#thread; nora ft. marcel.

[ccmpletemess]

closed starter for @honeyedblossom ft. nora scott & marcellus whitmore

A groan slipped from the woman's lips as she sipped her coffee, the much needed caffeinated liquid hopefully taking affect sooner rather than later. She needed it to keep up with the energetic five year old currently bouncing around the park. It was only when said five year old went a little too enthusiastically down the slide out of the corner of her eye that caused Nora to whip around to call out, "Jace! Be careful!"

She hadn't expected to whip around smack bang into another's chest. "Motherfu-" Catching the curse on her lips before a child overheard her, Nora's eyes quickly darted to Jace, who was now calmly sitting at the bottom of the slide chatting to one of his friends. "I swear to god he does that on purpose," She muttered, huffing. Realising that she'd literally collided with another in her panic, she turned towards the stranger, only to recognise the other, causing a sheepish grin to slip on her lips. "Oh, god, Marcel-- I am so, so sorry, I literally took my eyes off him for like two seconds to sip this coffee and that boy is just--" Cutting off her rambling, she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, takes after me too much, honestly. I didn't spill anything on you, did I?"

[ccmpletemess]

“He’s worth it though, for all the shit his father has put me through, I wouldn’t change it for the world because it brought me Jace. I’m just lucky I have the support system I have,” she admitted before nodding slowly. ��I know, I just… hate asking for help. I don’t know if you’ve noticed by now, but I’m a tad stubborn,” she teased gently before laughing. “Oh my son is absolutely biased towards you, Marcel and we both know it.”

At the mention of dinner, Nora blinked. “Take me to dinner?” She echoed, cheeks flushing crimson. Her teeth tugged on her lower lip as she considered asking the question she desperately wanted to know the answer to, but was almost afraid to ask. She couldn’t deny the crush that had developed on the other, but she also didn’t want to get her hopes up. “As… as friends? Or…” Nora trailed off, swallowing. “Or a date?”

Laughter bubbles from her lips, “You’re going to have a small army of children that adore you at this point,” she joked back. She watched as Jace threw his arms around the other, excited rambling on about how he had missed Marcel before beginning to explain his day in great detail. A fond smile graced her lips, her heart fluttering slightly as she watched the two of them interact, the idea that perhaps she had underestimated just how bad her crush on the other was.

Truthfully, Marcel didn’t know. Sure, he had Alvin, but the kid came into life as a near adult, so it was hardly the same. That, and there was the team who sometimes made him feel like he was raising a ton of children, but still, he was able to go home at the end of the day. But he definitely understood what she meant. “I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is, all the kids I’ve had to put up with, I’ve been able to send back at the end of the day. I think you just have to remind yourself you’re doing a great job and raising good people and it’s okay to ask for help and take a break when needed. It’s important to not let yourself get burned out.” He added, giving her a nod, knowing better than to pry in other people’s past if they weren’t ready to talk about it. “Absolutely, just ask my team and your son.”

“How about you let me express how grateful I am by taking you to dinner? I can even work out a babysitter for you. You need a night for you.” He slipped out without thought, and by the time he’d realized what he’d done, it was much too late to take it back. Not that he wanted to, but he didn’t want to pressure or put the other in an awkward position. “I don’t mind doing it, for you.”

“Oh no, perhaps I’ll have to make it up to that kid by inviting him to join the next practice alongside Jace, then I’ll have two new besties. I might even have to show up for a show ‘n tell,” he joked, before his gaze shifted away from hers and instead spotted the boy in question and his smile grew into a grin. He crouched down just enough to greet the kid with a hug. “And I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me for a second there, how’s my assistant coach been?”