Inuit Story Challenge by Aingeal
Jun. 17th, 2009 09:12 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
aingeal8c.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ds_flashfictionTitle: The Surprising Tale of a Pair of Beavers
Author: Aingeal
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: G
Summary: Ray tells Fraser there's only one way to inform their son about the realities of the world.
Notes: Part of the Bobbyverse. Thank you to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
china_shop for keeping the challenge open. And big thanks to leda_speaks for all her hard beta work.
The Surprising Tale of a Pair of Beavers
Fraser returned home to a surprisingly quiet house. Ray had had the day off and was using it to catch up on paperwork at home. He'd also said he would pick their son up from school. This had enabled Fraser to stay a little longer at the consulate finalising plans for the visit of the trade ambassador which was due to take place in a few days.
Still, given Ray had picked Robert up from school there was little sign to suggest it. Usually the two of them would be found in front of the TV, or he'd hear Bobby patiently explaining his homework to Ray who's voice would rise in indignation at the current methods of teaching. However, there was nothing but silence, except the for the tap, tap, tap of keys coming from the kitchen.
Entering the kitchen, Fraser found Ray using the kitchen table as a makeshift desk. Many times he'd tried to encourage Ray to use their actual desk but apparently the desk put Ray off for some reason. So it was always the kitchen table. Ray was sitting at one end, papers scattered right across to the point where the actual table surface was entirely buried.
Ray was concentrating on typing something up. After protesting for several years he'd finally given into using a laptop. Fraser felt Ray was becoming quite proficient.
“Ray, where's Robert?” Fraser asked, looking around the kitchen for their son.
Ray stopped typing and got up from the table. “Upstairs in in his room. Listen, Benny, we need to talk.”
“About Robert?”
Ray nodded and lowered his voice. “Yeah. Look, some kid at school's been making fun of him.”
“Why, Ray?”
“Because he has two fathers,” Ray said, sadly.
“Oh dear. We did know it would happen, Ray.” They had tried to prepare themselves for this. They lived in the real world, as did their son, although it was still a shock to realise it had happened.
“I know and I'm surprised it took this long but he was crying about it on the way home.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
Ray sighed. “I talked to him about it, but he's only seven, Benny. Bobby's a clever kid but he's not old enough to understand why it's a problem he has two Dads.”
“Do you want me to talk to him?” Fraser offered.
“Yeah, you're better at this stuff than me.”
“I wouldn't say that, Ray, you're a very good father.”
Ray smiled. “But you can talk armed criminals into dropping their weapons, fathers to accept their kids and neighbourhoods to fight crime. I can't compete with that, Benny.”
“Ray.”
Ray held up a hand. “What Bobby needs is an Inuit story.”
“I thought you said I shouldn't bore him with them?” Many times over the years they had had heated discussions on the subject.
“Yeah, but they work. Go tell your son about caribou or moose.”
Ray's hands on his back propelled him toward the door.
“I'm not sure the Inuit have a story that deals with homophobia,” Fraser said, trying to turn to talk to Ray face to face.
“What, there aren't any gay beavers?”
“Oh, there probably are, Ray, but I doubt the Inuit have a myth about them.”
“You can do this, Benny. Please, do it for Bobby.”
There wasn't any arguing with that. “All right, Ray.”
Fraser went upstairs and knocked on his son's room. “Robert? Can I come in?”
“Yes, Dad,” came the subdued response.
He carefully opened the door. “Hi,” he smiled.
Bobby was seated on the bed, staring his his feet. His face looked moist, as if he had been crying. “Hi,” he replied, rather subdued.
Fraser came and sat down next to him on the bed. “Your father told me what happened today.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Bobby shook his head. “There's nothing to talk about.”
“Isn't there?”
After a few moments Bobby sighed. “Sammy said it's wrong.”
“What's wrong?”
“Having two Dads. He says you can't have two Dads. You're supposed to have a Mom and a Dad.”
“Would you prefer a Mom and a Dad?”
“No. I want you and Papa,” Bobby said, scooting closer.
Fraser put an arm around him. “It's not wrong, Robert, to have two fathers, just different.”
“That's what Papa said,” Robert said, wiping his nose on his sleeve.
That wouldn't do. Fraser put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a clean handkerchief. He gave it to Robert who wiped his nose.
“You know, when I was a little boy, after my mother died, I went to live with my grandparents. I was younger than you are now and my grandparents were older than other people's parents.” Fraser remembered the strange looks from his classmates at the sight of his grandmother collecting him from school.
“It's not the same.”
“Perhaps not but my grandmother told me a story. About a wolf child.”
“Like Dief?”
“Not exactly, no.” Fraser cleared his throat. “You see, one day a wolf child became lost in the woods. He was all alone and he had nobody to take of him. A hunter and his family were passing through the forest and they found the wolf child. They gave him food and clothing and shelter and made him part of their family.”
“Even though he was a wolf?” Bobby asked, frowning.
“Even though he was a wolf,” Fraser said, looking at his son. “So the wolf child grew up surrounded by his human family and friends and when he was old enough he went out hunting in the forest. In the forest, he met a wolf pack and asked if he could join them.”
“Did they let him?”
“They did at first, but the wolf child was different because he had been brought up amongst humans. He didn't know how to behave and he angered the wolves without meaning to. He was chased away by them and he was lost in the forest.”
“That's sad.”
“Yes,” Fraser agreed, giving Robert a squeeze. “But his human family came looking for him and they found him and took him home. The wolf child asked them what they thought about him. He wasn't human and he didn't fit in with humans but he fitted in with his human family. And they told him he was their wolf and they were his humans, that they were a family.”
“What happened to him?”
“He married a human and their children grew up to be great hunters.”
“Oh.”
Fraser smiled. “The point of the story is it doesn't matter what family you have, as long as they love you.”
“And the humans loved the wolf.
“That's right.”
“And you love me?” Robert asked, working the theme of the story through to the logical conclusion.
“Yes. Ray and I both love you. You're our son.”
Robert went in for a hug and Fraser returned it. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You're welcome.”
They hugged for a few moments more. Fraser always marvelled at how Robert seemed to have grown each time he hugged him. Each time getting bigger and facing challenges. The latest one just one of them. Still,Fraser hoped their little talk had helped.
“Dad?” Bobby asked, ending the hug.
“Yes?”
“Do you tell Papa stories like that?”
“On occasion. In fact I once told him a story about a raven who stole the sun from skyworld.”
“A raven?”
Although Ray often claimed to be bored of Inuit stories the same couldn't be said of Bobby who always seemed to want to know more. However, once Fraser had finished the story about the raven he decided that that was enough for one evening.
“Do you have homework to do?”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah.”
“It shouldn't be long until dinner. Do you want to come down?”
“I want to start my homework.”
“Oh.”
Fraser was a little surprised. Still, he couldn't be upset at Bobby's studious nature, he decided. He got up from the bed. “All right, but don't be long.”
“I won't.”
Satisfied at this Fraser left Bobby's room and went back downstairs. Sure enough, Ray was heating up some of the food his mother regularly brought over. She did it so often they barely had to cook for themselves.
“How did it go?” Ray asked,
“He seems a bit better, Ray.”
“Told you, Benny, it's those Inuit stories,” Ray said, taking the lasagne out of the oven.
“Yes. “
“Are you okay?” Ray asked, putting the dish down.
Fraser rubbed his thumb along his eyebrow. “I'm just thinking of the prejudice Robert will have to face as the son of two men.”
Ray leaned against the counter. “I know. He's had it lucky so far.”
“Your family have been very supportive, our friends have been understanding. He's never had to deal with something like this before.”
“He's a good kid, Benny, he can deal with this,” Ray said, putting a hand on Fraser's shoulder.
“I hope so, Ray.”
“We can always move to Canada.”
“You hate Canada, Ray.”
“I don't hate Canada, it hates me.”
“We don't have to move to Canada. Did I tell you about the moose who got lost in the woods?” Fraser asked.
“No,” Ray replied, preventing the story from going any further by giving a Fraser a kiss. “Did you tell Bobby dinner was ready?”
Fraser frowned. “I thought I did.”
“I'll go get him,” Ray said walking to the bottom of the stairs. “Bobby!” he called up.
“Perhaps you should go and see him, Ray,” Fraser suggested. He felt that it might be useful for the two of them to perhaps talk about things.
“Have you put him up to something?”
“No, Ray.”
“Yeah, right,” Ray muttered as he went up the stairs.
Ray didn't bother knocking when he went into Bobby's room. He'd half expected his son to be on the bathroom anyway. However Bobby was in his room, kneeling by his table and he seemed to making something out of play dough.
“Hey, Bobby, what are you....?”
Seeing his father Bobby looked startled. He stood up, hiding whatever it was he was working on. “You weren't supposed to look yet, Papa.”
“What is that?” Ray asked, trying to peer over his son's shoulder.
Bobby stepped back and allowed his father to see. "It's a model.”
“I can see that,” Ray said, now he was able to make out the various shapes. “ Are those beavers?”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah, this is the Dad beaver,” he said pointing to one. "This is the other Dad beaver and this is the boy beaver." He pointed to the other two models. “It's my homework.”
“What, are you making beaver models for homework?” Ray had never had to make beaver models. Maybe Fraser had but that was different.
“Mrs Grinski said we have to make a model that shows something about family.”
“We're not beavers, Bobby,” Ray pointed out. “I know your Dad's Canadian but...”
Bobby sighed. “It's a metaphor, Papa.”
“Oh.” Sometimes Bobby sounded so much like Fraser it was scary,
“See, there are these two male beavers and they find a boy beaver. And they make a family. I need to make the lodge and the dam and things,” he said, waving his hand over the rest of the play dough.
“Are you going to tell your class an Inuit story?” Ray asked, only half joking.
“Is there one about beavers?”
“I don't know. Maybe we should ask your Dad at dinner.”
“Okay.”
“Come on,” Ray said, guiding his son away from play dough beavers and downstairs to the more appetising smells of his grandmother's cooking.
They had pretty much eaten dinner by the time Ray remembered Bobby's question, and that it had hadn't been asked yet.
“Bobby, why don't you ask your Dad that question now?” Ray suggested.
Bobby finished swallowing the mouthful he had. “Dad? Are there any stories about beavers?”
“What sort of beavers?”
There was a moment of silence. “Gay beavers,” Bobby said finally. “It's for homework.”
“Bobby's doing something on family,” Ray added, noticing Fraser had looked confused.
“I'm sure we can think of one,” Fraser replied, confidently.
Bobby smiled. “Cool.”
Two weeks later Ray proudly stuck his son's glowing A for his model homework to the fridge. The only downside was the fact that Bobby seemed to want an Inuit story for everything these days. Still, it kept Fraser occupied, he smiled. And really, they weren't all that bad.
Author: Aingeal
Pairing: Fraser/Vecchio
Rating: G
Summary: Ray tells Fraser there's only one way to inform their son about the realities of the world.
Notes: Part of the Bobbyverse. Thank you to
china_shop for keeping the challenge open. And big thanks to leda_speaks for all her hard beta work. The Surprising Tale of a Pair of Beavers
Fraser returned home to a surprisingly quiet house. Ray had had the day off and was using it to catch up on paperwork at home. He'd also said he would pick their son up from school. This had enabled Fraser to stay a little longer at the consulate finalising plans for the visit of the trade ambassador which was due to take place in a few days.
Still, given Ray had picked Robert up from school there was little sign to suggest it. Usually the two of them would be found in front of the TV, or he'd hear Bobby patiently explaining his homework to Ray who's voice would rise in indignation at the current methods of teaching. However, there was nothing but silence, except the for the tap, tap, tap of keys coming from the kitchen.
Entering the kitchen, Fraser found Ray using the kitchen table as a makeshift desk. Many times he'd tried to encourage Ray to use their actual desk but apparently the desk put Ray off for some reason. So it was always the kitchen table. Ray was sitting at one end, papers scattered right across to the point where the actual table surface was entirely buried.
Ray was concentrating on typing something up. After protesting for several years he'd finally given into using a laptop. Fraser felt Ray was becoming quite proficient.
“Ray, where's Robert?” Fraser asked, looking around the kitchen for their son.
Ray stopped typing and got up from the table. “Upstairs in in his room. Listen, Benny, we need to talk.”
“About Robert?”
Ray nodded and lowered his voice. “Yeah. Look, some kid at school's been making fun of him.”
“Why, Ray?”
“Because he has two fathers,” Ray said, sadly.
“Oh dear. We did know it would happen, Ray.” They had tried to prepare themselves for this. They lived in the real world, as did their son, although it was still a shock to realise it had happened.
“I know and I'm surprised it took this long but he was crying about it on the way home.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
Ray sighed. “I talked to him about it, but he's only seven, Benny. Bobby's a clever kid but he's not old enough to understand why it's a problem he has two Dads.”
“Do you want me to talk to him?” Fraser offered.
“Yeah, you're better at this stuff than me.”
“I wouldn't say that, Ray, you're a very good father.”
Ray smiled. “But you can talk armed criminals into dropping their weapons, fathers to accept their kids and neighbourhoods to fight crime. I can't compete with that, Benny.”
“Ray.”
Ray held up a hand. “What Bobby needs is an Inuit story.”
“I thought you said I shouldn't bore him with them?” Many times over the years they had had heated discussions on the subject.
“Yeah, but they work. Go tell your son about caribou or moose.”
Ray's hands on his back propelled him toward the door.
“I'm not sure the Inuit have a story that deals with homophobia,” Fraser said, trying to turn to talk to Ray face to face.
“What, there aren't any gay beavers?”
“Oh, there probably are, Ray, but I doubt the Inuit have a myth about them.”
“You can do this, Benny. Please, do it for Bobby.”
There wasn't any arguing with that. “All right, Ray.”
Fraser went upstairs and knocked on his son's room. “Robert? Can I come in?”
“Yes, Dad,” came the subdued response.
He carefully opened the door. “Hi,” he smiled.
Bobby was seated on the bed, staring his his feet. His face looked moist, as if he had been crying. “Hi,” he replied, rather subdued.
Fraser came and sat down next to him on the bed. “Your father told me what happened today.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Bobby shook his head. “There's nothing to talk about.”
“Isn't there?”
After a few moments Bobby sighed. “Sammy said it's wrong.”
“What's wrong?”
“Having two Dads. He says you can't have two Dads. You're supposed to have a Mom and a Dad.”
“Would you prefer a Mom and a Dad?”
“No. I want you and Papa,” Bobby said, scooting closer.
Fraser put an arm around him. “It's not wrong, Robert, to have two fathers, just different.”
“That's what Papa said,” Robert said, wiping his nose on his sleeve.
That wouldn't do. Fraser put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a clean handkerchief. He gave it to Robert who wiped his nose.
“You know, when I was a little boy, after my mother died, I went to live with my grandparents. I was younger than you are now and my grandparents were older than other people's parents.” Fraser remembered the strange looks from his classmates at the sight of his grandmother collecting him from school.
“It's not the same.”
“Perhaps not but my grandmother told me a story. About a wolf child.”
“Like Dief?”
“Not exactly, no.” Fraser cleared his throat. “You see, one day a wolf child became lost in the woods. He was all alone and he had nobody to take of him. A hunter and his family were passing through the forest and they found the wolf child. They gave him food and clothing and shelter and made him part of their family.”
“Even though he was a wolf?” Bobby asked, frowning.
“Even though he was a wolf,” Fraser said, looking at his son. “So the wolf child grew up surrounded by his human family and friends and when he was old enough he went out hunting in the forest. In the forest, he met a wolf pack and asked if he could join them.”
“Did they let him?”
“They did at first, but the wolf child was different because he had been brought up amongst humans. He didn't know how to behave and he angered the wolves without meaning to. He was chased away by them and he was lost in the forest.”
“That's sad.”
“Yes,” Fraser agreed, giving Robert a squeeze. “But his human family came looking for him and they found him and took him home. The wolf child asked them what they thought about him. He wasn't human and he didn't fit in with humans but he fitted in with his human family. And they told him he was their wolf and they were his humans, that they were a family.”
“What happened to him?”
“He married a human and their children grew up to be great hunters.”
“Oh.”
Fraser smiled. “The point of the story is it doesn't matter what family you have, as long as they love you.”
“And the humans loved the wolf.
“That's right.”
“And you love me?” Robert asked, working the theme of the story through to the logical conclusion.
“Yes. Ray and I both love you. You're our son.”
Robert went in for a hug and Fraser returned it. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You're welcome.”
They hugged for a few moments more. Fraser always marvelled at how Robert seemed to have grown each time he hugged him. Each time getting bigger and facing challenges. The latest one just one of them. Still,Fraser hoped their little talk had helped.
“Dad?” Bobby asked, ending the hug.
“Yes?”
“Do you tell Papa stories like that?”
“On occasion. In fact I once told him a story about a raven who stole the sun from skyworld.”
“A raven?”
Although Ray often claimed to be bored of Inuit stories the same couldn't be said of Bobby who always seemed to want to know more. However, once Fraser had finished the story about the raven he decided that that was enough for one evening.
“Do you have homework to do?”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah.”
“It shouldn't be long until dinner. Do you want to come down?”
“I want to start my homework.”
“Oh.”
Fraser was a little surprised. Still, he couldn't be upset at Bobby's studious nature, he decided. He got up from the bed. “All right, but don't be long.”
“I won't.”
Satisfied at this Fraser left Bobby's room and went back downstairs. Sure enough, Ray was heating up some of the food his mother regularly brought over. She did it so often they barely had to cook for themselves.
“How did it go?” Ray asked,
“He seems a bit better, Ray.”
“Told you, Benny, it's those Inuit stories,” Ray said, taking the lasagne out of the oven.
“Yes. “
“Are you okay?” Ray asked, putting the dish down.
Fraser rubbed his thumb along his eyebrow. “I'm just thinking of the prejudice Robert will have to face as the son of two men.”
Ray leaned against the counter. “I know. He's had it lucky so far.”
“Your family have been very supportive, our friends have been understanding. He's never had to deal with something like this before.”
“He's a good kid, Benny, he can deal with this,” Ray said, putting a hand on Fraser's shoulder.
“I hope so, Ray.”
“We can always move to Canada.”
“You hate Canada, Ray.”
“I don't hate Canada, it hates me.”
“We don't have to move to Canada. Did I tell you about the moose who got lost in the woods?” Fraser asked.
“No,” Ray replied, preventing the story from going any further by giving a Fraser a kiss. “Did you tell Bobby dinner was ready?”
Fraser frowned. “I thought I did.”
“I'll go get him,” Ray said walking to the bottom of the stairs. “Bobby!” he called up.
“Perhaps you should go and see him, Ray,” Fraser suggested. He felt that it might be useful for the two of them to perhaps talk about things.
“Have you put him up to something?”
“No, Ray.”
“Yeah, right,” Ray muttered as he went up the stairs.
Ray didn't bother knocking when he went into Bobby's room. He'd half expected his son to be on the bathroom anyway. However Bobby was in his room, kneeling by his table and he seemed to making something out of play dough.
“Hey, Bobby, what are you....?”
Seeing his father Bobby looked startled. He stood up, hiding whatever it was he was working on. “You weren't supposed to look yet, Papa.”
“What is that?” Ray asked, trying to peer over his son's shoulder.
Bobby stepped back and allowed his father to see. "It's a model.”
“I can see that,” Ray said, now he was able to make out the various shapes. “ Are those beavers?”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah, this is the Dad beaver,” he said pointing to one. "This is the other Dad beaver and this is the boy beaver." He pointed to the other two models. “It's my homework.”
“What, are you making beaver models for homework?” Ray had never had to make beaver models. Maybe Fraser had but that was different.
“Mrs Grinski said we have to make a model that shows something about family.”
“We're not beavers, Bobby,” Ray pointed out. “I know your Dad's Canadian but...”
Bobby sighed. “It's a metaphor, Papa.”
“Oh.” Sometimes Bobby sounded so much like Fraser it was scary,
“See, there are these two male beavers and they find a boy beaver. And they make a family. I need to make the lodge and the dam and things,” he said, waving his hand over the rest of the play dough.
“Are you going to tell your class an Inuit story?” Ray asked, only half joking.
“Is there one about beavers?”
“I don't know. Maybe we should ask your Dad at dinner.”
“Okay.”
“Come on,” Ray said, guiding his son away from play dough beavers and downstairs to the more appetising smells of his grandmother's cooking.
They had pretty much eaten dinner by the time Ray remembered Bobby's question, and that it had hadn't been asked yet.
“Bobby, why don't you ask your Dad that question now?” Ray suggested.
Bobby finished swallowing the mouthful he had. “Dad? Are there any stories about beavers?”
“What sort of beavers?”
There was a moment of silence. “Gay beavers,” Bobby said finally. “It's for homework.”
“Bobby's doing something on family,” Ray added, noticing Fraser had looked confused.
“I'm sure we can think of one,” Fraser replied, confidently.
Bobby smiled. “Cool.”
Two weeks later Ray proudly stuck his son's glowing A for his model homework to the fridge. The only downside was the fact that Bobby seemed to want an Inuit story for everything these days. Still, it kept Fraser occupied, he smiled. And really, they weren't all that bad.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-06-17 08:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-19 10:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-17 10:22 am (UTC)*Giggles*
*Blinks*
*Smiles*
Oh, wow! I love this, Aingeal. I really do. So much to love about it - every word was superb.
*Files in Aingeal file*
One of your best.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-19 10:07 am (UTC)I am chuffed you liked it so much. Yay Aingeal file worthy. :-)
Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-19 02:28 pm (UTC)Oh, I did.
YVW
no subject
Date: 2009-06-18 08:42 pm (UTC)“You hate Canada, Ray.”
“I don't hate Canada, it hates me.”
**double snerk**
Touching and snerky all at once... lord but I do love your stuff!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-19 10:08 am (UTC)Hee.
Awww why thank you kindly. I am glad.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-19 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-21 12:37 pm (UTC)I am happy to amuse ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-21 10:54 am (UTC)Edited because I meant to use this icon, and also to add some more hearts: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
no subject
Date: 2009-06-21 12:38 pm (UTC)And awwww yay hearts. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-22 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-23 09:58 pm (UTC)