Work Text:
Lynyrd Skynyrd was blasting on the radio, and Eskel was manning the grill, while most of the rest of them were too busy dicking around to worry much about food yet. Vesemir was giving Geralt shit over his choice in beers, and Lambert had Ciri dangling by an ankle, screeching like a monkey while the ends of her hair swept through the sand. With Berengar, Barmin, and Leo off getting the boat ready, that left Aiden to help himself to Lambert’s pack of Twizzlers, which he did with glee.
“If none of y’all are gonna help, get outta my way,” Eskel grouched, snatching Geralt’s beer. He made a face when he realized it was Bud. Even Aiden knew that family tradition dictated that Pabst was the beer of choice for any and all family barbecues.
“We gotta wait for Coën, an’ Letho, an’ Gaetan to get here,” Ciri said, sneaking a Twizzler out from the pack Aiden had hidden behind his elbow.
It wasn’t until she’d bitten off the ends and stuck it in her can of Mountain Dew to use as a straw that Lambert noticed his snacks had been stolen.
“Geralt, your brat’s stealing my Twizzlers again!” he whined.
Geralt shook his head with a sigh. “She stole ‘em from your boyfriend. Blame him.”
Lambert’s head whipped ‘round to glare at Aiden, who grinned unrepentantly and took another bite out of the snack in his hand. The resulting scuffle tipped over Aiden’s chair and ended with ice from the cooler being shoved down the back of Aiden’s shirt, Lambert’s baseball cap filled with sand, and the other half of the Twizzler shoved in Lambert’s mouth.
“Y’all are gross,” Gaetan said, watching them from near the grill. Aiden must have missed his arrival while he was being sat on, though his brother was used to his and Lambert’s antics by now.
They all got chased off to swim for a bit after that, and then it was time for lunch and more sunscreen for the kids. Ciri whined the whole way through about sand sticking to her, but seemed to forget all about it by the time she had her plate in front of her.
Aiden listened in amusement while Lambert and Leo debated the correct way to eat both burgers and hot dogs, somehow managing to talk a mile a minute each and eat at the same time. Lambert liked to say he was awful with kids, but Aiden knew better. Between Leo and Ciri, Lambert had long ago cemented himself as the favorite uncle for the simple fact that he engaged with them the same way he did with everyone else.
After lunch most of them piled onto the boat, bringing the smaller cooler of drinks with them. Vesemir and Barmin stayed on the beach, claiming that they wanted no part in whatever bullshit was gonna happen out on the lake. Aiden suspected that one of them was planning a beer run as soon as they were all out of sight.
“Alright, who’s up for tubing?” Lambert asked, cracking open another beer. Cheers went up from Ciri and Leo, and Gaetan had started stripping off his shirt before Lambert even finished his question.
“What’s tubing?” Coën asked, and Aiden was suddenly reminded that Lambert’s friend was from fucking Canada.
Lambert’s grin was hint enough for Coën to know he was in for something ridiculous, Aiden was sure, but he was friends with Lambert for a reason, so he didn’t jump ship the second he saw it. That whole “polite Canadian” thing was a front, and Aiden was surprised more people hadn't realized it by now. Coën was just as ridiculous as the rest of their friends, and twice as contradictory.
“Basically, we tie the tube to the boat, someone gets in the tube, and then they try to hang on as long as they can,” Lambert explained. “It’s fun,” he added, catching Coën’s dubious look.
“I wanna go first!” Ciri cried, bouncing on her toes.
Aiden turned to Coën while Lambert got the tube set up, smirking. “Well, now you gotta do it,” he said, grabbing a beer for each of them. “Can’t get shown up by an eight year old."
Coën snorted, shaking his head. “A nine year old raised by the Rivias,” he pointed out, watching Lambert work. “That kid’s half feral.”
Aiden had to give it to him, he wasn’t wrong about that. Geralt had tried, mind you, but Ciri took after Lambert too much for any kind of civilizing influence to help.
“Still, in the name of sportsmanship, I’ll try it,” Coën said, while Ciri scrambled into the tube so they could get started.
When Coën’s turn came around, Geralt didn’t take it easy on him, making turns without warning until Coën was finally thrown into the air. Even Lambert winced when he hit the water, the slap of it audible over the sound of the engine.
“I fucking hate you,” Coën grumbled when he climbed aboard the boat again. He couldn’t hide his grin, though, and he took another few turns through the day.
It took them a while, but they managed to burn through the worst of their excess energy and settled down a little to just hang out on the boat instead of messing around. At least until Ciri started making faces at Aiden and Lambert for kissing, at which point Lambert scooped her up and tossed her into the water, laughing while she giggled wildly. Leo got thrown overboard next, and soon half of them were into the water again.
Aiden took the opportunity to reel Lambert in for more kisses while the boat was mostly empty. Days like this never failed to remind him that he wanted to spend forever with Lambert and his ridiculous family.
“Oh God,” Gaetan groaned from the other end of the boat. “Can’t y’all take a break from being all mushy?”
Aiden flipped him off, chuckling.
“Babe, I need you to hold my hat a second,” Lambert said, slapping his cap down on Aiden’s head before he strode over and grabbed Gaetan by the waist, chucking him over the side to join everyone else, then jumping in after him to keep roughhousing where they weren’t gonna cause any damage to the boat.
Letho sat down next to Aiden with a sigh, shaking his head. “It ain’t too late to find somebody else,” he said, offering Aiden a beer. He must have had these ones hiding under the ice, since it was a bottle of Corona rather than the cans of Bud they’d all been drinking so far.
“Could say the same for you,” Aiden said, popping the cap off the bottle to take a swig. “Don’t get me wrong, I ain’t trying to get rid of you, but you chose Gaetan of all people.”
Letho laughed, leaning back in his seat so he could watch Gaetan better while he was still wrestling with Lambert, being cheered on by Ciri and Leo, though Aiden couldn’t tell if they were cheering for Lambert or Gaetan. Probably both, if he was being honest.
Aiden watched from his chair while Ciri and Leo ran around chasing the lightning bugs, Lambert trailing after them indulgently to catch the ones that flew too high above them. The fireworks would be starting soon enough, but for now Aiden was content to just sit and enjoy a full belly and another cold beer.
Letho and Gaetan were snuggling a little ways off in the sand, and Geralt and Eskel were busy setting up the firepit, Vesemir supervising them and judging the placement of every single stone. Berengar had gone on another store run to pick up another pack of marshmallows and some more beer, and Barmin had fallen asleep in one of the other chairs.
Aiden loved holidays with all of these people. Even if they could be a chaotic, argumentative bunch of assholes sometimes.
“Hey, Aiden, come here!” Ciri called. “I gotta show you something!”
Right on cue, he thought. Kids always seemed to know when you were comfortable. Lambert laughed at him as he levered himself out of his chair to go investigate.
She’d gotten a little ways off from the group, still in sight, but out of hearing range unless you were yelling, and had something cupped in her hands, hidden away. Either she’d caught a lightning bug, or she’d found some other kind of insect to show him. That kid loved weird bugs.
“C’mere,” she said again, holding her cupped hands out. “You gotta take it from me.”
Aiden smiled indulgently, eyes flicking up to find Lambert, hovering just behind Ciri with a grin on his face. Clearly whatever she had was weird enough that Lambert was planning on getting a kick outta making Aiden hold it.
Kneeling down to her height, Aiden curled his hands around Ciri’s.
“Alright, we’ll go on the count of three, and you can show me what you found,” he said, chuckling at the way she lit up over the suggestion.
They counted down together, and as they hit the end of their count, Ciri opened her hands in his, letting something solid drop into his palm. Uncurling the hand on top, he watched her pull her fingers away, revealing a simple gold ring, set with a single blue stone, dark enough that it looked almost black in the fading light.
Aiden felt his heart skip a beat, looking to Lambert with eyes wide. Lambert’s grin had softened to a small, hopeful smile.
“Planned on doin’ this at the state fair last week, but I chickened out,” Lambert confessed, kneeling to take the ring. “So, Aiden, we gonna do this?”
Aiden let out a startled laugh. Of all the goddamn ways to ask, of course Lambert would say it like that.
“Fuck, Lamb, you really gotta ask me that?” he chuckled. “‘Course we’re doin’ this! Fuck. I… I love you so goddamn much, you absolute trainwreck!”
Lambert laughed too, grinning as he reeled Aiden in for a kiss. Aiden could barely hear Ciri cheering happily over his own giddiness.
They strolled back to the fire hand in hand, Ciri skipping ahead of them, cheerfully announcing to everyone that they were gonna get married now. The first round of congratulations was drowned out by the booming of fireworks, and in Aiden’s heart, it felt as though the glittering shower of colors in the sky was just for them.