Work Text:
Edmund let out a soft snore as he turned to the other side of the bed. He was in a blissful sleep as the door of his room slowly opened. A furry figure slipped into the room and crawled to the bed. Green, almost glowing, eyes stared down at the sleeping blond.
Heavy breathing filled the room.
Edmund groaned as warm breath hit his face and scrunched his face as he slowly woke up. He looked up and gasped when the being loomed over him, eyes staring down at him. The figure immediately climbed onto his bed, straddling him.
“OH GO-” Edmund gasped.
“WAKE UP! AUNTIE AGGIE, AUNT CHRIS AND UNCLE JAMES GONNA COME SOON!”
Edgar’s deep voice booming from his werewolf transformation.
“THAT’S GREAT! GET OFF! YOU’RE HEAVY!” Edmund shrieked at the weight.
The giant brown werewolf happily got off, his tail wagging non-stop. Edmund was still not used to Edgar’s instinctively and unconscious transformation to wolf form. Edgar transformed into his full form this time instead of partially this time.
A young werewolf who hadn’t yet reach puberty or ‘adulthood’ transformation was a bit like the cheetah. Their fur was spiky and Edgar had a strip of dark green fur called a mantle that runs down his back like a mohawk haircut. But it’s fluffy, don’t worry you can touch it.
Edmund yawned as he patted the werepup’s head like he was a dog. Edgar panted out his tongue like a dog as he sat on four. Edmund got off his bed and grabbed the plaid cotton bathrobe on his door.
“Boys? Why are you shouting in the morning?” Edd came in the room just as Edmund tied the loop of his robe.
“Sorry Mum! Got too excited.” Edgar barked his answer with his tail still wagging.
“I can see that but keep it down. It’s the weekend. We don’t want to disturb our neighbours… again.” Edd pointedly stared at his middle child.
“Yeah… But still-“
“There’s bacon downstairs.”
“BACON!”
The blond and the brunette watched the large canine ran out of the room and listened to the loud thumping of something big running down the stair. Once it quiets down, Edd and Edmund looked at each other amusingly. For someone who has a blood of a werewolf, a creature of the night, he was very active in the early morning.
“You want breakfast too?” Edd asked.
“Yeah. Can I have coffee by the way?”
“No. You manage to finish the whole jar of my ground coffee within three days.”
“But I need my coffee…”
“You don’t need coffee to wake you up. You’re addicted and you know it.”
“Y-Yeah…” Edmund twiddled with his thumbs.
Edmund followed Edd out of his room and waited for him to get Edi from her crib before going downstairs together for breakfast. Upon entering the kitchen, they saw Edgar was back in his human form… sort of. He still has the wolf ears and tail which happily wagged as he munched his bacon.
“Just because you’re a werewolf, doesn’t mean you can wolf down your food like one.” Edd simply said as he picked up his tea on the counter.
“Shorry!” Ed said in a mouthful.
“Edgar!” Edd scolded.
“Shorry agaimn.” Ed swallowed whatever in his mouth.
Edmund only smiled as he sat in his chair. There was orange juice on the table so seeing he can’t drink coffee, juice will do. He poured a glass for himself and took a few gulps. Vitamin C is very tasty and be sure to consume your Vitamin C, children.
Edmund looked at Edd who was sipping his tea as he held his daughter with his other arm, giving the girl the attention she wants in the early morning. He then turned to Ed who was now eating calmer and using utensil this time. Thinking about it, he never asked about his new relatives before.
“Hey, can I ask something?”
“Shoot.”
“What’s our aunt and uncle is like?”
This seemed to make Ed more excited than he should have. The middle child ran to the living room, he probably grabbing something from the shelf in there, and ran back in. He pushed aside the foods to slam a thick book onto the table. Edmund gasped at how thick it was.
It’s a photo album… Do people make photo album this day?
Never mind, Edd does apparently.
Edgar opened to a page of some gathering as there a lot of group pictures there. Edgar and Edd were there, of course, with three other adults reoccurring in the pictures. One was bright blonds, another woman had sandy blond hair while the man was a brunette like Edd. Edmund can see some kind of resemblance the sandy blond and the brunette have with Edd.
“So those two are Mum’s siblings while this gal is our awesome aunt, not in blood. They’re all so cool! Especially Chris, the bright blonde one.” Edgar gushed.
“I can see that…” Chris had some kind of mohawk in the picture, she’s probably a punk.
“This is Uncle James, he’s a go with the flow guy but he always got us cool gifts since he travels a lot. This is Auntie Aggie or Agnes, she’s… a soldier of the Red Army and a bit of a worrywart- You should see her face when I climb a tree and broke my leg that one time. Lastly, the almighty Christine, a feminine version of Christian and Queen of Chaos.” Ed pointed at each picture.
“Queen of Chaos…” Edmund glanced at Edd.
Edd sighed into his tea and mumbled something, Edmund could only catch an ‘As long it just you boys-’ and could only wonder.
“You would love them! They will love you too!”
“If you say so… Why are you so excited anyway?”
“Because it’s a rare occurrence that we’ll see them together! It’s as if the star had aligned for this event!”
Edgar said with stars (literal stars because hey, it’s a cartoonish world) in his eyes as he waved his hand in the air. One of his foot placed on the table as he looked at the ceiling.
“Edgar, foot off the table.” Edd’s firm voice immediately made Ed put his foot down.
Edmund kept flipping through the pictures. The album seems to focus on the Gold side of the family. James was a goddamn tree by how he towered over Edd and his aunt. He already knows who Agnes was as he saw her picture on the wall of hallway to the cafeteria back in the Red Army base that showed pictures of sergeants. She was assigned in the Alaska Red Army base.
He never met her but Red Leader supposedly dislikes her which was why she was sent to Alaska.
He heard a soft tapping and turned his head to see Edd in his usual green sweater and red glasses. He look eerily similar to the stock image of people wearing a sweater. He saw them in posters about adopting from the Youth Centre.
“Edmund! Edmund?” Edd called the teen out, tapping on the sofa’s cushion.
“Huh? Oh, sorry!”
“Distracted again?”
“I’m not used to you in sweater…”
“It’s the red glasses, isn’t it?”
“Haha… Yeah.”
Edd rolled his eyes with a smile. He walked around the sofa and sat down, crossing his legs. Edd gently took the album and randomly flipped through it. He smiled at the photos and stopped flipping through them at a picture of him sitting in a recliner and Edgar, Edi (who’s on his laps), James and Agnes around him.
“You shouldn’t worry much. You don’t need to fit in the family. Just be yourself.” Edd simply said.
“Huh?” Edmund rubbed his neck.
“I know you are nervous about meeting them but don’t worry about getting their affection. Your family now, they’ll immediately care and love you. They would probably give you space before getting all buddy with you.” Edd explained.
“Right…” Edmund nodded.
“Err, I know you know Agnes by her rank but don’t worry. She frowns a lot in picture.” Edd tried to laugh.
“Heh… There’s weird rumour about Red Leader disliking her. Is it true?” Edmund asked.
“Oh… That… Red Leader doesn’t like soldiers who are still loyal to the previous Red Leader, his father, and Agnes favour toward old Red Leader. So, he sent her to somewhere else to ensure his soldiers' loyalty.” Edd explained.
“Why not discharge her?”
Edd shrugged and shut the album before putting it aside.
“Meow!” The two turned their head and saw a white cat with marking above their eyes that look similar to eyebrows.
“Paul?”
Edgar popped out behind the sofa, holding his annoyed cat up.
“Edgar!”
“When are they gonna arrive? I’m bored of waiting! Also, Edi’s floating again.” Ed said as he pointed his sister floating above them.
His brown hair wasn’t styled and fluffed up like crazy, Edd really can’t tame his lion mane. He wore a black shirt that said ‘heccin biss’ in white text, grey jog shorts, and mismatched socks with one black with rainbow stripes while the other was blue with white stars. A Saturday lazy casual wear.
Edd quietly got up, grabbed the girl and sat back down. He laid her down on his lap and turned to his son.
“Just be patient and don’t bother Paul. He might get angry and scratch you.” Edd warned.
“Yeah, yeah…” Edgar said and put down the cat.
“Go have a lemonade, will you. They will probably arrive sooner or later.” Edd told the boy.
“Sprites!” Edgar whooped.
The older males watched the kid ran to the kitchen to grab his usual bottle of carbonated drink. Edd shook his head in amusement as Edmund sighed at his brother’s antics.
“Hey, why did he name his cat Paul?”
“He used to be my cat but Edgar claims him. His name is Paul because of a band name I used to listen.”
“What band?”
“You won’t recognise them if I say so but it’s the Beatles.”
“The what now?”
“The Beatles… at least that the excuse I made when I name Paul.” Edd whispered at the end.
The cat was named after his ex-boyfriend smh.
Edd looked at his phone just as he heard the doorbell rang. He left Edmund and Edi to their cartoon as he went to the door entrance. Edd could hear Edgar coming down from his room as he opened the door.
“EDD!” Agnes loudly exclaimed as she wrapped her muscular arms around his waist.
“Hey, Aggie.” Edd hugged her back
She cut her beige blonde hair since the last time Edd saw his sister. Her once long hair that reached her upper back was now short in a layered bob cut. She wore a light blue cotton blouse that has a decorative bow, white floral midi skirt and black heels.
“Nice hair.” Edd pointed.
“Thanks, a mutant bioweapon burnt the end so I had to get a new haircut.” She ran her fingers in her hair.
“Hey Jam Jamie.” Edd teased his younger brother as he crouched a bit to go through the door, he was almost the same height.
“Damn, you still gotta use that name do you?” James huffed.
He still has his brown shaggy long hair that reach his shoulder. He’s wearing a cream colour trench coat that has big buttons that were buttoned shut so Edd doesn’t even know what he wore under there, khakis and brown boots.
“I gotta, Jamie.” Edd tiptoed as he hugged his brother.
“Alright, where’s the-”
“UNCLE JAMIE!” Edgar shrieked from top of the stairs.
James quickly kicked off his boots and reached his hands out as the boy jumped off the stair. The ‘girls’ watched as the tree of a man caught the pup in his arms. James fell to his knees and let out an ‘oof!’ as he caught the child in his hands, carrying him by his armpits like Rafiki holding Simba kind of way.
“Well, that was awesome.” Chris said, leaning against the doorway.
She wasn’t in her usual punk getups. She wore a red flannel over a black shirt, blue jeans but still have her heeled boots though. Her yellow blonde hair was swept to the side, it was curled up by some iron curler.
“Edd? What’s going on?” Edmund came out of the living room.
James adjusted Edgar to be carried with one arm, carrying the boy like a suitcase. He then turned to the new member of the Gold. Edmund gulped at the sight of the tall man. He was tall in the pictures but he’s incredibly taller in real life somehow. Must be in the Gold’s gene.
Why does he look familiar?
“So this is the new member?” James asked, a smiled on his face.
“I didn’t realise you got an older kid, Edd.” Agnes exclaimed, also with an amused smile.
“Yes, this is my eldest son. Edmund Johnson-Gold. He’s 16 and already finished his primary education.” Edd briefly introduced Edmund, standing by his side.
“Welcome to the family, kid!” Chris exclaimed, hands in the air.
Edmund nervously smiled at them. With Edd talking to Sergeant Agnes and Chris, he watched James and Edgar interacted. The boy was still in the man’s arm as the man discreetly gave Edgar a chocolate bar, something he shouldn’t have until after lunch.
James noticed his stare and winked at him as he placed his finger on his lip.
“…” Edmund stared at the food Edd served.
He has never seen this type of food before. He had roast before which was great and tasted good but this one look weird. At first glance, Edmund thought it was bread but then he smelled meat. Some kind of hybrid perhaps?
“What’s up with you?” Edgar craned his head, looking at him with big ol’ yellow eyes.
“I’m sorry but what is this?” He asked.
Edgar gasped in horror, the adults turned their head at that. Agnes seemed to get what’s going on. She shook her head but smiled at him.
“It’s turkey meatloaf. Edd was the one who was able to steal Mum’s, your grandmother, recipe.” Agnes looked at her brother who smirked.
“Well, I’m just that good in the kitchen and Mum sees me as the potential cook of the household.” Edd humbly said.
“Oh yeah, you may have Mum’s stove recipe but you don’t have Aunt Ophelia’s dessert recipe that everyone loves.” James said as he pointed at the brownie he brought.
“Hey, hey! This luncheon is to celebrate Edmund into the family. Not to brag.” Chris said as she waved her fork in the air.
“R-right! Anyway, it’s meatloaf. It’s ground meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, onion and spices. Basically, bread that looks like meat. It’s really good! Go ahead and have a bite.” Edd explained, beckoned him to start eating.
Edmund stared at it and looked at his brother who nodded encouragingly at him. Then he looked at Edi who was shoving her peach puree into her mouth. Edmund took a bite and blinked. He swallowed.
“Not bad. Never had it before.” Edmund took another bite.
“I know how you feel. Military food is strict after all.” Agnes said as she started eating.
Soon the rest began to eat as well except for Edd who stared at Edmund for a moment. He had a concerned look which the adults at the table took notice. Edd shook his head at them, a silence ‘Not now’. For now, Edmund seems happy enjoying his meal with his family.
Edd watched as his kids interacted with James. They were sitting in the living room and playing games on Edgar’s console he had brought down from his room. Edi was on James’s laps, Edmund sat beside James while Edgar draped over the man’s shoulder. Each boy has their controller, playing a multiplayer game together.
“I know what you’re thinking. I get it, you’re worried about him.” Agnes said.
Edd turned to his sister. He was aware that even Agnes’s base also have that program but the children were usually transferred to another base. They send them to a city with better population and the Alaska base was more of a prison than anything. Though there was only one prisoner there though.
“I am. I know it can be bad but I don’t know the extent of it. I read in the forum that some of them commit suicide!” Edd whispered as he stood over his dining table.
The actual girls leaned back at the sight of a distress Edd.
“Girl, chill. I know things are a bit odd when it comes to adopting a child but you’re doing great.” Chris assured her best friend.
“Am I?” Edd turned his head to the living room.
All of them were still distracted by the game and Edmund had a bit of difficulty with the game. He was holding the controller wrong.
“Edd? Edd, it’s OK. We can get help for him. You might consider searching for therapist for anxiety and PTSD. If he ever needed, of course.” Agnes advised
“Done and done but I don’t want to just bring him to one…” Edd said as he pulled out a couple of business cards.
“Then you wait. So far, he was trying to fit in and he’s doing well for someone who had no encounter to this family.” Chris said as she looked at Edmund.
They were talking loudly for a moment.
“Strawberry shortcake!”
“W-was that a cuss?”
“Yeah… He cuss in ice cream flavour.”
“Oh god…”
“Yeah… He’s taking it well.” Agnes added.
Edd could see Edmund was done and tired at the concept of his brother swearing in ice cream flavour. Edgar’s reasoning to cuss like that? Werewolf are naturally lactose intolerant because they’re canine after all but a minority aren’t and Edgar was one of them. Ice cream have milk and he boasted to his fellow werewolf schoolmate about being able to.
“You have any suggestion of your therapist?” Edd asked.
“Mine mostly in US and I doubt you want to ship him to the US of A for therapy.” Agnes shrugged.
“I haven’t been in therapy after high school, Edd. So don’t look at me.” Chris shrugged as well.
“Thanks anyway. I guess I shouldn’t worry that much.” Edd sighed.
“Yep… You’re like Mum when she was having you. You are a vicious baby Edd.” Agnes smiled.
“I understand her pain…” Edd mumbled under his breath.
James poked his head in the kitchen.
“Hey girls, talking about the kids?” He said as he stepped in.
“Just finished… Now we’re talking about boys!” Chris giggled.
“Gross.” James said as he grabbed a cup from a cupboard and grabbed himself a glass of water.
“Chris, no…” Edd sighed.
“Chris, yes! Have your hubby come over to meet his new son? Bet Paulie Waulie would love to see him.” She said in a baby voice.
“He’s busy… He had to make a trip to Germany, something about a new weapon.” Edd scratched his neck.
'How is that idiot is such a genius... I love him so much.' Edd internally sighed.
“How about the baby daddy?” James plopped onto the empty chair.
Vincent hadn’t visit for a while. But he did visit last week…
Flashback…
Edd yawned as he got up from his desk. He walked out of his room and checked on his kids. Edgar was still asleep in his hammock with Paul on his belly, Edmund was curled in the centre of his bed and Edi wasn’t floating out of her crib. Yet.
Seeing they were sleeping peacefully, Edd went downstairs.
He didn’t bother to turn on the light as walked down the hallway. He turned left into the kitchen and saw his fridge was being raided. Edd squinted his eyes at the body that was rummaging the fridge.
Edd stepped behind the person and stared.
“Vincent…”
“LORD!”
The vampire squeaked, bumping his head on the shelf. He stepped away and turned around, holding a half-eaten tomato. Edd blinked and glared, hands on his hips.
“Vincent!”
“Hehe…”
“My tomato!”
“I uh…”
The man looked lost on what to say or do. He tried to pull his vampire charm, trying to flirt out of this mess, but that doesn’t work on an insomniac man who hadn’t slept for two days.
“VINCENT!”
“Eddward, the children- Merci!”
“My tomatoes…” Edd hissed.
“Edd?” Everyone looked at the green eyes brunette.
“He visit last week. He’s trying to get Edi to say ‘Daddy’. She doesn’t want to. I’m hoping to get her to say mum first.” Edd said with a shrug.
They only nodded. They quietly listened to the background music and sound effects from the game the boys were playing. Some racing game this time. There was crashing sound so they assumed some kind of in-game sabotage in the race.
“Matcha! You're good at this.”
“Please... say shit or fuck...”
They snickered at the dead tone and watched the sibling from their chairs. Edgar was standing as he raced against Edmund who remained calm on the floor with Edi in his laps.
An hour later, Edd waved goodbye to them as they got in their respective cars. Once they left the street, Edd closed the door and went back into the living room. He saw Edmund putting a blanket over Edgar and Edi who was tuckered out. Edi because she was a baby and Edgar's sugar crash. Edd smiled at the teen.
"Seeing that we have the house to ourselves, I have something to give you. Come." Edd beckoned.
Edmund followed his parent upstairs and into Edd's room. The room was large since it was the master bedroom and he can see Edd put pictures of his friends and family at where he could. He saw a sole picture frame on Edd's desk where it have Edd, Edgar and Edi together. It was a family picture and Edmund wondered if his picture would be part of the family picture as well.
Edmund turned back to Edd and saw Edd rummaging through his closet.
"Here we go! I bought this for you during the adoption process." Edd said as he pulled out a blue paper giftbag.
Edmund slowly took it and looked inside it. He glanced at Edd who nodded for him to open it. Edmund took out the coloured papers and grabbed something cotton-like and pulled it out. He pulled a folded clothes, it was neatly folded and washed as Edmund could smell the detergent that Edd uses. He unfolded and saw it was a long blue cardigan jacket, it would probably reach his thighs.
He put it on and smiled at how it fit on him.
"I love it... Thank you!" Edmund smiled.
Something that was his and only his.
"You're wel-" Edd squeaked as Edmund hugged him.
Edd smiled and hugged him back.
"Hey..."
"Yeah?"
"Do you like sleeping alone?"
"...No."
Edd pulled away from the hug and looked at the blond teen.
"What do you think of sharing room?" Edd asked.
"...With Edgar?"
"Y-yeah... I thought that you hate being alone since you keep hanging in Edgar's room when he's in school." Edd sheepishly said.
"It's gonna be noisy... For you."
Edd sighed as he looked down but smile.
"Yeah, I think I would like to share a room but would Edgar mind?"
"Oh, he's fine with it. On the way to school and home, he asks about that... Non-stop."
"I-I see..."
Being a parent to Edgar James Gold is tiring but how tiring would it be to be the brother of one?