the stars in your eyes | t.s. one shots

storytime

i had a request for a one shot about travis reading to his nieces, which isn't exactly what this is, but that made me think of a story i'd heard about when Trav on SNL and how he was practicing reading his lines with his friends after he'd struggled with them at the table read (wish i could link the tiktok here but alas wattpad has not figured out link technology) and this one shot came to life from a combination of those two things <3

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"Uncle Trav!" the little girl exclaims. "Guess what?"

"What's that, Wy?" Travis asks, looking at the screen of his iPad with a twinkle in his eye. He knows that it's past Wyatt's bedtime and that she's doing nothing but stalling the inevitable "Wyatt, you need to go night-night" from her mom. Still, Travis can't bring himself to end this conversation, to shut her down. He loves that little girl, and boy, does she reciprocate that feeling.

"Mommy got me and Ellie a new book yesterday! And it's called Travis and the Unicorns! And she got it because it has your name on it!"

Travis smiles. "Did she now? That sounds like a fun book."

Suddenly, Wyatt gasps. "Uncle Trav, you have to read it to me this weekend when you come to visit! Okay?" Her little face is all lit up with a smile as she watches the screen expectantly. At first, there's a moment where Travis doesn't say anything. So, Wyatt waves her little hand around. "Uncle Trav, okay?"

"Oh, uh, sure. Yeah," he mutters. "Wy, I think it's bedtime, right? That's what your mom said a few minutes ago?"

Wyatt's face falls. "But I wanna keep talkin' to you, Uncle Trav!"

"Not now, Wy girlie. You've gotta go night night."

"Okay," she says, a little frown on her face. "Uncle Trav?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Auntie Tay there? Can she sing to me?"

Travis chuckles, a bit of the color coming back into his face. "She's not here right now, but she'll be with me this weekend, alright kiddo?"

"Can she sing to me then?"

"You'll have to ask her," Travis winks, "but my money's on yes." The little girl claps her hands together with glee and Travis laughs. "Goodnight baby Wy."

She realizes she's been defeated. "Goodnight Uncle Trav." She pulls at the headphones and takes them off of her head, then climbs out of the chair and walks out of the frame. Travis says a quick goodbye to his brother and sister-in-law then hangs up. He sighs, laying back on his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

Truth of the matter is, reading books to those girls makes him anxious. They've got really cute books and they love to read. He knows how important it is to read with kids that age... but he also will never forget the first and only time that he read a story to Wyatt.

She was only two years old, but she'd brought a book up to him and tugged on the hem of his tee shirt, asking him to read it. He's known for a long time that it isn't his strong suit, but he didn't expect it to be so... well, challenging. There was the story, the words on the page, but then on top of it, all of the different voices and emotions that he had to portray to tell the story right. He'd seen Jason read books to Wyatt. Jason doesn't mess around. Travis didn't want to let his little niece down.

But he did, he's sure of it. The whole time, he kept messing up words and fumbling over letters. He'd have to restart sentences over and over again to get them to come out fluid and with the emphasis in the right places. And most certainly he didn't create brilliant characters with his tone in the way that Jason and Kylie do.