Fandoms I'm Into

“I need you Der, Remember that promise you made to me? That you wouldn’t leave me? I need you to keep it. I just please I need you to not break this promise.”

"One time I fell down the stairs."

Tommy's mom, Maria, looks up from the lunch she's preparing to her little audience of one and says, "Oh no, that's not good."

"No, it wasn't," Steve shakes his head. "I was just a baby and I don't 'member it but Mama said it was really scary. She said I got hurt, and she thought I was gonna die, and we had to go to the hospital and stay for two days."

"But I’m okay," He assures her. "I didn't die."

"Oh-okay. That's good. I’m glad you're okay."

"Me too," Steve nods. "Dad says that's why I'm slow now 'cause I fell down the stairs and hit my head real hard. He's wrong 'cause I’m not slow. I run really fast. Coach Benny says so."

Maria opens her mouth to speak, but frowns. She finds herself with a lot of words she'd like to say to Richard Harrington but very little to say to his five year old son.

Steve does not have that problem and keeps going, "Dad jus' doesn't know how fast I can run 'cause he doesn't come to my games."

Okay.

Maria takes a breath.

She puts a smile on her face as she pushed the plate with Steve's lunch on it over to him. She asks, "When is your next game? I'd like to come to it."

"Really?!" Steve asks. "It's on Saturday."

"I'll be there."

Maria looks up from her cross-stitch at the sudden five year old leaning over the arm of the couch, "What?"

"My dad," Steve clarifies, watching her pull her needle through. "I think he means that I’m dumb when he says I’m slow."

"Oh, honey. I don't-"

"It's 'cause I don't know how to read yet," He shrugs. "Miss Bailey isn't teaching us how to read at school though. We're just learnin' letters and I know all of them already."

"l learned all the letters from Mrs Grayson," He continues. "She teached me a lot of stuff like manners and how to talk right. If she was still here then I'd know how to read and wouldn't be slow."

"Steve, honey," Maria assures. "You're not slow or dumb. You're very smart and your dad knows that."

"I would be smarter with Mrs Grayson."

"Who is Mrs Grayson?" Maria asks. "Was she a tutor?"

"No, she was my nanny," Steve says. "She lived at my house and took care of me when Mama and Dad were busy but she had to go away so she don't live with us no more."

Given Richard Harrington's known extracurriculars, she can imagine what happened. She asks anyways, "Do you miss, Mrs Grayson?"

"No way, Jose," Steve shakes his head. "She was old and mean to me all the time. Dad got really mad at her and sued her for breakin' the law and stuff."

"He - what?"

"I had to talk to a really nice lady about Mrs Grayson and she said I might have to talk to a judge," Steve continues. "But that never happened 'cause Dad and Mrs Grayson visited the settle-man and he made them settle down."

He gives Maria a small smile, adding, "I don't have a nanny no more. I got a babysitter. Her name is Annie and I love her a whole lot. She's in college now."

"Um, okay," Maria nods, processing everything that was just said to her. A part of her would like to leave this where it is, to wrap this kid up and keep him forever, but different part of her is nosy so, "What did Mrs Grayson do that made your dad sue her?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," Steve says. "...Anyways, can I stay the night? Tommy said I can use his toothbrush."

"...We can give you your own toothbrush," Maria settles on. "We'll call your parents and if they say yes, of course you can stay."

"I already did," Steve answers. "They said I can stay for two days. Can I stay?"

"I guess so."

I have this headcanon where Shane is the more butch one between the two. I imagine his dad taught him how to be handy around the house, how to do some minor construction/repairs, how to start a campfire, and he enjoys the outdoors, and maybe did scouts when he was a boy. And in contrast, Ilya grew up as a slick, city boy in Moscow and hated the wilderness and hires people to fix things and is like afraid of spiders.

Bridgerton + Costumes

Sophie Gun's white & golden wedding dress in Season 04, Episode 08.