Title: It's Something Unpredictable, But In The End Is Right Status: Complete Characters: Anon, Fang, Ripley, Samantha, Anon's Parents Rating: SFW Classification: One-Shot Author: PumpkinBrain Summary: Anon’s parents give him a surprise visit. It doesn’t go well. I awoke slowly that fateful day. The sun was barely coming over the horizon, bathing the room in a glow of orange. I was surprised to be awake that early. Usually my alarm woke me up later than that. But I guess I didn’t need an alarm, given it was a weekend. It was nice to finally be on the weekend. Fridays are nice, but being able to wake up to a completely empty day? It was great. Speaking of Friday, though, yesterday, me and Fang had— …me and Fang. We… I took a look at the pterodactyl woman lying in bed with me. Her hair was frazzled and her clothes were nowhere to be found. Yet she.. had a smile on her face. I felt myself gaining one as well. Last night, we had… well, I’m sure it’s obvious, but if not: we fugged. We did the dirty. I got ptero pussy. Shit was absolutely fucking insane, my lord, who knew sex felt that good? No wonder people ended up addicted to that shit. Sex is the good shit. Never in my eighteen-years of life did I think I would ever have it, but shit dude, I did. Maaan, if only those Mongolian Basket-Weaving forum nerds could see me now. I considered taking a selfie of me and Fang, just to brag to them, but I decided against it. I didn’t want to disturb her at all. She… she really looked so peaceful. It made my heart ache. Seeing Fang be so happy, so content, so… her? It… it really made me so insurmountably glad. Moving to the area and attending Volcano High was the best decision I had ever made. Even if it wasn’t my decision. Though, even if I wanted to take a selfie, I couldn’t. I forgot to plug in my phone last night. Damn it all to hell. “Oh well.” I muttered, and turned back over, no longer looking at Fang. It’s not that I didn’t want to keep looking at her. It’s more that I… was thinking about what to do with the day. I was definitely going to get up and make breakfast. That’s just common courtesy. If you screw a girl’s brains out, you make her breakfast. You show her your love, and your support, and then… you marry her. It’s a tale as old as time. Past that, though? Breakfast, I mean? Wasn’t sure. Going on a date was a novel idea, but we were technically on a date last night. I began to mutter. “Hanging out with our friends is also a viable idea… but I don’t know if Fang wants that. Sometimes she can be pretty introverted…” Though, when Fang stirred, I instantly shut my mouth. I can be a mumbling anime character some other time. AKA, most of my fucking life. I gotta get a handle on the muttering! However… phone dead, nothing to do, I was getting a little antsy. It’s nice to spend all day in bed with the love of your life, but those weird romance fanfic greentexts make it seem like you can just lie in bed for hours with a girl. I’m sure I could if I was dedicated enough, but you can only sit around doing nothing—fully awake, mind you—for a long enough time before you want to blow your head off with a Winchester. Not to say I did want that. I just… damn it, you get what I’m saying. I don’t have to explain myself to you. I love Fang. I just needed to get to work. So that’s what I did. I strategically climbed out of bed, threw on my favorite pair of jeans (I only had one) along with my green tee and walked my way over to the kitchen. First order of business, I threw open my fridge and checked what we had. Hmm… juice, baking soda (?), Rocky Mountain oysters… Holy shit, I had the breakfast stuff. Bacon. Eggs. Onions. Trad husband and goth wife will be real?? Laughing quietly at my stupid joke, I grabbed out the necessary ingredients and chucked ‘em on the counter. Though I wouldn’t pretend that the thought was entirely a joke. While I wasn’t exactly planning to be a beta libcuck house-husband, I didn’t mind the thought of being married to Fang. It… it was a nice thought. Me and her at the altar, all of our friends and family watching as we tied the knot… aaahh. God, I felt like a kid. Anyway, I also grabbed out a thing of orange juice I had and poured myself a glass. What can I say? A mf was thirsty. After that whole juice and marriage thing, I reached down under my stove and pulled out the pans I needed, being careful not to let anything crash or fall. As I set the necessary cooking vehicles on my stove, I reached over and grabbed the food items. A couple cracked eggs in a bowl, beaten to a yellow color, were tossed into the pan. After that, we were in business. I set out another pan and put the bacon on. The sizzling caused me some mental strife, but I’m sure it would’ve been fine. That stirring noise and the bedsheets moving was definitely just the wind or something. As I took sips of my OJ and moved around the eggs, I began to dance to a tune in my head. It was just a little thing— a song I liked. Had I had my phone out, I would’ve probably been listening to it. But I didn’t have my phone out, so I did the next best thing. I began to whisper-sing it. “…I’m having trouble trying to sleep… I’m counting sheep, but running out…” I muttered, stirring the eggs around. Ahh, Green Day. Truly, a great band. “ As time ticks by… still I try…“ I kept singing, ending up in my element. I didn’t even realize how loud the sizzling had gotten. I only realized when my whispering was cut off by another voice. It began to sing the same tune. “…No rest for crop tops in my mind.” A familiar feminine voice sang, whispering as I was. Yet she had much more of a tune than I did. Before I could turn around, someone wrapped their arms around me, and began to shuffle me back and forth. I went along. We were dancing to the same tune. “On my own, here we go.” She said, a bit louder, but still nothing more than mumbling. I could feel her place a kiss onto my back. Yet, she never let go of the hug. She seemed content to stay there— and I was, too. “Good morning.” I said, and chuckled. “Good morning, Anon.” She muttered, her head still on my back as we continued to sway back and forth. It was like we were already married. “How did you sleep?” She asked. “I slept fantastic.” I said, the smile present in my tone. “Did you, sleeping beauty?” She snorted, and flicked my side. I giggled like a kid. “I slept good. Thank you.” And then she took a long sniff. “Mm. That smells good.” “Thanks.” I nodded. “It was meant to be a surprise, but I think I like the position we’re in more…” I trailed off at that last part. “Mmm… What’s the occasion?” She muttered. “Well, I just thought, since we..” I choked up. I was blushing now. “I should…” I tugged my collar. It was hard, given my arms were nearly wrapped up, but I still did it. Was this room getting hotter? “…you’re such a dork.” She whispered, and nuzzled my back. “But you’re so sweet.” “Haah.. thank-“ Once again, for the second time that day, my voice was cut off. But not by a beloved ptero girl singing a song I liked. No. It was by my door opening. Yeah… my door opening. My apartment, in Skin Row, was having a random person break into it. Fantastic. Reacting quickly, and doing things instinctively, I turned to face the door and I put an arm out. Fang stayed behind me as I got ready to be defensive. …is what I wish I could’ve said. Instead, I stood there, like a fucking dork. Like a goddamn deer caught in headlights. “Whuh?” I said, shocked at the sound of the door. Fucking retarded. “AH!” Fang yelled, instantly removing herself from my back. I turned to face her, to see what was wrong, and that’s when I noticed that she had… foregone wearing her top. She wore underwear, but her breasts were simply out for the world to see. I would’ve been excited had it not been a completely shocking and surprising—maybe even dangerous—situation we found ourselves in. I waved Fang off, and she took the hint and ran to my bed. She grabbed the first shirt she could find, which happened to be my green button-up. Haha. Nice. Wait, fuck! I turned to face the door. Two humans stood there, both with shocked looks on their faces. Their.. familiar faces. What the hell? How did they… “…Boy…” The man started. “…What the fuck?” The man, now identified as my fucking FATHER, muttered; a look of both utter shock and horror on his face. I quickly scrambled to shut off the stove, and began spilling out excuses. None of them made any kind of sense. I was just spouting complete nonsense and hoping it stuck— hoping it explained the situation. But how do you explain cooking breakfast with a pterodactyl girl hugging you from behind? How do you explain the sweaty stench in the air? And how do you explain the BOOBS?! My father just put his hand up, and walked further into the apartment. He sniffed the air and made a face, but he didn’t comment on it. Hopefully the bacon is overpowering enough. But probably not. He just set a bag down on the ground. He was not having it. “Boy. How about you finish cooking breakfast, and then we can all sit down and have a nice little chat?” He said, his saccharine voice a complete facade. He turned to look at Fang. “Your little girlfriend can join us, too.” He smiled. And then, in a shocking turn of events, he revealed the habit I got from him; he began to mumble. “Damn meteor-dodger…” I felt my blood pressure rise. But I wasn’t about to cause a scene. This could, at the end of the day, possibly… go well. I just had to keep my cool. “Sounds good, Dad.” I said, straining. I had to pretend I didn’t hear what he said. But oh man, I’d never wanted to punch a bald motherfucker more than I did at that moment. And I looked in the mirror every morning. ”Though, I must ask, why the surprise visit?” I found myself saying. Why? It didn’t make sense. ”Surprise? I texted you about it, Boy.” My dad said. …my phone was dead. Motherfucker. God damn it. You’re telling me the awkwardness could’ve been— oh whatever. It doesn’t matter anymore. Anyway, I did end up following his advice. I finished cooking up an awkward breakfast while Fang spent most of her time in the bathroom. She was probably making herself presentable. Not that she wasn’t always the most beautiful girl in the room, but her makeup had run a little bit due to last night’s… activities. If you catch my drift. Though, I will say, a girl crying during sex because she ‘just loves you so much’ is… a nice feeling. Even as I nearly fucked up breakfast because of how much pressure I felt, I still found myself smiling at my thoughts. But, evidently, the real world had to catch up to me. I couldn’t keep adding cheese and onions to the eggs to extend the time it took to cook them— lest I just completely ruin breakfast. I didn’t want that. I just… needed a little more time. But it looks like I wouldn’t get it. “Fang! Breakfast!” I shouted, portioning out the food to four plates. There wasn’t nearly enough, and had I been ballsy enough I wouldn’t have given my parents anything, but I wasn’t feeling like ending the day in a fist fight. So I just sucked it up and gave everyone a portion. “Thank you, Boy.” My dad muttered when I sat the plate down in front of him. I just grunted. I didn’t want to humor him with a response. “Thanks, dear.” My mom said, her sweet voice making me sick. She was just as bad as my dad, but she always had on that mask of.. care. It was like Naomi but sickeningly worse in every possible way. …huh. Maybe that’s why I don’t like Naomi. But wait, wouldn’t the Mommy-Issues-Freud-Logic dictate that I should be MORE in love with Naomi because of her manipulative nature? That given she’s like my mom, I would be drawn to her? If so— “Thanks, Anon.” Fang interrupted my thoughts as she sat down at the table. Huh. Thank goodness. I was going to a weird area. Fang sat in the spot that was across from my mom, leaving the only open spot.. the one right across from my dad. Fucking fantastic. Gee. Thanks, Fang. …I sighed internally. No. I can’t get mad at Fang. She has no context for any of this; as far as she’s aware, this is just some awkward breakfast with intruding parents. That saw her naked. She… she doesn’t know anything about who they truly are. What they’re capable of, or how they act. I don’t think she even heard the meteor-dodger comment. I sat down in my chair, and faced the music. The food in front of me was no longer appetizing. To Fang, it was. Haha. She was absolutely chowing down. I chuckled, and, for a moment… I forgot where I was. “Jeez, sweet tooth. Slow down. You’ll choke.” I muttered, putting a hand on her shoulder. I was back in my element, and it was just me and Fang. She blushed at the name, called me a dweeb, and hit my shoulder. But then went right back to eating. Average Fang behavior. When the interaction was over, I was forcefully returned to my reality. “Sweet tooth?” My dad asked, and it felt like I got cold water dumped on my head. “Uh, yeah.” I whispered, finding the table to be VERY interesting. “…Just a pet name.” “So I take it you two really are dating?” He asked, as if it wasn’t fucking obvious already. She was naked in my apartment. Though, actually, maybe I should be offended. He thought so little of me that he even considered the idea of me fucking some random girl. What a piece of shit. I wasn’t responding, though, and he noticed “…Well?” Oh fuck. I got distracted. “Yeah. Yeah, we’re dating.” I nodded. I looked over at Fang as I did, and she looked relieved to hear me say that. Weird… Ah, wait. She was probably just as confused as my dad due to me not answering right away. Might have to apologize for that later. “We’ve been dating for about 5 months now. We met at school.” I said, looking back over at dad. “That new school? Volcano High, was it?” He asked, finally taking a bite of the bacon. He didn’t like it. Fucker. “That’s the place you got transferred to, right?” “That’s the one, yeah.” I nodded. Relatively normal conversation so far.. “Oh, what’s it like, dear? Are you making friends?” My mom asked. Weird. “Yeah, I am.” I said, taking a bite of eggs, humoring the conversation. “Fang was a friend of mine first and foremost, though I originally was just friends with her brother. There’s a few others— Reed, Trish, Naomi kinda, Stella and Rosa…” I said, trailing off at the end, realizing I didn’t have any more names. “They’re all pretty cool. We’ve had our fair share of drama but—“ “Are any of them human, dear?” My mom asked, completely interrupting me. See what I mean? She’s so fucking fake. “Uh.” I said, and looked back down at the table. “No. Aside from the staff, I’m the only human at Volcano High.” “What?!” My dad yelled, completely, genuinely outraged. “Are you fucking with me??” I was confused by this. Did he not.. do any research? “…No, I’m not, dad. Volcaldera Bluffs is full of dinos. I’m pretty fuckin’ sure I’m the only human in town..” I said, not realizing my mistake. “Watch your language, Boy. I will not tolerate your disrespect.” He growled. God damn it. “Sorry, sir.” I said, my words being fake. They weren’t a representation of how I truly felt. I was completely inflamed on the inside. I wasn’t sorry. “Now. You’re dating this girl.” He said, apparently wanting to go right back to business. Didn’t even try hiding it anymore. “Are you happy with her?” My father asked, and I was caught a bit off-guard. But who knew what he meant by that. Who knew what was coming next. “Yeah, I’m happy with her.” I muttered, taking a bite of my own bacon. Pretty good. “Why wouldn’t I be?” He stayed silent for a bit, apparently comprehending my response. “…How are you happy with her?” He whispered, clenching his fists. “How are you happy, knowing what you are? What you’re doing?” I was confused, but I was getting angrier. What the fuck was he saying? “Mind elaborating?” I asked. “What your father means to say, is, dear—“ my mom spoke, but my dad interrupted. “How can you be happy fucking an animal?!” He yelled. “A fucking dinosaur! You’re fucking a god damn dinosaur!” My dad yelled, fully standing up from his spot at the table. “An ANIMAL! NOT A HUMAN!” “HEY!” Fang yelled, standing up out of her seat. I quickly followed her, but I put a hand on her shoulder. I was preventing her from making any moves. She looked over at me, shocked I was interfering with her. But all it took was one look into my eyes for her to understand. This was my fight. Not hers. I turned back to face the man that pretended to be a father. I began to speak. “You… will not call her an animal.” I said, my calm tone betraying what I actually felt inside. I was reaching my boiling point, and it hadn’t even been ten minutes. That’s how much I hate this motherfucker. “She is the best thing to ever happen in my life. I won’t allow you to talk about her like that.” I said, standing my ground. Standing up to my dad… for the first time. “Talk about her like what? You won’t allow me to be HONEST, Boy?” He spoke through his teeth. He had removed himself from the table and began to walk up closer to me. “You are fucking an animal, Boy. No son of mine is going to be a goddamn zoophile!” “She’s not an ANIMAL!” I yelled, getting closer to him as well. “Her name is Lucy and she’s BEAUTIFUL!” Both mom’s and Fang’s words of ‘Pseudon!’ And ‘Anon!’ fell on deaf ears as me and my ‘dad’ got closer to each other. “SHE’S A PTERODACTYL! A GODDAMN METEOR-DODGER!” He screamed at me. He got in close, and it was making me UNCOMFORTABLE! “ENOUGH!” I yelled, and pushed him away from me. He fell, and slammed his backside into the porcelain counter. He knocked over a glass and it shattered on the ground. The world went silent as we all looked at each other. Everything remained quiet… for a few seconds. “He struck first.” My dad muttered, seemingly excited, and rolled his shoulder. “YOU SON OF A BITCH DEGENERATE!” He yelled, and charged me. I was caught off-guard. What the fuck? My own father wanted to fucking FIGHT? He was down to beat the shit out of his own son? Yeah. Yeah, he was. See, that’s the kind of guy my dad was. He was the motherfucker that got in bar fights as an underage kid. He brought fists to a knife-fight. He met my mom at a fucking fight club, for God’s sake. I’m pretty sure he was waiting for years for this moment. It was his goddamn plan— his plan all along. He wanted to raise a kid that hated him, went against him. Just to beat him up. What a piece of shit. However, back to the real world, I got my shit grabbed. He began to push me around, and I slammed into the entrance door. “We’re taking this outside, you motherfucker!” I yelled, and tried reaching for the doorknob. Fang and Mom continued to scream, but I wasn’t paying attention. I needed to open this DOOR-! Fuck! Eventually, he allowed me to open it, and we went stumbling outside. “Asshole!” I yelled, and grabbed him myself. We wrestled for power as we fell over the balcony’s edge. But neither of us cared. We ended up on the concrete, but the adrenaline flowing through us continued to keep us going. I stood us up, and pushed him away from me. I wiped some blood off my mouth as I stared him down. But he didn’t let up. He went for a punch. Me, being retarded, didn’t even try to dodge it. I took the full force of the punch, right to the nose. I heard a loud ‘crack’, and felt blood rush out of my nostrils. Ass. I think he broke it. It became hard to breathe as I looked on at the motherfucker. Feeling the strong urge to kill, I swung my own punch. He also didn’t dodge. I was able to get two in a row before he jumped back. “Finally.” He muttered, somewhat disoriented. “Good job, Boy. You GREW A PAIR!” He screamed, and swung his fist again. I dodged. He had practically telegraphed that shit. He swung again, and lost balance from the amount of power he put into it. Seeing an opportunity, I kicked at his knee. He lost his footing, and I took the opportunity to wind up a haymaker. He didn’t even see it coming, and I punched him as hard as I could in the face, his entire body and head moving forcefully. They immediately slammed into the side of his truck, and a loud ‘BANG’ was heard as his head rammed into the blue-colored metal of a 2009 Toyota Tacoma. The car alarm began to beep as he laid on the ground, motionless. …I stood in silence for a few moments, processing what just happened. “Did I… did I win?” I asked myself. I… was having a hard time comprehending things. I won, right? He wasn’t moving. He was knocked out, and he wasn’t going to be getting up any time soon. It all… happened so fast. The fight couldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes, but in the moment, it felt like seconds. Every move was entirely instinctual. Even that little knee kick that gave me the upper-hand was just based on a cheap trick. It wasn’t like in the shonen animes, where the characters think out the moves before they do them. It was… it was raw. It was a fight for dominance, and.. I won. Almost immediately, Ramona ran up to her husband, Pseudon. Yeah. What a shitty name. I guess mine isn’t much better, but at least my name doesn’t sound like a Poseidon knock-off. But whatever. I wasn’t really worried about names anymore. I didn’t care. Fuck all of it. Fuck them. Fang walked up to me, and put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her, and she smiled. She then turned the hand into a hug, and I was initially surprised by the move. But, realizing what was going on, I quickly hugged her back. We began to rock back and forth, as we had done this morning. “Hey.” I said, dumbly. My head was killing me, and I was dripping blood onto Fang’s hair. I don’t think she minded though. “Hey,” she said, and chuckled. “How do you feel?” I looked at Ramona worrying about Pseudon. He was still completely knocked out, and his truck had blood on it. Fucking truck. He loved that thing more than me. “…like a million bucks.” I muttered, giving a sad laugh. “Yeah?” She asked, and nuzzled me. “Are you okay?” “Nope.” I said flatly. “My nose is broken, and I’m probably gonna have a hell of a headache later. For all it’s worth, though, I’m alright.” I whispered that last part, and looked down at her. She looked up at me. Her makeup had been running, and she was smearing black and orange all over my tee-shirt. But it was alright. I ran a hand through her hair. She was so pretty. “…you’re so beautiful.” I muttered, echoing mg thoughts. She blushed, and it caused me to smile. “I’m sorry about all that stuff he said.” She snorted. “You kidding? You totally made up for it. Watching you kick the shit out of that bastard was awesome. If… a little scary.” She looked away. But then she looked back at me. “If you had lost, I probably would’ve had a panic attack. Being left alone with him is..” I chuckled. “Now you know how I feel about Ripley.” She punched me. “Oh whatever. At least my dad likes you..” “Does he?” I asked, genuinely. Did he really like me? It never looked like it. Looked like he hated me, actually. “Of course he does.” Fang snorted again, and shook her head. “He just has a bad way of showing it.” “Yeah, you can—“ “Hey, motherFUCKER!” A voice yelled, catching my attention. God damn it. Why do I keep getting interrupted? Why does this day suck so bad? Anyway, it was Pseudon, and he was awake. “I want you out of this apartment. I’m not paying for it anymore. You’re eighteen, FIND YOUR OWN PLACE!” He yelled. What a fucking wimp. He lost one fight and he wasn’t going to be a father anymore. “Fine.” I said, shrugging. “Fuck you too.” All he did was growl and unlock his truck. “Come on, Ramona. Let’s leave the zoophile to his degeneracy.” My mom, ever-the-good-parent, followed him wordlessly. They both got into the truck, and within around a minute, the truck was gone; leaving me and Fang standing there like idiots. …I had no idea what to do at that point, honestly. It slowly dawned on me that I didn’t have anywhere to go. I didn’t have a job, and I didn’t know a quick place where I could get a job. At least, one to afford an apartment. I was still in high school, I can’t work enough hours to afford to live anywhere. Minimum wage workers working three jobs can barely afford an apartment. God. I was boned. I was screwed. I was fucked. “Hey, dweeb. You can stay at my place.” Fang said, nuzzling me again. “Dad will understand. Especially if I tell him that you won the fight.” “…I muttered all of that, didn’t I?” When she nodded, I sighed. But. “But seriously?” I asked, looking at her incredulously. “You’d do that?” “Of course.” She said, and gave me a kiss on the nose. “You’re my boyfriend, I love you, and you defended my honor today. As far as I’m aware, you’ve done every good move in my book. Plus, again, I love you..” she whispered, and kissed me again. She leaned into the hug again. “We have a spare bedroom. It’ll be fine.” “…you’re sure?” I asked. “Ripley would be okay with it?” “Oh my God, An-“ she started, rolling her eyes. I backpedaled. “Alright, alright. Okay. I’ll do it.” “Yeah, you better.” She laughed. “You don’t have anywhere else to go. If you ended up homeless I might have to beat you up for coming to our dates smelling like garbage.” …I laughed, but part of me was afraid she really would do that. It wasn’t out of the question for her. But I just nodded, getting myself back on track. “Alright. I’ll stay with you.” ”Good. Oh, and hey.” Fang interrupted herself. “Did you call me Lucy?” … DISTRACTION! “Ow. Fuck. Ow, fuck— ow! Fuck!” ///::::/// When me and Fang arrived at her place, her first order of business was to leave me with Samantha while she spoke to Ripley about the situation. Frankly, I would’ve rather had Fang treat my injuries, but… Samantha was nearly making me cry, haha. She was just so caring. “Alright, this might sting a bit, but it’ll help your wound. Okay, honey?” She muttered. I was once again shirtless, lying on my stomach as I was treated by a pterodactyl woman. Weird how I kept ending up in this situation. At least this time my injuries were manly. “3… 2.. 1..” Samantha started counting down. I hissed when the alcohol-swab was applied to a big scrape I got on my back. Turns out, falling off a balcony does things to your skin. Damn dinosaurs, they don’t have to worry about stuff like that. Well, scrapes, I mean. She probably only had the antiseptic for bigger cuts, so I was probably wasting all of it. “You’re not wasting anything, dear. You’re hurt.” She said softly, and gave me a kiss on the head. I blushed. “It’s my duty as a mother to make sure you’re alright.” She spoke, and rubbed my back. Not on the scrape, go next clear. I uh.. I don’t know why, but I felt tears well up in my eyes. I had honestly never been treated like that before. “Th-Thanks, ma’am.” “Oh, dear, what have I told you?” She rubbed my head as she applied a bandage to the scrape. “Call me Samantha.” “Thank you, Samantha.” I muttered, and wiped my eyes on the pillow. “It means a lot.” “Of course, dear.” She said, her smile present in her tone. “Now. That’s the last of it. I’ll let you get your shirt back on, and after that, I’ll let you talk to Ripley.” At that, I visibly shuddered. She quickly noticed. “It’s nothing bad, Anon. I promise.” Her words, despite being rather empty, meant.. a lot. I automatically felt calmer. Safer. She really was good at this ‘mom’ thing. Better than Ramona, at least. “Alright.” I said, steeling myself. I sat up off the couch, wincing at the burning sensation on my back. The bruises on my side. The nose that wasn’t actually broken, but had tissues stuffed inside. I removed the tissues, and began to breathe normally. Afterward, I got my clothes back on, and clenched my fists in a rapid motion. I was nervous. It was something I rarely did, but when I’m nervous, sometimes I have certain habits. That was one of them. Samantha went upstairs, presumably to grab Ripley. I think he was still talking to Fang. What about, well, I hope it was good stuff. A few moments later, and Fang came downstairs. Not who I expected, but I was happy to see her anyway. “You feeling okay?” She asked, giving me a hug. “Mom patch you up good?” “Yeah,” I muttered, laughing. “You have some competition.” “Oh, shut up, dweeb.” She laughed. “You know I’m your favorite.” “Ehh, I dunno… Samantha’s pretty cool.” I teased. I was probably going a little bit too far. She looked somewhat upset. But then, she smiled. Phew. “I’m going to let it slide this time because you’re injured. But in the future, you are to ALWAYS… say I’m the favorite.” She lectured. “You’re the favorite.” I muttered, and gave her a kiss on the snoot. She blushed. “What have I said about-!” I smiled. That’s all I did. That’s all it took. All it took for her to smile back. “…alright. Fair enough.” She laughed. I laughed too, and gave her another kiss. She pushed me away, laughing still. “Stop!” “Never.” I said. It’s true. I would never stop. “Ah, whatever. I love you too. Which is why I’m going to let you talk to dad.” My heart rate spiked. “He won’t kill you. I made sure of it.” She said, her face having a genuine smile. She put a hand to my face, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for last night, by the way.” I blushed. She laughed, and ran away to go back up the stairs. “Damn it! Teasing is my thing, not yours!” I yelled after her. I didn’t get a reply, so I just laughed to myself. However, after a few moments, Ripley walked down the stairs. I was no longer laughing. The ptero-patriarch himself was in the room. I had to show respect.. When he laid eyes on me, his face hardened. Shit. Fuck. Uh oh. “…Anon.” He whispered, and walked off the last step. His hulking frame did little to calm my frayed nerves. “Good to see you.” He said. Was he genuine? Was he lying? I DIDN’T KNOW! He remained silent after that, and looked expectant. Wait, fuck! “G-Good to see you, sir.” I muttered. “Relax, Anon.” He said, and sat down in his favorite chair. How. How can I relax. “Like this.” He whispered, adjusting himself in the seat as he did. Damn my muttering! After saying what he did, he then reached into an armrest pocket and pulled out two beers. He opened them both with his little head horn thing. Woah. Cool. “Here.” He said, and held out the bottle. “Uh… are you sure?” I asked. “I’m underage.” “Just take the damn bottle, Anon.” He grumbled. “Yessir.” I said, and grabbed the bottle. I immediately took a swig, but had to stop myself afterward. Fuck. That was kinda strong. It definitely wasn’t cheap beer. I began coughing. Ripley just laughed. “First beer?” “Yeah,” I lied, coughing. Fuck. I wonder what kind of beer this is, though. Getting curious, I took a look at the label. “Yuengling?” “My favorite lager.” He whispered, and took his own sip. “Now, come on. Sit down.” I did as I was asked, yet… not out of fear. He gave me a beer. The police chief gave me a beer. This… this was weird. “Now.” He said, and sighed. “I heard about what happened from Lucy.” He was apparently getting right to business. Fitting for Ripley, honestly. But it was making me nervous. “Yeah?” I asked, and took a sip of my own bottle. It was better when enjoyed slowly. “What did she say?” “She said that…” he looked off into the distance, leaning back in his chair. “Your parents came to visit you, and it ended badly.” I laughed. “That’s not even the half of it.” He looked at me with a gruff look. “I’m aware. Don’t interrupt me.” “…sorry.” I said, and looked at the floor. Damn it. “It’s alright, Anon. I’m not upset.” He chuckled. “Now.” He kept saying that. “She also told me that you and your father engaged in a fist-fight.” I winced. “She said you initiated it because he… insulted you and Lucy. More importantly, she said you initiated it because he insulted her.” He muttered, and took a sip of beer. He scratched his neck. “Is that true?” I nodded. “…yeah.” I said, hesitantly. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe I was afraid he would arrest me for fighting someone. Something stupid like that. I was drinking a beer with him, for God’s sake. “What did he say?” Ripley asked, completely serious. I couldn’t lie. I could never consider lying. “He, uh..” I coughed. “He called her a meteor-dodger. Said I was a zoophile, and spoke about her being a pterodactyl— as if it were a bad thing.” I snorted. Fucker. “But still. It… was upsetting to hear. Upsetting to hear my own father talk about her like that.” I said, being completely honest. “I see.” Ripley said, and looked off into space again. He took another sip of beer. I sat and waited for him to say something else. It took a few moments, but eventually, he did. “Anon.” He said, gruffly, and leaned forward in his chair. I began to pay attention. “…thank you.” He said quietly. “Huh?” I said, almost on instinct. He was thanking me? What for? “For protecting my Lucy.” He nodded. I muttered that, didn’t I. “Yes.” “Fuck.” I whispered. He just laughed. “You’re funny, kid. But also, Anon…” he began to whisper again. He was speaking very wistfully. “I know I give you a hard time, but… you clearly care a great deal about my little girl.” “O-Of course I do, sir.” I said, gulping. What was this turning into? I don’t know if I liked it. I was getting nervous again. But I still had to be honest. “I.. I love her.” “You do, don’t you?” He asked. Rhetorical. “I know you do, Anon. And that scares me.” Huh? He was admitting it? “Putting my little girl in the hands of another man is.. frightening.” He spoke, and took a sip of his beer. “I’m sure, one day, when you’re a father— you’ll understand. It’s scary to realize that your daughter is growing up. No longer is she the pirate princess, no, now she’s Fang, non-binary edgy goth..” he grumbled that last part, still seemingly pretty sore about Fang’s behavior. “But at some point, you have to learn to let them.. be themselves. You have to let your daughter go.” He whispered, his voice breaking. Uh oh. Was he about to cry? “Holy shit.” I muttered. He chuckled again. “Look, Anon.” He said, and stood up. He walked over to me. I was sitting on a couch, opposite of him— to clarify. He walked up to me, and he put his hand on my shoulder. I expected it to hurt, but it… it just.. it felt like a normal hand. It was like he.. It was like he really just wanted to put a hand on my shoulder. “Look, Anon.” He said again. “You… you care for my Lucy. You care for her a great deal. For a while, I was afraid of that. But now..?” He chuckled. “You beat up your own father for my daughter. You ditched your dad, and now you’re homeless. And… you did it for her.” He croaked. He began to cry. He was… honest-to-God.. he was crying. The police chief Ripley. The patriarch of the Aaron family. The man that looked like he wanted to kill me, not one week ago, was.. crying. It was shocking, honestly, to see Ripley so… human. Dino? No. It was a shock to see him so… personable. So real. Usually, he was this big bad, this big scary guy.. but here he was, crying about his daughter growing up. Crying about how his daughter’s boyfriend actually cared about her. “You love my daughter more than anything, and… Boy.” I winced at the word. He noticed, and backpedaled. “I mean… Son.” He said. I looked up at him. His eyes were watery, yet he was smiling. “I… whenever you decide to… I give you my blessing, alright?” I was completely fucking FLOORED. His BLESSING? … He… he was allowing me to marry her. “And remember…” he whispered, getting in a little closer. I didn’t realize what he was doing, and I nearly flinched, but when he set down the bottle on the coffee table, I got the hint. He was… Ripley wrapped his arms around me in an awkward hug. I stood up, which made it easier to give him a hug. “You’ll always have a place in the Aaron family, Anon.” He chuckled. It wasn’t a deceitful chuckle. It was… well, a chuckle. A chuckle of relief. Of ridiculousness, of sadness? I didn’t know. I just hugged him back. I felt like crying too, to be completely honest. “Th-Thanks, Ripley.” He pulled away from me. “Anon, son?” “Yeah?” “You can call me dad.” [POST-NOTES] Thanks for reading. Obsessed with snoot game recently. Inspired by the comic by an Anon. (There’s no watermark lol) I’m going to bed now. 5 am shift tomorrow. Thanks for reading guys [/POST-NOTES] [SEQUEL IS 'I Hope You Had The Time Of Your Life']