authors note; if you dont like the "has kids and is pregnant" trope, this is not for you !!!! this is basically a headcanon explaining why jake is so tough on his sons in atwow !!
i didn't want to make up names in case readers would like to do that on their own. personally i imagined the kids in way of water lol
theme; you tell jake he's being too hard on your kids - he tells you why.
pairing; dilf jake sully x reader
warnings; bad ending !! clearly what i need to work on the most. mentions of death and war. intentional lower caps
"Jake." I began, looking at him with that look on my face as he finished lecturing our son. This conversation we were about to have must not be had in front of the kids, as that might make it seem like i don't respect jake when he sets a boundary or makes a decision. if thats what it looked like to our kids they could start not listening to him - which is the last thing i'd want.
but it was getting out of hand, and it made me uncomfortable.
we had three kids, one on the way. two boys, one girl.
i always thought him being much more strict with our sons was because they were older and needed to take more responsibility than our daughter had to - because i agreed with that. he did lecture d/n when he had to (so she wouldn't get a suffocating attitude and behavior as a grown up. parenting !) but with our boys it was very different. he'd lecture them about everything, and being very harsh and closed minded when he did so.
"you guys go ahead, your mother and I will be right behind you." he said, patting our oldest sons back twice before they went off, mumbling to each other.
"i told you he'd freak out!"
"shut up, jerk. it was your idea."
"oh, yeah? you're the one who started it!"
i waited until they were out of hearing distance before i began again, turning from their direction and to my mates.
"you are very hard on them." i said as i turned around, gaining a sigh from jake in response.
"we've been over this, y/n. they're teenagers. they can't grow and mature with kisses and hugs."
"but it is more than that. you cannot expect them to make no mistakes." it is hard enough already for them with their father being who he was. but like every other na'vi they wanting to make their father and anyone with his name proud - that wouldn't be such a fight if he didn't have so high and unrealistic expectations.
"i don't." Jake responded fast, sounding over it already. he hated having to explain his reasoning - having to explain and defend himself.
"they think you do. that's whats important - they think you have expectations they will never be able to fulfill."
"once. but they do not have to. i see it - i feel it." i felt very close to all of my children, like if they were physically hurt, I was too.
"I'm their father - its my job to be hard on them. toughen them up for the real world."
"your daughter is growing up in the same world - you don't treat her the same and they see it, jake." the absolute last thing id ever wish for is for jake to be so tough that it creates a wedge between two sons and a father.
"what do you want me to do, hm? let them run off and break every rule we set for them? that is not the kind of example i want to set for the youngest; that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want with no consequences." as he said the word youngest, he placed a hand on my stomach. ever since i got pregnant, he had gotten even more strict. i thought it was because he didn't want to stress me out with our kids (specifically boys) being wild, doing things they shouldn't be doing, but i'd never asked.
"talk to me, ma jake. why are you like this?" before we had our oldest, s/n, jake was very fun. definitely the wildest man i had ever met, always doing something he shouldn't. he was still like that, but less than before. i knew it was because he had matured massively since then, but i wish he'd seen himself in our sons before being so quick to judge their excitement for the world around them.
"because that's how my father raised me and my brother - i think i turned out alright. that's what i want for them. to turn out alright. more than alright - i want them to be the men they were born to be." he explained, struggling a little to keep the eye contact between us.
Jake was not one to talk about his family or his life before Pandora. i knew about his brother and his warrior background, but his parents weren't a subject he'd heavily touch on unless heavily forced.
"when i was a marine, i could be careless. it's more to the story but in the end, i lost my legs because i wasn' thinking two steps ahead. i didn't have my father to correct and lecture me, so i'm giving it to my kids." Jake was very grateful for this chapter in his life, more thankful for this than anything. being able to wiggle his toes and run in the forest was a gift he did not recognize until it was lost. not being able to do so as a human threw him to the wolves of depression - same affect as losing his brother.
he'd hate for one of his sons to get badly injured or even worse: one losing the other like he had lost his brother many years ago.
i opened my mouth to respond, but he quickly shut me off by continuing.
"my father raised me like this and I will continue raising my sons like this. you might not agree with me on everything, but i know i'm doing the right thing."
In response, i just nodded, looking down. i felt slightly bad for bringing it up, seeing the direction it had gone in. Jake had lost his brother and didn't want our kids to fall in his footsteps of fate.
