Dare

 Gregory was not a superstitious man, but somehow, whenever there was a full moon the truly crazy came out, and all that crazy was quite exhausting to handle. 

Sighing, he pulled his jacket off, and he couldn’t help thinking that a cup of coffee sounded heavenly, even if it was almost seven o’clock in the evening. He didn’t intend to let that stop him.

He was just making himself comfortable, cradling his coffee in his hands, when the front door was opened and slammed shut again before Gregory heard the sound of thudding steps on the stairs.

Frowning, he quickly stood up and made his way into the hallway. “Winnie?” he called after his son.

“Don’t call me that!” Winnie yelled a second before his bedroom door was thrown closed with enough force that the picture hanging on the wall beside him shifted slightly.

What had gotten into him? Nothing should have happened. He was supposed to spend his day with… Killian.

“Oh, wonderful,” Gregory muttered, hesitating a second before setting his coffee down and heading toward the stairs. 

Maybe the full moon was affecting his son too. Then again, he had a feeling the trouble lay with Killian. 

There had been friction between the two of them ever since Killian started high school.

They were growing apart, and Gregory knew there was nothing he could do about that. But he could see if whatever had happened was something he could fix.

Once he reached the top of the stairs and made his way down the hallway to Winnie’s room, he stood next to the door, pausing for a second before knocking. “Kiddo? Mind if I come in?”

“Go away!”

“I wish I could,” Gregory said, grimacing as he leaned against the doorframe. “But you know I can’t, not when you’re obviously upset. Please, just open this door. You know I can get through it if I really want to.”

Winnie muttered something in Russian before Gregory heard him letting out a sigh. “It’s not even locked,” he said softly enough that Gregory barely heard it through the door.

That was all the invitation Gregory needed to open the door and find Winnie sitting on his bed with his Pooh Bear sitting in his lap, his shoulders hunched as he curled in on himself. 

The sight of him looking like that nearly broke Gregory’s heart. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?” he asked, pushing the door the rest of the way open before slipping inside and making himself comfortable on the edge of Winnie’s bed.

“Nothing,” Winnie muttered as he continued to fidget with the bear Gregory had gotten him years ago. “It’s stupid.”

Huffing out a breath, Gregory kicked off his shoes before pulling his feet up and twisting around so he was sitting right in front of his son. “Kiddo, anything that makes you… like this, is not ‘nothing’, and it’s certainly not stupid.” 

He grimaced as shifted to the side to get a better look at Winnie’s face.

“Did Killian or any of his… friends, do something to you?”

“They… they dared me to do something, and when I said no…” Winnie ducked his head.“They called me a big baby and a sissy. And…” He hesitated a second before glancing up at his dad. “Am I girly? They said I was girly, and that I had… a girly nickname.”

Ah… And that sadly explained the reaction to him calling him ‘Winnie’. 

Pushing down the small stab of pain he felt at the thought of never calling him by the nickname again, Gregory focused on the present.

“Simon.” He gave him a small smile as he reached out and placed his hand on his son’s leg. “You’re not girly. In fact, I’m pretty sure no one would call a girl who has as many black belts as you ‘girly’.” He hesitated a second before biting the bullet. “What was the dare?”

Simon flushed and dropped his gaze back to his bear again. “They dared me to kiss Diana down the street,” he mumbled, shifting around. “But I… I didn’t want to. I… I want to save my first kiss for my wife.” Winnie’s dark eyes moved back to him. “Is that stupid?”

Gosh. If they weren’t a bunch of teenagers who did this to his son, Gregory might have been very close to murdering them. “No! No, Kiddo. That dare was stupid, and I’m glad you didn’t let them pressure you into doing it.”

Simon cracked a smile as he glanced up at him. “Honestly, I’d rather avoid girls completely. Is that an option?” he asked, then he shuddered. “I certainly don’t want a girlfriend.”

Gregory laughed before reaching out and pulling Winnie into a hug.

“You’re eleven. You wouldn’t be getting a girlfriend even if you wanted to,” he said before tightening his grip around his son. “And honestly, I’d be happy if you still thought girls had cooties. Heck, I’d be happy if you still think so by the time you’re thirty.” 

Winnie snorted against Gregory’s chest. “I think I can handle that. I don’t plan on getting married until I’m at least as ancient as you anyway.”

“Hey, watch it, mister,” Gregory said, poking Winnie in the side, earning him a giggle that he was happy to hear. 

A moment passed before Winnie pulled away and flopped back against his bed, letting out a sigh. And it was then that Gregory realized he might need to talk to him about something else.

“Kiddo…” He paused before pushing forward. “I’m not sure you should be hanging out with Killian anymore.”

Winnie instantly sat up. “But… He’s the only friend I have, Dad.” 

For a second, they stared at each other, and Gregory quickly realized that didn’t seem very much like he was actually disagreeing with him. “I’m not sure you can really call him that anymore,” Gregory said, reaching out and playing with Winnie’s hair. “Friends don’t treat each other like that.”

Winnie’s shoulders slumped. “I know.”

Gregory reached out and tugged Winnie against his side. “Besides. I might be your dad, but I’d like to think we’re friends.”

Rolling his eyes, Winnie twisted around and leaned against him. “Yeah… I’m sure learning that my dad’s my only friend would really make Killian’s friends super jealous.”

Laughing, Gregory nudged him in the side. “Well, I would hope so. How many of their friends know how to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch?” he asked, grinning as he stood up and tugged Winnie to his feet beside him.

“You know, that does make me feel better,” Winnie said, but the mischief in his eyes told Gregory he wasn’t quite done talking. “Yeah, knowing how to bake cookies is way girlier than anything I’ve ever done.”

“Why you little…” Gregory quickly pulled his son into a headlock. “I’ll show you ‘girly’, you little terror.”