Whenever John had been away for whatever reason, his children seemed to cling to him in their own personal and specific way. He’d only been to battle once since they had both been born, but they had been too young to remember that, but he often traveled for other reasons. He’d been back for a couple of days now and the children, no, they were teenagers now, still clung to him.
No longer sparring with Emily and her sword in the pit, he was now giving her pointers and correcting her stance in archery, all the while Alex kept close, but out of the training pit, on a bench taking notes, or perhaps studying something but still kept his father and sister within his sight and John took a moment to observe his son. Long since had he accepted that the boy didn’t want to fight, that he preferred books and politics or other studies over a sword or a bow and arrows, that was fine. He loved spending time with his family, any way he could and this was just as good as anything. He congratulated Emily when he hit the center of the target, easily, and watched her shoot another arrow right next to it, the next time he looked over at Alex, he saw that Shamus had joined them. The young boy he once had been really had grown into a man by now. Giving Emily a quick peck on her cheek he decided to head over to his husband and son for a while, picking up his shirt that hung over a pole and pulled it over his head before he jumped the low fence to join them. “You two sure you don’t want to join in on the fun?” he gave a cheeky smile and leaned in to give his husband a quick peck on the lips as he stood beside him and put a warm hand on Alex’s shoulder while the other rested around Shamus’s waist. He didn’t need to see it to feel Alex roll his eyes at the mention of ‘fun’ in combination with fighting and training. // - @intherightwasi
