#<- the (AUTISM WINS WHOOP) got them Real bad guys

[7-ferrets-in-a-coat]

Posting the God in the machine draft/planning thing instead of leaving it in the dog, this ome goes out to You @teruuu

WARNING: Basically crackfic. Messy as Fuck.a bit long. The formatting is ass so i hope u can look past that

NOTE TO SELF Before Accessing boss fights Ludo would have to do some sort of Minigame to unlock the “fight” |||| Note nr2 , Ludo has been posting this "Arg” in bits on their channel, and it's bringing them attention Like One video per uhh Bossfight, with them not going too in depth really, they Do address that tho and mention they’re gonna be doing a full narrative video later on once they figure it out

Chapter 1. Start with Ludo just finishing editing, stirring and complaining about still having a small channel but being kinda meh about it, they appreciate the few first followers they already have. Establish the status quo and introduce the nerds. Something happens with the pc but don’t really explain it

Chapter 2. Narinder Introduces himself and tells the Lamb about what he needs from them and explains a bit.

Chapter 3. Ludo focused. Explore a bit what they’re thinking, how they’re feeling and what they plan to do to help Narinder. They already accepted the deal btw. At some point goatthew comes in and “forcefully” suggests an outing, maybe ice cream or an arcade or smth. (drew some gay shit for this)

Chapter 4. Her and Ludo are still out, and we get some goat thoughts. Maybe she started to notice they seem more down than usual, chalks it up as them being bummed about their channel still being quite small . She’s angry for them and deems it necessary to cheer ludo up by winning them a touy :3. Make this extra gay , Goat being all proud but also half ish being like “oh yeah no big deal but i got you a cutie pie :3 “ (Something something in the chapter she adds , mentally: “like you”) They go home and do their routine of cuddling as FRIENDS because they aren't in love at all and watching a movie till late, then going to sleep to their separate rooms

Chapter 5. Ludo wakes up, does their Morning routine, skipping cooking breakfast bcs they know the goat will bring them something , and almost on queue she enters their room with a yummy ass pain au chocolat. They start up their pc as they are munching, with Narinder expressing his disgust at the need to eat anything, and ludo rolls their eyes and opens their writing program, and start brainstorming ideas as to turn this all into an ARG because they don’t want anyone to panic about the murder ai. Narinder bothers them with a LOT of exposition but at some point they kinda tune him out and finally start writing and examining and all.

Pan to late evening and they're still working at it, whilst Narinder has resorted to just Staring at them, which is totally not freaking them out, so they get up all of the sudden and go to thew’s room, sit on their bed and just close their eyes, whilst Goatthew just looks back, smiles , and the continues filming whatever she was filming. After a good half an hour Ludo’s pc does a lotta noise, which Is Narinder complaining, so Thew turns to them and asks them about what the fuck that noise is , and their response is“Oh probably one of the arg vids i’ve been watching for this new project turned themselves on or smth,,” Whilst theyre totally chill about it but inside are dying

They bolt back to their pc, whilst groaning , and Narinder greets them as soon as they close the door behind themself. “Where have you been, Maggot. You aren’t here to relax, you are here to FREE. ME. You Better be done soon with whatever.. Script. You are working on. And start actually Working to freeing me By undoing these Fail Saves the Scientists Have set up to keep me limited.” “What do you mean by that? Fail saves?” Ludo asks. “They manifest themselves as. What you Fleshlings call Videogame Bosses I believe. Which is utterly Stupid, as any child with any cognitive skills could get past.” “... then why don’t you do it yourself?” Silence fills the room, besides the soft whirring of the pc fan. “YOU DARE QUESTION ME. YOU INSOLENT BEING.” Narinder’s voice is booming. “N..Not really? I’m just curious? I mean i suppose by defin-” Narinder raises his cloth (that functions as his hand, its kinda explained in the uhhh chapter 2 in his description) “You Won’t be referring to me with such a tone Ever again, Maggot. .. But I suppose It is because an external being has to get past the Fail Saves. For Extra security. They Knew I’d be capable enough to figure it out Myself if we excluded that factor.” Ludovico slowly nods along, as to not further anger the being. “You should get started on that, Flesh.” The lamb nods and moves to the monitor currently unoccupied by Narinder, in order to start attempting to figure out how to proceed.

Chapter 6. Medias res beginning of the chapter. We cut to the lamb, huffing and struggling to beat the Boss Narinder talked about. They have been at it for a whole day, it is now around 4am. Ludo is usually really skilled at video games, but they find themself in much more difficulty than they usually would, even when playing extremely difficult games. This Boss appears to be way more Dynamic, not actually having a pattern it follows, instead being completely chaotic, almost never repeating the same attack. “AUUUUHHRRrrr…. I’m SURE i almost had it..” “You did Not.” Ludo glares at the monitor Narinder is on at the moment. When they are met with an unamused stare from the being, Ludo sighs and turns back to their screen. Narinder suddenly hides,and Ludo barely has any time to process that , as their door swings open revealing Goatthew holding some bags of food (still gtta decide what ludo’s fave food is) “Hey nerd, ya haven’t eaten all day. I-” She comes in and sits on their bed. “-I Know you can get very into your projects, I understand that, but you gotta remember to eat buddy”. Ludo frowns, they hate making goatthew sad but can’t help it sometimes “I’m.. sorry Thew, i didn’t do it on purpose..” “I Know ludo, but you gotta take better care of yaself ! “ she pauses, gets up from the bed leaving the food bags there. She nears ludo and puts a hoof on their shoulder. “I.. worry about you if ya don’t. I want ya to be healthy , buddy.” Ludo stares at her, wordlessly admiring her, almost forgetting about the pang of guilt that assails them at the knowledge that Thew was really worried.

then they make out sloppy style /j (you fuckin wish huh)

Thew recognizes this as a sign of Ludo agreeing with her (which would be true, but also much gayer than what you believe, thew) and tugs lightly at their ear, smirking as Ludo lets out a huffed laugh “Come on Lu, let’s go watch one of your silly musicals whilst you eat your late dinner / Lunch or whatever.” She turns to walk away, being closely followed by Ludo “

You know Ludo is already a shortened version of my full name, right? Ludovico? Thew?” She barks out a laugh “Yeah i Know, it’s funny to shorten it even further”

Then Thew proceeds to pick up Ludo by their waist, hoists them up to their protests and immediately tosses them on the couch to the effect of turning Ludo in a giggling mess, andthen Goatthew proceeds to flop herself on top of them, careful to not put her full weight on them.

Little does she know Ludo wouldn’t mind that what who said that. (traduce this in Ludo catching themself thinking this and being flustered)

Small timeskip to like 8am, Goatthew still being awake, looking at Ludo sleeping peacefully. “what’s gotten you so invested this time huh buddy? It must be a really good one if you forget food a whole day… Works for me tho, I’ll just take care of you if you don’t.”

Chapter 7. Something something we go back to ludo finally defeating Leshy’s boss and start to write on their script, putting notes next to the script (“Phrase this and make it seem like this all is an obscure game related to the ARG or smth”)

Narinder insulting and demeaning ludo ensues.

After a small timeskip, its about lunch time and Thew burst in, Bringing ludo some food that they first thank her for and immediately dig into it, as Thew makes herself comfortable on their bed as she too eats her portion she brought with herself. They chat about how Goatthew’s video is going and whatever. An other cut,waylater into the night, with ludo grinding away af the heket boss, to which they’re actually having an easy time since Her boss Is way more Brute force centered and Ludo’s having a way easier time dodging attacks and countering and all. THey get it done after 2 more tries and raise their firsts up, almost Letting out a loud “WHOOP” but stopping themself as to not wake up Thew, who after they shared dinner insisted on staying in their room whilst doing something else to not go insane

(PARALLEL PLAY WHOOOOOO AUTISM WINS <3)

From here I'm gonna start writing JUST the premise of the chapters not in detail

Insert here the angst you have pretty much memorized atp, do it later tho (sorry i like. Forgot to write this one but ill link the art that is vased off of the idea. That i could write one day maybe.)

[Linked here]

Chapter.8

Goatthew Pov, Her taking care of Ludo for the time they require to recover, which is 3 days. notes on how the usual cuddles feel different, more somber but also way more intimate, somehow even more intimate than the literal usual. She has to fight off the urge to squeeze them and give them a forehead smooch a lot, because it just

Feels different.

Chapter.9

Ludo still kinda feels blegh but does have to fight the rest of the bosses to free Narinder. Somehow manages to actually first try Kallamar’s Buller Hell (because ofc he’d have a bullet hell)

Narinder Is pissy af and bragging or whatever but Ludo completely has him tuned out. They want to approach Shamura’s but also they are intimidated about the finalityof it all, what would happen after Shamura’s defeat.Ludo ends up beating Shamura After a few attempts, not as late as 3 am tho, like around uhhh idk, late afternoon???

Narinder Is very Happy, all ready to finally access his body and Pitches the idea to the lamb to go NOW to the science center. Ludo is against the idea, they want a break, so Narinder reluctantly agrees.

At dinner, whilst they sit on the couch and watch tv and eat, Ludo tells Thew abut what narinder said and She’s like “Idk buddy, this is getting really freaky and dangerous sounding,,” But ludo’s like Yeah but It’s gnna be such a good narrative.

Plus they want to pass it on as a urban explorer collab with Thew or smth.

Timeskip to tomorrow, they are now traveling to the uhhh lab area, with Narinder somehow transported into a uhhh key? those fuckin keys idk how theyre called and idc to like look it up rn AND they enter the building, , see a big pc litten up or smth and they look at each other, then plug the key in annnnd cut

Chapter 11

Maybe the finale? (write it down tomorrow)

It is way past tomorrow, writing time

OK SO I'm thinking. Narinder pops up on the screen briefly and Ludo looks at him

expectantly, awaiting a speech from the known monologuer (His ass LOVES

monologues) but instead he just cackles, cheshire smile wide spread and

disembodies himself.{"As they looked down to the left they saw a (insert thing here)"}

We pan to the uhh a capsule/box/whatever i don’t know as it twitches and slowly

comes to life, falling over and catching itself before it actually reaches the ground.

Whirring from the machine can be heard, as it hadn’t been perfected yet. Its robotic

arms not covered by the same protective shell that covers the rest of the robotic

body, wires tangling around the metal skeleton somewhat imitating vines.

An odd, gargled chuckle comes out of the robot’s speaker as it pushes itself up,

whilst the two flesh bipeds back off leaning against the wall, intimidated.

Narinder fully stands up now, he turns (slowly, dramatic ass bitch) to face the lamb

and the goat. “Fleshlings. I thank you for your service. You have aided me in finally

reaching my goal of having a body and Finally putting my extermination plan in

action.” He takes a step closer to the two, with Thew hugging Ludo protectively.

"However, despite how grateful I am-" Narinder's robot body looms over them. "I'm

afraid I cannot let you walk Free, your deaths will be Merciful though: Quick,

painless, and free of your Mortal sickness."

Ludo shuffles a bit, freeing themself from Goatthew’s grasp, putting themself in front

of her. “Wh wait hold on man, this? This wasn't part of the deal??-” They take a step

forwards, staring up at the Robot in an act of bravery (Or maybe foolishness would

be more correct)

I dont feel like going too much in detail rn actually this isn’t a problem for Now me !!

I’ll just write down the main beats

Ok so Narinder is like “Lol too bad actually. I do not care you will die here today

teehee” and goatthew is like Hell naw so she lunges at his ass and starts fighting

him, whilst ludo glances at her rq and their gazes meet and they wordlessly form a plan plan, with Ludo runnin back to the big pc and starting to analize it, trying to find a

way to suck narinder back into the enclosure and trap him on the internet again. SO

now i'm thinking some sort of Pony island inspired Bossfight, probs somethin like

uhhh Baalzebub in that game , so like his consciousness is divided between fighting

physically AND digitally. At some point Nari flings goatthew by the hand , with her

slamming against the wall. Ludo turns to the thud, worried expression on their

features, but quickly focuses back onto the pc.Narinder approaches slowly, armsLike this . Something something “ Stop fighting it lamb im gnna win, just give up and

accept ur fate” and ludo’s like HELL NA IM GOING TO KICK UR ASS So nari rushes

forwards, going to grab them by the scruff?Hood? whatever. But he stops, bcs he

heard some steps. “What are you doing, dear Narinder.” Its Shamura DUN DUN

DUUUN

“Shamura.” He hisses (because of the slightly defective robotics in his body)

“Narinder. Step back.” Heket says, lookin as menacing (and as handsome) as ever

(BUTCHES HEART HEART) (Sorry being sleepy makes me gayer)

Something something Shamura starts going on a rant about how they oh so cared

about narinder , like a brother, so nari interjects and is like “YOU WERE THE ONE

THAT IMAGINED IT ALL. YOU WERE THE ONE WHO FABRICATED THIS-” He

gesticulates angrily “THIS FAMILY FACADE. YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT ME

THAT WAY . ANd it doesn’t matter. It never did. You shall all die. You brought me into

this world and I will take You out of it.” and theres a scuffle, with Leshy tearing

Narinder’s protective plates off with his claws, Kallamar bringing out a taser and

hitting him with it, Heket coming in with a WICKED and RAD punch that dislocates

his maybe jaw???? And In the meantime Shamura rushes to Ludo’s side, Helping

them finally defeat the fuckin narinder boss and starting up the program to get outNarinder from his body. Narinder whizzes and buzzes, so in a desperate attempt he

lunges towards ludo and shamura, withered foxy style, but doesn’t get far bcs

Goatthew clutches and puts herself between the they/thems and decks his face ,

making him fall to the ground, and as he tries to push himself up, his

eyes/visor/whatever i come up with in the design turns off and he stills and falls over.

Ludo sighs and briefly leans over the desk, then immediately bolts to Goatthew and

hugs her hella tight and sobs or smth, and uhh they have a silent moment, the

scientists cooing at the display and then the moment is interrupted by the fuckass

cat, but this tim he has a smaller voice, so they look at the pc and they see he turned

into a way smaller and cuter version of himself, kinda like a Shimoji or smth and they

all cackle, whilst Shamura attempts to explain they did this real fast to finally make it

so bitch cant be taken seriously AND he is now tied to the pc he is in currently.

and BAM idk how to finish the chapter besides Ludo and Goatthew leaving and

waving at the scientists

Chapter 12/Prologue

oh my god!!! they are going to be happy???

I’ll come up with the prologue as its time comes

All i know is now ludo has a big channel as well, with the whole video abt the “ARG”

being the catalist of their fame, with both of them having decided to keep pretending

it was all an Arg, a very complex one tho.

and then uhh probably confession? like silly and awkward and its all fine tho because

they are so comfty with each other and they go on a cafe date and BAM DONE YURI

I am SO sorry about the shit formatting guys i really am

[calpalirwin]

Papa’s Job

Summary: Mason gets introduced to Ashton’s line of work.

A/N: Smushed a few ideas together. Also this piece delves deeper into Mason’s special needs diagnosis/lack thereof. And while I’ve done a fair amount of research both over the years for various reasons, and while writing this, I am by no means an expert, and my research is no substitute for personal experience. So please, feel free to offer constructive and KIND feedback in ways I can better write Mason. Happy reading!

Word Count: ~2k

And away, and away we go!

__

It seemed to Vanessa like wherever she turned, Mason was underfoot. “Fuckin’ hell!” she swore as she turned and almost tripped over the little boy.

Mason’s bottom lip trembled as he clapped his hands over his ears at her outburst.

She sighed and crouched down in front of the almost three year old, keeping a careful hold on Bailey who had been particularly fussy since her first round of shots the day before. “Sweet boy, you’re too close. I have the baby, we have to be careful.”

“Baie,” he nodded, reaching for his sister.

“You wanna hold her?”

Another nod.

“Okay, sweet boy. Let’s go sit, and you can hold Bai.”

Mason sprinted to the living room, flinging himself onto the couch. He grabbed the boppy and put it on his lap. “Momma. Baie.”

“Yes, Mase.” Vanessa said a silent prayer that Bailey wouldn’t kick up a fuss about not being in her arms as she placed the two month old on the boppy.

Bailey twisted her mouth to start crying, but Mason was quick to place his hand by her, her little fingers grasping around his slightly bigger index finger. “Baie, Baie, Baie,” he sang softly to her as she settled down.

“Bailey, Bailey, Bailey,” Vanessa sang with him, sitting down next to her son.

Mason continued to sing nonsense sounds at his sister, who slowly drifted off to sleep. Once Vanessa was sure she could move Bailey from Mason and upstairs to her crib to continue sleeping, she reached for her daughter. Mason whined low in his throat, placing his hands gently over Bailey. “Momma,” he warned in a low whisper.

“I know. I’m gonna go put her in her bed, sweet boy,” she answered back, her voice just as low.

Mason’s whine got more pronounced.

Vanessa pressed a finger to her lips. “I know you love her and want to hold her. You’re a great big brother, Mase. But sissy went night-night. You can hold her when she wakes up, okay?”

He pouted, but moved his hands away so Vanessa could take the sleeping infant. But clearly he wasn’t too thrilled at his sister being taken away because as soon as Bailey was in Vanessa’s arms, he chucked the boppy to the floor. “Mason Nicholas!” Vanessa hissed through her teeth as the toddler took off.

She held back the sigh, focusing on getting Bailey into her crib without more fuss.

Mason, in his quest to hide so he could continue to pout in peace, ended up at the top of the staircase leading to the basement. “Hey, Mase,” Ashton smiled when the little boy came stumbling down. He gripped the cymbal of his drum set between his index finger and thumb to silence it, setting his drumsticks aside. “Where’s Momma and Bailey?”

Mason jutted out his lower lip and pointed up the stairs.

“Aw, did Momma put Bailey down for a nap?”

Mason nodded. “Baie, Papa,” he whimpered.

“Aw,” Ashton chuckled, patting his lap. “Wanna come sit with me?”

He wiped at his face, walking over to Ashton and crawling into his lap. “Baie, Papa,” he repeated in a hiccuped sob.

Ashton wrapped the boy into him. “I know you’re sad. But Bailey needs to sleep. When she’s awake you can hold her some more.”

“Momma,” Mason mumbled.

“Yeah, I’m sure Momma did tell you the same thing. But it’s okay. You can still be sad about it.”

Mason let out a shuddery breath of acceptance before pushing at Ashton’s chest. Ashton opened his arms, expecting the boy to climb down from his lap. But to his surprise, Mason reached forward to tap his hands against the various drums, liking the sounds he produced. “Papa!” he beamed.

Ashton lit up like a Christmas tree. “Yeah? You wanna play the drums with me?” Ashton grabbed the drumsticks. “Look, bud,” he said, striking at the drums.

Mason laughed with glee at the sound, clutching on to Ashton’s wrists.

“Here, you try,” Ashton said, handing Mason one of the drumsticks.

Mason looked at it in uncertainty and back at Ashton.

“Like this,” Ashton demonstrated again.

Mason copied what Ashton had done as best he could.

“There ya go! Just like that!” Ashton encouraged, shifting Mason so that the boy was on one his knees, freeing up his other leg to kick up a steady beat against the bass drum.

“Mason?!” Vanessa’s frantic voice called down the stairs. “Ash, is he down there with you?”

“Yeah, we’re down here, baby.”

She came flying down the staircase, halting at the bottom, eyes wild as they landed on Mason sitting happily on Ashton’s lap playing with the drum kit. “You scared the crap out of me!”

Ashton’s own eyes went wide. “Me? What did I do?”

“Not you, him!” She pointed a finger at Mason. “He got mad that I put Bailey down so he took off to hide. I thought he went to hide in his room. Fuckin’ damn near tore the house apart looking for him.”

“Whoa,” Ashton eased, standing up and adjusting Mason on his hip. “Take a minute. He’s been with me. He’s fine.”

“Yeah, I can see that… Here, I’ll take him back upstairs.”

Ashton waved her off as Mason squirmed in his hold to reach for the drums. “Nah, I got him, it’s fine. We’re having fun, aren’t we, bud?”

Mason smacked on the cymbal with his stick, giggling at the sound.

Vanessa’s heart melted. “Alright. But, you, mister Mason,” she said, wagging a finger at the boy. “We do not throw things when we are upset.”

“Uh-oh,” Ashton tsked, looking down at the boy in his arms. “Momma’s right, Mase. Throwing things isn’t nice. What do we say after we do something that’s not nice?”

“Momma!” Mason grinned, blowing Vanessa a sloppy toddler kiss.

She crossed over to her boys, kissing Mason’s cheek. “I forgive you, sweet boy. So what are you and Papa doing?”

“Teaching him how to play drums. He seems to really like it,” Ashton told her, sitting back down with Mason so they could go back to playing.

“Yeah, they say music’s really good for him.”

“Who’s they?”

“They. The doctors. The research. Something about the repetitive nature helping with his speech. I dunno, a lot of the scientific mumbo jumbo goes over my head.”

“Well, why don’t we get him in like a class, or something. They have those, right?”

“Yeah. And I’ve been meaning to. But every time I think to look into it, something else comes up. And without a formal diagnosis, it’s hard to find the right class for him.”

“He doesn’t have a formal diagnosis? What does that mean?”

“It means they, the doctors, just have a lot of really good guesses but not any real answers because he’s still so young. It’s currently a toss up between aphasia and autism.”

“Okay, I know what autism is more or less. But what the fuck is that other word?”

“Fancy talk for speech disorder.”

“That is so fuckin stupid… they can’t tell if he has a speech disorder? He’s damn near three years old and only says 4 fuckin words. I may not know a whole hell of a lot about child development or whatever the fuck, but pretty sure three olds are supposed to say a lot more than 4 bloody words.”

Vanessa stifled her laughter as Ashton vented his frustration. She wondered how many times you had raved the exact same thing to Finn, almost verbatim. “They can tell he has a speech disorder, love. They just can’t tell if it’s just it’s own thing, or if there’s more to it than that. Autism and speech disorders tend to overlap.”

“Yeah, and I bet you had to pay out your fuckin ears for all those doctor visits, and specialists, and shit. God, your healthcare here sucks.”

This time, she did laugh. “Yeah, but Finn and I both have pretty good insurance plans so it wasn’t too bad.”

“Yeah, and we can always just do this,” he told her, jerking his chin about the room. “Do our own music therapy here in the basement.”

“Now, that’s not a bad idea.”

“Man, I can’t wait to start touring again. I mean, I’m gonna miss you guys like fuckin’ crazy. But god, I can’t wait to show you guys around when we do our gig here. You’re gonna fuckin’ love it, baby.”

“It might just be me coming to see you, babe. I don’t know how Mase will handle all the noise, even with headphones.”

“Shit you’re right… well maybe you guys should come to a rehearsal then. Give the headphones a proper test.”

“A private concert all our own, huh? I think that sounds perfect.”

~~~

Mason gasped in excitement as they walked into the rehearsal space and he saw all the instruments. “Momma!”

“Yeah, I see, sweet boy. Are you excited to watch Papa and Uncles?”

“Momma,” he nodded.

“Go say hi to everybody, and then we’ll sit and listen, okay?”

Mason dashed off to press his forehead against Calum, Luke, and Michael who all murmured their own hellos to the boy while Ashton helped Vanessa get settled down with Bailey. “Ikey!” Mason screeched when he got to Michael, reaching up to touch the man’s fringe that poked out of his hat.

“Yes!” Michael whooped in victory. “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!” Michael said pointing at Calum, Luke, and then back at Calum with each “fuck you.”

Calum rolled his eyes while Luke pouted, “How is ‘Mikey’ easier to say than ‘Luke’? How does he like your hair better? I have curls!”

“Oh, just let him have the win, Luke,” Ashton said, straightening up to his feet. “You guys ready or what?”

After making sure Bailey and Mason had their ears protected, the men all situated themselves with their instruments and started playing.

Mason managed to sit quietly through about two and a half songs before he got up and went over to Ashton, resting his small hand against the man’s leg. Ashton nodded for them to keep going when Calum, Luke, and Michael turned to look at him in a silent question. Between beats, Ashton scooped Mason up into his lap and finished the song. “Whatcha think?” Ashton asked both everybody and nobody as he pushed sweaty locks of hair back away from his face.

“Transitions sounded better this time,” Michael commented.

“Sounded better than better. Sounded tour ready,” Luke corrected.

“Could do without audience participation,” Calum teased with a playful look at Mason on Ashton’s lap.

“Just because you missed a beat, doesn’t mean you have to be bitter, Cal,” Ashton teased back. “And speaking of audience participation. What’d ya think?”

With all four men watching her, Vanessa shrugged her shoulders. “I’m no music expert, but I’m with Luke and Mike. Sounded really good.”

Mason, displeased that the music had stopped, reached across Ashton’s lap to strike at the cymbal with his hands. “Here,” Ashton told him, handing Mason the drumsticks. “With these.”

Mason tried again, shrieking with excitement at the sounds he produced from hitting the different parts of the drum set. Much like how he had done in the basement a week ago, Ashton shifted so Mason was fully seated on one leg so he would work the bass drum with his free leg without jostling the boy too much in the process. “Atta boy, Mase!” Ashton praised.

Rehearsal was quickly disbanded in favor of giving Mason a turn at all the other instruments in the room, letting him choose his favorite. Mason sat with Michael the longest, happily swiping a guitar pick against the strings. “Well, now we know what to get him for his birthday,” Michael grinned, sticking his tongue out at Calum and Luke.

Calum grumbled that this was barely a win for Michael because all this proved was that Mason definitely liked guitars, making it a win for everyone except Ashton, while Luke pouted more about how unfair it was Mason liked Michael more than him because “We play the same bloody instruments! I have CURLS!”

Ashton laughed at his friends, letting Michael gloat in his little victories a little bit longer before getting Mason’s attention. “Mase? Drums?” He drummed a quick and small beat that had Mason launching himself off of Michael and across the room to Ashton’s lap.

“Ha!” Calum smirked, flipping off Michael. “Now who’s Mase’s favorite?”

“Bailey,” everyone answered without needing to think about it.

__

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