Dragon Age One Shots

Little Starfish, Cullen

Cullen placed the last rock into the circle, a spray of sea water bouncing into his face before the waves receded away from his tiny pool. He'd taken his time, collecting enough boulders and stones to create a safe refuge from the wilds of the ocean. The pool was only a foot or so deep nestled right against the shore, but he had to be certain it was safe.

A coo of curiosity drew a smile to him and, after wiping the sea spray from his face, he looked up to find cautious amber eyes peering. Chubby fingers clung to his mother's legs, those black curls mopped to his head as he kept a close watch on what Cullen was up to.

"Gavin," Cullen called, a smile rising higher at his boy, "come here."

Those tiny hands, which had once been barely bigger than Cullen's thumb, dug tighter to Lana's shins. She'd dressed in a pair of tiny smalls, only a slip of a skirt providing any modesty, as the sea air kept trying to tug it off the same way Cullen wanted when she first put it on. Her hand rubbed against her son's hair, ruffling it back and forth as she said, "Go on, Sweetie. Go see Daddy."

Gavin risked a chubby foot forward, his eighteen-month-old toes dipping for their first taste of the sea. He tried to hold his foot above the water, uncertain what to make of this, when it splashed hard sending droplets back against his eyes. Blinking furiously, the cautious smile dipped to a far too familiar sneer, Gavin rushing back to hide behind his mother.

"Oh, don't be a sour puss. The water's lovely today," Lana wrestled with their son, trying to get him front and center. She dug her hands under his armpits and hefted him into the air. Those baby rolls wrapped around his thighs and calves wafted back and forth a few inches above the sand. Gavin was fine with his mother lifting him up, until she began to walk into the water.

"No!" he wiggled, trying to fight her. "No, no, no!" he kept crying.

"Sweetie, sweetheart. Gavin!" Lana ordered, strain showing on her face. Cullen began to take a step forward, when Lana shook her head. She redoubled her grip on the slippery toddler. "It's okay. The water is nice. See Daddy."

Cullen bent down and patted a hand into the water as if it were a comfy bed to climb into. "Look, Gavin," he gave it a few more slaps, those eyes peering uncertainly at him. "It's really fun." To try and prove his point, Cullen began to slide down into the salty water until he nestled his back against the rock wall.

The water barely made it up to the middle of his naked chest, but Gavin perked up considerably at his father being in the same eye range. "Want down!" he ordered. "Mummy, now!"

"What do we say?" Lana repeated on instinct.

"Pwease!" Gavin shouted loud enough it scattered a few gulls. The movement caught his attention, his brown face twisting in the sun to follow the flock of white. With her son distracted, Lana bent down and plopped him into the water.

Amber eyes opened wide, Gavin frozen as he stared in horror at a line of water circling his chunky ankles. He drew a finger to his lips, plucking on the bottom one until it stuck out more than usual while watching the bubbles and waves rippling from his addition.

Curious, he began to lift his foot higher out of the water. Being not even two, Gavin's body wobbled, but Lana held him in place so he didn't fall. Barely glancing at his mother's interceding, Gavin slapped his foot down fast. A spray of water broke from the pool and their baby boy laughed so heartily it drew a smile to both parents.

Giggling, Gavin bashed his foot thrice more into the waves, each one growing with more strength until the spray struck both Lana and Cullen. "Daddy!" he cried, laughing until his cheeks turned red, "Daddy look!"