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Ethan had one peeve ever since Chris relocated him, Rose, and Karl.
Ethan had this one specific music box, not the one him and Mia got on their wedding day, no she took that in the divorce, but this small music box his mother gave him when he was younger.
It would start off as a little green box, but when you would twist the crank at the side, it would unfold to form a beautiful white lily, his favourite flower.
Once the mechanical petals bloomed, the flower would slowly spin as a small melody played. It was absolutely beautiful. But sadly, when he went back to the wreckage of him and Mia’s home, he discovered it was destroyed.
He assumed one of Chris’s guys wrecked it when breaking in (wow thanks Chris once again…) and he just had to accept it. It was broken beyond repair, and no way would any stores sell it now.
But that’s not what he was focused on now.
No, he was focused on his current fight with Karl.
It wasn’t some break up level fight, just a simple spat. Whether it was about Ethan not wanting Karl to make a toy robot for Rose as recently his past inventions involving robots began to explode within the first 3 minutes of finishing them…
Or if it was Karl getting mad at Ethan for reorganising his tools for the millionth time, despite him reminding him not to every time Ethan went to clean his workshop (Karl honestly thought Ethan was taking the piss out of him at this point).
They didn’t really remember themselves at this point, all they knew was that it ended with Karl going down into the basement, aka his workshop, and Ethan was left standing in the kitchen now.
Ethan let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair and over his face. He needed to pick up Rose from a friend’s house anyways, he could use the drive to listen to music and clear his head.
As he picked up his coat and keys, his mind suddenly went back to the music box for some reason. He let out a soft chuckle, he remembered mentioning it to Karl funnily enough, not that he probably remembered though.
He just shook his head,
Let’s just go pick up Rose…
—
“Daddy? Are you okay? You look angry.” A little four year old Rose asked from her car seat. Rose wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but she could clearly tell her daddy was upset.
Well…she saw his upset expression on the rearview mirror so…
Ethan was caught off guard by his daughter’s question, but quickly tried to play it off. “I-Im fine sweetie…your…your papa and I just had a fight, that’s all. Don’t worry.”
Rose tilted her head in confusion, “like…a small fight? Or a big, big fight?” She held out her little arms in scale. Ethan chuckled and shook his head, “don’t worry, Rosie…just a small fight. Don’t you worry your little head about it.”
Once they got back to the house, Rose immediately ran towards the basement door, but Ethan stopped her. “Sweetie…I don’t think papa wants to see anyone right now…sorry.” Ethan was lying.
He knew Karl would love to see little Rose right now, but Ethan was just being a petty asshole. “How about you go to the couch and watch some tv instead while I make dinner?”
Rose let out a long whine and stomped a bit, but Ethan’s glare quickly shut her up, so she just rolled her eyes and headed to the couch.
That night, they had spaghetti. Rose quickly got over her little whine fest and was now happily talking about her play date as she got spaghetti sauce all over her face.
Ethan was half listening, mainly having his attention on the empty seat/plate next to him, and eyeing the closed over basement door at the end of the hallway. Had Karl really not come out since their fight?
Probably. He installed a bathroom down there just in case he was in there for long periods of time, and probably had snacks down there or something.
Ethan sighed, god Karl was always so childish when it came to their arguments, he knew it ever since he saw him bickering with Alicina in that meeting when he first arrived at the village. Honestly Alcina was right to nickname him ‘child’…
—
He had finally finished tucking Rose into bed, she was passed out, now in her pyjamas with her little monkey plush. He gently kissed the top of her head before tuning on the night light and leaving the room.
After changing into his pyjamas and finishing the dishes, he finally decided to go talk to Karl. He made his way down the hall and hesitantly opened the basement door. He walked down the stairs, already beginning to talk.
“Listen Karl…I think we need to talk about earlier-“
He came to a holt once he got to the bottom of the steps, as he saw Karl completely asleep, resting on his desk. There were a couple of snack wrappers on the desk and floor, and he held a screwdriver in one hand.
As Ethan walked closer, he noticed the thing Karl was working on…and it was awfully familiar…
he was making a brand new music box for Ethan.
It wasn’t fully finished, half of the mechanical petals had yet to be painted and put on, and the little music box had yet to be installed. Ethan was shocked…why did Karl do this?
But then he saw the pre-made note next to the work in progress music box, he picked up it up to get a better look at it.
Dear, Ethan
I’m sorry for our fight, I’m not really good at this type of stuff, but I wanna work on it. It’s not fun when you’re mad at me.
I was already working on this ever since you mentioned the music box. It took me a while to get the correct materials and stuff so I could replicate it perfectly from the pictures you showed me.
I was gonna wait until your birthday to give it you, but I thought it would be a nice apology gift.
I wanted it to be absolutely perfect, because you’re absolutely perfect, even if you don’t think you are.
-K.H
Ethan put down the letter, completely shocked, but smiling softly, Karl was in no way the apology gift type and even if he was he wouldn’t go this far. Ethan leaned down a bit and kissed Karl’s cheek softly, which woke him up.
“Ngh…Ethan…?” Karl mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Hey…how about we head up to bed, ok?” The blonde asked softly. “What? But you’re-“ Karl looked at the workbench then back at Ethan before groaning.
“Ughhh…you weren’t supposed to see this…it was gonna be a surprise…” Karl stood up and stretched his back. Ethan slowly took the ex lord’s calloused hands in his, stroking his knuckles. “It was…it was the best surprise I’ve ever had.”
Karl scoffed, rolling his eyes. “God winters…you are impossible-“ Ethan quickly pulled him in for a kiss. The kiss was soft and slow, Ethan slowly wrapping his arms around Karl’s neck.
Karl relaxed into the kiss himself, wrapping his arm’s around the blonde’s waist. They stayed like that for a bit before they both heard a small gag noise from the top of the basement steps.
Rose was there in her little pink pyjamas. “Ewwww! Stop kissing and stuff that’s so gross!” Rose exclaimed as she exaggeratedly covered her eyes. The two quickly broke out of the kiss, surprised. “Rose! I tucked you into bed! What in the world are doing still up?!”
She quickly realised her mistake and stammered over her words a bit. Karl chuckled and walked up a few steps. “Now Rose…do you know what happens when little girls are up past their bedtime?”
And before Rose could respond, Karl pulled her close and began to give her small kisses all over her face. “They get the most cuddles and kisses in the entire world!” The sound of Rose giggling and squealing uncontrollably as she squirmed was practically music to Karl’s ears.
“Come on Ethan! Rose needs double the punishment!” He called out to Ethan. Ethan held back laughter at how stupid his daughter and boyfriend were, but quickly got his act together.
“Get ready Rose! You will face the consequences of your actions!” Ethan exclaimed as he ran up the stairs.