Zoo
John Shelby x Black!Reader
A/N: Posted on mobile. Sorry if formating is off.
Summary: John comes home to find something amiss. Prompt bolded
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trying to wrangle three Shelby children all under the age of five down for their afternoon nap was a challenge. Add morning sickness to the mix and it was damn near impossible. The constant running around was aggravating your already sensitive stomach. You often joked with John that it was more like trying to wrangle a bunch of sheep on a farm.
Every time Katie was settled and her eyes began to droop, George, your two year old, would sit up in his bed or make noise.
When you stood up to go help him he ran out of the room laughing. You followed the sounds of his giggles down the hall, where you found him at the top of the stairs looking over his shoulder to make sure you were following him. Once you caught up, you got down on his level and asked him, “Do you want me to help you, or daddy?”
With that, he took a deep breath shook his head and reached for your hand. You walked to the room with him and put him in bed without a fight. Katie, thank the Lord, was already sleeping.
Next, was your baby Benjamin’s turn to go to sleep even though he seemed to be against sleep since the day he entered the world.
“Alright, little one, go easy on me today,” You pick him up, his back to your chest, one arm around his middle, the other under his bum, and carried him to your room where his crib was kept.
As soon as the lights went out he began to cry and flail his arms and legs around. As you tipped forward to place him in his crib, he bucked his entire body backward and his head collided with the right side of your face.
“Ow!” The right side of your face flared with pain as a dull throb began to set around your eye.
You placed Benjamin down on his stomach and waited for him to cry himself to sleep as you softly pet his back.
At 13 months, he was John’s doppelgänger. The only slight difference had been the darker coloring and curly hair. That he got from you. In fact all your children looked like John. He took great pride in parading his brood around Small Heath. No one dared give John Michael “Mr. Likes to Fight” Shelby shit for marrying a black woman. Well, not since he blinded a man at the tender age of 16 for daring to call you out of your name. You were furious with John for fighting over something you felt was trivial. You told John “This happens everyday Johnny, you gonna blind the whole town? That's not likely to change their minds about us.”
You looked at the time, it was well past noon and any minute John would come home for lunch. You took one last look at Benjamin, who was finally asleep. You tipped toed downstairs and set out to reheat last night’s leftovers and put the kettle on. Just as the flame lit on the stove you heard the door creak open. Without bothering to turn around you greeted your husband.
“Hey, Johnny.” Even after all these years you still smiled every time he entered the room.
Without warning John wrapped his arms around you from behind spinning you in a circle.
“Stop it, Johnny. I’m gonna be sick”
He put you down and spun you around to face him and immediately recoiled.
“Oi!!! Who gave you that black eye?” He cupped your face, turning it from side to side to get a better look.
“Your Benjamin. Little bastard” you scoffed.
“Hey! That’s my boy. Mind your tongue woman”
“Well, your boy didn’t want to go to sleep so he did his best to knock me out with him”
“He’s gonna be a boxer like his dad.” You rolled your eyes and John just smirked and gave you a kiss on the forehead.
“Here love, sit down, I’ll get lunch.”
He pulled a chair out from the table for you to sit, giving you another kiss on the forehead. He walked over to the freezer and pulled out some frozen meat and handed it to you.
“For your eye.” He bent over placing a kiss to your cheek.
“Thanks, Johnny” you slowly apply the frozen meat. Hissing from the pain and coldness of the package.
“No. Not you. My other girl.”
You let out a sigh, and rubbed your hand over your stomach even though you weren’t showing yet.
“He...is being nice to me today. I was only sick twice. So he is my favorite.”
John really wanted another girl. You however thought it was your curse for sleeping with John and betraying your family that you would populate the earth with more Shelby men till the end of eternity.
John didn’t respond, he just smiled over his shoulder, as he plated the food. That was always your go to response. Most times he just referred to the baby as a girl to get a reaction from you. Annoying you was his job as a husband. His words, not yours.
“Here ya go love.” he placed your plate and tea in front of you before going back to the stove to grab his food.
“How were the kids today?”
“Good, George is still incredibly jealous of Ben. They were playing peacefully, and as soon as Katie gave Ben a toy, Georgie would come and take it out of his hand so Ben would scratch him. George looks like a tiger now. I told him if he didn’t stop we were gonna sell him to the zoo.”
“He’ll grow out of it. They’ll be close as ever. I was jealous of Ada when she was born. I grew out of it”
“Did you now Johnny?” You laughed. “‘Cause I recall someone getting super jealous when I was talking to Isaiah at the Garrison.”
“He was touching you. He had no business touching you.”
“Jesus Christ in heaven it was my fucking elbow. Not like he was rubbing my ti-”
“Alright. I may have overreacted?”
“May have? You grabbed him by the damn throat. And threatened to cut his hand off. Poor boy won’t even look me in the eye anymore”
“Now he knows not to touch you.”
“Aren’t you just a little embarrassed?”
“No. I belong to me, Johnny. Don’t start that nonsense in my house.”
He looked up from his plate, sly smirk plastered on his face, “Oh, this is your house? Who paid for it?”
“Who’s here all day? Anyway, I can’t get a job to buy a house when I’m always bloody pregnant, you horny bastard”
“Yeah, well, you weren’t complaining when we were making ‘em”
“Well, you’re a good lay. That’s why I married you”
John’s loud laughter carried through the small house and woke up Benjamin who began to cry.
You nudged John with your elbow.
“You go help him. I’m on strike”
“Alright, you’re lucky I love you.” He stood up and made his way up the stairs.
“I Like you very much” you smiled to yourself as you finished your lunch imagining Benjamin giving John a matching black eye.
Like, comment, reblog always welcome.
