Wife Swap

[PunkPrince]

Jedediah rolled over and groaned at the sound of a loud knock on the door. Probably the same guy asking to cut their grass. Jedediah felt awful having to reject him every time, but their family was just as poor. They couldn't spare the money. As they rolled over, their arm whacked a sleeping Jaden in the face, causing the small teenager to grunt and burrow down under the blankets. "Too early for this, Mom," they muttered, still clearly exhausted. Jedediah sighed and ran a gentle caress over the side of the teenager's face, leaning down to softly kiss their face. "I know, baby," they said. "I'm sorry.


Jaden was curled up against Titus, dwarfed by the man's size. Titus pulled himself to his feet. "Just ignore it," he murmured. "He'll leave. If he doesn't I can always tell him we don't have cash. I was getting up to go watch TV anyway." He leaned over to kiss Jedediah. The kiss lasted for a few seconds and then the two broke apart, and Titus gave Jaden's hair a gentle tousle before shuffling out of the room.


It was not unusual for Jaden to spend nights curled between the two of them, especially if the day had been particularly emotionally draining. They did spend some nights on the mattress on their bedroom floor, but it was often Jedediah who wanted them next to them, rather than Jaden desiring to be alone. Jaden gave Jedediah and Titus their time alone, though it was never really announced. Early on in their friendship, when Jaden had been so mentally drained that they couldn't stay awake for an entire day, that find was whenever and for however long Jaden crashed. Most times, Jedediah would exit the bedroom to see the teenager still passed out on the couch, occasionally with a cat resting on top of them. The cats liked Jaden. That was another reason Jaden might sleep alone. Titus was allergic to the cats. He couldn't deal with hair in the bed and Jaden was highly concerned that the cats would be lonely, though they had handled it just fine the years before Jaden had come along.


Jaden had rolled over to burrow into Jedediah's side when Titus had gotten up.


"Don't get too comfortable like that. I'm about to go get into the tub. My everything hurts." They really had overexerted themself at the show last night. They had busted open their knee on the stage floor, with their favorite move of jumping up and slamming down onto their knees. Sleeping on the floor didn't help. Their bed wasn't much of a bed. Just a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor. Jaden only had a mattress in their room because it'd come from their room in their biological parents house. Jedediah and Titus still couldn't scrape up the money for an actual bed. They sat up, leaning down once more to peck the half asleep teenager on the lips before slipping quietly out of the room.


It wasn't unusual for Jedediah to kiss those they were close to on the lips. There had been a time they had been staunchly against it, back when Masha, their drag mother, had attempted to give them a friendly kiss. They'd had a massive fight about it, Jedediah flying into some big spiel about how that was only something they did with their partner, and so on. And now there was such a blurred line between what they did with their friends and with their partner that they often forgot that most people kept a rigid line and weren't physically affectionate to the extent that Jedediah themself was.


The house was small, various surfaces cluttered with things they had yet to find a place for. Plants were everywhere, both inside and outside, a sort of therapy for Jedediah. Glitter and various pieces of drag were everywhere. Wigs, jewelry, unfinished costumes. The walls had various pictures taped to the wall, the photos simply having been printed off the computer and left unframed. One of Jedediah in drag standing next to their smiling mother, the older woman dwarfed by her son in heels. One of Jedediah and Masha after Jedediah's performance at the international drag festival, the transgender woman beaming proudly, her arm around Jedediah. One of Jedediah and Jaden on Jaden's birthday. They'd thrown a surprise party for them. Jaden had nearly burst into tears, since their birthdays with their biological family had mostly just been them left home alone. One of Jedediah, Jaden, Edie, Masha, and Johanna, all in drag, Titus standing shyly in the back. Jedediah was taking the photo selfie style, the entire group making dramatic faces at the camera. One of the only framed photos in the place stood on the dresser in front of the mirror. A photo of Jedediah and Titus, both younger than they were now. Titus was thinner, looked more feminine, and Jedediah had clearly tried to grow some sort of a beard, not really succeeding.


Jedediah gave this one a thoughtful glance before heading into the bathroom.


---


"Does anybody else want eggs? That's about the only breakfast food we've got." Jaden poked their head into the living room from the small kitchen. Or rather, tried to, giving a small squeak as the beaded curtain that hung over the doorless frame fell down and hit them in the face. Titus looked up and chucked softly. "Sure. If you don't want eggs though, I think Jed was gonna go to the store and grab some food later..."


"If I go to the store I have to take the bus. We should just eat what we have. I'll go later. It's just a hassle to go anywhere since the cars broke down. What should take five minutes takes two hours. And then I have to deal with shitty cashiers because I'm on food stamps. I'm not in the mood this early." Jedediah was drifting through the living room in a pair of jeans, kneeling down to dig through the drawers of clothes, trying to separate what was theirs from Titus's or Jaden's. They eventually settled on a Cher t-shirt since they didn't have anywhere to go today–thank God–and settled on the couch next to Titus, who was watching an episode of the office he had no doubt seen a hundred times before.


Jaden shuffled in after a minute, carrying the plates of food, giving a loud sigh as they looked at the cluttered coffee table. They had another table, but it too was nearly always cluttered. They distributed the plates and then flopped into their usual spot between Jedediah and Titus and started eating, Titus picking through the pile of mail that topped the cluttered arrangement on the table.


"Bills, bills..." He stopped and gave a confused glance to an envelope. It was official looking, he might have marked it a bill had it not been addressed to both Jedediah and himself, with his real name rather than his birth name. He opened it, scanned it quickly, and then looked over at the other two on the couch. "Well, look at that," he said. "They want us for Wife Swap."


Jaden swallowed a forkful of eggs and then looked up. "Who swaps for us?" They asked, which earned them a smirk from Jedediah. "Right," Jaden said. "Of course." They looked over at Jedediah for a moment, frowning, and then went back to their food.


Titus gave Jaden a worried glance. He hoped they wouldn't do too badly without Jedediah. Titus was close with them, but Jedediah had always been able to get them to come out of their shell more. Jaden was already so nervous when Jedediah was around. Without them Jaden clung to everyone else. Titus, Edie, Johanna and so on. He hoped they'd be okay this time.


--


The day had finally come for Jedediah to leave. They had been up for nearly two hours, but hadn't gotten up or ready yet. Jaden had shifted next to them a few times, burrowing into their side. Titus was gone having gotten up to go to the store to buy groceries. He was supposed to be brought back by Edie, Johanna, and Masha, and by the sound of it they were all back and shuffling around in the kitchen. They'd all planned to have breakfast together before Jedediah left. Jedediah was a bit upset they hadn't left the cooking to them. They could have made the meal before they left.


They pulled themself up into a sitting position, gently nudging Jaden. "Hey. I'm going to take a bath and get ready. Everybody is outside should you decide to go and mingle." Jedediah gave only a peck on the cheek before slipping into the bathroom, calling a hasty greeting to the others in the crowded kitchen and living room.


Jaden yawned, unaccustomed to the amount of space in the empty bed, and stood up. They quickly scrambled into an Against Me t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans, running a bit of gel through their hair before bouncing out into the living room.


"Jaden!" Edie chirped, grinning at them. "Hi! You look nice." She pulled them into a tight hug, which Jaden had to eventually squirm out of.


"Don't suffocate him," Johanna scolded from the kitchen doorway. "Jesus Christ. Lady J would kill you." She looked toward Jaden. "But she's right. You do look nice."


"Thanks!" Jaden chirped, starting to nudge their way into the kitchen but Edie nudged them back. "It's crowded in there. We've already got three people in there cooking, any more and Masha might explode. She's claustrophobic."


"Sorry, baby," Masha said, peeking over Titus's shoulder. "It's nothing against you, of course. I just can't handle y'alls kitchen." The Russian transgender woman drifted from the kitchen for a moment to peck Jaden on the cheek before darting back inside. "I'm about to burn this fucking sausage, excuse me."


Edie leaned back against the couch, looking toward the closed bathroom door. "She always takes such long showers. She's gonna prune up into nothing." Jaden burst into a fit of snickering.


"I heard that, Mark!" Jedediah used Edie's boy name on purpose, which only led Jaden to laugh even harder.


"She's gonna leave me at a bus stop somewhere, Tom, I swear. Scratch me out of this family."


Jaden looked up at her. "If she didn't give you the boot that time you took your shoes off onstage I think you're safe."


"You took your shoes off onstage? Edie!" Masha's disapproving tone from the kitchen. "Oh my god."


"I already chewed her out," Jedediah said, drifting from the bathroom fully dressed. "Let her alone. She's learned her lesson." They grabbed a softball sized bean bag fashioned out of old pantyhose and tossed it at Edie.


"Don't hit me with your sweaty boob!" Edie squeaked.


"One day I'll suffocate you with my padding and only then will you know true terror."


"You can smell those from a mile away, I feel like that would be a form of torture," Jaden said.


"It's Lady J's form of discipline," Johanna teased, poking her head out of the kitchen. "Food's ready, by the way.


They ate settled around the living room, as they had no room for a table in their small kitchen, chattering amongst each other. Masha praising Jedediah's most recent performance, Edie and Johanna making jokes, at one point pulling out cards against humanity and causing Jaden to laugh so hard that they nearly choked, until a car horn beeped outside.


"Guess that's my cue to go," Jedediah said softly, smiling slightly at their friends before giving each of them a hug. They leaned up to kiss Titus, lingered for a few moments, said "I love you," and then turned to Jaden, who already looked uncertain.


"You'll be okay," they said. "You've still got Titus. And everybody else will be by too. If she ends up being a piece of shit I'll come home and chew her out–and you know I will. I kicked Sam out of here when she wouldn't use your pronouns. I haven't brought her back, have I?" Jaden shook their head quickly, but said nothing. Jedediah sighed and pulled Jaden into a tight hug, kissing their face several times, only stopping and releasing them when the car horn honked again. "I love you so much, kid." Then they pulled on their long black faux fur coat, shuffled out of the house and off the porch, glancing back at the group before finally getting into the car.


When the car drove off, Titus looked toward the group surrounding him. "I guess that means we've got to go somewhere too since he's gone." He looked at Masha. "I know you've got to work," he said. "But what about you two?" He addressed Edie and Johanna. "Anywhere to be?" Johanna shook her head. "Nope. Except Starship Earth. I wanted to go look for some wigs."


Edie nodded and put an arm around Jaden. "I vote we turn it into a family event."


And then they were in Johanna's car driving off down the street, the manual Jedediah had left still sitting on the coffee table.


Hello, and welcome to our home! As you may have noticed when you went exploring around the place, our situation is probably quite a bit different than your own. There's myself, my longtime partner Titus, and our adopted child Jaden. Everyone in our house is queer and transgender.


My name is Jedediah Calder. I am a genderfluid person, which means that my gender identity fluctuates between male, female, and in between. I usually tend to rest more on the feminine side of the in between, though I don't really mind which pronouns anybody uses for me. I work a few hours a week in a library, but my primary source of income is from my performances as a drag queen called Lady J Sinclair twice per week. I host shows at a local gay bar every Saturday, and am often booked another day of the week. I am also the bar's primary show director, and scheduling is my responsibility. Fortunately for you, the responsibility of covering my performances has been passed to the younger of my two drag daughters (a bit like students, in case the term confused you at all), Johanna. She and Edie, my first drag child, often drop by. Johanna and Edie are both in their mid twenties, and don't live here. Neither of them are trans, but we all usually call them by their drag names even when they aren't in drag.


My partner's name is Titus, and he is a transgender man. He doesn't use any pronouns other than he/him. I met him at one of my shows five years ago, and we've been together ever since. He's just about the sweetest person you could meet, and he's a very staunch pacifist. He puts up with all of my moodiness and mental issues, which is more than I can say about a lot of others in my life. He manages a coffee shop about twenty minutes from here, and has been my loyal assistant and drag husband through the time we've been together. On show days, he's usually getting things together while I'm getting myself ready, and keeping me calm when I get a bit too panicked about something. My only real gripe with him is that he's a bit of a slob, no matter how many ways I try to organize for him. Usually Jaden or myself are cleaning up after him. He is very protective of Jaden.


Jaden is Titus and myself's adopted child, and is nineteen. They, like myself, are genderfluid and only use they/them or he/him pronouns. They are under no circumstances to be referred to as a woman, or you won't like what you wind up hearing from me. We met online about a year ago when I came across one of their drag pictures–they're a drag king named Tommy Rotten. The more we talked, the more I saw myself in them. Their biological family was extremely emotionally abusive due to their being queer, and when I met them they were extremely scared and hardly said a word for ages. We're very close and I eventually took them on as my drag son. I actually surprised myself with this, because I've turned down queens who have begged me. Even Johanna and Edie had to audition themselves and impress me before I would teach them. Tommy was the only one I took without him asking first. He is very talented, though hesitant to show it. Jaden spent nearly every day here for a long time, and when the abuse from their biological family got worse, Titus, Edie, Johanna and I eventually moved them and all of their things here while their family was out of the house. They don't speak to most of their biological family anymore aside from their father, as their biological mother was absolutely rotten after they left. They suffer from bipolar disorder more on the depressive side and extreme anxiety, and often need to be reminded to take their daily medication. When they have anxiety attacks, they often become nonverbal and unable to do much until they are calmed. They only shut down further when scolded or shouted at, and since I'm of course, not here for the next two weeks, I strongly suggest that, should anything arise, you leave dealing with it to Titus, Edie, Johanna, or Masha (my drag mother). They do not calm easily when confronted with an unfamiliar person, and if they are pushed too far, often become self destructive.


Our house is too small to offer you a room to yourself, but Jaden has offered their bed–or more accurately, mattress–for the nights, so you won't have to sleep on the couch.


I hope you have a wonderful time with my family.


Jedediah Calder

 

[BrightEyes]

As soon as the sun was up, an alarm was ringing throughout the Douglas residence, but, while Carter wakes up to shower and get dressed for work and Rebecca seems way too motivated to go run around the neighborhood at six in the morning, Sophia had left her headphones in her ears as she fell asleep. Grayson and Cable also stayed asleep in their shared room, seemingly dead to the world as long as the windows did not let any light stream in. One parent's hand slaps the alarm off the bedside clock, and they both start their normal routine without greeting each other with anything other than a sleepy sigh given by Carter and a silent nod of understanding passed by Rebecca. Natural light fills their bedroom with warmth and highlights the plain, though expensive, furniture that Rebecca had been convinced to buy as soon as she could. Now it seems boring to her, and, as the woman slips out of the connected bathroom dressed in her typical workout clothes. She tiptoes out of the master bedroom and down the hall, past three bedrooms and a few other doors that lead to the kid's bathroom, a large closet, and the craft room. The mother then walks down the stairs, stepping normally now until she reaches the foyer and passes through the front door quietly. Somewhere along the way, she had subconsciously grabbed her iPhone and headphones, so she glances only momentarily at the house before jogging down the drive way.


_ _ _ _ _ _ _


By the time Rebecca returns from her run, the rest of the house has found its energy and each family member has stumbled into their typically morning behavior. Grayson, too lazy to cause trouble just yet, is perched on the edge of one of the sofas in the living room, staring blankly at the large flat screen television as it blares some sort of cartoon, probably from Nickelodeon. He doesn't look too amused, but he continues to give the episode his complete attention, anyways. The boy is wearing plaid pajama pants, but his sleep shirt is no where to be seen. Across the room from him, a toddler sits sucking on his thumb. Cable drops his thumb only momentarily to smile at his older sister walks into the room. Rebecca, hoping the boys' attention is on the television long enough for her to shower and get dressed, slips past Sophia on the stairs, waving a quiet "good morning."


Sophia smiles halfheartedly at both her mother and baby brother and finds her way to the kitchen. The animated characters scream into her brain so loudly, that she decides being awake isn't worth it yet, so she quickly runs back up the stairs and dashes into her room. She slams the door a bit more dramatically that intended and climbs back into her warm bed, knowing someone will get her up eventually.


At some point, Gray grows bored as commercials take the place of his show, and he sticks his tongue out at Cable, earning the same face in return. "Hey, Cable. I bet I can put your foot behind your head without it even hurting."


Cable stares at his brother, deciding he must have learned this trick at big kid school. "Can you really?"


_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Carter walks in on his two sons fighting on the floor and rolls his eyes as he pulls them apart. Truthfully, the scene is more like Grayson laying on top of Cable yelling about him being a liar and Cable screaming for his mother to free him, but the result is always to same. "Guys, calm down! Wait until I go to work before you go crazy." Carter's voice is a bit rough, but it also has a hint of playfulness. He pats each child's head, ignores Cable's tears for once, and walks into the kitchen to sit as his seat at the table. In only a couple of minutes, Rebecca join him in the kitchen, with her hair curled loosely and her makeup done. She wears a purple summer dress and a white sweater that covers the thin shoulder straps. She grins at her husband before looking back down at her youngest child who has attached himself to her side, whimpering about being hungry. "Do you want apple slices, little poet?" The woman gets ingredients and begins to scramble eggs and fry bacon, enough for the whole family. She picks up the small boy, holding him on her hip as she works.


The man has his tablet, but he stops reading some article to inform that breakfast is being made. "Grayson! Get us some forks, boy; Mom's making you bacon. And Rebecca please put that child down. He doesn't need you carrying him around like a damn infant. Where's your sister Gray? Girls and their beauty sleep... " A smile forms on the father's lips and he shakes his head as though his daughter is too amusing for words. Gray sits next to his dad, ignoring the instructions to help set the table and narrows his eyes at Cable, mad that his brother tried to get him in trouble for playing with him. The woman sets Cable down as she is told, but the boy stays close, waiting for his fruit.


Carter puts his tablet aside again to look through the mail he had gathered earlier. There isn't much but a few magazine the females probably wasted his money on and two envelopes. One steals his attention for looking official, and the man opens it with curiosity. He reads the letter and gives Rebecca a weird look as she places plates of food on the table, including a small plate of apple slices for Cable. "What's that, honey?" The women gestures at the letter in her husband's hand, unable to read his expression.


"It's the producers for Wife Swap. They want to film our family and exchange you for some other woman, but I'm sure you don't want to do that..." The woman smiled and shrugged at once. "Why not? That sounds like fun! You can handle the kids here without me, I'm sure. Plus, she can still cook all the meals watch Cable while you're at work!"


So, it was settled, and Rebecca went upstairs to wake her daughter and inform her that she would need to be helping more with the boys while this new woman was staying with them.


________________


On the day of her departure, Rebecca spent the morning packing her bags and repeatedly making sure all three of her children promised to behave and listen to their father. Each child reluctantly agreed, though Sophia had her fingers crossed behind her back. While Carter had somehow got the two boys dressed for school, he had already made Cable cry and the noise was stressing him out. He harshly picked the youngest child up and carried him to his mother, hoping she can shut him up before she left. Grayson now stands at Sophia's door, banging on the wood and threatening to break the lock.


Sophia turns her music up, pretending not to care about her mother leaving, but, at the same time, she keeps looking out the window, wishing the car won't come pick her up. She won't be able to handle the chaos, and she refuses to talk to some other bitch unless she is forced to. Her parents are ridiculous for thinking anything will function at all; Gray is barely away from being suspended, and her father doesn't want to be here more than he has to. Why would anyone else enjoy their time here?


"Go away, Grayson! If you break my door, I swear to God, I will break the left legs off all your batman dolls!" Gray gives another hard fist on the door before storming off, yelling "Sophia said something about ripping God's leg off and breaking my door!"


Somehow, Rebecca manages to slip out of Cable's grip and hands him to his father. She hugs each of son's tightly and kisses them on the foreheads. The woman than gives her husband a quick peck on the lips and pats his arm. "It's just a little adventure!" She didn't get a response from tapping on her daughter's door, but she sneaks a quick peek of her standing in her bedroom window, so she waves slightly.


Finally, Rebecca is off, and Carter is left with the task of getting the two boys to their classrooms. "Come on, let's go, guys." Cable pulls Grayson's shirt and scratches his arm before running as fast as his legs can carry him. Seeing what's coming and not wanting to deal with it, Carter grabs his older son and carries him under his arm into the house. He then sends him up to retrieve Sophia while he makes sure Rebecca's letter is obvious by the front entrance.


Eventually, the family is off, with Carter driving Sophia to school for the first time in years. He didn't want her trying to skip school and bother his new temporary "spouse". The letter, covered in a bit of fingerprint from Cable, reads as followed:


Hello; My name is Rebecca Douglas, and I am married to the love of my life, Carter Douglas. Our house is yours for the time being, so feel free to look around and borrow anything you may have forgotten at home. Your bedroom is upstairs next to my daughter's, and it has a connected bathroom inside.


I have three children: Sophia, age 16; Grayson, age 8; and Cable, age 3. They each have wild personalities, so you are in for some fun!


Sophia has her own car, so you won't have to bother with taking her anywhere, but she should be home by midnight every night. If not, don't worry too much; Carter will figure out what's bothering her, and she will return in a day or so. She mostly keeps to herself when she is home, and she likes plays her keyboard and listening to music in her room. Sophia is our easy child, but the boys are a bit hyper.


Grayson is our little ball of energy. He loves to cause trouble and bother Cable, but we find removing them from each other for a few minutes calms him down. If he gets too crazy, feel free to offer him a sweet treat or a new toy of his choice. Sometimes, you may even need to just ignore him until he goes away. That sounds harsh, but we don't want him hurting Cable or disrupting Sophia when she is practicing.


Cable may be a bit shy at first, but he is very sweet. He loves to be involved with whatever me or Gray is doing, so you might have a little shadow following you around. If he won't eat what you make him, try giving him fruit. While Sophia and Grayson both go to school regularly, Cable only has preschool on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. You'll be in charge of him all day long the rest of the week.


Typically, I make all the meals for our family, and I like to keep the house tidy and organized. If you can't find something, ask Sophia; I don't think Carter knows his way around the kitchen at all! We have a gardener, but I love having the house to my own to clean. I'm sure you understand how special a house is! The kids don't like to help much, but I say let them be kids.


We go to church every Sunday, and Grayson and Cable love to go to the park and such if you have time. You will have to do all the shopping. There's a list in the kitchen that we all add items to throughout the week, and then, I usually go on Monday, while everyone is out of the house.


Things can get a little crazy here, so feel free to use my "craft room" to escape. I write in there, and the kids usually stay out.


Best Wishes!


Rebecca

 

[PunkPrince]

Jedediah looked up at the house the car had stopped in front of uncertainly. It was bigger than their own, and from the looks of the windows it had a second floor, something Jedediah's house lacked. The outside was nicely taken care of, but didn't have as many plants as Jedediah's front yard did. Then again, most people's front yards didn't have the amount of plants that theirs did, and their own house always stuck out against the others on the street. They mostly only had well taken care of lawns, and that was about it. Nothing special, really.


They stepped up onto the porch and turned the key, slipping into the empty house. Their face immediately reddened slightly at seeing how clean the place was–it was nearly spotless, a stark contrast to their house. Jedediah's own home was rarely this amount of clean, and they wouldn't really have wanted it this clean anyway. They usually just tried to keep their own house semi-neat, not that it lasted very long. This house reminded them more of the home Jaden's biological mother had kept–not a bit out of place. They hoped this woman was a bit less extreme than the other had been–Jedediah still had a memory of the first day they had met her. Not five seconds later she was screaming at Jaden about having left their socks in the hallway. Not asking them to get them, just screaming. Jedediah had gotten them out of there fairly quickly and they'd gone to the mall together, though they felt awful having to drop Jaden back there.


They wandered through the house curiously, noting the framed photos of the family on the walls, which seemed to contain two little boys and a girl a bit younger than Jaden. Jedediah had some experience with younger kids despite not having any, as they did have several nieces they were close with, and close friends back where they had grown up now had children of their own.


Jedediah headed back the way they had come, and found the letter waiting on a table near the front entrance. They picked it up and settled themself on the too-fancy sofa and began to read it.


Hello; My name is Rebecca Douglas, and I am married to the love of my life, Carter Douglas. Our house is yours for the time being, so feel free to look around and borrow anything you may have forgotten at home. Your bedroom is upstairs next to my daughter's, and it has a connected bathroom inside.


Jedediah felt their cheeks go hot again at the mention of their bedroom. They had felt guilty not being able to give the woman her own room, or what was an actual bed. They'd put it from their mind at the time, but now it was back, and it embarrassed them. They had had to clear the back bedroom of all the drag that inhabited it when Jaden had moved in with them just so the kid could have a room of their own in the tiny place. They hoped Rebecca would be okay with Jaden's mattress since she seemed used to nice stuff like this. Jedediah's room at home wasn't even connected to a bathroom, the three of them had learned to share the tiny one that rested between the bedrooms. They read on until they reached the paragraph about Sophia.


Sophia has her own car, so you won't have to bother with taking her anywhere, but she should be home by midnight every night. If not, don't worry too much; Carter will figure out what's bothering her, and she will return in a day or so. She mostly keeps to herself when she is home, and she likes plays her keyboard and listening to music in her room. Sophia is our easy child, but the boys are a bit hyper.


They frowned a bit at the part about Sophia's nights away from home. Something about the entire paragraph reminded them eerily of Jaden back before they moved in with them, the nights away from home in particular. Jaden fled from the house because they couldn't handle it, whatever it might be–the constant fighting of their siblings, the yelling, the emotional desertion by a parent–in Jaden's case, a mother, who didn't care that the treatment they recieved at home was doing them damage, or their gender constantly not being acknowledged, or acknowledged and completely shut down as a possible thing that existed. The keeping to her room reminded Jedediah of Jaden as well. Jaden had rarely ventured from their room at all back then, the constant fighting too much of a stressor for them. Jedediah wondered if Sophia's reasons for doing what she did were anything similar. Jedediah hoped not.


Grayson is our little ball of energy. He loves to cause trouble and bother Cable, but we find removing them from each other for a few minutes calms him down. If he gets too crazy, feel free to offer him a sweet treat or a new toy of his choice. Sometimes, you may even need to just ignore him until he goes away. That sounds harsh, but we don't want him hurting Cable or disrupting Sophia when she is practicing.


Jedediah let out a long, loud sigh as they finished this paragraph. If they fought the way Jedediah thought they did, then Grayson's relationship with Cable was similar to Jaden's relationship with their brother–but it didn't seem to have progressed to the level that had done so much damage to Jaden. Rewarding him for his behavior seemed like a bad idea too, even if his parents didn't see it as a reward and just as a distraction. Separating them helped the situation by diffusing it, but it didn't make it any less likely to be repeated. Jaden's family had usually sent them and their brother to seperate ends of the house, but they usually got a scolding about ignoring him rather than their brother being talked to about being nice and treating his sibling with respect.


Cable may be a bit shy at first, but he is very sweet. He loves to be involved with whatever me or Gray is doing, so you might have a little shadow following you around. If he won't eat what you make him, try giving him fruit. While Sophia and Grayson both go to school regularly, Cable only has preschool on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. You'll be in charge of him all day long the rest of the week.


Jedediah nodded. That was fine with them. They didn't mind being followed around. They had actually gotten a bit used to it after they had first met Jaden and it was difficult to get them to branch out on their own. At this point they were usually surprised when Jaden wasn't shuffling about behind them, something they did a fair amount less than they once had.


Typically, I make all the meals for our family, and I like to keep the house tidy and organized. If you can't find something, ask Sophia; I don't think Carter knows his way around the kitchen at all! We have a gardener, but I love having the house to my own to clean. I'm sure you understand how special a house is! The kids don't like to help much, but I say let them be kids.


Jedediah nodded to themself. They were used to cooking, liked it actually. Most of what they made were recipes they had picked up back at home in the south. They could do other things, such as the spaghetti they had made on Titus's last birthday, but that was their specialty. Jaden cooked occasionally. Titus couldn't cook actual meals. He was much better at baking. He was usually left on the task of desert on the occasions that there was one.


"She's gonna hate my house," Jedediah said softly as they read about how neat she liked to keep her house, speaking to no one but the air.


We go to church every Sunday, and Grayson and Cable love to go to the park and such if you have time. You will have to do all the shopping. There's a list in the kitchen that we all add items to throughout the week, and then, I usually go on Monday, while everyone is out of the house.


Jedediah wasn't sure what to think at the mention of church. They were still somewhat spiritual, but it was rare to find a church that they liked. They had only ever found one, a place that accepted all genders and sexualities, but the pastor had stepped down and the group fallen apart. Titus and Jaden weren't religious at all. Churches like the one Jedediah had thrived in were rare, and this one was likely more like the type Jaden's biological parents had subscribed to. In short, there was no room for people like them.


The task of shopping didn't bother them, but it wasn't done often at their house, especially since the cars had both stopped working. Before that it had just go and get a few things, usually never from a list, and live off that until it ran off, and then make another trip.


They smiled slightly at the invitation to use the craft room if they chose to. They probably would at some point. They set the letter down on the table again and got up to wander the house again until the family returned. They weren't used to a sofa that nice.