LOVE your work. was wondering if you could do headcanons of tess being readers mum??
“I’m an Astronaut, You’re the Moon”
.✦ ݁˖ A/N; RAAAA MY BAD ANON, WORK HAS BEEN A PAIN IN MY AAAA BUT I REALLY HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS, I NEEDED THIS TESS FLUFF AFTER THE WEEK I HAD <3 enjoy!
.✦ ݁˖ Mom! Tess Servopoulos Headcannons
.✦ ݁˖ Title Lyrics; Orbiter by Noah Kahan
I feel like Tess being your mom doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s this really authoritarian type of parent who doesn’t allow you to do things or mess up. She knows that she needs to let you experience things, and see how the world is for yourself instead of shielding you from it. In the way she sees it, the more she keeps it away from you, the more likely you’re going to hurt yourself disobeying her.
Doesn’t mean that she likes it though. It stresses her out, how much the world has changed. She feels guilty in a way, bringing you into a world that clearly doesn’t deserve you. Because what do you mean she’s teaching you about wound dressing and making do with what you have when you should be learning about what you could be when you grow up, or multiplication tables? She mourns the fact that no matter how hard she tries, you’ll never experience the childhood you were entitled to. That child-like sense of wonder and bliss, gone in a day.
The QZ is a tough place to raise a child, let alone grow up in. Sure, there were other children around your age, but there’s no time for childish dreams or playing. Instead, they’re working, something that Tess doesn’t allow you to do until you’re a little older and more prepared. As a result, you learned how to play and occupy yourself by watching the world outside your small apartment window, and making toys out of your mom’s scrap materials.
As much as she doesn’t like it, Tess does need to pull her weight to bring in ration cards for your sake. So often, that means she’s out working long days, leaving you alone in that space. She always kisses your forehead, hugging you to her chest and muttering “Alright bug, I have to go to work, keep the door locked and dontcha open it, y’hear?” But you’re always in her thoughts, and it’s all worth it seeing your happy face once she’s back for the evening. Maybe even more so when it’s ration day and you get to have the rare treat of peanut butter or even the jerky.
When she gets into the smuggling business, she’s honest with you about it. That’s your thing. You’re both honest with one another, even when sometimes it results in the cold shoulder for a day or a harsh lecture. Like the one time you were messing around with her gun and accidentally misfired it into the apartment above yours. Thank god nobody was hurt and you didn’t get raided, but she was less than pleased to entertain your tomfoolery. She lectured you for more than two hours about gun safety, how a gun isn’t a toy, and how you wasted a shot you both couldn’t afford.
Speaking of the smuggling business, when she starts working with this rugged looking man you came to know as Joel, she keeps you completely private. Never mentions you, never even tells him that she has a kid. She prefers to try and keep you out of this part of her life, since she does a lot of things that she isn’t particularly proud of. She also doesn’t trust anyone enough, let alone a man, and doesn’t want any harm to come to you.
Eventually, he becomes one of the few people she trusts enough around you. Thus, he becomes a father figure of sorts, and treats you like a niece/ his own kid. Tough love, there’s no coddling in this world.
Mom!Tess teaching you how to shoot a gun, and explaining that your grip is a little too relaxed and your shoulders are way too tense. She lowkey giggles when the recoil is too strong and pushes you back a few steps. Her explaining the big 4, and emphasizes the importance of keeping the gun away from your face, and keeping your finger off the trigger unless you’re ready.
Has a habit of checking your gear before you ever leave the apartment. Doesn’t matter whether you’re running down the hall to trade or going out with her and Joel. It gives her peace of mind knowing you’ve gotten everything she deems important, even if she grumbles about how you would’ve forgotten your own head if it wasn’t attached.
I feel like she wouldn’t be overly affectionate in front of other people. The QZ isn’t the place to be wearing your heart on your sleeve. But the second you’re in the safety of the apartment, she’s ruffling your hair, squeezing your shoulder whenever she’s passing by, patting your back, being lovingly annoying every time she sees you tinkering with some sort of gadget. Those little gestures become second nature, almost like she's reassuring herself that you're still there. She gives you pointers with altering or making modifications to your hand gun, or other tatical gear in your backpack.
If you ever get sick, she’s overbearing in the most loving way possible. She hovers. Constantly. Every cough has her narrowing her eyes, checking your temperature with the back of her hand every ten minutes like somehow it’ll magically change. Joel eventually has to tell her, “Tess, kid’s got a cold, not the Cordyceps,” because she practically wore a path into the apartment pacing. Not that it stops her of course, she just rolls her eyes and grumbles something about “damn massachusetts’ rain”.
She teaches and emphasizes a lot of practical things instead of fairy tales. How to tell if canned food has gone bad. How to patch holes in your clothes. Which mushrooms will kill you and which ones are worth picking. How to tell if someone is lying by watching their hands instead of their face. It’s not exactly the curriculum she would’ve wanted for you, but it’s the one she knows will keep you alive in the long run.
Still she makes an effort to let you be a kid where she can. If she finds a deck of cards while smuggling, she’s bringing it home. Teaches you poker, go fish. And she likes telling stories while playing a game with you after a long day. Things about life before the outbreak, how she used to be really damn good at winning money from poker. A half-broken yo-yo? Yours. A faded comic book missing half its pages? She pretends she found it by accident even though she probably traded something valuable for it because she knew it’d make you smile.
You become the reason she starts collecting little things again. Bottlecaps with funny designs. Pretty rocks. Wildflowers that somehow managed to grow through cracks in the pavement. She rolls her eyes and claims they’re ‘just junk,’ but she never throws any of it away. Instead, they end up sitting on the windowsill of your apartment, tiny reminders that beauty somehow survived the end of the world. That even though the world is hell, beauty and happiness prevails.
The first time you call Joel “old man” after hearing her say it so many times, she laughs so hard she nearly chokes on her drink. Joel just stares at the both of you with the most offended expression imaginable before muttering, “Great. Now there’s two of ya.” (but like it’s true, you swear you hear his joints pop everytime you do a job with them)
She has a horrible habit of staying awake until you get home if you're ever out late. Doesn’t matter how exhausted she is. You’ll unlock the apartment expecting her to be asleep, only to find her sitting at the table with a cup of cold coffee (yeah, she was so stressed she dug into her stash she NEVER touches), acting like she definitely wasn’t worried sick. “You’re late,” is all she says, even though the relief on her face gives her away instantly. will chase you to bed.
Don't say “I love you” often. Not because she doesn't feel it, but because actions mean more than words nowadays. Love is making sure you eat before she does. Love is giving you the warmer blanket when winter rolls around. Love is standing between you and danger before you’ve even registered it’s there. Love was every scraped knee she patched up, every lesson she drilled into your head, every ration she quietly split in half even when she was hungry too.
