Alice was at Hermione's house with Charles. Hermione has been dying to see the boy for a couple of weeks now. FP had gone with Fred to enjoy some time with old friends down at Pop's. Alice let Charles play in the living room with a couple of toys while she drank tea with her best friend.
"I still believe it was your man who talked Fred into having a child. He keeps hinting at it. He caught baby fever."
"Well why don't you? You could hear the pitter patter of little feet running around the house every day. It never gets old." Alice glanced down at Charles who came walking to her with a toy truck in his little hand. He put his arms up in the air. Alice picked Charles up and sat him down on her lap. She tickled him and he let out soft giggles. "See, what is there not to love? You could have one of these."
"I've never seen you so lovey dovey," Hermione took a sip of her tea. She discreetly remembers Alice always being very sassy and sarcastic. She liked seeing this motherly side of her. "Has the snarky Alice I know gone dormant?"
"She still exists. She's not going anywhere. It's just that this mama is full of love for her little boy." Alice fixed Charles' hair. He was keeping himself occupied by rolling the truck on the table. "Believe me when I say that FP is a bigger softie for him. He can prance around as the biggest and baddest of them all but when I bring him our son he will submit into full baby mode."
"Oh how I'd love to see that. He always had to be macho in high school. I swear I always thought he'd choke on his own testosterone."
"Well, why don't we go see for ourselves? Let's go catch up with our men. They should still be at some booth at the diner." Alice stood up and took her empty cup to the sink. Hermione stood up and did the same. She quickly washed them while Alice picked up Charles' toys scattered around.
•••
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FP, Fred, and a couple of the guys from their old football team sat around sharing old high school stories. One of the men brought up the time Fred jokingly stole FP's clothes after practice while he was in the shower. "That was not funny," FP laughed at it now but that day he was pissed at his best friend. He took any piece of clothing he could wear away from him. All he had was the towel he luckily had on him. "I caught a ride with him that morning so I didn't have my truck. I was stuck at school practically naked because of you idiots. I had to fucking walk home with nothing but a towel tied around my waist."
"It wasn't that bad," Fred said in between the laughs.
"Wasn't that bad? I didn't know Alice was at my trailer with her parents. I didn't exactly want her folks seeing my junk, you know."
"The story gets funnier with time," One of the guys said.
"It's not like they didn't know she's seen you without the towel," Fred says earning him a smack behind the head from FP.
"Not helping yourself Freddie."
Alice was outside holding Charles' hand. She led him into the diner. Hermione was right behind them. They looked in through the window and saw the men laughing. Alice pushed the door open and let Charles walk in. The men saw Alice walk in. FP was in the middle of telling them about their famous game against their rivals the Baxter High Ravens when he noticed how they weren't listening to him. He turned around to see what they were looking at and boy was he glad to see his family.
"There's my little man!" FP waved down at the tiny guy. Charles smiled and mimicked the wave back at him. Alice got closer to him and gave him a quick kiss. "I wasn't expecting you baby."
"Charles wanted to come join the guys."
"Is that so?" FP reached his arms down and grabbed the boy. "Come on bud." He tickled him ferociously. The two year old laughed away. FP sat him on the table facing towards him. "How did you already grow? I've only been gone a couple hours." His voice softened up for the child. The men took note of that.
Alice went to go join Hermione in another booth. "See I told you he's a big baby around our baby." Alice looked over at the men with her child. FP was showing him off proudly. Hermione was enjoying this soft side of her friend. She never knew she'd see the day. "I spy with my little eye a Freddie Andrews longing for a child."
"How could you even tell?" Hermione tried to deny it but she knows she was right.
"For starters he's trying to take my baby away from FP. Now he's looking over at you with a pout. He so wants a baby."
"I know he does. He's telling the whole world at this point."
"Give him one."
"You know what? Maybe it's time to consider having one. I mean we have the money, the love, and he's definitely not going to stop whining until he gets his way."
"Whenever you're ready start cooking. I expect a bun in the oven before the end of summer."
FP stood Charles beside him. He left his arm resting on top of the booth's seat. The toddler looked at the strange men and stared at Fred beside him. He knows Fred so he couldn't help but look at him. Fred brought his hand up and Charles high fived him. "Good job. Now knuckles," FP tells him. Fred turned his hand into a fist and Charles did the same before touching it with his own fist. The men laughed. Charles in response did the same. They couldn't keep their eyes off of the child. Not so many years ago they were sitting in that very booth celebrating a football game, not a two year old. "You'll get a kick out of this." FP tapped on his son's shoulder. Charles swerved his head to look at him. "Charles, muscles." FP flexed his arms to show him.
"Muscles," Charles repeated. He popped his arms up and flexed too. He looked at Fred expecting him to do it too. "Muscles."
"Oh me too?" Fred chuckles and flexes for him. Charles looked at the rest of the men. The men knew what he was going to tell them to do. In unison all men at the table repeated after him. "Muscles."
"What kind of cult is your son running over there?" Hermione saw all the men flexing with Charles as the leader.
"That Jones boy is a powerful baby," Alice smiled proudly. That was her baby boy. She loved showing him off just as much as FP did.
