× CLOSED STARTER FOR — my fav @basicbitchwrites !!
A COUPLE OF YEARS ago, had someone taken julian to the side and warned him that jules would one day be a big part of his life, surely he wouldn’t have believed it. fatherhood wasn’t something he’d ever planned or pined for; much less if it involved veronica, of all people, and a child whose first steps he hadn’t even gotten the chance to see. life had an interesting way of working out, though. it was something like an east coast hurricane–always sudden, always wild. always liable to change even at the best of times. and despite his effort to steer clear of parental responsibilities ( who REALLY wanted to take care of a kid in their twenties, right? ), something inside him eventually flourished. clicked. suddenly he hated the thought of a child somewhere growing up without a father because of him. more after all he’d been through. he knew exactly what that felt like, so how could he do it to someone else? his own successor?
besides, what would be worse for his career? news of a secret child he’d had with his former bandmate, or news of how he’d abandoned them?
giving jules a ‘primary’ role in his life hadn’t been easy at first, but it hadn’t been entirely hard either. since julian wasn’t good with children, particularly due to spending so little time around them, he adjusted slow. found himself irritated a lot the then four-year-old’s incessant questioning. the way he constantly hijacked his phone for games ( thank god baby shark hadn’t existed then ). how unpredictable and annoying his habits could be. through trial and error, however, he’d learned how to manage. discovered commonalities between the two of them, figured out how to properly respond to his main quirks. the key was also in special visits. none of that room-and-chair bullshit where they could ‘get to know’ each other. so while julian admittedly wasn’t the best with phone calls and the like, he never missed what he deemed the important stuff. the birthdays, the holidays, anywhere his presence was considerably vital for the happiness of his son. in between that, he made sure to send gift after gift—always the latest whatever ( and always the best of the best ) because, well, kids liked that stuff, didn’t they?
with jules finally asleep beneath heaps of contemporary bedding, julian happily escorted any remaining birthday celebrants out of the door, swinging it shut with a gentle push of his foot. this left him and veronica ( mostly ) alone with over 2,000 square feet of space. and typically, julian didn’t enjoy being anywhere near her, especially not in the same room, whether it was crowded or not–but he always had his exceptions, of course. jules was without a doubt one of them. a lack of energy was, presumably, another. the day’s long stretch of events, as fun as they had been ( because they’d given him an excuse to drink ), left him exhausted and far too drained to care about ronnie’s presence in his presidential suite. in fact maybe tonight he encouraged it. he’d have a massive hangover in the morning, and someone had to look after their rambunctious kid. she was the certainly best person to do it.
"looks like it's just you and me now, princess."
his shoes clicked rhythmically against the hardwood floor as he walked. he reached out for a nearby bottle of rum, pouring the final remnants of it into one of the many plastic cups now littering the suite. "want a drink? there's still a lot left to choose from, we're not doin' me any favors wastin’ it.” bringing the beverage to his lips, he took an achingly slow sip. “still waiting on a ❛ thank you ❜ by the way.” maybe it was a joke, but–pompous from the moment he could be, and emboldened by the copious amounts of alcohol pumping through his veins, he was half-serious, too. “this is basically a family vacation, all expenses paid by me,” he sneered. “how you likin’ fort lauderdale so far? i picked it just ‘cause i like the hotel.”
