Child!Sollux x Mom!Reader | bee sting

"Mama!"

He bit his lower lip with those strange pointy teeth of his, chocking back sobs before he gave up and let them flow; collapsing into your arms and blinking his bi-coloured eyes open. Dark brows rose high on his forehead, almost to his hairline.

"Why?" he sniffled. "Why? Why did it sthing me?" he lisped.

Those tiny creatures had always fascinated him, ever since you'd taken him into your care. You would carefully watch over him as he strolled casually through your back garden in the summer, the ends of his jeans wet from morning dew and eyes open in curiosity as those fuzzy bees buzzed around him. They had never touched him before, always leaving him be. But this day he was brave, getting too close to their hive, and the bees had retaliated in what they thought was self defense.

"Why Mama? I wathn't," he paused to wipe his runny nose. "Wath't gonna hurt them."

He clutched his small hand with care, cautiously holding it away from you when you tried to look at it. "Please baby, just let Mama see it. I won't hurt you."

"I trusth you.... But why didn't they trusth me?"

"They were protecting their home, they didn't know you were harmless. Now let's go inside and treat that, okay?"

"No!" he roared, pulling away from your warm embrace and marching through the grass, back to the scene of his stinging. "If they think I'm tho dangerouth, then I'll prove them right!"

He raised his arms up, red and blue lightening-like sparks travelling down his arms and encasing his hands in a warm glow. He aimed for the hive, relatively high up a tree with bees buzzing around it. Their din increased as they sensed his power, flying around and suddenly the area around the hive was swarmed with bees, leaving the hive completely covered and only a black and yellow blob in the tree.

"Sollux, no!" you ran to him, which distracted the bees from him and drew their attention to you. A group of them buzzed to you, fast and furious and unstoppable as you cocooned yourself around your son, just like they had cocooned themselves around their hive.

Their fuzzy bodies were warm as they bumped into you, some stinging your arms and one or two stung the back of your neck. But most just flew around you threateningly, warning you to stay away.

Sollux screamed at them in your arms, for hurting him then daring to touch the woman that had taken him in and loved him so much despite the fact that he wasn't your biological son and the trouble he sometimes caused when he would take your electronics and fiddle with them as you searched the house for your phone only to find him toying with it. He spat out words you didn't know he knew, that you assumed he picked up from his friend Karkat.

"Stop, you're just making it worse. Yelling won't solve anything, let's just go inside."

You tenderly picked him up, partly not to hurt him and partly not to hurt yourself. The stings on your arms itched and the back of your neck felt like it was on fire. Tears clung to his lower lashes as Sollux quietened down immediately and nuzzled into your shoulder, forgetting about his stung hand and pressing his palm to your cheek.

Once inside, you shut the back door behind you with your foot and set him down, sighing deeply.

"Wait for a minute while I find the ice and tea towels."

He watched you with sad eyes, as you took the ice from the freezer and wrapped it in tea towels. One was red and one was blue. He was handed the red one and you instructed him to press it to his hand.

"Hold that there for twenty minutes. The coldness constricts the blood vessels, which slows the flow of the venom in your blood, and numbs the pain and itching. Press the ice on the sting again in about five hours." You glanced at the clock. "So around four o'clock."

"No, you weren't so don't worry about it. Wanting to be around them isn't bad, but you need to be careful. Bees aren't like pet dogs or turtles; you can't capture them and play with them. They have wings and they use them to be free, to fly. Just like they have stingers which they use to protect themselves."

"Well, I set them free. One night I was lying in my bed, their low hum still audible from my room. That was when I realized that it was the sound of their wings, which enabled them to soar and be free, that was making that noise. And I felt so guilty. I felt horrible for containing tiny little fuzz balls that make honey and liked bright flowers inside a box. So I let them go, but they didn't go far."

Sollux's head rose off your shoulder, red and blue eyes wide in surprise. "It'th the beeth out back!"

"Aw, well aren't you smart." You gently removed his straining arm from your neck and cuddled him to your side, enveloping him between your arm and body and laying a soft kiss on his forehead.

He watched the bees through the window, as they calmly fluttered about, as if the incident half an hour before had never happened.

"Mama?"

"Hm?"

"Thankth. For making my hand better and letting the beeth sthing you instead of me when I was gonna hurt them."

"Don't thank me. You're my child; I'll always protect you. No matter what." You wiped at the dried yellow tracks on his cheeks, laying two kisses to both cheeks. "There, looking good as new." Sure, his hair was messy and eyes a little swollen; but other than that he looked fine.

A knock sounded on the door and your peaceful moment was shattered.

In the chaos of being a mother to an alien with a knack for getting his fingers on your phone and computer and a bipolar personality that sometimes changed without warning; quite, peaceful moments were rare. Sollux was introverted and found it hard to express his need for affection from you. Your warm hugs and cuddles made his insides turn to mush, but telling you that wasn't easy for him. So he cherished times like this and so did you.

Being brought back to Earth by another quick succession of knocks, you and Sollux looked at each other and broke away with a sigh.

"I'll get it," you said, getting to your feet and hoping you looked relatively presentable with your red arms and red neck.

Opening the door, you saw three of Sollux's many troll friends. A boy with a foul mouth and a large sweater named Karkat (who you suspected of teaching those words Sollux used earlier to him); a girl with long dark hair and an old Indiana Jones type hat called Aradia; and Feferi, with her wild hair and pink glasses. You smiled at them, as they eyed your red skin but said nothing.

"Ugh, is Sollux in?"

"Yeah," he said, coming out behind you and walking down the drive way with them, hands in his pockets and not turning back to look at you as he said, "Mom, I'm going outside to play."

"Be careful!" you called to his retreating back.

Shutting the door, you felt the emptiness of the house close in on you, almost suffocating you. Pressing your forehead against the door, you felt arms wrap around your waist that reminded you that you weren't completely alone.

"Finally over your hangover enough to crawl out of bed?" you teased.

Lips pressed against your neck, the Ψiioniic cuddling against your back. His hot breath fanned your itchy neck. He didn't ask about it, so you assumed he'd heard everything that had happened to you and his son from upstairs.