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“Hey, Mom, can I stay at Dad’s house tonight?”
“Of course you can, Bdubs,” Cleo answered from where she stood inside their storage room, sifting through chests for lost items. “Just behave yourself.”
Bdubs beamed in exhilaration – it’s been too long since he’d last seen Etho! He ran upstairs to his room to retrieve his pillow and clock. Scar, having heard the loud rushing footsteps, appeared in his own room’s doorway.
“Where’re you going?” Scar looked at his brother with a cocked eyebrow.
“I’m going to Dad’s house for a night!” Bdubs’ large eyes twinkled with enthusiasm. “Wanna come?
Scar took a moment to think this offer through, staring off into nothing in thought. Suddenly his expression scrunched up as if he remembered something unpleasant. “No, I’ve got other things to do.” He pulled a dark hair tie off from his wrist and reached up to fiddle with his fluffy hair, struggling to tie it back. “It’s almost Life Day, y’know.”
“Oh…” It was always a ‘no’ when it comes to going on Bdubs’ terms – Scar had only ever shown interest to visit when planning on setting pranks or traps. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”
“Good luck, goodbye!” Scar quickly descended the stairs, calling out to their mother for help with his hair. Bdubs took a slower approach as to avoid falling face-first down. He left the front door with a happy bounce in his step.
Bdubs began the brief trip to his father’s house, pillow tucked underneath his arm and clock stuffed into the pocket of his mossy jacket.
The wonky tower his father and three other men lived in was always a bother to look at, well, for Bdubs, anyway; Tango insisted that he was proud of the base he had built and was not open to criticism, whatsoever. Bdubs approached the base and knocked politely on the door.
Bdubs was left standing there for a few moments, tapping his foot impatiently on the stone. He could hear hushed voices from inside arguing about the door. Eventually, the door creaked open and Impulse popped his head out, smiling at the sight of Bdubs. “Oh, hi, Bdubs! Come on in.” He stepped aside to let the short teenager in.
The place looked the same since last he visited. It wasn’t the tidiest, nor was it very decorated. Bdubs followed Impulse into the living room where Tango and Skizz were chilling on the couch, watching sports on the television.
“Etho should be inside soon,” said Impulse before he walked off into another room, leaving Bdubs with the other two.
Skizz grinned warmly. “Bdubs, buddy! Good to see ya.”
“Hey, hey!” Tango greeted. “How’s it going?”
“I’m fine, thank you.” Bdubs took a seat beside Tango on the couch, pillow resting on his lap and supporting his hands. “What’s Dad doing?”
“He’s outside somewhere,” Skizz replied before adding on dismissively, “who knows what he’s doing.”
They passed the time waiting for Etho through conversations about life, hobbies, projects. Bdubs showed immense interest for the redstone contraptions Tango and Impulse flaunted, but to him nobody could beat Etho, the OG and legend.
“How are you going with your redstone?” Impulse asked curiously. “Are you improving?”
“I’ve been practicing making hopper clocks, just like the one Etho showed me last time!”
“I’m glad you’ve been making progress, son.” As if he had been summoned, Etho appeared behind Bdubs, standing over the couch.
“Dad!” Beaming, Bdubs jumped from his seat in excitement. He would have gone to hug Etho had his father seemed more comfortable with it in the past. The wrinkles on what was visible of Etho’s face indicated a smile.
They were finally all together in the one room: Bdubs, his father, and his step dads – or so he liked to call them... Etho kept his relationship status with the other three ambiguous, so Bdubs had no clue what was going on between them. The other three pretty much acted like additional fathers figures or even uncles. Step dads was the funnier choice.
For the rest of the day, Team Ties and Bdubs hung around in the comfort of the base, teasing one another, mostly Bdubs, and sharing shenanigans. Bdubs’ energy had been drained by nightfall from all of the socialising. It was getting late and the others showed no sign of heading to bed soon.
“Bdubs, beer me.” Bdubs followed Skizz’s request, trudging off to the kitchen to retrieve a cold beer from the fridge. Bdubs yawned upon returning to the living room; he felt so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. He noticed Etho turn to look at him.
“Aw, time for bed, Bdubs?” Etho asked with an audible grin.
“Time for bed,” Bdubs agreed. Etho stood and headed for the hallway, Bdubs in tow, towards the kid’s room.
“Did you bring your toothbrush?” Etho asked.
Damn it! Bdubs scolded himself for being so forgetful. “No…”
“That’s fine. You can go back to your mother’s tomorrow.”
Etho guided his son to his bedroom with a steady hand on his shoulder. Bdubs’ and Scar’s shared bedroom, although currently ‘shared’ is a wrong choice of words – the second bed was seemingly never occupied by Scar anymore, abandoned. It felt strange to have two beds in one room now. Perhaps they could be pushed together to form one big bed… yeah, that’d be cool. Bdubs was too tired for that now – all he wanted was to lay his head on that pillow and close his eyes.
Bdubs crawled onto his bed and pushed the blankets back before he settled in. Etho pulled the blankets up and half-heartedly tucked his son in.
Etho stood over Bdubs’ bed for a moment, which was a bit awkward, to say the least. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. He turned on his heels. “Good night, son.”
“Night, Dad.”
Etho disappeared into the lit hallway shortly before the light was turned off. Bdubs finally let his eyes close for the last time that night in relief, sighing through his nose. He could hear the others continue talking in the living room; they probably wouldn’t sleep until another few hours, he thought.
Bdubs’ bed was uncomfortable. Not in the sense that it was hard to lay on – it just didn’t feel like his bed, like he was tucked inside some stranger’s bed. At least he had his pillow, of which had the aroma of his conditioner, a scent from home.
He couldn’t keep track of how much longer he had been kept awake for. A pleasant slumber took its hold of him, delivering a blend of sweet and crazy dreams he wouldn’t remember much, if not at all, the next morning.
Peace and dreams for Bdubs wouldn’t last much longer.
Somebody was desperately trying to clear their throat of phlegm. Startled awake, Bdubs thought it sounded like a demon possession. In the background of the racket was loud snoring from multiple sources somewhere in the house. Bright white light from the hallway flooded through Bdubs’ doorway. Bdubs squinted his eyes, confused and still half-asleep. He checked the small clock he had left on his nightstand. It read 5 am.
Footsteps paced along the hall partnered with “EUGHH” and “GOUARH.” A blurry figure marched past the doorway which Bdubs recognised as Skizz in nothing but his red underwear. The bathroom door slammed shut, barely muffling the sounds of spitting and coughing. The, shall we call it, ‘peace’ didn’t last long until Skizz came back out spluttering and hacking.
“AAARRGHH.” Skizz wandered back towards his bedroom. “AARRHHH.” It was reminiscent of demonic hissing. Bdubs laid there irritably, now remembering why he and Scar didn’t like sleeping over at Dad’s.
Another one of his step dads were now awake and talking with Skizz. Tango, sounding sleepy, complained about the light. And suddenly Etho was walking past, silent as a ninja as to not disturb anyone else - although the thought was nice, it wasn’t going to make a difference.
It wasn’t long until his dad and step dads were all awake and beginning their morning routines. Bdubs laid there with his eyes open, glaring at the ceiling. He was grateful for whomever decided to turn off the hallway light. Safe to say, Bdubs never went back to sleep.
Later that morning, at a more reasonable time, Bdubs dragged himself out of bed. He pulled on his mossy green coat to help protect against the morning chill. Bdubs podded onward to the kitchen.
“Morning, Oscar,” Tango greeted teasingly, holding a cup of coffee. “Did you get a good sleep? You look pretty grouchy.”
Bdubs turned away, grumbling, “shut up.” Tango chuckled. “I’m going back to mom’s.”
“Aw, so soon?” Impulse sounded disappointed. “But you just woke up.”
“I don’t care.” And that was a lie; Bdubs enjoyed hanging out with his father figures. “I… left some of my stuff there,” he excused.
“Come on, I’ll walk you back,” Etho encouraged. “If you didn’t make it back to Cleo’s, she would kill me.” He then mumbled quietly, “and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”
“You’re not that washed up, Dad. Don’t believe what everyone else says!”
Etho went to grab Bdubs’ pillow for him before they set off to Cleo’s house. Bdubs walked along with his eyes shut, trusting his father to keep an eye out for him and guide him around obstacles. Before he knew it, they were standing at the front doormat at Cleo’s. Etho knocked on the door.
Cleo answered with a not-so-friendly expression. Bdubs couldn’t care for the tension between his parents at this stage. Etho seemed to shrink in on himself at the glare. “I appreciate you brought him home in one piece,” Cleo finally said as Bdubs passed through the threshold.
Scar appeared at Cleo’s side with an innocent look, his fluffy hair tied into a small ponytail. “Oh, hi, Dad.”
“Hello, Scar.” Without another word, still pressured underneath Cleo’s gaze, Etho turned to leave. Bdubs watched him walk away as the door closed on him.
“So, what happened while you were there?” Scar asked his brother.
“It was… fine.” Scar prompted Bdubs on with a look. “I had a terrible sleep! They woke me up at five!” Scar broke out into a fit of giggles. Bdubs’ bad luck was nothing to laugh at! “Shut up!”
“I knew going to Dad’s was a bad idea,” Scar chuckled.
Grumpy and tired, Bdubs plodded upstairs to his room where he dropped his pillow on the bed and chucked his clock onto the nightstand, the clock landing with a loud clang. He allowed his body to fall face first onto the bed. Within mere seconds, he fell asleep to hopefully catch up on his sleep.