everyonelives | the ground could open, he could still say please

( Josh's favorite place has never been the bayou, but it means something deeper to his husband. It's his home. In the past month, it has been solace. They moved their numbers further into the bayou. It means more safety and for Josh, more bayou smells. But he focuses on the safety. They aren't alone. They have Josh's pack, they have the queen and her new friend who's easy on the eyes, and Cora whom he's grown to like. He's somewhere between convincing her to go for it and to wash that man right out of her hair. He's conflicted, okay? He's a romantic and he has self esteem.

Speaking of, it hasn't exactly been the honeymoon either of them expected, or wanted, but being there in the arms of his husband, or helping with the younger members of the pack, that's been more rewarding than any honeymoon could be.

Resurfacing takes two days. Before moving everybody closer again and back into their houses, Josh, Aiden, and some of the senior werewolves return to survey the destruction. Missing parents and siblings are no longer missing. They're dead. It's a day of restoration and burial. A day later, the pack returns. Funerals are given and there are werewolves sent off on the pyre.

In the next week, there are bigger discussions to be had, what to do with some of the younger kids who were left with no family. Aiden's brothers, some of the elders, and some of the older teens take care of them in the meantime.

This morning, Aiden will awaken to the sounds of great New Orleans jazz coming from their record player and the smell of a pretty delicious breakfast if Josh says so himself. The pastries are bought and arranged on a plate, but the eggs benedict are all him. The smell wafts up the stairs from the kitchen. Being a vampire, sleep is more a formality, and Josh has been thinking. Which led to breakfast. )

[Waking up to the smell of breakfast is always a good thing. Especially when you're a werewolf and your default state is bottomless pit. Sleeping off all the stress and hyper vigilance had been necessary, but now that things are starting to get back to normal it was good to relax, at home with his husband.

And if his husband is going to cook for him than all the better.

He pulls on enough clothing to be considered decent and makes his way towards the kitchen, eyeing the spread with a look of approval.]

Did we miss my birthday?

( But, why it gotta be decent. )

Did we miss your birthday? I'm going to sidestep your second guessing my excellent memory( Calendar app, too. But Josh is the one in the relationship who knows what day of the week it is. Is that a bayou wolf thing? So many suns have set? ) and I will be programming your birthday into your phone. ( He lifts the pan with a hash in it and flips it a few times. Adds a pinch of salt. Bam! Emeril Le-Josh. ) I thought we deserved something tasty. It's not often we hide out for weeks in a backwoods swamp to save the fate of your entire lineage.

( Don't they deserve a break? )

Your favorite beer's also in the fridge.

( And in the mini-fridge you insisted on getting. It's not Josh's style but he can't say no to his husband. )

You're too good to me.

[Of course he knows when his birthday is. But he leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek before going to grab one of the pastries and follow up with coffee.]

I know you weren't super fond of the swamp, but I appreciate you sticking with the pack. And with me.

Hey, till death do us part, right? I survived a Neo Nazi vampire assault, I get to stick by my husband in all circumstances, no matter how swampy they happen to be.

( Smelly, etc. )

And it was good you were there with them. They're your people. And - half my people, by marriage.

( To which, he adds as he turns his burner off. )

It's like, they're my family, too.

They are.

[A lot of the wolves have come a long way since Aiden and Josh first got together, and those who weren't willing to change likely wound up dead in one of the wars. But for most of the wolves currently living in the pack, Josh has always been there, and Aiden intends for him to stay there for a good while longer.]

And I promise we will have less swampy circumstances for a while.

( It's hard not to think about the pack that hasn't relocated, and one wolf with no family to speak of. )

For a lot of the displaced kids, Cora and me found family and friends that can take them in for the time being. Virginia even took in her nephews and their friend Errol. Space-wise, that's going to be a tight squeeze.

( And a handful. Rowdy boys. Not Errol. Errol likes his books and his music. He roughhouses because he's a wolf and it's in his nature. But, he's not like the other wolf children in the bayou. )

I was thinking - I wanted to talk about - maybe we could help.

[That surprises him. Not that he thought it wasn't something they would think about one day, but he didn't expect it to be now.]

You want to?

[Take one in, that is. Because he's into the idea.]

I've been thinking about it.

( Obviously, because they are talking about it. )

I would want to. With you. We can give a kid a really good life.

We can. I think we have a lot to give.

[Which, his husband is not the most verbose, but Josh will know him well enough to know that he is really happy about this. He leans in to kiss him warmly, pulling him closer.]

I think it's a great idea.

( Happy for Aiden is less expressive than most people's happy (read: Josh's), but he has been with his husband for over ten years now, so he gets him. Josh us lucky he was able to find a guy like Aiden, let alone a werewolf, let alone a werewolf who loves him. )

Okay. So, we're going to take in a kid. Our kid.

Did you have a particular kid in mind?

[He has a feeling there had to have been a catalyst of sorts, but the question is more related to finding out if there's a particular kid that Josh has bonded with, and wanted to give a home.]

Errol Broussard. Virginia's doing what she can, but he's not like her boys. And - I can only imagine what it's costing, the crowding. It might be good for him to see - he doesn't have to be like all the other wolves. I think he roughhouses and he's active because he is a wolf, but I think he prefers his music and his art. I'd rather raise a Hope Mikaelson than a resentful, orphaned -- well, Hope Mikaelson.

( He's lost so much. )

I think if he's interested, you and me would make a great lifeline. He'd see us and know he wouldn't have to be anything but who he is. He could do what he wants, love who he wants. Befriend a vampire. You spent some time at Virginia's. Do you think it'd be good for him?

[Aiden nods slowly because yeah, Josh isn't wrong. Errol's a good kid and it's not that Virginia doesn't care, but she's got too many on her own. And it doesn't have to be about Errol being different necessarily, but just as a parent you can only have so many eyes on things at once.]

I do. And I think we're not too far so he can still go hang out with the boys when he needs to.

Maybe he's too old for playdates, but yeah. Why not? We have to talk to him. But -

( But they're doing this. With his blessing, they want to do this. )

I think he'll be into it, honestly. He's always been a kid who likes having his own space.

[But even if he's not into it, there's probably another kid out there who needs a place to stay. They can make it work.]

I love you, you know that? I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here.

( Previous timelines prove that he would die not long after. Well, longish, not in vampire terms. )

I love you too. And we don't have to worry about that, because we're going to be keeping each other alive for a long, long time.

[Aiden's not ready to give up his humanity quite yet, but it's not like he hasn't considered it. At a certain point, he'll have to reach a decision on it and talk to Hope, but for now, he's happy with the life they're building for themselves. With the family they're going to have.

Forever can wait a little bit longer.]

Speaking of, did I ever properly thank you for the big rescue mission?

( Between being rescued and swamply hiding, he doesn't think so. )

[He considers for a moment, before shaking his head.]

No, I don't believe you did. And if I remember correctly, it was very awesome of me.

OK. Breakfast. A healthy dose of thanking you, and then maybe we can make a call to Virginia.

( Or the pack in general. )

Sounds perfect to me.

[And they will settle in for a lovely morning and enjoy Josh's delicious breakfast.]

the ground could open, he could still say please

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