#jakeben

OMG hi okay so I have many asks (by my standards) to go through over break ieksisjshe ily and I loooove this plus I swore I will get at Least One Ask done before I sleep tonight so help me so here we go

Ben says I love you first! He tries to pull it off as a sort of casual even if inside he's nervous, but Jake hears him and it really does stop him dead in his tracks for a moment because it's kind of a first for him? to hear it said openly and just for him and he doesn't have to fight for it, it's just out there, freely given - and he blurts it out immediately, "I love you, too!!", almost like if he doesn't say it back fast enough, Ben might take it back (which is silly because that would never happen because Ben thinks he's the sun and moon). After the first few times, it becomes part of their daily life. It's their goodbye, and their 'I'm sorry', and their 'thank you'.

They do get married, but it takes a while for them to wise up and realize they need a ceremony sjsjjsuwha. They basically transition into married life without even realizing, especially when they start integrating Ben's coven, and Jake's pack (in my AU that semi-extends to the Olympic Coven because of Leah and Seth, and really that's the case for any AU where the whole Swan-Clearwater step-sibling thing is taken seriously (as it should be!!)). They travel between the two, being domestic and getting to really know and love each other's broods, and one day when Ben is making Jake some eggs and Quil pokes fun at how married they are, it just sort of hits them that... they weren't already? And they laugh it off but the idea sticks in Jake's mind well into the night and the next morning he immediately makes his excuses and goes out to pick out a ring. He calls up Tia for an estimate ring size and then Amun to ask for his blessing, which he receives, and he proposes when and where he can be sure to gather the pack and the coven together at a moment's notice, at a gorgeous cliffside overlook (my Schitt's Creek roots are showing). Their rings are gold and they get married at La Push.

Jake does want kids, and to a lesser extent, so does Benjamin, but they do have to talk logistics before they get too excited. What sort of home are they ready to provide? Do they go back to the reservation, and for how long? Where will they go to school? How long can they afford to stay in one place anyways? What citizenship will they have? To what extent will their supernatural lives be included in that of their child? How do they involve both the coven and the pack without making the kid's life too hectic or unstable? Do they want their kids to have the option to be turned? In the end, I see them adopting one kid at first - it's never been about blood for Jake, he just wants to give a family, to be a family for kids who don't have one. Maybe if they see a pair of siblings who don't want to be separated, they adopt two. And when things go smoothly, relatively, as much as they could've hoped, I see them continuing to adopt, and being lovely parents. Benjamin would certainly be a better dad than he assumed he'd be, very caring and loving but also fun and playful. He'd love using his powers to conjure little shows for the kids. (Eventually, some of them would get too cool for this, which might make him pout.) Jake would, ironically, have to be the one to remind him that parents also need to discipline, not just nurture (so long as discipline is handled kindly obvs). And we all know Jake would be an amazing dad, right? He'd teach the kids how to fix up cars and bikes, and take them to the beach, and... I have a visceral image of him taking his kids to one of those big snowy hills in the mountains and going sledding with them (heavily influenced by how my dad and I would do the same lol).

First date is when Jake hears that Benjamin has never been mini-golfing and Jake claims that they need to rectify this immediately, and more or less whisks him away to a cheesy course ala Boomers or Camelot. Benjamin decidedly does not know how to hold a golf club right, there's blushy romcom moments where Jake adjusts his grip and stance, and mimes the swing with him, and some silly moments where Ben has to learn to control his strength when his swing puts a golf ball through the windmill - leaving a perfect round hole in its walls. From then on, of course, the two are getting supernaturally perfect scores, though one time Ben makes a saucy remark just as Jake goes to swing and the poor man is so suddenly flustered that he hits the ball sailing out of the amusement park, into the great unknown. They officially acknowledge it as their first date 2/3 of the way in, when Jake says "when we go on the next date", and Ben gives him this look, and Jake shrugs and tries to play it super chill, but they both know and are so excited and it's adorable. They go mini-golfing as regularly as immortals can do anything regularly after that, and the real competition eventually becomes coming up with the most ludicrous way to get a hole in one. Ben has a leg up with his powers, but Jake's got the creative edge by a mile.