Work Text:
So initially Erik just quits his job entirely – they don’t actually need the money and they weren’t willing to work with him on scaling back so Erik had a bit of a snit about it and walked out. He doesn’t want to let his career completely die, though, so he starts taking in some freelance work. That’s when he really starts to understand what was driving Charles crazy about trying to work from home and watch Anya at the same time, because she’s a very active kid and you really can’t turn your back on her for a second. Eventually Erik ends up hiring this homeschooled girl down the street to watch Anya for a few hours a couple days a week so he can work, and it takes a while for him to even tell Charles about it because after all, if they were going to do that couldn’t Charles have done it? Didn’t they agree on one of them staying home to begin with because they didn’t want to pay someone to raise their child, especially during these crucially important first years of life?
But when Charles finds out, he mostly just raises an eyebrow and laughs and asks if the girl’s available Friday evenings so they can have a date night. A lot of their more high-falutin’ ideas about Ideal Parenting have been humbled by this point. If Anya licks the wall for fun, shouts the F-word when the toaster pops, and refuses to eat anything but chicken nuggets for days at a time, well, it hasn’t killed her yet. They can deal with her having a babysitter.
Erik, meanwhile, enjoys being a Stay-at-Home Dad more and more as time goes on. He’s not constantly exhausted and exasperated from having to deal with morons, and he has time to catch up on his reading and his Netflix queue (“Erik, why does our daughter know the theme song to Orange is the New Black?” “I THOUGHT SHE WAS ASLEEP!”). Sometimes he feels guilty, like he stole something from Charles, when Anya cries for Papa instead of Dada in the middle of the night – but Charles and Anya have their special things, too, that Erik isn’t a part of, like their excitement over ice cream (which Erik hates) and the special Fish Dance that Anya makes Charles do for her over and over.
And the truth is, they both know Charles would have gone crazy cooped up alone in the flat without adult company. Erik basks in the solitude, the occasional trip to the park or the grocery store more than enough to satisfy his social needs. Anya’s enough company for him, because Anya is amazing, actually, she’s so smart and so creative, and before Erik knows it he’s become That Parent whose phone and wallet and Instagram feed are all about his kid and no one wants to talk to him at parties anymore. Which is frankly okay with him.
And then Anya starts school, and Erik hadn’t even realized he had these unmet predatory needs to hunt and kill and conquer… until he joins the PTA.