#virtues verse

To be fair, that little guy has a lot of names and endearments to remember.

Jasper is about 3 and in daycare where they talk about their families, put up pictures etc. Jasper's picture is huge and crowded of course, because he has a biiiig family and pack, and of course he wanted to put everyone in the photo collage, including all pets (they narrowly stopped him at 'all the farm animals'). And sometimes when the teachers look at the collage with him, they go over all the names; tbh they're all impressed by how many people Jassy can memorize.

One day, Max gets sent a video from daycare during the day. The camera is focused on Jasper, his laminated collage of photos spread out in front of him, pudgy fingers pointing.

"...and who's this, Jasper?" the teacher asks off-screen.

"Daddy," Jasper says with a serious expression, pointing to Daniel's face.

"And do you know Daddy's grown-up name?"

Jasper gives a business-like nod. "Daniel!"

"Very good."

"Yeah." Jasper pauses for a moment, letting out a little noise that indicates he's thinking, "There's Mama."

Max's heart warms up fondly when Jasper's little fingers gently stroke his face on the picture.

"Yeah, that's your mama," the teacher confirms. "And what's mama's grown-up name, do you know that?"

Jasper looks up at her, and the sheer bewilderment in his eyes makes Max laugh.

"What's mama's name, Jassy?" the teacher prompts once more.

"Mama!" Jasper says, like it's obvious.

"No, mama's grown-up name. Do you know what Daddy calls Mama?"

Oh god, Max thinks, shaking with laughter now.

Jasper's face lights up. "Maxy!"

Could be worse, Max thinks. Daniel has a lot of much more inappropriate petnames for him after all.

"Yes!" the teacher says, barely concealing her laughter, "That's because Mama's name is Max."

Jasper looks at her and Max can practically hear the gears turning in his head. Poor little guy.

The video cuts off when Jasper looks back at the photo, apparently not entirely convinced his teacher is telling the truth.

He had a big realization today, the video caption says, a laughing emote attached.

sorry it took me so long to answer this, but I feel like today is a good day to do it. I really love this question.

I think Lando would tell Carlos about it all. They tell each other everything, and this was a really important part of Lando's life before Carlos. As for Michael and Carlos, there's a lot of this in the actual fic! There's lots of complex feelings in there, of course. But I think there are plenty of things that help with the whole situation, such as Michael being fully aware that them being soulmates is just biology, and nobody's fault, Carlos actually being a decent guy, the rest of the pack making sure the conflict doesn't fester, and Michael eventually ending up with Pierre and Charles. And I could see them sitting down one random night over a drink and the whole topic coming up naturally. I don't think Carlos would ever overstep, just listen to what Michael had to say, taking his feelings seriously. What happened was never in bad spirit.

(old ask, this is not exactly what you wanted but hey) this accidentally became a full oneshot, enjoy!

—————

Max is cleaning out the attic, and he finds a box of old clothes and takes them down to go through it, half to laugh about them, half for the nostalgia, and also because maybe Riley might like one or two of them.

There is tons of stuff that kind of makes him a little sad when he looks at them. Shirts in drab colors, cheap jeans he never liked wearing, formless sweaters to hide his figure.

„Mama, most of these are so…sad.“ Riley holds up a very ugly grey-striped knit jumper.

„Yeah… I was sad while wearing them.“ Max watches Riley toss it onto the donate-pile.

I do actually!

So, I think Lando absolutely hates the fact that he's dyslexic. He thinks it's embarrassing and makes him seem "more stupid than he already is". He makes fun of himself for reading something out loud incorrectly, but I think it hurts him when people laugh about it :(

The pack catch on over time, find out what makes him uncomfortable, and eventually it becomes second nature to all of them to read things out loud for Lando, e.g. the ice cream flavors at the gelato place, menus at restaurants, or stupid bumper stickers ♥️

People tell him he's photogenic, but Lando does not feel photogenic right now. His nose itches from the grass pollen.

Carlos has his arms wrapped around him from behind, and the post just feels unnatural and stilted. He can smell the uncomfortable notes in Carlos' scent. Great, if they're both this awkward and stiff, the photos will surely turn out great.

"Lando, move your hand to the side a little so you can show off your ring," the photographer, Ted, directs him. Lando has no idea where to move his hand to, and he feels himself getting annoyed.

Charles is watching from the sidelines, brows drawn together. When Lando shoots him a helpless look, he cocks one of them and then sucks on his teeth with the most judgemental noise known to man.

"This isn't working," Charles says, sauntering up next to Ted, who throws him a surprised look, not used to being critiqued on his work. After all, he's the most booked (and most expensive) wedding photographer in their area.

Behind Lando, Carlos slumps, letting out a quiet, exasperated laugh.

Lando half turns to grin up at him, giving him an eyeroll.

"Let's not ever do this again," Carlos jokes. There is sweat on his upper lip; it's hot and he's wearing a suit jacket. At least Lando got away with a (somewhat) modest dress.

Charles, in the meantime, is explaining Ted's job to him. "-unnatural pose, it's way too stiff. There needs to be more movement. They're not fourty, and it doesn't need to be this traditional."

"But the request was specifically for a traditional set!" Ted replies defensively.

"Well, show some creativity, Ted," Charles shoots back, gesturing to Carlos. "Take off that awful jacket, roll up your sleeves, shake out your hair a little bit. You look like you're trying to sell me something."

Ted has apparently decided that he's better off shutting his mouth and just doing whatever Charles tells him to do; Lando and Carlos are more used to it so it comes naturally to them.

Charles makes them walk around, dance, twirl, kiss, sit, stand, even lie down. But most importantly, he keeps telling them to just keep talking and laughing together.

When the photos are finished, they're beautiful. They look natural and intimate but still classy. Lando's mother cries when she sees them, so Lando counts that as a win.

Nico: „Mama, Papa, I met the love of my life!“

his parents: „That’s so nice sweetie! Is it Lewis?“

Nico: „No, why would it be Lewis?“

his parents: „…..of course, we are happy for you.“ 🙂🙂

…

Nico, a few weeks later: „…and so I had to break up with him.“

his parents: „Aw, sorry Liebling. We’re here for you.“ (😐🎉)

…

Nico, eventually: „….so Lewis and I finally decided to start dating!“

Charles, healthy: I'm a strong independent omega who needs nobody to coddle me