darker_london | Dadlove! (Julian, Joe)

Joe was at work and he had just managed to sit down for some much needed late lunch when his son burst through his office door with a grin. "Dad! Hi! Oh, soup!" Julian practically danced over to Joe's side and he helped himself to Joe's soup.

Joe sighed inwardly. "You have a diabolical plan to starve me to death, don't you?" Joe asked as he watched Julian commence eating his lunch. "I hope you enjoy your ill-begotten soup. I laced it with guilt."

Julian made a wicked face at his father. "I am impervious to guilt, Lumberjack! I'm a starving university student." Julian grinned with soup-wet lips. "Oh my god this is awesome..." It was lucky Joe knew Julian was being facetious when he said 'starving university student' or Joe would have had a panic attack. Julian was well taken care of, he just had the appetite of a person twice his size.

Joe groaned. He hadn't eaten breakfast this morning and it was nearly three. "That's it. Back to the cafeteria it is. Come on, Freeloader."

Julian shook his head, but he didn't look upset about the suggestion. "I'll wait here. Eating your lunch." Julian took a seat on Joe's desk and he grinned at the soup bowl in his hands. "I think this is the soup of legends."

"It was the last bowl too, you fiend," Joe chuckled. He didn't mind giving his lunch up to his son in the least. If he would have minded, Julian wouldn't have done it. He was still incredibly glad he could simply head back to the cafeteria and get something else, however. He was rather hungry. "Be right back, Twinkletoes." Joe kissed Julian's head and then he headed for the cafeteria.

When Joe returned, he did so with a half-eaten sandwich in his hands. Julian looked up at him, amused. "Oh my god, you totally didn't trust me not to eat your sandwich too," he said with a laugh.

"Something like that!" Joe said around a mouthful of turkey. He set another sandwich beside Julian's leg and then he set a little bakery bag on top of that. "Here. Starving university student no more."

Julian gave his father an incredibly warm smile and he ripped into the bakery bag first. "Oooh danish! Yum!" He took a huge bite, the last dregs of his stolen soup, forgotten.

Joe just chuckled at Julian's epic appetite. The boy could eat anything. And did. Often. And yet, he remained as thin as anything. At least he didn't look unhealthy any more. Those days were behind them. He hoped. "Did you just come to steal my lunch, son?"

Julian shook his head, his mouth full of danish. "Mmm! Mmm?"

Joe blinked. "Er...you're going to have to translate that one for me, Kiddo." Sometimes Joe could understand Julian without Julian ever having to say a word. Not this time. He took a seat back in his desk chair and he went to work on the rest of his sandwich.

Julian swallowed and he turned to face Joe, his legs crossed because he was still perched on Joe's desk. "I came so you could lecture me!"

"Lecture you?" Joe chewed thoughtfully and then he swallowed before giving Julian a quizzical look. "Julian, why am I lecturing you. What...what did you do?" Joe suddenly forgot about his appetite and his sandwich and he panicked. Just a little.

Julian raised his eyebrows and he licked some danish frosting off of his thumb. "You sound like you expect me to rob a bank or something there, Daddio. Or you know...shoot up." Joe opened his mouth to protest and Julian held up a hand. "I know, I know! I gave you plenty of reason to worry about the things I did when I ran off and became a heroin addict, blahblahblah. I mean about the boy."

"The b... Oh." Julian was referring to his sleeping with Godric. "Jules, why would I lecture you?"

Julian looked pained then, but it was from his own guilt. Apparently he had lied when he said he was impervious to it. "Because I had a go at you for kissing that woman when you were drunk because Mum only died six months before that, and now I'm uhm...you knowing with boys a month and a half after Damon left me which makes me a great, dirty hypocrite."

"Oh, Jules..." Joe started to laugh, and Julians expression became mutinous. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Joe tried to say between laughs. "Son, I...oh dear." Joe tried to calm himself down because Julian didn't look any less upset about the laughing. "I have no intention of lecturing you for moving on."

"But...I was so mean..."

"Jules." Joe rose from his chair (after protectively setting his sandwich aside for later inhalation) and he rounded the desk and put his hands on Julian's shoulders. "You are grieving for your mother and you saw me with someone else and you reacted how anyone would react. It's none of my business to tell you whether or not you're ready to move on from Damon. It is your business to tell me if you're not ready to see me kissing other women. It's up to me to decide what to do with that, but Kiddo, I would never want to take away that right. I want you to tell me how you feel. That's why were so close."

Julian nodded slowly. "Okay...how do you feel about me being with Godric. Not... with him..."

"I miss Damon," Joe admitted, because that's what Littletons did. "And I miss how you two were together. And I know you do too. I also know he's gone and what happened was not your choice and you are still grieving for that relationship too. I want you to be happy, Jules. And I think that being with Godric made you realise you can move on and that's important. Do I like the idea of sleeping around? Not really. But that's just a parent thing."

"I already got the clap. Trust me when I say we were careful."

"It's not just that, though...good. I worry about looking for the right thing in a pack of people who aren't interested, but you have to be interested first. Spectre told me Godric's a good young man. I trust his judgement. I can't be upset that you had yourself a good night, Son."

Julian beamed and he kissed his father on the forehead in a moment of whimsy. "I was so afraid you'd call me a hypocrite."

"Not a chance. You come first, Kiddo. Always." Joe ruffled Julian's hair and then he went back to his chair. "Eat your sandwich. If you finish all your lunch, you can come visit Uncle Adam at the garage with me."

"Can I ride his Harley?!" Julian asked with a bounce.

"If you're good," Joe laughed. "He just might let you."