#and i can SEE that half smile she'd have at the you've got pointy ears

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

file under tiny interactions i wanna see in the show bc i think vivienne's lucienne would interact with delirium delightfully

[dragonmuse]

In The Kid is Alright, Eddy is new to interacting with Alma and isn’t sure how to be around her. By the next time we see them together, she’s settled into the role of step-parent. How was their process of coming to terms with being a parent and becoming comfortable in that role? I expect there would be some anxiety considering their history with their own parents, and I imagine it might sneak up on them that she’s actually a parent now.

(It's a long and rocky road, but mostly for Eddy, at least, not the kids themselves. She works very hard to keep the pointy parts of herself away from them. )

The first time she thinks of them as hers it's only about a year or so after the wedding. Alma is 12 and Charlie is 8. She has them both with her, Stede is dealing with something at the bar.

"Eddy," Charlie approached them with a frown, his brow all wrinkled up like Stede's which makes them smile.

"What's up?" Eddy asked.

"My shoe broke." He lifted up his foot to show her the toe of his sneakers peeling away. "I was running and I tripped and it broke."

"Huh. Did you bring another pair?"

"Nuh huh."

"Okay then, I guess shoe shopping it is," she decided. She hadn't really had a plan anyway. "Alma, get yourself together, we're going shoe shopping."

"Okay!" She called from the bathroom. "Can I get a pair too?"

You've got a dozen at least,Eddy thought. And you only wear the one most of the time. What the hell do you need another for?

"Maybe," she equivocated.

It took some minor magic to get them all out the door, but within a half hour, they were on the subway. Eddy and Alma clung to a pole, Charlie, after attempting to stand just on his own and almost falling ass over teakettle, wrapped himself around Eddy's free arm. He clung like a barnacle, giggling every time they came to a stop and he almost tumbled over, only Eddy's grasp on his t-shirt keeping him upright. When he fell against her hand, she could feel his ribs, his fluttery tiny heart against her palm.

He was so small in the world. Alma not much larger.

"Come on," Eddy urged them off at their stop. Alma was too big to hold hands, but Charlie had no such compunction, keeping his grip as they mounted the stairs. It was only when they reached street level again that he started his usual yo-yoing, running ahead then arching back Alma kept pace beside her.

"Can we get lunch out?" Alma asked.

"Mm, going to have to. It's almost noon already."

"I'm hungry."

"Me too!" Charlie put in as he circled back. "Can we have hamburgers?"

"We had hamburgers yesterday," Alma groaned. "And I don't even like that places veggie burger. It's so dry."

They'd eaten pizza last night for dinner, so by Eddy's math, she should probably be trying to jam something with the potential for green it down their young gullets.

"Ramen?" She offered.

"Yes!" they both agreed. All right then.

"I saw a documentary about ramen," Alma told her as Charlie ping-ponged around them. "This shop had been in the same family for three hundred years."

"Really?" Eddy listened with half an ear as she tried to remember which side of the street the damn place was on.

"Uh huh, can you imagine? All those generations of people learning how to make noodles. It was so cool. I wish we had something like that, but instead we just have boring Bonnets forever, doing stupid things like stocks."

"Is that it?" Charlie asked, pointing to a sign.

"Read it," Eddy instructed. "You tell me."

"Dry...cleaners...oh." Charlie sighed then rushed on ahead again.

Alma went on describing the noodle making process and at last there was the shop across the street.

"Can I cross?" Charlie asked.

"Wait for us," Eddy instructed and got her hand on his shoulder before he could yeet himself into traffic. "Okay...now."

There weren't tables available during the lunch rush, but the kids seemed happier with the tall chairs around the ramen bar.

"Okay," Eddy wasn't even hungry this early, but she posted up on her chair like she'd survived a ship wreck. "What's everyone getting?"

That bought her a few minutes of peace as they both looked over the menu. She texted Stede their whereabouts in case he got home early and decided on her own meal.

"Can I get it spicy?" Charlie asked.

"It's your lunch," she frowned. "But if you don't like it..."

"I'm going to try," he decided.

"Yikes," Alma muttered.

Eddy let him get it, figuring she could swap bowls with him when he inevitably gave up. They each ordered politely then turned to her expectantly.

"What?"

"What should we do while we wait?"

"Uh...fuck," she rustled in her pockets, came up with an envelope she'd stuffed in there and a pen. "Knock yourselves out."

They figured out some dot game that Alma was clearly going to win, Charlie not even quite following the rules, but the place worked fast so the food was delivered before Eddy had to arbitrate any arguments.

Eddy and Alma's bowls were mostly shades of yellows. Charlie's was a mildly alarming shade of red. Welp. At least it would be a story.

"Cool," Charlie declared, dipped into the broth and sucked down a mouthful.

Eddy ate her egg and considered her life choices. Alma chopsticked enough noodles into her face to choke a cow.

"Bites, Alma," Eddy reminded her.

Charlie was flushed now, but was already inexpertly attacking his noodles with the same verve as Alma with even less tidiness. All right then.

"Can I have a juice?" He asked through a mouthful of noodles.

"Don't talk with your mouthful and no, you had juice with breakfast and there'll be soda with dinner probably, stick to water."

"Can I have your mushrooms?" Alma asked, eyeballing Eddy's bowl.

"Knock yourself out, hate the slimy bastards."

They all finished their bowls. Charlie had blown his nose a few times, but was otherwise no worse for wear.

"That was great!" he said merrily.

"Huh. Okay, Charlie is a yes to spice," Eddy noted, shelling out their debit card. "Who knew?"

"Roach let me lick a ghost pepper once," Charlie sucked down the rest of his glass of water. "I only cried a little!"

Eddy: you let charlie lick a ghost pepper?

Roach: you want free childcare, you get what you paid for

The shoe store was crowded and Charlie wound up glued to their side.

"What size do you wear?" Eddy asked him and was met with a shrug. She turned to Alma. "Do you know?"

"Why would I know?" She looked blankly back Eddy.

"Okay," Eddy scanned the store, found a floor sticker with colorful kids feet and numbers with relief. "Pop off the broken one, kiddo, let's figure this out."

Once they had his size, Alma scouted ahead and located a row of sneakers (gender divided, naturally) and started pointing out options to Charlie, who shrank closer and closer until Eddy wasn't sure if he was attempting to hide or possibly merge with their body.

"Alma," Eddy said gently. "Go find yourself three pairs to try on. No promises, got it?"

"Got it!" She dashed off.

"What color do you want, Charlie?"

"Dunno," he looked down at his single socked foot. Oh right, probably should've had him put the other shoe back on. Whoops.

"You like red, right?"

"Yeah," he said softly.

"Not your favorite though?"

He shrugged.

"Can't read minds, kiddo, talk to me."

"I liked these," he touched his socked toe to the other shoe.

"Oh, you're sad they broke, huh?" Eddy said with some relief at untangling that. "Yeah, sucks. How about we find a pair as much like them as we can?"

"Yeah, okay."

They managed to find a very similar pair in the same brand and Charlie found a smile again. Alma tried on several pairs of sneakers, but then put them all away again and didn't ask for any of them, so Eddy rode that reprieve to the register and then to the overpriced cookie store, handing out sugar and gaining a coffee that she clung to like a lifeline.

They made it back to the apartment to find Stede just getting home himself.

"There you all are," he said as if he'd been looking for them for hour instead of just now hanging up his coat. "How did shoe shopping go?"

"Look, look," Charlie dashed up to him, holding out one foot. "Eddy found the same ones, almost!"

"They are very close," Stede agreed. "Are you happy with them?"

"Yes, they fit really good," he said contentedly.

"I got a garbage cookie," Alma announced with satisfaction. "It had potato chips in it."

"How was that?" Stede gently herded them further inside.

"Really good! Can I watch TV?"

"Yes, of course."

The two of them went to to go tussle over the couch cushions and Eddy sat down on the spindly bench to pry off her own boots. Stede went into the kitchen, to dispense water.

It was as she set her boots down next to Charlie's new sneakers that it hit in her in a wave. There were their big black boots, here were small sneakers and Alma's slightly larger sparkly purple boots. A line of shoes, bookended by Stede's loafers.

This wasn't babysitting. This was Eddy's home, crowded with kids' shoes. They'd just done an errand, got them fed and watered. This wasn't special days out anymore. This just...was.

"You okay, honey?" Stede drifted in. "You spaced out a bit there."

"No, I'm here," Eddy smiled up at him. "Just thinking. When did you start feeling like you were really a dad?"

"When I rocked Alma to sleep for the first time," Stede said after a second's thought. "She was so small. Hard to believe she's the same human almost."

"Does it ever stop being scary?"

"Not so far," Stede slid an arm around her waist, pressed a kiss to her cheek. "But you're pretty brave. I think you'll manage."