Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Choice between Families

"Sorry, excuse me." Johnny swung left and right, zipping through the mingling party guests. It was as if the myriad of people there were newly formed walls within the labyrinth that was this ridiculously large mansion, and he had to navigate through to seek out the final boss: his mother.

Finally, he made it unharmed to her office. He sucked in a deep breath, and knocked concisely on the door twice.

"Come in." His shoulders uncontrollably tensed as the firm voice echoed through the door. He focused on steadying his hand as he reached for the doorknob.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimmed lights. "Johnathan." Nancy arose from her velvet green office chair. "Happy birthday, sweetie." Johnny stalked over to her extended arms and hugged her with a strange vigour that goes unquestioned by Nancy.

She prompted him to sit down on the chair across hers. "Sorry to have not said that sooner, I've been working." Johnny couldn't help but roll his eyes and let them land as a displeased glance on a stupid potted plant by the door. "Figures." He mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say?" He could feel her dirty stare piercing his skin. A nervous laugh escaped his mouth. "Nothing."

Nancy let a reprimand boiling in her throat ease into a quiet exhale. It's his birthday, she tells herself. Don't be too hard on him, at least for today.

"So, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be celebrating your birthday with your friends by now?"

"Heh, I guess I miss you." Nancy questioned the sentence's sincerity with a raised eyebrow, which Johnny ignores by directing his eyes askew. "A-and I wanted to talk to you."

Nancy cushioned her chin with interlaced fingers and inched her neck forward. "I'm all ears."

Johnny swallowed thickly. "Mom, I-I've... You remember that time you took me to see Whitney Taylor when i was 8?"

"Oh, how could i not? I had never seen you so excited before! I remember how your eyes would light up whenever she told a joke, and how you would laugh so hard every time your tummy would ache." She chuckled at the memory.

Johnny smiled at his mother's own smirk. It was a rare sight to behold nowadays.

"Yeah, well. That enthusiasm translated into a dream." Johnny let go of the breath he had been holding since entering the office. Here goes. "Mom, I-I don't want to inherit the family business. Ever since i could remember, I've always dreamed of becoming a comedian. I-I love to make people laugh, to fill them with warmth, and see their eyes light up like how mine would."

He paused to catch his breath. "At school, I'd always been the class clown, never the academic genius. I don't have what it takes to run a company. Malcolm, on the other hand, is perfect for the job. He's ambitious, decisive. He's just like you, and he's just as well made to be a CEO, Mom."

"Nonsense." Nancy reached over the desk and cupped his face. "Johnathan, you're one of the smartest boys I've ever seen, darling. You are so talented," She smoothed her thumb over his cheek, fixing a genuine gaze onto his mint green eyes. "You are more than qualified to take over. Besides, it's good to have a fresh perspective when it comes to management."

A loud crash sounded from outside the office, followed by howls of laughter from a familiar voice.

Nancy narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Not to mention, Malcolm is an immature 11-year-old. In no way is he prepared to become a fit CEO."

Johnny panicked. "Bu-but I don't want to be a CEO! I want to be a comedian! It's my dream!"

"What are you talking about? Just the other day you seemed so happy to know that I was planning to retire!"

He gave a nervous rub to his nape. "I'll admit, I only pretended to be happy."

"And why would you do that?"

"Cause' I know that's what you wanted. For me to be happy you might retire soon."

Nancy let out a baffled scoff. "Well this is just ridiculous. And a comedian? Really? That's what low lives and degenerates choose to do! At the very least you could have chosen something more decent, like a lawyer or a doctor!"

"Well then I guess I'm a degenerate." Johnny muttered.

Nancy shook her head profusely. "No no, I cannot allow this. We are the Landgraabs, for Christ's sake! You can't just do whatever you want, this isn't a game, Johnathan! What do you think will happen if word gets out that a Landgraab decided to do stand-up?"

Johnny shrugged. "People would want to see him do a show?"

"They would, but they'd shame you if you aren't amazing. Which would leave a permanent scar on the Landgraab name!"

That struck a sore spot in Johnny. "So what you're saying is that I'm not even good enough to do decent comedy!?"

"I..." Don't justify yourself. You need to stand your ground so he understands. With a stone face, Nancy uttered, "Yes."

The walls of the labyrinth of Johnny's heart, which he had carefully deconstructed before, was rebuilt in an instant.

He straightened his posture and sat up from the black leather ottoman. "Thank you for your input on my situation, Mother. This was a nice talk." He walked out the door in a rigid motion.

Nancy stood up and slammed her hands on the desk. "Young man, we are not done talking! Come back here right now! You-" She was interrupted by yet another resounding clash, causing her to physically wince. "God, these boys are going to be the death of me." She sat back down, shutting her eyes as she massaged her temples.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I dropped out of school."

It was a warm sunny day. Fluffy white clouds softened the normally intense glow of the sun. The Langraabs decided to have a relaxing picnic with their German Shepard, Dasher, in Dessert Bloom Park.

Nancy almost chokes on her hot dog when she hears the sentence. But then she laughs. "Oh, Johnathan. You crack me up! For a moment there I thought you said 'I dropped out of school'. Imagine!"

She stops laughing when she sees a determination in Johnny's eyes. "Wh-what? You're serious?"

"I submitted the form to the school office yesterday. I'm officially dropped out," He announced.

Malcolm put down the frisbee and carried Dasher over to the bench. The silence was so thick, even Dasher was barkless.

"I thought you needed parental consent for that sort of thing?" Geoffery inquired meekly. Not even he knew about this. Guess Johnathan thought he would snitch. He's become very guarded.

"When you're 16, you don't need parental consent for a lot of things. Like, having your own ambitions, for instance."

"Johnathan, this is complete and utterly unacceptable! What the fuck were you thinking? You should have consulted us before you made such rash decisions!"

"What for? Just to have you brutally shoot me down? I had already told you, I wanted to pursue my passion for comedy!"

"And I'd told you then, there would be consequences! You will go back to your school and cancel this arrangement at once!"

Johnny crossed his arms. "What's done is done. There's no going back now."

All Nancy could see was red. Her fingers itched to squeeze the shit out of the hot dog in her hand, but she remained poised.

She calmly placed the hot dog back on her plate. "Fine, then. Have it your way. But you're no longer a Landgraab."

A satisfied smirk on Johnny's face slowly faltered. "Wh-what?"

Her gaze was glacial. "You fucking heard me. You're disowned."

"Ooh, she got you good, bro!" Malcolm cackled. A glance from Nancy froze him in place.

"I'll give you 3 days to pack up. I won't have a stranger living in my house." She attempts a mock-casual tone.

Johnny stood up wordlessly and walked away. As he did, he spared his family one final glance.

Nancy could see the hurt masked behind thin aggression, all in his beautifully mint eyes.

At that, she finally eased her chest to let out a quiet sob.