Strengthening bonds. (Homestuck)
A/N: I haven’t written a fic like this in a long time, my bad if I’m a bit rusty. This is also purely indulgent so sorry if it’s a bit ooc. Otherwise enjoy. Tw for swearing.
The scent of vanilla filled the air, music was playing softly in the kitchen as Mr. Egbert was preparing another cake. It was his son’s birthday after all, so he felt like this is the perfect time to bust out the Betty Crocker cake mix and slave over a hot oven. Time consuming yes, but he didn’t see anything wrong with spoiling John with cakes.
Despite it being abundantly clear that over the past few months John and him have started to grow distant from one another, maybe he was overdoing the fatherly doting, or maybe he wasn’t spending as much time with him anymore. The oven’s timer begin to beep snapping Mr. Egbert out of thought, he quickly put on some oven mittens and removed the fluffy cake. He placed it on the rack for it to cool down. Glancing over at the photo of him and a six year old john on the wall, he sighed.
Oh what he’d give for them to rekindle their father son relationship.
Maybe they could go to the Dadly depot, no John would get bored rather quickly. Make a cake together? As much as he would love for him and John to do that, John might not be as enthusiastic. God what can they do. He grabbed the now cooled down cake and removed it from the tin, he then begin to apply the fluffy vanilla icing. While this was nice, he still couldn’t rattle an idea in his brain on how to bond with his son.
Once the cake was finished he decided to walk to the living and look through the photo album for as a guide, flipping page after page, he felt like he was hitting a dead end until he saw one photo where it showed him tickling a little John on his tummy. Mr. Egbert smiled at that memory, John was around four year’s old and refused to go to bed, so he had to pull out the “tickle monster” to tucker the little tike out. It had become a bedtime ritual for the Egbert’s whenever John wasn’t keen on clocking in for the night. Not that Mr. Egbert was complaining, his son’s bubbly laughter always left him with a smile on his face.
Wait.. that’s it.
The sound of rapid typing can be heard from outside John’s bedroom door. Presumably chatting with one of his friends. Slowly Mr. Egbert opened the door quietly, glancing over seeing fake arms in his son’s cake. “Well, that’s one way to decorate a cake.” He mumbled under his breath. He cleared his throat, startling John a bit. “Dad what the fu— I mean what the frick?!” He said as he quickly exited out of pesterchum. “Sorry, I’ve just wanted to see how you were doing.” His father’s voice was calm and soft, causing John to ease up a bit and sigh “I’m fine, just chatting with friends… stuck fake arms into a-“ “The cake.” John’s father cut him off. John tilted his head to side before glancing over to the cake. “Oh, well. I was getting sick of cake.” He admitted, a frown donned Mr. Egbert’s face as he sighed and shook his head. “You could of just asked me to store it in the fridge for later.” He mumbled, “But never mind that now.” He waved his hand “I wanted to ask you something.” His expression turned stoic.
“Do you hate me?” Mr. Egbert pondered, John was taken aback by the question “Wha-What? No!! Why would I?” How could his dad come to such a question. “Well, it’s just that we’ve.. seem to grow rather distant over the past few months. I understand it’s normal for there to be teen angst but I didn’t think it would effect our father-son bond this much.” Oh that’s how.
John was astonished, was he actually acting that bad? Sure his dad can be a pain in the neck from time to time but he didn’t think he would chalk it up to John hating him. “Dad..” he reached his hand towards his dad before pulling back and looking down. Shit is it really this difficult for him to find the words to help comfort his father. Just as he was about to speak, his dad began to speak. “So I decided that it was long overdue to reintroduce you to an old friend.”
John gave a quizzical look as he got up from his seat. “You have a guest over?” He asked, Mr. Egbert took a step forward prompting John to step back. “Yes, and and I think you know him quite well.” John tried to rack his brain to see if there was anyone his dad could be referring to. “He used to visit you when you little, when you had those nights where you refused to go to bed.” Once that sentence slipped from his father’s mouth, John’s eyes grew wide in remembrance. No.. there’s not way he’s actually-
“Dad.” John took a few steps back, raising his hands in defense “D-Don’t even think about it.” A wobbly smile formed on John’s lips, “I-I’m beheheing serious.” He said through nervous giggles. Mr. Egbert cocked a brow. “Dad? Who’s this Dad you speak of? I’m the tickle monster!” Mr. Egbert then shot his hands out only for John to dodge them, he tried to run past his dad only to pulled in a hug from behind.
“D-Dad wait-“ But it was too late, his father’s fingers were dancing around his rib cage, causing John to bite his lower lip to stifle giggles. “D-Dahad c-come ohohon I’m nahat a little kihid anymore.” Mr. Egbert smiled at his son’s fruitless attempts to muffle his laughter. “Oh? You’re not? Hmm, well I guess you wouldn’t react if I did this.” He switched over to John’s sides, breaking the dam as sweet laughter filled the room. “Ohohoh gahahahad!” John tried to pry his father’s hands away from his sides, but the man was too strong. Mr. Egbert smiled at his son’s melodious laughter, sounding so carefree and lively, and his reactions to different spots was the cherry on top.
John’s laughter reached an octave as his dad went for his tummy, “WAHAHAHAHAIT NAHAHAHAT TH-THEHEHEHERE!” He squealed, instinctively backing away from the tickles only to further pin himself to his father’s chest. “Aw what’s wrong, is your wittle tummy to sensitive.” He teased, John’s face burned a bit brighter. “IHIHIHIHIHIHIHI’M NAHAHAHAHAHAT A BAHAHAHAHABY!!” John protested against the teasing. God why did those work on him. “Oh does the wittle baby hate the teasing, does it make the tickles worse?”
Okay now John was convinced his face is on fire. Or at least it had a color to rival the Betty Crocker spoon. “YEHEHEHEHEHEHEHES- HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOLY FUHUHUHUHUHUHUKING SHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT!!!” John cackled as Mr. Egbert let out a gasped at his son’s profanity. “My my, such a filthy little mouth, I think this calls for a punishment don’t you think?” John felt himself being picked up bridal style before his father sat down, placing him on his lap. John took this moment to catch his breath before he felt a hand picking up the hem of his shirt. He froze and panicked “Dad! Wait please, I’m sorry just don’t do that!” He begged.
Me. Egbert pretended to be deep in thought before he took a deep breath and place his face over his son tummy, causing John to squeal. “W-WAIT WAHAHAHAIT!!” Mr. Egbert grinned at this “I didn’t even do anything yet and you’re already laughing up a storm.” John opened one of his eyes to look at this father, huh guess he wasn’t-
Right when his guard was down, Mr. Egbert bent back down a blew a large raspberry on John’s belly, causing the thirteen year old to shrieked. “NAHAHAHAHAHAHAT EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE NAHAHAHAHAHAT FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAIR!!!” Tears of mirth began to roll down the bespectacled boy’s cheeks. “All fair in love and tickles.” Mr. Egbert quipped before blowing another raspberry only this time it was directly on John’s belly button. “*Snort* NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA DAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAD *Snort* PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE *Snort* AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” There it was, that snorty laughter Mr. Egbert knew and loved.
He decided to let up on the boy, using his thumb to wipe away the tears from his’s son’s cheeks. John giggled as the ghost tickles were still in effect. John took off his glasses and wiped his eyes before looking at his dad, who had a smirk on his face. “What?” John tilted his head in confusion.
“Oh nothing, just during all of that, you never once told me to stop tickling you.” John froze, Christ he was right. “W-Well.. um..” John stammered a bit. “You must have really liked it.” Mr. Egbert ruffled his hair, John pouted and crossed his arms. “Okay NOW I hate you.”
“Watch it.” Mr. Egbert gave a warning pinch on John’s side. “I’m keen on having round two if that’s how you’re gonna act.” John stuck his tongue out. “Only if you catch me old man.” With that John quickly got up and sprinted out of the room, giggling as he did so. Mr. Egbert smiled as he shook his head. “You may not hate me, but you’re still gonna get it.”
Soon with Egbert household was filled with laughter once again.