Tolerance || Daddy's Home

Family Feud

I hate boys. I hate the human male species. Absolutely despise them.

Why? Well, because when I confronted Xavier about him being too friendly with Abigail he fought me about it. He said that I was reading too much into it for not even being a real couple. To make it worse he even accused me of talking with other guys when we were— I don't even know how to describe us anymore.

I just can't with him. I'm so sick and tired of always hearing the same thing again and again. While we may have started naming these hang outs as dates, Xavier and I always went out. And sometimes with Abigail but they never acted the way they do now.

I don't know. I don't understand boys.

So, I ended up going back to school, finished the rest of my classes, and went on a walk. Sending Sara a quick text about it, not wanting her to panic and call dad, I leisurely strolled around the block.

All I need is to clear my mind. That's all. No boys, no dad, no Dusty, or anything. Pure bliss in my own thoughts and music.

———

The walk was certainly needed. I feel better relaxed and open minded again. Nothing felt constricting and I could finally think straight.

Walking down the familiar road, I came upon my house. It was already dark but I managed to see dad's silhouette standing outside looking into the window.

   "Hey, dad." I greeted getting a quiet, 'hey, sweetie,' from him. I followed dad's gaze to see him looking into the living room where Sara, her kids, and Dusty sat. They were laughing while watching some slides, my guess it was family slides.

As we watched I felt dad's arm reach up to my shoulders pulling me in. This was an unbelievably hurtful thing to watch as someone who was always pictured as the 'outcast' of the family.

Much to my relief, Sara stopped the whole thing as Dusty reached over, touching her shoulder.

   "It's story time, Mayron family." Duty's muffled voice was heard even from outside.

Dad's grip tightened. I know he didn't want to show this was affecting him, but after living basically my entire life with him, this was so bothering him.

   "We don't have to wait for Mr. Whitaker and his daughter, do we?" Megan asked.

It's been a while since Megan hadn't referred to me that way. At first she never once called me by my name but 'Brad's daughter.'

It appears the king is slowly taking back the reins just like he planned.

   "I really don't like you, but that shit is heartbreaking." Griff commented going up to the house to be warmly greeted by Megan.

   "You're gonna do something about this aren't you?"

Truth be told, I was sorta warming up to Dusty. I won't lie about it, I want to lie about it given the damage he's done to our family. He's the cool, fun dad everyone wants. I mean, he even gave me starbursts. Dad would've never done that and Dusty has been great to me. Sure, I wouldn't be the kindest when he made fun of dad or something, but this was the wake-up call I needed. Dusty's here to get back his family.

   "Absolutely."

———

It was well over my bedtime. I laid in bed motionless hearing Dusty and his kids talking besides my room. Dad was cleaning up the kitchen as I walked inside the house, he does that sometimes, stress clean. He was eventually gonna come up to stop Dusty's story that he began. It was predictable at this point. I did, however, wonder how he knew when Dusty began to tell his tale.

"So the king raised his mighty sword and rained steel down upon the step king—"

Dad didn't even announce his presence when he stormed into the room telling his side of the 'story.'

"But the step king blocked it with his shield. And swung his cat o'nine tails into the king's smug face."

I gotta give it to him. For being someone that views Dusty as intimidating, he was stepping up to Dusty in a way.

   "Which the king brushed aside like the feather of a gull." Dusty retorted. "And the king did counter with a barraged of slashes and thrusts so fast and precise that the step king had no way to parry."

Megan and Dylan cheered loudly at the story killing off the step king. Well, this is where the claws come out. When dad does end up getting mad he can get... extreme.

   "But he did. He did. He parried all of them. Easily. It was no big deal." Dad countered. To this, Megan and Dylan whined at the step king triumph. "Then he grabbed the king's sword right out of his hand and smashed it over his knee."

The kids booed. I subconsciously sat up getting a bit too into the story. Now, it was getting entertaining.

   "That's when the king pulled out a pump-action Mossberg shotgun!"

I say dad wins this one if Dusty has to go out of time period to fight back.

   "Which is completely anachronistic." Dad protested. "So if we're doing any time period then the step king just happened to be wearing Kevlar body armor."

   "Concussion grenade."

   "Hand grenade."

They continued naming weapons back and forth up until the point they got so wild naming a black hole and God. Which, I mean, yeah, pretty powerful but it got out of hand with their fight.

   "We know what this comes down to. The step king was very upset because the real king pulled out his sword, it was long and shiny, and the step king did shuttered at the size of it."

Are they— no, don't tell me they—

   "And while the step king acknowledge that the king carried a mighty, beautifully engraved broadsword, all the maidens in the land preferred the more averaged sized—"

Nope. That's it. While I might dislike the kids right now they don't need to hear this. I pulled the blanket off myself opening my door and storming to Megan and Dylan's room.

   "Hey, you two, take it outside and leave comparing 'swords' bit of the story out of kid's ears."

Dad and Dusty turned, startled, to have heard me in the middle of their story. The kids booed while dad nodded seeming embarrassed to have gotten fired up. Dusty followed suit as I ventured back to my room.

And they did end up speaking out the hall. Already feeling myself get annoyed at their quiet— not so quiet, talk, I turned on my white-noise machine forcing my eyes shut to get some rest.