If you still take prompt requests, I just finished reading The Couple Down the Street! Augh, it was so good!!! If possible, I’d love to see moments of Herb being caught acting like a (reluctant) father figure / guardian / mentor to Piper, and then denying he does so whenever Dan mentions it, I feel like that might happen every so often, especially with her father now in the state that he is 🥺
Dan's preferred strategy when Piper was around was to blend into the background. He would observe them from a distance, popping his head into the lab every now and then to ask them if everything was okay? Did they need some snacks? Maybe a lemonade? Oddly enough, it was Herbert who took Dan up on these offers more so than Piper. The young girl was always far too absorbed in whatever task she and Herbert were performing to be tempted by such trivialities as graham crackers.
Whatever cloth Herbert originated from, Piper was cut from the same one.
Dan had told himself he was fine with Piper's frequent presence in their home and lab. Herbert was just about the most stubborn person Dan had ever met, and he knew it was pointless to fight him on this 'apprentice' idea. So, he did what he often did to sustain his and Herbert's marriage: he compromised.
Piper could come over three days a week, never staying past 6pm, not for consecutive days, and she could only enter the lab after her homework was done. This last stipulation didn't appear to be too much of a problem, as she was always excited to show her work to Herbert, who would diligently check it over and give a firm nod if it met his standards. Dan didn't miss the way Piper's eyes sparkled when Herbert doled out praise to her, even if it was a curt, "Very good." She stilled beamed, nonetheless. He would always see Herbert pretend not to notice.
It was one such afternoon just after Piper had skipped out the door to make the short bike ride to her mother, Mandy's, house that Dan noticed the crayon drawing she'd left behind on the kitchen counter. He glanced down at two crudely drawn figures that could only be Piper and Herbert. They were standing in what looked to be the lab, little blobs of colour he took to be beakers of fluid surrounding them as they held hands, both smiling. She always drew Herbert with a smile, confirming her overactive imagination.
Dan stared at the drawing with an odd kernel of disquiet brewing in his stomach. It was one thing for them to have an apprentice, it was another thing entirely for a young child to be imprinting on Herbert like a lost duckling.
You just don't like kids, his mind whispered to him and he promptly shushed it.
"What's that?"
Dan turned at the sound of Herbert's voice, watching his husband dry off his hands on a rag and reach for the fridge with a tired sigh. Dan held out the paper and Herbert took it without question. He glanced at the page as he took a swig straight from the open carton of orange juice that had been sitting in the fridge door for the past two days. Dan didn't like how pulpy it was.
Herbert swallowed with relish and said, "Charming," in a straight tone.
"You're not put off by it?" Dan asked, and Herbert levelled a critical stare at him.
"She's not even seven, Dan. It hardly feels fair to judge her artistic talents too harshly."
Dan rolled his eyes as Herbert wordlessly pinned the picture in place on the fridge with a magnet shaped like an apple.
"That's not what I meant. I mean, don't you think it's weird that she's drawn more pictures of your than she has of her own father?"
"Given that her father currently possesses all the personality of a doorstop," Herbert droned, returning the juice to its corner of solitude, "I would have to say no."
Dan shook his head as he paced out of the kitchen and towards their bedroom. He began to unbutton his shirt, anticipating pulling his pajamas on and crawling into bed. He'd worked nearly twelve hours at the hospital that day and babysitting Herbert and Piper had taken the last of his energy.
"I should've known you'd love being the center of attention," he mumbled sleepily. "Even if that attention's coming from a first grader."
Herbert scoffed at his back but didn't offer up any kind of rebuke. Dan also didn't press him for one.
He simply changed into his night clothes and collapsed onto the plush mattress. Herbert had always been stingy when it came to furniture, arguing that with how often they moved, it was hardly worth investing in anything new and expensive. The one thing Dan had been immovable on was a good quality, comfy mattress, and he felt he could kiss his past self for that one instance of resolution.
Already, he could feel himself being dragged away into unconsciousness. He didn't even register Herbert sliding into bed beside him. Not until he felt arms wrapping around him from behind, pulling his back up against a warm body. He hummed in pleasure and shuffled back against Herbert's front, greedy for the warmth emanating off of him.
"I'm not teaching her for the attention," Herbert said into his ear and Dan nodded against the pillow.
"Mm. Whatever you say, Daddy."
He instantly felt Herbert go rigid behind him.
"Never say that to me again," Herbert said stiffly.
Dan bit down on his lip but the smile still bloomed across his face regardless.
"Okay, Mr. Teacher."
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