WHO: Eliot Waugh-Solo & Fray Waugh WHEN: Sometime in the week before the Space Cruise started WHERE: Fray's Bedroom WHAT: Eliot catches Fray packing and asks the very approriate question of, "what the fuck?" and comes to find out Fray thinks she has to leave once the new baby comes TRIGGERS: References to trauma from kidnapping, abandonment and negligent childhood environments. Mostly found family feels.
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Fray was preparing herself. It had been a very long time, but the baby was almost here now, which meant that she was going to have to move out. She supposed it was as good a time as any. She could get an apartment by the school she ended up going to and she could just come back to visit. Maybe she would get her own apartment in Tumbleweed. One she didn’t have to pay for. She stared at the stuff in her room, frowning slightly as she started to fold boxes together so she could start packing. A couple weeks wasn’t that long of a time, so she had to make sure that she was ready for it.
Sighing, she started to pack the clothes she wore less often. She could leave herself a couple outfits out so that she wouldn’t feel like she was looking for clothes. She’d pick those outfits out as she went. She was going to need to start making her own lunches, which meant she’d have to figure out how much groceries were and which ones to shop for. She wasn’t very good at making the fancy lunches that her dad made, but she could probably figure it out.
She put on the weird song Ronan always listened to. Murder Squash. It was sung by Marceline, but she thought it would help her get through the packing process and she could pretend that she was smashing squashes while she was doing it. It was definitely fine. She wasn’t upset at all. Nope. Not even a little bit. Babies, she decided, were still the worst things that she’d come across. Especially now since the baby would be their real child. Which meant she had to give up her space in the home. She was pretty sure that’s how it worked.
One of the things Eliot had to admit he enjoyed about living with Josh was the access to baked goods at what felt like a moments notice. Prior to Josh's arrival, it'd been mostly himself and Ren who'd handled the baking of sweets in the Cottage. Or Petunia when she'd been around. But with Josh there, he was occasionally greeted with a surprise treat by stepping into the kitchen.
"Oooh, thank you, Hoberman," he said to no one in particular, as the aforementioned man was not present. Snatching up several macarons onto a plate, he headed for the stairs and then for the second set, towards the bedrooms.
He moved for Fray's door and gave a rap of his knuckles against the frame before nudging it open to step inside. "Fray, do you want a..." He'd begun, with his eyes down on the plate, before he'd looked up and spotted the boxes. He blinked.
"...Are you Marie Kondoing your clothes?"
Fray turned around, suddenly feeling awkward. She’d meant to do this when Eliot wasn’t around to see it so he didn’t have to feel bad about it. But she got distracted by his question. “What?” It was the first thing she thought because what did that even mean?
“I was...um...trying to get my packing done early,” she explained. Since obviously he didn’t know what was happening or he was just momentarily confused because he realized when it was and felt weird having happened upon it the way she did having him walk in at that moment. “It’s a couple weeks away and I didn’t want to have to pack last minute.” Her gaze dropped to the ground. “I don’t have a place to go yet, but I’ll go to the Bureau soon to make sure I get one.” She fidgeted with the ends of her hair in its ponytail. “I’ll try to be out soon.”
"She's a...nevermind," he went to explain, because it wasn't important and because Fray seemed ...off. He frowned lightly.
"Packing." He repeated. He wondered if perhaps she was referring to the Cruise, that had thus far been delayed, and he hoped would continue to be so. He really would rather it not come at all. But Fray wasn't the sort to ever need multiple outfits and if it was for the Cruise, why would she use cardboard boxes. As he continued to listen, his frown grew.
"Wait, what?" He said after a moment. "What sort of place to go? Why are you needing to be out?"
Fray wasn’t sure how Eliot didn’t seem to understand. She thought it seemed like the obvious thing to do. “Um. Cause the baby’s coming in a couple weeks, so you’ll…” She frowned a little. “That’s what...um...you…” She gestured vaguely as if that was going to explain anything. “I don’t want to be in the way. So it’s fine. I can stay in my own place and make my lunches and stuff.”
She knew that her mom had been very fixated on the log baby and making her babysit and everything, but she could always come by to look after the baby. Even if she wasn’t sure she wanted to. “It’s what happens, right? Cause you know. That’s your baby and you’ll want to be with Mom and Dad and I don’t want to be in the way. I’m sure Ronan might let me sleep in one of the barns if I ask.”
Eliot stared at her for a moment, his mouth completely agape before it finally seemed to sink in. "No, no, no, nope, no," he began mumbling as he stepped further into her room. The plate of macarons was set down on the nearest surface and both his hands were diving into one of the cardboard boxes, scooping up the garments in as large of piles as he could before moving to drop them at the base of her closet floor. He snatched up a hanger and went to grab a shirt to put it on.
"No. That is not what happens. No." He said, his tone coming off as frazzled. As soon as the garment was on the hanger, he put it rather forcefully on the rod of the closet, before turning to look at her. "Really? You've thought...this whole time...Fray."
He frowned at her. "You are our baby, too." Okay, he didn't really refer to her as a baby, but the point needed accented.
Fray startled slightly when Eliot moved past her, pulling her clothes out of the boxes and dropping them on the ground. “Hey!” Because those were her clothes and she didn’t put his clothes on the floor. She wore Earth clothes to work at the farm with Ronan because it was better than getting clothes she liked dirty. She could deal with t-shirts and baggy jeans when she was at the Barns. But these were her nice clothes and now they were on the floor. Why was he acting so weird anyway?
She frowned slightly. “Well, now you have a real baby coming.” She shrugged. “So I figured it would be easier. Cause then you don’t have to add space on or anything. There’s already space.” She tucked a couple strands of hair behind her ear.
“I’m not a baby, Dad.” She shrugged. “I’m eighteen now. So I’m an adult. Right?” Not that she thought of herself as anything outside of an adult before. Faerie years were different. She’d still been expected to do what was asked of her, but she was mostly allowed to do what she wanted. As long as that wasn’t something the Queen didn’t like. But she was gone now.
"Real baby coming..." Eliot mumbled, bringing his hands up to his face. He held them there for a moment as he sucked in a long breath, before the hands were dragged down and dropped down by his side. "Do we look like we're really hurting for space, Fray? There's like twenty empty bedrooms for fucks sake," he pointed out.
"No. You aren't a baby. But you are our baby. That's not changing just because you're an adult or because there's another baby joining us." He took a step towards her, hands reaching out to rest against her shoulders, looking down.
"No moving. Okay?"
Fray looked off to the side, her right hand moving to hold onto her left arm. She knew how many empty rooms there were, but maybe they were going to fill them up? She didn’t know what babies needed in the human world. Even if she had seen babies. But she didn’t live with them.
It took a little while for her to actually look at Eliot once he moved closer and put his hands on her shoulders. Usually she’d respond with a lot of anger. Most of this would have been angry. But she had done her best not to put her angriest feelings forward because she was uncomfortable with the other feelings or because she felt like it. Instead she just moved herself forward and pressed her face into Eliot’s chest. The “okay” muffled as she did so.
His hands slipped off of her arms when she stepped forward, responding to the movement by wrapping his arms around her. Fray wasn't as physical with affection as he was so when she was initiating it, he was going to give her his all. He brought one hand up to caress at the back of her head for a moment, holding her against him.
He didn't know what to say now but he knew he needed to. "I love you, Fray. You know that, right?" He whispered, looking down at the crown of her hair.
She didn’t wrap her arms around him, opting to just let them hang awkwardly at her side. It was more about getting comfort than giving it, so she didn’t usually worry about the hugging back unless she wanted to...or her dad needed it. He probably did in that moment, but she figured he’d be fine if she just stood there for a while. And that was the plan. At least a few minutes of just standing there.
There was a quick nod at his question. She did know. She just worried that the new baby was going to be more important than her. She knew Mr. Stark had adopted Peter just like her parents adopted her. She just...wasn’t sure she could be as much as a baby. Especially one that was theirs and not just by choice.
After a minute, she turned her head to the side, but she didn’t move away. “Are you sure you’re not going to like the baby more than me? I guess it’s okay if you do. It’s a baby. It’s not like babies do anything. They just are babies and lots of people like them.”
He caught sight of the nod and he glanced up at the ceiling. That was good, at least. He didn't know how to respond if there'd been any doubt of that truth. Other than ensuring they course corrected immediately, but thankfully, it wasn't the case. He stroked her hair gently as he continued to hold her. It didn't seem to matter how long it went on for Eliot, as he was willing to do this for however long Fray needed.
"It'd be very unkind of me to like one of my children more than the other," he whispered. Granted, he was positive his Father liked all of his brothers more than him, but Eliot was not that legacy. He'd never do so nor let it continue to be a worry. "The baby is going to need a lot of our attention, because they won't be able to do anything, but that doesn't mean we'll like them more than you."
She supposed not every person gave up their baby to faeries. And she wouldn’t like it if they did. She was pretty sure a grown teenager couldn’t be given away as easily once she counted as an adult. Or maybe she was wrong. But she didn’t think so. “You might accidentally like it more than me because it will be much cuter than me.” But she could forgive that. She was still skeptical of being an older sibling. She wasn’t sure she wanted to spend time with a baby. But she didn’t really want to not spend time with her parents.
“Am I going to have to babysit a lot because I still have to go to the farm and I don’t think a baby would like it there.”
"Eh. You might be cuter than the baby, too," he suggested. He didn't want to shrug off that improbability so he was trying for a laugh instead. He knew he wouldn't accidentally like the baby more. He didn't like Fray anymore than he did Rupert, after all. Not that she understood this. He didn't exactly talk about that.
"Only when absolutely necessary and when you are willing. You'll never be forced to." He glanced down at her. "We wouldn't want to pull you away from your life, Fray. Even if it's a farm." This was said more to get a smile than anything else. He'd accepted his peace on that topic.
She wrinkled her nose slightly. “I’m not cuter than a baby.” Or even a younger kid. She was pretty sure that she wasn’t ever really the cute kid sort of person. But then she wasn’t really sure she was the person to judge it and she didn’t think that the Faeries would ever have called her cute.
She nodded at his words, though, letting out a slow breath. “If they have to come with me to the farm, I need one of those baby sacks to carry them around the farm. Also you should make sure they’re warm enough and give me sunscreen. Cause apparently babies get sunburn easy.” Okay, so she may have been reading some stuff on babies because she didn’t know what to do with a baby. She poked lightly at Eliot’s ribs. “I’m gonna make them like farming just to make you sad.”
He pulled back some, his hands shifting to rest on her shoulders, as he looked at her seriously. "You could be. Your future sister or brother? They could be grotesque!" He emphasized the last word, with a quick flash of a smirk to her. He would never think this, of course, but the point was reassuring Fray at the moment. He brought one hand up to stroke her cheek gently, smiling as he did. "But I think both my kids are going to be pretty fucking adorable." He winked to her.
Nodding his head in agreement, he let his hand fall back to rest on her shoulder. "We'll get you a FDA approved carrier and I'll put every damn sun blocking spell I can on you both." He recoiled just a little from her prod in the ribs while making a face. "You are trying to kill me, aren't you? A little piece of my soul ripped away each time you reference livestock or crops or Carhartt."
She wrinkled her nose at the thought. “I don’t think so.” She was pretty sure it’d be weird looking, but not like a bad weird. Just a small, sort of alien weird. She rolled her eyes at his last words. She didn’t feel adorable, but for some reason Peter seemed to like her, so maybe she was at least not mediocre.
“Yes. It brings me joy to see your pain.” The response was said in her usual flat tone with no sign of teasing. She was very good at it now. She didn’t consider it lying so much as a way to amuse herself. “Your soul was going to be mine from the start. That’s why I was brought into your life. All the anger and the near killing was a lie to make you belong to me eventually. It’s called the long game.” She wasn’t exactly surprised that she made it through the entire speech without cracking a smile or losing the somewhat bored tone of her voice. She did make sure to smile after the fact, though. Just in case he missed that it was a joke.
"If they were, we'd love them still."
"Mm, yes, I assumed as much." This wasn't a lie. He'd figured out early that Fray got amusement out of referencing the livelihood he very desperately wanted to distance himself from. She made it impossible to do any longer but in actuality? He didn't mind so much because seeing her passionate about the industry brought him more joy than it did pain. So long as he thought about it in relation to Fray and her interests solely, at least. "Ah. The long game. I see." He laughed dryly before leaning in to press a quick kiss to her forehead. "Well played then, Fray."
He nudged his head towards her closet. "How about we put your clothes back and then I'll make us lunch?"