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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.
"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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Date: 2013-06-17 09:11 pm (UTC)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.
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Date: 2013-06-18 10:27 am (UTC)"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.
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Date: 2013-06-18 07:39 pm (UTC)"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.
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Date: 2013-06-18 10:18 pm (UTC)"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.
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Date: 2013-06-18 11:10 pm (UTC)"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.
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Date: 2013-06-19 03:50 am (UTC)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.
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Date: 2013-06-19 04:27 am (UTC)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."
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Date: 2013-06-19 04:40 am (UTC)"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.
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Date: 2013-06-19 05:05 am (UTC)"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."
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Date: 2013-06-21 10:26 am (UTC)"But everything's alright, isn't it?" he gently asked, as though he were testing waters.
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Date: 2013-06-21 05:40 pm (UTC)He takes a breath. "Did, uh. Did Barbara tell you I'm staying for a while?"
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Date: 2013-06-22 02:20 am (UTC)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.
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Date: 2013-06-22 02:28 am (UTC)"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."
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Date: 2013-06-22 02:51 am (UTC)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?"
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Date: 2013-06-22 02:55 am (UTC)But the damage is already done; John's looking at him with an expression between fascination and horror.
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Date: 2013-06-22 02:59 am (UTC)"...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."
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Date: 2013-06-22 03:12 am (UTC)It's clear he's trying to overcompensate for misstepping.
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Date: 2013-06-22 04:17 am (UTC)"But why would someone chop someone up? Wouldn't it hurt? Why would they do that?" John was thinking far too hard about the concept. Ian put an arm around him and gently hugged John. "Daddy, I don't want to hop you up. Do you want to chop me up?"
"Only if you don't clean up your toys."
"Daddy!"
"Ian."
At least Ian looked a little bashful at encouraging John's daytime nightmare. He sighed and picked up the child with one arm, and his breakfast with the other. "Come on. Let's go and eat in the lounge. We can watch television."
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Date: 2013-06-22 04:46 am (UTC)He cringes a bit at the joke - he finds it okay when he makes awful comments, but coming from an adult figure makes him queasy. Always has since getting here. He once spent a trip out to the pier with Barbara and Ian vomiting in a bathroom stall after the couple standing near them had joked about eating up their infant's teeny little toes up (he told Ian and Barbara he'd probably eaten something bad).
"It was for organ donation..." he says weakly, not sure if he should follow Ian and John. He looks to Barbara to see if she's going. Maybe he can volunteer to go feed the cats instead.
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Date: 2013-06-23 04:26 am (UTC)Arms folded, Barbara leaned against the counter. "Was this dream based on another nightmare?"
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Date: 2013-06-23 04:30 am (UTC)He would offer to let her see it, but he's seen the results of writing late at night. Good ideas, terrible execution.
"They're getting more frequent again. The nightmares. It's almost every night now."
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Date: 2013-06-24 10:17 am (UTC)no subject
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