#Tilin was a very lonely kid but even SHE had Roier and Jaiden

[shikai-the-storyteller]

I like to imagine that, after Pepito goes to sleep, Tilin's spirit visits him in his dreams. She kisses him on the forehead and tells him happy birthday and reassures him that his parents love him, and when he asks how she could know that, Tilin just says: "Because we share a dad, and I know he loves me too."

[archetypal-archivist]

A Kinder World AU- Part  9

Jaiden, Roier, and Bobby’s House

masterlist

Jaiden is a lawyer who inherited her grandfather’s house in Quesadilla after his death, Roier is the town’s resident therapist, and Bobby is Roier’s little brother and their bestest chingon. Together they fight crime live a happy life. 

1) Bobby is a hyperactive kid with a lot of energy to burn and two very busy platonic co-parents who both work a fair bit of the week. As such, he often spends large chunks of each day playing in the yard outside his house- soccer, hop scotch, jump rope, you name a sport and he’s at least tried it, sometimes to limited success. His favorite activity to blow off steam is to play knights and dragons with his friends, taking up his silver cardboard sword with Juanaflippa and Richarlyson to defeat the evil dragons, Tilin and Chayanne, with Tallulah as the princess to rescue and Ramon and Dapper as the evil space wizards, choosing to help or hinder as they please. They’ll sometimes even pull in passing Quesadilla citizens if they have the time. Not that anyone understand the full story, mind you, but the kids sure seem to be having fun.

2) Some days, however, Bobby feels a little more quiet. On such days, he’ll walk down to the water and settle into the sand with his sketch book, given to him by Jaiden for his birthday. There he sits and sketches the boats of his friends and family as they enter and leave and cross paths with each other. On days when he’s particularly lonely or sad, he’ll sometimes spend the whole day drawing so he’ll have a complete collection of every boat that passed him by that day, that he’ll later present to his parents to tell them what they missed. Jaiden loves to encourage his hobby, bringing him expensive paper and pencils from the mainland after her business trips as an apology for her absence, but Bobby prefers the printer paper and sharpies Roier gives him to distract him during telehealth calls when he brings the kid with him to work.

3) Jaiden and Roier are partners in a purely platonic sense, and have separate bedrooms so that they each have a space of their own. Jaiden is in the master bedroom in the main part of the house with Bobby and Roier stays in the tower so as to avoid waking anyone with his nightmares. When Roier first fled to Quesadilla town with Bobby and Spreen, the town had a vote to see if they would be accepted into the community, then another to debate where the then-teens and kid would stay. Jaiden, feeling lonely in her big house by herself, decided to take in Roier and Bobby, with Fit taking in Spreen. Moving Roier into the tower was easy enough but it took a long time for him to actually sleep there, instead crashing at the kitchen table, a sleep deprived mess from nightmares and trying to finish his degree (and sometimes nightmares about said degree). Even still Roier likes to creep down from his tower and sleep elsewhere some nights, but Jaiden refuses to ask him about his escapades. If he wants to tell her, that's his choice and she'll let him keep his secrets if that makes him feel safe enough to stay.

4) Jaiden's job as a lawyer is incredibly stressful and having a hyperactive kid running around trying to make a mess of things makes life... Difficult. Especially when it falls to her to tell Bobby that certain papers are for leaving alone, not for drawing on. When life gets to be too much, she climbs up on the roof and sunbathes for a while, baking herself until she feels better. She'll also destress by visiting Los Casualonas with Roier, buying a drink or three from the bar tender, Cucurucho, and enjoying whatever live music is playing that night. When Jaiden and Roier go together, he often ends up dancing and that always brings a smile to her face. Watching other people be happy is a guilty pleasure of hers because if she can't be happy, then making others feel good is the next best thing. These days, however, Roier has gotten to be much better at reading her mood, as has Roier's crush Cellbit. She's not sure how to feel about that.

5) While Roier's tower is oddly barren, the downstairs is richly decorated with things Jaiden's grandfather kept around the home. Done up in hues of rich red and deep blues and greens, the interior looks like it's been pulled right from the ages when top hats and tailcoats were a thing. Jaiden hates it and initially only kept it that way because her grandfather loved the decor, but with Roier and Bobby now with her, she's been using their presence as an excuse to renovate. Currently, the only room completely finished is her own, now done up in hues of pale purple with paintings and giant plushies everywhere. When the never ending peacock hues get to be too much for Bobby, he goes on a "break everything" spree, something that both parents tolerate with fond amusement. Anything broken is just something to be replaced with something better- unless someone gets the bright idea to make a replacement instead. Usually to mixed results.

6) The house itself is divided up into Roier’s tower, Jaiden’s bed room, the living room (currently taken up to act as Bobby’s bedroom and the focal point of the house), one bathroom, Jaiden’s office-cum-closet, and a well-loved kitchen. Much of the house is too fancy to be used casually but slowly Jaiden and her new family are working on making the house into a home, even if that means making a bit of a mess in the process. The kitchen is her current project of choice, where Roier is attempting to teach her to cook. While the man is a dab hand at anything greasy, sweet, or Mexican-themed, his skills leave much to be desired outside that unless he has a cookbook on hand- something that Jaiden not only lacks, but has mistakenly used for kindling in the living room’s fireplace. Not that she ever used to begin with, having been borne with the rare ability to set fire to boiling water when trying to cook. The duo muddle along regardless and most times, the food they make ends up tasting pretty good! The one casualty, however, is the kitchen, but it’s not like they were too hung up on it remaining white and clinically clean anyway.

7) Jaiden’s work as a lawyer keeps her very busy and as such, she’s often pulled away from Quesadilla to complete trials and other duties on the mainland for her clients. She focuses mainly on being a defense lawyer, but all Bobby understands is that his new mama is a hero who protects people. It’s the only reason he tolerates her frequent absences at all, and even then he’s prone to tantrums whenever she has to board her motorboat with her briefcase and backpack and leave for another week or two. At best he waits for her at the dock to see her off, at worst he’ll run away and force her to track him down. Roier despairs too, but it’s much quieter, hidden with forced smiles and witty banter until his platonic partner is too busy laughing to notice how awful he feels about being left behind again. Jaiden knows enough about Roier’s past to feel guilty about having to leave but it’s primarily her salary that the family lives on so she just has to suck it up and cry it out into her pillow at night. Whenever the family is together it feels like nothing could ever go wrong, and when they’re apart it feels like the world has suddenly gone grey. It scares the duo, sometimes, how quickly they fell together, sliding into place like puzzle pieces, but they wouldn’t trade for anything, ever- being whole and happy and able to trust that someone will be there to catch you when you fall is addictive after all. They just need  practice stretching beyond each other to find other people to call home.