Author's Note: OK, so I had this dream last night and that inspired this silly little ficlet. I used my standard go to names – Sophie for the OC and Charlie for the kid. This isn't related to anything I've written in the past, just easy names since I always have such a hard time coming up with them.
Sami Zayn, OC, fluffy goodness, all the standard disclaimers here, read, have fun, leave comments telling me how wonderful I am.
Sophie paced back and forth and chewed on her thumb nail, while her 7 year old son Charlie sat on the couch oblivious to her emotional turmoil playing video games. The sperm donor was supposed to have picked him up after school for his monthly weekend to bond with his son. Of course, he didn't show up, no phone call, no text message, no email, no message sent by carrier pigeon, nothing. And course, she made every effort to contact him, her little guy was disappointed but she managed to soothe him and now he seemed to have forgotten where he was supposed to be and was enjoying a Friday night spending time with his Xbox. But, she had a date, she'd being seeing Sami for a few months now and normally planned dinner dates when her boy was with the sperm donor or either set of grandparents. She wasn't quite ready for the little guy to meet him yet. First of all, he would get emotionally attached in a heartbeat, and what if it didn't work out? She could barely handle another broken heart, how could she expect him to? And secondly, once the kid realized that "Mommy's friend Sami" was THE Sami Zayn that they watched and cheered for every week on TV, the kid would be head over heels with joy, he'd probably run around the apartment chanting "Ole! Ole! Ole!" all night long. And of course, what guy would want to spent the evening watching a 7 year old play video games and eating pizza and potato chips when he was expecting a romantic night out? She could call her mom, she always wanted to spend time with the kid, but he just got ditched by his dad, it wouldn't be right for her to leave him. She sighed dramatically and sent a text message to Sami.
Sami was standing in front of his closet staring at the sea of black t-shirts trying to decide which one to wear on his date tonight with Sophie. He was really looking forward to taking her out, she agreed to let him surprise her on the restaurant, which was a big deal for her, he learned very quickly that she was a planner, she liked to have every detail ironed out before she walked out the door. He supposed that came from being a single parent and having a full time job. He was dying to meet her son, but she was protective of him, having never been a parent, he couldn't fully understand it, but he could respect it. His phone buzzed with a text message, he knew it was from Sophie since he had already assigned her a special text tone. He read the message and frowned, she wanted to cancel their date because Charlie's dad didn't show up for visitation. No, no way, he hardly ever had Friday nights off, so it was really difficult for them to have dinner dates.
Sophie plopped down on the couch next to Charlie and ruffled his hair, "So little man, what should we get for dinner tonight?"
"PIZZA!" he yelled.
She laughed as her phone started buzzing in her pocket, Sami was calling her. "OK, buddy, I'll order after I take this phone call."
She walked into the kitchen to talk in semi-private, Charlie was too into his video games to even attempt to eavesdrop. "Hey Sami. I'm really sorry about tonight."
"Listen, Sophie, we don't have to cancel. We can go to a kid friendly place."
"Sami… I…"
"Or, heck, we can just hang out at your place, order pizza or something."
Sophie chewed on her thumbnail and thought about it for a second, it would be a relief to see if Sami was good with kids, but…
"Come on Sophie, we rarely have chances for dinner dates. Please?"
"Well, OK. Charlie does want pizza. And I bought stuff for ice cream sundaes on the way home to cheer him up."
"Perfect. I'll be there in say, half an hour?"
"Yeah, OK."
She disconnected the call and stared at her phone, well, it was now or never. "Hey Charlie, remember my friend Sami I was telling you about?" He nodded his head as his little fingers smashed buttons on the controller, "Well, he's gonna come over tonight to have pizza with us, OK?"
"OK mom. We have enough ice cream to share, right?"
"Yes," she said smiling, her son had his priorities in order, "yes, we definitely do."
Half an hour later, Sami was standing outside Sophie's apartment with flowers for her and a Spider-Man comic book for Charlie. Why was he so nervous about meeting a 7 year old? He was a little boy who liked wrestling (which he happened to know a lot about, thank you very much), super heroes and video games. He took a deep breath, scolded himself for being a chicken, and knocked on the door. Sophie pulled the door open a few seconds later and stepped aside to let him in. She looked amazing, dark blue jeans, hot pink socks and a black tank top, her long brown hair was pushed away from her face with a headband and her brown eyes gave away how exhausted she was. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and smiled, handing her the flowers, "You look beautiful."
She blushed, "Stop, its just comfy clothes." She turned to put the flowers in the kitchen and found Charlie standing behind her looking very serious.
"Hey bud, this is my friend Sami. Sami, this is my son Charlie."
Sami extended his hand hoping for a handshake, but the kid put his hands on his hips and eyed him critically, "So, you think you want to be my mom's boyfriend, huh?"
"Charlie," Sophie warned, "be nice."
"No, its OK, he's fine," Sami said to her, "Yes, Charlie, I would like to be your mom's boyfriend."
"Well, in that case, we have some rules."
"Oh. Well, maybe we should sit down and discuss them," Sami replied in a serious tone that matched the little boy's. "I brought you a comic book. Spider-Man."
Charlie pointed to the couch and studied the comic book for a second before putting it on the coffee table.
"Charlie! Say thank you!" Sophie scolded.
"Right, thank you," he said. Sami struggled to hide his smile. This kid was too much.
"So, the rules," Charlie said, all business again. "First, my mom likes hugs. So, you have to hug her a lot."
Sami nodded, "I can do that. I like hugs too."
"Good. Second you have to tell her that she is pretty. Girls like that."
Sami avoided looking at Sophie, as she too, was struggling not to laugh. "Well, your mom is very pretty. So, I can easily do that."
"Good. Now, the most important rule, you have to always be nice to her, no yelling at her and you can NEVER EVER EVER EVER make her cry. Got it?"
Sami nodded his head again, maintaining a very serious expression on his face he said "I promise you, I do my very best to make sure that you mom is happy and doesn't cry."
"OK. Deal." The boy extended his little hand for a handshake to seal the deal. Sami's giant hand dwarfed his and they shook on it. "One last question, why do you look like Sami Zayn?"
Sophie wiped tears from her eyes and waited for it, this was the big moment.
"Well, because I am Sami Zayn."
"WHAT? MOMMY! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME HE IS SAMI ZAYN!" Charlie was so excited he could barely breathe. He danced around the house singing Sami's theme song and, as Sophie feared, he started chanting, "Ole, ole, ole, ole!"
"Charlie, stop. Please," she said covering her ears.
"It's OK, Soph, really," Sami said laughing. "I think this means he likes me."
"Yeah, I think so," she said sitting next to him. He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her.
"Mom! Sami! Can we order pizza now?" Charlie said after he finally finished chanting.