Challenge Response - His Darling family, fanfic
Title: His Darling family
Author: kelzkrazee
Pairings: I guess it would be Steve/Suzy
Spoilers: None
Rating: anyone and everyone
Disclaimer: They're not mine, I wish they were
Word count: 1259
Summary: This is supposed to be a little look into what I think are the inner workings of Steve's mind. The way he sees his family and the way he gets it a little bit wrong.
Note: This has been a struggle to get out of my brain, combinations of an extremely busy week, and tangental stories flying out of my brain have not helped the flow. But as I hoped I got some time this evening to get it all down on paper. So here is my belated response for the 'family' prompt over atspirited_w
This is an attempt to try and understand why Steve is the tool he is. I really believe that he feels this way, that he treats people (mainly Suzy and Elvis) the way he does because he thinks its the best way to help them, he just doesn't realise that he is actually a tool who should have grown up. Maybe its just because I love Roger Corser and have a hard time equating him with the douchebag that is Steve Darling.
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Steven Darling was a family man. No longer, it seemed, but he did miss it, not just the constant audience they provided, but really missed having the kids there to play with. He wasn't sure when his marriage got bad enough that Suzy would want to leave, he knew it hadn't been good for a while, but he wouldn't have dreamed of leaving the family.
Steve had never really had the family experience growing up, his parents had divorced when he was 4, and when his dad had married a much younger second wife, there was no space for a young boy in the house. He'd been shipped off to the best boarding schools money could buy, only seeing family at holidays, even his mother had felt like extended family. But he had occasionally spent holidays with friends, and seen their families. That was what he wanted, everyone in the same house, people who spent time together, a family that spoke more than once a month, even if they didn't live in the same house. Steve decided that he needed that. No matter what kind of success he got in life, he wouldn't think of himself as truly successful until he had a wife and kids.
He’d met Suzy at uni. Suzy had been dragged to an end of term party by a friend who was determined to see her have at least some fun. Suzy hadn't really wanted to go, but being the end of term she didn't have her usual excuse that she was studying. She’d seen Steve at the centre of a large group that looked like they were having fun if you judged by the amount of noise they were making. He wasn’t her usual type, outgoing and with a charm that didn’t seem 100% genuine, but when he came over to talk to the shy but pretty girl by the swimming pool, her natural reserve couldn’t withstand his confident persistence, she agreed to see him again after the party, and after that first yes, she found it difficult to ever say no to the confident young man who always expected that he was right.
They looked good together, people always commented on that, Steve always wore the best clothes he could afford, and in a time when women were dying their hair bizarre colours and getting tattoos, Suzy maintained a demure, feminine elegance, she was the perfect companion for Steve, usually stayed by his side at parties and was ready to leave whenever he gave the signal. She never once gave him the impression that she was looking elsewhere, her loyalty was absolute, she was happy to live on the edges of someone else’s life. She was exactly the sort of woman he wanted to fall in love and spend his future with. She would give him the beautiful family life he wanted.
So one day after they had finished university he proposed. He did everything by the book. Romantic dinner at sunset, champagne, he’d got down on one knee in front of the restaurant, and she’d said yes, just like he’d expected, everything had been perfect, just the way he’d imagined it to be.
At first glance Suzy was the perfect wife. She was beautiful, a successful dentist and let’s face it she didn’t outshine him. Suzy was perfectly happy for him to have the limelight while she did all of the background work like taking care of the kids. They had what seemed to be the perfect partnership. They had both appeared to be happy in their marriage. Sure he had his faults, he had the occasional fling with another woman, but that had never really bothered her after the first few times early in their marriage, it never lasted long anyway. He may have frittered away money on the latest fad, but there was always plenty of money for the family. Steve didn’t understand what was different now, its not like he had changed at all, in fact he was pretty sure he was the same big-talking, fun-loving guy he had been when they had met 15 years ago.
Suzy was certainly was far from perfect herself. She showed almost no interest in helping his business deals by going to dinners and functions with clients, and even around his oldest friends was awkward and had to be pushed into socialising with them and while she always put the family first, she didn’t always understand that Steve couldn’t be there to help out, that he couldn’t just drop everything and come running at the smallest family “crisis”.
Steve had always thought that Suzy was lucky to end up with someone like him, someone who would help to smooth out her eccentricities and to help set her in the right social groups so she could be with people in similar situations as herself. He did so much for her and was the father of her two beautiful children, why would she ever leave? She’d loved him at the beginning, why not now? Love, that wasn’t a good enough reason to break up his family. Its a good reason to get together and start a family, but just because you don’t still feel like that you shouldn’t give up on a good partnership. Maybe if she’d fallen in love with someone else, but Steve was pretty sure there wasn’t anyone else, who would be interested a woman in her 30s who hasn’t opened up to anyone enough to make a new friend in 10 years? If it hadn’t been for him, she’d probably be a crazy cat lady by now.
But what really hurt is that she’d taken the kids. Steve loved his children. Elvis was a bright boy and if he could pull his head out of the clouds, he could make something of himself. Steve was always trying to bring Elvis out of himself, make him to try new things, it usually didn’t work and Suzy of course would tell Elvis that it was OK to fail that as long as he was happy it didn’t matter, completely undoing the work that Steve had put in. Not that he didn’t want Elvis to be happy, but he wanted his children to stand out, but Elvis seemed content to just get by. To get the good grades but not do anything with them, he never set out to impress.
Verity was his cute little princess. She was the perfect little girl who was cute and adored ponies and her daddy. She was still at the age where she loved being read stories, and her daddy was the best person in the world. It was the little things that Steve missed, Verity running to meet him when he got home from a business trip, she still liked to be carried places too. Suzy had never understood Steve’s pampering of Verity, always thought that if he didn’t let Verity do things on her own, he was creating a reliance upon himself. But what else was he there for? Its not like he was ever going to leave his daughter, so what was the problem of her needing him. But now it was different.
Steve had had the perfect family and now what did he have, a family home in the right suburb but no family. His wife had left him, his son was growing up into a man that Steve couldn’t relate to and his little girl was getting used to him not always being around. Somehow it had all gone wrong.
Author: kelzkrazee
Pairings: I guess it would be Steve/Suzy
Spoilers: None
Rating: anyone and everyone
Disclaimer: They're not mine, I wish they were
Word count: 1259
Summary: This is supposed to be a little look into what I think are the inner workings of Steve's mind. The way he sees his family and the way he gets it a little bit wrong.
Note: This has been a struggle to get out of my brain, combinations of an extremely busy week, and tangental stories flying out of my brain have not helped the flow. But as I hoped I got some time this evening to get it all down on paper. So here is my belated response for the 'family' prompt over atspirited_w
This is an attempt to try and understand why Steve is the tool he is. I really believe that he feels this way, that he treats people (mainly Suzy and Elvis) the way he does because he thinks its the best way to help them, he just doesn't realise that he is actually a tool who should have grown up. Maybe its just because I love Roger Corser and have a hard time equating him with the douchebag that is Steve Darling.
----------------------------------------
Steven Darling was a family man. No longer, it seemed, but he did miss it, not just the constant audience they provided, but really missed having the kids there to play with. He wasn't sure when his marriage got bad enough that Suzy would want to leave, he knew it hadn't been good for a while, but he wouldn't have dreamed of leaving the family.
Steve had never really had the family experience growing up, his parents had divorced when he was 4, and when his dad had married a much younger second wife, there was no space for a young boy in the house. He'd been shipped off to the best boarding schools money could buy, only seeing family at holidays, even his mother had felt like extended family. But he had occasionally spent holidays with friends, and seen their families. That was what he wanted, everyone in the same house, people who spent time together, a family that spoke more than once a month, even if they didn't live in the same house. Steve decided that he needed that. No matter what kind of success he got in life, he wouldn't think of himself as truly successful until he had a wife and kids.
He’d met Suzy at uni. Suzy had been dragged to an end of term party by a friend who was determined to see her have at least some fun. Suzy hadn't really wanted to go, but being the end of term she didn't have her usual excuse that she was studying. She’d seen Steve at the centre of a large group that looked like they were having fun if you judged by the amount of noise they were making. He wasn’t her usual type, outgoing and with a charm that didn’t seem 100% genuine, but when he came over to talk to the shy but pretty girl by the swimming pool, her natural reserve couldn’t withstand his confident persistence, she agreed to see him again after the party, and after that first yes, she found it difficult to ever say no to the confident young man who always expected that he was right.
They looked good together, people always commented on that, Steve always wore the best clothes he could afford, and in a time when women were dying their hair bizarre colours and getting tattoos, Suzy maintained a demure, feminine elegance, she was the perfect companion for Steve, usually stayed by his side at parties and was ready to leave whenever he gave the signal. She never once gave him the impression that she was looking elsewhere, her loyalty was absolute, she was happy to live on the edges of someone else’s life. She was exactly the sort of woman he wanted to fall in love and spend his future with. She would give him the beautiful family life he wanted.
So one day after they had finished university he proposed. He did everything by the book. Romantic dinner at sunset, champagne, he’d got down on one knee in front of the restaurant, and she’d said yes, just like he’d expected, everything had been perfect, just the way he’d imagined it to be.
At first glance Suzy was the perfect wife. She was beautiful, a successful dentist and let’s face it she didn’t outshine him. Suzy was perfectly happy for him to have the limelight while she did all of the background work like taking care of the kids. They had what seemed to be the perfect partnership. They had both appeared to be happy in their marriage. Sure he had his faults, he had the occasional fling with another woman, but that had never really bothered her after the first few times early in their marriage, it never lasted long anyway. He may have frittered away money on the latest fad, but there was always plenty of money for the family. Steve didn’t understand what was different now, its not like he had changed at all, in fact he was pretty sure he was the same big-talking, fun-loving guy he had been when they had met 15 years ago.
Suzy was certainly was far from perfect herself. She showed almost no interest in helping his business deals by going to dinners and functions with clients, and even around his oldest friends was awkward and had to be pushed into socialising with them and while she always put the family first, she didn’t always understand that Steve couldn’t be there to help out, that he couldn’t just drop everything and come running at the smallest family “crisis”.
Steve had always thought that Suzy was lucky to end up with someone like him, someone who would help to smooth out her eccentricities and to help set her in the right social groups so she could be with people in similar situations as herself. He did so much for her and was the father of her two beautiful children, why would she ever leave? She’d loved him at the beginning, why not now? Love, that wasn’t a good enough reason to break up his family. Its a good reason to get together and start a family, but just because you don’t still feel like that you shouldn’t give up on a good partnership. Maybe if she’d fallen in love with someone else, but Steve was pretty sure there wasn’t anyone else, who would be interested a woman in her 30s who hasn’t opened up to anyone enough to make a new friend in 10 years? If it hadn’t been for him, she’d probably be a crazy cat lady by now.
But what really hurt is that she’d taken the kids. Steve loved his children. Elvis was a bright boy and if he could pull his head out of the clouds, he could make something of himself. Steve was always trying to bring Elvis out of himself, make him to try new things, it usually didn’t work and Suzy of course would tell Elvis that it was OK to fail that as long as he was happy it didn’t matter, completely undoing the work that Steve had put in. Not that he didn’t want Elvis to be happy, but he wanted his children to stand out, but Elvis seemed content to just get by. To get the good grades but not do anything with them, he never set out to impress.
Verity was his cute little princess. She was the perfect little girl who was cute and adored ponies and her daddy. She was still at the age where she loved being read stories, and her daddy was the best person in the world. It was the little things that Steve missed, Verity running to meet him when he got home from a business trip, she still liked to be carried places too. Suzy had never understood Steve’s pampering of Verity, always thought that if he didn’t let Verity do things on her own, he was creating a reliance upon himself. But what else was he there for? Its not like he was ever going to leave his daughter, so what was the problem of her needing him. But now it was different.
Steve had had the perfect family and now what did he have, a family home in the right suburb but no family. His wife had left him, his son was growing up into a man that Steve couldn’t relate to and his little girl was getting used to him not always being around. Somehow it had all gone wrong.