Fic: Bump In The Night [Three's A Crowd 'verse]
Title: Bump In The Night
Author: museme87
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Rating: R
Wordcount: 1,944
Warnings: strong language
Summary: The problem with monsters is that there's always two kinds-ones that sleep under your childhood bed and others that linger with you forever.
Author's Note: Written for pet0511 as a little gift fic. Sadly, dear, I wasn't able to fill your post-fic argument prompt yet, but I hope this will do for now! In the TAC 'verse, this takes place +4 years after the end of the main series and also after the Tango one-shot. It's not heavy on spoilers for TAC, and it doesn't really have any if you've already read Tango.
"Hey!"
Sleepily, Brian cracks open an eye and bears witness to the sight of his kid standing next to his side of the bed, flashlight and stuffed hedgehog clutched in her hands, scowling. He groans, glances at the clock-3:17 AM-and then back to her.
"What?"
"There's monsters."
Once upon a time, three in the morning used to find him at the clubs, dancing and fucking. Now, he's barely able to process monster before Justin's stirring next to him. As soon as he catches Justin sitting up and peering over him, Brian settles back into his pillow, fully prepared to go back to sleep at any time. Let Justin handle this.
"Elise?" Justin says, his own voice wrought with sleep. "What's wrong?"
"There's monsters under my bed!" she whispers loudly. "I almost died!"
For someone who almost died, Brian sure doesn't find a hint of fear in her voice. More than anything, she just sounds melodramatic and annoyed. Yeah, definitely his and Justin's kid. He's pretty fucking positive they couldn't have biologically produced one more like them.
"Honey, there's nothing under your bed. We checked at bedtime, remember?" Justin explains, rubbing his eyes.
"It was probably just a nightmare, Eli," Brian adds.
She shines her flashlight right in his face, the brightness making him wince. "No, they comed back."
"Came. They came back," Justin stresses.
"They did that too!" she says, more frustrated and desperate than before. "They're gonna steal all my toys and eat me!"
Brian looks over to Justin. "I'd pay them to take some of her toys."
"There are no such things as monsters, Elise."
"Daddy." She fumbles around with her hedgehog and flashlight and puts her hand on Brian's shoulder to shake him. "You gotta fire them. You gotta tell them to get their shit out and to never come back! Never ever!"
Justin's glaring at him, no doubt for their five-year-old's colorful vocabulary. Only, Brian glares back because he'll be damned if all the blame for that is getting shoved onto him. He's not the only one who swears in front of her. Fuck that.
Sunshine finally redirects his disappointed gaze to her after a few seconds. "You know we don't say words like that."
"Daddy does at work all the time."
"Alright," Brian announces, flipping off the covers, "Let's fire these monsters, so I can get back to f-freakin' bed."
He picks her up, and she lights their way down the hall with her flashlight. They make a quick pit-stop at the bathroom so she can pee-because he sure as hell isn't going to get her settled in bed just to have her wake them up in ten minutes to take a piss-and then she pulls him by the hand into her bedroom.
Bending down next to the bed, Brian really has no idea how Justin manages to get out of these duties, night after night. Justin isn't the fun parent. If Elise thinks either of them can get rid of these "monsters", she ought to think it's Justin. Christ knows Justin bosses him and the kid around enough.
"Do you see them?" she whispers, shifting back-and-forth on her feet nervously.
"Yeah." He clears his throat and says, sternly, "And they better get the hell out of my house."
"That's very good."
He drops her bed-skirt and sits up. The expression on her face is one of sudden relief, and Brian thinks that maybe this whole scaring away monsters gig isn't so bad. He takes the flashlight from her, flicks the switch off, and sets it on her bedside table. Now it's just a matter of convincing her to go to bed.
"No more monsters."
"Promise?" she asks, holding her hedgehog tight.
"Yeah, now back to bed."
"I'll prolly have nightmares."
"Elise," he warns.
"Monsters eat nightmares for breakfast. They love them like waffles. Can I pretty please sleep with you and Daddy tonight?"
He'll give her fucking credit; she doesn't hold back-her eyelashes batting and lip stuck out in a pout. She knows how to look insufferably cute when she has to, but Brian's immune to it in a way that Gramma Deb and Grammy Jen aren't. Mostly immune anyway. He thinks the quick pang of guilt must count for something.
"Absolutely not."
"Why?"
"Because we spent a small fortune on you so that you could have a nice bedroom with nice things. There's no way in hell you're going to weasel your way into our room."
Trying his best to stay resolved, he points to the bed. The scowl she gives him makes him feel like he's the worst father in the entire fucking universe, her expression all hurt and betrayed. Still, she climbs into bed and waits expectantly for him to cover her up.
"'Night, kid."
He leans down, kisses her lightly on brown hair as she scowls with her comforter pulled up to her chin. That'll last all of ten minutes, he's sure; Elise isn't very good at holding grudges, unlike Justin.
"I'll still love you even when the monsters gobble me up and you didn't save me like a prince."
As his chest tightens up, Brian pauses to stare at her. Now that she's tucked into bed, he can see the worry in her eyes for the first time. She's always such a fucking firecracker-barreling through life with her chest puffed out and eyes focused on her goal-that sometimes he forgets she's only five and can't sleep without her nightlight yet.
Somehow, he feels like he's abandoning her in here, and Brian hates that. Hates it because he knows what it is to be left alone in the dark, worried about monsters, and having no one to turn to. After all, a whole different sort of monster lived right down the fucking hall.
He fights with himself, knows that giving into her will just send her mixed signals. She won't learn to listen, just to keep pushing him and Justin until she gets what she wants or they kill her. One or the other, and sometimes Brian isn't sure which will happen first. Being a good parent would mean walking away right-the-hell-now.
So he does, but not without glancing back to her as he flips off her bedroom light, the room now faintly glowing from her nightlight. She looks too small in that bed, like it might swallow her whole. And as he makes the trek back to their bedroom, Brian thinks the walk-even if it is only three doors down-is too long.
"Monsters vanquished?" Justin asks, flipping back the duvet for him as he crawls into bed.
"I think so."
Justin sidles up next to him, his head on Brian's shoulder and hand on his chest. Brian pulls him in closer, thinks about a time when he would fuck this away like he did all the bad memories of his childhood. For whatever reason, it's not very effective anymore. Maybe because there's just too many fucking memories, and he doesn't have the libido to keep up with all of them. It's hell getting older.
"What's up?"
Justin's fingers skim across his lower lip, blue eyes fixing him with a look of concern. It's not as if he could ever hide things from Justin, but Brian wishes he could.
"She wanted to sleep in here tonight."
"You know, someday you're going to have to get over this fear of telling her no. I know you have a reputation to maintain as the fun daddy, but rejection every once in a while really won't kill her."
"It's not that."
"Then what is it?"
He sighs, focusing on the stark whiteness of the ceiling. Brian tries to tell himself that Justin probably already knows what the issue is. Over their years together, enough has slipped about his for-shit childhood that Justin knows there are things about parenting their kid that scare the fuck out of him. It still doesn't make voicing those things any easier. They're a team though-partners, fucking husbands. There's nothing to be running from now, his worst fears-love, marriage, commitment, family-already realized.
"She seemed scared to sleep in her room tonight. I feel like…like I just fucking abandoned her."
"Brian, she's only down the hall," Justin says softly, kissing his shoulder.
"Yeah, well, it never feels like that when you're five." He glances down at Justin. "I'm sure even baby WASPs have nightmares."
Justin nods. "Mom or Dad used to lie in bed with me until I fell asleep after a bad dream."
"No one gave a shit about me, so I was stuck." He pauses, running the tips of his fingers down Justin's warm back. "Sunshine, I don't want her to feel stuck."
"You really want her to sleep with us tonight?"
It's a question that's not loaded, which Brian might hate more than an obvious sign of Justin's approval or disapproval. This is one of those times when Justin's giving him the ball, letting him make the call even when he's not sure he knows how to make the right one.
"It'd be sending her mixed messages, wouldn't it?" Brian asks.
"Yeah, it would."
"I thought we were trying to avoid that."
"We are." Justin leans up, kissing him soundly on the lips. "But I don't want to be the only one getting any sleep tonight."
"So what the hell do we do?"
"Well, we don't let her con us into letting her have Cocoa Puffs at breakfast tomorrow. We'll hold our ground. And then after breakfast we'll have a talk about how monsters aren't real and that there's nothing to be afraid of."
"We're not going to fuck her up, are we?"
"By letting her sleep with us for one night?" Justin laughs, kisses him again. "Of course we're going to fuck her up. Beautifully. That's our god given right as parents. But if you're asking whether tonight's going to ruin her, I don't think so."
"We're not terrible parents?"
"We're better than our fathers."
Brian snorts. "Wouldn't take much."
Sometimes, when things are quiet for once and Justin says and does all the right things, Brian's struck by just how fucking lucky he is-to be loved by someone like Justin, to have built a life with him. It's stupid, sentimental, lesbianic. He wouldn't admit to it so long as he lives. But really, the only person who needs to know all that already does.
Brian turns his head towards the door. "Eli!"
"What?!" she shouts from down the hall, probably still wrapped up in her blankets.
"Get your ass in here!"
"Brian," Justin scolds.
"Sunshine, ass is already in her vocabulary. As is shit, fuck, damn it, twink, trick, fag-courtesy of your father-and sodomite-courtesy of my mother. I really don't think it's going to damage her anymore than she already is."
The hallway thunders with heavy steps as Elise runs down it, her flashlight's light bobbing against the walls. As soon as she gets close enough, she hurls her body onto the bed, accidently kneeing Brian's balls-well, ball-in the process. The wind suddenly knocked out of him, he draws his legs up and gasps through the pain.
"What's wrong?" Elise asks.
Justin winces. "You hurt him when you jumped, Elise."
"Oh. Sorry." Her lip juts out. "Can I kiss it better?"
"No," Brian wheezes. "Daddy will. Later."
She nods, burrowing under the duvet. "Daddy's very good at that."
"You've no fucking idea."
"Brian!"
By the time his ball stops throbbing and he's caught his breath, the kid's already settled in for the night, sleeping tightly against Justin.
The little traitor.
Author: museme87
Pairing: Brian/Justin
Rating: R
Wordcount: 1,944
Warnings: strong language
Summary: The problem with monsters is that there's always two kinds-ones that sleep under your childhood bed and others that linger with you forever.
Author's Note: Written for pet0511 as a little gift fic. Sadly, dear, I wasn't able to fill your post-fic argument prompt yet, but I hope this will do for now! In the TAC 'verse, this takes place +4 years after the end of the main series and also after the Tango one-shot. It's not heavy on spoilers for TAC, and it doesn't really have any if you've already read Tango.
"Hey!"
Sleepily, Brian cracks open an eye and bears witness to the sight of his kid standing next to his side of the bed, flashlight and stuffed hedgehog clutched in her hands, scowling. He groans, glances at the clock-3:17 AM-and then back to her.
"What?"
"There's monsters."
Once upon a time, three in the morning used to find him at the clubs, dancing and fucking. Now, he's barely able to process monster before Justin's stirring next to him. As soon as he catches Justin sitting up and peering over him, Brian settles back into his pillow, fully prepared to go back to sleep at any time. Let Justin handle this.
"Elise?" Justin says, his own voice wrought with sleep. "What's wrong?"
"There's monsters under my bed!" she whispers loudly. "I almost died!"
For someone who almost died, Brian sure doesn't find a hint of fear in her voice. More than anything, she just sounds melodramatic and annoyed. Yeah, definitely his and Justin's kid. He's pretty fucking positive they couldn't have biologically produced one more like them.
"Honey, there's nothing under your bed. We checked at bedtime, remember?" Justin explains, rubbing his eyes.
"It was probably just a nightmare, Eli," Brian adds.
She shines her flashlight right in his face, the brightness making him wince. "No, they comed back."
"Came. They came back," Justin stresses.
"They did that too!" she says, more frustrated and desperate than before. "They're gonna steal all my toys and eat me!"
Brian looks over to Justin. "I'd pay them to take some of her toys."
"There are no such things as monsters, Elise."
"Daddy." She fumbles around with her hedgehog and flashlight and puts her hand on Brian's shoulder to shake him. "You gotta fire them. You gotta tell them to get their shit out and to never come back! Never ever!"
Justin's glaring at him, no doubt for their five-year-old's colorful vocabulary. Only, Brian glares back because he'll be damned if all the blame for that is getting shoved onto him. He's not the only one who swears in front of her. Fuck that.
Sunshine finally redirects his disappointed gaze to her after a few seconds. "You know we don't say words like that."
"Daddy does at work all the time."
"Alright," Brian announces, flipping off the covers, "Let's fire these monsters, so I can get back to f-freakin' bed."
He picks her up, and she lights their way down the hall with her flashlight. They make a quick pit-stop at the bathroom so she can pee-because he sure as hell isn't going to get her settled in bed just to have her wake them up in ten minutes to take a piss-and then she pulls him by the hand into her bedroom.
Bending down next to the bed, Brian really has no idea how Justin manages to get out of these duties, night after night. Justin isn't the fun parent. If Elise thinks either of them can get rid of these "monsters", she ought to think it's Justin. Christ knows Justin bosses him and the kid around enough.
"Do you see them?" she whispers, shifting back-and-forth on her feet nervously.
"Yeah." He clears his throat and says, sternly, "And they better get the hell out of my house."
"That's very good."
He drops her bed-skirt and sits up. The expression on her face is one of sudden relief, and Brian thinks that maybe this whole scaring away monsters gig isn't so bad. He takes the flashlight from her, flicks the switch off, and sets it on her bedside table. Now it's just a matter of convincing her to go to bed.
"No more monsters."
"Promise?" she asks, holding her hedgehog tight.
"Yeah, now back to bed."
"I'll prolly have nightmares."
"Elise," he warns.
"Monsters eat nightmares for breakfast. They love them like waffles. Can I pretty please sleep with you and Daddy tonight?"
He'll give her fucking credit; she doesn't hold back-her eyelashes batting and lip stuck out in a pout. She knows how to look insufferably cute when she has to, but Brian's immune to it in a way that Gramma Deb and Grammy Jen aren't. Mostly immune anyway. He thinks the quick pang of guilt must count for something.
"Absolutely not."
"Why?"
"Because we spent a small fortune on you so that you could have a nice bedroom with nice things. There's no way in hell you're going to weasel your way into our room."
Trying his best to stay resolved, he points to the bed. The scowl she gives him makes him feel like he's the worst father in the entire fucking universe, her expression all hurt and betrayed. Still, she climbs into bed and waits expectantly for him to cover her up.
"'Night, kid."
He leans down, kisses her lightly on brown hair as she scowls with her comforter pulled up to her chin. That'll last all of ten minutes, he's sure; Elise isn't very good at holding grudges, unlike Justin.
"I'll still love you even when the monsters gobble me up and you didn't save me like a prince."
As his chest tightens up, Brian pauses to stare at her. Now that she's tucked into bed, he can see the worry in her eyes for the first time. She's always such a fucking firecracker-barreling through life with her chest puffed out and eyes focused on her goal-that sometimes he forgets she's only five and can't sleep without her nightlight yet.
Somehow, he feels like he's abandoning her in here, and Brian hates that. Hates it because he knows what it is to be left alone in the dark, worried about monsters, and having no one to turn to. After all, a whole different sort of monster lived right down the fucking hall.
He fights with himself, knows that giving into her will just send her mixed signals. She won't learn to listen, just to keep pushing him and Justin until she gets what she wants or they kill her. One or the other, and sometimes Brian isn't sure which will happen first. Being a good parent would mean walking away right-the-hell-now.
So he does, but not without glancing back to her as he flips off her bedroom light, the room now faintly glowing from her nightlight. She looks too small in that bed, like it might swallow her whole. And as he makes the trek back to their bedroom, Brian thinks the walk-even if it is only three doors down-is too long.
"Monsters vanquished?" Justin asks, flipping back the duvet for him as he crawls into bed.
"I think so."
Justin sidles up next to him, his head on Brian's shoulder and hand on his chest. Brian pulls him in closer, thinks about a time when he would fuck this away like he did all the bad memories of his childhood. For whatever reason, it's not very effective anymore. Maybe because there's just too many fucking memories, and he doesn't have the libido to keep up with all of them. It's hell getting older.
"What's up?"
Justin's fingers skim across his lower lip, blue eyes fixing him with a look of concern. It's not as if he could ever hide things from Justin, but Brian wishes he could.
"She wanted to sleep in here tonight."
"You know, someday you're going to have to get over this fear of telling her no. I know you have a reputation to maintain as the fun daddy, but rejection every once in a while really won't kill her."
"It's not that."
"Then what is it?"
He sighs, focusing on the stark whiteness of the ceiling. Brian tries to tell himself that Justin probably already knows what the issue is. Over their years together, enough has slipped about his for-shit childhood that Justin knows there are things about parenting their kid that scare the fuck out of him. It still doesn't make voicing those things any easier. They're a team though-partners, fucking husbands. There's nothing to be running from now, his worst fears-love, marriage, commitment, family-already realized.
"She seemed scared to sleep in her room tonight. I feel like…like I just fucking abandoned her."
"Brian, she's only down the hall," Justin says softly, kissing his shoulder.
"Yeah, well, it never feels like that when you're five." He glances down at Justin. "I'm sure even baby WASPs have nightmares."
Justin nods. "Mom or Dad used to lie in bed with me until I fell asleep after a bad dream."
"No one gave a shit about me, so I was stuck." He pauses, running the tips of his fingers down Justin's warm back. "Sunshine, I don't want her to feel stuck."
"You really want her to sleep with us tonight?"
It's a question that's not loaded, which Brian might hate more than an obvious sign of Justin's approval or disapproval. This is one of those times when Justin's giving him the ball, letting him make the call even when he's not sure he knows how to make the right one.
"It'd be sending her mixed messages, wouldn't it?" Brian asks.
"Yeah, it would."
"I thought we were trying to avoid that."
"We are." Justin leans up, kissing him soundly on the lips. "But I don't want to be the only one getting any sleep tonight."
"So what the hell do we do?"
"Well, we don't let her con us into letting her have Cocoa Puffs at breakfast tomorrow. We'll hold our ground. And then after breakfast we'll have a talk about how monsters aren't real and that there's nothing to be afraid of."
"We're not going to fuck her up, are we?"
"By letting her sleep with us for one night?" Justin laughs, kisses him again. "Of course we're going to fuck her up. Beautifully. That's our god given right as parents. But if you're asking whether tonight's going to ruin her, I don't think so."
"We're not terrible parents?"
"We're better than our fathers."
Brian snorts. "Wouldn't take much."
Sometimes, when things are quiet for once and Justin says and does all the right things, Brian's struck by just how fucking lucky he is-to be loved by someone like Justin, to have built a life with him. It's stupid, sentimental, lesbianic. He wouldn't admit to it so long as he lives. But really, the only person who needs to know all that already does.
Brian turns his head towards the door. "Eli!"
"What?!" she shouts from down the hall, probably still wrapped up in her blankets.
"Get your ass in here!"
"Brian," Justin scolds.
"Sunshine, ass is already in her vocabulary. As is shit, fuck, damn it, twink, trick, fag-courtesy of your father-and sodomite-courtesy of my mother. I really don't think it's going to damage her anymore than she already is."
The hallway thunders with heavy steps as Elise runs down it, her flashlight's light bobbing against the walls. As soon as she gets close enough, she hurls her body onto the bed, accidently kneeing Brian's balls-well, ball-in the process. The wind suddenly knocked out of him, he draws his legs up and gasps through the pain.
"What's wrong?" Elise asks.
Justin winces. "You hurt him when you jumped, Elise."
"Oh. Sorry." Her lip juts out. "Can I kiss it better?"
"No," Brian wheezes. "Daddy will. Later."
She nods, burrowing under the duvet. "Daddy's very good at that."
"You've no fucking idea."
"Brian!"
By the time his ball stops throbbing and he's caught his breath, the kid's already settled in for the night, sleeping tightly against Justin.
The little traitor.