Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Good morning my love.”

“Why hello there,” Jeff chuckled as he lifted the arm his wife had clung to, draping it across her shoulders, “happy anniversary.”

She frowned at him, half smiling, half perplexed as he continued to mix the pancake batter. 

“It’s not—“

“Not our anniversary,” he smiled, leaning across to kiss her forehead, “the anniversary of the day you brought our boy into the world.”

Yes, their son’s fifth birthday was the main event of the day, but his conversation with a new NASA colleague had made Jeff appreciate just how important his wife was on that day too. Lucy had been the one to care for, and carry him for those long nine months. It had been her who had gone through the long painful hours of labour to bring their blue-eyed boy into the world. She had been the one to put her own career on pause to stay home with him and nurture him whilst Jeff had changed gears with his career. 

“ You are the best mother I could ever ask of for our boys,” he continued as he turned to wrap his hands around her waist, “and I am grateful every day that we have you.”

Her cheeks reddened at his words, her smile softening as her arms returned to wrap around him. 

The song on the radio shifted to an older slow pop ballad, one that they had first danced to at their high school prom. It was almost automatic for their feet to shuffle and their bodies to sway around the room in time to the tune. Their smiles were matching as Jeff bumped his head to hers, his hands squeezing her waist lightly. 

“Momma, Daddy!” 

The small body of their eldest collided with them, breaking the gentle sway of the dance as Scott forced himself between them. 

“Hey kiddo,” Each of them reached down to include him in their huddle, “Happy birthday.”

“Happy Birthday, sprout.” Jeff smiled, ruffling the kid’s hair.

Scott looked between them both, his grin splitting his cheeks as he grasped at both their tops, “What ‘re you doin’?”

“Dancing,” Jeff looked to Lucy as he slipped one hand back to her waist, “you’ve seen us dance before.”

Pulling away from them, Scott shook his head, “Nuh-uh… you dance like this .”

Lucy’s laugh filled the room at Scott’s demonstration of some very old-school moves they all knew Jeff had been guilty of pulling at different parties across the years. He was confident his son’s moves weren’t quite as coordinated as he was, even when drunk, but somehow they still seemed to have the same effect on his mother as she watched him with adoration in her eyes and the lightest of laughs on her lips. 

“This is different dancing,” He told him as he pulled away from Lucy to hoist the wriggly bean sprout up onto his hip, “this is better .”

Scott’s frown was uncertain as he looked between his parents, his grip tight on the collar of Jeff’s t-shirt as he watched him pull Lucy back in close.

“Better, how ?”

Lucy’s fingers brushed against the skin of Jeff’s hip as she slipped them under his t-shirt, her smile soft as she reached out to hold Scott’s back.

“Shh,” She murmured, “listen, Scotty.”

Jeff smiled as Scott’s frown deepened, pulling his wife impossibly closer, loving how she fit snug against him, even with the interruption of their eldest between them on one side. He kissed her head as she rested against his shoulder, her sigh of contentment soft and warm against his neck as they resumed their slow steps. 

For once, Scott remained quiet, even if not completely still as he tilted his head to rest against Jeff’s. His hand loosened in his collar as the music around them crescendoed, and Jeff could feel how he had relaxed in his hold. 

He would forever adore those moments with his wife, when they could ignore everything else around them and simply exist together in a space that was just for them where dirty dishes and laundry didn’t matter. It was a time for him to show her just how much he adored her in ways that didn’t involve money or words, when they could let the music say everything that both of them felt in far better ways than either of them could ever parse. She had told him to listen years before in a kitchen that hadn’t been theirs, and a song he had heard a hundred times over had suddenly changed into something he never would have understood before that moment. 

It was something special to see how Scott shifted on his hip as they showed him the wonder that could be shared beneath the blanket of a song. Their eldest kept a sure hold of Jeff’s shirt as his hand reached out to his mother’s arm, his frown shifting into a smile as he did so. Perhaps he wouldn’t understand fully until he was much older, until he’d felt the sting and burn of romantic love, but Jeff knew it was something special to be able to share that moment on the anniversary of he and Lucy becoming parents. 

It was something special to be able to show their boy, just how much they loved him so. 

***

Ten years later, and it wasn’t unusual for Scott to be up with the dawn to take a run around the top field before breakfast. It didn’t matter that it was his birthday, not when he knew his brothers would still be asleep, and his parents would be putting a special breakfast together for them all to enjoy. He enjoyed the fresh air and the rush that came with the exercise, his very own moments of peace before his family took over the day in the best ways possible. It cleared his head and his heart of the sting that had sat there all week, since he had dumped his girlfriend. 

It wasn’t unusual for him to let himself in through the mud-room to the radio playing in the kitchen, the same station as always playing the ballads his parents loved from their school years. Privately, he enjoyed the songs and what they meant, it was the music he’d grown up on and that reminded him of his parents' love for him and the adoration they felt for each other. 

It wasn’t unusual for him to find them slow dancing in the kitchen to such songs, but it was rare for them to not hear him when he called out that he was back. The coffee was brewing in the pot, and the pancake batter was set out on the counter ready to be spooned onto the pan on the hob. A pile of cards and presents that hadn’t been there when he had left told him that his parents were certainly up, even if they were missing from where he had expected them to be.

Mom’s laughter was loud, the sound coming from the lounge rather than the kitchen, drawing Scott through to find where they had both got to. 

Pausing in the doorway, he ducked back slightly not wanting to disturb the moment as he realised just what song was playing.

Their wedding song. 

Dad had Mom by the waist, her back to his chest, both of them grinning with laughter as he kissed her neck before spinning her in his arms to face him. 

He knew they hadn’t noticed him, otherwise they would have drawn him in to join them. The pair were so wrapped up in each other, sickly in love Virgil or Gordon would say, the house could have been on fire and he doubted either of them would notice. Scott loved them for it. He loved their demonstration of love, of how easy it should be to simply exist in each other's space and understand the music that wrapped around them. He saw each little glance between them, each soft smile when the other wasn’t looking, the tender touches that to an outsider would mean nothing at all. 

The creak on the stairs made him look around, instantly pressing a finger to his lips warning Virgil to be quiet. They didn’t deserve to be disturbed, not for a moment. 

“Why are you watching them?” His younger brother whispered to him, a gift wrapped in blue clutched close to his chest as he joined him in the kitchen doorway.

Scott shrugged, not entirely sure his reasoning would make sense to him, as Mom rested her head against Dad’s chest, “I want what they have, Vee.”

His brother frowned, glancing sideways at him, “A farmhouse and five kids?”

Rolling his eyes, Scott shook his head, “ No … well, not exactly.”

He wanted something special like they had, their kind of romance that was quiet and soft but loud and bold all at the same time. He wanted to be gross and cringey with someone that would laugh with him over silly little things. He wanted to look into someone else’s eyes and see his whole world right there in their depths. 

It was similar to the love his parents had shown him and his brothers their whole lives, but so very different at the same time. 

As Dad lifted Mom’s chin with a finger to kiss her, Virgil let out a soft huff of disgust and turned into the kitchen. His movement distracting their parents from their moment.

“Scotty,” Mom smiled to him, holding an arm out to him as she pulled away from Dad, “sorry kiddo, we didn’t hear you come in.”

“It’s okay,” He waved them off, “I only just got back.”

“Happy birthday, Son.” Dad grinned, one arm still wrapped around Mom’s waist.

Crossing the room to meet them both in a hug, Scott nodded, “Happy anniversary, guys.”