#edan bower

"I regret many things in ma life. But not them. Never them. They are ma everything. Every hardship I faced, every fight wi' my former husband... I'd endure it all over again, if I knew that after it all, I'd have the bairns in ma life."

As someone with siblings, I've had it happen more than once that I started to dislike someone one of my siblings didn't like. And I could totally imagine that Edan, at least, was the one who went through something like that with all the Blair and Lianna situation 😂😂

after everything Bree went through, it would be understandable if it took her, more particularly, a while to develop a "special bond" with him (trust was already a difficult thing perhaps?), so I guess it wasn't until a few years that they became something.

by the way, which of Neil's siblings won the bet about when they would end up together? You can't tell me something like that didn't happen 😌

I hope you don't mind that I'm asking you these things knowing how busy you are, I just love those two, no pressure anyways 🫶🫶

Edit: I draw Edan so rarely, I forgot his eyes aren't gold 💀 I fixed it now

I always love to talk about Breeil, so if you have any more questions shoot right away!!

Breena and Neil didn't become a thing until about 2 years after their first meeting - that would place them at 18-19 years old.

Neil was practically enamored with her from the moment they met, but since Bree was very distant and cold, even though she liked him, it took time before she'd even call him a friend. Admitting she had feelings for him was a whole nother jump. She had hoped they'd go away, but they never did, and the fact that Neil never gave up on her either, despite everything, didn't help the cause. (Micah had to get those from somewhere...)

It was difficult to earn her trust, but Neil Bower was a man on a mission. Perhaps a bit foolish to go on that mission for a girl he barely knew when his kindness has been exploited in the past, but he ended up happily married and a father of three some years later and now waits for the day he officially gets to call Robyn "son" and for the day he earns the title of seanair (= grandfather). So yay! :D

Also, Blair won the bet.

He refrained from addressing his issues to his siblings for 10 years (counting from his late teens, not his first time). He was scared they'd shut him out in disgust and shame. Moreover, his siblings had other worries than his love life. Blair and Neil had wives and children, Edan had his kid, Keith and Maisie their dating life - he couldn't burden them with his personal shit in good conscience. He was an adult and he should work his issues out on his own. When the suffering was too much to bear, he decided to change things but knew he couldn't do it on his own. He knew he needed help and if that help was just finally venting to someone about it and crying his heart out on someone's shoulder. So he gathered all his remaining courage and told them about his plight, gradually breaking into tears the more he talked.

"Sorry for bothering ye guys wi' this, I-I just... I dinna exactly have anyone else to talk to about this, and I'd simply ask the favor of ye to listen. Ye dinna have to reply to anything, ye dinna have to comment, I only want ye to listen. I think when I say my love life is a burning pile of shite it's to no one's surprise, but reality is... it's much worse. I laugh and joke about it, but if I'm honest, I am broken because of it. I am a shattered heart and soul and I don't, for the life of me, ken whit to do to piece it together again. I keep getting attached to people. That's probably just how I am... always the naive dumbass of the family. I meet them, I notice they're interested in me and then the first flirty sentences happen and just when I think there's nothing more to it and this person may genuinely like me... suddenly, their hands are in places they shouldna be, touching me, squeezing me, they are breathing down my neck and telling me things I've heard a hundred times before. And instead of fighting it, I give in. I keep giving in. I keep bringing those people to my house, I keep allowing them into my bed, I keep thinking maybe this time it'll be different and I keep waking up alone after every damn time it happens. I keep telling myself it's fine, I'll be alright but I am not! I am not fine! I am always just used. I am never anyone worth more than some one-mibay-two-night's pleasure. Mibay I dinna deserve love the way ye guys found it and in frustration I drown my pain in another person's bed. I'll spare the details but I am so tired of it. I want out of this cycle... I just dinna ken how. Ye guys can hate me or be repulsed or disgusted or whatever, I canna blame ye. I hate, am repulsed and disgusted by myself too and really, no matter whit ye think or say will hurt me much. I'm used to painful words."

He was met with silence and looks ranging from concern to pity and shock.

"Or ye can say nothing at all. Fine too."

Blair carefully uttered his name.

"How long for?"

Ian hesitated.

"Too long."

Neil leaned forward.

"Why didye never tell us?"

"Ye have other worries. Wives and bairns and other stuff."

"Ye're our brother! Ye're just as important!"

He didn't know what to say. He stared at the ground. He shouldn't have told them.

"Sorry." he whispered.

"No, we're sorry." Blair took her brother's hand. "We shoulda been more attentive and less teasing and taunting."

"It isna yer fault." he forced a smile.

"Ian." Edan glared. "Mibay not knowing just whit exactly was going on in yer life and protecting ye from it isna our fault but we made ye feel lonely and uncomfortable enough for ye to not approach us earlier. We're sorry."

Before he could say anything Keith chimed in.

"Ye say ye may not be deserving of love the way all of us do - I mean- majority of us do. Sorry, Ed."

"All good."

"But that's not true! Ye're just as much deserving of finding someone who loves ye for ye and puts in the effort to get to know the Ian behind the cocky, flirty act. Someone who just holds ye wi'out further intentions and not an ounce of selfishness to it. Ye're one of the kindest, caring people I ken and I am so happy to have ye as my brother. Even if just half-brother."

"Me too!" Maisie agreed, smiling. "Ye're deserving of a partner who loves ye wi' all their heart."

Blair wiped his tear.

"We're sorry we made ye feel unloved and that we let ye down. Keith and Maisie are right. Aye, sibling love is not the same but if ye look around the room, there's five people here who love ye and appreciate ye being part of their life. And outside there's... two, three, three, one... nine more people who do so!" she said.

"Eleven. Yer in-laws adore ye too." Neil corrected.

"Eleven!"

"Sixteen in total." Edan smiled.

"And more to come, probably." Maisie commented.

"We'll do better. We'll help ye, Ian. Promised."

He looked around his siblings smiling at him and nodding at Edan's promise. He sobbed as his feelings overwhelmed him.

****

"Hugs aren't a thing in the Boiling Isles!"

My honest reaction:

Me: That imagen of Neil and Bree sitting on the other side of the fence, wouldn't that be an Ian's POV when the poor boy just wanted to tell his brother that dinner was ready? just to find them kissing ? lol 😂

I'm not normal at all, forgive me for that 😔

That is indeed Ian's POV :D

He's gonna be insufferable about it. Dinner is just Ian constantly making smooch faces towards Neil and Neil kicking his shin progressively harder to get him to stop. Everybody else just eyes each other but is otherwise not very reactive, cause Ian being annoying is nothing new. Only Breena is suspiciously quiet. Neil kicks once too hard and Ian yelps a "MOTHERFUC-", stopping himself midway because Yvaine and Fergus are throwing him a death glare.

"Bad word!" Maisie points out.

"Is there anything ye two wish to share?" Fergus asks.

"No. Nothing." Neil answers and stares at Ian warningly.

"Good. Then we can go back to a peaceful dinner." Fergus concludes.

Some moments of peace later, Ian tells Breena he hopes Neil's breath didn't smell bad to which she didn't get to respond because Neil slammed his hands on the table with a "I will murder ye and throw yer body to the werewolves to eat and yer remaining bones into the Boiling Sea, so ye benefit an ecosystem somehow, ye little piece of-"

"That's enough." Yvaine interrupted. "Acting as if none of us knew Breena and ye've been kissing."

"Been?! It was once! Today!" Neil argued.

"Really? What the heck have ye two been doing the past weeks then?" Blair commented.

💗💜💙 🧡💛🤍💙 🧡🤍💗 🤍💙/💚🤍💙 🖤💜🤍

Was Edan at any point displeased with his appearance? I ask this because of something you once mentioned about Blair, that she hates her natural hair color (for being something they all inherited from their biological father) the same reason she dyes it.

Now the thing is that Edan seems to be almost an exact copy of his biological father (brown hair plus his eye color) so for obvious reasons that must have bothered him I suppose. but of course our beautiful Yvaine had a chat or two with him about it to make it clear to him that there was nothing wrong with it.

Nobody wants to bring Yvaine's ex-husband to the talk (you lost the best woman ever buddy) but what are the personal opinions of the four siblings about him?

Alexa, play Family Line by Conan Gray.

Boy, oh boy, the first 4 Bower kids can't catch a break in my inbox, eh?

Yes, Edan had his issues with resembling his father more than his siblings did, cuz he's the only one who inherited the red eyes rather than his mother's gold. There were times where he asked Blair to dye some of his hair blond too, ending up with blond tips for some years.

None of the kids have a soft spot for their biological father. He was barely in the picture despite living with them, he brought more chaos into the household than peace and finally, he made it obvious he never wanted the kids and blamed Yvaine on not doing enough to prevent pregnancies. Edan, as eldest, noticed it most and remembers the times his parents fought downstairs while he tried to shelter his siblings from it best. Edan remembers the shouting best. He remembers his siblings' fear, and he remembers his mother's tears best. Blair and Neil weren't oblivious of it but it's not as edged into their memory as it is for Edan. Blair has vague memories of her father's looks, Neil has no face before his eyes when thinking about him and Ian was a baby and can't have memories of him, but Edan has a clear image. And he gets reminded every time he looks in the mirror.

He was able to work through it over most of his young adulthood but now he is able to look into a mirror and see Edan instead of seeing his father.