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”Mom! Mom wake up!”
The Homelander is jolted awake by the sounds of her son’s excited shouting and his little feet smattering against the ground as he runs down the hallway towards her room. She’s not sure she’s ever heard him sound this excited outside of Christmas or birthdays, and she sits up in bed just as the door slams open and Ryan bursts into the bedroom.
“It’s snowing!” the five year old yells as he grounds to a halt right in front of the bed, and she doesn’t even have the time to reply before he says it again. “It’s snowing, mom!”
She can feel her husband stir behind her, and can only assume the sudden yelling has woken him up too. Their son is bouncing on the heels of his feet, clearly frustrated that his parents aren’t sharing his excitement.
“Can we go out and play?”
Before she has the time to answer, the boy holds up five fingers, and it takes her a second before she understands that Noir must have signed a question from behind her, and yet another second before she realizes what the question was.
“Ryan, honey, is it five am?”
The boy nods excitedly.
“Yes! But that doesn’t matter because there’s lots of snow outside!”
Part of her wants to tell him to go back to bed, that they can play outside later. Another part of her feels cruel just at the thought of crushing her son’s excitement.
“What do you think?” she asks, turning to look at her husband, who simply shrugs back at her.
“See mom, dad says yes!” the boy insists, even though he clearly didn’t, and it takes a surprising amount of self control for her to hold back a giggle
“Alright, but you’ve gotta give me five minutes to get ready and put on something that isn’t a nightgown,” she tells the child, and Ryan nods excitedly before turning around and sweeping out of the room, probably on the way to put on his coat and boots.
“Alright, but I’m counting!” he shouts as he rushes down the hallway, and she hears him start to murmur “One, two, three, four…”
Four minutes and 48 seconds later, the little family stands together in the hallway of the cabin. They aren’t here often, but right now the Homelander is incredibly happy that they decided to spend the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year’s Eve here, even though Vought tried to convince them to stay in New York for the annual Christmas and New Year’s parties. Of course Ryan’s seen snow before, but it just isn’t the same when you live on the 99th floor of a building in the middle of a huge city, and she’s glad he’s getting to experience this.
Her husband reaches out to unlock the door, and he’s barely opened it before Ryan bursts outside, throwing himself headfirst into the snow.
“SNOOOOOOOOW!” he shouts as he rolls over on his back, arms and legs spread out as he stares up into the sky and sticks his tongue out to catch the falling snowflakes.
“It’s so nice getting to see him like this,” she says out loud, not quite sure if she’s talking to Noir or to herself. “I don’t think I even knew what snow was when I was his age.”
She feels her husband’s hand – bare despite the cold, just like her own – grip hers, and she squeezes back and turns slightly to look at him.
“We’re actually giving our son a childhood. A proper one. I just.” His hand squeezes hers harder, and she blinks, trying to tell herself it’s the cold that’s making her eyes tear up. “There were times I wasn’t sure I’d be able to, you know?”
Noir nods, and before she’s had the time to react, he’s pulled her into a hug.
“Hey!” Her head is pressed against his chest, his arms are around her, and as much as there’s a playful tone of annoyance in her voice, this is nice. It feels safe. She turns her head to look at their boy who’s making a snow angel while catching snowflakes on his tongue, and she smiles.
It’s moments like this – her husband’s arms around her, the sound of their child’s laughter filling the air – that she’s reminded that despite everything, life isn’t so bad after all.
As if realizing that his parents are Having A Moment, Ryan sits up.
“You’re not gonna kiss, are you?” he yells, and the Homelander shakes her head, feeling a pull at the corners of her mouth.
“No sweetie, we’re just talking,” she replies, and sees Ryan squint a little.
“Mhm. I’m watching you,” he says, voice full of fake seriousness, and the laughter that’s been threatening to escape her finally does. She’s surprised to see that her son starts laughing too, and at the same moment, she realizes that Noir’s let go of her. She spins around, and is met with a fistful of snow, right into her face. The Homelander isn’t sure how he keeps managing to surprise her or sneak up on her, but he does, and she sputters as the cold snow enters her open mouth.
Noir backs away, his face a look of perfect innocence, with his hands held up in front of him as if to say “it wasn’t me”.
“Get him mommy!” Ryan shouts, and she leans down to scoop up snow in her hand. By the time she’s started forming it into a ball, Noir is already running across the yard, and she doesn’t hesitate to take up the chase, with Ryan’s delighted shouts cheering her on.
She lets the snowball fly, and she’s not sure how, but somehow Noir manages to dodge it.
Oh well. When she catches up with him, she’s going to put snow inside his sweater.