[Samuel x Roman]

s a m u e l

Laila giggled at the joke. Samuel gave his husband a pretend horrified expression, "Roman, we don't have ten billion dollars," he said as if that was the only reason they couldn't sell of Harper, and then turned to Laila with the same expression, "Don't purchase him, please, it'll put us in endless debt,"

Laila decided to play along with the joke, "But I really want those ten billion dollars, I'm sorry but I have to accept that offer,"

"... If you do I'm giving you endless homework for the rest of your life,"

"You can't do that," Stella laughed.

"What do you know? I'm a certified teacher, I can do what I want," Samuel insisted stubbornly.

"Well I don't really want endless homework," Laila giggled and turned to Harper, "Sorry, Harper, you'll have to stay with the family who wants to get rid off you,"
 
r o m a n
Harper looked incredibly offended that everyone was trying to get rid of him. He looked at Laila with a sad expression and huffily crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, no one wants me, apparently, so I might as well go die in a hole then, it'd make you all happy."

What Harper actually said was incredibly depressing, but the slightly upturned corners of his mouth indicated that he was actually just joking. That gave Roman incentive to just go along with the whole thing.

"That would be fantastic, Harper, thank you for the offer. Please have your things removed from our home within the week,"
Roman said in a formal and businesslike tone.

Harper threw his hands up in frustration. "Papa! Make him stop -- he does that thing to you where he looks pretty and you do whatever he wants, try it on him."
 
s a m u e l

"Pfft, yeah right! Papa can't do that, he's weak, Daddy will just win!"
Stella laughed, Laila, who was mostly just spectating the interaction at this point, giggled a little as well, clearly getting that the family was joking around.

"What!?"
Samuel said, pretending to be completely outraged in the same way Harper just had, "For the record, I agree with him and that's why I won't do it,"

"Yeah right, you just know you can't do it!"
Stella grinned. Samuel scowled at her.

"I totally can, look," Samuel wiped the frown off his face and turned towards his husband, trying to look as cute as possible, though he had to admit, he felt a little silly doing all of this in front of one of the kids from school, but for as long as Laila and Harper was dating she was part of the family and thus he wouldn't act any different, "Roman, don't encourage our son's death, he's very cute and I would miss him a lot,"
 
r o m a n
As Samuel tried to be all pretty and convincing, Roman just frowned at him, and moved his chair away as if he was a little uncomfortable. Letha started to laugh, as did Harper, despite him being the one who was being gently bullied in that particular moment.

Needless to say, Samuel had lost this battle.

Dinner was followed by a delicious dessert of store-bought ice cream, since because Roman had spent all day preparing the main course, he had not had the time to do anything fancy for dessert. After the meal was finished, they all migrated to the living room where they played board games for a while. But eventually, there was a knock on the door, meaning Laila's parents had come to take her home.

Roman, Harper and Samuel all came to the door with her. "Hello! Was she good?" Seima asked them sweetly as they opened the door.

"Yes, she was wonderful. You have a delightful girl here," Roman said to her with a smile.

Harper nodded in agreement and turned to give Laila a sweet little hug. "It was really nice to have you over," he said sweetly. Roman's heart melted. "I hope you had a nice time?"
 
s a m u e l

After a nice dinner, it was time for Laila to leave, her parents had arrived to pick her up. They had all had such a good time it was a little sad to see her go because it meant the end to a good evening, of course, the family would surely continue to have fun until bedtime after she left, it just wouldn't be an event anymore.

Harper, when it was time for Laila to go gave her the sweetest hug and Laila, of course, hugged him back, it was all just too sweet and Samuel couldn't help smiling widely.

"Yeah I had a lot of fun, your family is great," she said, not very loudly, this was a conversation between the boyfriend and girlfriend, even if their parents were there, "Next time you should come to my place though," then for a moment she turned to Samuel and Roman, "If that'd be okay,"

"Of course it'd be okay, if it's alright with your parents," Samuel said directing the question at the other two parents who, of course, said it was, and soon they had said their final goodbyes and Laila was on her way home. Samuel was happy for Harper because he seemed happy and he seemed like he had had a lot of fun introducing his girlfriend to the family, which hopefully meant it wouldn't be the last time that happened.
 
e l i s s a
What the hell was going on? Something must have happened in the heavens above, because for the first time in forever, Elissa Harris-Quinn had had a day off.

Hence why she was lazing around in her sweatpants and a tank top, snuggled in her husband's lap, watching a documentary on Vikings that was playing on the television. She felt so relaxed, and so exhausted from the days before, that if Will hadn't chosen that exact moment to walk through the door, she probably would have fallen asleep on the couch.

But she looked up when her beautiful son came into the house. He was old enough to go to and from school himself if he wanted and he had decided at the start of this year that he wanted to ride his bike. He looked a little puffed, but he always did so Elissa didn't think much of it. "Hey, sweetie, how was your day?"

Will didn't answer her -- he seemed incredibly preoccupied. He dropped his stuff in the hall, which he never did, and just went into the kitchen to get himself a beverage. Elissa frowned at her husband. This didn't seem like their little boy at all.
 
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m a t t h e w

Matthew always loved the days Elissa had home from work, as the years went by Matthew had started to take on less and less work at the university to focus more on his writing, at this point, it was honestly his main job, so he spent a lot of time at home. Elissa, however, didn't so he cherished these moments. And the fact that will had taken to going to and from school by himself now opened up some extra time when Elissa didn't have work.

Today he definitely wasn't his usual self after his trip home though. Even the days when he was excited to go to his room and do something right away when he got home they'd usually get a happy greeting, Will was a sweet and wouldn't pass up on that unless there was a reason for it. Hence the worried glance Matthew exchanged with his wife.

"Let's go check on him," he mumbled, and so they stood and wandered over to the kitchen. Matthew decided not to walk over and fuss over him right away, had he wanted that he would have gone to them right away, so he kept a slight distance by staying in the doorway. He still spoke in the kind f soft tone he only used around Elissa and him when he spoke though, "Will, is something the matter?"
 
e l i s s a
Will jumped and looked up in surprise when his parents came into the kitchen, as if he hadn't remembered that they were in the house. "Huh?"

"Is anything the matter?"
Elissa asked him softly.

"What? Oh, no. I'm just ... I'm just worried about school, that's all. I've got a big project due next week."


"Oh, yeah? What class is it for?"


Will floundered right away, looking visibly distressed as he tried to come up with a class he could claim he was worried about. Elissa sighed. Something was deeply wrong, but their son didn't seem comfortable enough with them to be able to tell them what it was.
 
m a t t h e w

Matthew frowned. Will was lying. It wasn't because Will was lying he frowned though, but because he didn't know why he was doing it. And based on his behaviour it seemed to be because something was wrong, not because he had done something he shouldn't, and Will honestly didn't do things he shouldn't very often to begin with so Matthew seldom assumed so.

"you know that if you have a project we'll help you," Matthew started, quickly glancing over at Elissa because he wasn't really sure what to do or say in this situation. He didn't really want to help Wyn keep his lie up, or force him into more of a corner than he already was after his mother had asked him for what class it was for.

"And if there's something else going on you can tell us, you know that, right?" He decided to add, a little more carefully, to hopefully get him to at least hint at what he was hiding.
 
e l i s s a
Elissa could see her son struggling, probably between telling the truth or keeping up this facade. That just made her worry so much more. She hated to think that her son was going through something bad and didn't think he could tell them. Elissa had always tried to be as approachable and understanding with Will as possible. Had she failed somewhere down the line?

Apparently not, because soon after Matthew gently prompted him again, Will spilled the beans. "Okay ... I ... I got pushed over at school today, I was just a bit upset," he mumbled.

Elissa's eyes widened in horror. She went forward and pulled her little son into a hug. "Oh, Will! That's terrible, why didn't you --"

"Stoooop," Will whined, pushing her off with a deep frown on his face. Elissa stared at him with a pained expression and looked at Matthew in panic. What was going on?
 
Matthew's eyes got a little wider at both Will's confession and at his reaction to his mother's affection. Someone had pushed him over at school. As in actually hurt him. Matthew wasn't sure what he had expected his son to say, but as horrible as it was it kind of did make sense. Not that anyone would shove him, Matthew couldn't wrap his head around that because Will was an amazing child, but his behaviour since coming home was clearly a result of what had happened.

Matthew was... Well, he was angry that this had happened. He was angry that no teacher had been there to intervene and he was mad that if they had, he and Elissa hadn't been alerted about the incident. Maybe that was a good thing because that would probably mean it was a one-time thing or an accident, but still, Will had come home from school clearly upset about it, and no child should have to do that.

"Listen Will," Matthew said, he stayed where he was and didn't approach his son, not only because of the reaction Will had given his mother, but because he knew from being teased in school himself that it wasn't a very fun thing to tell your parents and that even could feel embarrassing, "If it just happened once we don't have to make a big deal out of it unless you want to or if you feel really bad about it. But if there's someone being mean to you at school then we need to make sure you're okay. But we can't know what's going on without you telling us,"
 
e l i s s a
Will let out a frustrated noise and threw the spoon he had been using to mix his Milo with in the sink. Elissa jumped at the loud noise. "Oh my God, this is why I didn't want to tell you! You're making a big deal out of nothing, I'm fine."

Elissa took a couple of steps back. She didn't want to crowd her son and make him feel uncomfortable, so she backed off, knowing that he would handle things better without people up in his face. Her heart was aching for her son and how he was feeling. He didn't deserve to have been shoved and he shouldn't have to worry about how his parents would react if he told them something had happened at school.

Elissa desperately wondered what she had done to make him feel that way, but for the life of her she couldn't think of anything, and it was fucking killing her.

"Will --"


Will didn't say anything, he just grabbed his glass and stormed out of the room. Elissa watched him go. She wanted to run after him and stop him, find out what exactly was happening and how his mum could make it better. But he was gone now, and her heart was aching.

She went to Matthew, buried her face in his chest and closed her eyes. "What ... why does he think he can't tell us things?"
 
m a t t h e w

"I... I guess he's scared we'll overreact?"
Matthew said, at first he couldn't imagine why, then he quietly thought about it for a moment and realised maybe there was a reason for that. With one parent who was a lawyer and one who had spent a good chunk of his adult life just lecturing people, he had pretty argumentative parents. And Matthew knew his own want to talk back to people and convince them he was right had backfired multiple times.

Not only that though, the fact that his initial reaction had been to question why no teacher had been there or had contacted them kind of spoke for his sons' feelings. A shove was just a shove, it might have been playful and caused Will to lose his footing and get annoyed, but Matthew had been ready to call the school about it.

Matthew also realised then, that maybe Will hadn't been worried about the actual shove, but worried about his parents' reaction to it primarily, "But we have to talk to him? I don't want to be like my parents were and ignore it and hope he'll approach us, he probably won't, not if this is how he feels about telling us things?"
 
e l i s s a
Elissa felt so sad knowing that her son didn't think he could tell them things. She hadn't wanted such a thing to happen, she hadn't wanted to become distant with her child, but that was what had happened, and she absolutely hated it. She couldn't let this continue, she wouldn't allow it to continue.

So without a word, she took Matthew's hand and proceeded to pull him up the stairs to Will's bedroom.

Will was sitting on his window seat, his Milo in his hand, a pensive look on his face as he stared out the window. He looked up when his parents came in, but he just scowled at them before turning away. "I don't want to talk about it."

"We're not here to talk about the shove, sweetie, we want to talk about why you think you can't tell us what's going on."

Will turned to them and blinked a couple of times. "Why ...?"

"Why you don't feel you can tell us things."

"...Because you always overreact! Like when Dad called the school because someone stole my lunch in Year 2 -- that was so embarrassing because he had to bring me a new lunch the next day and he gave it to me in front of the whole class! I just knew you would make this thing out of nothing."
 
m a t t h e w

Matthew almost cringed a little at the mention of his past behaviour, not because he had regretted it at the time or thought it was anything all that wrong with it, but because he had never really heard the story from Will's perspective. And for him it wasn't that he had been treated as fairly as he should have, but an already bad situation that turned worse because of an overbearing parent.

"Will, you didn't even tell us if it was nothing this time, all we know that you got shoved and then you cut the conversation short," Matthew pointed out, he wasn't trying to argue against him, just let him know how they saw the situation, "We can't read your mind, and we are your parents and we love you, so when you tell us something bad has happened and nothing more we assume the worst has happened because we want the best to you,"

They were occasionally accused of spoiling Will, and being a little over-involved, and maybe they were and until now Matthew hadn't really been able to see what could be wrong with that. He had never seen the harm in just showing your child you loved them, but he supposed that at some point you had to let go a little, you couldn't always baby them, and that is why people didn't always like the extent they tended to coddle Will.

"But I think you might be right, we do overreact sometimes," Matthew said with a small sigh, he wasn't sighing because he was admitting defeat, he didn't mind doing that with Elissa and his son. He was just sighing, because he felt like he had failed s a parent in this regard, "But we can only promise to try to not do that, if you promise you will talk to us when things happen,"
 
e l i s s a
Elissa watched Will as Matthew spoke, and she was relieved to see that it seemed like what Matthew was saying was sinking in. His angry and hurt expression was dissolving as he seemed to realise that all his mother and father wanted for him was the absolute best. Elissa hated to think that her son had ever thought otherwise.

"...Okay," Will said quietly, with a small nod. "I'm sorry."

Elissa went to sit beside her son and she wrapped him in a hug. "You don't need to apologise, honey, we should have been more respectful of your feelings. Can you just promise you'll tell us if anything else happens? We won't do anything without your permission."

"I promise,"
Will said, hugging his mother back. Elissa sighed with relief. All she wanted was to be the best parent she could possibly be, but she couldn't do that without listening to her children. So, she was actually glad that they had had this discussion, because it meant it was the first step towards fixing any problems they had in their family, and then subsequently being as happy as possible.
 
l a i l a

Laila had been excited all day. It was a Friday, and school was just over. Most people were happy about that because it meant the weekend but this Friday was special. Harper had asked her out on a date and they had decided to meet up after class and go on it. Laila would have maybe wished they would have planned it in that weekend so she didn't have to go in her school uniform, but even if she had sho had made sure she looked cute that day.

That morning, her mum had put her hair up in waterfall braids. She had also decided to wear makeup, she did most days anyways, some days she didn't and her friends would tell them they were jealous of her because she looked good without it and she would say they looked just as good without it as well. It wasn't any fancy makeup look though, just some foundation, powder, a cat winged eyeliner and a rosy pink lipgloss.

Now she was standing in the hallway just waiting for Harper to come to her locker, and when she spotted him, she shone up and hurried over and took his hand. It wasn't a secret that they were dating, she didn't see why that would be, "hey Harper!"
 
h a r p e r
Harper was beyond excited because today he was going on his first proper date with Laila. He had had his dad help him plan it out and he had their agenda written on a piece of paper kept in his phone case -- he also had been given by Dad some money for the date so he could have a fun time with his girlfriend.

"Hey," he said happily, squeezing her hand and giving her a sweet kiss to the cheek when he found her. He then took a moment to notice how much effort she had actually gone to to look nice for the date. She was stunning, like usual. It made Harper feel happy to think that she wanted to look nice for him, but at the same time, he wanted her to know that she didn't have to do that. She was beautiful no matter what she wore.

"You look lovely," Harper told her anyway. "Are you ready?"
 
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l a i l a

Laila felt her cheeks flush as Harper said she looked nice. It meant just a tad more when he said it that when one of her friends said it. Not because she needed his validation or anything, but he was her boyfriend and obviously she wanted him to think she looked as nice as she thought Harper did most of the time

"I'm ready," she said and they started to walk out of the building. Laila didn't actually know where they were going or what they were doing, but she was excited nonetheless. Had it been another boy she would have maybe been a little sceptic as to what they were doing, but she trusted that Harper could come up with something fun.

"Where are we going?" she asked curiously as they walked.
 
h a r p e r
"It's a secret," Harper said as they climbed onto the bus and found a comfortable seat. He really hoped that Laila liked his plan. He and Dad had spent hours looking at all the stores in the shopping centre to find the perfect combination of places for Harper to take this girl he really really liked.

Harper just prayed it went well.

They got off the bus at the largest shopping centre in the area, where they walked in hand-in-hand, a couple of the few school kids here to enjoy their afternoon. Harper knew exactly where he was going -- he lead Laila onto the third floor of the shopping centre, past the Nike and the Seafolly stores, and to their destination.

"Ta-da," Harper said when they had stopped in front of Build-A-Bear. "I thought this could be fun, what do you think?"