What We Know | John Laurens x Reader

20. Gred & Forge

Hey guys! Ready for another chappie! Here we go again! Enjoy!
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Y/N's POV

Listen, being one of Washington's 'right hand men' wasn't actually as great as it seemed in the musical. It's very tiring, and quite frankly, rather time consuming. I barely had any free time left anymore.

Whenever I did though, John was pretty much always there with me.

Our favorite place to go was the lake. Which actually kinda sucked. Mosquitoes almost always swarmed us as soon as we got near the water, not the mention the fact that the water stunk.

Yet somehow, John always made it seem like the best place on Earth.

Normally, I would've argued that the best place on Earth was the candy shop near the edge of my neighborhood, but seeing as that shop wouldn't exist for another 200 years, I decided not to mention it. Yet.

We would sit by the water and talk for hours before Laff, Herc, or Jeremy would find us and tease us for the rest of the day. John would freak out every time he saw a turtle peek up at us from beneath the murky water.

Which brings us to right now.

"THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!" He shouted, taking Fred from my arms and holding him towards the water in the direction of the mini turtle ahead of us. "That could be your little brother or sister, Freddy!"

"What is that, Possible Sibling #376?" I smirked, looking over at the small animal.

"It's Possible Sibling #386, actually," John pointed out, setting our child down and letting him stand on the dirt of the 'beach'.

As soon as I spotted it, my eyes widened in shock. The little mini turtle staring at me looked identical to Freddy, which kinda sounds ridiculous because every turtle pretty much looks the same. This one though was the exact shade and size as my child.

"Holy crap," I breathed, only freaking out more when the mini turtle started swimming towards us. John was practically jumping with joy.

Pretty soon, Fred's twin had left the water and crawled over to his clone, plopping down next to him on the dirt. John and I sat in silence, watching as the two turtles chirped at each other casually as if they'd been talking for years now.

Just like brothers.

"Our child?" John gasped.

"Our child," I answered. "I declare that his name shall be George!"

"What?!" he frowned. "I was gonna name him John Jr."

"Cute, but no. His name has to be George."

"Why?" he whined, tentatively picking up the mini turtle baby.

"Because... reasons." I figured it wouldn't be worth it to try and explain Harry Potter to him. Especially seeing as its creator wouldn't even be born for another 200 years or so.

"I don't know if we'll be able to tell them apart," John sighed, looking between the two, trying to spot any possible differences. "Unless..."

He looked me in the eyes, a very mischievous smirk making its way across his face. Almost immediately, I realized what he was trying to tell me. I quickly scooped up Fred, jumping up and racing John towards the camp.

"HERCULES MOTHERFREAKIN MULLIGAN!" We yelled as we dashed through the trees with our confused children at record speed.

My P.E. teacher would be so proud of me right now.

A couple of moments later, we arrived back at the camp, still yelling for our friend at the top of our lungs. None of the other soldiers paid us any attention. They were used to us being-- well... us at this point.

We dashed past many tents, including Washingdad's, heading to where we hoped the guy was. FunkyHatDad shot me an amused look as John and I passed him.

A couple of seconds later, we burst into our friends' tent, panting tiredly. "HERCULES MOTHERFREAKIN MULLIGAN!" We yelled again.

"Umm... yes?" Herc frowned, staring at us in confusion. We were quite the sight after all with our tired states and our twin turtles.

We collapsed onto John's cot with a sigh, and I held out Fred for him to take. "Freddy!" Herc beamed, taking my child from me before freezing in shock, staring at the other turtle with us. "And... Freddy?"

"Nope!" John chirped, holding up the child proudly. "This is George. He's Fred's brother."

"John," Herc sighed, "What did I tell you about adopting random turtles you find at the lake?"

"Not to do it..."

"And what did you do?"

"I did it," John grumbled. "But, can you blame me?! I mean, look at them! They're adorable!"

"And identical," I pointed out, giving him a meaningful look.

"Let me guess," Herc sighed, "You want me to make them matching sweaters?"

"Yep!" John and I said at the same time. Our kids looked up at Herc questioningly.

"Fine," he grumbled, grabbing some supplies out from under his cot. We spent the next couple of hours with him, watching as he measured the twins and got to work making their sweaters.

One of them had a large yellow 'G' in the middle, while the other was decorated with large yellow 'F'. They were both navy blue and so adorably tiny that they deserved to be in the clothing aisle of a pet store, not in the middle of a war.

"Oh my gosh, I love them!" I squealed in a very manly voice as soon as they were finished.

We thanked him profusely before heading back to the lake where we sat in silence, watching Fred and George chirp back and forth at each other in their own special language.

"How does it feel to be a mother of two?" John smirked. I took notice of how close together we were sitting and was suddenly very thankful that he couldn't see my blush with how dark it was outside.

"Pretty great actually," I sighed, scooting a tiny bit closer to him. "How's it feel to be a father of two?"

"Pretty darn amazing," he smiled, looking down at me. "Y/N Owens, you're the closest friend I've got."

Y/N, I thought, do not throw away your shot.

I smiled back at him and leaned my head on his shoulder, sighing contently, taking notice of the way he sucked in a breath but only moved closer.

While it may not have been a giant step forward, boy did it make me happy.

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8/4/2020

There yah go guys, gals, and non-binary pals! An entire chapter of fluff to warm y'all's souls. Just warning y'all's now though, y'all are about to experience the timeskip of y'all's lives... so be prepared for that.

QOTD: What do y'all think Fred and George were talking about?

Thanks for reading! -SunkissedChild5