Dolan’t Me Go

Parker had tried to ask you a question about what you were doing for the rest of the day. Which in retrospect you didn’t mind answering--even though he’d asked 3 different crew members already. Ethan shook his finger at the small boy and tisks.

“If you’re going to talk about work then I’ll be forced to talk about work. Beep boop expenditures. Bop boop beep meetings. Bop bop changes in expectations for the next quarter.” He mimes a robot walk and both of the kids break into a fit of giggles, begging for him to end the ‘torture.’ He throws a wink at you when they both turn around and start chatting amongst themselves and you grin back. Women thought men with babies were hot? Ethan is shaking you up from just these small interactions with Edith and Parker. You’ll combust if he’s ever holding a baby in your presence. You’re sure of it.

Ethan insists upon buying your lunch, despite your protests, and the four of you settle at a small round table by a window looking out on the busy streets of New York City. His interactions with the kids are heartfelt and adorable. It’s even more striking that he looks like he could be their father. The way they move around each other even looks like he’s their father and it makes you wonder how ofter the other Mr. Dolan is around. They’d been elated to talk to him on the phone earlier, but this looks more like the natural groove for the children. You have the sudden urge to reach over and comfort the man next to you, even though you’ve only known this man for what? Maybe 5 hours?

“Eadie Beanie you need to be careful, I don’t know how to get ketchup out of clothes okay? And your nana just bought you that sweater.” Ethan reaches over to wipe off the little girl’s face, smiling despite the interruption of your conversation. Not that you two had reached any interesting subject with the kids listening in. Edith squirms away from his wiping and pouts. The two have a small stare down before she huffs and takes another reluctant bite of her sandwich. Ethan laughs and ruffles Parker’s hair--who has been absorbed in the small handheld game he whipped out of his pocket as soon as you sat down.

“Ms. Y/L/N are you married?” You choke on your drink and Ethan lets out a small nervous laugh. You swear you notice Edith’s eyes sparkle a bit when he question affects you so. But she smiles a sweet smile and looks at you expectantly.

“Edith lets not ask such personal questions okay?” Ethan raises an eyebrow at the little girl and she makes another pout face.

“Why? You’re not asking the questions. You guys talk about boring stuff! Somebody has make this less blech!” Edith smirks knowingly at her uncle and tugs on Parker’s arm for attention. She seems to be a pretty observant kid for her age. Both of them are smart, you already knew that, they are homeschooled because of their rehearsal schedule. Parker has proudly announced to the cast that he’s on a 10th grade reading level. Loudly. Many times.

Edith tugs on her brother again and Parker hmms without looking up from his game, “Parker I’m sure if  you ask E-Tee to give us money he’ll let us go buy cake.” Parker’s head whips up at that and both the kids look expectantly over at Ethan, whose head is in his hands shaking back and forth. You laugh at the family’s interaction and wonder how often it’s like this. You quickly pull $5 out of your purse to hand to the kids before Ethan can stop you, he didn’t let you buy lunch so you’ll treat the kids.

A chorus of thank you’s breakout and they both hop off to the long line at the counter, no doubt to order a bunch of sugar they don’t need. You realize that you’re going to have to get them to focus later and that you REALLY didn’t think that through. Ethan looks up from his hands and dead pans at you.

“You really didn’t have to and definitely should not have done that.” You laugh at his mock broken tone and he cracks a smile at your giggle, “Guys! Dairy free!” He calls out across the restaurant, pointing at them with a mock angry face. They both fall into a fit of giggles and nod before turning back to the menu.

“I think I definitely just saw Edith point at the cheesecake.” You joke, and Ethan whips around pretending to get ready to go after the two kids. You both laugh again, before leaning forward to be comfortably closer to one another.

“So. Thanks to the kids I have learned,” Ethan counts each tid bit off on his fingers, mock seriously. “Your favorite color. What you want to be when you grow up. Your favorite Disney movie. What your middle name is. What your least favorite vegetable is. And finally the kicker that you did not get to answer.” You raise an eyebrow at the last one and pretend to think very hard.

“Oh yes? And what was that?” You grin slyly and play with the straw in your drink. Ethan wiggles his eyebrows suggestively to make you laugh again. He really was something else. Funny. Attentive. Great with the kids. Why the hell wasn’t he married? That last thought strikes you as a tad ominous. Darker thoughts threaten to board the ever moving train in your mind and you make an effort to push it out of your head for the moment. You had plenty of time to worry about that later.

“Well Eadie seems to be worried that you’re married.” You widen your eyes, pretending to be shocked, “But I’m a smart man. I can see you aren’t wearing a ring.” His eyes drift to your bare ring finger, and you nod.

“Great observation Mr. Holmes. Anything else?” You inquire with a squinted eye. This little game the two of you were playing was so refreshing. Both of you were just having fun being a little goofy together. Ethan nods and pretends to sit back and smoke from a pipe. You loved that he would be silly and mess around with you, but it wasn’t a crazy ordeal that took everyone in the restaurant’s attention. This is just a fun moment being shared between the two of you.

“Well then I can make the deduction that you aren’t married.” He shoots forward in a flash and you let out a squeak. “BUT!” His voice is loud and then gets very quiet, “I must inquire further for my next deduction.” You laugh and try to hold a serious face while nodding for him to continue. This man is really bringing out a different side of you. Doing the job that you do requires such a high level of seriousness in order for you to gain respect, that you forget to have fun a lot. Not that you are unhappy or don’t feel creative in your work, that isn't the case at all. But you do find yourself missing moments like these. Most of your interactions with your crew and cast are light hearted, but you have to hold yourself back for the sake of professionality. There is a tinge of loneliness that comes with being the director. The only person who is close to your level is LJ, and she has to hold just as much of a professional air as you do. If not more.

You justify it by coming to the conclusion that Ethan isn’t involved in this part of your life at all. Sure he is close to two of your actors, but an uncle is far less of an entanglement than an actual parent right? Though Ethan really did look like more than just an uncle. The kids are already cast, though. The show is in tech now, your role is truly almost over. Is there any harm that could be done? Again, that tiny dark feeling you can’t place washes over you. Guilt? Fear? You aren’t sure. Pushing the questions away is harder this time. This time, the escape is narrow.

Ethan must notice the change in your demeanor even though you try to brush past it. What is with you today and the overthinking? It really has been to long since you’ve been out with a man. Or gone out in general really. Ouch. Stopping yourself from thinking about that number really is all too easy.

He drops the character entirely and a shy boy peeks out from under his layers. One that looks as if he genuinely wants to know the answer to his next question. Your heart melts further when he glances at the children by the counter before looking back to you.

“Are you? Dating anybody?”

________________________________________________________________

Ethan had no idea if this was going well or not. Y/N is laughing and the kids are being their normal selves, but he wonders if you think his family is crazy. They are. But he loves them with everything he has. Which, considering the last few years isn’t very much, his family took up so much space in his heart, he really didn’t leave much else for anyone else. Not that he had--or made--the time for that.

Ethan is extremely well off, Dolan Productions continues to grow everyday. He could probably stop working today and lead a stable life. Sure, they have the property in New Jersey. The one in LA. Grayson still owned his old family home and Ethan may or may not have a cottage in Europe somewhere that he never discloses the location to. And both boys have plenty in the bank. But Ethan enjoys working, he likes the sense of purpose and accomplishment it provides. With an added bonus of proving everyone who ever said he and Grayson were crazy or worse, wrong. Oh so very wrong.

Gray had married first and created his settled life with his kids, and then Ethan had become the weird one. First he and Gray were crazy. Then they were ‘young and ambitious businessmen.’ Then Gray became super dad and Ethan was just ‘ambitious and possibly lonely,’ according to his mother. Then the scandal hit and both boys ducked as far under the radar as they could. Now the ‘Dolan Twins’ were no longer the face of their own company. Both were still in charge and worked, but they’d let their lives get more quiet. Somebody else did most of the PR now. After seeing how the media could ruin something already so broken, neither of the boys ever wanted to be the talk of the town again. And they definitely never, ever, wanted that for Parker and Edith. Convincing Gray to let them be in a Broadway show took weeks. Their mother ended up pulling Grayson by the ear into her bedroom and they didn’t come out for a good 45 minutes.

Though right now Ethan had no idea why he’d stuck his neck out for these heathens in the first place. Parks was hunched over in a game and barely speaking, it wasn’t the most polite move in the world, but Ethan preferred his nephew about 10 times more than his niece right now. She was a lot like her aunt Cam and a lot like her grandmother. Always talking, noticing everything, and being too smart for her own good. Including right now, where she was practically grilling Y/N, and making not-so-subtle-9-year-old-pointed glances at Ethan. ‘Oh that’s E-Tee’s favorite color too!’ Even though Ethan was sure the little girl had no idea what his favorite color was.

Not that it mattered nor did Edith probably care.

“Ms. Y/L/N are you married?” Edith’s face looks innocent when she poses the question, but Ethan can see the mischief in her eyes. It was the same look she had before she’d run and tell her daddy about the cookie Ethan had given her after bedtime when he wouldn’t supply her with another one. He lets out a small passive chuckle and squints throws a dirty look to the little girl. Evil genius child.

“Edith lets not ask such personal questions okay?” He raises an eyebrow and silently begs the universe to just do him this one solid and have the little girl just go with it.

Of course she doesn’t and Ethan ends up with his head in his hands in embarrassment, again. But you don’t miss a beat, and boy does he notice. You were always so collected around other people, which of course was part of your job, but Ethan is an awe at how smooth you are. He’s seen people blow up at these two kids and blow up at him, but you’re laughing and taking it in stride. Which encourages his confidence back up enough to get the courage to go for the same question he’d been wanting to ask you.

Why aren’t you married? Could you possibly be single? How? With those eyes? Your passion? And your hair? Your very beautiful and, well, pullable hair?

There’s gotta be something wrong with this chick.

And there it was. There’s the thought he’d been fearing would pop up. The inevitable, well there-has-to-be-something-wrong-here-and-if-there-isn’t-then-you-sure-will-cause-it thought. Dammit. Ethan really didn’t want his mother to be right when she talks about how emotionally stunted her boys have become, but here he was. Wondering if the nice, beautiful woman in front of him could be some sort of secret psychopath. He’d seen it before. Or if maybe Ethan was the secret psychopath who didn’t really want somebody to love him, or somebody for him to love. He’d seen that all go wrong before too. Ethan looks at Edith and Parker trying to buy cake at the counter, he’d seen the damage all of the fallout could really cause.

But he has to know, all jokes aside. Something in him has to know.

“Are you? Dating anyone?” He watches your eyes for your response, hoping the answer would be no. It had to be. You wouldn’t be out for lunch with him if you had someone else would you?

“Ah. No, no I’m not.” Ethan swears, but never admits that his heart skips a beat at your answer. He grins widely, not trying to hide it, and your grin matches his.

“Would you consider going out with me sometime?” Ethan’s mind and stomach feel like static waiting for your answer, which doesn’t come as soon as he’d like, due to the untimely return of his crew. Edith hops up with Parker in tow, who has his face screwed up in disgust.

“Finally!” Edith cries excitedly, looking between the two of you.

“Thats gross.” Parker mumbles, before shoving a bite of cake into his mouth. Edith frowns deeply at him and looks at you expectantly. Ethan groans again, of course. Of course Edith had to hear that. Now Grayson will hear and so will his mother and probably Cam. Great.

“Well since we know you’ll say yes, you should come on monday cause thats when theres no rehearsal. And we can make cake and you can meet Nana!” Edith’s eye shine brightly and she grins, “Nana gets upset cause E-tee-wee-tee doesn’t bring home girls. But now you’ll come!” She smiles proudly at Ethan and he’s got a deadpan face on, directed right at her. Why did she always feel the need to get involved in everything? And now Y/N knows his stupid nickname he’d been trying to be rid of ever since Grayson plastered it on their old YouTube Channel.

Ethan puts his chin in his hand and huffs, might as well let the little girl talk. This was her date anyway. He holds back a wince, is he really jealous of a seven-year-old? Ethan looks over to you at the same time you glance at him and a smile forms on his face. You didn’t look annoyed at all. In fact you looked like you were still having a great time. Yup, definitely jealous of anybody who could make you smile like that. He winks at you and it makes you laugh, which prompts Edith to stop talking about whatever she decided to ramble about--her room maybe?

“Excuse me!” Edith harps, but Ethan is too wrapped up in staring at you, and you’re too wrapped up in staring back. “Fine. As we say in theater, silence means argument!” That statement breaks the semi staring contest the two of you entered and Ethan draws his eyebrows together.

“Agreement. Silence means agreement Edith.” Y/N winks at the little girl, who nods. You turn to Ethan and he shifts nervously under your gaze. “But I think your uncle and I can probably work something out.”

“Yes! Yeah. Um absolutely.” Ethan quips almost too quickly. He pauses for a moment and makes a mental note to drop the weirdo excitement and speak like a normal person and not like his brother. But where to take you? Dinner? A movie? Neither sounded special, and a movie was definitely out. You weren’t 15-year-olds on a first date. Ethan is fumbling and he knows it. He hasn’t taken a girl out on a date in years. He splutters for a moment and his brain has a small meltdown. You live in the city. He lives an hour away, was there a place in the middle? He had no idea. There was a gas station off the interstate on one of the exits, but that definitely wouldn’t work.

Well fuck. Should he entertain Edith’s idea? He imagines you in New Jersey for a moment. Would you like it? The land? His home? You’d have to meet his mom. Though he was pretty sure Lisa had picked up the kids at least once or twice. And you could handle Eadie and Parks like a champ. But take you to his home on a first date? People didn’t do that, did they? He didn’t think so. But. That meant it was original. Which kinda made it special. Right?

Dammit. New Jersey it is.

You turn around and give a thumbs up to LJ in the back of the theatre who nods back. She goes straight back into her conversation with the lighting designer who is pointing around and making angry gestures at the catwalk. A brief sense of relief fills you, yes your producer fucked your morning up, but LJ dealt with more crap in a day than you think you could ever handle.

The two children appear next to you suddenly, both already in costume. Edith has her arms crossed over her chest and a grumpy expression over her face. Parker is smirking not so subtly. The two shared the same dark hair and pretty eyes, both were beautiful kids. But their attitudes were really starting to grate at your nerves. Just as you open your mouth to settle the situation, the stage mom comes running up along with your assistant--who looks like a deer in headlights as always.

“I am so sorry Y/N. It won’t happen again. They got away from me and I’ve already called their mother, but she is out of town so their father is on his way but he lives in New Jersey so it is going to take some time. The two brats are fighting again.” She gives them a hard look, “Not that they ever aren’t being awful. Couple of spoiled monsters who can’t control themselves if you ask me.” The children look off to opposite sides of the room and you wrinkle your eyebrows. This really wasn’t what you were in the mood for today. And the glorified babysitter seemed to only be getting worse at her job. You hold up a hand so that nobody else talks and turn back around to call to LJ again.

“LJ! Can you draft up this young woman’s severance papers. Her voice is starting to get on my nerves.” LJ doesn’t even look up from her cue book and gives you another thumbs up. You turn back around and move your ‘shut up’ hand into the woman’s face, who has already begun spluttering. Your assistant hands you your phone and you smile at her, “Thank you. If you could go work with LJ on her schedule for today that would be great.” Your assistant--is it bad that you couldn’t remember her name? The poor thing barely ever spoke--nods and takes off toward the back of the theatre. You put your hand in front of the woman’s face back around the cup of coffee you’re carrying and take the moment of silence to take a small sip of the warm drink. Your eyes never leave her’s, though you know the entire company is staring at the two of you.

“Why are you still here?” You ask with a raised eyebrow.

“You can’t just fire me! My voice isn’t a good reason! I could sue!” She sneers the last word and tries to get up in your face, but you take this opportunity to take another sip of your coffee. The cup goes up in the air between the two of you and she stumbles back like you’ve hit her. Ah ever the undiscovered actress.

You motion to the two kids behind the woman, who both look enraptured with the scene unfolding in front of them. The argument they were having before clearly forgotten as Parker steps in front of his sister. The kids had turned on a dime, one minute they were acting like the 7 and 11 year old you knew them to be, and the next they looked like they’d seen war. Though both of them were in show business, so they probably had. At least you hoped that’s what it was. Haunted looks in children’s eyes were somehow always 1,000 times worse than in anyone else’s.

“You can’t keep an eye on two children. You’re constantly seeking attention and causing issues. You’re a distraction. And I just witnessed you calling them names. Collect your things. Children with me please.” And with that you turned and headed into the audience to the table set up for you to take notes at. Parker takes his sister’s hand and follows behind you quietly. They stand on the opposite side of the table and watch as you sit down and lay out your notebooks and papers for the day.

“We didn’t know she called our parents.” Parker says. His voice was strong for someone so young and you nod, motioning for him to continue talking. “Edith and I were just playing. She told us we weren’t aloud to leave our dressing room at all. But we’ve been here since 8.”

“We were bored.” Edith speaks for the first time and you nod at her. That woman should have been fired weeks ago. You refrain from dragging a hand over your face, the kids hadn’t done anything wrong. Not really. Well they had, but after seeing who had been ‘taking care of them’ in action, you really couldn’t blame them for acting up. You fold your hands in front of you and lean over the table.

“I understand. I’m sure it is very boring for the both of you right now. However, I don’t believe in treating my younger actors like babies. We keep a stage hand with you both so that you don’t get injured around the others. I expect you to listen to them. Running around like you both were isn’t safe. It puts you in danger. The other actors. All the tech people. I know you both are better than that.” You raise an eyebrow and they both nod. The kids were fantastic actors, which was why you had cast them as leads, but they were some of the most curious, adventure-seeking, accident prone kids you’d ever met. “Okay. Now that we’ve got that over with I want to talk to you both about the end of act two? The scene wh--” You’re cut off by the sound of theatre doors behind you flying open.

The kids lean around you and their eyes go wide. A tall man comes stalking down the aisle toward the three of you. LJ stands and rushes over, your assistant scrambles to him as well, and you recognise him as the father you’d met a handful of times. The two women slow his descent toward you considerably, giving you enough time to stand and right yourself.

“Mr. Dolan. I’m sorry about calling you away from work, your children--” He cuts you off as he gets closer.

“Parker. Edith. Lobby. Now.” The kids give you a sheepish look as they brush past you and down the aisle.

“Excuse me Mr. Dolan, I’m LJ the stage manager. We’ve met a couple of times. Of course you remember the director, Y/N. I understand they are your children, but we are about to start rehearsal. You can’t just--” He cuts LJ off with a dark look. And she shuts her mouth immediately. He’s tall, dark, and definitely intimidating. She looks straight to you and you shake your head, motioning that you’ve got this. She throws her hands up in the air and huffs before walking off back to her station at the back of the auditorium. Edith and Parker have halted about halfway up the aisle, curious as ever. Now the man turns his wrath on you.

“Y/N, right? The voice message I was left by you all was completely unfounded. How dare you? They’re just kids! Of course they’re going to get bored. You’re supposed to keep an eye on them. Their contract--” You hold up your hand to cut him off like you had done earlier and his eyes blaze with furry. They were the same eyes that the children had. It would have made you smile, if the eyes across from you now didn’t hold so much hatred.

“Mr. Dolan--” you start

“Ethan.”

“Ethan.” You put your hand down and try a soft smile. “I’m sorry to hear that the phone call you were given was so inappropriate. That staff member has been taken care of. But I will ask you kindly not to use that tone with my stage manager or I. We, like your children, haven’t done anything wrong. The situation is being sorted out. The children are fine, and I’m sure would like to stay for the rehearsal.” You wave at the children up the row who are both nodding and look to your assistant. “Take them backstage and get them fitted for their mics.” She nods and smiles warmly at the children, who follow her quickly.

Ethan settles a bit and looks around awkwardly. You motion for him to take a seat next to where you had been sitting with the children. You didn’t want an angry parent leaving the building, god forbid you give your producer something else to bitch about. He taps his foot nervously and you wonder where the cool, confident man you’d spoken to over the phone multiple times had gone.

“Your children are very talented.” You offer casually, feeling the uncomfortable silence seeping into your skin. He seemed frazzled at about at his wits end, so you’d let him start the serious conversation if he felt the need.

“My children?” The confusion in his voice throws you off. Realization dawns on his handsome face. “No they aren’t mine. Eadie and Parks are my niece and nephew.” Your face screws up in momentary confusion. They look just like him. “They’re my twin brother Grayson’s kids.” He clarifies with a small smile, “They’re great, sadly not mine.”

That made sense, you could see the differences between the men now. The other Mr. Dolan was a bit bigger than the one in front of you, he had a darker tan too. But Ethan had a sort of genuine air about him that his brother lacked when speaking to you. Grayson had been cool and suave in front of you, a goofy dad with his kids--loud as fuck, but the demeanor Grayson had flashed in front of your eyes wasn’t one that held your interest for long. Not that both of them men weren’t handsome, bit you felt yourself getting far more attached to Ethan than you ever were with his brother. It felt like small tethers had formed in the air between the two of you and had slowly began connecting the longer you stood close.

Despite his wistful smile about the children, Ethan carried a small sadness behind his eyes and it makes your heart ache. How such a beautiful man wasn’t already snached up in the 2.5 kids, white picket fence, american dream you had no idea. Suddenly you’re sucked into the thought of what that would look like with the man sitting across from you, and you don’t know it, but he’s thinking the same thing. Would they have Ethan’s eyes? Yours? What would he look like holding such a small baby in his large arms? What would it feel like to be held in his large arms?

You shake that last thought off quickly. It had been too long since you’d been out, you’d definitely let this production take over far too much of your life. Quickly you stand and he does the same, both of you now standing awkwardly in the middle of the theatre.

“Well. It was nice to meet you Mr. Dolan. But I have to be off to start rehearsal.” You hold out your hand for him to shake and he engulfs your small hand in his large one. The warmth and slight roughness to his skin makes you feel things that were definitely not appropriate for this moment in time. Electricity charges between the two of you, and it is Ethan who pulls away quickly this time. Your eyes widen and you rub your hands on your pants nervously. He has got to go. Now.

Right?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ethan hadn’t planned on all of this for the day. He had to cancel his meetings after assuming that he’d have to pull the children out of the entire production and drag their asses back to New Jersey. Luckily he’d even been in town today otherwise he didn’t know what he would have done. Not that he told the woman on the phone that. The ‘I have to drive all the way from New Jersey’ card usually got him intimidation points from other adults. He learned that early on with the two kids.

He didn’t expect the phone call, but what he certainly didn’t expect was to run into the gorgeous director his brother had told him about, Y/N. Grayson had flirted with you on many occasions according to what he told Ethan, but ‘the woman is an ice wall bro.’ Ice wall was far from what Ethan was getting from the beautiful woman. You were hard and strong, sure. And Grayson always liked the sweet women. Ethan liked all women to an extent, but the ones that kept him interested the longest--more than a couple of hours--were the ones he knew could hold their own. And you most definitely had. He was sure he look terrifying barreling down the aisle like a barbaric wall of muscle. The thought almost makes him flush, but he knew he’d do anything for those kids.

He watches you carefully when you stand, ready to rush off away from him he’s sure. Ethan opens his mouth to say goodbye, but stops when he has a better idea. For some reason he’s suddenly very attached to the idea of spending more time with you. And luckily his guardianship of the munchkins currently backstage provided him the perfect opportunity to do so. Besides, if what you’d done earlier when ordering people around with that cool, strong-- and dare he say it--sexy as fuck tone was gonna happen again? Well he really wanted to be around for that.

“Actually. I’m already in the city, and traffic is going to be hell to get out by now. I was wondering if I could stay and watch the kids?” He smiles his most charming smile and hopes it works, because if he could stay, then you would have to take a lunch break at some point right?

“I’m sorry, but these are closed rehearsals.” A voice sounds off behind him and Ethan whips around to see the short woman dressed in all black with her hands on her hips. Shes got 2 pencils in her hair and a headset around her neck, along with the fury of god in her eyes. Ethan turns back around to you quickly and softens his eyes a bit, hoping the look of hope will bring your pity out.

And oh does it work.

“LJ I’m sure it’s not too much trouble. Right? If Mr. Dolan sits in the back? He did have to come in all the way from New Jersey?” Ethan catches the look you give to the other woman, LJ, who rolls her eyes and throws her hands up again like she did before.

“Whatever! God forbid I have control over my own fucking rehearsal.” She mumbles before halting off to the stage to get actors into places. Ethan tenses up a bit, but when he notices the amusement on your face it’s an instant relaxer. The small smile on your lips and sly look in your eyes made his chest tighten, from the leader, to flustered, to the little minx you’re being now, he was sure he wanted to see what you were like all the time. Everyday.

Fuck. Where did that come from?

Ethan usually likes to shake off thoughts like that. After seeing what Grayson and his wife went through, he was far from interested in getting caught up in the same thing. His little brother, his twin, Ethan’s real other half, had suffered so much dealing with that relationship. Neither of the boys ever said her name, the children only vaguely remembered her. Thank god. He’d never forget the call he’d gotten from Grayson. All the looks their little family had gotten afterword. But Grayson was finally starting to get his groove back, Ethan, Cam, and their mom were helping with the kids, and Parker and Edith seemed to be recovering. They were doing their best.

Standing in front of you made Ethan almost giddy. Watching Gray fall apart like he did kept Ethan far from wanting any woman for more than a night or two. If that. It had been 5 years since everything had gone down. He hadn’t been interested in anybody really. Women had tried, and Ethan was no saint. But committing to more than a night sounded like a suicide mission.  But, he felt drawn to you in ways he’d never felt with anyone before. He found himself desiring to make you smile. To play with your hair. To see what you look like in the morning. Under him. On top of him.

His thoughts were getting out of hand.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why in the hell had you asked LJ to let him stay? You want to kick yourself, but the hopeful look on his face brings butterflies to your stomach. He does look really sweet. Exhausted and frazzled, but sweet.

“You can sit anywhere you’d like as long as you’re quiet.” You offer him a small smile, and instead of opting to sit in another row he sits right back down in the seat next to yours. You stiffen slightly before holding back a laugh, and take your spot next to him. It felt very fitting. LJ comes walking back downstage and gives you a thumbs up, you grab your notebook and return the gesture, pen in hand.

The lights in the theatre blink to notify the designers to sit and you settle back, comforted in the moments of peace before the show starts. You’d always loved this moment. The room goes quiet and there is a hint of promise in the air for what is to come. It was one of the things that connects you to your job. The idea that everything happens right there before everyone’s eyes, you get one shot. One chance. That’s it. Holding what becomes your baby up for everybody to see is terrifying, which was part of the reason why you kept such a hard ass persona on. It helped gain you respect and get you where you are today.

LJ calls for go, actors enter, and you are instantly scribbling notes down on paper. Frantically writing while trying not to look away from the action onstage. Usually your assistant took your notes, but you had sent her backstage to keep an eye on the children. So you were back to the messy scribbles you’d have to decipher at the end of the day.

During the stumble through, designers come up to you and there are discussions about costumes and lights, sound and sets. You peak over at Ethan and watch him react to the show, but he must notice that you’re looking at him because he turns to you openly and smiles. Just as you’re about to open your mouth to ask what  he thinks, the costume designer taps on your shoulder and starts talking wigs on Edith at the same time the sound designer is asking your thoughts on a crash box vs a recording. You hold up a hand to the costumer and turn to answer the other designer, and Ethan snorts. It almost breaks your cool for a moment. Almost.

A while later you all have finally stumbled through to intermission, and that marks lunch break. You sigh back into your chair tiredly. This was one of the most stressful productions you’ve worked on. You’d never done a premiere before. So here you had nothing to go off of other than your own thought baby. Which at times was great, other times you found yourself overwhelmed and exhausted.

“That was amazing.” Ethan says, you turn and look at him underneath the hand that had floated to cover your eyes. You smile at him tiredly, it really was a great show. You had no doubts. You’d worked hard, but you had rules about talking to other people about the work you’d done. Always give everyone else credit before yourself.

“Everyone is doing a really great job. It’s a fantastic crew of people. If you’ll excuse me for a moment I have notes to give before we release for lunch.” You give a hand signal to LJ who has her crew round up the actors. You smile at Ethan before hoping up with your notebook and strutting through the theatre like you owned the place.

The extra sway to your hips may or may not have been on purpose.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ethan watches as you sashay away from him and up onstage. He sits back in his seat and grins. The way you move so confidently just screamed sex to him. He stops. Again. Not an appropriate thought you dickwad. He holds back a groan when you start snapping at some of the actors for fooling around. He watches as you go through things and explain things to people, almost like a teacher fantasy come to life.

What the hell.

When did he turn back into a horny 19 year old kid? Everything you did just made him want to grab you, or let you grab him? Fuck he really wasn’t sure. He decides to focus on his phone instead of you up onstage, do to the impending possibility of a poorly placed boner.

12 missed calls from Grayson

37 texts from Grayson

Fuck. Ethan quickly opens his phone to texts from his brother freaking out about the kids. Ethan hadn’t texted him back after he’d called Gray to explain that he probably had to go remove the kids from the premises. Just as Ethan starts to text, he gets an incoming call from his brother.

“Hello?” Ethan whispers quietly.

“Hello? HELLO? THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ME RIGHT NOW ETHAN? WHERE THE HELL ARE MY KIDS? WHY DIDN’T YOU CALL? YOU SAID YOU WOULD CALL.” Grayson got like this a lot with Edith and Parker. Not that Ethan could blame him. He winces at the sound of his brother’s voice cracking on the other end. He’d really been messed up waiting to hear from Ethan.

“I’m sorry! I’m in the theatre right now. It was a misunderstanding. They let me stay to watch the kids perform dude. I’m sorry I didn’t call. They’re okay.” Ethan quickly pulls his phone away from his ear to snap a picture of the two of them for his brother. Right at the moment where Y/N is bending down next to them. Ethan almost groans. You’re beautiful. Strong. And you’re perfect with the two little lights of his life? Fuck fuck fuck.

Ethan can practically hear the tension slip out of Grayson’s body over the phone when the picture sends. He gets up and slips into the lobby as to not disturb the rest of the rehearsal. He doesn’t tell Grayson, but he saves that picture too. The three of you were smiling at each other and the kids looked enraptured with you, somehow Ethan already knew how they felt.

“You should see them up there Gray. They look great.” Ethan can finally talk at a normal level in the lobby, and he straightens to get some walking in after sitting for so long. Grayson sighs on the other end of the line.

“I’m not sure if that was a dig at my ability as a father or a genuine statement Ethan.” He says quietly. Ethan looks down at his feet, truthfully it had been both. But he’d never tell Grayson that. The kids didn’t want to leave New Jersey and Gray was running the  LA branch of their production company. It wasn’t like he’d run off, but still. You could see that they missed their dad.

“No Gray,” Ethan takes a deep breath to hold back the tight feeling in his chest. How had they gotten here? “I just wanted to tell you how wonderful they’re doing. Everyone here loves them. Y/N thinks they’re fantastic actors.” When Grayson responds Ethan can hear the emotion in his voice, he misses his kids. But Grayson was the one with the contacts and the ‘in’ in LA. Ethan had tried, but his branch and contacts were here. Thriving at opposite ends of the country was hard enough for the twins, but Grayson also lost his kids in the mix.

“They are great kids.” Grayson comes through the line quietly and Ethan nods even though his brother can’t see him. They had more tense conversations like this one than not these days. Both taking out their frustration with the separation and distance on each other. Ethan knows things will be more normal when Gray comes back into town for a visit, but the tried look never really leaves his brother’s eyes.

Its at that moment when the double doors to the theatre bust open and a two kids pop out from the other side, making a mad dash for Ethan.

“Uncle E! You stayed to watch!”

“Did you like it E-tee?”

“Did you see me in the air? With the thing and I went woosh?”

“Can you hold me?”

The last one had come from Edith, also occasionally dubbed E, after her uncle. Ethan brightens instantly when the kids bombard him and scoops up Edith in his arms, letting Parker attach to his other side. They looked so much like Grayson to Ethan, but Gray saw so much of their mother sometimes it hurt.

“Hey! There are my monsters, my little loves! Guess who's on the phone and wants to hear all about today?” He nuzzles Edith’s face and she squeals, Parker instantly reaches up for the phone and grabs it out of Ethan’s hand.

“DAD!” Parker yells into the phone, and Edith is already squirming out of his arms and running over to her brother--who’s already got his dad on facetime.

“Guys! Share!” Ethan shakes his head as they continue to argue over the phone, before Edith finally wrestles it out of her brother’s hands and takes a seat on one of the lobby chairs. Parker huffs and squeezes in beside her while she rambles on about something that happened earlier.

“You seem to get them pretty well,” a voice from Ethan’s dreams rings behind him and he smiles before even turning around.

“I was there when they were born. I’ve been here ever since. They have a special place in my heart.” He shrugs and turns to face you, “Thanks for walking them out. What time do they have to be back from lunch?”

“They get a long break right now while the adult actors come back for the knife training. Which none of us are needed for. So I was actually wondering if I might join you all?” Ethan smiles even brighter at your question, which makes you smile back. Your smile makes his chest feel weird, but not the same way that the conversation with his brother had. This was different, warmer. And it warms him even more when you blush lightly.