Just Us

[Braxton Sparkles]

It had been a long time since Braxton had had a job. Nothing seemed right since retiring as an Auror (at least, that's what he told people he did). Connie's art didn't make a good income, but she seemed happy to do some part time work while he looked after their kids, and they seemed to manage, somehow. Brax had planned to find some work once the kids were off to school, but it seemed life had other plans. He wondered if Constance would want to switch their positions - her staying with the kids and he working - but that would be a conversation for another day. Tonight was about their kids, and the conversation they needed to have with them. Afterwards, he could tell his mother and his younger siblings (who were, very weirdly the same age as his kids). Braxton had gotten somewhat better at cooking, and definitely didn't do microwave meals like he used to way back when. Tonight was spaghetti and meatballs - usually a beer for him but he wasn't drinking in solidarity with his wife. "Grubs up!" Braxton yelled to his family as he moved the big plate to the middle of the table for them all to dish up themselves.

 

[Benedict Sparkles]

Ben shot down the stairs like he was on a Firebolt. No matter how much he ate, he was always hungry. It was annoying, but he didn't mind too much, because that meant he was growing, and soon he would be as tall as his dad and able to reach the shelf with the cookies on them. "Oooh, meatballs!" he said, climbing onto a chair and kneeling to get a better look at the dish. He liked it when his dad cooked. Not that his mum wasn't a good cook, too, but his dad's food had less green stuff in it. "Mm, that smells so nice." He wanted to dive in straight away, but he had the manners at least to wait for everybody else to get to the table. "Are you going to have a beer? Can I have one?" he asked. Worth a try.

 

[Bea Sparkles]

Beatrice waited until she was sure Benedict had gone downstairs before sneaking into his room. She had very carefully crafted fake adoption papers. Once she was sure her brother was well distracted, she sneaked into his room, and placed them on his bed. She hoped he'd worry for at least ten seconds before realizing that if it were true, their parents wouldn't have just left it on the bed. But he wasn't always that clever. With a grin, Bea sneaked out again, heading downstairs with the most innocent face she could muster, seeing her mother wasn't there yet. "MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!" She called out.

 

[Constance Sparkles]

Connie had always wanted a big family, but things had to be put on hold when reality came in. She wasn't as young as she had hoped to be when she finally found the one (or, when she bulldozed his wall and forced him to be her friend, but Connie liked to romanticise their meeting a little), and Braxton losing his job as an auror had certainly slowed her plans down. They were still living tight, but with the vegetable patch out back and weekly dinners with family, as well as her fondness to find out how to reuse everything, the mother of two, soon to be three, felt that they were just fine.​

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Connie came in just in time to here some cheek coming from their son. She clipped him up the side of the head gently and pulled a chair out, gesturing for Bea to sit. "You'll 'ave nout if you keep that up," she warned him, before grinning at her family and cleaning paint off her hands so that she could dish out some food.​

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"Your Da's got summat ta tell you," she said finally, smiling at Braxton after throwing him under the bus.​