he and roman have spent more of their days together. she knows a little bit of their excursions, with bo teaching him how to properly partake in pokemon battles. po's been more of a nuisance to gretchen than usual, but he's still been left with his fair share of scratches as a warning. and a glare or two from willow as well. 

"well, i like the sound of that." and she does, really. flowers and gardening and sometimes meditation helps her deal with her problems, but her methods have certainly never worked for roman. it's good, him having this to bond over with bo. 

"great," she says, a little relieved, because, "honestly, i don't know the first thing about it. or what games he'd like. he'll be able to play with you, right? if we get another controller?"

boruta maher

☉

her approval meant a lot. he would have understood any hesitation or distrust.

”cool,” he grinned.

teaching Roman Maher things had become his favorite thing to do. those breakthrough moments, when he saw his son’s insecurities subside, and the smiles, and glow of accomplishment and self-assuredness. he wanted to foster it as much as he could. if he could replace the boy’s bitterness with confidence, maybe he could keep him out of trouble.

”yeah, two controllers is good. i can play with him.” it had been a while though. he looked over, smirking, ”you sure you don’t want one too, just in case you wanna go battle royale mode? then you can kick both of our asses in-game, at least.”

willow atkins

☉

she makes a face, nose scrunching, and shakes her head. "absolutely not. he'll kick my butt one time and i'll never hear the end of it." no, she'll watch from the sidelines when it happens, grin stretched so wide across her face it'll hurt. and she'll watch their laughter and their closeness and she'll feel that all is right in the world. 

"there is something i wanted to ask you though." she hesitates. "i know you've become quite the trainer. and after the soiree and with everything that's going on in the world, i...well, i want to at least feel competent at being able to protect us."

she shifts a little awkwardly, shoulders drawn. after all this time, it's hard for her to admit she needs help. 

"can you...teach me? how to do that?"

boruta maher

☉

bo gave a bark of laughter. she was probably right—but maybe she had some hidden skill that would surface out of nowhere. godly dexterity, or something. ”you just gotta practice first after he goes to bed.”

his smile softened and he looked over at her prefacing and hesitation. when he realized, different feelings struck him. on one hand, her worry was a reminder (not that he needed it) that he had given up the opportunity to be more of a protector for them. on the other, he thought it was a good idea, and he loved battling. this would be fun.

”that sounds fun. I’d love to.” his grin glowed again. ”you’re gonna be taking on the elite four by next year, just wait.”

willow atkins

☉

practice after he goes to bed. as though there are enough hours in the day for her to do that. roman, at this point, usually has more energy at the end of the night than she does. after getting him to bed, she's usually conked out less than five minutes later. or she doesn't even make it far enough to check that he's sleeping and falls asleep herself on the couch, thinking of the hundred and one things she has to do before the sun comes up. 

"good," she says, relieved when he accepts. she's hoping her too-short nights will get just a little longer with the help she's hired at the shop. and it'll leave her more free to do things for herself. 

"ha. well, i doubt that very much, but i'll attribute my success to you if it happens." she shakes her head and then scrunches her shoulders, nuzzling a bit more into her scarf. her nose is getting a little red from the chill. 

she spies an eclectic little shop down the way and points. "let's start there. might be able to knock a few off the list here."

boruta maher

☉

it was true that bo didn’t realize just how hard willow worked, even after having worked with her for months in the greenhouse. this was the lack of awareness of someone who had not lived with her, and had not seen and shared in the process of raising a child.

the sad truth was that he might never know. the best he could do was try to understand when he realized he didn’t.

”you better. don’t forget about me when you’re famous.” he nudged her shoulder lightly with his elbow and a smirk.

when she pointed out the shop, he followed her finger to a place that he would describe as very willow. a cute, modest storefront, obviously locally owned. ”i don’t think we’re gonna find a ps5 there,” he commented. ”but it looks fun. let’s go.”

willow atkins

☉

and find a ps5 she doesn't. but she does manage to find a few balls of cozy yarn and a pair of nice working gloves for grace. she'd been complaining about some holes in her current ones the last time willow had visited. in her perusal for stocking stuffers, she finds a pair of feathery earrings. rufflet feathers, dark purple, that bring out some of the gold in her eyes. 

she holds them up to herself in the mirror and clicks her tongue, but eventually opts against them. the ps5 might not be in the store, but that certainly doesn't mean it's still not her number one priority. 

so she moves a counter over and fiddles with some locally made soaps. "mmm. what do you think of this one?" she asks, turning to hold out a vanilla bean-scented one to bo. 

boruta maher

☉

bo followed at a leisurely pace, hands in his pockets as he looked at carefully assembled displays with vague interest. he hadn’t thought much about gifts yet, and found the store a little overwhelming. willow held most of his attention, though he did his best to make it look otherwise.

he caught himself staring when she tried on the earrings. when she put them back, his gaze lingered on them. should he buy them? maybe she hadn’t liked them after all, though… where else could he get earrings? did he even have taste in jewelry? would she appreciate it if he made earrings out of his archeops’ feathers, or would that be a weird thing to attempt?

he found his hand out of his pocket, finger on his lip pensively. ”…”

but she pulled him out of his thoughts. a candle. gourmand. he leaned in and took a whiff he didn’t need.

”it makes me hungry.”

seeing his vaporeon’s tail around a corner, then, he called in a hushed hiss, ”hey, nacho! get back here!”

willow atkins

☉

she rolls her eyes. but you're always hungry. still, she puts the candle back on the shelf and picks up a couple more, looking instead towards the floral scented ones. she finds a lovely soy and beeswax one and ponders it for a moment, wondering if this is something she could do with her newest venture with Greyson Connors . 

she decides to purchase it alongside a couple of smudge sticks for grace. with the bag at her hip full of most of the objects she needed to buy, she looks up to tell bo they can move on, only nacho's off making trouble. 

it reminds her of how often Roman Maher would struggle away from her when he was younger. she'd need only look away for a second and he'd be hiding in a rack of clothes or monkeying his way out of the store entirely. 

"he really likes to run you around, doesn't he?" she says with a laugh. 

boruta maher

☉

he was always hungry.

he watched her move to the floral candles instead, jumping to clarify, ”no, i don’t mean it in a bad way. like, i like it.” he paused. ”i don’t wanna eat it, but it’s still nice.”

bo was too big for these places. small, delicately assembled displays, full of glass and other vulnerable objects, just waiting for some broad asshole like him to walk by. turning too sharply was a danger here.

”yup.”

he crouched, uselessly trying to be small as he chased after his vaporeon. seconds later, after he’d disappeared around a corner, glass could be heard shattering—but it wasn’t nacho’s doing.

bo looked down at the mug. bits of ’only the best moms get promoted to grandma.’

”oh, fuck me.”

he lunged for his eeveelution, grabbing it and wrestling it up from the floor. where was its pokéball?

he headed to the front, nacho in one arm and fishing for his wallet with the other hand.

willow atkins

☉

with her small frame, she probably could have maneuvered a lot better than bo and grabbed nacho without any casualties. but with her hands full of presents, she's really not much help, so she can only watch as bo bumps into a tower of mugs, knocking one off of its post. the clerk looks up disapprovingly from behind the counter and willow has a feeling they won't be welcomed back with open arms.

her cheeks are a little red as she pays for her things after bo. and while yes, she is embarrassed, she's also trying not to laugh at the struggling vaporeon in his hands and the uncouth words dropped from his frustrated mouth.

and the clerk's indignant frown. 

"you can just put it in the same bag as mine," she says when she tries to, at first, throw it away in the bin. 

once outside, willow finally allows herself to laugh. 

"as penance, i'll be fixing the mug for you and you'll have to keep it forever. and secondly, are you why roman's language has taken such a dive?" the accusation is a friendly one, eyes still glowing with her laughter.

boruta maher

☉

he pulled out his wallet, maneuvering with a still-squirming vaporeon in his other arm. the worn-out leather was flipped, money handed over, flipped back and shoved in his pocket. ”sorry about that,” he apologized to the clerk with a weak smile. they still didn’t look too pleased with him. he decided to turn and head for the door, though waiting for willow to finish paying before exiting.

outside, he set down his mischievous vaporeon and sighed, looking over at willow. he’d be happy to have something from her that she’d taken such time to assemble, even if it was a crack at him. he smirked. then, about Roman Maher ’s unfortunate vocabulary, it spread into a grin.

”no, actually, but i think he’s rubbing off on me.” honestly, bo wondered if he hadn’t learned his language from willow’s mother—but he would never say that. not in a million years.

willow atkins

☉

she doesn't know what's putting that grin on his face, but something tells her his answer doesn't quite cover everything on his mind. she narrows her eyes at him, but lets it go regardless. there's a bit more energy to her step now, a bliss as the space between them, metaphysical mostly, disappears. 

her bags are delightfully full and a lot of the stress of getting gifts has slipped off of her back. there are still things to do, but there are always still things to do. 

she shakes her head. "how the hell did we make such a pain in the ass?" she muses. before they can dwell on the memories that brings up, she points down to a more commercial-looking game store. 

"c'mon. let's get the troublemaker his playstation." as they walk, she tilts her head and then asks, "will you be around for candle-nights day? to be there when he opens it?"

boruta maher

☉