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Maron had ran past him and pushed him down on the sidewalk, causing him to scrape open the skin on his knees and the palms of his hands. He cried and cried and cried as he stumbled back up the stairs of the porch, hurrying inside.
“Mama!” He wailed, face flushed red from crying as he stumbled inside the house. “Mama, mama!”
He could hear hurried footsteps coming down the stairs and soon enough, Alannys was there, scooping her sweet little boy up in her arms.
“Oh my darling, my sweet baby, what happened?” She soothed, gently combing her fingers through his hair. She loved his little curls so much, and those big blue-green eyes as well.
“Maron p-pushed me!” Theon cried, hiding his face against his mother’s chest.
She gently shushed him, kissing the top of his head. “It’s okay, my darling. We’ll get all your scrapes cleaned up and make you feel all better, okay?”
“D-do we have to use the b-bubbly s...stuff? T-the stingy stuff?” Theon babbled, looking up at her, wide eyes rimmed with red. It broke her heart to see him cry.
“Peroxide?” She nodded, carrying him toward the downstairs bathroom. “Yes we will, but you’re my strong little boy, aren’t you? It’ll all be okay.”
“Strong.” Theon nodded, still staring up at her. He thought his mother was the most beautiful woman ever, the most perfect, he saw her as an angel. He didn’t like the stinging stuff, but he would do anything to make his mother proud.
Alannys set the toddler down on the bathroom counter, wetting a cloth in the sink. She gently wiped Theon’s scrapes with it, his bottom lip wobbling as he tried not to cry. She just smiled warmly at him, and he tried his best to smile back. She was able to clean the scrapes rather quickly, but then she pulled out the brown bottle of peroxide.
“N-no, mama, you already cleaned ‘em, no stingy.” He shook his head frantically. “I don’t need it. No stingy.”
“It’s gonna be okay, my darling boy. Listen to mother. It will only sting for a little bit, and then we’ll put on a nice cream and some bandaids to make it feel better. Does that sound good?”
“Mama, no, no stingy stuff.” Theon pleaded. Alannys gently soaked a cotton ball with it anyway, holding it up.
“Listen, Theon. You’re my strong boy, okay? Can you be strong for me?” He nodded, and she smiled warmly. “Okay. I’m gonna clean them now. Three... two... one.”
She gently dabbed at the cuts with the peroxide soaked cotton and Theon took a deep, shaky breath, watching with wide eyes as it bubbled and whimpering as it stung on his knees and his palms. It was over quickly as his mother gently wiped it away with water, pulling out a tube of antibiotic ointment.
“Is that stingy?” He whimpered.
“No, my darling, this won’t sting.” Alannys promised, squeezing some out onto her fingers and gently applying it to his scrapes. He visibly relaxed upon realizing it really didn’t sting, and smiled up at his mother.
“Squid bandaids, please?”
Alannys chuckled, finishing what she was doing before washing off her hands and reaching into the cabinet under the sink for the bandages. “Of course, my baby. I wouldn’t use anything other than the squids for you.” She planted a soft kiss on his cheek.
The bandages really weren’t all squids, rather assorted sea creatures, but Theon’s face lit up with delight when Alannys began unwrapping them and putting them over his scrapes.
“Mama, look at that one!” He pointed to a bright purple squid on his knee. “He’s purple! Jus’ like my squid!”
“Yes he is, you’re very smart!” She praised, throwing out the wrappings and picking him up. “He looks just like Mister Squid.”
Theon gasped, suddenly remembering something, and waved a small hand in front of his mother’s face. His hands were so small, as were most belonging to children of three. “Mama, mama!”
“Yes, darling?”
“You said yesterday, you said, remember?” His face was lit with excitement.
“What did I say, my darling?” She smiled fondly at him.
“You said you’d play with me an’ Mister Squid!” Theon exclaimed, clapping his hands together. Alannys nodded.
“I did say that, didn’t I?” She began carrying him up the stairs toward his room. Balon walked past them, stopping and turning back to look at them.
“Alannys?”
She stopped walking as well, turning to look at her husband, smile still spread on her face. “Yes, Balon?”
“Could you take care of the laundry?”
She laughed, bouncing Theon on her hip as she stood. “Later, lovely. I have important business right now with Mister Squid and my little Theon.”
Balon scoffed and rolled his eyes, grimacing, obviously not fond of how Alannys was babying Theon. He wanted his sons to be tough and strong, not having tea parties with their mother and stuffed animals.
Alannys, though, Alannys didn’t mind sitting on the floor in front of a cardboard box, a stuffed squid sitting on a kid sized chair on the other side of the box. Theon was pretending to cook, throwing shreds of colorful paper together in a bowl, plastic plates and cups stacked up messily atop his desk. He began to dump the colorful mess of scraps onto two separate little plates and brought them over, setting one in front of his mother and the other in front of his squid.
“I be right back!” He announced, toddling back over to his desk to pick up two plastic cups and a plastic teapot.
He placed a cup down in front of each of them and pretended to pour tea into them, setting down the plastic teapot after.
“Why thank you, sir.” Alannys spoke in a formal tone, pretending to sip at the imaginary tea. “This is quite delicious.”
“No, thank you!” Theon smiled wide, cheeks flushed. “I love my cuss monsters.”
“Customers?” She corrected gently.
“Yeah! Customers.” He nodded vigorously.
“Well that makes me very happy, because I love my talented little chef.”
Theon squealed with glee as Alannys pulled him over onto her lap, softly kissing the top of his head. “Mama, mama, mama!” He exclaimed.
“Yes, darling?”
“I love you, mama! I love you!” He wrapped his tiny arms around her as best he could.
“And I love you, my baby, my darling boy.” Alannys cooed, smiling the smile Theon loved so much. “I love my little Theon.” She wrapped her arms around him as well, holding him tight. “More than anything else in the world.”
He giggled. “More than daddy?”
“More then daddy.” She nodded, looking down at him in mock seriousness. “But sh! Don’t tell daddy I said that.”
He burst into another fit of giggles, so happy, wide-eyed and smiling, pink cheeks and soft curls of hair. “Secret!” He agreed with a nod. “An’ I love you more than daddy, but sh!” He copied her, his serious expression much less believable when he still had his goofy little grin on his face. “Don’ tell daddy I said that.”
“Oh my boy,” She kissed the top of his head. “My sweet, sweet angel. What did mama ever do to deserve you?”
“What’cha mean, mama?”
“Nothing, baby, I just love you so much.”
He smiled up at her and his little lopsided grin, the gaps in his teeth, it all made her heart swell in her chest.
“I love you mama.” He leaned in and gave her a tiny kiss on the cheek, then another on her other cheek. “An’ so does Mister Squid.”
Alannys reached across the cardboard box table and picking up Mister Squid, placing him on Theon’s lap. “Mister Squid loves you too, that’s why I gave you him. When you were a little baby, we went to the store, and you reached out of your little carrier and grabbed one of his tentacles.” She gently stroked her fingers through his hair. “I knew that Mister Squid would be the perfect friend for you.”
“He is, he is!” Theon agreed, perfectly happy to just sit on his mother’s lap and listen to her stories.
“I think it’s time for me to go make dinner, my little Theon.” Alannys told him after a moment. Theon pouted, sticking out his bottom lip, eyes widening.
“I don’ want you to.”
“What if you come with me, and sit on the counter?”
He considered it for a minute before slowly nodding. “Can Mister Squid come?”
“Of course he can.” She assured him, slowly standing up and carrying her happy little Theon and Mister Squid out of the room.