Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sound of Sebastian's violin rang through the house as he finished up the piece he was practicing. He let out a small breath, lowering his violin and looking at his father for approval.

Gustav's face was solemn, making Sebastian slightly worried. Suddenly, Gustav jolted slightly, shaking his head a bit. His expression almost immediately softened a bit.

"sorry, son, I spaced out a bit," Gustav said with a chuckle, "you sound wonderful."

"Are you sure?" Sebastian asked, "The entrance exam is tomorrow, it has to be Perfect!"

"Not perfect, just good. And you know it's not just technical skill that'll get you accepted." Gustav responded, with Sebastian quickly setting his violin down and grabbing a piece of paper off of the piano.

"Will you help me with these questions one last time?" Sebastian asked sheepishly, with Gustav chuckling and taking the paper from him.

"Sure. Let's see here..." Gustav looked over the questions as Sebastian took a few deep breaths before turning away from him.

"What can't be doubled in a sixth chord of basic triads?"

"Uh.....Bass."

"Very good. Which triad is based on the minor third?"

"Minor."

"Correct. The chord-" Gustav began, being cutt off by a knock at the door.

Mary opened the door, holding a small package.

"I apologize for intruding, but some strange package came for you. Are they mistaken?" She asked.

Gustav got up, walking over and taking the box from his wife.

"No, dear. Not mistaken." He smiled, beginning to undo the tape that held the box shut.

"Please don't tell me it's that revolver..." Mary began, her voice worried.

"Oh no, don't worry, it's not. It's merely a replica I had commissioned a few weeks ago." Gustav said, pulling the replica from the box. He admired it's build, setting the box onto the window sill.

The box peaked Sebastian's attention. It was the perfect size for his model city.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything, dear.." Mary said shyly, with Gustav sighing and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"You weren't interrupting anything. If we really needed to concentrate, I would've locked the door."

"Well, I'll let you guys get back to what you were doing." Mary said, walking out and closing the door behind her.

Gustav smiled, turning back to Sebastian.
"What a woman, am I right?"

"Of course, Father."

Gustav then looked back down at the paper.

"Ok, so it appears there's only one more question that really gives you trouble."

"Which one is that?"

"A “D F-sharp” chord is given. In what keys will it dominate?"

"Um...." Sebastian looked around, trying to remember the answer. "G major… and minor...?"

Sebastian looked back at his father, who chuckled.

"No."

"Dammit!" Sebastian facepalmed, turning to face his father.

"Here," Gustav said, handing the paper to Sebastian, "Study it before you go to bed. It always helped me."

Sebastian took the paper, looking it over and beginning to leave, pausing suddenly when he remembered the box.

"Father?"

"Hm?"

"If...that box isn't necessary to you...may I have it?" Sebastian asked sheepishly.

"Umm....sure, I don't care. What for?"

"My model city project will most likely need something to protect it from the elements."

"Oh. Alright, that's fine." Gustav sat down at the piano as Sebastian grabbed the box from the windowsill.

"Thank you, father."

"Of course."

Sebastian then left, closing the door behind him.

Chapter Text

The family sat at the breakfast table, passing around some plates of food that Mary had made. Roft was on maternity leave for his wife, so they made due.

"So, Sebastian, today's the exam." Lydia said, taking a few bites of food.
"Oh, don't remind me, "Sebastian said, "I'm nowhere near prepared.."

"You'll do great, son. I know it" Gustav said, passing one of the plates over to lydia, who set it down on the table.

"I hope so..."

"You have your father as a teacher, so I know you'll do wonderful." Mary said, smiling at him.

"You flatter me, dear." Gustav chuckled, looking up at Mary with a smile.

"You go first, correct?" Lydia asked.

"I do. What's it to you?" Sebastian responded.

"I'm coming to watch, then I'm walking you home."

"What? Why?"

"Because, dear," Mary sighed, "I've been seeing too many articles in the paper about abducted kids. I don't want that happening to any of my children."

"Alright, mother." Sebastian finished his plate, getting up to put it away.

As he walked past his father, Gustav turned around to face him.

"Honestly, Sebastian. You'll do great. You're a very talented boy. Not that whatever place you manage to get matters at all to us. As long as you do your best, that's enough for me." He offered his son a warm smile, with Sebastian retuning it.

"Thank you, father." Sebastian exited the dining room.

~~~~insert exam shenanigans ~~~~

Sebastian walked through the crowd to where the exam results were posted. Lydia was already there, smiling.

"Second place. Not bad." She said as he stood next to her, nudging him slightly.

"Who came ahead of me? Who's this...harf....??" Sebastian stood there confused until a strange boy pushed him aside, jumping for joy at his result.

"FIRST PLACE! IM ACCEPTED!" The boy cheered, turning and running off.

"Huh...good for him." Lydia said, turning to face her brother, "You ready to go?"

"Yes." Sebastian had to admit, he was slightly peeved at the results.

"Hey," Lydia put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "you know mom and dad don't care about the results. They'll be proud either way."

"I know.." Sebastian turned around, walking to the conservatory's exit.

The two walked down the steps of the conservatory, begining their walk home. The boy from earlier followed them, walking next to Sebastian.

"Hey, dude! You're Sebastian, right?" He asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"I just wanted to say good work back there! I heard your exam audition, you're really good!" The boy walked in front of Sebastian, blocking his path.

Lydia and Sebastian looked at each other, with Lydia snickering a bit.

"I'll meet you at home." Lydia chuckled before quickly walking Away.

The two boys then stared at each other before Sebastian began walking again, with the boy following.

"How do you pronounce your name?" Sebastian asked.

"I don't usually use it. I go by chive." Chive responded.

"Chive..? Well 'chive', my father taught me to be a good sport, so I suppose congratulations should be in order."

"Thanks, dude. It wasn't really all that hard, but I appreciate it." Chive laughed, walking next to Sebastian.

"Your parents must be very proud of you."

"Like hell they are! My mom's against my music passion."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sebastian felt a twinge of guilt, looking away from chive.

"Hey, since we're gonna be studying at the same school, we might as well bond over music. Here"
Chive rummaged through his jacket, pulling out a bach record.

"Oh. Bach. Cool." Sebastian tried to graciously accept the gift, already having listened to bach many times.

"This one record has something really cool in it, an octobass! It's when one person holds the strings and-"
"I know. Thank you."

Chive laughed, turning to walk away.

"See you tomorrow?"

"I suppose."

Chive walked away, Sebastian looking to the side. Miraculously, he was right in front of his house.

Sebastian entered his home, seeing his mother and father talking on the steps. Mary noticed him first, tapping Gustav on the shoulder to get his attention.

Gustav turned to face his son.

"How did the exam go, son?" He asked.

"Successfully. I got second place." Sebastian said nervously, trying to sound confident in his words.

Gustav nodded, his face looking serious.

"I apologize for not doing better, i-"

"No need to apologize, son. I'm glad you gave it your best, and I'm proud of your result." Gustav said, giving him a smile.

Sebastian smiled up at him nervously, before Gustav noticed the Bach record he was holding.

"Who gave you that?"

"Oh, just someone from the conservatory. His name is chive."

"Oh.may I see that?" Gustav asked, with Sebastian handing it to him.

Gustav looked it over, chuckling to himself.

"You'll really like this one, Sebastian. It's got this cool thing called an octobass, where one person holds-"

"I know, father. One person holds the strings and one person plays."

Gustav laughed a bit, handing the record back to his son.

"Like I said, good work."

"Thank you, father."

Chapter Text

Chive sat next to the lovely looking girl, gently taking her hand.

"Two ripe apples, just like your eyes. And a sweet slice of watermelon for your mouth.."

His food related flirting appeared to be working, at least until Sebastian walked up behind him. His smile was wide, and he appeared to be humming to himself.

The girl pointed back to Sebastian, making Chive turn around to face him.

"Sup."

"Hi! :)"

The girl looked back at chive before slowly standing up.
"I...I should go...my parents would kill me if I was late again." She quickly turned and walked away.

Chive huffed, looking back at Sebastian.

"May I sit?"

"Go for it."

Sebastian sat next to chive, humming again. The tune seemed familiar to chive for a moment before he realized something.

"Oh...shit...yea, that's my bad. Sorry about the record."
"I liked it! :D"

"Really....?"

"WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT!!!! NO-" Sebastian jumped up, dancing and singing out before chive pulled him down.

"Dude, calm down! They're gonna take you to the looney bin!" Chive looked around before noticing Gustav, who was waiting for Sebastian by the door.

"......"

"......"

"...is he having a stroke?" Gustav asked.

"No."

"Ok, good."

"How do you make that noise?!" Sebastian asked chive.

"What noise?"

"Chu chu chu chu chu!!"

".mhmm....you gotta lay down the fuzz for something like that."

"...is this just kid lingo I'm not understanding cuz I'm old?" Gustav asked, walking over and sitting down with the boys.

"Nah, it's just...you hook a guitar up to a sound amplifier..which is then tuned to a distortion setting." Chive responded..

"...I see....kid lingo." Gustav said, making Sebastian chuckle a bit.

"Show me! Please!" Sebastian asked, with chive looking over at Gustav for permission.

"Well.. I promised your mom 4:30, and it is just turning 2 now..I suppose we have time."

---------------------------------------------

"Was it necessary to stray so far from the conservatory?" Sebastian asked, with him and his father sitting next to chive on the bench.

"Dude..we just crossed the street."

"I know! We usually just go straight home."

"I see...." Chive rolled his eyes before positioning his guitar, "now, we won't get the "chu chu chu" noise on acoustic, but I can show you the general idea."

Chive began to play, singing softly to himself. Sebastian's eyes lit up, looking back at his dad. Gustav smiled as well, not from the music, but from seeing how happy the music made his son.

"Please, let me try!" Sebastian asked, reaching for the guitar.

"Hey hey! Thats my baby! Don't touch her!" Chive pulled away, Sebastian clasping his hands together.

"I dont know if I'd ever get this chance again! Please, I don't ruin a thing!"

"Likely story! Shes mt first love! No one else is touching her!" Chive said firmly. "But...there is a guitar in the conservatory. I can ask to borrow it if you'd like."

"That would be amazing!" Sebastian chuckled, placing his hands by his sides. He quickly panics, patting his pockets.

"What's wrong?" Gustav asked.

"I left my house key inside! Chive, may I come in with you to collect it?"

"Sure, " chive said, standing up before turning to Gustav, "can I trust you to watch her, sir?"

"Of course you can!" Gustav nodded as the boys quickly walked back into the conservatory.

He waited for a bit, glancing over at the guitar. Soon, an unlucky passerby passed by.
"Don't get near her!" Gustav yelled, shaking his first at the person, who quickly jumped and ran off.

Soon, the boys rushed out, an alarm going off inside.

"GRAB MY GUITAR! WE'RE RUNNING!" chive yelled.

"But...what about-"

"JUST DO IT!!"

Gustav quickly grabbed the guitar, running off with the boys. They ran through the field until they reached the park, where they finally paused to catch a breath.

"I swear, father, I didn't encourage him to steal it!" Sebastian pleaded, with Gustav nodding.

"You," Gustav said, panting while pointing at chive, "Young man, are returning that."

"Of course! Like I said, borrowing!"

Gustav rolled his eyes, sitting down on a bench with a sigh.

"I'm getting too old for this..." He said weakly, seeing his son's face light up. He was watching the horizon, looking at the other side of town.

"My goodness...there's so much more..." Sebastian said to himself, with chive walking over.

"I live over there, by the can tab." He explained.

"Don't you mean the cylinder lock?"

"No no...the cylinder lock is by the sharpener."

"Heh...sharpener."

Gustav could only sit in confusion, not understanding this mumbo jumbo these youngsters are spouting.

"Shall we play?" Chive asked, beckoning to the guitars.

"Sure!" Sebastian said enthusiastically.

The boys sat next to each other on the bench across from Gustav, who watched as Chive showed Sebastian some of the notes for the song.

Then, Sebastian's hair seemed to fly up as he played the song.

"Heh, does your hair always do that when your playing music?" Chive asked.

"No..its just...wow.." Sebastian chuckled, playing a bit more.

It then dawned on the group that the sun was setting. Gustav pulled out his watch, gulping when he noticed the time.

"Sebastian...I did promise your mother 4:30, correct?"
"Yes, sir.."
"It's 6:15..."

"Shit."

The boys got up and quickly began to settle things, with Sebastian handing the guitar to chive.

"You go straight to the conservatory and return that, young man." Gustav said sternly.
"Yes, sir! That was my plan all along, ya know."

"Sure it was..let's go, son." Gustav let a small chuckle slip as he and Sebastian began their walk home.

"Is mom gonna nag at you for being late?" Sebastian asked.

"Don't say it like that. Nag implies that she's upset for a silly reason. I made a promise and failed to follow through. If she's upset, she has every right to be."

"Is...is she going to be mad about the guitar?"

"She doesn't have to know about that.. besides, we did that sort of stuff all the time as kids. I can't exactly get too upset, that would be hypocritical." Gustav laughed, gently punching his son on the arm.

"But us being late?"

"Yea, no. She's gonna kill me" he laughed again.

Chapter Text

"Were in god's name where you two?!" Mary asked, hands on her hips.
The boys stood sheepishly in front of her, Gustav rubbing the back of his head.

"We went for a stroll."

"For two hours? And you couldn't call me? Gustav...."

"I know, I know dear. I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again." Gustav chuckled slightly, making Mary rub the bridge of her nose.

"Honestly, you are impossible.."

Gustav stepped forward, taking his wife by the hand.

"Let's talk about this in the other room, that way we don't upset the children." He said.

"You're right. We shouldn't argue in front of them." She allowed him to pull her into one of the room, closing the door behind them.

Sebastian sat down next to the door, humming to himself. Soon, Lydia walked over, leaning against the wall.

"So, what's the news about you two being late?" She asked.

"Father's just flirting our way out of trouble, I'm guessing."

Lydia laughed a bit at that, looking around before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small butt end to a light bulb.

"Look familiar?" She asked knowingly.

"The bank's roof!" Sebastian jumped up, taking the light bulb from her. "How did you find this?"
"The garbage."
"Go figure."

At that moment, a giggle from Mary could be heard, along with the sounds of Gustav shushing her.

"Yep, we're off the hook." Sebastian snickered, rolling his eyes.

'would you mind holding on to this for me? I don't have anywhere to put it at the moment" he asked Lydia, who took it and put it back in her pocket.

Then, the door clicked open, and their parents emerged. Mary was fixing her blouse, and Gustav was smoothing back his hair.

"Sebastian, I'm not angry at you." Mary said, patting her son in the head. "I'm just glad your safe. However, me and your father are going to continue our "chat" in our room. You're excused."

Sebastian nodded, with Lydia chuckling as she turned and walked away.

"I won't let it happen again, mother." Sebastian said.

"I know, dear." Mary smiled, glancing over at her husband. Gustav smirked back, gently smacking her backside before walking away.

Mary blushed, quickly storming behind him.
"Not in front of the children!" Sebastian could hear her say as the two walked up the stairs to their bedroom.

Soon, everything was quiet, and Sebastian snuck up to his room to continue his model.

Chapter Text

Sebastian-
The town model he's making was a project originally inspired by Gustav. He talked about wanting to make something similar to it when he was Sebastian's age, so Sebastian got the idea to make one for the family.
Sebastian still wishes to become a music teacher, wanting to try student teaching at the conservatory when he comes of age.
He knits sometimes with his mother.

Lydia-
She volunteers at the local homeless shelter
For a while, she had her hair cut much shorter. Her parents didn't quite understand why, but weren't about to judge their daughter's choices.
She has a secret scrapbook that she's making as a gift to her parents.

Chive-
After a while, he began to see the Shvagenbagens as family, accidentally referring to Gustav and Mary as "mom and dad" a few times.
Has (somehow) tamed a duck.
Met Lydia at the homeless shelter a few times before (both volunteering and just needing a hot meal)

Mary-
Is generally very intelligent and has a bit of a temper (it has calmed down over the years, but still can stand up for herself)
Is pretty much well loved by the animals that live around them due to her leaving out small bits of food for them.
Also volunteers with Lydia at the shelter

Gustav-
Pretends to have not seen certain movies or not know certain things because he likes listening to Mary explain things
Took some time to listen to the twisted sister record while Sebastian was at the conservatory. He didn't like it, but figured it was ok for his son to listen to.
Collects a ton of models, not just model guns.

Chapter Text

Mary and Gustav were laughing while sitting on their bed, the two of them sharing a bottle of wine.

"And when we got finished running, I could barely breathe!" Gustav laughed out before taking another sip from his glass.

"Honestly, dear, you two are terrible. Just terrible." Mary giggled, taking a moment to set down her glass and pull her hair out of her ponytail.

When she got finished, Gustav smiled and reached over, running his hand through her hair. Mary returned his smile, leaning forward and giving him a kiss. The two lingered in that miss, drunk both off of the wine and off of each other.

Once the two finally parted, Mary laid back on the bed as Gustav climbed on top of her and began kissing at her neck.

She was in the process of loosening his tie before seeing a faint, dark humanoid movement in the corner of their room, hiding in the shadows!

"EEK!" She screamed, causing Gustav to jerk back in surprise.

"What's wrong?!"
"Over there!! I saw someone!" Mary pointed to where she saw the thing.

Gustav turned around to see what she was looking at, as their bedroom door quickly opened and slammed shut.

The two sat there in terror before Gustav scrambled off the bed, rushing to the door and throwing it open. He looked back and forth, seeing the hallway completely empty.

"Is ..is it still there?" Mary asked timidly.

"I...don't think so. I'll go look around the house a bit, just in case something was there." Gustav said.

Mary nodded, beginning to get up to join him.

"You...stay." He pointed at her.

"Ok.."

Gustav walked out of the bedroom, looking around for any sign of the intruder. As he passed through the hallways, he heard Sebastian speaking to someone in his room. Deciding to check on his son, he goes to his bedroom door and knocks.

"Come in!" Sebastian said, allowing Gustav to open the door.

To his surprise, Chive sat next to Sebastian on his bed, showing him the guitar he "borrowed" earlier.

"Chive! I...didn't know you came." Gustav said.

"Yea, sorry, i know I should've said something but I just wanted to see if Sebastian could play this one song and..."

"You told me you returned that guitar." Gustav said, crossing his arms and leaning against Sebastian's doorway.

"Well, I totally did! Its just...the people at the conservatory told me..uh...that they were gonna throw it away and that I could just keep it!"

Gustav chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Sure they did. Well, I'm glad Sebastian now has someone he can hang out with."

"DAAADDD!!!" Sebastian laughed, throwing a pillow at him.

"Anyways, back to my main point. Did you boys hear footsteps at all? Cuz I thought I saw someone in my room." Gustav asked, Sebastian glaring at Chive.

"Nope!" They both responded.

"Huh. This house might be haunted, then." Gustav said, seriously considering that possiblity. To him, it was one, considering how old their home was.

Gustav turned to leave, before chive quickly said something.

"Actually, sir...if you don't mind...would it be ok if Sebastian came over? For the sound on the guitar to sound ideal, it needs to be hooked up to a sound amplifier, which I have one."

"Hm. Well, I don't have a problem with that. Just don't be out too late, your mother does a point about that child abduction thing." He chuckled, closing the door and walking away.

After Gustav left, Sebastian glared again at chive, shoving him hard.

"YOU CAME IN THROUGH MY PARENT'S WINDOW?!" He demanded, crossing his arms.

"In my defense, I thought it was your room. I didn't get caught!"

"THATS NO EXCUSE!"

"look, I'll apologize in the morning, how's that sound?"

"....fine."

Chapter Text

It was a few weeks later, and the two rowdy boys were as thick as thieves. With this friendship came two more, with chive's friends Bob and Lordi quickly being introduced.

As the days went on, Mary began finding herself being intrigued by the way the two boys hung out, and so began to question the validity of the boy's claims of heterosexuality.

One day, as Gustav was writing something down in his office, Mary decided to take action. She knocked on his office door, quickly being invited in.

"What's up, dear?" Gustav asked, putting his pencil down and looking up at his wife.

"Nothing..I'm just...I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Is something wrong?"

"No! No. I....what do you think about Sebastian and Chive?"

Gustav pondered that question a bit before giving her an answer.

"Honestly, I'm happy for them. That boy needs a friend. Chive is honestly such a good one as well, so I'm pretty ok with them. Why?"

"Well..." Mary looked around before walking over to her husband, "I think the two might be... romantically involved with each other.."

"Huh? What makes you think that?"

"I mean...the two are very...close. and...they tend to act like we used to when we were courting.."

"If Sebastian did like chive..that way.. wouldn't he have told us?" Gustav asked.

"Maybe he hasn't said anything because he thinks we are the kind of people who are against that." Mary said.

"..oh. we do give off that impression, don't we, dear?"

Mary nodded in response, prompting Gustav to stand up.

"How can we get him to talk to us about something like that?" He asks her.

Mary suddenly gets an idea.

"What if we, like, hint that we think that. You know, be Subtle about it so he's not put off from talking about it."

"That's a good idea. I'll talk to him about it. I think he'd open up to his dad." Gustav said, smoothing back his hair and making his way to the door.

Mary followed behind him down the hall to Sebastian's bedroom, where their son had spent a good few hours painting something. Gustav looked at Mary for a moment before knocking on his door. Mary stepped away from the door as Gustav was invited inside.

Sebastian sat at his desk, painting diligently as Gustav stepped behind him.

"Hello, son. Painting coming along well?"

"Hello, father. Yes, it is."

The two sat in an awkward silence as Gustav looked back at the door, where Mary had peeked in. She flashed him a thumbs up, giving him the courage to start conversation again.

"So... Sebastian, " Gustav said, walking next to Sebastian's desk and leaning against the wall, "you know me and your mother love you, right?"

"Of course I do. You tell me every day."

"That's because..it's true! And..our love in... unconditional that means-"

"You love me no matter what." Sebastian finished his sentence with a chuckle.

"Right." Gustav says, looking around before speaking again. "And you know you could tell us if, oh just spit balling here, you happened to like...a boy you know."

"I know." Sebastian responded, smiling up at his father.

"Cool, cool." Gustav smoothes back his hair before a glass on the desk catches his eye. Mistaking it for chocolate milk, Gustav picks up the glass and takes a sip before the ugly realization hits that it was indeed paint water.

Sebastian laughs, slapping his hand against the desk as Gustav rushes to the window, spitting out the water.

The two stare at each other, with Sebastian quickly going quiet. After a moment of silence, Gustav begins laughing, with Sebastian quickly joining him.

After a bit, the two quiet down and Gustav exits, closing the door behind him and looking at his wife for approval.

"Dear?" Mary begins.

"Yea?"

"If you had a bright, neon sign that declared your intentions, it would be more subtle than you just were." Mary giggled,kissing her husband on the cheek.
Gustav rolled his eyes, snickering at her response.

Chapter Text

Do you guys want me to write a chapter about Gustav telling ches how he and Mary met and fell in love? I'm having ideas for it but I don't know if you guys wanna read that.

Chapter Text

Chive ducked around the corner as Sebastian quickly closed his door, watching Gustav and Mary walk down the hall to his room.

"Hey! What's up?" He asked them, attempting to sound as chilled out as possible.

"Oh, hello dear! What are you up to?" Mary asked.

"Nothing much. I was just..uh..coming to ask you two something!"

"Well, ask away. I'm all ears." Gustav asked, leaning against the wall.

"I was just gonna ask...how did you two meet?" Chive asked the first question to pop in his head.

Sebastian's parents stared at him, before looking at each other and chuckling a bit.

"It's quite a long story, kid. You sure you wanna hear it?" Gustav asked.

"I would love to. Please, tell me!"

"Well..." Gustav began.

Chapter Text

"you see, son, it all started at college."

~~~~~~flashback~~~~~~~~~

Gustav's friend, Quinn, dragged him into the gym, where a ring of college students formed around a circle of gym mats placed together as a makeshift fighting ring.

"Come ON, Gustav! You gotta get your head out of those stupid books!" Quinn exclaimed, pulling Gustav into the crowd of students.

"I have to cram for my Biology Class, Quinn!" Gustav pleaded, attempting to pull away from his friend before a particular lady caught his eye.

A blonde-haired fighter walked into the ring, stretching as she prepared to fight. She seemed to ooze a "mess with me, punk" aura, one that Gustav couldn't ignore.

"Who is she?" Gustav asked Quinn, pointing to the lady.

"Her? How have you not heard of her, she's a legend!"

"What's her name????"

"She's who they call "Quick-Down Mary". She can knock out anyone in less than 5 minutes!"

Gustav was mesmerized. The fight had begin, and in less than 10 seconds, Mary had her opponent on the ground and pinned.

"W...wow..." Gustav felt himself drawn to this mysterious fighter, pushing through the crowd as Mary exited the ring.

He bumped into her, with both of them falling backwards.

"Asshole! Watch where you're going, punk!" Mary stood up, getting in Gustav's face.

His face went completely red, with Mary snickering in response.

"c..can I buy you a drink?" That was all Gustav could sputter out.

"All of the bars are closed, idiot."
"There's a vending machine outside..."

Mary crossed her arms, thinking for a moment.

"Alright. I could go for a coke."

She followed him outside of the gym doors and over to the vending machine, where Gustav attempted to work the machine. She laughed as he was confused, trying to buy the hot girl standing next to him something as simple as a soda.

"You want my help, bus boy?"

"No! I...bus boy?"
"I saw you get off the bus. You ride the bus around."

"Well..I do! But...I have a name!"
"So?"

That phrase made his face go red again.

"Well...I know your name! It's Mary!"

She chuckles again as he finally manages to figure out the vending machine, somehow buying two cokes at one time.

"Huh. Impressive, bus boy."

"It's...but..my name is Gustav!" He sputtered out.

"Anyways, "she hands him a slip of paper as she accepted her coke, "I'll see you around."

"What's this?"
"My number."
"What for?"

"So you can call me." Mary waved as she walked back through the doors of the gym.

Gustav couldn't do anything but stare as the doors closed. He looked back down at the skip of paper, checking out the number. He knew he had to call it.

Chapter Text

Gustav was preparing to go to work, passing by a mirror and stopping to check his reflection. His appearance seemed perfect, his clothes smooth and without wrinkle and his hair nicely smoothed back for a nice, professional look.

His gaze slowly lowered down to his tie. It was perfect, but some part of him was counting on a certain someone fixing it for him. So, after glancing around to make sure no one was looking, he quickly undid his tie, doing it intentionally wrong. After finishing the knot, he quickly smoothed himself out before walking away.

Near the door, Gustav just so happened to bump into his wife, who immediately looked horrified at his tie.

"Tsk tsk!" Mary scolded playfully, quickly reaching up and undoing his tie, "Are you unable to do this on your own even now, at your big age?"

"what can i say? I'm hopeless.' Gustav chuckled as mary quickly fixed his tie, tightening it up before patting his chest.

"A smarter woman would accuse you of doing this on purpose." Mary insisted, giggling.
"and a smart man would deny it."

"You were always sort of dumb.." Mary said, laughing as Gustav quickly grabbed her and pulled her close.

She hugged him tight, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're free to go, dear. Have a good day at work!" She said as he began to walk away.

"Oh, Finally!" Gustav Joked, "I thought you would never let me leave!"

Mary laughed as she waved goodbye to her husband as he exited the house, closing the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Lydia peered into her brother's room, where he and chive had been hanging out and listening to some of the records the latter had brought. Their parents had been gone all day, and would most likely not return until the next morning, so Lydia found this the perfect opportunity to inquire about the strange but enticing music.

"Sebastian." Lydia said, finally opening the door.

Sebastian turned around to face his sister, surprised at the sudden visit.

"Hello. Do you need something?" He asks.

"yes, i do, in fact. That music. I wanna listen to it." She says rather bluntly.

Chive laughs as Sebastian just stares at her confused.

"you...wanna listen to this?" he asks.

"Don't be so surprised!" Lydia attempted to defend herself, stepping into the room and sitting down on Sebastian's bed.

With that, chive reached over and gently tossed her a record, one from Metallica. She stared at the cover for a moment, confused at the image, before bravely standing up and going to the record player, popping it in and playing it.

She sat back down on the bed, expecting to be disgusted at the music. But her reaction was quite the contrary. The vocals were shocking, but in a way that made her want to continue listening. She was impressed by how the instruments could make such noises.

She loved it.

"helloooooooo....earth to lydia!!" Sebastian flicked his sister on the head. She had spaced out and the record had finished.

"Oh! thank you!" Lydia giggled out, quickly retrieving the record from the player.

"Do you..like it?" Chive asked.

".....i....i do..It sounds lovely." Lydia attempted to regain her composure, "you can continue listening to it if you wish to, sebastian."

"oh,thank you dear sister," Sebastian replied sarcastically, "i eagerly awaited your permission."

The two siblings chuckled as Lydia reached over and threw one of his pillows at him, it landing with a thump. Sebastian got up to chase her, with her quickly exiting his room and holding his door closed.

Chapter Text

"What? A concert?" Mary asked her husband, who was sitting across from her on their bed.

"yes! Tonight, in like an hour! Sebastian's band is playing!"

"why didn't he tell us?"

"Well, from what I heard, they're beginning around the time we go to bed, so Sebastian didn't want us thinking we HAD to stay up and go."

"Oh...But i wanna support him.."

"me too! Which is why i hatched up a plan!" Gustav jumped up and off their bed, standing in front of Mary, "We Sneak out to watch them!"

"Sneak out? Like, what we did when we were kids?"

"yes!"

The two stared at each other for a moment, before Mary giggled a bit.

"I like it!" Mary exclaimed.

"mother? father? what are you two laughing about?" Lydia asked from just outside their door.

"Oh! Uh..Nothing!" Gustav straightened himself up.

"Alright. Has sebastian left yet?"

"A little bit ago, yes."

"alright, father. Thank you." With that, the sounds of Lydia's footsteps could be heard.
Then, Gustav turned back to face his wife.

"How are we going to do this?" Mary asked.

"Well, getting out and back in the house shouldn't be an issue. Even getting to this venue will be relatively easy. However, making sure he doesn't catch us will be quite a pickle."

Mary nodded in agreement, standing up and walking to their wardrobe. She reaches in and pulls out two black coats, along with a black scarf.
"With these, we should be able to blend in with the crowd."
"Either that or stick out like a sore thumb."

Mary looked back at him, chuckling and throwing one of the coats at him. He laughed in response, sliding on the coat over his shirt. Mary copied him, zipping up her coat. The two then began to walk out from their room to the front door.

"What are you two doing?"

The two turned, seeing Lydia staring at them.

"Going out." Gustav said.

"....I see..Have fun."

Mary and Gustav quickly exited the house, rushing across the street.

After about twenty minutes of walking around and asking for directions, the two finally made it to the venue, where they could already hear tons of talking inside. The band had been warming up, with the two seeing their son and his guitar being hooked up.They quickly went and stood in the small crowd of people who were over by the Bar, shrouding themselves.

"Look! that's our boy!!" Gustav whispered proudly to Mary, who nodded.
Then, the band began their introductions, with Chive proudly taking the mic.

"Hey everyone! Our temporary band name is “Who are those freaks on stage”! We play what we like!"

"Yeah..." Sebastian responded.

"We play for ourselves!"
"Yeah!"
"And the first song is..."

"And if you don’t like it, the exit’s right there!"

Gustav had to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter.
"That is SO your son." Mary chuckled out, with Gustav nodding in response.

Soon, the band began to play, drawing attention from everyone else at the venue. As the night went on, more and more people joined the crowd, allowing the two to slip in and get closer to the stage.

As Gustav watched his son, he could see himself in that boy. Proud, willful and defiant, pushing himself to his goals. Just like him. He beamed with pride at that realization, glancing over at his wife, who shared a similar look.
The choice Gustav made a long time ago may have been a hard one, but he knew it was the right one. He chose a family, one without his father.

After the band exited the stage, Gustav excused himself to get some water. As he drank, he heard a faint, yet familiar voice. He looked around, noticing his son and his friends going to the crowd area, where Mary was!
He quickly darted back to the crowd, seeing Mary slap some guy.
"YOU WANNA TOUCH ME, ASSHOLE??!" She yelled at him, recoiling to punch him before Gustav rushed over and scooped her up.

"PUT ME DOWN!! I CAN TAKE HIM!"
"I know! I know! We have to hide!"

Gustav carried his wife into the restroom, darting into one of the stalls before finally setting her down.

"why are we hiding!?"
"Sebastian was heading right that way! he would've caught us!"
"oh..."

They were quickly interrupted by hearing the restroom door open, and hearing two very familiar voices enter.

"what a show!" Sebastian said, probably turning on the faucet from what Gustav could hear.
"I know! They'll definitely be coming back for our next concert!!" Chive responded.
"I do wish mother and father would've been able to come. But, I wouldn't want to make them stay up past their bedtime.." Sebastian said, before going quiet.

"what's wrong, dude?"

"Why are there two sets of feet in that stall?"

Mary and Gustav froze, with Gustav quickly picking her up and Mary lifting her legs up and wrapping them around her husband.

"that? oh, probably just two weirdos making out after the show. People do that sometimes." Chive pipped up, chuckling.

"Oh! uh..DOn't worry, lovebugs! We'll leave you alone!" Sebastian laughed out, before two left the restroom.

Gustav and Mary waited in the stall for a moment, the two frozen. Finally, Gustav slowly lowered his wife back down and the two crept out of the stall.

"that was close.." Mary muttered.
"so close.." Gustav agreed, "Shall we head home?"

"thats a good idea, dear." Mary kissed him before walking out of the bathroom.
Gustav felt himself blush, smiling before following his wife.

Chapter Text

Sebastian peeked into his parent's bedroom, seeing his sleeping father on their bed. He reached in and turned on the light, making his father groan and pull the covers over his head.

"Father, mother told me to wake you up!" He said.

"mmmm...tell your mother I said five more minutes..."

"She said now!"

Gustav groaned and threw a pillow at his son.
"Five more minutes!"
"Father!"

Sebastian grabbed the pillow and walked over to his father's side of the bed, beginning to hit him with said pillow. Gustav started laughing, grabbing a pillow of his own and the two engaged in a pillow fight. Then, Sebastian grabbed his father's arms and attempted to literally drag him out of bed to not much avail. Lydia then peered in, scoffing at the sight.

"Father, you're acting like a child." Lydia snickered before hurrying over and positioning herself behind her father, attempting to push to Sebastian's pull.

Gustav laughed, putting very little effort into pulling his arms from Sebastian and pushing himself on top of Lydia, laying on her.
"Oh now THIS is comfortable!" Gustav chuckled as Lydia groaned.

"sebastian, go get mother!" Lydia called out, Sebastian nodding and climbing off the bed.

He went into the living room, where Mary had been sitting and reading.

"Mother?"

"Your father's being difficult?"

"yes, Ma'am."

Mary sighed, put the bookmark back in her book, and followed Sebastian to the room.

"Gustav, its time to wake up."

Gustav sat up as Mary walked over to his side of the bed, looking up at his wife.

"Au contrare, my dear. I say its time for BED!" He said, hugging her by the waist and pulling them both onto the bed.

Mary gasped and began laughing as she tried to wriggle from his grasp.

"Let go! Its almost noon!"

"no!"

Sebastian managed to pull Lydia out form under their father, the two of them working together to push their father up. Once she had her feet on the ground, Mary pulled Gustav up and away from the bed.

"Fiiiinnneeeeee" Gustav groaned in defeat, Lydia and Sebastian Cheering in victory.
Mary chuckled, brushing her hands off on her dress as her and Gustav walked to the bedroom door.

"Go brush your teeth, dear, its almost time for lunch." Mary said, giving her husband a gentle shove.

"Nooooo..." Gustav protested.

"Now!" Mary insisted, smacking his backside.

He turned around quickly, blushing and pointing at her like he was about to say something. He then glanced over at Lydia and Sebastian, who were staring at them.

"....I'll deal with you later." Gustav quickly walked away, leaving Mary with the children.

"Thank you, kids."

"Your welcome, mom."

Chapter Text

"You're not serious."

Mary stood in front of her husband, who was putting on a tie.

"Are you Really putting on a tie to go meet our grandson??"
"...yes."
"Why?"
"I have to make a good first impression."
"no-"

They had gotten to the house, knocking on the front door. After a moment, the door was answered by Glam, who seemed overjoyed to see his parents.
"Mother! Father!"
"Sebastian!" They both said happily as they came inside. Gustav looked around the living room as Mary joyfully hugged her son before walking around.

"The place looks lovely, son." Gustav said, sitting down on the cough, with Glam joining him.
"thanks."

They were quickly interrupted by Mary being followed by Victoria, who was holding Baby Dee.

"what did you decide to name him, again?" Gustav asked.
"Dee. After Dee snider."
"I see."

Gustav and Glam scooched over a bit to make room for the Ladies, with Mary sitting next to Gustav and Victoria sitting next to Mary.

"may I?" Mary asked.

Victoria laughed, handing the baby over to Mary, who immediately started snuggling with him.

"Don't get any ideas, Mary." Gustav teased, chuckling.

Mary laughed as well, batting her eyes at her husband.

"No."
"please???"
"NO. I'm not getting you pregnant again."
"Come on!!! Just one more baby!!"
"No! Let me see that boy!"

Mary gave Dee a final kiss on the head before handing the small infant to Gustav, who only stared down at him. His expression when solemn, making the others a bit worried. After a while of silence, Gustav finally spoke again.

"He's beautiful.."

"He really is.." Victoria agreed, reaching over and resting her hand on her son's head.

"Good job, you two.." Mary said, Leaning against her husband and looking down at the baby.
Glam smiled, wrapping his arm around his father and smiling down at his son.

Chapter Text

DO you all have any oneshot ideas? I'm kinda blanking on ideas
(credit will be given ofc)

Chapter Text

Gustav was pacing outside of the hospital room. How he'd love to be in there with his now-wife, but he was quickly kicked out shortly into the birth. His mind raced with all sorts of thoughts on what life would be like as a father.

He knew one thing was for sure, that he would be better than his own father.

His train of thoughts was quickly broken once he got tapped on the shoulder. He jolted, turning around to see his childhood friend Quinn, who they invited to meet their new daughter. The two friends embraced happily before Quinn gripped Gustav by the shoulders.

"You nervous?"
"whatmenoimnotnervousimascoolasacucumber!!" Gustav blurted out, looking down to see his trembling hands giving him away.

"Look, dude. Its gonna be alright. This girl's gonna have awesome parents." Quinn reassured him, giving him a comforting squeeze.
"i know..its just...." He trailed off before he was interrupted by a nurse who opened the door.

"Mr. Shvagenbagen?"

He jolted around to face her, with her nodding. He turned back to Quinn for a moment, who flashed him two thumbs up before pushing him to the door. He entered the hospital room, seeing his wife, Mary, laying on the hospital bed with their baby girl resting on her chest. Mary glanced up at him, offering a weak smile and reaching her hand out to him. He took it gently, sitting down next to her and giving her had a gentle squeeze.

"oh my god..." He muttered, reaching out and gently patting his daughter on the head, feeling the soft hair atop her head.

"What name did we decide for her? Lydia?" Mary asked, with her other hand joining Gustav's atop the baby's head.

"Yea. Lydia. Its a nice name."
"such a nice name."

The two smiled at each other for a second before Gustav's emotions got the better of him and he began to bawl, clinging to his wife and daughter. Mary chuckled and let go of his hand, rubbing her hand on his back in small circles.
"I'm so happy..She's so wonderful, you're so wonderful..Thank you!" He blubbered out.
"It's about time I got thanked, asshole!" Mary joked, the two of them laughing a bit.

Gustav pulled himself back after a moment, taking a second to kiss Mary and Lydia on the head before sitting back down on the chair. He wiped his eyes, snickering for a second before taking a deep breath.

Then, Quinn opened the door and peeked in.
"Is Uncle Quinn allowed in?"

"Yes, you are. Come meet Lydia." Mary insisted.

As Quinn cooed over the small baby, Gustav leaned back in his chair and sighed.

'What a wonderful world this is..' He thought.

Chapter Text

"Do you kids Really need a bedtime story?" Gustav chuckled as his two youngsters pulled him into the nursery.

"Yea!" They laughed as they climbed up onto Lydia's bed.
Gustav sat down onto the bed, with a kid snuggling up to him on either side. He wrapped his arms around them and thought for a moment about something that could easily put them to sleep.

"I mean...I do have a story about how i saved your mom from a dragon ...but you kids might think its boring.." He teased.
"We wont think its boring! please tell us!!" Lydia begged.
"are you suree??" GUstav asked, pretending to not believe her.

"Yea!!' sebastian cheered with his sister.

"Ohhhh alrightt...." Gustav pulled his kids closer as he begin to set up a story.

"It all started at me and your mother's honeymoon. We were just sitting on the couch when BAM!" he jolted a bit for dramatic effect, " A DRAGON bursts through the window and grabs your mom!"

"Why?" Lydia asked.

"Cuz dragons tend to take pretty women into their lairs. I dunno why, kiddo." Gustav leaned back and the kids snuggled back up against him.

"Know, i knew i couldn't take this behemoth on my own, so i went down to the friendly neighborhood elven folk and asked them for help. They let me borrow a few guys and we went down to the dragons keep. I called out 'hey. give me my wife' it responded 'no.' i asked why, it told me to go screw myself."

"why is it called a keep?" sebastian asked
"cuz its where they KEEP their stuff." Gustav responded.
"oh."
"yea you dum dum!" Lydia said, poking her brother on the head.
"hey hey be nice!" Gustav said.
'Otay, sorry 'bastian." lydia apologized, lightly bonking her brother on the head nicely.

"Anyways. We laid siege. However, this dragon was very big, and we were very little, so the chances weren't exactly looking that good, " Gustav continued." we kind of got our backsides handed to us by this creature."

"Luckily, I had a sword of my own, So i was able to help." Mary added as she walked in and joined the rest of her family on Lydia's bed.

"Yep. It was actually your mother that delt the killing blow." Gustav chuckled, "We men merely weakened the beast"
"Oh shut up!" Mary laughed, playfully hitting her husband with a pillow.

"After he saved me, we went back to our home and we all lived happily ever after.." Mary said, looking down at the kids, who had fallen asleep on Gustav's lap.

After gently tucking the kids in for the night, Mary turned out the light and the two left the nursery, closing the door behind them.

"nice story." Mary teased, lightly punching her husbands arm.
"Nice for a story i made up on the spot." Gustav snickered, "Either way, it was you who saved me."

"You're too humble." Mary said, kissing his cheek.

Chapter Text

"are you sure you don't mind watching them tonight?" Gustav asked as he slipped on his overcoat.

"Of course I don't mind! I love those kids." Quinn reassured him, helping Mary put on her coat and ushering the couple to the door.

Sebastian and Lydia were sitting together in the living room, watching the grownups talk.

"You two behave for your uncle Quinn, alright?" Mary said, walking over and kissing the two kids on the head.

"Mother, will all due respect, I'm pretty sure I am old enough to watch myself and Sebastian on my own." Lydia protested.

"I believe you, dear. Quinn's just here as a precaution, to make sure you're safe." Mary responded with a chuckle.
"Besides, don'tcha wanna hang out with your ol' uncle Quinn?" Quinn asked.

"no."

"Lydia!"

"It's true! He acts like a child!"

"But i think he's fun!" Sebastian protested.
"See? He likes me!" Quinn said, wrapping his arms around the young blonde boy.

"Of course you like him, Sebastian."

With that, a fight broke out between the two siblings, in which Gustav had to go in and pull them apart.

"Behave you two. I mean it." Gustav said to his children, ruffling their hair before joining Mary at the door.

"Don't worry about a thing, Gustav. Their in good hands!" Quinn said as the couple left for their date.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was very late, so the two tried to be quiet as they entered their home. Much to their surprise, Quinn was tied up on the floor, with the two kiddos laughing at him.

"What is going on here?" Mary asked, prompting the two to squeal with laughter and bolt up the stairs.

"I'll go deal with them, you untie Quinn." Gustav chuckled before pursuing the mischievous duo.

Mary nodded and got right to work as Gustav went up the stairs. After a bit of work, Quinn was freed and Mary could hear the sounds of squealing and laughter from upstairs.

"I take it you had fun?" Mary asked.
"Hell yea we did! I love those brats. I didn't mind getting a bit tied up, honest." Quinn said, snickering a bit.

"Thank you again for babysitting."
"anytime!"

Chapter Text

Im having a big bought of writers block and I have no idea what to write. Thats why I, again, turn to the readers to see what kind of thing you wanna read.

Chapter Text

Mary: what you wanna fight?? CUZ I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!!!
GUstav: oh please do...
Mary:....
GUstav: i said that out loud.
Mary: *nods*
GUstav: ......
Gustav: ok im gonna go toss myself in the trash now.

Mary: Three words. Say them and I'm yours.
Gustav: Three words.
Mary:..

ches: Remember, Sebastian, don't do anything I wouldn't do.
Sebastian: I think I crossed that line when I got a date.

gustav: Where have you been all day?
Sebastian: Oh, just dealing with things way beyond my maturity level.

mary, skipping rocks on a lake with gustav: It’s such a beautiful evening.
gustav: Yeah, it is.
gustav: *whispering* Take that you fucking lake.

gustav: Valentine’s day is just a consumerist holiday that holds no real value other than drive people insane buying heart shaped chocolates for their significant others and pos-
mary: I wrote you a poem.
gustav, already crying: You did?

Sebastian: Do you have a self-care routine?
Ches: "Keep going bitch" said to myself in different accents.

Lydia: That sounds super! Doesn’t that sound super, Sebastian?
Sebastian: No.
Lydia: I think I speak for Sebastian when I say it sounds really super.

gustav: Wow, mary, you want to hold my hand before marriage? How awfully lewd of you.
mary: We literally slept together yesterday.
gustav: That's NOTHING compared to the lewdness of holding hands.

mary: Come to dinner tonight. I can’t cook, but I’ll bring plenty of free wine.
gustav: Marry me.

gustav, to mary: We had a date!
gustav: *aggressively points to Hello Kitty Coloring Book*

lydia, trying to comfort ches: What's the problem? Anxiety? Low self-esteem? Obsessive thoughts of random arson? I've been there.

lydia, to ches: If you see sebastian, give them this message *makes a neutral face*
lydia: They'll know what it means.
*later*
ches: oh, and lydia said to give you a message.
ches: *makes a neutral face*
sebastian: Oh no. The neutral face of displeasure.

sebastian: When will Ted himself...finally show up to the talk?
gustav: The final boss.
lydia: You guys know TEDtalks stands for technology, entertainment, and design talks, right?
sebastian: I will not let Ted hide behind these lies any longer!

Mary: Sorry I’m late, I was doing things.
Gustav: Hi, I’m ‘things’

Mary: Where's Gustav, Lydia, and Sebastian?
Ches: They're playing hide and seek.
Mary: Where?
Ches: I don't think you get how this game works.

Mary: You really put aside everything and came all this way for me? How did you even get here so fast?
Gustav: Several traffic violations.
Lydia: Three counts of resisting arrest.
Sebastian: Roughly thirteen cans of energy drinks.
Ches: Also, that’s not our car.

Gustav: Please, I'm begging you go to a doctor.
Mary: I'm sorry is this OUR stab wound? Stay out of it.

Gustav: Favorite horror movie?
Mary: It
Sebastian: Saw
Lydia: Annabelle
Ches: High School Musical. after watching it I spent all my middle school years terrified that the entire school would start singing something and I’d be the only one who didn’t know the lyrics

Gustav: Good responses for being stabbed with a knife?
Mary: Rude.
Sebastian: That’s fair.
Lydia: Not again.
Ches: Are you going to want this back?

Mary: You need them to think you're stronger than you actually are.
Gustav: *gasps* Is that what you do?
Mary: Oh, no. My power is no illusion. I can fucking demolish them.

Lydia, setting down a card: Ace of spades
Sebastian, pulling out an Uno card: +4
Mary, pulling out a Pokemon card: Jolteon, I choose you
Gustav, trembling: What are we playing

Sebastian: Whose turn is it to give the pep-talk?
Gustav: *sighing* Mary's...
Mary: Fuck shit up out there, but don't die.
Lydia: *wiping away a tear* Inspirational.

Sebastian: Is stabbing someone immoral?
Gustav: Not if they consent to it.
Mary: Depends on who you're stabbing.
Lydia: YES?!

Gustav: Hey, Mary, I made you this friendship bracelet in arts and crafts!
Mary: I'm not much of a jewelry person...
Gustav: You don't have to wear it.
Mary: I'm gonna wear it forever, back off.

Gustav: You could fit on my lap! *pats Mary on the head*
Mary: I've killed.

Gustav: So does anyone have any healthy stress outlets?
Sebastian: Screaming.
Ches: Violence.
Lydia: Tea.
Mary: Also violence.
Gustav: ...Okay, so we've got tea.

Chapter Text

~Flash back~

"what?" mary asked, glaring at the blonde haired boy who was interrupting her lunch.

Gustav gulped, looking down at his hand, where he wrote what he planned to say.

"are you...doing anything tonight?"

"Depends, who's askin?"

"m..me?"

She snickered and took a bite from her sandwich, swallowing before she answered.

"No, I'm not. why do you ask?"

"well..There was this wrestling match going on tonight at the YMCA...I know you like that kind of thing so....?"

"So?"

"Wanna go together?"

Mary took another bite from her sandwhich, chewing it thoughtfully before swallowing.

"ok."

"I understand if you dont want to- wait what?"

"sure. I'll go with you."

Gustav froze, mouth agape in shock.

"the match probably starts at 8, right? So we can meet up outside our dorms at around 7:20 so we can walk down together. Sounds cool?"

Gustav was still frozen, slowly nodding his response.

"So..is this like, a date?" She asked, setting her sandwich down and looking at him.

"May...be? If you want it to be, sure."

"Alright. It's a date, then. See you at 7:20." She got up, grabbing her food and walking to the trashcan to dispose of her trash.

Gustav stood there as she left, blinking. He was a bit in awe at how she handled the situation and that she actually accepted his request.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mary walked down the stairs of her dorm and opened the entrance door, seeing Gustav was waiting for her...

in a suit.

"Are you serious?" She asked.

"Uh...what do you mean?"

'We're going to watch wresting, not church."

"I...am overdressed?"

"what a thoughtful conclusion, sherlock.'' She chuckled.
This boy was a bit of a dunce, but he was adorable.

The two began walking down the street to the venue where the wresting match. Mary glanced over at her date, who was fumbling with something he had pulled out of his pocket.

"whats that?"
"Our tickets.."

"You bought two already? What if i said no?"
"I would've taken my friend, quinn."

"oh."

She snickered at him, rolling her eyes and reaching over. She took his hand in hers, with him pulling it away quickly.

"what?"

"What?? what was that??" He asked.

"I just held your hand. IS that ok?"

Gustav froze, eyes wide as he stared at her.

"Are you serious about this?"

"I mean..yea. You're a bit of a wimp, but I kinda like that about you." Mary sighed, gently punching his arm as she spoke.

Gustav froze, mouth agape like it was before. This caused Mary to burst out laughing for a moment while he regained his composure.

"You really are adorable." She said as she began walking again.
He rushed up next to her and took her hand in his, walking side by side with her.

Chapter Text

"So....you like Jazz?" Lydia asked.

She looked over at the ten year old blonde boy, who was reading a book about quantum physics.

"no."
"Well..uh..what do you like?"
"I like trucks."

"Do you wanna go get some toy trucks from your room? We can play together."

"Nah, heavy's using them."
"Oh. you want me to turn the tv on?"
"If you want to."

Lydia nodded. This kid was weird. She got up, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv. It turned to a kids channel, with an animated mouse talking about "mouse-ka tools". She couldn't believe such drill. This, however, summoned the young heavy from his bedroom, who ran in and parked himself in front of the tv.

"Are you kids allowed to watch tv?"
"Yea. Dad doesn't mind as long as its educational." Heavy looked back and said, smiling.
"He's right." Dee said, turning a page in his book.

She nodded, leaning back and relaxing. Watching these kids were easier than she thought. They ate their lunch without much problem, and she didn't need to worry about putting them down for a nap. She figured she would rest her eyes for a few minutes while the two boys were occupied.

"Auntie. Auntie. Auntie" She felt heavy poke her face after every word.

"w-wh-what!? what?"

"See, Dee? she's not dead!"
"You thought she was dead, dummy."

"What's going on?" SHe asked, sittting up and stretching.
"You took a long nap. Momma and dad got home already." Dee said Matter-of-factly.
"WHAT!?" She looked around, seeing it was dark outside, "SHIT! I am SO sorry!"

"its ok, Auntie! Dad isn't angry!" Heavy said, pointing over to the end of the couch.

Glam was sitting on the couch, chuckling and smiling warmly.

"They really tired you out, huh?"

"They remind me of us whenever Quinn would babysit us," Lydia snickered.
"You kids weren't being too harsh on your aunt, right?"

"No! Heavy was the one being crazy!"
"was not!"
"was TOO!"

As the two kids bickered, Lydia and Glam looked at each other, smiling.

Chapter Text

Thank each and every one of you for 1k hits on this fanfiction! I've never reached a milestone like this before and i'm so thankful for everyone last one of you that's supported me! You guys mean the world to me and I wouldn't be here without you!

Chapter Text

May 14th, 1975
I was gifted a rock by my son today. It appears to be a common sandstone rock, but something about it really made him happy. The fact that he wanted to gift it to me warms my heart. It now sits in my office next to my lamp. Life is good.
p.s upon further inspection, it appears to be a quartz arenite. A good learning opportunity for the kids!
-Gustav Shvagenbagen

June 9th, 1977
LYDIA CAN FIGHT! LYDIA CAN DEFEND HERSELF! I HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULL! MY DAUGHTER WILL LEAD NATIONS!!!!
p.s she was defending a friend. we taught her well
-Mary S.

November 24th, 1977
I am a bit ashamed at my family. I was the only one who went to help the women prepare thanksgiving dinner. I need to make sure that I teach my son better than this. My son will not sit around while his wife cooks and cleans, that is one thing I know.
-Gustav Shvagenbagen

November 24th, 1977
My husband helped us cook dinner. He didn't even pay any mind to the snickering and the teasing he faced from the other men of the family. I really do love that man.
-Mary S.

January 2nd, 1981
I am writing this from the train. I am greatly saddened by the fact that I had to spend the holidays away from my family on business. Thankfully, I am going home today. I can't wait to kiss my wife and hug my children. The kids are getting so big, Sebastian looks more like me every day. I am happy with the way my life has turned out.
-Gustav Shvagenbagen

Chapter Text

Dee sat in his room after making sure the door was locked, holding his phone up to his ear as it rang. After a few short rings, he heard a click and the voice of his grandma.

"Dee, is that you?"
"Yes, Grandma."
"Oh honey, how are you doing? how's school?"
"Its good. listen, i need some advice on something."

Dee hoped by getting straight to the point, that he could keep his dignity.

"oh, really now?"
"Yes, grandma."
"Well, ask away kiddo."

Dee sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he laid down on his bed.

"How do I get a girl to be my girlfriend?"

His grandmother snickered a bit on the other end.
"Listen, are you gonna help me or not?" Dee asked angrily, feeling his face flush a bit.
"Yes, I'll help you, honey." she responded, slowing her laughter down, "tell me about this girl."

"Well...I don't really know her too well, but we've talked online. And I have seen her in person, back at the quest a few weeks back."
"Huh..Well, my first bit of advice is that you get to know her. Learn about her favorite songs and the things she fights for. Ya know what I mean?"
"Mhmm.." He took a moment to write something down.

"My biggest advice is to show her you do actually care about her. Show her that you really see her as a person and not just a thing. You feel me?"
"I guess so...is that what grandpa did for you?"

"well...he respected me out of principle. I knew he was genuine when he told me that he cared about me. You shouldn't just be respectful and kind to someone just because you wanna date them. That makes you seem fake."

Dee took a second to write something else down, nodding as the words rang in his head.

"Do you respect her in general?"
"Yea grandma. This girl is really...cool. She's got a nice sense of fashion, and she's really passionate about the things she likes."
"That's wonderful, honey."

"Any other advice? What worked for you and grandpa?"
"Well...one thing i really respected about your grandpa was that he wasn't afraid to be passionate about his interests. He would talk for hours about art or something, then let me talk for hours about different fighting styles. it's a nice little cycle."

"ok..i think i get what you mean, grandma."
"you need any other advice?"
"No, I don't think so. Thank you, grandma."
"of course, honey bun."

He heard a click on the other end as she hung up the phone. Then, he took a look at his notes.
1. Be respectful
2. Be genuine
3. Be passionate.

He nodded, satisfied with his research before gently tossing the notebook aside.

Chapter Text

Dear Diary,
Mother and Father think Sebastian is a homosexual. I heard them talking about it and it makes me laugh. I agree with them, there is no way sebastian likes women. If he is gay, I don't care.
Lydia

Dear Diary,
I think mother and father might suspect me of being homosexual. I have no idea as to why, though, since the only male friend I've bonded with is Chesnok, and I think he might be heterosexual. Either way, I must look into these accusations.
Sincerely Yours,
Sebastian

Dear Diary
S̶e̶b̶a̶s̶t̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶p̶i̶d̶
Mother saw me write that and said i had to cross it out. its not fair, he wrote the same thing about me.
lydia

Dear Diary
Lydia needs to mind her own business!!!! she read my diary and saw that I wrote something about her being stupid and she told mom and dad. I got scolded for it >:(
she's a snitch.
Sincerely yours,
Sebastian

Chapter Text

It was a crisp winter morning, and Gustav was taking his young son out for a stroll so that his wife could get a chance to sleep in. It had just begun to snow, with little flurries gently falling out of the sky to the delight of the small child.

Gustav was just about to reach the house before looking next to him, surprised that Sebastian wasn't right next to him. After a frantic look around, he realized that the toddler merely paused to investigate something just a small distance behind him, crouched down next to the lamp post. He couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself before jogging over.

"What are you looking at, Sebastian?"

The toddler merely pointed to the ground in front of him, showing a brightly colored caterpillar.

"he's s'possed to be in his cocoon now, right daddy?"
"Mhmm. He might just be getting some final nutrients."
"Oh. Otay."

Gustav then scooped Sebastian up, holding him close.
"Just, next time, tell daddy if you're gonna stop, ok? I don't want to leave you behind." He told the small boy, who giggled and nuzzled up against him.

Their moment was quickly interrupted by the sound of squealing tires approaching them. Gustav looked up, noticing a car speeding towards the lamp post. Acting quickly, he darted off to the side just as the car hit the lamp post.

All was quiet for a moment as Gustav clutched his son to his chest, looking up at the damage. The car itself seemed to be fine, just wrecked a bit in the front where it collided. The person inside, a young man, appeared to be alright as well, if a bit shocked. He looked up at Gustav, rolling down his window.

"Hey, are you ok sir?"

Gustav glared at the young man, feeling a deep anger bubbling inside him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He shouted at the young man, "You almost hit me and my son!"

"Look, sir, I know, I'm sor-'
"Why don't you watch the fucking road!?"
"Sir, please, I'
"DON"T YOU FUCKING SIR ME!"

Sebastian watched his father scream at the young man, frightened at the sudden change of tone. He had never heard his father yell at anyone while angry before. It was scary..

The young man got out of his car to survey the damage, prompting gustav to continue his tirade.

"HOW FUCKING DARE YOU! WHY CAN"T PEOPLE LIKE YOU WATCH THE FUCKING ROAD?!"

Gustav didn't know how he was yelling these things to someone, especially in front of his young boy.

"YOU COULD'VE KILLED US!"

After yelling a bit longer, Gustav turned around in a huff, storming back to his home. Mary was waiting at the door, surprised to see a change in his demeanor. Gustav walked right past her, slamming the door shut behind them.

"Are you ok, honey?" She asked, gently taking sebastian from him.
"No. I'm not."
"What happened?"

"Me and sebastian almost got hit by a car!" His voice began to tremble slightly as he explained the situation to his wife.

They were both interrupted by the soft whimpers of their young son, who was bawling into his mother's neck.

"Gustav...why don't you go calm yourself down." Mary instructed.
"ok.."

Gustav stepped into the other room for a moment, hearing his wife comforting his son. He felt lower than dirt at that moment, kicking himself for not keeping his composure. He took a moment to run his hand through his hair, feeling his hair slightly slick from the snow. He looked at his damp hand for a moment before drying it off on his shirt. He was jolted from his thoughts by a knock on the door, seeing the door open and his young daughter peeking in.

"Hi daddy." She smiled at him.

"Hi, sweet heart." He returned the smile.

"Are you ok?"

"Well...I think i'll be alright, honey."

The little blond girl nods, tilting her head to the side.

"Are you in trouble or something?"
"What do you mean?"
"It kinda looks like your in time out."

Gustav couldn't help but laugh at that remark.
"It really does, doesn't it?" He chuckled.

He then got up, patting his daughter on the head as he walked past her. He made his way to the nursery, where he saw sebastian sitting on his bed. He knocked on the door gently, prompting his son to look up at him.

"Hey kiddo.." Gustav said as he walked over and sat with his son.

The young boy looked up at his father, leaning against him.

"I suppose I owe you an apology. You shouldn't have had to see me like that."

The two sat in silence for a moment before the young boy spoke again.

"Is otay, daddy."

Gustav was a bit taken aback by sebastian's answer, looking down to see his son resting his head on his lap. He couldn't help but smile a bit, reaching down at ruffling his hair.

"I promise, Sebastian. I'll try to keep my composure around you guys from now on.

This promise was met with a smile from his child.
"Otay, daddy."

Chapter Text

Mary had awoken to her husband talking to someone over the phone. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she watched her husband.

"thank you...I'm sorry for your loss.." His voice trembled slightly as he hung up the phone.

"Who was that?"
"That was Roft's wife."
"what happened?"

Mary crawled over as Gustav turned to face her, noticing his eyes beginning to brim slightly with tears.

"Roft just....Roft passed away in his sleep."

Mary's eyes widened at the sudden shock. Sure, it had been nearly a decade since they had needed his services, since the kids were already grown and moved out, but still.

"oh...oh my god.." Mary could only say as she wrapped her arms around her husband, who immediately buried his face in her neck and began to sob.

The shock hit her in waves, slowly prompting her to begin crying as well.

"Oh god...what are we gonna tell the children?" She muttered.
"Oh god.." Gustav leaned away a bit, wiping his eyes, "You're right, what are we gonna tell them? He practically helped us raise them!"
"I know, pumpkin.." Mary said as she pulled him close again.

After a while, the two eventually realized that morning had struck. Thin streams of light peeked through the curtains, dancing upon the sheets of their bed. Mary took this invitation to get up, climbing out of bed and going to make coffee.

Mary soon returned to the bedroom holding two mugs of coffee, offering one to her husband. He took it, staring down into it as he tried to dry his eyes again.

"Should we...call the kids and tell them?" She offered.
"No, no...we should tell them in person. He was important to them."
"yea..I'll call them in a bit and invite them over."
"Good idea.."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lydia and Sebastian sat on the sofa facing their parents. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"What happened?" Lydia finally asked.
"Yes, please, what happened?" Sebastian joined in.

Gustav glanced over at his wife, who nodded.

"Children, you guys remember Roft, right?"

"Yes?" Lydia said.

Her heart began to sink, mind already reaching the horrible conclusion.

"We...got a class this morning from his family...He..." Gustav swallowed hard, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Roft passed away in his sleep last night."

Sebastian's face dropped as Lydia raised her hand to her mouth.

"Oh, oh my god."

Mary got up and sat next to her daughter, hugging her tight as she began to cry. Gustav reached out and put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"You need a hug to?"
"No.." Sebastian responded, blinking a bit as he thought.

Gustav nodded, patting his son's shoulder a few times before looking down at his lap. The room was quiet, the only sounds being Lydia's crying.

"His wife told me to ask you guys to keep this...a bit of a secret for now while they work on preparing for his funeral." Gustav finally spoke, with Lydia going quiet as she listened.

"Are we going to be invited to the funeral?" Lydia asked, quickly wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.

"We...we don't know. Its up to them if they want to invite us, its not our place to ask them." Mary said.
"I know, mother.." Lydia responded.

Sebastian was still deep in thought, his pondering quickly startled by Mary putting her hand on his back.

"You ok, honey?"
"I think i will be, mother."

As the family went into mourning, there was one light in the darkness. That light was that they had each other to help them get through this tough time.

Chapter Text

"Careful...careful..." Mary said softly as she lit her grandson, Heavy's, sparkler.

"WOAH!!" The young boy's eyes lit up as he held the sparkler in both of his hands.
"Heavy, relax, its just some fancy sparks." Dee said, rolling his eyes as he sat on the porch.

"Would you like a sparkler, dee?"
"Hard pass, grandma. Those things are boring."

Mary couldn't help but roll her eyes at his teen angst. But it partly amused her.

"Just let me know if you change your mind, honey." She said as she watched heavy spell things out with his sparkler.

"Hey, Mary, can i get one of those?" Victoria asked, walking out of the house to the backyard where everyone else was.
"Of course you can! You want me to light it for ya?" Mary asked, handing her daughter in law a sparkler.
"Nah, I can light it on my own." Vicky said, popping out her lighter and lighting her sparkler.

As Mary watched the two, she felt a gentle tug on her dress. She turned around, seeing Dee behind her.

"Can i have one of those now?"

She chuckled.

"Of course you can, sweetie."

Mary handed Dee a sparkler, her carefully lighting it for him before he darted away from her. She watched him go, sighing a bit before going to sit down on the back porch. Vicky soon joined her, offering her a sparkler.

"No thanks, honey..."

"You ok, Mary? You seem especially bummed out these past few days.."
"Let me guess, glam wanted you to ask about me?"
"Nah..I'm just kinda worried, I guess."

Mary took a deep sigh, running her hands through her hair.

"This year's the second year i've had to celebrate New Years without Gustav."
"Ouch.."
"Yea. He loved sparklers. It still stings a little whenever I see the kids having fun with them."
"Did you guys do sparklers when glam and lydia were younger?"
"Yea, they adored them almost as much as he did."

Mary leaned forward, rubbing her face a bit.

"I know you miss him, girly." Vicky said, putting a hand on her back.
"I do...but I know he'd want me to enjoy what little life I have left."
"That's a nice way to put it."

Chapter Text

Gustav: I owe you one.
Mary: That’s ok. You can just date me and we’ll call it even.

Mary: Enough! How dare you mock me in such a manner!?
Ches: Well. How would you like me to mock you? I take requests.

Mary: There's nothing worse than people using big words they don't understand.
Vicky: I photosynthesize with this.

Ches: Can you recommend a book that'll make me cry?
Gustav: General Mathematics 8th Grade Edition.

Mary, to Vicky: How do you tell someone politely you want to hit them with a brick?

Ches: Are you really planning to shoot the demon?
Dee: Don't worry, it's a holy gun.
Ches: How so?
Dee: It makes holes.

Heavy, rushing into the room: It’s terrible, just terrible! I am so upset!
Gustav: Heavy, kiddo, sit down! Sweetheart, tell us all about it. Mary, would you get Heavy some water?
Mary: What are they gonna do with water? Has water ever made you feel better when you were upset? Have you ever heard anyone say, “Thank God, the water’s here!”?

Dee: So according to the cease and desist order I got, apparently you can’t ‘legally’ be a lawyer if your license is ‘cut out of a cereal box’.

Vicky, texting group chat: What flavour of ice cream do you guys want? I’m at the store so be quick!
Gustav: Moose Tracks is good!
Heavy: What the fuck is that!?
Gustav: *Gasp* How dare you insult moo-
Heavy: No. No no not that. What the hell. Why do you spell flavor like flavour. It’s like you have flavor but then this guy shows up and is like “Oui Oui Would you like chocolate flaVOUR or vanilla flaVOUR.
Vicky and Gustav: what?
Heavy: I don’t get it why add the EXTRA u when it’s PERFECTLY FINE AS IT IS!?
Vicky: You done now?
Heavy: Yeah ok.
Vicky and Gustav: ...
Heavy: ...Can I have the Mint Chocolate chip flavour?

Heavy: *standing on a balcony and sneezes*
Mary: *standing on the roof* Bless you.
Heavy: God?!

Vicky, sweating: Glam, there’s something I need to ask you-
Glam: Finally! You’re proposing!
Vicky: How’d you know?
Glam: Vicky, you’ve dropped the ring five times during dinner.
Glam: I even picked it up once.

Glam: So you like cats?
Mary: Yeah.
Glam: *tries to impress them by slowly pushing a glass off the table*

Vicky walking into the kitchen and seeing all their limes peeled: Glam, I love you but, what the h-e-double FUCK.
Glam, sipping coffee happily: I love you too :)

Chapter Text

"go to sleeep....go to sleeep..." Mary sung quietly, gently rocking the screaming crying baby in her arms as she paced around the room, "pretty please with a cherry on top, momma is sleeeppyyy..'

Mary had made sure all of the needs were met. Baby Lydia was changed, fed, burped, everything. Yet nothing seemed to be able to make this baby fall asleep. Mary was frustrated, tired, and really wanted to put the baby down. Her mind then wandered to advice her mother gave her when she was pregnant.

'Sometimes, you gotta let her cry it out. She'll try to manipulate you to give her attention!"

Mary thought about it a bit before another thought hit her head.

'She barely has any brain functions, how can she manipulate me??"

"Mary?" 

A voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She glanced up, seeing Gustav in the doorway. 

"You alright?"
"She won't sleep.." Mary whimpered,"and don't you have work in the morning?"

"My boss's letting me go on paternity leave, remember?"

Mary sat down in the rocking chair, rocking back and forth as she tried not to fall asleep. 
"Do you want me to take her?" Gustav offered, walking over.
"Are you sure?"
"You've been up with her every night this week."
"I wanna make sure nothing happens.."

Mary felt her husband gently take the baby from her arms, hearing him coo at Lydia a bit. 
"You wanna go back to bed? I'll stay up with Lydia."
"Are you sure? You know what to do?"
"Hun.." 
"I know, I know.." Mary sighed, slowly getting up from the rocking chair and making her way out of the nursery to their bedroom. 

Mary flopped down onto the bed, sighing comfortably as she laid on her stomach. Then, she could almost hear her mother's nagging voice in the back of her head.

"YOU FAILED AS A WIFE AND MOTHER! HE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BABY! HE'S THE MAN, YOUR THE MOTHER, YOU GET UP AND YOU TAKE THAT BABY BACK THIS INSTANT!" 

"shut up mom.." Mary muttered to herself, grabbing a pillow and covering her head with it, "I'm doing the best I can.."

"WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE YOUR SISTER YOUR SISTER IS THE PERFECT MOTHER YOU AREN'T PERFECT YOU BRING SHAME TO THE FAMILY NA-'

A gentle hand on her back sort of shoved her mother's voice away. Mary took the pillow off of her head, looking back and seeing her husband behind her.

"You got her to sleep?"
"yea..wasn't easy." Gustav chuckled, crawling onto the bed and laying on his back next to his wife.

Mary snuggled up next to him, feeling her husband gently play with her hair.

"I'm sorry.."
"For what?"
"Making you have to help..with her.."
"Mary, I chose to help. Because she's my daughter, too."

Mary nuzzled against him a bit more, holding him tight against her as if she was afraid he was gonna leave.

"For the first time in a long time...I feel so..vulnerable..I'm not supposed to be weak like this.."
"mary.."
"I'm supposed to be the strong one, dear..The one who's supposed to know what to do-"
"Mary."

The taste of salt on her tongue made Mary realize she was crying a bit. She swallowed hard, taking a deep yet shakey breath.

"Mary, I know this may not really help..But i think you're doing amazing."
"you mean it?"
"Do I lie to you?"
"no...not really." Mary smiled, getting comfortable in her husbands arms.

"and besides...if you need to be weak every now and then..I can be strong enough for both of us."
"I just don't want you to feel like you have to.."
"Mary...its my privlege to."

"Aww. you sap." Mary chuckled.

The two snuggled closer, falling asleep soon after.

Chapter Text

Gustav was never one to drink burbon, or any alcohol other than wine for that matter. Tonight was different, though. Tonight was a night that Gustav kept thinking about the horrible things that happened to him and his wife in their formative years. Hell, Mary hadn't told hin everything yet, but the way her body began to tremble when he even held his belt spoke more eloquently than any words.

He sat on his bed, taking another sip of his drink before again wincing at the taste. He had half a mind to dump it out, but figured he only had a little bit of it left, so he should finish it.

Out of all the lessons that his father taught him, that's what sticks. Go figure. 

As he drank, he paused and noticed his sleeve had slipped down, showing old scars that have long since healed. He stared at them, as if trying to remember the sting of what brought them in the first place. He swallowed, set his glass down, and took a second to trace his finger over the scars.

He never liked to speak about his childhood, especially not to his kids. Now, this wasn't because he didn't think they could handle it, nor was it out of a lack of respect for them. It was just...
Why was it, exactly? 

Upon thinking of his scars...his mind traced back to when Mary first saw them.

They had just started dating, back in college. They were sitting side-by-side at the piano, playing whatever they wanted and having a good time, with Mary playing the high notes and him the low ones. He always felt so safe and happy around her, so at ease. 

Maybe that's how he knew she was the one. 

Well...one thing led to another and Gustav screwed up one or two of the notes. As he was conditioned to do since childhood, he wewnt quiet and offered her his wrist, as if expecting her to strike it. 

He waited....and waited for a pain that didn't come, only feeling the cold, slimy sensation of his girlfriend licking his wrist. 

"WHAT THE-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" He exclaimed, jerking his arm back.
"I DON"T KNOW-WHAT DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?!"

The two sat, staring at each other for a second while trying to make sense of what just happened. That was, until Mary began to laugh.

"W...what?"
"its just...You are one strange man, Gustav." Mary chuckled, leaning onto the piano a bit, "I really do like you."
"I-....thank you, very much." He felt his face flush a bit as he nodded, "I...i happen to like you, as well."
"Good..good...now..you wanna tell me about this?" She asked, gently grabbing his arm and looking down at it.

"no." He responded simply, yanking his hand away.

His response was quick, even for him. Something made him want to hide that part of his life from her. Maybe it was worry..worry that she would be afraid of him.

"Alright. I won't force ya." She responded, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek before settling herself against the piano again, ready to continue playing. 

Gustav felt like he didn't have much to fear in life. Other than rattlesnakes, tight spaces and cloroform, he felt like a very brave man. However, one fear lingured in his head, one that began to rear is ugly form once he became a father. 

Losing control. 

Of course, thinking about it made it seem silly, but if he really thought about it, it sort of made sense. 

What made him so scared of his own father was his father's lack of self control. He did everything on a whim, that including punishing his kids. Even for the smallest things, like speaking slightly louder than he liked. 

All Gustav wanted to be in life was nothing like his father. To love his family, to have self control...to not lose it, like his father did. 


The one time he came closest to losing that self control wasn't too long ago, even. 

Sebastian was eight years old, and they decided to leave him and Lydia with Gustav's parents while they went on a romantic vacation for their anniversary. They were actually on their way back to pick the kids up when Gustav got a call from his mother. Apparently Sebastian "spoke out of turn" and his father was threatening to "punish" him. 

Now, his father had done these things before, but the faint crying in the background unlocked something inside of Gustav. He nearly floored the gas, nearly speeding to get back to his house before his father could do anything drastic.  The car had barely pulled to a stop outside the house before he practically jumped out of it, throwing the door open and running inside. 

He remembered speeding to a stop at the open door of his father's study, seeing his son rip himself out of his grandfather's grip and run into his father's arms. 

He remembered trembling, shaking as he held his son tight, keeping his eyes on his father. 

"Gustav-"
"Stay the fuck away from my kids."
"Gustav-"
"No. Shut up."

Every fiber in his brain kept telling him the same thing. To hurt him. To fight him, for his kid's sake. 

His kids..He was holding one of them. He couldn't just set him down and make him watch that. 

Even after everything, even when he wants nothing more than to hurt someone..his first thoughts were always his family. 

Maybe that's what set him apart from his father. 
Maybe that was what made him brave.

"hun?" A voice behind him jolted him from his thoughts. 

He turned around, seeing his wife in the doorway of the bedroom, hair mussed.

"I've never seen you with a burbon."
"I've never seen your hair like that."

Mary chuckled, walking over and sitting next to him.

"I was just playing with the kids before you go and get them tired enough to go to sleep."
"uuuuggghhh why do I have to do it?" He teased, feighing discomfort.

"well, because I just got done trying and its your turn."
"Oh. Well, that makes sense, dear." he said, wrapping an arm around her.

Mary then seemed to notice his arm, gently reaching over and grabbing it.

"You ok?" She asked.
"Yea..Now, at least."
"you wanna talk about it?"
"Maybe after the kids go to bed."
"Alright, honey. I'll be waiting."

Gustav then stood up, stretching before walking around the bed and to the door. 

"Hey, hun?" Mary called back.
"Yea?"
"Do you mind if I finish this?" She asked, holding up his unfinished glass of burbon.
"yea. Go for it, my lovely alcoholic." He chuckled, quickly dodging a pillow that was thrown at him. 

"BITCH!"
"Right back at ya, honey." 

Chapter Text

Sebastian walked home, thinking about the night's events. The rain had stopped a long time ago, but its sent still trickled in the air. Soon, his home was in sight, with only a few lights still on due to the hour.

He walked up the steps slowly, pausing for a moment to run his hand through his hair before opening the door. 

"I'm Home!" He called in, hearing the click of his mother's heels on the stairs. 

"Hi, sweetie!" Mary said, walking down the steps to greet him, "How was the show?"
"Great, mom..I...I need to speak with you and father.." His voice grew solemn, immediately putting a bit of worry in his mother.
"Oh...I'll...I'll go get him..you wait here in the sitting room.."


Soon, both his mother and father sat on the sofa, with Sebastian sitting on the chair across from them. There was something in the air that made them all dreadfully quiet.

"Is something wrong?" Gustav asked, finally breaking the silence.
"No..not...wrong. Just..." Sebastian said before hesitating.
"Did someone get hurt?" Mary inquired, leaning forward a bit.
"No! Nothing bad happened! I..." Sebastian took in a deep breath before speaking again, "Our band...got offered a record label by a manager after our show today."

"is...is that a good thing?"
"Yes, mother. It is..its just...with the label, we'd have to...leave...in a few days to perform."

The silence came back as the weight of the situation began to slowly settle in. Sebastian leaving would mean that he would have to postpone his studies, something that would upset his parents a lot. 

"I..i see." Gustav looked down, cupping his chin in his hand while he thought.

"I know how important my studies are to you, and...and I want to study its just...I may never get this chance again.." Sebastian continued before going quiet, watching his parents.

"what are you asking for, exactly?" Mary asked.
"Well...your blessing. I don't want to leave to perform if you guys are against it."

'Oh.."

Mary and Gustav looked at each other for a moment before looking back at their son.

"We....we need to think about this. We'll be back." Gustav said, grabbing his wife by the hand and the two walking out.

They walked down the hallway in silence, going to the library and closing the door behind them. Mary led the way, walking to the wall and leaning against it, looking down at the floor. 

"This..is a wonderful opportunity for him." Gustav muttered, officially opening the discussion. 
"I completely agree, this is fantastic for him!" Mary exclaimed.

"And...what could that conservatory teach him that we can't?
"Exactly! But...not graduating from the conservatory..? He'll be the first in the family.."
"Yea...its not like he hasn't gradated from school already, considering his academic performance allowed him to skip a few grades."
"Mhmm..And the conservatory is so old fashioned.."

Mary's voice trailed off as the two thought. This was certainly a big step for their son...and the fact that if he did leave, they wouldn't be able to help him right away. The thought made Mary's heart race a bit, the thought of her son needing her and her not being able to help him...

"And Sebastian's certainly nothing if not independent, just like his father!" Gustav said proudly, leaning his back against the wall as well.
"But of course! They'd never be able to skiff him out of his pay!" Mary answered, snickering a bit.
"and He knows where home is. He knows the phone number...and he knows he can call if he needs us."
"If he needs us..."

Meanwhile, just outside the room, there stood Sebastian. He was pacing around as he thought about what would happen, and just what he could do if they decided to forbid him from playing. Of course, he could always start a new band, and WATFOS would find a new guitarist. But the thought of Ches leaving him behind...that upset him a lot for some reason. What would Ches do without him? Would he get angry if Sebastian told him he couldn't perform?

Soon, the door opened, and Sebastian turned to face his parents, who walked out slowly.

"I understand if you two forbid it, I just-"
"We give you our blessing."
"-What?"

Gustav put his hand on his son's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. 

"This..this is important to you, son. So it's important to us."

Sebastian looked up at his father, feeling himself tearing up as he quickly reached forward and pulled him into a hug. While Gustav was certainly surprised, he just sighed and accepted it, with Mary joining them shortly after. 

Chapter Text

What's up everyone!

So, as many of you can guess, this story is my longest running and second most popular story on my page. That being said, I was looking through my older chapters and thinking about rewriting some of them.

These rewrites could include adding or taking out plot points depending on the current canon for Better Life, along with generally upping the quality of the previous chapters in general.

Do you guys want me to do this? Do you have any possible changes you would suggest?

Thank you again for all of the support on this au so far! Here's to the future!

Chapter Text

"Alright, bud, "Gustav said, carefully demonstrating the proper technique with his fishing pole, "You pull it back, then throw it out, like so."

Heavy watched closely, his eyes carefully following the movements that his Grandfather were making. Once it was his turn, he attempted to do as he saw, pulling the fishing pole back and......chucking it into the water. It flew a few feet before splashing into the water with a BLOOP!

The ginger boy then looked to his grandfather for approval, seeming confused upon watching him and his brother stifle back some laughter.

"Uh...I think your supposed to hold onto the pole as you cast the line." Dee snickered.

"Oh."

Gustav chuckled a bit before walking back over to his grandson, stepping off the riverbed into the water to retrieve the pole. Once he returned to the two boys, he handed Heavy back his fishing pole.

"Now, this time, make sure you hold the pole tight, ok?" Gustav instructed, with Heavy giving him a quick nod before he attempted to cast the line again.

This attempt proved successful, with the hook sinking into the water a few feet away.

"I did it! Grandpa, I did it!" Heavy exclaimed happily, jumping a bit with excitement.

"I see that, bud, good job!" Gustav said, tousling his hair before sitting down on the riverbed.

The area was quiet for a while, save for Dee scrolling through TikTok as they waited for some activity. Soon, though, Heavy began to feel some tugging on the end of his line before it felt like the pole was being pulled away from him by something strong in the water.

"Uhhh" Heavy tried to reel in, but he felt himself slowly be pulled towards the water, "Help! Grandpa!"

"Oh!" Gustav hurried over, wrapping an arm around the boy before grabbing the middle of the pole, pulling it as Heavy began to reel in the line again.

Soon commenced a fierce battle of strength. Who would win? The fish, or the men??

Heavy then landed on his butt against the riverbed, the line suddenly going slack and the force of the tugging goig away. Heavy sat up, reeling the rest of the line in.

There, at the end of the line upon the hook, hung a teeny little fish.

"....."

The two sat there for a moment as they processed the situation, before Heavy's eyes lit up.

"I CAUGHT A FISH!" Heavy jumped up and cheered, holding the line up for all to see.

"Heh, nice one." Dee said, giving him a small smile as he got up and walked over, pulling his phone from his pocket, "I'll take a picture and send it to mom and dad."

And so, Gustav and Heavy stood side by side, Heavy holding up the fish proudly as Dee snapped a few photos.

"Alright, time to release it." Gustav said, leading heavy back to the water as heavy fiddled with the hook in the fish's mouth.

Once in the water, the fish quickly swam away, disappearing into the deep blue water.

Chapter Text

Ok, so to be real part of the reason why I haven't been updating is because I have too many ideas. So many that I get writers block trying to figure out which one to expand on. So, I figured, I'll leave it to the people! Democracy, yay!

Say in the comments which one you wanna see fleshed out!

1. Glam attempting to teach his father how to play guitar, only for Gustav to get increasingly frustrated due to his shaky hands

2. Holiday themed chapter (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc)

3. Lydia bonding with her mother and sister in law while the boys have a boys day

4. The aforementioned boys day

5.an imagine like Alina and dima do with the Canon (which one?)

6. A flashback to Christmas when Lydia and Sebastian where kids

7. Canon meets Better Life

Chapter Text

Ches sat awkwardly on the steps of his friend's family home, kicking at some of the snow that pooled on the sidewalk.

"Who is-Ches!"

He quickly turned around, seeing Glam's Mother, Mary, peeking out to address him.

"You silly child, don't wait out there in the cold! Come! In, in!" She exclaimed as she hurried down and escorted him inside, a wave of both warmth and Christmassy smells filling the air.

The house, evidenced by the couple of cars that were hanging around outside, was full of activity, with Ches spotting his friend showing what appeared to be a cousin a few sheets of music.

"-and this is when the guitar does this-" He continued, mimicking a rad air guitar solo to his cousin, who looked unimpressed.

".....riveting."

"Gla-am!"

Glam smiled upon hearing his approaching friend, turning and immediately attempting to Introduce the two.

"Oh, Charles, this is Ches! The boy I told you about!"

Charles looked Ches up and down, who suddenly felt severely underdressed, glancing around at the tuxes and full length fancy dresses that surrounded him.

"Delightful. I must be going, Father is expecting me." Charles replied, his annoyance evident as he quickly turned around and sauntered away.

"...Well, Charles is always hard to please, so.." Glam started before remembering something, "Wait! Father needs to give you something!"

Ches was then swiftly grabbed and yanked up the grand staircase, mumbling "sorry"s and "excuse me!"s as the two went up.

Knock knock knock.

"Father! Ches arrived!" Glam spoke to Gustav's study door, with Ches awkwardly behind him.

The door shuffled a bit before the footsteps approached and opened the door.

"Hiiiiiiiii..." Ches spoke, waving out from behind Glam, receiving a nod and smile from Gustav.

"Good day. Is it still snowing?"
"A bit....it was really heavy when I left, but it slowed down."

"Oh dear," Gustav grimaced, "why didn't you call? We wouldn't have minded picking you up."

Ches looked down at his boots, feeling his face warm up a bit before his mood was interrupted.

"It's quite alright. Besides, there is something I need to give you."Gustav continued, motioning for the boys to enter the study.

Ches had seen the study before, a few weeks ago when he mistakingly hid in there during a rouge game of hide and seek. This time wasn't much different, save for a few sprigs of holly on the table off to the side, and a few crudely drawn Christmas cards sitting on his desk, most likely drawn by younger nieces and nephews.

"I have an old sports coat that doesn't quite fit me or Sebastian," Gustav spoke, reaching down to his desk chair and lifting up a black sports coat, which seemed dusty, but otherwise fine, "would you mind trying it on to see if it fits you? I'd hate to have to get rid of it."

Ches was handed the jacket, and after handing his own off to Glam, slid it on with surprising ease.

"Woah.."

The jacket fit like a glove, much better than his baggy (but much preferred) green one. It was a tad stiff, but so are most jackets when you first get them.

"What do you think?" Gustav asked, looking the boy up and down with a few satisfied noises.

"It..it certainly fits.."

"It looks like it does!" Glam of course, exclaimed, clearly more excited about his friend getting a gift.

"It's nice...really nice!" Despite the fanciness of it, Ches had to admit the gesture was sweet.

"I'm just glad I no longer have to find a way to get rid of it." Gustav replied with a soft smile, tousling the boy's hair.

Chapter Text

"Vicky Vicky vicKY GET THE DOOR!" A faint voice shouted outside, prompting her to scramble up and to the door.

As soon as the it was opened, Vicky was suddenly trampled by a rouge Christmas tree, carried by Mary and Lydia. It took her a moment to figure out what was going on, slowly standing up to greet her in laws.

"Nice axe job." She mused as she craned her neck a bit to look the tree over.

"I tried to get Lydia to try using the axe, but she wouldn't touch it." 

"Excuse you!" Lydia protests, laughing as she lands a playful punch to the arm. "I'm sorry that I don't wanna risk losing an arm over a Christmas tree!"

As the two began their bickering, Vicky took this opportunity to grab their box of Christmas tree ornaments, setting it down on the table with the decorations clinking from inside.

"So, was there any specific way you wanted to go about this or..?"

Mary turns to her with an almost embarrassed expressed, her cheeks flushing pink as she flashes her a sheepish smile.

"Well...I mean, do we really need a system for this?"

Lydia's eyes widen briefly before she quickly brings a hand to her mouth to stifle a new batch of laughter

"Mo-ther! Did you actually forget how you always formatted our tree?"

"That was almost twenty years ago, sue me!" Mary counters with some chuckles of her own, rolling her eyes as she crosses her arms.

"Enough!" Vicky interjects, pretty much forcing her way between the two. "We don't need a system, we just need to get these fucker onto the pine."

"The evergreen, you me-"

"I said what I said."

Lydia decides to separate from the three, going over to the box and pulling out a small dangly ornament, a lovely blue thing with white snowflakes on it.

"Wow, Vicky, this is really pretty!" She mentions, holding it up for the others to see.

"Yea, it was a stocking stuffer from Anna a couple of years back." Vicky replies, walking over to Lydia and taking it from her.

"Which one of your friends is Anna again, dear?" Mary asks as she works to carefully position the tree into it's holder, with Vicky quickly hurrying over to help her.

"Anna's the blue haired one, with the white suit." 

Once the two delt with getting the tree to stand, the now daunting task of actually decorating it seeming all the more threatening. Lydia tried to take a mathematical approach, stepping back and trying to use angles and whatnot to figure out where or how how to start.

Mary took a similar approach to Vicky, completely just disregarding planning and just putting things where they looked pretty. While Lydia certainly wasn't happy, she was soon roped right into their activities.

Chapter Text

Let’s start by recognizing that, if the events happen before the collision with the iceberg, then it’d not be interesting at all. Glam would determine that the speed of the Titanic is too high, get to the captain and convince him not to speed up.

Glam: What’s the hurry? Okay.

Dima: The captain won’t speed up, notice the iceberg, dodge in time, the catastrophe won't happen —who freaking needs this script?

If the events happen after the collision, let’s say Glam wasn’t allowed to prevent the catastrophe, which is weird, then it seems more interesting. But! If the family is together, then it’s boring again.

Glam would instantly know where they’ve been hit, how long the Titanic would sink for, and that the Titanic would sink exactly nose down. And then he would lead the construction of a raft and everyone would safely escape.

But what if we separate the family? Yes, that’s how we came up with the script of The Quest. Oddly enough, any pair would survive the catastrophe.

Let’s start with the split of Glam + Victoria and Dee + Heavy. Yeah, the latter would have it rough. Heavy would constantly act dumb, screw up and make it difficult for his brother to save their asses.

Dee: I’ll go find a rope.

Man: Oh! What’s that you’re making?

Heavy: Dee said the ship is sinking and there’s not enough boats, so we’re making a raft from life jackets!

Dee: Heavy, goddammit!

Man: Guys, I’ll take this, okay?

Dee: Yeah, yeah, take it. Let’s go to the opposite deck. Don’t say anything about a raft.
Heavy: Got it. But if we don’t tell them, they might die...

Dee: And if you don’t shut up then we'll both die! Here, take this rope. If someone asks, just say we’re making… whale bait.

Dima: And that would actually work!

Man: Hey guys! What’s that you got? Looks like a raft!

Heavy: Nah, it’s whale bait.

Man: Pff, dumbasses. Dumb kids! Who makes a raft like that?

Dima: In the end, Dee’s creation will save them both, but not without effort.

Vicky and Glam… well, it’s simple.

Glam: It’s fine. The ship got a few holes below the waterline with a total length of 90 meters. 5 of the front compartments suffered serious damages and are being filled with water. There’s not enough lifeboats, which means we have 2 hours and 40 minutes to construct our own floating device. That’ll be enough.

Dima: Well… well, okay. Maybe they’ll even have time to… walk around the cargo.

Vicky: Ha! Fucking awesome car, girl!

[Gustav and Mary peek out of the car]

Mary: Huh? What’s going on?

Dima: In short, Glam’s good wit would let them make a raft in a place they wouldn’t be seen, and Vicky’s good knowledge of engines would let her create a motor for the boat from shit and sticks.

Vicky: What the hell is that whale bait?

Dima: What about Glam + Dee and Vicky + Heavy? In that case, the duo of Vicky and Heavy would simply get to the lifeboats by force.

Vicky: Out of the way! I’m a woman! With a child!

Someone: Oh man, she’s right! Let her through!

Woman: I’m also a woman!

Vicky: Fuck off! … I’m a woman!

Dima: And the duo of Glam and Dee would practically make a teleporter… just kidding. These 2 just have so many ways to escape that I don’t even see the point of listing them.

Now let’s look at the split of Glam + Heavy and Vicky + Dee. With the latter it’s simple: Vicky would use the same strategy she used with Heavy and it will work.

Vicky: Out of the way! I’m a woman!

Dee: Mom, I’m not a child anymore.

Vicky: With a child! [to Dee] Shut up.

Dima: The only difference is that Dee would be very embarrassed. And in the duo of Glam and Heavy, Heavy would simply not defy his father and scrictly do as he says, ensuring themselves with a water vehicle.

If we include the grandparents into the mix, then immediately Glam, Gustav and Dee would be the best pairing possible. They’d probably make a raft big enough to fit the entire family.

Dee: What else do you need grandpa?

Gustav: Just bring me some more glass, my boy!

Thinking about Mary, Vicky and heavy…Lets just say heavy is now the safest person on that ship.

Random Guy: Give us your raft or the boy gets thrown into the water!

[Mary and Vicky turn to face random guy]

SPLASH!

Even inversing the groups just shows they would work.

Gustav: Stay close, heavy.

Heavy: ok grandpa!

Mary: Dee! Hold this metal rod in place so I can bend it!

Dee: yes, ma’am.

What? I didn’t mention Ches? Because it’s Ches! The Titanic would either defy all laws of physics and stop sinking, and float until the nearest shore, or Ches would grab the first board he sees and ride off on it like a surfboard, on a single wave that would appear. Or he'd get help from dolphins.

Ches: Actually, those are sharks.
Or he’d simply… fly off. In any case, it’s Ches. He’ll somehow make it

If we take secondary characters, Bug would die a brave death. Anna would just die. Gustav and Mary would immediately begin trying to help get everyone to safety.

Gustav: this way! Everyone to the lifeboats!

Mary: Everyone in line!

Random guy: Hey, i’m not listening to a woman!

[Mary grabs the guy and throws him into the water]

Mary: Anyone else?

In some strange way they manage to fit everyone onto the lifeboats. Mary just crams whoever’s left on top of everyone in the boats already.

Lady: He’s not gonna fit!

Mary: I’ll make him fit! Scoot over!

Rowd would probably try to help and be a hero.

Rowd: Let me help!

Gustav: Its ok, Rowd, just get on the liferafts

Rowd: oh.

Mary: yea, we’ve got this.

Rowd:...ok.

Quin would just stay close to Gustav and Mary and just back them up since he doesn’t know what else to do.

Mary: You guys, go that way!

Quinn: yea!

Mary: and you guys go this way!

Quinn: Yeah! You heard the woman!

Dima: The teacher from the first episode would not be able to get through due to her size and terrible behavior.

Teacher: Let me through! I’m a teacher! Let me through! Damn, I’m too fat!

Man: Yeah, yeah, there’s 2 of them in there already. We don’t freaking need a third one.

Teacher 2: Definitely.

Dima: Poor Gopher wouldn’t be considered a child and would be left to sink, listening to classical music.

Gopher: Goddammit!

Dima: Because rap wasn’t invented back then yet.

Gopher: I’m gonna make him eat his violin!

Dima: Contra-Stas would follow the instructions too strictly, so not only would they sink, but also take the others with them.

Contra-Stas: Sir, sir! You can’t leave for the deck after dark! Sir, sir! Ah! Grab him! S-s-sir! Oh, a woman! And with a child too! Grab her! EVERYONE, SINK!
Dima: Valen would also sink with his golden watch. The mustached man would try to seal off the hole until the very end. Mr. Cardan wouldn’t even realize anything. Of course there’s a few more characters, but I can’t tell you their names, nor how they would act, so…

Chapter Text

Victoria stood with wide eyes as Glam got out of the car, eyeing the big house he had directed her towards.

"Jesus, is this it?"

She heard Glam laugh from the other side as he walked around, taking her hand as he led her up the sidewalk.

"Of course!" He answered, grinning wide as he hurried up the steps to the porch, "It's my childhood home, I haven't been here in ages!"

As Glam pressed on the doorbell, Victoria took a second to peek in through the curtains. Her eyes widened as she quickly did a double take, looking back up to glam with surprise.

"Good fuck, glam! I knew you came from money, but-"

She was cut off by the door opening, revealing a young, snobbish looking maid. She glanced over at Victoria, rolling her eyes before grinning up to Glam.

"Good evening, Mister Sebastian."
"Hi, Ada! Are my Parents home?" He smiles, chuckling softly at her polish, "And, its Glam, please."
"Your parents are up in the Library, and I will be bringing tea up shortly."

Glam quickly helped Victoria to stand, wrapping her arm around his as he led her into the house, her eyes somehow widening further as she tried to take everything in at once. 

Her boots thumped against the floors, with her even being able to look down and see her reflection in certain places. All along the halls were photos, some of some happy looking kids, a few old timey wedding photos, and mostly just pictures of snobbish posh folk. Oh god, what did she get herself into??

"Just wait out here, dear!" 
Glam motioned for her to sit on a bench outside of some biggish doors, with him hurrying in through the doors and leaving her by herself.

She tried her best to keep to herself, passing the time by picking at her cuticles until a woman's voice popped her bubble.

"oh, hi! who are you?"

Victoria nearly jumped ten feet into the air, standing at attention as her head turned to look at who spoke. It was this broad shouldered, hunky lady with short blonde hair, wearing some soaked painting frock.

"i- uh..are you...?"

"Oh, i'm ok! i was just using the bathroom, and the plumber isn't gonna be in to fix the sink until Tuesday!"
"uh- that's...not what i was gonna ask."

The lady looked Vicky up and down, chuckling to herself in satisfaction. 
"What's your PR?"
"345. Hoping to make 400 by november."
"Nice." She gushed, whistling and nodding as she looked her arms over, "I hope you're the girl glam's bringing home!"

"Glam?" That name perked Vicky's ear.

Was this...was this Glam's Mother?

"Are you..Mary?"
"...Victoria!" Mary gasped in realization, quickly gripping the ginger's shoulders tight and pulling her in her an iron tight hug.

Oof. And here Vicky thought she was a hard hugger. That hurt.

Mary clasped Vicky's hands in hers as Vicky gasped slightly from having the wind knocked out of her, the two of them smiling in how nice it felt to be around someone like them.

"Oh, Gustav's been dying to meet you ever since Glam told us about you! Is it true you hit him with your bike??"
"uh..yea..he kinda stalked me for a while.."

That made Mary grimace slightly, sucking a deep breath in through her teeth and rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Yea..I promise, I have no idea where he got that..'

Vicky snorted, coughing as she started to chuckle. 

"Don't worry, I don't plan to press charges."


Mary grinned as she squeezed her hands again, gently tugging her along and leading her to the two big doors. As they approached, she could hear Glam talking to someone..some bold, booming voice that most likely belonged to his dad. 

Sure, Glam had made a point to reassure her not to be afraid of his dad. And maybe he was telling her the truth. But guys like him, that often come from families in places like this...often needed to be worried about.

"Gustav! Vicky's here, she's got a PR close to mine when I was in College!" 

Vicky felt herself be yanked into the library, stumbling and bumping into someone. Quickly regaining herself, she stands up straight and looks up, a shiver falling down her spine as the tall, blonde man turns his head around to glance back at her. 

His gaze was surprisingly cold at first, before he turned around and looked her up and down. 

"Victoria!"
His cold gaze warmed up immediately upon him recognizing her, quickly gripping one of her hands and shaking it. She shakes back, taking the challenge and squeezing his hand slightly harder than he was.

"Goodness, nice grip!" He praised, grinning as they let go, with him shaking his hand a bit for emphasis.
"Thanks, Mister Shvagen-"
"_Oh, None of that formal nonsense! You can call me Gustav!" He quickly cut her off, punching her playfully on the arm.

"Thanks..you guys are not as bad as I thought." Vicky snickered, with the two of them chuckling with her as Glam wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I told you!"

Chapter Text

"..Again, Herr Shvagenbagen, I apologize for your loss. If there's anything I can do, please let me know."

And just like that, Gustav was alone in his room again. It was almost as if he could feel the color drain from his face as he slowly lowered himself down onto his bed, sitting down and setting the phone back down on the receiver.

There he was: Gustav Shvagenbagen, 30 years old, married, father of two children

Who's father was now dead.

Heart attack. How ironic.

"Daddy? Are you ok?"

While his wife tried to immediately pull his twelve year old daughter away from the door, the damage was already done.

"Lydia, you know better than to-"

Gustav raised his hand to cut her off, with Mary first widening her eyes in surprise before noticing his expression.

"It would..probably be for the best if we called both kids in here, anyways.."
"Why?"
"Just- Please?" He asked, looking up at his wife as her expression slowly softens.

"Ok. Sebastian's in his room, I'll go get him."

And so, after about five minutes, the four of them (Five counting Roft) piled into the parent's bedroom to hear what Gustav had to say.

"What's wrong, dad?" Lydia asked as eight year old Sebastian peeked up over the side of his parent's bed at him.

Gustav sighed, reaching over and scooping Sebastian up before inviting Lydia to sit with him on the bed as well. While this wasn't their first dealing with death (A sparrow a year ago took that honor), this was the first time they would have lost someone so influential, if in the more negative way..

"Children...your grandfather..is.."He then spoke, his words slowly trailing in and out of earshot, "your grandfather suffered a heart attack last night and..didn't..."

While he tried to get it all out, it seemed that was all he needed to say. Mary cupped her hands over her mouth, gasping softly as the children looked at reach other in surprise.

"So he's..."Sebastian started, drawing a line across his throat and making a choking noise, earning him a light bonk upside the head by his mother.

"Sebastian Shvagenbagen, that's inappropriate, young man!"

The three of them continued to chat for a moment, with their voices being drowned out by the vast cacophony of thoughts that seeped into Gustav's head. His father was dead now. The king was dead. Ding dong, the witch was dead. 

Oh forget it..

"It's gonna be ok, daddy!" Sebastian's voice seemed to speak right into his heart, making his presence known as he wrapped his arms around his father. "Don't worry!"

Gustav looked down at his son, smiling as he reached up to tousle his curly blond hair. 
"I know, son..I just...I'm gonna call out of work, I wanna spend the day with my family today." Gustav said as he rose, handing his son over to Roft before quickly walking out of the room. 

Mary watched her Husband leave, looking back down at her children as Lydia hugged her by the waist.

"Mom..is dad really upset?" 
Surprised, Mary decided to entertain this.

"..Why wouldn't he be, honey?"
"Because..everything he's ever told us about grandpa was that he wasn't a good person..why would he be so torn up about losing him?"
"Lydia, that's still his father!"
"A crummy one!"

"Enough!" Roft reached over, putting a hand on Lydia's shoulder after setting Sebastian down, "Your mother's probably upset, too..just let her grieve, hun." 

Out in the hallway, Gustav paced up and down the hallways as he spoke to his boss on the phone, almost surprised at how easy it was for him to get a day off for this. 

"Thank you, sir." He spoke softly, as if afraid of his family hearing in.
"Of course, Shvagenbagen. I've heard around the grapevine you've been needing a day off for a while now!"

The two snickered at the comment, Gustav's coughing quickly returning them to the conversation. 

"Well, at least I have today off."
"To be honest, Shvagenbagen, I could honestly probably even let you off for your three vacation weeks if you wanted."
"W-what?!"

Gustav's voice echoed through the hallway, with his face burning a deep red as he quickly lowered it again.

"I mean- Pardon?"
"Yea..You're the only one in the firm who's finished your quarterly. I could let out off for your vacation days early since i technically don't have any work for you to do. What do you think, Shvagenbagen?"

Gustav looked around, swallowing as he quickly began to think about what this would entail. Oh god, how would he avoid all of the family? Because of course he'd have dozens of well-wishers and mourning family members to deal with.. and not even the family he wants to see, either. That family is hours away which would take over a day by plane, let alone...by...car...

As he looked around, his gaze freezes upon his wife, who most likely heard his outburst and came to investigate. Their eyes met, with her offering him a reassuring smile that seemed to solidify his idea.

"That sounds great, sir. Thank you."
"You have a good time, Shvagenbagen. I'm sorry for the loss, just let me know if there's anything i can do."
"Thank you, sir."

Mary walked across the hallway over to him as he hung up, putting her hands on his shoulders and giving them an encouraging squeeze.
"How about I send Roft to take the kids to the park so we can have some quiet time?" She offered, smiling in such a way that almost pained him to have to turn her down to say what was next.

"In fact, I have something better. Tell the children we're gonna all pack some bags!"
"What? Why??"
"We're going on a road trip!"

Chapter Text

"A road trip? Now?"

As expected, Mary was completely caught off guard at the sudden plans, nervously watching the kids through the doorway as they excitedly started to get stuff packed for it.

"I mean, you were just told that your father died, and you're just now planning this trip.."

Gustav sighed as he turned back around, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing them gently as he peeked over to watch the kids pack. It was cute to see them so excited to go on this sort of trip, probably because it was the first of its kind for the family.

Which was probably why Mary was worried as well, considering the fact that her husband just shunted the death of his father to the side to make way for a...road trip? Sure, he never liked the old bastard, neither did she. But the guy still died, after all.


"Darling, the last thing I want is my family swarming us while in mourning," He spoke softly, trying not to distract the kids as he reassured his wife, "Do you really think the kids need various aunts and uncles trying to coax them through feelings we know they won't understand?"

As she looked back to him, Mary chewed on the inside of her cheek in thought. He had a point, but was this the right way of going about it?

"Maybe, but a three day long road trip?"
"We'll load up the station wagon my mom won't drive. We'll take shifts driving, we'll pack snacks and stuff for the kids, we'll bring the tent so we don't have to rent a hotel at night.." He mused, giving her shoulders another squeeze as he spoke, "We'll have a grand time, I know it."

Mary folded her arms as she turned around, walking down the hallway to their bedroom as he followed close behind, still daydreaming about adventure he had planned. She paused at the bedroom door, looking back at the kids' door. 

"Are you sure its not too soon?"
"I'm sure of it." Giving her a kiss on the cheek, Gustav led Mary into their room to start their own packing.

Chapter Text

"I'm sorry we didn't come over yesterday, Dolores." Mary said softly, tracing her finger across the rim of her tea cup.

"Oh, honey, You're fine," Gustav's mother returned, reaching over to top her cup off, "To be completely honest, it was nice to have the whole house quiet for once."

Mary leaned back against the grass, watching Gustav attempt to check the ignition of the car with one of his brothers. He had insisted on doing it himself, despite the fact that he had no idea where the ignition actually was. 

"Are you excited for the trip?" She asks, breaking her scone in half and dunking it in her tea.

"A little bit, yea," Mary replied, "I just feel like we should've waited a little longer before just planning something out of the blue like this.

"He didn't talk to you first about it?"
"I mean, he did, but it was clear he made up his mind about it first."

Dolores rolled her eyes, sighing as she tapped her spoon against the inside of her own cup. 
"There's Gustav for you, sweetheart," She mused, "Sweet, but oh, so stubborn."

"What are you gonna be doing while we're gone?" Mary then asks as she gets up, peeking into the backyard briefly to make sure the kids were alright before sitting back down.

"Oh, probably just moving his stuff to storage, I guess. I hired some people to help me, and they should be arriving about a day after you guys head out."

Mary nodded as she spoke, reaching out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Dolores placed her hand atop Mary's, smiling at Mary's efforts.

"Other than that.." Dolores continued, "I wanna go on a picnic."

"A picnic?"
"Yes! I wanna pack a little basket with a blanket and everything! I even have a little place picked out; the big hill with the tree I took you and the girls for the bicentennial-"

'So, this is where he gets it from.' Mary thought to herself as she finished, giggling to herself as she watched Dolores clasp her hands together as she began to dump her plan to Mary.

"-Hey, mom?"

Dolores was quickly cut off as Gustav poked his head out of the engine, leaning against the car.

"How many miles did you say this thing had when you bought it?"
"The man at the lot said about 73,000, why?" Dolores asked as she stood, Mary following her as the two walked over to the car.

"It should be good enough to drive the whole trip, you just have to make sure the tires are good before you go." His brother said, wiping his hands and closing the lid of the engine.

"And I can do that tomorrow after the kids go to the library." Mary offered, with Gustav smiling gratefully at her and putting his hand on her shoulder.

"That'll be great, dear. Thanks again for coming and taking it off my hands for a while." 

Dolores smiled as she walked away from the group, up the walkway and into the doorway of her home. She paused at the doorway, looking back to Mary as she took a deep breath. As Mary's gaze met hers, she gave Dolores a reassuring nod, with her giving her a soft smile in return before she finally walks into the house and closes the door.

"Is she ok?" Gustav asks, following his mother with her eyes as she walked away.
"She's alright. I think she just wants to be alone."

Chapter Text

"Sebastian, come on! There should be more berries this way!"

Lydia tugged on her younger brother's stained hands as she led him to another mulberry bush, the two children quickly scouring for the ripest of the fruit. Their hands, mouths and clothes were stained a faint purple, the evidence of their previous feasts on the other bushes. They stood side by side, with Lydia's height allowing her to scope the top of the bush and Sebastian's allowing him to wriggle into the smaller spaces that often had the most delicious berries.

"Do you think mommy could make jelly with this like grammy does?" Sebastian asked, licking his fingers and wiping them up and down the sides of his shirt.

"Mom says we need lots of berries for jelly, and we don't have baskets." 

"Aww." Sebastian sighed, looking down at his feet.

"There's no time for jelly, either." Lydia insisted, reaching far over the top before handing a few plump berries down to her brother, "We're leaving on that trip soon, and Mom says it takes a lot of time for jelly."

"Oh."
"Yea. Jeez."

"'ts not my fault!" Sebastian whined as he followed her around to the other side of the bush, "Grammy made some last time that was really good!"

"When Mom and Dad come back to fetch us, you can ask Grandma for some." Lydia huffed, sticking a few more berries in her mouth before carefully wiping her hands on her dress.

"But that'll be ages!"
"Then suck it up!"
"I'm telling mo-om!"

Like that, the eight year old wiped his hand and turned to run across the yard, getting a couple of feet away before promptly tripping on a tree root and falling on his face.

Chapter Text

"But, Daddy, why do we have to go to bed so early?" Sebastian whined softly as he followed his dad, yawning as he rubbed his eyes, "I'm not even tired!"

"Because tomorrow we need to finish up getting ready and then the next day's the trip!" Gustav reminded him, keeping a hand gently behind the boy's head to steer him along.

"I knowww...but why do we need to wake up so early for it??"

Gustav chuckled as he scooped up his son, with the boy resting his head on his father's shoulder as they walked into his bedroom. He smiled as Sebastian started to slowly drift off almost immediately, being careful to not jostle his son as he reached down to pull back the covers of his bed.

"Because we're gonna go to your Grandmother's early in the morning to pick up the station wagon," His voice is soft as he gently sets Sebastian down onto his bed, "So that we can put our stuff into it all at once, you know?"

He sits down upon the bed as he tugs the blanket over his son's body, smiling again as he stirs in his sleep. He rubbed his hand in small circles over the boy's back for a bit, making sure the boy was asleep before slowly rising to his feet. He turned to the door, surprised to see that Mary was waiting for him there.

"Is he down?" She whispered softly, with him quickly nodding and following her out of the room.

After they close the door, Mary reached down and took hold of her husband's hands. He looked down at her, a look of confusion filling his face as she sighed.

"Ok..You need to tell me what's going on."
"What do you mean? I ha-"
"-No. Like, actually."

Gustav opened his mouth to try and stammer out an explanation, with Mary folding her arms over her chest. Normally, it wasn't this hard for her to get something like this out of her husband; with the implication almost making her more worried.

"I know you're excited for this trip, and so am I. I just...know there's no way you just wanted to go on a road trip now. Especially now." She said, her voice soft yet firm as she glared up at him, "What's going on? Talk to me, darling."

"I-.."He tries once more before he lets out a long, deep breath, his shoulders slumping as he looked down at his feet.

"-I can't face them. His family." He finally finished, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he begins to walk down the hall, with Mary following behind.

"Sweetheart, you shouldn't have to run from them.."
"I never met his expectations, they'll never let me hear the end of it!" His voice shook as he huffed, putting a hand up to his forehead, "I can't do that, I can't go through that while I'm supposed to be grieving! I don't even want to grieve!'

He froze in place after the words left his mouth, his heart sinking as his eyes went wide. He felt his wife's harm hand in his, with the touch alerting him to how much his own here shaking.

"Is..am I a bad person for thinking that?" He asked, turning his head to look at Mary, who gives him a comforting smile.

"Honey, you know the answer to that."
"No, i don't."

Mary's face drops as he speaks, wrapping her arms around him and putting her head on his shoulder.

"Then let me clarify. No, you're not."

Gustav took in a deep breath, sighing as he reached out to put an arm around his wife. He felt his heart start to lighten up, the horrid sinking feeling that he felt first during that dreadful phone call finally seeming to stop, if only briefly.

"Thank you...does this mean we're not doing the road trip?" He asks, almost preparing himself for what she has to say.

"Wha- No, honey!" She walks back around him, taking his hands back in hers, "I want to go on this trip, too! I just..need you to tell me what's going on.."

"I know, I'm sorry." He answers, breathing a sigh of relief as he squeezed her hands gently.
"I know, darling. It's ok."

Chapter Text

Mary tapped on the steering wheel of the station wagon with her nail, gently digging into its seams with it as she tried to keep herself occupied.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes and they'd be heading back home to finish packing the car. At least, that was what she was told about half an hour ago, hence why she agreed to stay in the car while her hubby and kids went inside. 

"They say our love won't pay the rent
Before it's earned, our money's all been spent"

The radio droned along lazily as she leaned back in her seat, dragging her arm across her forehead to wipe the sweat off. It wasn't unbearable, but it made her pretty pissed off that the driver's side door window wouldn't roll down, no matter how many times she tried turning that crank.

"Kids, don't run across the parking lot!"

Finally...

She turned her head to the sounds of her children's sneakers hitting the pavement as they ran over, Gustav trailing behind them holding...two bags of stuff?

"That's it?" She asked as she opened the door, speaking over the two excited kids who started talking out of the blue.
"I got a ton of 'travel' sized stuff! Look in here, darling!" The man seemed as excited as a child on Christmas as he showed his wife the goodies inside the two bags.

Peering inside, Mary made mental note of all that he grabbed. Shampoo...only one thing of conditioner...Listerine... God, her husband really didn't make a list like he said he did.

"Let me guess, we're going somewhere else to grab everything else?" She asked, leaning against the door and raising an eyebrow.

The kids, almost on cue, went silent. All three of them staring up at Gustav as his face went from normal, to beet red; much to the children's delight. He looks down at the bags, standing up straight and hiding them behind him.

"I just...got a little excited."
"I know.."
"I can go back inside.."
"That's fine, we'll just go to the store we usually go to."

Despite how annoyed she'd been about waiting, it was a welcome respite to the normal routine. Those kids were animals in the store, and just wrangling them was an exhausting affair. Seeing him be able to do it so easily was...a bit of a punch in the gut, but who was she to complain?

Once the packs were stuffed into the trunk of the station wagon; and the children buckled in, the two grownups switched seats to head to the other store. Any previous complaint Mary had about the station wagon melted away the second she got herself comfortable- almost in awe at how soft the velour-style cloth was. She had to give her in-laws credit where it was due, they knew how to upholster a car!

"What's the routine for the drive there?" She asked, buckling herself in as her husband fiddled with the driver's window, oblivious to the fact it was broken, "I drive for a couple hours, you drive for a couple hours?"

"Well...if we leave when planned...we could probably switch.....about every six hours." He murmured through grunts as he tried his best to move window even an inch. 

After trying to whack the control to get the window down, he just rolls his eyes and accepts his fate. Slumping back against his seat, he folds his arms and tries to ignore the amused chuckle from his wife.

"That sounds fair enough."

'There's a message floating in the air
        Comes from crazy horses riding everywhere'