hey it's me,,, @my-writing-street again,,, could I have four x reader where the chain ends up in four's Hyrule for the first time and four's s/o starts crying at the sight of him because he's been gone for so long with no explanation and it's a very sweet reunion because let's say he's been gone for half a year srry if this is too much your writing is great !!!
Hello again, anon! Also, would you like an emoji or a nickname to be referred by?
A Four x Reader, huh? I’ll get cracking! My requests are always open, if this anon and another anon can figure out how to send me an ask, others can too!
Anyway… onto your request, anon! I’m not an experienced writer.
What Hole Have You Been In?
Today’s portal lead to an era of Hyrule that the majority of the Chain weren’t familiar with. Four did recognize it, the portal had spit them out in the middle of Trilby Highlands. He could tell by the patches of grass and Yellow Keatons prowling around to steal rupees from unsuspecting travelers.
“Where are we? Because I don’t recognize and neither does my slate.” Wild questioned with a grumble, his slate not providing a map of the place. That feature never seemed to work outside his Hyrule, but he still liked to test it.
“We’re in my era! We’re actually not too far from my house and Hyrule Town! It’ll be a fairly short trek. We can go to Hyrule Town to pick up supplies and ask if anyone’s seen the Shadow.” Four replied with noticeable happiness.
He actually wanted to drop by his house first, but he figured stocking up on supplies and asking for information came first. He then realized that the portal from six months ago that had led to him meeting the other heroes, had come out of nowhere and left him no time to tell anyone that he was going to be gone. Everyone is probably worried sick! Especially Zelda, his grandpa, and of course Y/N. Oh dear… Y/N has probably been a wreck this entire time he’s been gone; they’re probably going to tan his hide for being gone so long with no warning.
He led the Chain to Hyrule Town, and after a 30 minute walk, they arrived. He pointed out which merchants to get which supplies. He heard a bell ringing; oh, someone must’ve one a prize at the lottery! The bell got the attention of a couple of the heroes, so they branched off to try to win a prize. Now that the others were getting into the groove of being in the market, Four figured he had time to slip away for a bit to go visit his home.
After a 15 minute walk, he arrived at his house. He saw smoke coming from the chimney, so someone had to be home, most likely his grandpa or Y/N. Though he may be a hero of courage, he had to steel himself in order to knock on the door. With a gulp and shaky breath, he tentatively knocked. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal a haggard looking Y/N. They looked like they hadn’t slept good in a while and seemed annoyed for someone had the audacity to knock on the door before they realized who had knocked.
“L-Link…? My little rainbow? Is that you? No, it can’t be. I must be hallucinating…” Y/N murmured, their voice raspy like they had been crying recently.
“Oh, you’re home! But yes, it’s me! Are you um, okay…?” Four replied, overjoyed to see Y/N before concern washed over him upon their appearance.
Y/N took a shaky deep breath and tensed up. Uh-oh, that means they’re going to yell at him.
“Where have you been?! Your weapons gone, your hero attire gone, no note, and no letters! You’ve been gone for six months! I’ve been worried sick! I thought at first that you decided to take an extended visit to the Wind Tribe’s home!” Y/N yelled in anguish, before tapering off into relieved sobbing.
Four immediately pulled them into the tightest hug he could muster. He rubbed their back and shushed them. He felt almost tempted to split into the Colors because he knew how much Y/N loved group hugs, but he didn’t want to overwhelm them. Once they calmed down, he had explained why he had suddenly been gone so long.
“So, when are you going to explain who this is?” Questioned the voice of Time, a smirk heard in his tone.
Both Y/N and Four jumped and split off from hugging, both of their faces as red as a red rupee. The others must’ve arrived while they reunited.
“O-oh! This is um… my lover.” Four sputtered out.
A collective “what?!?” echoed out amongst the Chain.
“You’re taken?!” shouted Wind.
“And you’ve neglected to mention this because…?” Legend questioned with a huff.
“Erm, sorry…” Four chuckled nervously.
“Who are these people? Are they the heroes you told me about? They all kinda look like they’d be your brothers…” Y/N asked, confused by the group.
Oh dear, this is going to take a while to explain. Explaining his story of how he met Y/N and why he decided to marry them. Explaining to Y/N that there were other heroes named Link and that they all come from different eras. There goes the rest of the day…
The End!
I hope you like it, anon! Again, my requests for Linked Universe x Reader is always open!
a/n : So....I tried writing a thing. It's, I think, the second thing I've ever written. But I actually finished the thought for once so a little proud of myself and posting to commemorate. I have many thoughts related to Caleb these days, and so this self-indulgent comfort drabble happened.
the following contains: angst (sorta, it ends happy), descriptions of blood/gore, poor formatting, a "keep reading" which may or may not be necessary for this length
He knew something was wrong as soon as he opened the front door.
The living room was torn apart, stuffing from the couch littering the floor along with shattered glass. Obvious signs of a struggle.
The groceries fell to floor as Caleb search everywhere for a sign of her, but his desperate calls for her just echoed back at him, unanswered. She had to be ok, this had to be some prank she was pulling on him. Revenge for when he had hidden in Skyhaven.
And then he saw the blood. A small trail leading to the bedroom door, which was askew.
No.
His heart stopped, then began to pound furiously in his ears. Time seemed to slow down as he followed the trail and pushed the door open.
Please, no.
But there she lay, in a pool of her own blood.
He dropped to his knees at her side and desperately searched for the wound, pressing his hands against it to try and stem the bleeding.
No. No. NO.
“Pips? Pipsqueak?! Hey this isn’t funny c’mon.” he slapped her cheeks in an effort to wake her, his palm smearing crimson in its wake. “HEY! Wake up!”
Her eyes blinked open, and as they slowly focused on him he felt the air return to his lungs. “Ca…leb?”
“Yeah,” he choked out, forcing a smile, “It’s me Pipsqueak. I’m here now, ok? Caleb's here now, everything’s gonna be ok. Just trust me.”
“You’re…here….Caleb?”
“Yeah, yeah, Pips. Stay with me ok? I alerted the fleet, help is on the way. Just a few more minutes, you can do that, right?” he kept his voice as steady as possible, hands still applying pressure. You have to be the strong one. Don’t stop. Don't crack. Don’t. Don’t.
Please.
“Caleb….why weren’t you here?”
He froze.
“What?” he croaked out.
You said you would always be by her side.
“You weren’t here,” tears slipped down her face as she gasped out the words.
You lied.
“Shhh, don’t try and talk, ok? Just…just a little more, they’re almost here!” He could feel himself getting frantic as her eyes struggled to stay open. “No falling asleep on me now. Just focus on my voice, hmm? I picked up the tiramisu you wanted. You can have it as soon as you’re better. Or, or I can bring it to the hospital! I'll smuggle it in for you, just like when I snuck you candy when you got sick. Gran would get so angry when she found the wrappers later, remember?” he tried to chuckle, but it came out as a cough. Swallowing down he fear he continued, “This time too, I'll bring you anything you want. I'll always take care of you. So just keep your eyes on me, ok?” he rambled on, but it was so hard to ground himself as he felt her spilling out onto the carpet, blood coating his hands.
Please not her. Please.
“Why didn’t you protect me gege?” she whimpered.
This is all your fault.
Caleb crumbled, tears streaming onto his clenched palms as he squeezed her flesh tight.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Pips. For all of it. I’ll do anything to make it all better, anything you want.” he sobbed, “Just stay with me ok? Don’t go. Please, please?Anything you want, anything, hmm? Call me a dummy, curse me, scream at me. Just keep your eyes on me, stay with me!”
He could feel her heart grow weaker under his hands and pressed down harder, willing it to keep beating through brute force. His eyes never left hers as she blinked at him. Her tears had long run out, along with her voice. But she gasped his name like a prayer as her breathe labored once.
C’mon
Twice.
Please
There was no third.
-------------------------------------
Caleb startled awake, choking on a scream. He couldn’t hear his own whimpers over the pounding of his heart, trying in vain to calm himself as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of his surroundings.
Skyhaven… he was in Skyhaven. His apartment, not hers.
Her.
He turned to see a figure cocooned in his blankets, sleeping peacefully.
She’s safe.
His body grounded itself again as he accepted this.
A dream. It was just a dream.
…But then why was she so still?
He acted on instinct, pulling the covers away from her, down to her waist. His eyes scanned her torso. Where the bright crimson of blood had been, he saw only the familiar kitten pattern of her favorite pajamas.
But then why was she so still?
He took one of her hands in his gently, his middle and forefinger navigating to her inner wrist. He held his breathe and focused, until he finally felt a thrumming beneath his fingers.
Life, within her, steady and safe.
He breathed out and felt himself relaxing. For a few minutes he remained in that awkward slouch, simply breathing as her pulse beat strong and slow. Slowly he felt his own match its pace. Replacing her hand, he adjusted himself back into the sheets to face her.
Only to be met with a pair of groggy eyes.
“Caleb?” she groaned out as she took in his frazzled state, “somethin’ happen?”
“Nothing Pips, sorry if I woke you up. Go back to sleep,” he composed his face into its usual calm mask.
She blinked at him, a hand coming up to the remains of tears still on his cheeks. Caleb brought his own up, threading their fingers together as he smiled back at her. Nothing is wrong, his expression said. Go back to sleep. And for a moment it seemed she would, but then she gave his hand a small squeeze and sat up. She met his confused gaze with a sleepy smile of her own, before turning to grab the glass of water on the nightstand.
He held out his arm as she returned, ready to embrace her, feel her safe and alive in his arms. With that, he might be able to go back to sleep.
Instead, she scooted her body forward, turning and tugging him softly to her chest. His body stiffened as he felt her arms gently cradle his shoulders, one threading through his hair as the other rested on his back, over his heart. Hesitantly, his own circled her waist, and he felt her body mold against his until she was curled around him.
“Pipsqueak…?”
“Do you remember when we were kids and I got sick?” she whispered, “I felt like I couldn’t breathe lying down, so you’d let me lean against you instead. Caleb, my personal body pillow,” she giggled.
He hummed, the memories coming back to him, hazy yet still there. “You never liked just leaning on my arm though, you always insisted on lifting it and bundling up right against my side,” a smile tugged on his lips. “With all the blankets you were wrapped up in, it was like having a toasted marshmallow trying to cuddle me,” he laughed as he felt a pinch on his shoulder.
“Well, I preferred it that way…cause then I could listen to your heartbeat,” Caleb blinked at the quiet confession. He tried to pull back and look at her but her hands kept him softly in place. “Whenever I felt shitty,” she continued, “listening to your heart like that made me feel…at peace.”
He heard her own pulse against his ear, calm and steady. Her presence surrounded him, filled him, and tethered him. It was as though every beat was saying: I*'m right here with you.*
“Yeah,” he responded simply. “I….think I understand the feeling”.
He felt her smile in response. They remained like that as the tension in Caleb’s body slowly released, one muscle at a time. Every now and then she pressed a kiss to his head, earning soft hums in return.
“You know…..” he began slowly, “I’m not sick right now.” He felt her hands pause their ministrations, and pulled her closer to him “So, is it still alright to be receiving such special service?“
She huffed a laugh in response, whacking him lightly on the head, “I guess I’ll just have to make an exception this time.”
Caleb smiled, his body finally surrendering to sleep as the heartbeat of his other half played him a peaceful lullaby.
a/n pt 2: If you read to the end, thank you so much! I really don't write much even though I have too many thoughts, so I hope you liked it (and that it was coherent). Any thoughts or feedback is honestly greatly appreciated!
a small drabble (or something like that … sorry i’m new to writing fanfiction 😓😓) about my oc who has some hearing issues.
warning: might be some errors but idk… | —puff
inspired by that michael trapson video lol. (“i like big sean.” you like big’s what?? 🤔)
joseph, polnareff, kakyoin, jotaro, and atsushi had reached pakistan a while ago—now stumbling upon the groggy and almost desolated town. jotaro and the others looked around, cautious of the eerie area.
polnareff’s expression hardened, extremely suspicious like the others. “where is everyone? this place looks like just a huge pile of dirt..”
atsushi’s face twisted into confusion, turning towards polnareff like he had just did something outrageous. “what??? what did you just say??”
polnareff turned his head towards atsushi, repeating himself. “i said this place looks like a huge pile of dirt.”
atsushi stepped further away from him, giving him a nasty look like polnareff had worn boots with no socks in 90° weather.
“what are you talking about?? are you good?”
polnareff was confused with atsushi, why was she even giving him a dirty look? what did he do wrong?
“why are you giving me such a dirty look?”
“i’m not the one who keeps saying this place looks like a big pile of dick!! that was not called for.” atsushi retorted, now irritated that polnareff kept acting oblivious.
joseph, kakyoin, and jotaro instantly turned their heads towards the two—what did atsushi just say??
kakyoin side eyed them with.. concern? whatever he was feeling it was definitely the feeling of being weirded out.
“what?” the three said all at once, sharing the same amount of confusion.
polnareff’s eyes almost bulged out of his head—he never said that! what the heck was atsushi talking about?!
“WHAAT!?!?!? I DID NOT SAY THAT!!!!!”
polnareff’s reaction was enough to grate atsushi’s nerves, she responded even louder. now fully turned towards the frenchman, eyes wide and filled with nothing but agitation.
“IT SMELLS LIKE NOTHING BUT SMOKE AND DEATH HERE AND YOU’RE OVER HERE ON SOME BULLSHIT!!!! STOP IT!!!!! I’M SO TIRED OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!” atsushi damn near yelled loud enough for an entire neighborhood to hear.
joseph stepped forward trying to mediate the situation before it got more out of hand or physical, putting himself between the two angry birds.
“hey hey! what are you two fussing about now?”
“i have no idea what this idiot is talking about! i never said anything like that!!!” polnareff matched atsushi’s volume, overly offended that atsushi was now twisting his words.
Was finally able to try my hand at writing a short scene for transformers one
Since it’s only 500 words I’m gonna post it here.
This is a WIP to a one shot series I might try that follows the miners pre-Movie
The mining barracks were never quiet nor empty even when it was scheduled recharge time there were always some sounds going on in the background. There was only one time that it was dead silent and that was-
“INSPECTION DAY!!!” A blue and red cogless bot crashed into the barracks weaving through the crowd of miners.
In a matter of seconds, every mining bot stopped whatever they were doing and made a beeline for their lockers and charging stations.
“OH SLAG!” A white bot with a black face guard cried as he threw open his locker and pulled out various vials full of unknown liquids before charging into the washracks.
A white and pink femme bot chased after him, “Wheeljack NO! Remember last time!”
Her shouts were cut short after a small boom was heard from the washracks followed by a collective groan from everyone in the barracks. One cogless bot was watching the chaos unfold with mild amusement. His yellow optics surveyed everything with a smug smirk on his face.
Another mostly calm bot took notice, “Woah, try not to pop a fuel line D-16 no need to be so stressed about inspection day.” The white and blue bot teased,
D-16 rolled his optics, “Unlike most of you guys, Prowl, I don’t feel the need to hide contraband in my locker or my charging station.”
Prowl grinned, “Is that so? Too bad Orion doesn’t think so.”
D-16’s face dropped at the comment turning to look at the locker wall he saw to his horror Orion pulling out stolen data disks from D-16’s locker.
“ORION YOU GLITCH! You’ve been putting your slag in my locker!” D-16 charged at the red and blue bot.
“Well yeah! I ran out of room in mine! Now start putting them in your subspace.”
For the next groon, every miner in the barracks worked to hide or dispose of any item that was deemed contraband and clean up any mess that could possibly get them in trouble. It all came to a standstill when the PA system went off.
“Barracks section A - 3 please stand at charging stations and await inspection.” The monotone voice drawled.
Cogless bots tripped over their own pedes trying to do any last klik hiding or cleaning before scrambling to their recharge station. Orion whispered to a black and white bot with a blue vizor,
“Jazz, you remembered to hide those music data pads right?”
Jazz nodded, “They were the first things I shoved in my subspace. I just pray we don’t get Darkwing as our inspector again. That glitch always finds something-”
Prowl smacked jazz upside the helm, “Quiet!” he hissed.
The sound of the large barrack doors opening made everyone tense up. The sound of heavy pedes echoes through the now completely silent room. All optics were trained onto the door as the bot who was to be their inspector stepped through.
“Oh thank Primus it's Ratchet!” Wheeljack shouted in relief,
Every single miner visibly relaxed at the news while Ratchet rolled his optics, “Yeah yeah don’t relax too quickly you little brats i will still file anything that isn't up to code-”
Another small explosion sounded from the washracks, Ratchet vented and pinched his nasal ridge. “Someone clean up Wheeljack’s mess before I get in there.”
woag writing attempt after,,, a while,,,,,,, heh,,,,
Shrimpo's Common/Solo Run AU heh !!!! ( under cut ! )
Warning ! This may slightly mischaracterize the toons- yeag,,, sorry if i do heh-
One machines… Two machines… Three machines…
That last machine… He can’t find it-
“ H-HEY LET GO! GO AWAY I HATE TWISTEDS! “ Shrimpo hissed out, sprinting away from the Twisted- a Twisted Looey? He couldn’t remember, he didn't care. He hated him anyway.
Unfortunate for the shrimp Toon, he was a bit too slow- after all, he was the slowest with no speed trinkets- and Twisted Looey got him.
A scream echoed around the floor, followed by a sickening crunch
—
Respawing was hell. Seeing all those “friendly” faces- he hated it. He hated them all.
Especially those “Common Toons”.
Shrimpo didn't get why he had to be grouped with them, he hated them! He really did. Maybe less than anyone no else- No no no HE HATES THEM MORE. But… He couldn't tell, and he hated it. And he hated going on runs, he hated being here, he hated existing- EVERYTHING! He hated this.
“ O-Oh..? Oh… P-Please don’t look my way… “ A timid voice mumbled. It wasn’t as audible as the rest of the chatter, but he could seem to hear a few different voices out of the crowd…
“ BOX HEAD!!! I CAN HEAR YOU! “ Shrimpo would yell out as he turned around to the source of the voice
“ A-Ah- Huh..? “ Boxten seemed to quickly look away, pretending he was talking to Poppy or Cosmo.. He hated that.
“ DON’T IGNORE ME! I HATE WHEN PEOPLE IGNORE ME! “ Shrimpo shouted, stomping his way to the shy music box boy
“ Oh! Hi Shrimpo! Wanna- “ Poppy spoke, quickly getting interrupted- “ WHATEVER IT IS NO! I HATE YOU AND YOUR STUPID BOW! “
“ Ah.. Poppy was just saying if you’d like to join us and a few others in a run- “ Cosmo interrupted, “ The others being Tisha, Looey, and surprisingly Rudie- And maybe you’d like to- “
“ NO NO NO I HATE YOU! AND I HATE THOSE OTHER TOONS! “ Shrimpo yelled, “ YOU CAN’T MAKE ME. “ The shrimp crossed his arms
“ Well then m-maybe we should go when the others get here.. “ Boxten stuttered out to Poppy and Cosmo, “ WHAT? I HATE NOT BEING INVITED! “
“ I thought- “
“ SHUT UP I'M COMING ALONG. “
“ … Okay then! Just gotta wait for the others now, haha! “ Poppy beamed
—
Going down the elevator, Shrimpo was complaining non-stop. “ I HATE GOING ON RUNS! I HATE YOU ALL! “ Shrimpo yelled
“ It’s.. Not even the first floor?.. “ Cosmo tilted his head, his hand swiftly holding his head up a bit
“ Why did we let SHRIMPO join? “ Tisha interrupted, “ He isn't really.. Well, useful? “, the tissue-box Toon said, “ Not to be rude, but Shrimpo can’t extract well like Boxten here, he’s not as fast as me, Poppy, Looey, and Rudie, and he can’t support like Cosmo. “
“ SHUT UP! SHRIMPO IS THE BEST! “ Shrimpo yelled, pointing a finger at Tisha’s face- leading her to swat his hand away with her feather duster, “ Ew… Don’t do that. “
“Doors opening in…”
“3”
“2”
“1!”
---
End !!
heh please tell me how you feel about this and if i should continue !!!
I was gonna attempt a follow-up to my last writing i attempted, but this idea came to me first. It's not much; just a classic Disney Channel fashion of tying up the conflict with a nice little bow in a short amount of time. And since my HSM fanfics had always been focused around Chaylor, i'm sticking to that comfort zone using them and their kids.
I used names for the kids that i almost always had in mind. Their daughter, Skyler, is because they want her to reach for the sky and not let anything hold her back. Lincoln, meanwhile, is a nod to Taylor originally wanting to be president and his nickname, Link, ties in perfectly to his playing video games. The name drop of Chad's family member that'll be mentioned, Karina, is in reference to Corbin's time on Dancing with the Stars and his dance partner.
Hope you enjoy this little one-shot!
“We need to talk.”
“Go.”
“Ugh, what’d I do this time?”
It was a sentence Chad was very familiar with. In fact, it was a statement he expected from Taylor on a bi-weekly basis. ‘We need to talk’ could range from anything such as ‘you forgot to clean your hair out of the shower drain again’ to ‘you didn’t move the laundry’ to ‘it was your turn to do the dishes’ to ‘you were supposed to restock the emergency supply of m&m’s’.
Ok, so it was almost always something Chad did.
Or didn’t do.
Or forgot to do.
Again.
But he’d come to accept it.
The same had yet to hold true for their daughter.
“Nothing.”
Taylor folded her arms and raised an eyebrow knowingly at the teenager.
“Yet.”
Accurate.
“Quit while you’re still ahead,” Chad muttered. He nudged the basketball out of her grip, bending over to snatch it before Skyler could. “Hit the showers, kiddo.”
“Does that mean we can still talk about that tattoo…?” she inquired almost too innocently.
Taylor, per usual, did not let anything get past her.
“Shower. Now.”
Rolling her eyes, Skyler held up her arms in defense before heading down the hall.
Chad returned his attention to his wife. “Ok, so what did I do this time?”
“Not you.”
Pause.
“For once.”
Well, that was better.
“Your son.”
Or not.
Chad shook his head. “Ok, how come whenever either of them do something bad it’s ‘your kids’?”
Taylor folded her arms and narrowed her gaze. “Want to try that one again?”
He walked right into that one; the answer should have been obvious.
“Follow up question,” he covered, “since when do you call Lincoln ‘your son’?”
He naturally expected it with Skyler. She was a younger female version of Chad in almost every sense of the word – though he swore the stubbornness came from both of them. The closest comparison she got to Taylor was having Chad’s hair on Taylor’s face.
Lincoln, however, couldn’t have been more like Taylor if he tried. Fantastic grades, enjoyed math, analytical, verging on know-it-all…. Aside from the hair – duh – the only things he could have possibly inherited from Chad were competitiveness and playing video games.
“Since he pushed this outside of his room and told me to get rid of it,” she answered. Taylor bent her finger, signaling for Chad to follow her into the kitchen. He obliged, removing his sweat jacket and throwing it on the couch along with the basketball. He followed her around the island where a box was kept, nearly overflowing with primarily shades of blue and purple.
“What the hell??”
“I know.”
Chad immediately reached down and pulled out a plushie from each end of the box. “You can’t separate Elsa and Honeymaren like this!”
There was her signature glare.
Chad paused.
“Pffft, I mean, not that she needs a relationship. Obviously. That would throw a loop for her whole character arc, right? She’s a strong, powerful, independent woman. She doesn’t need a romantic relationship.”
Taylor remained unamused.
“Smooth.”
Her sarcasm was poignant.
Clearly this was not the time.
“Would you look in the box?”
Sighing in defeat, Chad reluctantly set the plushies on the island top before digging through Lincoln’s disregarded possessions. Light up wand…. Blonde wig…. A couple of Funko’s…. That salamander he could never remember the name of…. Wait a minute….
Chad’s brows furrowed in concern. “This is all of his Frozen stuff.”
“More like half,” Taylor corrected. “He wants another box for the rest tomorrow.”
Chad’s eyes darted up to his wife. “Even his Elsa costume? He was supposed to wear that for Comic Con this year!”
Pause.
“Wait, does that mean I’m off the hook?”
Her classic stare returned.
“I’m just saying, we’d still be sticking with the Disney theme if I went as Mr. Incredible. Or Captain America. Anyone without red hair, really. We both know I can’t pull that off.”
Taylor tilted her head, “More like strawberry blond.”
Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.
“But that’s not the point…. He wants it all gone.”
Chad blinked. “Like…gone gone?”
To that, she nodded.
“But why? He loves Frozen.” He started pulling out different items, one by one. “This was one of the first novels he read. This is supposed to be his night light. This…ok, it’s an old calendar he probably doesn’t need anymore, but he still likes it. This is the soundtrack my mom gave him for his birthday. And you know how religious she is about her Broadway soundtracks.”
He shuddered thinking about how many times he heard her play Phantom of the Opera while she made dinner.
“I don’t know,” Taylor sighed. “He won’t talk to me.”
Chad stood up, still holding the soundtrack in his hand. “So what do we do?”
Taylor took a pause and clicked her tongue before responding reluctantly. “I think you need to talk to him.”
Chad blinked. “Me? The guy who lives in denial and used to concoct elaborate schemes to get his way?”
“As opposed to me, who ignores her feelings and buries herself in her work to avoid them?”
“Well, obviously it isn’t cause he needs a man to tell them this stuff is ok and he’s just like most kids who doesn’t wanna talk to their mom about anything.”
“How long have you been holding onto that one for?”
“Since Skyler started talking and never shut up.”
“Well played.”
Chad filled with the soundtrack cover. “You really think I can get through to him?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I do know what he needs to hear right now isn’t logistics. He needs heart. That’s your department.”
Chad tapped his fingers against the case. Taylor had a point; she always had a point. But to admit that she was wrong or wasn’t the right person to do something spoke volumes. Both of them could be as supportive and open as they possibly could; at the end of the day, they also covered different territories as parents. They learned to accept that their jobs, as well as their kids’ wants and needs, were completely different. Taylor was the one who told it like it was. She offered the facts. Statistics. The different possible options. The creator of pro and con lists. She was the brains behind every operation. Chad, in every sense of the word, was the fun parent. He may have had his strict side when necessary, but by all accounts he was the one to go to for laughs. For games. For comfort.
“He’s my kid,” he breathed as if it were the most obvious statement in the world, “all this is him. As long as he’s a good person, nothing else matters.”
“Do you think he needs to hear that?” she wondered.
That depended; could someone tell Chad what the right answer was?
---
Chad poked his head through the cracked open door of Lincoln’s room. At first glance nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He was laying on his bed, holding up his Nintendo and staring intently at the screen. The floor was surprisingly clean for a ten-year-old, but that could have been in part because of the memorabilia he was trying to get rid of. Taking a breath, Chad creaked the door open and stepped inside.
“Whatchya doing?”
“Pokémon.”
“Which one?”
“Violet nuzlocke.”
“Uh-huh…. What’s that mean?”
“Makes it harder.”
“And homework?”
“Reading packet.”
Chad wasn’t expecting such short answers until Lincoln was a teenager.
Though, to be fair, when he was heavily invested in his game it could be difficult to get detailed answers.
But he didn’t seem as eager playing his game as he usually did. He almost stared it like…it was a homework assignment.
Crap, he really was a mini-Taylor, wasn’t he?
He’d better just jump in.
“So what’s this about all your Frozen stuff?”
Lincoln’s eyes darted to his father ever so quickly before returning to the game. “Go away.”
Chad tapped his fingers against the door. “Them go away, or me go away?”
“Them.”
Pause.
“But you can, too.”
At least he was polite about it…?
Chad shook his head.
“Ok, we gotta talk, Link.”
He approached the middle of the room.
“Look, I know how your mom gets about spring cleaning, but don’t you think you’re going a little overboard? C’mon, I’ll help you dig through stuff. There’s gotta be something you wanna keep.”
That earned his attention. “You? Clean?”
Chad pointed at him, “Don’t push it. One time offer.”
He walked to the closet and pulled out Lincoln’s Elsa costume. “See, look at this. We can’t get rid of this. What about Comic Con? Cousin Karina got you it so you could match.”
“She can wear it.”
Sure, a twenty-something could fit into a child’s costume.
Chad quickly hung the costume back up. “What about this?” He grabbed a book off the dresser. “Frozen crossword puzzles. With Frozen-themed crayons. You wouldn’t get rid of a good puzzle book, would you?”
“It’s done. And I don’t need crayons.”
Those were sentences most ten-year-olds probably wouldn’t say.
“Ok, the book makes sense,” Chad conceded, “but what about this?” He switched the book for a card game. “Uno. C’mon, when was the last time we had a family game night?”
That only earned him a glare.
But he made his point.
Game nights did not end well in the Danforth house.
There was a reason they were banned from playing Mario Kart.
Troy was never going to let him live that one down.
“Ok, Link, I’m gonna level with you,” he sighed in defeat, “what are you doing getting rid of all your Frozen stuff?”
“Don’t need it.”
“Yeah, no kid needs this much stuff. But don’t you want it?”
Pause.
“No.”
“Link, you gotta help me out. I’m old here.”
He saw right through him.
“Kay, fine, I’m not old. Yet.”
He shook his head.
“At least explain it to me like I’m two.”
“You’re not that dumb.”
Thank you…?
“Humor me anyway.”
Sigh.
“Fine.”
He briefly set his game down and stared Chad in the eyes.
“I’m a big boy. Big boys don’t play with girl toys.”
A long pause followed.
It was the first time Chad ever heard Lincoln talk like that.
How was this any different from what Chad put Troy through back in sophomore year?
When the team cornered Troy in the locker room, and he had to vehemently deny any interest in the school musical…or Gabriella.
Obviously it had to be a ruse, right? Troy couldn’t do theater; he was the basketball guy for a reason.
Chad didn’t understand it back then. Hell, he barely even understood it until they were well into college.
He could have attributed his attitude towards his discomfort towards change. And while that may have been valid to a point, it was also a bs excuse.
Chad’s feelings weren’t the ones that mattered – Troy’s were.
And Troy just happened to enjoy singing.
Now he got to share that with a new generation at East High.
With him as the drama teacher and Chad as the gym teacher and basketball coach, it was a winning tradition like no other.
Chad had been nothing but a selfish lunkhead to ever try to stop that from happening.
Troy was a hoops dude; but he also happened to be a musical singer person.
So if Lincoln wanted to be an accountant and part time-time video game designer who happened to love Frozen….
Although Chad still had no idea how that would work….
Then he’d grow up to be an accountant and part-time video game designer who happened to love Frozen.
He wasn’t going to make the same mistake with Lincoln that he made with Troy.
He couldn’t.
“You know how Grandma keeps that pic of Michael Crawford in her refrigerator? I used to think that was pretty dumb. So when Troy auditioned for the school musical I thought, ‘dude, you’re gonna end up in my mom’s refrigerator. Stick to hoops.’ But he turned out to be pretty damn good at it. And he ended up dragging me into multiple musical shenanigans. I kept telling him, ‘bro, you don’t do musicals’. But he was smart. He didn’t listen to me.”
Lincoln scrunched his nose. “So I should stop listening to you?”
“That’s not…” Chad hit his forehead. “What I’m trying to say is, kids say stupid stuff. Don’t listen to them.”
Lincoln rolled onto his side, facing away from Chad.
Why wasn’t that sitting right?
“Link….”
No answer.
“It was kids saying stupid stuff…. Right?”
The silence said it all.
This wasn’t what he expected to walk into.
And he did not want to be in the room when Taylor let this person have it.
But that wasn’t something Lincoln needed to know about right now.
What he needed was just what Taylor said – heart.
Taking a breath, Chad sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m gonna tell you a secret. But you gotta promise not to tell anyone. Ok?”
He gave Lincoln a moment to respond in some way, though nothing came.
“When I was little, my parents and I would take trips to New York City. Grandma would catch a Broadway show while Grandpa and I went to a basketball game. Her friend was supposed to come one year, but she bailed and left Grandma with an extra ticket. So I went with her.”
Lincoln turned his head slightly.
“It wasn’t Phantom of the Opera,” he covered quickly.
That was one musical Chad never wanted to hear from or about again.
“But it was pretty good. Ended up seeing a few other shows with her. We saw a touring show of Beauty and the Beast once…dude, that was classic.”
He took a pause.
“It made Grandma really happy, too. It gave us something to do together. And I could see why she liked it so much. Well…some of them. There were a few that were….” He shuddered.
“I thought you hated musicals,” Lincoln commented.
“I did,” Chad admitted. “I still hate some of them. But not as much as I used to. I just don’t like telling people. I don’t wanna hear ‘I told you so’ from anyone but your mother.”
The truth was, Chad did get dragged into multiple musical things against his will. And he was adamantly against it every single time. But Ryan teaching him those moves…Battle of the Bands…the senior year show…. Everyone commented how good Chad was and how much fun he was having. Maybe he was. But to say it out loud…. Nah. He was Chad ‘I Don’t Dance’ Danforth. He did those things for his friends, not because he wanted to.
But he’d by lying if he said he didn’t look forward to Troy saying he needed help with a production.
“It doesn’t make me less of a baller. Or a different person. I just learned that sometimes, there’s things I wanna share with certain people. It was my thing with Grandma. It became my thing with Karina. And now it’s my thing with you.”
He turned to face Chad fully. “What do you mean?”
“One year, when Frozen was still on Broadway, Grandma got tickets so her and Karina could see it. Grandma got sick, so I took her. We saw it on May 4th. Ever since then we did something Frozen related on May 4th. We called it, ‘May the Froze Be With You’.”
Blink.
“See, cause, it’s usually ‘May the Fourth Be With You’…”
Blink.
Chad shook his head.
“When you were two, Karina came over. You were supposed to go down for your nap while we watched Frozen but you did not want her to let you go. So you watched it with us. And we’ve been watching ever since…. And now she’s the only person in our family you don’t hate.”
“I don’t,” he giggled.
“You mean you don’t hate me yet?” Chad teased.
He rubbed Lincoln’s head. “Listen up, kiddo. There’s gonna be a lot of people who think they know stuff. And they’re gonna try to tell you you’re wrong.”
“So I should stop listening to authority?” he asked.
Chad was not opening that can of worms.
“My point is, don’t give up something you love cause of what one person said. No matter who they are. You can be whoever and whatever you want. If a girl like Skyler can play with the boys and whip their butts, a boy like you can play Frozen just as much as you play Pokémon. Anyone who thinks otherwise, that’s their problem.”
“So I don’t have to give up my stuff?” he asked.
Chad paused.
“Maybe the Uno cards.”
Lincoln sat up. “And I can really wear my costume?”
Chad scoffed. “How else are you gonna be Elsa, Pikachu and a Power Ranger in one year?”
Lincoln’s eyes lit up. “And you can also be Anna for Comic Con?”
God dammit.
He was hoping Lincoln would forget that part.
But at least he didn’t seem as distant or sad anymore.
Talking to him seemed to be exactly what he needed.
Maybe there was something to this heart to heart.
As long as he still had his kid, that was all that mattered.
There was just one minor condition Chad was not willing to let go.
