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“Little Theon.”
Euron smiled down at him, a wicked smile, holding a mug of odd blue liquid in one hand.
“Hi Uncle Euron.” Theon replied shyly, clutching his purple plush squid to his chest. He was dressed nicely, a yellow vest over his white button-up shirt, a black bow tie clipped to the neck to match his black dress pants, shoes, and socks. His cheeks were flushed pink, made nervous by the loud noises from all the Greyjoys in the house. He hadn’t been to a big family reunion before- he’d met his uncles and aunts separately, but having everyone together was weird for him. They were so noisy, all drinking and yelling and laughing. The Harlaw’s, his mama’s family, were much calmer. His Uncle Rodrik liked to read to him, and his Aunt Gwenesse told him stories about her old husband. His mama’s cousins Harras and Hotho didn’t really interact with him, but at least they were quiet.
He didn’t really like his daddy’s family. Uncle Victarion made him nervous, especially since he once heard his big brothers talking about how he’d been so mean to his wife that she’d killed herself. He’d ran to his mama when he heard that, confused and upset, and she had to explain that sometimes people wanted to meet the Drowned God early, and his Aunt was one of them. Uncle Aeron constantly talked of the Drowned God, and once told Theon that the ‘fish ate the scales from his eyes,’ which gave the little boy nightmares for weeks. But neither of those two Uncles could compare to Uncle Euron. His brothers loved Euron, but his mama and Yara had never liked him, so neither did Theon. Uncle Euron had, his sister told him, given Uncle Victarion’s wife a special kiss, and that’s why Uncle Victarion had hit her.
He never even got to meet any aunts on his daddy’s side, which made him sad, because his mama and her sister were so nice that surely his daddy’s sisters would be nice, too, even if they were only his sisters by marriage.
“Little Theon, hey. Look at me.”
The toddler was startled out of his thoughts and he looked up at his uncle, hugging Mister Squid a little tighter. “What?”
“Don’t you want to talk with your favorite uncle, sweet boy?”
Theon furrowed his brows, pouting. “Huh? You’re not my favorite. I like mama’s brother best, Uncle Rodrik. He likes to read to me.”
Euron let out a hearty laugh, shaking his head. “You would, wouldn’t you? So fond of your mother’s side. And yet you speak bluntly, like a Greyjoy.” He reached down to ruffle Theon’s hair. “I’ve got no books, I’m afraid, but I have stories I can tell.”
That caught the toddler’s interest. “Stories?”
“Oh yes. I’ve sailed all over, you know. I’ve seen many things.”
“Squids?!” Theon lifted Mister Squid a little bit, his eyes wide with wonder when Euron nodded.
“Many, many squids. Big squids, and little squids, and every squid in between.” He took a big swig of his drink. “So come with me, little Theon. Sit in Uncle Euron’s lap and he’ll tell you some stories.”
Theon nodded eagerly, following his uncle to the living room. The rest of the family was in the dining room, eating and drinking and generally making a ruckus. He could hear Maron and Rodrik talking to Uncle Victarion, his daddy arguing with Uncle Aeron, and his mama and Yara chatting as well, if he listened close enough. He soon stopped caring when his Uncle Euron sat down on one of the big cozy armchairs and helped him up onto his lap. He was strong, one muscular arm draping over Theon’s little shoulders as Mister squid rested soundly on Theon’s lap. He held up the mug to Theon’s face.
“Want a drink?”
“... what is it?” He looked at the blue liquid with squinty eyes and furrowed brows.
“It’s just some fancy juice. Try it. It’s my favorite.”
Theon was skeptical, but his Uncle sounded friendly enough, so after a moment of contemplating he took the mug in his two small hands and held it up to his mouth. He went to take a sip,
“Euron!”
His mother’s voice, sudden and booming and angry, startled him so badly that he dropped the mug before a single drop of liquid touched his lips. The mug shattered on the floor, blue liquid oozing everywhere, and Theon let out a loud cry when Euron stood abruptly and let him fall to the ground, landing on some of the ceramic shards. He could feel one stab into the side of his butt and another into his thigh, and he started crying in earnest when he felt blood soaking into his nice pants.
Alannys stopped her plans to scold her brother-in-law further the moment she saw her baby fall to the ground. She hurried over to him, scooping him up in her arms and gasping when she saw the blood that had soaked through his pants and onto the floor.
“Balon!” She shouted, cradling her youngest boy in her arms as best she could without touching the shards of ceramic that were buried in his skin. “Balon, come here now!”
Theon was wailing, clinging to his mama’s shirt with his tiny fists, hiding his face against her chest. He was confused and upset and hurt- he just wanted to hear stories about squids, and now everything hurt instead.
When his daddy came in moments later, he saw the shards of ceramic, the blood and the blue liquid, and promptly slapped his brother across the face.
“He tried to make Theon drink his shade of the evening.” Alannys explained.
“You tried to give my son that foul shit?” Balon hissed. “Alannys, make the boy stop crying. He just turned four, he’s not a fucking baby. I’ll deal with my brother.”
“Don’t talk about him like that.” Alannys demanded, but Balon didn’t respond, instead beginning to argue heatedly with Euron, so she knelt down to pick up Mister Squid and hurriedly carried Theon upstairs to the master bathroom.
“Mama, mama, it hurts!”
“I know, my sweet boy, my darling boy. I know. It’s gonna be okay.” His mama soothed. “Just stand up for a minute, okay? We have to take these pants off.”
He cried harder when she took them off, having to be extra careful not to hit the ceramic but she couldn’t help it. Once they were off, she laid a towel on the floor and gently guided Theon to lay on his belly on it. He craned his neck to look back at her, green eyes wide and rimmed with puffy-pink, swimming with tears. Her heart ached for her baby boy.
“M-mama, what happened? W-why’d you yell and why’d Uncle drop me?”
“That drink he wanted to give you was very, very bad. It’s not for kids, and it’s even bad for grown-ups.”
“L-like beer?”
“No. Worse.” She said solemnly, looking at the chunks of ceramic that were lodged in his skin. “Oh baby... I think you may need stitches.”
“St-stitches? Like- like you gave Mister Squid that once? And now he’s got a pink stripe on his tentacle?”
“Just like that.” She nodded. “You’re being so strong, my darling boy, I’m very proud.”
“Can- can you do the stitches?”
“No, baby. We have to go to the hospital, okay?”
Theon’s lower lip began to tremble once again and his tears, which had mostly stopped, began flowing once again. “B-b-But- But I don’t wanna- I don’t wanna, mama, you can do it! You d-did it for Mister Squid! You can, I d-don’t w-wanna go!”
“I’ll come with you, my darling boy, okay? I’ll be with you, I promise.” Alannys gently stroked her fingertips down his back overtop of the vest, helping him to calm back down. “I can do stitches for Mister Squid, but not for baby boys.”
“Mama, it- it hurts. Can’t you take out the chunks?”
“No, baby, it’s not safe. It’ll bleed more.”
“B-but it hurts!”
“I know, my darling. I know. It’ll be okay.”
With another kiss to the top of his head, she picked him up and carried him back downstairs, nodding for Yara to come with them out to the car. He did have to get stitches, and by the time he was home again, all his uncles were gone.