The Half Happy Family [For iselldrugstothecommunity]

[first_in_time]

A seven year old John Chesterton shared the task of setting the table with his father. Unfortunately, a child with a love of games should probably not be given any kind of responsibility which involved sharp objects. And neither should their father.

"Avarst! Ye matey!" Ian Chesterton cried at his son, brandishing a butter knife like a sword.

"Arrrr!!" John replied with one eye closed as though he were wearing an eye patch.

"Submit to me, matey, or I'll gut yer through!"

"NEVAAR!!"

The butter knives clinked once before Barbara managed to catch them at it; "boys!" she called from the doorway into the dining room. "That's quite enough. One of you will literally skin the other and I am not in the mood to drive over to the emergency ward."

Unfortunately, neither boy was paying much attention. To begin with they looked suitably shamed, but all it took was a quick exchange of looks and they lunged at Barbara, who screamed. And then giggled as the tickling fingers of John and Ian found her most ticklish spots. She managed to wriggle away, and ran for the kitchen, the hall and finally the lounge where they tackled her onto the sofa and tickled her until she managed to cry for mercy between fits of laughter.

Now breathing heavy, all three Chestertons sat on the sofa a moment, contemplating who to tickle next when the doorbell rung.

"I'll get it," Barbara said and pushed herself up to walk to the front door. Her hand reflexively went to her hair, double checking that everything was still in place. When she opened the door, flushed in the face from the giggling, hair didn't matter. Even dinner didn't matter. Nor sword fighting, or anything else.

"...Howard," she gasped.

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[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard's switched clothing into pajamas. It's early, but he's exhausted, and without a job his sleep cycle has again reverted to three-hour chunks interspersed throughout the day. One of the cats is up on the couch already. Howard's grabbing a blanket from the hall closet.

"What kind of trains? You trains or real trains?"

[first_in_time]

"My trains because they're the best trains." John was more than certain about that. "I will show you!"

A small toy box was kept in the lounge. Much to the dismay of the kitties, John picked up the box and roughly tipped it out so that bots of everything littered the floor. The box was mostly filled with trains, tacks, trees and animals. Thankfully he was too short to have broken anything.

"See?" he said, holding up a bright red caboose.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

The cats both hide under the couch. Sushi, the more adventurous of the two, emerges briefly to bat at one of the trees. Howard makes a mental note of where all the tacks fell.

Howard leans back against the couch and eyes the caboose. "I bet I could make it better. Want to test that?"

[first_in_time]

John looked skeptical. Make his trains better? How? They were already pretty good. Still, he handed Howard the metallic toy then climbed up onto the couch to see what he was doing.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You got a rubber band and a torch?" He still wants to call it a flashlight, but he knows John will look at him cluelessly. Howard paces over to the closet and starts to look for other things to work onto the train. "And a coin with ridged edges, and a paper clip."

[first_in_time]

"I think they're in Mummy's study," John replied and ran away to find them. His footsteps were quick but like, like a heavy mouse or a possum.

Moments later, there was a loud bang from the study where John had knocked something off his mother's desk, but no screams of pain followed, so all must be alright. For everyone except for Barbara, of course.

John could be heard running back just as his mother called out for him.

"Uncle Howard! I found a rubber band and a paper clip but coins are in my money box and I can't get into it without Daddy's permission."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I might have a coin." He rummages through his pocket, pulling out a wallet that isn't his, and finds one hidden in a well-searched nook. He's not exactly happy to part with it, even if it isn't worth much, because he's got so little money on him right now.

"Okay, let me show you this." He sits down with the paper clip in his mouth and starts to work. It's not a precise science, but soon enough, with a string from his sleeve for an anchor, he's made a little motor for the train.

"Now look, if you pull this rubber band gently, the train will move by itself. Just for a few feet, but." He sets the train on the windowsill and pulls the rubber band. The toy inches forward by itself, propelled by tension and forward momentum, until the edge of the sill, where it hits the window frame.

[first_in_time]

John squealed in delight and clapped his hands. Small things really did amuse his small mind. But if Uncle Howard could do that, what else could he do?

"Can you make my plane fly?" John asked, jumping away from the window and running up the stairs to his bedroom where a little metallic airplane, a model of something which might have flown during the war, was attached to his ceiling.

Barbara, however, caught him halfway up the stairs. "John Alydon Ganatus Chesterton, why is there a mess in my study?"

"Uncle Howard wanted a rubber band and I'll clean but I haftah get my plane!"

"Why?"

"Because he will make it fly!" There were sounds of John trying to push past his mother, but Barbara was clever-er than that!

"Why don't you let Uncle Howard rest? He can look at your plane tomorrow after you've had a sleep," John was already protesting in grumbles, "he might even be happy enough to come with us to the park but you must leave him alone from time to time, alright?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I don't know if I can make it fly..." Howard says as John runs off, then sits back on the couch with the blanket and tries to picture some contraption of string and ziplines that'll please John just the same. He can probably do it; it'll just take materials. Maybe he'll scavenge from the desk drawer later.

He's more than grateful that Barbara's setting the boundaries for him. He's going to stress out that he's being too unfriendly, too damaged and unfamily-like, if he sets them himself. He pulls the blanket over him and lets the cats jump up next to him.

He wonders if anyone will be coming to say goodnight to him, or if he's much too old for that.

[first_in_time]

With John in her arms, Barbara walked down the remaining steps to the bottom floor of their home. John was grumbling about the fact that he had to sleep. The truth was that John was incredibly good at falling asleep as soon as his parents put him down. It was just the waking up at 5am and 6am that did their heads in.

"Say goodnight to Uncle Howard," Barbara said and kissed the side of John's head before putting him down on the ground. John trotted over to Howard and hugged each of the cats goodnight, then held out his arms for Howard to hug him. Barbara watched from a short distance, ready to swoop in should Howard need rescuing.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard pauses for a while, too long, before hugging John back gingerly, as if he's afraid he'll get some contagious disease. But he does hug him back.

"Night, kiddo." He pulls the blanket over himself. "Turn off the lights when you go?"

He still doesn't sleep well. He dozes off easily enough, but he wakes in the middle of the night aching and trembling. He lays as still as he can on the couch while one of the cats licks drops of sweat from his brow. What he was dreaming about fades; the feeling takes a bit longer. After he's certain he's not going to vomit or start crying, he gets up.

He checks his watch. 2 a.m. He sits in a chair by the window, pulls out his journal, and starts writing by moonlight. The nightmare may have left anxiety in its wake, but it dragged a trail of ideas, too.

[first_in_time]

Barbara was about to step in when Howard reached out for the hug. She was impressed. It wasn't like Howard to hug someone he knew, let along someone he didn't know very well at all. She hoped that it would be the start of something new and fantastic.

"Goodnight, Howard," Barbara said and shut the door, too so that she could sit in the kitchen with Ian for the evening.

At 6am, an excited John was dragging his half-asleep father down the stairs.

"...and I want sugar on it! and can we have bacon? We haven't had bacon in forever and it's delicious. Do you like bacon, Daddy? You should like bacon. Mummy says that it makes us grow up big and strong."

"Am I not already big and strong, Johnny?" Ian asked after a rather vocal yawn. All that followed were John's giggles.

"Is Uncle Howard awake? I want to see if Uncle Howard is awake because he said he'd make my plane fly today." John's voice got closer and there was a light tap on the door before Ian intercepted.

"No. Uncle Howard will join us once he's awake. Until then, we're going to have to be quiet like mice. Can you be quiet like a mouse?" Ian had little idea of what Howard's sleeping schedule was like now. There was every chance he was awake, too, but Ian didn't think he'd appreciate John running in and jumping all over him anyway.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

After an hour of furiously writing a story about organ donors living on through their transplanted body parts, Howard falls back asleep. This time, he doesn't wake to fear, but instead to irritation that someone with a high-pitched voice is clamoring for him outside the door. He groans and pulls the blanket up over his head for a moment, then gets up out off the couch.

"I'm up, I'm up." He boots the cat off the couch and runs his hands over his face. He has to practically peel his shirt off to change into a new one; the night sweat has soaked it through. He only has one other right now, since he pawned off the rest of his outfits, so he'll need to wash it today.

Before he heads out the door, he takes a peek to see what he scribbled out last night. Not terrible. Not especially lucid, either.

"I think I heard someone talking about sugar and bacon," he says as he enters the kitchen.

[first_in_time]

"Uncle Howard!" John cried and let his spoon fall with a clatter in his haste to run toward their house guest. Ian reached out to grab at him before he could get far, however, and hoisted the child of his shoulder.

Ian might not be exactly like Barbara, but he was aware of somethings which made Howard uncomfortable. He was sure that enthusiastic children was one of them.

"John seems to be of the idea that sugary weetbix and bacon should be all in a breakfast," he said over his son's giggles. Ian hushed him gently. "Do you want to wake Mummy up as well?"

He seemed to quieten at that, but a mischievous grin still played upon John's face.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

It's a good thing Ian does intervene, because Howard tenses immediately when John comes pelting towards him, startling like a deer and sprawling his hands against the door frame. It's only when the threat is gone - the threat that never existed - that he calms down. Mostly.

He hates how simple it is to set him off.

"Yeah, Barbara needs her rest." He straightens his shirt and goes over to the pantry. "I can make everyone oatmeal, if you guys want. Pretty simple stuff."

[first_in_time]

Ian put John back in his chair so that Ian could put a little sugar on the weetbix he had placed on the table moments before.

"Barbara and I would love some. She should be down before it's ready," replied Ian as he eyed Howard's shirt. He was almost certain that Howard had owned that shirt since Stacey, and it looked that way, too. Not that Ian was going to say anything about it.

"Are you working today?" Ian continued and sat next to John at the kitchen counter.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Right. I'll start that." He gets a pot out to get water boiling, tensing again when Ian asks the question Howard knows has been coming and still hasn't found an answer for.

"No. I, um. I have the day off." He starts getting coffee grounds together too. "Whole week off, actually, so you don't really have to ask. I needed personal time."

[first_in_time]

Ian side-eyed John who was tucking into his breakfast noisily. They had to be careful around him. Anything they said could potentially be repeated anywhere.

"But everything's alright, isn't it?" he gently asked, as though he were testing waters.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm just taking some time off, you know, to get my head on right." Howard tries to stay preoccupied with the oatmeal so he doesn't have to meet Ian's eyes, but unfortunately oatmeal tends to make itself. "I was getting tired of constantly getting jerked around there, anyway. I worked there what, six years without a raise or getting taken off apprenticeship? Meanwhile all these white guys get hired in front of me and make twice what I do six months after their start date."

He takes a breath. "Did, uh. Did Barbara tell you I'm staying for a while?"

[first_in_time]

"She mentioned it," Ian replied, "but you know that you're welcome here whenever you need to get away...or if you're having difficulties somewhere." He tried to breeze over that but Ian, being Ian, was suspicious. No intention of ever visiting (admittedly, due to John), and suddenly he arrived? Yet, he didn't want to think the worst of Howard. He was quite often used and abused due to his colour.

Before Ian could get out much more, Barbara entered the kitchen. She rubbed an eye and kissed her family good morning. As she went to check on the kettle, Barbara brushed Howard's arm. It was her own good morning kiss without the unwanted closeness.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked their guest.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I'm always having difficulties somewhere," Howard says, to brush the whole thing off. He perks up a bit when Barbara enters - he loves Ian, but he's always been closer to her, and the last few weeks have left him feeling particularly vulnerable.

"Same as usual. Could've slept worse." He's sure she knows what he means - he's not about to say the night was good when he woke up panicky, but that seems to be becoming the norm lately. He always seems to just unwind towards the end of the year, as if his meticulous spiderweb is being plucked apart strand by strand. "I got a lot of writing done, at least."

[first_in_time]

"You did?" Barbara smiled, "I'd like to read them if I can."

At that point, John realised that the attention was no longer on him. He had to rectify that immediately.

"Mummy, Mummy, I have weetbix for breakfast and I made it!"

"Did you really?"

"I don't think you did, Johnny," Ian told him with a raised eyebrow.

Barbara chuckled and turned back to Howard. "What did you write about?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Cutting people up for their parts," Howard responds bluntly, then realizes a moment too late that while he's allowed to be morbid and sour around Ian and Barbara, it's probably best not to say such things around a seven year-old. He corrects himself a second too late. "It's just a rough draft about immortality."

But the damage is already done; John's looking at him with an expression between fascination and horror.

[first_in_time]

Ian acted as though nothing had happened. It was how they managed to get John to stop making such a drama out of falling over, it was how they could also stop this from getting out of hand. Barbara, however, gave John a worried look which was all he needed.

"...Mummy, does Uncle Howard cup people up?"

"Of course not, Johnny. Don't be silly."

"But he said-"

"It was a story. Now eat your breakfast up or Daddy might take it from you."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Just a story, John. I told you I write scary stories." Howard's cheeks darken a shade, though. He clears his throat and stirs the oatmeal. "Um, Barbara, I made breakfast for you and Ian, hope you wanted oatmeal with apples and nuts in it..."

It's clear he's trying to overcompensate for misstepping.