#cg!joyce

“Green please?” Will asked, holding out his hand for Steve to give him the green crayon. The boys were laying on the floor, Will drawing, Steve coloring. Even if the headset of a four year old, Will was a very talented artist. Steve however, was struggling to do even simple coloring pages at the same mental age.

“Kids! We’re home!” Joyce called as her & Murray walked through the door. She was surprised by what she saw. She was expecting to see Will & Jane watching TV and Jonathan to be blasting music in his room with that Argyle boy. Instead, though, she saw Will and Steve drawing together while laying on the carpet, pacifiers in their mouths, some kids show on the tv.

She was confused but found it cute. As soon as Steve saw them, he spit the pacifier out of his mouth and quickly sat up. He flipped the coloring sheet over, dropped his crayons, and tried to look as normal as he could, despite the tears stinging in his eyes. She looked away in an attempt to conceal her perplexed face, Murray, however, looked completely unphased.

They walked into the kitchen & started unpacking the groceries. “What’s with your face?” Murray questioned. “Steve just didn’t strike me as… you know.” She replied. “A regressor? That kid’s been through hell and from what I’ve heard the Harringtons aren’t quite a loving family. Poor kid need’s some parental love.”

Joyce put the groceries away as Murray walked back into the living room. He crouched next to Steve and picked up the abandoned pacifier. “Drop something, bud?” Steve looked confused as the man cleaned it with a wet wipe. “What’s wrong?” Murray asked as he handed the pacifier to him. “I was scared you were gonna be mad…” The boy mumbled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, little one.” He wiped the tears from the little boy’s face and ruffled his hair, chuckling at the whine & annoyed fixing he got in response.

“And how are you, kiddo?” He said, turning to Will. Will wasn’t feeling the most talkative so he proudly showed his drawing to the man. “Such a pretty dragon!” Will giggled at him and removed his pacifier. “It’s not a dragon! Is a wyvern! See? It only has two legs!” Murray chuckled and apologized for his mistake before heading back to the kitchen.

“They’re ok with it?” Steve asked Will, shocked. Will nodded as he kept drawing. “I started accidentally regressing in the upside down and couldn’t stop when i got back. Then, uncle Murray came and he said it was healthy and helped me & mama with it.” He explained. “Wow… If my parents found out, I’d be living with Eddie full time…”

Will noticed the poor boy’s tone and grabbed his favorite stuffie from the couch and handed it to Steve. It was a black bat with a red ‘S + E’ stitched in a heart on the wing. He hugged it closely and placed his pacifier back into his mouth. He happily returned to his coloring.

Murray began cooking dinner for their family. Joyce played with the boys, attempting to beat Steve at a competition in drawing wyverns. She immediately lost despite her drawing being better. Will, being the judge picked Steve’s drawing due to the fact that he drew a wyvern and Joyce drew a dragon.

“Ms byers?” Steve quietly asked. “Call me Joyce, sweetie.” Steve nodded. “Ok, Joyce, can i stay for dinner? My parents aren’t home and Eddie has a show tonight and i cant really cook when im small.” He began rambling, worried she’d be upset at him. “Honey, hush, of course you can stay for dinner.” She smiled.

The 3 of them played for the rest of the evening. “Can you boys set the table?” Murray asked, as he removed his apron. The boys nodded and ran to the kitchen. They set the table, mostly correctly, and happily waited in their seats. Murray carried in a steaming lasagna, Joyce behind him with two sippy cups of juice in hand. “Here you go, boys.” She said as she set them in front of the boys. “Thank you, Joyce!” “Thanks, mama!” The boys said in unison.

Murray served the lasagna and filled their water glasses. They all happily ate dinner, Steve and Will giggling & joking to each other while the adults talked.

Steve finished his lasagna and picked up his water, he didn’t expect how heavy the glass would be and accidentally dropped it. The glass shattered. Steve immediately began sobbing and profusely apologizing, the scared boy was barely breathing.

He attempted to pick up the glass with his bare hands and accidentally cut his palm. As soon as the glass broke, Murray had run to the closet to grab what was needed to clean up the glass. When Joyce saw the boy’s hand, she rushed to get him to the kitchen.

She picked out any debris, ran his hand under water, disinfected it, and bandaged it. She kissed the large sesame street bandaid and walked him to the couch, unfortunately, she couldn’t carry him but will had made his way to the living room to avoid the glass which made him feel better.