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Traditions, Severide thinks, have come as a surprise addition to his life when he chose to coparent with Casey and the boys.
Traditions like Saturday pancakes and cartoons in pajamas.
He’d never even realized that he somehow managed to create these traditions, but he supposes that melting into coparenting with Casey and becoming a family had made it easy to fall into traditions.
It's still a little weird, sometimes, explaining to people in his life that knew him as more of a playboy that didn’t really think settling down was for him, how he ended up a dad to his best friend’s kids and raising said kids with their other best friend. How he ended up settling down with his best friend and two boys and not with a woman.
… he wonders how weird it’ll be when they come out to people not in their immediate family circle. Will they understand the concept of a different family dynamic than they’re used to? Will they find it weird; he wonders?
But as Casey looks up from where he’s helping Ben with mixing up his pancake batter, and gives him a smile, he can’t help thinking that he can thank his lucky stars that somehow, he ended up here even if others might find it weird. Madly in love with his best friend, two wonderful sons, and hopefully a future someday where he’s Lieutenant Casey-Severide instead of just Severide.
Lieutenant Kelly Casey-Severide has a nice ring to it, he thinks as he feels a warmth over his neck and butterflies in his stomach.
He doesn’t resist leaning over and kissing Casey’s cheek. Casey immediately moves to kiss him on the lips. It’s short and sweet with the boys present but it still sends butterflies through his stomach.
Another thing that he hadn’t quite expected when it comes to falling in love with his best friend, the fact that more than a year into their relationship, and he’s still feeling butterflies. Just like he never quite expected the stars that he would see when Casey uses that silver tongue of his on his dick (nor that he could get him to see stars multiple times a day).
“Hey, dad, when you’re done staring at dad, can you answer my question,” Griffin teases, jarring Severide from staring at Casey, who has returned to focusing on helping Ben with his batter.
“I’m not staring at your dad,” Severide retorts, catching Casey’s little laugh and smirk as he focuses on Griffin.
“You definitely were,” Griffin retorts, his batter all ready, so Severide assumes that he’s asking to start cooking the pancakes. “You were looking at him with like hearts in your eyes and not listening.”
“I do not give heart eyes to your dad.” He rolls his eyes. He is not that far gone. “I assume that you were asking me to start your pancakes?” Severide asks, grabbing his bowl with the batter and turning to the stove.
“You really just proved his point with that,” Casey teases with an absolutely gleeful look on his face as he starts to cook the pancakes.
“Really, how?” Severide questions, pausing to look at him for a second as he pours some of the batter into the pan.
“Because I asked if we could go to the planetarium today to see the stars,” Griffin says, with a teasing voice. “Dad said it’s your turn to choose what we do after cartoons.”
“It’s really your fault that he’s such a smartass,” Severide jokes to Casey before nodding at Griffin and focusing on the pancakes.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Casey interjects.
“And sure, it’s not as good as looking at the stars at the cabin, but I’m sure you could learn a thing or two,” Severide goes on, ignoring Casey’s proud and teasing grin.
“Yeah, like the real stories of the constellations and not the made-up ones you and dad always tell us about the dragon being friends with the bear and the queen of the triangle capturing those she doesn’t like and sticking them there.”
He can’t help laughing at that. It’s true that they’re always making up stories – different stories each time that they go to the cabin – about the constellations that they can see. The boys loved it the first time and it was one of the many traditions that they’ve made over the years.
Another beloved tradition.
“I thought you liked our mismatched stories?”
“I do, usually,” Griffin admits.
“But?”
“But I was telling someone one of the stories and they laughed at me,” Griffin explains, pouting slightly.
Severide glances back at him as he puts his first pancake on the plate and Casey teases, “Were you trying to use your dad’s stories of the stars to impress somebody?”
Griffin flushes and scoffs, “Of course not, that would be dumb.”
“Because then you get laughed at?” Ben jokes.
“No! Because they’re just – wrong – and it made me look dumb.”
Severide hums, joining Casey and Ben as they laugh at Griffin’s pouting face.
“You guys are so mean.”
“You know we love you, kid,” Casey offers as consolation as he turns to start his own pan with his and Severide’s pancakes.
“And we’d love to give you advice on whoever they are, if you tell us about them,” Severide offers, nudging him slightly as he hands him his plate of pancakes, grabbing Ben’s bowl of batter to cook his.
Griffin huffs. “I’m not looking at anyone with heart eyes if that’s what you think.”
“Then where’d you get the heart eyes thing?” Casey questions, and Severide turns slightly to raise an eyebrow at him as he flushes, further, clearly embarrassed.
He mumbles something about stupidly being best friends with girls and how it’s really all their fault, which gets them all to laugh even more.
Griffin huffs, and pouts. “Mean, I tell you.”
Severide laughs as he hands Ben his plate of pancakes and gets the sausage and bacon off the stove. “Alright, bud, tell you what – you want to impress (or not impress) someone with stories of the stars, then we can go to the planetarium and get you all caught up on the real stories, but I still think my stories are more entertaining.”
“Planetarium it is,” Griffin says, huffing as he takes his plate towards the living room, Ben smiling and following behind him as Casey takes their pancakes off the stove.
“Sounds good, kid,” Casey says to them as they walk away. Then, he turns to Severide handing him his plate. “For the record, I like your star stories better, too.”
Severide grins as Casey kisses his cheek.
“Good, I’m glad my star stories impressed you,” he teases as if he really needed to impress Casey all these years later.
Casey grins. “And I like your heart eyes, too.”
“I do not give heart eyes,” he lies.
“Yeah, just like you don’t pine,” Casey offers as he presses a sweet kiss to his lips and leaves the kitchen for the living room.
Severide rolls his eyes and yells, “I don’t pine.”
But all that gets is a little bit of laughter from the boys and Casey and he honestly doesn’t care about that.
He’s just really happy he’s here with the boys, their boys, and Casey, his best friend and love of his life. He wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Ever.