Julian's gonna be a daddy! Aw! 
The torch has been passed...but even though he was old it's sad to see Shark go.
Sent from my C6916 using Tapatalk
The real highlight of the dynasty was getting Julianboos! His genes needed to live on, or else I'd be a sad watcher.
Shark was 115 when he died, but I didn't need any sims to immediately die at that point, so I was kind of hoping that he'd stick around until, well, I needed someone to die. He grew on me a lot. D:
In his honor, have my real favorite screenshot of him:
Goodbye Shark! Awww, that was cute! lol, I loved the deception, or at least the assumption that Julian and Lilith would get together. It's nice to see they have other partners ^^
I was planning that twist from the beginning. Julian was partnered up with his ladyfriend for a long time, but keeping it a mystery was fun.
Chapter 47: Who's Your Daddy?
Seven sims all tried their best to find a seat in the living room. Or, it was more like six. Franco stood up to address the guests. He still looked at Bronson with his mouth agape, agape at all of the youthful smoothness of Bronson’s face and his goofy, boyish smile, and the fact that his driver’s license said that he was just 19.
“Well, um, do they have names?” Franco asked.
“Looks like I’ll start,” Lily said, “This is Bronson Curious. He is 19 and we have been dating since I started high school.” She elbowed him slightly. “Say hi,” she whispered.
“Man, I never knew what your dad looked like,” Bronson said, “Looks like you lucked out, not looking like him.” Franco gave him a stern glare.
“He means well,” Lily said.
“So you met him less than a year ago?” Franco asked.
“Nah. I’ve known Bronson, like, forever now. In fact, it all started...” Lily choked up for a moment. “...It all started with mum.”
When Pansy started dating Notzo, she was welcomed into the family immediately, at first by a beaming Bunny, his older sister. She immediately hugged Pansy when she introduced herself as Notzo’s girlfriend. She said something about being so proud of her little brother for finally finding his other half, especially when she went through parts of her otherwise slow, vampiric life at breaking speed. While Notzo wallowed in his angst of being single, Bunny started raising a family. Two daughters with dark, ashen skin and fangs to rival the Waverlys, and a son who could spend the whole day in the sun without burning, and with a mouth full of flawless, flat teeth.
Pansy adopted that family as her own. She bought the kids gifts for Snowflake Day and birthdays. And, of course, she talked about them, but never to her ex-husband or her ex-mother-in-law, or to her ex-husband’s crush. However, Lily always liked listening to her mother’s enthusiasm over the times she spent with her boyfriend’s extended family. One day after school, Pansy even came to Lily for advice.
“It’s been a long time since I was your age,” she said to Lily, “How do you get someone out of their shell?”
“What do you mean?” she asked her mother.
“Well, you know uncle Notzo, right?” Lily nodded.
“Now, Notzo’s nephew is a bit shy. So what do you do to shy kids nowadays?”
“Tell them that they need a friend. I think he needs one.”
Pansy was unable to reach him and make him heed advice from a child, but Lily sometimes saw him during break. He sat alone under a big willow tree in the schoolyard, with his earbuds in and the sound of blast beats and death metal audible from five feet away. She never said hello while he tuned out to The Chasm. And the guy was in high school at the time, so they never had a reason to cross paths inside school either. He took Algebra II by the time Lily learned the basics of variables. His locker was on the second floor, while Lily’s was on the first. Again, no path-crossing.
It changed one night when she saw him outside of school. It was the night that Jeffrey babysat Lily while going on a gym-and-dinner date with Gena. After Lily sometimes pestered Jeffrey for conversation, and interrupted one kiss, she suddenly went missing. Missing to...the other side of the Bistro.
While Jeffrey admired the smile of his lover, Lily noticed the frown on someone standing by the entrance. She recognized the orange sweater and dark skin immediately. It was the schoolyard loner. Notzo’s nephew.
“Hey, do you need a friend?” Lily asked him. He looked down at the little pink girl waving at him, “I see you alone a lot and I think you need a friend.”
Normally, he would just ignore the kid and try to slip away to somewhere more deserted, but Lily smiled at him the whole time.
“Do you have a name?” she asked, “I’m Lily. I love friends and family and, oh my gosh, do you see the stars tonight? My uncle Jeffrey and his friend really like them.” She pointed at the two of them alternating between watching the stars and passionately making out. Lily dropped any shred of anger and her heated temper, just to accept someone would the friendliness and excitement they deserved. He still looked down at that bubbly, happy little girl who was bent on finding a new friend.
He smiled too. “I’m Bronson.”
They spent a few minutes talking, about the ivy that grew on the Bistro’s walls and, eventually, music. Bronson revealed that he listened to some heavy stuff, a shoegaze/black metal hybrid here, a crossover thrash band there, old heavy metal and traditional punk, and plenty of death metal that worried his mother. Lily listened eagerly, considering that she never cared much about music until then.
“Come on, Lil,” Jeffrey said, “Time to go home and get to bed.”
She almost ran away, overwhelmed by how she felt about Bronson. Everything, from his blue eyes to the way his nostrils flared and how he pronounced his r’s, was burned into her memory. It burned into her memory even more than the way Loki spoke about his favorite sports teams, or even how Julian recalled how his day at work was.
After Jeffrey gave his woman a kiss goodnight, he irresponsibly let Lily sit in the front as he drove into Twinbrook’s dark midnight. He almost turned the radio on until Lily asked him a question.
“What do you like about her?” she asked.
“About Gena? Everything.”
“How do you know you like everything?”
“When I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I don’t know if you’ll understand, but she’s a total babe.”
If Jeffrey had a total babe, then Lily had a total hunk. After she met Bronson, she couldn’t stop thinking about him during her classes, but she still thought of him as a completely unromantic older friend, considering that she was still in elementary school. They took their break together, though, and Lily was accepted under his willow tree. He gave her one of his earbuds and formally introduced her to the world of heavy metal, but with a little more Iron Maiden instead of Napalm Death.
Because she saw Bronson only during school hours, most of the family didn’t know about him, though she told Pansy that he made for a good friend. Pansy never mentioned anything either, considering that, again, she was barely on speaking terms with her ex-family.
Lily waited and waited until her teen birthday. She knew that Bronson wouldn’t take any classes with her, but if she planted a kiss on him, the police officers in her family couldn’t find anything to punish Bronson for. After waiting and waiting, Lily finally blew out her birthday candles, intent on finding Bronson the next morning.
As it turned out, he was at City Hall, initially to cheer at the Award Ceremony for Franco, though he almost left immediately because of the growing crowd. Once he saw Lily, tall and grown-up and still in orange from her neck to her short-shorts, he stayed for a little while longer.
He learned that they had compatible signs.
And suddenly, Bronson found himself in the strong, mature embrace of the new, teenage Lily, sparking feelings he previously could not legally feel.
“Oh man, you’re prettier than Lilith,” he said. Lily just laughed at his lie.
“It’s not an insult if I’m not as pretty as her. She’s out of this world. But, you know, you are too.”
“Stop flattering me.”
“What? Never.”
“I’ll live with it,” Bronson said, “Now shut up and kiss me.”
“Sure thing, hun.”
Lily ended up missing, and gave Bronson a peck on the cheek instead.
When prom was announced some months later, Bronson already ordered his cap and gown for graduation, which left Lily dateless unless she fought it. Although she told Julian that her date was too old for prom, a little more fighting the school’s administration resulted in the newly-grown-up Bronson getting a guest pass, provided he didn’t mind an adult chaperone supervising him from no more than two feet away.
While he did have his old English teacher sourly glaring at him the entire night, he managed to whisper a question to Lily while the DJ changed tracks.
“Will you stay with me once you’re out of school?”
“Duh.”
She also won prom queen that night, though Vincente Ball managed to snag the king award, due to guests not getting prom royalty votes. However, none of that news reached the family that night. When Lily saw Julian, sitting at the end of the schoolyard, she had the entire night summarized in her head, with all the good news ready for her chauffeur, but Julian delivered the bad news quickly and crushed any of Lily’s hopes for a good session of enthusing that night. And even though she eventually told Julian that she was taken, that day that Bronson first visited was the first day that he saw that divine dark skin. Those beautiful blue eyes. Everything that made Lily’s eyes sparkle and her mouth expand into the biggest smile.
“Did I miss anything?” Lily asked to Bronson.
“No, looks like you got everything. I think I better go now. I mean, you know that I need my alone time.” Bronson got up from his seat before Annette forcibly pulled him down.
“Not so fast, future-Mr. Waverly. I have one last question for you.”
“Oh fine,” Bronson said, “What else do you need to know?”
“Who’s your daddy?”
“Mum, you don’t just ask guests that,” Franco said in an annoyed whisper.
“Uh, if this one will join the family one day, I better know. Maybe I knew his dad. So Bronson, who knocked your mother up 20 years ago?”
“I
really need to step out now, but his name was Lincoln.” Bronson got up from his seat, “Nice meeting you guys. I’ll visit when you’re all asleep.” He gave Lily a hug before walking out the door.
“Lincoln,” Hannah muttered to herself, “Aha! Lincoln Baker! I knew him.”
A long time ago, before Franco and Pansy married, Lincoln Baker retired from his long, acclaimed career in botany and ordered a sing-a-gram for his retirement party. He also found himself picking glass shards out of his loafers and still felt like he knew his singer for years in spite of just meeting her.
“Hey, congrats Mr. Baker,” Hannah said, “I read your papers just so I knew what you’re retiring from.”
“Thanks lady,” he said, “It’s been a good run.”
“Seeing anyone?” she asked.
“Are you?” he said, with a flirty wink. She almost froze. Back then, she still felt for Franco, and Tay was little more than an old man who she sometimes saw at the lounge, never dressed-up formally.
“The focus is you,” she said, “Like, anyone on mind? Other than me?”
“There’s that Curious girl up the hill. She’s just so pretty,” Lincoln said, almost daydreaming upon saying her surname.
“Keep at it with her. She’s a pretty cool young lady.”
From that day on, Lincoln followed Hannah’s advice. In spite of his commitment issues, he happily raised a family with Bunny, stopping short of marrying her or living with her and her slightly-insane brother, but producing three kids nonetheless. The oldest? None other than Bronson.
“Ah, Lincoln,” Annette said, “Mary’s son. You know, that Bronson certainly looks like his dad. How could I forget? Those Baker boys were hunkalicious.”
“Mother!” Franco reprimanded, “I mean, didn’t you promise dad that he’s the only one that has your heart?”
“Yeah, but the hot guys of Twinbrook get my gaze. What wasn’t to love about her sons? They were well-behaved, rich, and built really well. That Bronson certainly caught my eye.”
Julian and his girl half-listened. They sat in the back, due to her anxiety with crowds. To reassure her, he kept his left arm around her, with his right hand on her knee and a million thoughts for some woohoo in his head.
“Alright lovebirds,” Annette said, “You’re up.”
“Okay,” Julian said, “This is Angelita Coddle, but everyone calls her Lita. We’ve been dating since high school.”
“Hey guys,” Lita said, “I’ve heard a lot about you, and you raised Julian, so you definitely did something right.” She whispered to him. “You’re the journalist. Can you tell the story instead?”
“Alright babe, alright.”
A long time ago, Julian was in first grade, and every teacher considered him to be a weird kid. He bit his nails a lot and had a huge artistic streak. Every time Amy came in for a parent-teacher meeting, the teachers expressed their worry for Julian, though Amy never saw what they did.
Meanwhile, a little girl was also in the first grade, and she was very shy. She stayed to herself during recess and sat at the tables for troublemaking kids at lunch because they were far more empty. Every time her mother came in for a parent-teacher meeting, the teachers expressed their concern for her daughter, but the mother saw no reason to worry either. After all, she did all of those things when she was a child too.
So with two strange children in the same school, the best solution was to make them friends.
Julian had no idea what to make of this girl at first. Lita Coddle. She had black hair and chubby cheeks. He definitely thought she was cute, but girls seemed so...filthy. Frightful. They were an assortment of things that bothered Julian. The administration took a further step and put them in a mandated after-school social skills class.
The class did nothing for Julian and Lita, but they eventually stopped seeing the other one as an icky person of a different gender. They even liked to meet up outside of school, such as at the Summer Festival.
And one day, they shared a hug.
Julian was almost struck down by the feeling. It was so warm, and electrifying. And good! But he still had to wait for teenhoodto come and rationalize his feelings a little more. Being around Lita felt good, but he had no way to explain it.
When they started dating in high school, Julian was finally able to pinpoint why he liked Lita: she was pretty. She also had a good sense of humor, a kind heart, and a great sense of family.
Clearly, he had to go to prom and bring her as a date. While the two of them were classic wallflowers at the dance, they, like many other couples, went steady. They even made out in the bathroom, how daring!
Their romance continued and continued, even as they got their diplomas, even as Julian got a job at the newspaper and Lita in...well, her mum was a doctor. A job was optional with that income supporting her. As stressful as the newspaper was, Julian could just scream and destress right outside the door of the office when his shift was over. But an even more effective destresser was for him to go over to Lita’s and stroke her round cheeks. Gaze into those purple eyes and melt into a puddle.
Their story didn’t really have an ending. The relationship obviously continued.
“And I may have forgot to mention it, but I’m not exactly new to this ‘dad’ thing either,” Julian said, “We have two sons, a third on the way. Her mum is a great help.”
“That’s nice. And you know the question,” Annette said to Lita, “Who’s your daddy?”
“I guess I better say it. It’s not like you’ll get it from my mum,” Lita said, “Marc. Marc Brandt? I think there’s a T on the end. Mum wasn’t too happy with him when she found out that he had a steady girlfriend and that she was just part of an affair.” She sighed. “I’m so sorry to burden you guys with a sad story. But yeah, Marc. That was his name.”
“Marc, Marc,” Annette said to herself, “Yeah, it rings a bell.” She turned towards Hannah and Julian, pointing at them. “Yeah, I remember him now. Your dad’s old neighbor, your mum’s ex.”
“Well, I know a little more about your family than you think,” Lita said with a chuckle, “He’s the father of your great-niece too, Ms. Waverly.”
“Wait, Lolly had a kid?” Annette asked.
Apparently she did. Lolly had one daughter, Nicole, fathered by Marc Brandt.
In the last days of Marc’s life, he got his slightly-overgrown bangs snipped and returned to his blue hair dye, and tested out being in a steady relationship by wooing the lovely Lolly. He liked her, and her grey eyes and the way she scowled like a Racket. He even liked her hopeless romanticism, and how she loved movie dates and shy kisses. But he veered off the path once, and right under Molly Coddle’s bedsheets for one night. So while he did his best for Lolly and the kid they were expecting, his infidelity loomed over his head.
It wasn’t exactly what Amy had in mind when she first visited him, with a check to pay off his house and get some new clothes, and advice to finally settle down and maybe raise a family. However, she didn’t have much advice for Marc when he found himself in that quandary.
So when he suddenly passed away at Annette’s elder birthday party, Marc was unhappy, confused, and maybe unhappily committed. Not to say that Lolly recovered well either. She raised Nicole as well as any mother would, but she remained single for the rest of her life. As for Molly? She raised Lita much the same way and extremely well, but she again remained single and ever so resentful of Marc. As far as Lita was concerned, her mother discovered asexual reproduction and Lita was the result; people would always remark on how much the two of them looked alike, after all. It was only until Lita and Nicole did a genealogy project at school did they learn that they were more than history classmates.
“Sweet,” Annette said, “I knew your dad, and you’re making our Julian very happy. Just remember that you don’t always have to try for a nooboo when you’re in the mood. There’s protection against that.”
“Nah,” Lita and Julian said in unison. “I love kids. I mean, I hate crowds, but kids are different,” Lita said, “Speaking of crowds, I think I’ll get going. I’ve had enough of them for today.” She got up from the sofa, straining a bit with back pain.
“I’ll make sure to call the spa for a massage first thing tomorrow, hun,” Julian said, then giving Lita a small peck on the lips, “Tell your mum I said hi too.”
Obviously, Annette wanted Lita to stay in her own household, even if it meant standing by the door with a green dragon and hoping that it could breathe fire, just to keep Lita away. But Bronson, that Bronson had the potential to help the dynasty. And he lived with three vampires.
And most of all, Annette thought he was the best piece of eye candy she’d seen since Shark Racket was a young man.
Bronson came over a lot after that. Franco ordered a six-inch rule between Bronson and Lily, but watching TV was the second-best way to bond anyways.
And they snuck in a hug every now and then regardless. As time went on, Annette saw the bond between Lily and Bronson grow stronger and stronger. They laughed at each other’s jokes and spent hours sharing gossip while seated on the couch. They put on metal music and discussed each riff with enthusiasm, and argued about the best Black Sabbath singer with passion (Lily pretty firmly stuck with the Ozzy years, while Bronson argued that Tony Martin was a vastly underrated frontman). They played video games and shared tips about math homework. And each day that Bronson was over, Lily had plenty of moments just staring at Bronson, lost for words. And for him? The same.
One night, Franco came up to her with the biggest, beaming grin he ever produced. Ever. Annette sighed, somewhat contently. She knew what was up.
“I won,” Franco said, “It’s going to be a private wedding, but I priced out the other costs.”
After looked at the price of the rings that Franco picked out, Annette almost groaned. “You’re going to bankrupt me, kiddo.”
“I might. But we had a bet anyways. I can’t wait for that night.”
“Congrats,” she said. Annette gave her son a hug.
She was going to be a mother-in-law. Again. For more than a few months.
Word Count for this chapter:
3,472Word Count so far:
73,359Bonus image of the aforementioned Nicole Racket. She is related to the Waverlys too, after all. Anyways, she's the one in the middle:
So, notes about Bronson:
- As you might be able to tell, some future immortals look a lot like him. And by that, I mean that Jo and her dad are just rainbow palette-swaps of Bronson. His genes were tyrannical and ruthless in their strength, but I got good-looking immortals regardless, so no harm done.
- Some of you might say "but wait, Trip! Wasn't there Loki? Who looked just like Samhain Ironstar?" Of course there was Loki. I really,
really wanted Lily and Loki to be a thing, for obvious reasons. But, a) Lily and Bronson instantly clicked, and b) Bronson gave me a chance of having a different color of rainboo, while Loki would guarantee me another pink one.
- Bronson was posted in the Children Born to Original Townies thread some months back. So much for a mystery.
And notes on Lita:
- I wanted Marc and Molly to have fairy children who could marry into the dynasty much later, but that didn't happen.
- I was a little disappointed that she looked nothing like Marc, but she was indeed pretty.
