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starlitangels · 1 year ago

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Costumes

I missed my children OMG it feels so nice to have them back 1.9k words

—

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Natalie shouted. Her little feet thundered down the stairs. She had excitement in her voice but David still looked up in concern. "Look, look, look!"

She ran into view around the corner.

"Ta-daaa!" She spun in a circle.

Oh, thank God, David thought.

His six-year-old daughter was standing in a black-and-white checkered overall dress with a white shirt underneath and her red rain boots. Her hair had been pulled into a pair of pigtail braids. There was a basket on her arm.

The obvious clue of her costume was the vibrant red cape with the hood pulled up and bobby-pinned to her hairline.

His mate had, once again, outdone themself. Not that he was surprised. They loved dressing the kids up for Halloween. And them being them, always had to be Extra™ about it.

"You look so good, Natty!" David said with a small smile.

She giggled and ran at him, leaping for a hug. David caught her and hoisted her up to sit her on his hip.

"Are you excited to wear your costume to school today?"

She nodded so hard it seemed like she'd almost throw her hood off even with the bobby pins. "Uh-huh! It's gonna be so fun!" She balled her fist in the chest of David's shirt. "Guess what Gabe's going as!"

David leaned closer to her, conspiratorially (as if his mate hadn't told him months ago). "Who?" he asked quietly.

Natty giggled again. "I'll give you a hint! It goes with my costume."

David pursed his lips. "Hmm... who are you for Halloween again?"

His baby laughed. "Daaaaaddy! I'm Little Red Riding Hood!"

"Oh! Of course." He booped the end of her little nose. She squeaked through her giggling. God, she took after his mate. "So then I'm guessing Gabriel is... a loaf of bread."

She shook her head—her whole body following with the enthusiasm of the movement. "Nooooo!"

"Is your brother... a cookie?"

She shook again. "No!"

"Hmm... is he the grandmother?"

She squealed with laughter. "No!"

"Well, then, I'm stumped."

"Daaaaaddy!" Natalie protested. "It's not that hard!"

At that moment, another set of footsteps thundered down the stairs. "Rrraaawwwrrr!" Eight-year-old Gabriel tore into the room in a button-down plaid flannel and jeans. There were tufts of fake fur glued to his hands and the sides of his face, all disappearing under his shirt. He had some fake teeth in his mouth. His face had been dusted in a slight layer of paint to match the fake fur better and the end of his nose had been blackened in a triangle with some face paint.

Natalie shrieked in delight and squirmed in David's hold to put her dad between her and her brother.

"I am the Big, Bad Wolf!" Gabriel cried, trying to growl and failing through the fake plastic teeth in his mouth.

David chuckled quietly. "You will be one day," he said.

Gabriel preened. "I know! I'm excited."

"I'm gonna be even bigger!" Natalie teased.

Gabriel blew a raspberry. "No you won't! You're a girl!"

Natalie growled—more successfully than her brother if David was honest—and moved to lunge for her brother. David held her tighter to him. "Nope," he said. "You're not going to ruin your costumes before you get to school."

"Daaad! He's being mean to me!" Natalie protested.

"Gabriel. Be nice to Natalie. Natalie, no tackling your brother while you're both dressed up."

Natalie bared her teeth in a childish snarl at Gabriel. Who tried to do the same around the plastic ones in his mouth.

David's mate made it down the stairs at that point. Bits of face paint stained their fingertips where they'd been helping Gabriel. They smiled at the sight of Natalie fighting to free herself from David's hold to attack her brother. David met his mate's eyes. They smiled.

"Alright you two," David said with the quiet, firm, but loving authority of a man who'd been an alpha long before he was a father. "Let's get in the car."

Gabriel grabbed his backpack and David gave both the kids their lunchboxes after setting Natalie back on her feet. They both went running for David's mate's car—where Natalie's car seat and Gabriel's booster seat were buckled in. David and his mate put the kids in their seats and piled into the car to drive them to school.

Natalie filled the whole five-minute drive with rambling. Guessing what her classmates were gonna be dressed up as, expressing excitement for Trick-or-Treating, and so on. Another normal morning for the Shaw family.

When they got to the school and started getting the kids out of their seats, a familiar little voice "Rawr"ed from nearby.

Gabriel leapt from his booster seat in time to collide with Evelyn—who was dressed as Spider-Man. Asher was laughing a couple cars down the drop-off lane as he shut the back door to his mate's car. He jogged over while Gabriel and Evelyn wrestled. Gently, so they didn't mess up their costumes. Asher leaned against David's mate's car with his arms folded.

"I never want them to grow up," he said softly. "They've grown up enough. They can stop now."

David couldn't help but chuckle in quiet, bittersweet agreement. "Yeah," he agreed.

"Uncle Aaaaash!" Natalie exclaimed, barreling into Asher's legs for a hug.

"Oof! There's that strong girl!" Asher said, bending and scooping her into the air while she screamed in excitement. She kicked her legs. "How are you doing, Natty?"

"Put me down!"

Asher kissed the top of Natalie's hood and set her down. David's mate caught her hand before she could run off. They smiled at David. "I'll walk her to her classroom. Make sure Gabriel gets inside?"

"Of course."

They nodded and handed Natalie her tiny backpack and lunchbox before walking off holding her hand.

David and Asher watched the two of them go. Gabriel and Evelyn kept wrestling, like they didn't even notice.

"You ever wonder if we made the right choice?" Asher asked.

"Meaning?"

"Sending them to normal elementary school. Instead of the same school Lily, Danny, and Micah go to?" Despite Asher still being Asher, he'd improved a bit at not breaching covert in public.

"No. I don't wonder. Both of our mates thought it was important for our kids to have some normal schooling before puberty. And now that they're here, I agree with them both. I think it's done our kids a lot of good."

Asher sighed. "Just don't want to break their hearts when they go to middle school and lose all their friends."

David leveled a look at Asher that was so full of sarcasm it would have frightened a lesser wolf. "I don't think our girls could lose their friends if their friends wanted them to," David said. "Or have you not noticed we've got the most gregarious girls in the pa—family?"

Asher laughed. "Touché," he said. "And good point." Asher shoved off David's mate's car and snatched Evelyn around the waist. "Nuh-uh-uh, Ev. No pulling on Gabriel's costume."

Evelyn growled, her warm black curls shaking in the weak autumn morning sunlight.

"C'mon, my little monster. Let's get you to your classroom."

Evelyn snapped her teeth playfully at her dad, who wasn't fazed and just laughed.

Gabriel turned to David with wide eyes. The same green as David's own. "Time to go already?" he asked.

"Yeah. But today's gonna be fun. You're gonna have a good time and you'll be home before you know it." David grabbed Gabriel's backpack and lunchbox and handed them to his son. Gabriel shimmied his backpack onto his shoulders and held a hand out.

David took it and walked Gabriel to class.

Gabriel hugged David around the middle before going into his classroom. David passed a friendly wave to Gabriel's teacher before going back to the car. Asher waved to him before driving off himself.

David waited for his mate to come back. "Ash is right," David said to his mate when they returned from dropping off Natty at her classroom.

"That's rare coming from you. About what?"

"The kids are getting too big. They need to stop growing up now."

David's mate gave him a smile. "Awww. Sappy. It's sweet." They popped a kiss on his jaw and went to get in the car.

David climbed in as well. "I just don't want to miss any of this. One day they're gonna be teenagers and they're gonna hate us."

"You think so?"

"Isn't that what teenagers do?"

"I didn't. Did you?"

David thought about his dad. "... No."

His mate shrugged. "Then maybe we'll get lucky."

—

Ten Years Later...

—

"Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!" Natalie ran down the stairs, a beaming smile on her face. Micah Collins and Danny Greer close on her heels. All three were dressed up. Natalie had on a black cloak and purple, gothic dress with fake fangs in her mouth.

David looked up from his laptop on the kitchen counter. "What is it?"

"Micah's uncle is gonna come pick us up and we're gonna take Rose Trick-or-Treating, if that's okay." Natalie pointed over her shoulder. Micah's vibrant cyan pixie cut had been sprayed white. She looked supremely out-of-character, dressed as a fairy. The glitter and the short pink-and-green dress contrasted with her claw scars from shifter wrestling.

David raised his eyebrows. "Did you ask—"

"Yes, yes. Your mate said yes, Uncle Milo and his mate said yes. Micah's parents said yes. Micah's uncle said yes," Natalie said. "Just hoping for you." She gave him an anticipatory smile.

David gave his daughter a small grin. "Then go ahead."

Natalie beamed and bounced a little in excitement. "Thanks Dad!" she rushed forward and kissed his cheek around the fake fangs in her mouth. "I've got my phone. We'll be back by ten!"

Micah and Danny both grabbed at her arms and the three of them all rushed out of the house, talking excitedly and clinging to one another. Danny tripped over his Superman cape. Natalie and Micah caught him. "Love you!" Natalie shouted over her shoulder. The front door shut behind them right as David caught a glimpse of Vincent Solaire's Porsche SUV parked on the curb.

The three climbed into the SUV. Micah in the front, Danny and Natalie with Rose in the back.

Vincent gave David a wave. David returned it before the car drove off.

David's mate appeared. "Natty and her Musketeers leave?"

"That would have been a good costume for them this year," David deadpanned. "Yeah. Vincent just picked them up."

His mate nodded. "Good thing Rose is eleven and still can Trick-or-Treat so those three can 'supervise'," his mate remarked, perching on his lap. He wrapped his arms around them and rested his forehead on their arm. Their other hand played with his hair.

Upstairs, Gabriel was yelling at Evelyn and Lily while the three played a video game together.

David felt his mate rest their cheek on his head. "Wanna go downstairs and watch a movie?"

David blinked. "Sure. Which one?"

"That one that scares Gabriel."

"Guaranteeing we get a couple hours alone, angel?" he asked, almost teasing.

"I plead the fifth," they replied, sliding off his lap.

With a low growl, David pursued his laughing mate down the stairs.

—

Tag list: @zozo-01 @pinksparkl @arialikestea @shellssstuff

#Pups AU #Redacted ASMR #fic #Redacted David #Redacted Angel #Natalie Shaw #Gabriel D. Shaw #Redacted Audio #Starlit Fic #featuring #Asher #Evelyn Talbot

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