#bull e wugs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

briflatclarinet · 1 year

Text

Dndads Winter Gift Exchange

My @dndads-winter-gift-exchange is done! It’s for @odd-kid-42 and I hope they enjoy it! Also just as a note, there are some references to rolls here because I decided to actually roll some strength and athletics checks while I was writing this and I used those to dictate how those bits went! Happy holidays and may the new year be kind to you and give to you all your heart desires!

Paeden had been in some weird situations- those tend to happen when you’re a kid in the UFC ring who runs off with a bunch of dads to go fight a vampire- but meeting Walter the Immoral had definitely risen in the ranks of most odd. For starters, the dude was barely taller than Paeden himself and had smooth, green skin that seemed to be almost glistening. Maybe it was sweat from working outside in a hot smithy or maybe it was just a Bullywug thing, Paeden wouldn’t know! This was his first time meeting a Bullywug despite living in a Bull-E-Wug’s for so long, Paeden didn’t know what to expect and this made him slightly nervous; but the idea of learning how to make weapons from this guy was so cool! Paeden hoped that he would get to learn how to make knives soon, you could never have too many of those lying around. First, Paeden figured, he’ll have to deal with introductions and whatnot. It had only been a little while since the dads left after all.

“So,” Walter said, clearing his throat. “I was thinking we could start with a tour of the house. I mean it’s not much, but it’s home and you need to know where things are and stuff.”

“Yeah, man, that sounds cool! Show me them digs!”

“Well, first off, this is the living room. We’ve got a couple places to sit and hang around so maybe you can have friends over when you start meeting the other kids in town.” Walter pointed to each chair individually as he spoke, as if to emphasize how many areas the small room had for sitting. Paeden had to admit it was small, but it wasn’t too shabby; most people would probably call it cozy even! There were chairs of various sizes ranging from little wooden stools to a big, plush armchair in the corner, an almost pristine fireplace, various tinkering projects for things Paeden couldn’t identify on a small table, and a few blankets strewn all over the room. The walls were pretty bare with only a few pictures of some humans Paden didn’t recognize, but he assumed them to be Walter’s family pre-transformation. They all seemed to be smiling happily in a way that made Paeden’s heart sink slightly; he’d usually see kids come in looking like that at the Bull-E-Wug’s when they were just there to be spectators instead of fighters. Usually Paeden would say he was too cool to just be watching the matches- he had to keep his win/lose streak going!- but some days, he’d see a kid come in who looked happier than most and Paeden would wonder what it felt like to come in and not be expected to get the shit beaten out of you.

“Hey, uh,” Paeden started slightly as he felt a cold, webbed hand on his shoulder. He looked away from the picture to find a concerned Walter. “You okay, sport?”

“First off, we’re not doing sport. That’s a bit much.”

“Yeah, I thought it was weird as I was saying it.” Walter rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “But seriously, is something wrong?”

“Nah, it’s all good! The P-man was just admiring your decor skills,” Paeden found it easy to shrug off his feelings from the past minute or so. “Was this your family?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah. That’s my wife and son from before the- uh- incident.” Walter clearly looked uncomfortable, not even pretending to fully look at the paintings on the wall. “I keep those up because it’s nice to remember them.”

“That makes sense.” Paeden nodded in what he hoped seemed to be understanding. He hadn’t known Walter for very long, but he felt like Walter was a nice guy. Walter seemed concerned for Paeden’s wellbeing, so maybe this relationship could work! And learning how to make cool swords was always a plus! “What’s next on the tour, Walt?”

Walter looked unimpressed and crossed his arms. “Just call me Walter for now, please. And let’s go to the kitchen next.”

Walter walked about ten steps away from Paeden and turned around with his arms outstretched. “This is the kitchen. I’m a pretty good cook, so we can figure out what you like and add that to the shopping list. Breakfast is pretty early and I usually have lunch around noon, but sometimes dinner can be pretty late if I’m working on a particularly complicated piece; if you get hungry before a meal, I usually have some fruit or whatever lying around. I won’t expect you to cook meals, but some help would be appreciated!”

“I’ve never really cooked before,” Paeden admitted, jumping up on the counter to look in Walter’s cabinets. They were pretty sparse, with three or four plates, mix-match cups of all shapes and sizes, and a bowl or two tucked away in the corner. Everything about this house definitely screamed that Walter had been living alone for a while and could use some company. Good thing he’s got such a badass to hang out with now, Paeden thought with a smile.

“Get down from there! I have a stepladder you could use if you want something from up there,” Walter shouted, his froggy eyes bulging in surprise. “Besides, that’s not where I keep the snacks; that’s for like flatware and stuff. The snacks are in the pantry where they’re easy to reach.”

“I wasn’t looking for snacks yet, man, just looking around. I can get down though, no biggie.” Paeden flipped down with the most grace and precision his tiny body could muster, as if he had rolled a natural 20 on an acrobatics check. Walter visibly relaxed once Paeden returned to the ground. “So when we cook, do you think I could wield the knives? No veggie stands a chance when Paeden’s behind the cutting board!”

The stress immediately returned to Walter’s face and Paeden briefly wondered if frogs can get wrinkles as his new dad replied, “We can- uh- cross that road when we get there. Let’s just keep going with the tour for now.”

Walter gestured vaguely for Paeden to follow as he was led down a bare hallway. There were three doors, all matching brown wood and nearly indistinguishable. Paeden would need to find a way to mark whichever room was his because there was no way he’d remember which was which otherwise.

“This first door leads to my room- I usually keep the door closed, but don’t hesitate to knock or come in if you ever need me- and then the second door is the bathroom. The door across from that one is your bedroom! It’s not much, but I was figuring we could fix it up the way you like later after you’re settled.”

“Oh sweet!” Paeden said, making a beeline for his room. He had never had his own room before! He wasn’t sure what to expect when he threw open the door, but Walter was right; the room was sparse. It consisted of a child’s size bed with a very well-loved looking purple and blue quilt, next to the bed was a single nightstand with a small lamp on top, a window and a toy chest could be seen in the corner next to an open door closet. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust as if the room had been untouched for a while. It was definitely going to require the Paeden touch, but Paeden figured he could work with this for now; it was definitely an upgrade compared to the backroom he had slept in at Bull-E-Wug’s.

“So…” Walter said with a clearing of his throat. He looked around the room as if taking in a new sight as well. “What do you think?”

Paeden surveyed the room with a hand on his chin. “It definitely needs some style, but I think I can work with it! Thanks, Walter!”

“No problem,” Walter said, visibly relaxing. “So do you have anything to unpack or do you want to be alone for a minute? If not, then we can continue the tour.”

“Can we finally check out the forge I keep hearing about? It sounds cool as hell!”

“Language.” Walter’s face soured momentarily. Paeden made a note to either acclimate Walter to swearing or to cool it, but that would be a task for later because what Walter said next sounded infinitely cooler. “But, I guess we can head out that way since you’ll be helping me do my work eventually. Come on, it’s out back.”

“Fuck yeah!”

“Language!”

Walter led Paeden back to the kitchen and headed for a back door that Paeden hadn’t noticed on his first inspection of the room (an 11 would only give you so much after all). The backyard was roomier than Paeden expected! Daylight was still filtering its way through the vanishing vampire spell, but it was bright enough for Paeden to see a small hut and the stone walls of what he assumed to be Walter's workplace.

“Over there is where my chickens live, I’ll probably take you over there to introduce you after we check out my workshop. You’ll be helping me in here, but I’m also going to have you do some chores around the house and helping me take care of the chickens will probably be one of them.” Walter explained as he pulled open a little gate and gestured for Paeden to enter.

Paeden grimaced at the mention of chores, but his expression soon changed when he saw the glorious view that was Walter’s smithy. Paeden felt his mouth gape open as he looked over the giant anvil in the middle of the room right in front of a beautiful forge that was glowing a gentle orange in the midst of cooling coals. Paeden’s eyes wandered to the rack of tools nearby, all hung neatly in a row were more hammers and tongs than Paeden ever knew existed! Granted, he didn’t know much about blacksmithing, but he could tell there were a lot!

“What do you think?”

“This is rad as hel- I mean, heck!” Paeden said excitedly, glad he remembered Walter’s dislike of cursing. “So when do I get to learn to make cool swords and sh-stuff?”

Walter squinted for a moment as if sizing Paeden up, a feeling he was well acquainted with. “Well, probably not for a while. I figured you could help me with some of the commissions I’ve got right now and then maybe I could teach you the basics once you get into the swing of things. Maybe we’ll start with some small stuff in a few weeks.”

“A few weeks?!?” Paeden yelped. “Why can’t we start training me now?”

“You can think of helping me out like we’re starting your training now, but I want you to get situated and see how things work before I give you any personal projects.” Walter replied, looking out the little window. “We can start tomorrow, it’s getting dark out and I want you to meet the chickens before it’s time for them to roost.”

“But we just got here! I thought you wanted me to learn to be a blacksmith?”

“Honestly right now, I just wanted you to see what the shop looked like so you know where it is.” Walter shrugged, turning to finally walk out the door. “Besides, I think you’ll like the chickens. They’ve got a lot of personality.”

“They’re probably not cooler than that bigass ax hanging up.” Paeden grumbled, crossing his arms and begrudgingly following Walter. He shot the forge one last longing look before leaving the room for the night. Paeden didn’t know much about chickens and honestly hadn’t seen a live one up close before so he was a little excited, but nothing could top the excitement he felt about soon learning to make his own weapons.

The chickens were all lazily grazing around their coop. The flock seemed to be a decent size and contained a variety of breeds of various colors ranging from speckled gray to a rich brown. The big one that Paeden assumed was the rooster was a mix of black and gold that shimmered in the retreating sun as he strutted about, watching over his hens like a hawk. The coop itself didn’t seem to be too special, a small wooden structure with one door for people, one ramp for the chickens to climb up, a newly thatched roof, and seemed to be surrounded by various greenery that contrasted with the rest of the coop’s muted colors.

“What’s with the plants?” Paeden asked, approaching the coop as the chickens scattered from him. Paeden didn’t recognize all the herbs, but he could definitely recognize a mint and garlic-y scent; an odd combination for sure, but Walter was the expert here.

“Oh, those are to keep bugs and stuff away from the coop. It’s a lot easier to keep them away with plants than to use magic or poisons. I’ve got lavender to keep away mosquitoes, rosemary and mint for other random pests, and garlic bulbs are around to keep away mice.”

“And vampires?”

“Oh definitely to keep out vampires.” Walter nodded solemnly. “Though I probably won't have to worry about them trying to steal my chickens anymore now that the main guy is… dead.”

“How’d you keep the plants alive with no sunlight?”

“I traded a druid a bunch of magical arrows and a sword to teach me to cast Daylight. It doesn’t completely replace the sunlight, but I’ve gotten pretty good at casting it. I tried using it against one of the vampires once, but it didn’t really do anything besides blind her long enough for me to get away.” Walter shrugged as if that was as mundane as going to ask your neighbor for a cup of sugar.

“You can make magic weapons???” Paeden immediately bowed in reverence. “Teach me your ways, oh wise and slimy one.”

“Slimy?” Walter frowned, rubbing his webbed hand across one of his arms. “I’m not slimy, I feel pretty smooth. Besides, magic weapons are way harder to make than regular ones and I haven’t even started training you to make those yet; you’ve got to build your skills up to that, man.”

Paeden pouted slightly, mumbling. “I bet I could learn to make them pretty easy.”

Walter smiled and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay? You’re supposed to be getting to know the flock right now; you’re going to be seeing them a lot, so you might as well make friends.”

“Why do I need to make friends with the chickens? They’re just dumb birds.”

“It’ll be easier for you to collect eggs and stuff if they like you.” Walter answered, looking slightly offended at the thought that Paeden wouldn’t want to be friends with the chickens. “Some of the hens are pretty sassy, especially Nettles. She’s still trying to figure out her place in the pecking order so she’s a bit quick to bite, though Darjeeling is the head hen.”

Paeden looked to where Walter was pointing and saw a small hen staring intently back at him from the nest box. She wasn’t weak looking, but she was definitely smaller than the others so Paeden figured she must be younger. Paeden narrowed his eyes as he approached the hen, trying to feel her vibe. Something about the way she looked definitely gave him a sense that she was something special. It was almost like she had the eye of the tiger.

Nettles tilted her head slightly as Paeden approached, almost as if she were sizing him up too like Paeden was her opponent in the ring. She was a rust color that slowly became mottled with black and flecks of gray the farther down her body you looked. The closer Paeden approached, the larger she seemed to become, almost as if she was puffing up, and she began to let out a low croon.

“Paeden, I wouldn’t get much closer-” Walter began to warn.

“The P-man isn’t here to make friends,” Paeden interrupted, staring down the chicken even harder, “I’m going to show this chicken who’s bo- OW!”

Right at that moment, Paeden had gotten close enough for Nettles to peck him right between the eyes; it was a sharp tap, a clear warning sign, but it still hurt like hell and was shocking enough to cause Paeden to jump back. This caused a chicken behind Paeden to become startled and dart right between his legs. Paeden fell down as fast as if the chicken had swept his legs.

“Paeden!” Walter cried, rushing over to his new son. “Are you okay??”

Paeden wasn’t hurt, Paeden was impressed. Maybe this Nettles was a worthy opponent yet, but such a rival would require a better name. From that moment on, Nettles would become… Paeden Jr!

“I told you that you needed to introduce yourself first!” Walter continued, Paeden’s face in his hands as Walter scanned for damage. “Nettles is testy even to me, there’s no way she’d let you get close on your first day here!”

Paeden looked at Walter with as serious a face as he could muster, now taking Walter’s face in his own hands. “Walter, I swear this to you, that chicken will become my best friend.”

“Uh… okay?” Walter looked relieved that Paeden seemed okay and not discouraged by the pecking. Walter stood up and helped Paeden to his own feet. “I was thinking we could start off by feeding them together; that way they’ll start associating you with food and build up a trust. Then it’ll be your responsibility to collect eggs in the morning. That sound good?”

Paeden hated the idea of chores, but he figured it was the least he could do since Walter was his new dad and all. “Yeah, man, sounds good!”

“Cool.” Walter nodded. “Let me just get everyone in their roost for the night and then we can go have dinner.”

Walter was able to round up his precious flock and shut them in their coop with practiced ease. Paeden watched as he coaxed the rooster back into the roost with promised treats and took mental notes; if he was going to make these chickens like him, he’d need strategy and it was good to know they were so food oriented. Walter assured Paeden that the chickens were easy to get along with as the two headed back into the house, but Paeden was busy cooking up a plan of his own. He thought about maybe sneaking those chickens some extra snacks later; now that the vampires were gone, Paeden wasn’t worried about wandering into the night because he knew he was the biggest man on the block now. No one stands a chance against the P-man, Paeden thought, puffing his chest with pride.

Dinner was also an easy affair. Walter had made a fairly simple dish of meat and potatoes, that was as flavorful as it was tender; living alone for so long had made Walter an excellent cook and Paeden found himself looking forward to his next meal, which wasn’t a feeling he knew very often. After supper, Walter and Paeden retired to the living room to get to know each other a little better before bed. Walter told Paeden of his daily routine: get up with the sun, eat breakfast, do his morning housework, tend to the chickens and their plants, work on whatever blacksmith commissions he had, lunch, finish his work for the day, tend to the chickens some more, put them away when it gets dark, dinner, do the wash up, and then relax until bedtime. With Paeden helping out, the work shouldn’t take as long so Walter expected that soon enough the two would have more time to spend together. Paeden winced at the thought of doing chores, he had done those at Bull-E-Wug’s sometimes when he wasn’t participating in a match and they were never pleasant. Just got to keep it up so Walter will teach me to blacksmith, Paeden reminded himself, then I’ll get to make some fucking sweet weapons!

Soon enough, it was time to retire. Paeden tried to get himself situated as Walter tucked him in and turned off the light, but he found himself having difficulty. The bed was comfortable enough and Paeden was cozy, but it was too quiet. He’d never had his own room before, it was always filled with the noises of kids tossing and turning in fitful rest or of loud, dad snores. Paeden wasn’t sure exactly what to do with so much silence, but he found himself soon distracted by a glow that began to appear above him. At first Paeden thought it was a ghost or maybe some kind of monster, but he felt himself awed as he looked up to see soft green glowing stars and moons. They were arranged like the stars outside and seemed to be identical to the constellations you would see if you looked outside that moment, all except for one. In the far corner was a small group of stars shaped to be like a little smiley face and some text. I love you, son! the words read and Paeden figured Walter had made this ceiling art for his other kid, but Paeden soon found himself relaxing with a sleepy little smile as he imagined those words to be for him.

“Paeden!” a hushed voice spoke, jostling Paeden slightly.

“Ngh, go away! I’m tryin’ to sleep!” Paeden mumbled, not even opening his eyes as he rolled over.

“Paeden, it’s time to get up. We gotta get ready if you want to help me make an ax today! It’s going to be pretty sweet!”

“Fuck yeah!” At the word ax, Paeden was up and ready to go; greeted by a slightly disgruntled looking Walter who was crossing his arms, Paeden smiled sheepishly. “I mean- uh- frick yeah?”

“I guess that’s better.” Walter sighed. “I’m gonna have to start up a swear jar or something at this point, I don’t want you cursing so much. But come on, I’ve already made breakfast.”

Paeden followed Walter into the kitchen where he was immediately hit with the scent of freshly made oatmeal and eggs. “It’s not much, but I did put some fruit in the oatmeal and the eggs are pretty fresh.”

“Did you already go see the chickens?” Paeden asked,hopping up onto the vacant seat with the grace of a natural 19.

“Not yet, these eggs are from yesterday. I figured I’d let you sleep in while I made breakfast, but you’re still going to help me with my chores.”

“What’s this about a sweet ax we’re making? That sounds pretty cool!”

“I got an order from Orin Willowguard- he’s a regular of mine- and he needs a new battle ax for a quest he’s going to go on. He said it doesn’t need to be anything fancy since he’s just going to go clear out an old underground castle, so I figured it would be an easy first project for us to do together.”

“Hell yeah! That sounds cool as fu-”

“Language!”

After breakfast, Paeden helped Walter with the dishes and they both went to go feed the chickens their first meal of the day. The chickens were less weary of Paeden the second time around, but they could have also just been excited to leave their pin for food. Paeden tried to touch Paeden Jr, but she just pecked him again like she did yesterday. She’s getting stronger, Paeden noted, seeing as the peck hurt slightly more today.

Paeden was bouncing with excitement as the two approached the shop once again and he found the sight just as breathtaking as he did yesterday. It was stone cold inside due to the lack of fire, but Walter assured Paeden it would warm up fairly quickly.

“Today I think I’ll just have you work the bellows and watching me so you can get a feel for how this type of work goes; but first, I’m going to need you to put on this gear to protect you.” Walter said, gesturing to the aprons and various other garb. “The apron is enchanted to be fireproof, but you’ll still need to be careful. If you don’t listen to me and watch out for yourself then I won’t let you be my apprentice, understand?”

“Yes, dad,” Paeden said, rolling his eyes. But he complied with Walter’s safety wishes and allowed him to help Paeden put on the apron, gloves, goggles, and the bandana Walter tied over his hair. He had meant for the ‘dad’ comment to be sarcastic, but Paeden saw Walter’s face light up slightly after he had said it so Paeden decided that maybe it wasn’t as sarcastic as he intended.

Walter then showed Paeden where he would be working and explained that Paeden would be the one in charge of keeping the fire hot enough to make the metal malleable, which excited Paeden greatly. The bellows were fairly easy to maneuver, all Paeden had to do was pull two boards apart to fill a leather bag with air and then squeeze them back together to make the gust of air shoot to the base of the fire. The boards were somewhat hard to pull and push so Paeden quickly began to feel some strain in his arms along with the intense heat of the fire. It seemed like an eternity had passed before Walter instructed him to stop so Paeden could come watch the next step.

“You can tell the metal is ready to work with because of the color change. See how its bright white and glowing? That means it’s insanely hot and we can’t touch it with our hands so I’m going to use these tongs and have you hold it while I hammer. The first step to any good double edged battle ax is to punch out where the handle is going to go with this punch,” Walter showed Paeden what looked like a metal wedge and hammer. “You put this in the middle of the ingot and hammer it down until you get to the middle like this.”

Walter gave Paeden the tongs to hold the ingot steady as Walter adjusted the wedge and raised his hammer. He brought it down with a satisfying crack! that sent a beautiful wave of sparks off the piece. Walter did this a few more times, each whack harder than the last, and Paeden watched with great interest as the wedge slid down farther and farther into the metal like it was just butter. Satisfied with how far it had gone, Walter removed the wedge and had Paeden stoke the fire with the bellows to get the metal white hot again. Once it was ready, Walter flipped the ingot to the other side. Walter took great care to make sure it was properly centered once more before he began to hammer out the other side.

“Now that we’ve got the handle hole started, we need to make it bigger using these drifts. We can’t do it all at once though or else we’ll snap the metal, so we have to take it slow.” Walter said, showing Paeden his current progress. It went on that way for a while, Walter using a slightly wider wedge on one side of the piece, Paeden reheating it so Walter could do the same to the other side, and then Walter starting the process over again with a bigger drift. “This part and actually making the blades usually take the longest, but I think this should be wide enough. The handle’s made of some wood I’ve already carved, so we’ll have to add that in last. Now we need to heat the metal again and then take it over to the anvil to start flattening out the parts that’ll be the edges. You want to take the first swing?”

“Yeah, man!” Paeden nodded excitedly, “I was born to hit things super hard!”

“Do you want to take a break first? This work can be a lot for your first time.”

“Nah, let’s get to hitting!”

“Alright then, start blowing the fire.”

Paeden used the bellows with as much gusto as his tiny arms possibly could while also trying to work as evenly as possible since apparently things could be heated too fast. Soon enough, Walter called Paeden back up and led him to the anvil.Walter handed Paeden the hammer and Paeden immediately dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Woah! Are you okay?” Walter asked worriedly, helping Paeden lift the hammer so he could stand.

“Yep, don’t worry about ol’ Paeden!” Paeden said with great strain in his voice as he shifted his balance so he could hold the hammer correctly. “I just wasn’t expecting the weight is all. We call that rolling a 3 in the UFC biz.”

“Are you sure you still want to try to swing the hammer? You can try again after you’ve built some strength up.”

“Nah, it’s good! Paeden’s got this, watch! Hup!” With all the strength Paeden could muster, he brought the hammer down with a soft thud and barely made a dent. Paeden fist bumped the air though, proud that he successfully made a 10 hit.

“Not bad for a first try,” Walter smiled, inspecting the impact. “But watch a master at work.”

Walter quickly pounded into the metal with all the gusto a 24 strength check could give. Even with all that muscle behind it though, it still took a few minutes and a couple of reheats to get the ingot to begin resembling half an ax. Paeden was entranced watching Walter work and it quickly sparked an idea in him that he was excited to run by Walter when they took their break. Walter instructed Paeden on doing the same things to the right side of the ax that they had done to the left and the two quickly finished hammering. Walter looked at the clock he had set up by the door and announced that the two could have lunch before the began to sharpen the ax. Paeden felt slightly grateful that it was over because his arms were exhausted.

For lunch, Walter whipped the two up a couple of simple sandwiches and some more fruit. Walter apologized for the simplicity of the meal but Paeden felt it was next to ambrosia after the hard work the two had been putting into making that ax.

“So how do you like forging so far?” Walter asked as the two ate. “It’s not too bad, is it?”

“No, it’s great! I can’t wait to start making my own stuff!” Paeden took a big gulp of his water before continuing, “Say, do you think I could make one of those axes? A friend of mine uses one already and I think I could make him an even better one! I want to remake all the daddies’ weapons as thanks for bringing me here.”

“That’s sweet of you, but axes are a bit difficult for a first time solo project. Could you try making one of the others first?”

Paeden thought carefully for a moment. “Well, Henry’s got magic so he doesn’t really use a weapon; I was thinking I could make him a shit ton of knives and like smash them together in a way that they could like fold up and be really easy to carry around, but each knife could be bigger than the last in a real cool way!”

“A bunch of knives wouldn’t be bad. What else?”

“Glenn uses these sweet things he calls nunchucks; they’re like two metal tubes chained together, but I was thinking I could add something to make them metal as hell. Like knives! Or… or glass! Hell yeah!”

“Ugh, what have I said about the language?” Walter grimaced, “And I don’t think you could put glass into metal like that safely.”

“Is that a challenge?” Paeden squinted his eyes, making a not to use glass shards instead of more knives for Glenn.

“No it wasn’t.” Walter said flatly. “But what about that other dude… Ron? What does he use?”

“Oh, he’s got like these business cards that are super sharp or something? I think he throws them at people, but I’ve only ever really seen him do it a few times.”

“That could be a good one to start with!” Walter nodded encouragingly. “That way you could work on using the hammers to flatten stuff and you can practice your sharpening skills.”

“So you’ll let me?” Paeden brightened up, feeling himself begin to bounce in excitement.

“Let’s finish this ax and whatever other projects I have to do this week, then we’ll talk about getting you started on those business cards. Does that sound fair to you?”

“Fuck yeah! Let’s do it!”

“Language!”

But Paeden wasn’t paying attention, he was too busy thinking about the prospect of his new projects. Paeden had been in some weird situations- those tend to happen when you’re a kid in the UFC ring who runs off with a bunch of dads after agreeing to throw a fight for one of them- but this definitely was the coolest and most comfortable. Walter seemed like a great guy, a great dad even, and Paeden knew he was in good hands. He didn’t know when the dads would be back so he could give them their gifts, but Paeden knew things were okay until then. He could already tell that life with Walter was gonna be alright.

#dndads winter gift exchange 2022 #walter the immoral #paeden bennetts #dndads season 1

12 notes · View notes