terribly sorry, officer (baelfiery) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-10-10 15:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jonathan murphy, neal cassidy (baelfire) |
Who: Murphy & Neal (with NPC Henry and smiley fat baby Niko)
What: Murphy's been invited over to have dinner and meet the kids
When: Recent!
Where: The Swan-Cassidy abode
Rating/Warnings: Lots of feelings being felt
Status: Complete
Murphy had never spent much time around babies. He had been an only child, and none of the foster’s he’d ended up staying with had had small children. But he figured it couldn’t be very hard to meet Neal’s kids. It wasn’t like he could make much of an impression on the thing, good or bad. All babies really needed as far as Murphy was concerned was to be held in a way that wouldn’t kill them and maybe get entertained by some faces. Henry would no doubt be a little trickier, but he was confident that he could navigate some kind of conversation with the kid. Really, he had no idea why Neal wanted to introduce his children to an arson, but he wasn’t about to knock anyone’s parenting style. Especially if he got a meal out of it. He took a breath, and knocked on the door. Neal was like, dad personified so there would definitely be a meal during Murphy’s visit. In fact, he could probably smell it from outside on the porch. Buttermilk fried chicken (though it was baked, actually, for optimum heart healthy benefits) and mashed potatoes - besides, Murphy was looking kind of skinny anyway. He had to pack on some weight after the sickness where everything was pukey and bleeding for more than was necessary. “I’ll get it!” came the shout from inside and that was Henry, who paused his most recent playthrough of Mass Effect (sfsljlajkljklds Garrus was his dad’s friend) and stampeded like a mini-elephant to the door. He flung it open and - okay, not familiar. But being that Henry was still a friendly kid, he took this in stride. “Hi! Are you here to see my dad?” “Hey Murphy, come on in,” Neal called from where he was simultaneously mashing potatoes and entertaining Nikolas in his carrier on the countertop, while he watched his papa cook. There were dogs too, and both started barking curiously. Welcome to the zoo. Murphy wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Neal’s house, but he probably shouldn’t have been surprised to discover that it was kind of homey. The scents and the sounds washed over him when the door opened, and he took a glance inside the house before he took a step inside. “Yeah,” he said to Henry. He was a little older than Murphy was expecting, though thinking about it, Murphy didn’t know why he had expecting a small child. “I’m Murphy. You’ve got to be Henry.” Murphy was more of a cat person than he was a dog person, but when the dogs came up to him to get a load of the stranger, he gave them both a couple of scratches behind the ear. “Nice place,” he said. “Thanks,” Henry beamed, as if it was his place - he liked showing people around though. Their house had a panic room, it was way cool. “That’s Mystique - “ he motioned to the curly-haired white Labradoodle and she was probably even a mix with a little terrier or something too. A mutt, to be honest, but she was sweet. Much more so than the comic character she was named after. “The other one’s Hawkeye.” Also a mutt, probably part labrador retriever, maybe German shepard. Both dogs, Henry had fallen in love with at the shelter so of course his dad couldn’t say no. “But yeah, I’m Henry.” Neal appeared then, with baby cargo in his arms - Nikolas was nearly three months old, and so adorably chunky. Made cuddling him all the easier which even hardasses like Murphy fell prey to. How could you resist baby fat rolls? “Go set the table, kiddo,” he told his older son. “We’re going to eat soon.” When Henry went to do that, Neal led Murphy into the living room - a few moments to chill before dinner could be taken. “Here, have a seat - I’m glad you decided to come over,” he said, patting Niko’s back. “Things are going okay?” “Nice to meet you, Henry. You guys comic fans?” Murphy asked when Henry introduced the dog. He’d been just as into the X-Men and the Avenger’s cartoons as anyone else when he had been a kid. He followed Neal into the living room, and was actually a little surprised when he saw Mass Effect paused on the screen. That was another game he used to play with his father when he’d been just a kid. He was pretty sure it was a fairly old game, and he was kind of surprised that kids were still playing it. Weren’t they all into whatever new shiny games were out these days? “You mean, aside from the bullshit murder dreams?” Murphy asked. He’d killed another kid since he dreamed of the illness, and had attempted to hang Bellamy as well - though of course that didn’t go as planned. “Yeah. Things are about as good as they ever are.” Were they comic fans. Murphy was in for a really animated, enthusiastic diatribe about Henry’s favorites, and he did start talking with a, ‘oh yeah, and I went to Wizard World comic con in Chicago and it was awesome’ before heading off to get things set for dinner. But there was more where that came from, don’t worry. “Doesn’t seem like you’re in for a lot of flowers and rainbows,” Neal observed, and he just thought it was shit that someone so young (well, seventeen was young to him) had to dream about such an awful life. Especially when Murphy’s life in this world, thus far, hadn’t been flowers and rainbows either. “But I’ve got the remedy for that - whenever you have a murder dream, this makes it all better. Hold out your arms.” Then, he placed the baby in them. “Nik, you’re gonna make a new friend.” The baby was even smiiiiling. Murphy wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting from coming over to Neal’s, but having a smiling, chubby baby placed in his arms in the first five minutes of being there was not it. He’d never held a baby before, but he found with a slight adjustment he was able to hold him comfortably - presumably for both of them since Nik hadn't started crying yet. For a moment, the corners of Murphy’s lips tugged upwards. “He’s bigger than I thought he’d be,” Murphy said. He knew that the kid was a few months old at this point, but he’d still been expecting him to be newborn size. Apparently, they grew fast. “He’s pretty sturdy,” Neal agreed, chuckling. “Right, formal introductions though. This is Nikolas, or Niko, sometimes Nik - he has a few twists on the name. Hey Niko, meet John - we call him Murphy though,” he told the baby, who cooed and made little fists - those chubby fingers uncurled, he gurgled, and reached out to touch the new grown-up because there were things to grab. Like hair and a nose and stuff. “So you can call him Murphy too, okay?” The response consisted of nonsensical sounds. Mostly baaaaaaaaaah, which Neal took as agreement. He settled on the armrest of the sofa for a moment, letting Niko charm the guest with his blubber and cuteness. “Babies kind of a new thing?” he asked, since he did have a couple friends who were nervous around tiny tater tots. Probably because they were just so fragile and innocent - hadn’t been corrupted by the world yet. Murphy let out a single, amused snort at the baby’s babbling. “Yeah,” he said, the smile actually staying in place this time as he gently bounced the infant in his arms. “I’m an only child and none of my fosters had babies running around.” Or rolling around, as the case might be. He was pretty sure this one couldn’t even crawl, let alone run. “Which is fine by me. I wouldn’t want to be night by some crying baby anyway.” Nope, Niko was definitely still rolling. He’d gotten pretty good at holding his head up though, so points for that? Those neck muscles were getting stronger by the day. “You get used to it,” Neal quipped. “Well, me and Emma have. Henry can sleep through a tornado, I think.” The kid was all for bonding with his baby brother as long as Niko didn’t have smelly diapers to contend with - then Henry miraculously had shit to do. Helping with the feeding and laundry was all fine, but diaper changing? That was rare. “Pretty soon though, he’ll be sleeping through the night,” Neal added. Certain milestones had to be met in terms of development, but between four and six months seemed to be the general consensus. There were still a few weeks to go, but damn, he was already looking forward to a solid eight hours. Henry returned to the living room then, heading right back to Mass Effect. “I set the table, dad,” he stated. “You deserve a medal, kid. I’ll go check on the food and call you in - should only be a minute or so.” With Neal going to the kitchen, that meant Henry got to bombard the visitor with questions now. “So you’re a comic fan too?” he asked Murphy, as Niko stuck his fist in his mouth to drool on while being cuddled. Such a happy baby he was. “I don’t know if I’d say that,” Murphy said. “I used to read a few of them when I was younger. And I watched some shows on Saturday morning.” Murphy took a seat on the couch, assuming food might be a little bit. Besides, it was a lot easier to hold the strangely cute bundle of diapers and drool when he wasn’t standing. He turned his gaze to the television to watch Henry play whatever he was playing. “Is that Mass Effect?” he asked. “I didn’t realize people still played that.” He’d played it a few times with his father when he was younger than Henry was now, but he was pretty sure the game was pretty old nowadays. “Yeah! It’s one of my favorites, I’ve played through it a few times. But I’m going to do all the games in order again. My dad’s best friend is Garrus - he’s an alien now,” Henry explained, so nonchalantly and matter-of-factly, but he’d lived in Orange County for awhile. He was pretty aware of how crazy it could be. He could also multitask, so he was smashing buttons on the controller and also talking at the same time. “I was just at Wizard World, it’s this comic con all over, but I went to the Chicago one for my birthday. There were some videogame panels, mostly Super Smash Brothers, but a lot of Marvel and also Back to the Future which was cool. I did the Pokemon Go scavenger hunt too, it was just awesome. Have you ever been to a con before? You should definitely go sometime.” Friendly kid! But get him going about his interests, and he’d be off on the run. Murphy almost told the kid that that was impossible, but he was reminded of the fact that he had already talked to people on the Network who claimed to dream of Star Wars, or, weirder yet, Pokemon, and he closed his mouth again. This place was too much sometimes. Instead, he stared at Henry for a moment, then decided he really didn’t want to get into the weirdness that was fictional characters coming to life. “Super Smash Bros, huh?” Murphy said. “I used to beat my dad at that all the time.” Looking back, he wondered if his dad hadn’t just let him win. “Haven’t been to any cons though. It’s not really my scene.” He frowned. “You dress up in costumes and everything?” Henry loved Super Smash Brothers, and also comic cons - his room spoke to that, given how completely and utterly superhero-themed it was. Wizard World had been his first con, technically, but he wanted to go to more. Life goals. “Yeah, I do! I was Hawkeye at this one,” and he’d taken inspiration from the real Hawkeye, who he met in a pizza place once. That had been the greatest night of his life. “I’m gonna learn how to use a bow and arrow.” It was a good time to save the game and restore later, because he glanced over to notice that Niko had scrunched up his face and was flailing a little. “I think he pooped, or is about to,” Henry said. “I can take him.” Because he doubted that Murphy wanted to change a diaper. “You two all set? Dinner’s ready,” Neal called from the kitchen. “Yeah! I just gotta take care of Niko’s smelly butt!” And Henry would wash his hands like eight times, dad, no need to tell him to do it. “Probably not the worst idea, given this Place,” Murphy muttered. He was more of a knife and gun kind of guy, but maybe it wouldn't be a terrible idea to learn how to defend himself by other means. At first, Murphy was almost confused by Henry’s statement, but a couple of seconds later the smell gently wafted up to his nose, and he screwed up his face into a look of disgust. Somehow, he hadn’t thought about the fact that the baby might fill his diaper when Murphy was holding him, and it made him very glad that so far he'd managed to avoid getting anyone pregnant. He rather gratefully handed the infant and it’s smelly butt over to Henry before getting up from the couch and making his way to the kitchen. “Cheerful kid,” he commented, glancing over his shoulder to Henry. “He takes all this weird stuff better than most people do.” “He does,” Neal agreed, shaking his head fondly. “I think it’s just how he is. The Henry we all dream of is similar too.” Or had been, before Neal died - but Emma and Regina told him things here, what was happening, and he was just such a proud dad as Henry came into his own as a hero (and even got his first kiss, his first girlfriend, all those aww things). Since the table was all nice and set, Neal carefully placed the serving dishes down on hot plates to arrange them - and everything smelled good, he was kind of proud of that. “You’ll have to come back for dinner one night when Em’s here too,” Neal made note. “So she can meet you. Or have you guys met at the ranch already?” Murphy frowned to himself, glancing off where Henry had taken off the baby. “He doesn’t dream too, does he?” He seemed too young to dream, to need to go through everything that everyone else did. But if his parents were both dreamers, and he existed in their dream world, it seemed likely that eventually he’d catch whatever it was that gave people a glimpse of their other life. “Don’t think I’ve met her,” Murphy said, taking a seat at the table. He generally tried to keep to himself at the ranch, and hadn’t made much of a point to get to know any of the volunteers or staff. “I’d be up for coming by again though.” Especially with how good all the food already smelled. The idea of Henry dreaming was one that all three of his parents feared - but the key seemed to be the network linking all the dreamers together. As long as Henry stayed away from that, things would probably be okay. “He doesn’t, though he knows all about the dreams and the roles we all have in them. I think sometimes he wishes he was in on it too,” Neal said it in a tone that was part amused, part sigh, but there was nothing except adoration for his very adventurous kid. “Staying away from Valarnet is something that we can all agree needs to happen, for Henry’s sake.” Speak of the devil and he appears! With Niko, who was now fresh as a daisy. So was Henry, for that matter. “Here, dad,” with great fanfare, the teenager handed his pa the precious cargo - Niko was a bit too young for a highchair, so Neal had sort of gotten in the hang of holding a baby in the crook of his arm while he had one hand free. But as for Henry? He was going to chow down, thanks. “Oh! So there’s this thing in Atlanta coming up, it’s like a Heroes and Villains convention - I thought it’d be cool to go.” “Yeah?” Neal asked, and he already had the bottle ready to appease Niko the chunker. “Why’s that?” “The events are coming out soon, the schedule, but the hotel has its discount rate on sale already. And I heard the guy from - “ Well, now Murphy was in for a longer diatribe about the benefits of comic-related events around the world and how fun they were, but compared to what happened recently? It was actually kind of normal. Sometimes, they could all use a little dose or two of that. “Good policy,” Murphy said. He was having enough troubles dealing with the dreams as it was; he couldn’t imagine trying to deal with the dreams being a few years younger. It had been a long time since Murphy had had a normal, family dinner. Longer than the dreams, even long before he’d gone to juvie. Not since before his father had died, and while part of that had probably been the fact that Murphy didn’t give his foster families a chance to have a normal family dinner with him, bent as he was to hate them on principle. But this, this was nice. A touch of normality to help remind Murphy that normal was a thing that existed, that it hadn’t been something that simply disappeared with his father. He smield throughout the meal, even contributed to the conversation sometimes to ask Henry questions about the convention, not realizing exactly how much he’d missed, how much he needed something like this. |