothers it was more complicated and not nearly as clear-cut, but she tended to view situations as one bite at a time rather than having to gulp down everything at once. She might rip Gavin a new asshole later, possibly Caden too, but this was enough for now. She embraced her brother, resting her cheek against the side of his head and even giving it a gentle kiss before he sat back. “I’m here for you anytime,” she said, although he already knew that. “And I can’t wait to be an auntie again. I hardly see Jasper and Amelia anymore.” They were growing up, life was getting busier… but wouldn’t she love to hold a precious little baby close again.
Aaron gave her unsteady smile that couldn’t quite express how he felt picturing his sister holding his newborn baby, all swaddled up and pink and squirmy. He remembered being so fascinated with baby Jasper and baby Amelia both, with how tiny their noses and feet and itty bitty fingernails were. And then they’d gotten old enough to really play with and swing around and he’d lived on their shrieks and giggles. He knew there would be hard stuff too when the kid was actually his, long nights and fevers and messes to clean up, but Aaron couldn’t wait for all of it, honestly. More so than he ever would have thought. “You’re gonna be the best auntie again,” he told Kat with a little laugh. Aaron wanted to hug her all over again, but he refrained, draining down some more of his beer. He cleared his throat, then added, “Speakin’ of, Jasper’s living with Gavin now, dunno if you heard that too.”
Kat shifted enough to reach for her wine glass again, her hand still on her brother's shoulder. All she could think about was how thrilled she'd been the first time she'd seen Jasper; she'd been ten and not entirely clear on how the baby got in there, but that hadn't mattered enough to distract her from the perfection of the tiny boy. She couldn't believe Gavin of all people would be trying to take that away from Aaron by influencing Mila. Not that she thought that would work. Mila definitely had a mind of her own. "I heard," she said of Jasper living with his dad. "How's that going?" Hopefully Gavin would give at least a little bit of thought to the levels of fucked-up he displayed in front of the kid, although her hopes weren't super high at this point.
“Okay, I guess,” Aaron answered with a shrug. He hadn’t actually seen his nephew since the move had taken place. “Haven’t talked to Jasper yet, but he hasn’t shown up to crash on my couch, either.” At least as far as Aaron knew. He’d been spending most of his nights over at Mila’s place lately, but he guessed Jasper would text him if he really needed something. “Caden started a fight with Gavin a couple weeks ago, telling him what a shitty father he is, so I dunno if that had anything to do with it. Maybe they’ll get closer now or somethin’ since Jasper’s pretty well grown. I even helped Gav fix up his spare room. And then he went and did this shit to me,” he ended in a sour mutter. Aaron honestly felt betrayed, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.
"He hasn't been by here," Kat said of Jasper. He hadn't come by to crash since some point before she'd moved to Black Cove, and she'd hoped that meant her nephew's life was more stable. She got the notion that Jasper crashed at Aaron's much more often than he did her place. Male solidarity, maybe. She continued to rub her brother's shoulder soothingly, not consciously aware that she was doing it. Biting into her lip for a few seconds, she decided not to comment on Gavin's parenting or Caden instigating shit. Aaron was worked up enough without her adding more fuel to the fire. "Neither of them can run your life," she said. "They know how to push your buttons, but at the end of the day, you and Mila are the ones who make the choices about the baby. Maybe you should try talking to Gavin again when you're less upset, hon. He's a little thick... he may not understand how upsetting that was." No way was she going to tell Aaron to forget about it. He shouldn't have to.
Aaron tried to listen to what Kat was saying and believe it. At least the part about his brothers not being able to run his life. They sure seemed like they thought they could. And it wasn’t a well-meaning control either, it was a ‘you’re too stupid to figure this out on your own’ sort of control. He’d rolled with it for a long time because a lot of the time? They were right. But they’d never really tried to meddle in his personal life before, and Aaron couldn’t help but balk at it now. This was too important to let someone else decide for him. “I think he knows, he just doesn’t give a shit,” Aaron murmured, tipping his beer bottle up to drain the last of it. He thought he’d been pretty damn clear with Gavin about how upset he was ... just maybe not all the whys. He leaned forward to tuck the empty back into the cardboard slot, then pulled another beer free and twisted the cap off. “Mila might even quit now, so he’ll regret that.” Aaron sighed and slid over to lean his head against Kat’s shoulder for a moment. “You’re my favorite,” he murmured, something he knew she knew, but it was definitely worth saying today.
Kat was accustomed to their older brothers’ meddling. She’d experienced enough of it for herself to know how it felt, although never about anything this major. In the past she’d withheld information about her life from them because she didn’t want to fucking hear it; she wasn’t sure if Aaron was duplicitous enough to think of that. “He may not,” she conceded. She loved all of her brothers, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t parse out their failings, the same way she was sure they could with hers. “But yes, I know he’d regret Mila quitting.” Maybe she wouldn’t, Kat thought. Keeping good servers would have to be stressful. It made her glad she worked for herself, by herself. When Aaron told her she was his favorite, she grinned at him. “And you’re my favorite. Now let’s talk about some important stuff, like if you want a boy or a girl.” She reached for her wine glass, feeling that warmth inside her that came from being close to someone she loved as much as she did Aaron.
Aaron hadn’t gotten much of a choice to keep the pregnancy from his brothers. Gavin had been there when Mila took the test, after all, and apparently consoled her because she’d been super upset about it. Which he could understand, honestly. It wasn’t like they’d had it all planned out and settled or anything ... but so much of life just happened and then you dealt with it. Which was what he was trying to do. It soothed Aaron a lot to know that at least Kat was in his corner, and if they did end up needing help, they had at least one extra pair of hands. He smiled faintly and picked his head up off her shoulder to sip at his beer and look over at her. “I dunno, actually, I haven’t thought about it yet,” he admitted sheepishly. “I’ll love either one. I think ... it would be really nice to have a son. Try to raise him better than we got raised, y’know? And like, girls going through puberty are scary.” Aaron huffed a little laugh.
Privately, Kat thought that it wouldn't take much to raise a child better than they'd been raised, but she didn't say it. There'd been enough negativity thrown at Aaron lately. She couldn't help but warm to the thought of her favorite brother as a father, whether or not the baby had been planned. Sometimes accidents ended up being the best thing that could possibly happen. "Girls are terrible," she said dryly, keeping a straight face. "You know if Gavin had been a girl, Bridget would've never had another." She probably hadn't used the words Mom or Dad since she'd been a very small child; they didn't deserve it. Kat grinned at her brother. "Either one will have you wrapped around their finger in no time," she said.
He gave her a lopsided smile and nodded. “Yeah, and not just me.” He knew that any kid of his and Mila’s would be adorable, and he was sure they would have a good nature too. Probably not perfect, of course, but Mila had a good heart, and he tried his best. Aaron wrinkled his nose a bit and looked at his sister with a bit of amusement. “I’m trying to picture Gavin as a girl now,” he said. “Even with the big puffy lips, I can’t see it.” Aaron snickered and tipped his beer back again. He was feeling a little better, just tired of talking about the whole damn subject. At least as far as his brothers were concerned. “Not that I’d look a bunch better ... if it is a girl, I hope she looks like Mila.”
Kat snickered. "Caden as a girl." She had to snicker-laugh at that, although all of her brothers were handsome and would probably look just fine if they were somehow morphed into girls. She reached for the wine bottle and filled her glass again, figuring that even if she decided to continue her refinishing project in the late night, it wouldn't hurt her creative process any. Sometimes wine helped. She gave him a warm smile when he mentioned Mila; it seemed like her brother was very into her. He could do much worse in Kat's opinion. "Maybe it'll be the perfect mix of both of you," she said. This was turning into a great evening despite the angsty start to it, and she put everything else out of her mind-- including tearing a strip off of Gavin's ass at some point-- so she could enjoy hanging out, talking and drinking with her closest brother.