Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father
.Chapter 2: One lie. Two lies. Another. .God fucking damn it. Track seven was going to make him blow his goddamn fucking brains out.He had no idea what the fuck he wanted to do for the melody, had no idea what instruments to start with--he was just facing a blank production track, not a single chord placed on it. It wasn’t like Gael was completely hopeless, no. He had gotten quick a bit of traction with the Chanty collaboration--in fact, that track was close to completion.It was just this stupid track seven that he was unable to gain any headway on.His other co-producers and assistants suggested that he drop the track, that the album would be fine for release without it, but Gael was adamant.He needed that stupid track to be released, he just needed some time. Currently, “some time” was looking like quite a lot: aside from spinning around in his chair for the past thirty minutes, track seven was looking quite empty and untouched. Gael’s phone buzzed from somewhere off to the side, and he stopped his frantic spinning to grab the device, seeing that in his spinning, he had a missed call and a voicemail. He raised a brow, not recognizing the number, but tapped on the voicemail regardless, raising the cool screen of his phone to his ear. The voice was automated, one of those cool male voices that every business practice used. “Hello. We are calling to inform you that your son, Hudson Miller, has been involved in a disciplinary infraction. Please come to the office of Erin Academy and see the principal immediately.” Well, whose rat child was this? Not his, he knew that for sure. He didn’t even know a Hudson Miller. Gael spun in his chair thoughtfully, before glancing at his phone again. Should he go? Just for the fun of it? Bust out a poor kid? One spin. Two spins. Another. His mind was made. Gael grabbed his coat, shoving his keys in his pocket, and donned a face mask in order to not be haggled by his legion of fans. He was gonna bust one Hudson Miller out from the principal. If his manager knew what he was going to do, he’d have an aneurysm and fall dead right then and there, but luckily for Gael, the younger was out, trying to book a few more photoshoots for him.Still, he didn’t want to make his best friend’s life harder than it already was, so he tucked his blonde hair into a cap, and went out the back to his car, making sure none of the reporters caught sight of him. Surprisingly enough, Erin Academy was rather close to his studio, just a fifteen minute distance. He raised an eyebrow when his sleek model wasn’t the nicest in the lot--this was a rich person academy wasn’t it?Maybe Hudson Miller in question was a spoiled brat. Either way, he was determined. He came all this way, didn’t he? He slipped shades onto his face, now fully covered as he parked and slipped out of his car, heading to the office. He drew his dark trench coat closer to him, hands jammed deep into the pockets. He pushed open the office door, watching as the woman sitting behind a table at the entrance paused her furious typing to look at him. “Welcome to the Academy. How can I help you?” “I was called for a disciplinary infraction by Hudson Miller.” Gael said coolly.The woman shot him a confused look but rose, stepping out from behind her perch to lead him down the hallways, her heels clicking noisily on the marble. She led him down to a door, decorated with various certificates and plaques, knocking twice before opening the door. She gestured for him to step in, and Gael nodded, stepping past her and stepping into the room. Immediately, his eyes fixated on the scene in front of him. Two women, very clearly wealthy with their excessive diamonds and leopard print suits stood above another woman, wearing simple dark dress pants and a sky blue button up tucked into the pants, who was kneeling, a hand braced on her thighs, the other hand on the head of a little boy that stood next to her, crying, with dark curly hair.A bruise swelled on the little boy’s cheek. The principal, a fat bellied man that probably struggled trying to squeeze into that tight violet dress shirt, stood up, probably to question his presence in the room.The dark haired woman’s head, the one that was kneeling, snapped towards Gael, showing soft eyes laced with disappointment, lips downturned into a frown. The child, who was presumably Hudson Miller, looked at him with recognition, and ran to him, flinging his arms around his leg. “Dad!” Little Hudson Miller choked out, cheeks stained with tears. Gael was dumbfounded. This kid looked nothing like him, but something about the pleading eyes, the helpless look on the little one’s mother’s face, compelled him to play along. He lowered his glasses, revealing the trademark eyes that everyone knew to recognize him by, raising an eyebrow, his hand coming to gently wipe the child’s tears. “What the hell is going on here?” ******“Momma?” Hudson asked, so long ago.The blanket was nice and fluffy against his body, and there was a stuffed little bear that he clutched closer to his chest.He had named it Bobo, a name that he didn’t quite know where it came from, but Bobo was his bear, and that was that.His momma must have been cold--his momma slept on the ground, without a blanket, without a Bobo. Hudson had asked where her Bobo was, and momma had just smiled and booped his nose, saying that Hudson was her own bear. That was silly, because Hudson wasn’t really a bear, but whatever made momma happy. The other kids in school had two sets of people. Sometimes it was a dada and a momma, other times it was a dada and another dada, or two mommas!But his momma was always alone.Always, always alone. It was just Momma, Hudson, and Bobo. “Yes, little bear?” Momma glanced up from the story she was reading. They only had three stories and Hudson knew them all really well.Momma said that she would get them more when she had enough money. There was always something about money. Hudson didn’t really know what it meant, but aunt Faye and momma talked about it a lot, so it must have been really important. “Where’s my second momma? Or dada? Everyone has two, where’s mine? Is he hiding? Do I hafta find him like hide n seek?” Hudson peeked under the covers to look for his mystery dada.No one there. His momma giggled, a dolphin noise that Hudson liked to hear. “No, silly bear. You have me, I’m your only momma.” Well, he knew that, of course. “I know, Momma. But where’s my other one?” Maybe if Hudson had been a bit older, he would have seen the way Arabella’s face got a bit worried, a bit jagged around the edges, seen how tired the other woman had looked. But he was in the blissful oblivion of childhood--he was just looking for his second parent. His momma reached across, rifled through some papers, and exclaimed. “Aha! Here. Here’s your dada.” On the front cover, a man with silver hair and crescented eyes stared back, and Hudson drank the figure in. “Where is he?” Hudson asked, fingertips stroking the glossy surface of the magazine, patting his mysterious new dada’s face. “He’s off making music, my baby. He travels the world a loooooooot. He doesn’t really have time to be a dada, so that’s why it’s just me and you!” Hudson patted not-here dada’s face one last time. “He can make music, momma. I just need you, and Bobo.” And with that, Hudson rolled over in bed, snuggled into his momma’s side, and tucked Bobo a bit closer, content with knowing that he had another dada. .TBCHope it’s going good, so far??Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 3: Not a charity case . If there was one thing that Gael didn’t stand for, it was when people in power abused their dynamic. There was no reason for half of these rich people to act so high and mighty--and sure, okay, fine. Maybe the kid’s super adorable eyes were a part of the reason he stepped in. Maybe because he was so fixated on that, he didn’t notice how the kid’s mother’s eyes rounded in recognition, then fear. A small hand tugged at his sweats, and little Hudson Miller extended his hands upward to him. Gael blinked, before realizing that the little kid wanted to be carried by him. Interesting. Kids were usually really scared of him, so it was nice to see one that was undeterred by his scary man-in-black demeanor. He bent down and hoisted Hudson onto his hip, holding the little one close. “You came! Dada’s here now.” Hudson announced gleefully, patting his cheek. Well, fucking goddamn hell. This little rat child was abso
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 4: hide no more . “Where’s Dada, Momma? I thought you said that we could talk later? I wanna ask him about everything!” Hudson chattered, swinging their joined hands together. It was the happiest she had seen her son in a while--the little boy was filled with her usual youthful excitement. Arabella sighed, wondering what she did to get into such a mess of things. She couldn’t help but shoot a wary look over her shoulder before tugging her little one to a stop, kneeling down to face him. “Let’s have a little talk, okay?” Arabella murmured gently, not quite wanting to scare her son, but knowing damn well that there was a discussion to be had. Maybe the way home wasn’t exactly the best decision, but Arabella knew that her curious boy would continue asking until he had the opportunity to get the answer or someone gave it to him. “First things first, Hudson, we talked about this this morning. You cannot use your hands to solve an iss
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 5: non-existent family. [FROM Louis Avian MANAGER: Gael i swear to god i’m going to fucking sue you for stress, i’m about to drop dead with all this goddamn STRESS you’re giving me. I’m going to die from heart related issues, and then i’m going to put the blame on you, and you only, and then take the workman’s comp for my non-existent family, and rob you of your millions. And then i’m going to make sure the next manager you get is the most insufferable bastard you’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. I’m going to make sure he’s loud, chews loudly and doesn’t leave you alone. And also i hope he thinks that rap is just speaking fast. This would be prevented if you could just OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!][UNKNOWN NUMBER:Mr Laurent? Please help.]THIS CONTACT IS NOT IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK.BLOCK?oOoGael blinked at the unknown number--sure, there were always spam calls and those people that trolled the system and ran numbers to get to his,
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 6: Dada to Daddy. “Who the hell is that?”“That’s Arabella.” Gael rushed to say, glaring back at the woman herself, who had raised her head to glare balefully at Gael. “Your wife?! YOU’RE WITH YOUR wife?!” Louis shrieked.“No!” Arabella stood up, grabbing the phone, and spoke very fast into the receiver. “No. Look. I’m Bella. My son got into trouble today. The school called Gael because my son had written his name down as his emergency contact. Gael, being a major fucking asshole,”“Major fucking superhero,” Gael grumbled, before withering under Arabella’s burning gaze at being interrupted.“Decided to come around and pose like Hudson’s dad. And then, when we went out of the office to talk about what just happened, the paparazzi snapped pictures of us. And now, I’m being mobbed, and my son is scared. So FIX IT, MANAGER SIR. Er.. sorry. I’m usually not that tense. It’s been a long day.” Arabella looked a bit remorseful at shouting at
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 7: a little slip . “Your momma will still be with you, you’ll still go to the same school.” Hudson pondered that wording a bit more carefully. “And I’ll get to see Daddy!”Gael laughed, wrapping his arms around the little boy, tucking the little frame to his chest. “Absolutely, little tiger.” Hudson shook his head. “Bear! Tae’s a bear.” Gael pinched the end of the little one’s nose lightly, not enough to hurt. “Mmm, maybe you’re your momma’s bear. But you can be my little tiger. You even look like a tiger.”Hudson seemed pleased with that explanation. “Rowr.” He growled, a small squeaky imitation of a tiger. Gael couldn’t resist grinning, planting a kiss on his curly hair. “There you go, my tiger cub.” The two delved into growling at each other, practicing their roars, before pausing as Arabella came to stand in front of him. The sight of her son growling at her pulled a weak smile to the woman’s face, before she set her phone do
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 8: congrats, Laurent family . “Okay, Mr Laurent. We’ll move in with you. Can you please, please, make sure my two conditions are acknowledged? I promise we’ll be good houseguests, the second this entire thing dies down we’ll leave you alone and let you be. But I’m unwilling to part with any of my conditions. I can’t.” Arabella tentatively broached the subject, and Gael could see how tired the woman got just by talking about their situation. “Okay.” Gael acquiesced. “Okay. We’ll figure out a way around it. I’ll accept the two conditions.”[to Louis Avian MANAGER: Louis. We have an answer.Arabella is willing to pose as my spouse, but she has two conditions.She’s using another name, and she’s not doing any publicity with me.She doesn’t want her face to be seen.][from Louis Avian MANAGER: That’s not looking good at all.][from Louis Avian MANAGER: It won’t look believable.][to Louis Avian MANAGER: I know, but I don’t know what
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 9: memories bring back memories. Lines had been drawn. The house, after the first day the two others had moved in, had grown quiet, save for when Hudson was home. Arabella and Gael retreated to opposite ends of the home, an imaginary line sliced through the middle of the house, neither party to ever cross. Arabella sank back onto the bed, her back thankful now that her endless nights of sleeping on the floor had somewhat come to an end. But still, for how long would she be able to enjoy this luxury?Her gaze drew to the bag in the corner, the very single duffle bag that had held all of hers and Hudson’s possessions, save for Hudson’s school backpack that was filled with loose sheets, remarks from his teacher, and odd rocks that the child liked to grab. Arabella had been living out of that bag for years. She rotated the same clothes, didn’t unpack, because there was no confirmation that she’d ever be able to stay. When she had her ap
Stranger! Please be my Child’s Father .Chapter 10: miscommunication at worst . She stepped out, intending to make her way to where she could see Hudson’s teacher, collecting all the children, but a hand in her path stopped her. Arabella glanced down--it was Gael’s, but the producer wasn’t paying attention to her, instead staring off at one of the bushes. It wasn’t extended to stop her, but--what was it for?“Well, do you want to carry Hudson?” She asked, tilting her head in confusion. Gael didn’t answer, instead taking Arabella’s free hand and lacing it with his own. Their fingers tangled, and Arabella tried hard to not think about when the last time her hand had been held like this, aside from all the times she held hands with her own son. “Let’s go, we’ve got a few more minutes before school begins.” Gael hummed, as though his hand wasn’t the warmest and his thumb most definitely wasn’t resting so comfortably on top of Arabella’s hand. The elder trailed after him, making the