#prompt: single parents

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Clockwork sees how stressed Danny is from trying to be the goodest boy and never do anything remotely bad that could turn him evil and thinks he may have overdone it. At this rate his panic over never doing anything evil is going to force him to emotionally burn out and stop caring. Then he'll turn evil anyway.

So Clocky does something that sounds completely ridiculous in theory. He scoops Danny up and drops him into a universe full of superheros and villains and tells him to "Do whatever you want. There will be no consequences for you." Then he leaves.

And just like that, Danny goes apeshit. He decides to do the one thing he always wanted to do but was too afraid to because he didn't want to be judged, or worse, forced to join his parents.

He becomes a supervillian. Not as Phantom, no. But as Fenton! He goes full super genius mad scientist and terrorizes whatever city he's in. The local superhero is being driven insane as Danny builds death rays, shrink rays, his own modified version of the GAV, ect.

The best part if that the local heros can never catch him for long and when he is caught he always escapes before he is transported to whatever facility they wanted him in. He always ends up back in his home dimension where he goes back to acting normal and no one from either human dimension or the Infinite Realms knows what he's up to (except the stop watch of course)

After a particularly fun day in which Danny highjacks all broadcasting services to teach everyone in the world how to make insulin at home so you didn't have to pay a ridiculous amount for necessary medication, the Justice League was now on his tail.

Danny just laughs, thinking there's no way they'd ever be able to arrest him. Little does he know some guy calling himself Batman is leading the mission and he has no intention of arresting him. Danny, much to his horror, becomes far to familiar with adoption papers. As in he keeps having to set them on fire.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 139

So. Dan has somehow found a small child. A practically newly born ghostling who had literally fallen right on top of him. A ghostling who had practically formed right above him, far away from nurseries and instead above him of all ghosts? 

Him, the Sunkiller? The Worldeater? Jordan Vladimir FentonNightingale-Foley-Manson? Son of Space and War? Bringer of the End?? Seriously, what the hell! Ghostlings shouldn’t even be able to form within other ghost’s Lairs, and he knew for a fact this wasn’t his own ghostling seeing as he wasn’t interested in such things. 

So here Dan is, feeling more confused than he ever has with a newborn ghostling clinging to him and sobbing in his arms about wanting his dad. What even is his unlife right now.

[luckyfox3000]

DC X DP PROMT #18

I greet my faraway friends! I bring to you! New promt!

Let's be honest.

We've all been in that place in life where your just a giant, somehow functioning, mess that survives purely on coffee and spite.

Well, Danny couldn't seem to get out of it.

The author of his life was in a slump and wouldn't let him. Move. On.

Dammit.

----------------------------------

Danny stood tiredly with his mug of coffee, staring at the huge, flaming, government agency, listening to the screaming and chaos as he watched his kids/younger siblings cackle while throwing actual flaming exploding glitter bombs.

He sighed, dragging a hand down his face.

Danny turned to look at the pile of tied of vigilantes beside him.

"Kids, am I right?"

Feel free to add a or use!

[thepenultimateword]

Prompt #219

Civilian stormed into the lair, slamming both hands against the double doors into Villain’s private quarters. “Please, stop having your latest little fling tail me every time I go out!”

Villain looked up from their blueprints. “Oh, hi, sweetie. I’m running a little late on work but—” They stopped checking their watch. “Wait, I thought you were going out with friends tonight.”

The teenager threw themselves down on the sofa. “I was before the city’s golden child started showing up in ever business and street we visited. Kinda hard to enjoy yourself with the physical manifestation of purity breathing down your neck all night.”

Villain sighed, but couldn’t completely stifle their smile. “I’ll talk to them about their reconnaissance. Stealth never was their strong suit though.”

“I don’t need them to be sneakier; I need them—you—to stop! Why are you even doing this?”

Villain straightened, folding their hands on the table in front of them. “You’re a villain’s child. My child. That means a lot of enemies. Who better than a hero to protect you? And with one so cute and willing on hand, it would be a waste not to use them. …Besides, maybe you should start getting used to having them around?”

Civilian gawked. “First of all, ew. I don’t need to hear details about your weird ‘conquests’ or whatever. Second, you’re not serious. Right? You don’t do serious. Especially not with a hero. And definitely not this hero. Right?”

Villain’s lips tightened slightly, but they didn’t break their gaze. “I invited them to dinner this Friday. At home. I hoped you’d be there?”

Teenager gaped wider but quickly snapped their mouth shut. “Alright.” They shoved themselves to their feet. “We’ll see how far this goes. But in the meantime, no more tail.”

Villain raised their phone acknowledgingly. “I wanted to give them a call anyway.”

Civilian stuck out their tongue as they pushed back out the doors. Gross.

[f1-disaster-bi]

Fluffy Dando (possibly Single Dad AU?)

Kiss prompt : …to wake up.

I had this whole big cute prompt written and tumblr ate it so here's take two 😭

Lando was fast asleep against his chest. He had a leg over Daniel's, face smushed against his shoulder and a hand knotted in his shirt.

Daniel's hand rested against warm skin under the shirt that Lando had stolen from him years ago now. He rubbed soft, soothing circles into his ribs with his thumb, listening to the soft duo of snores assaulting him as he scrolled on his phone.

Flynn was finally fast asleep in the crib beside their bed. Their little baby had been suffering wickedly with teething and all he wanted was Lando. He refused to settle unless Lando was holding him, meaning that both of his boys were exhausted.

This wasn't exactly how he had planned their break to go. He had expected more relaxing and time spent playing together with their children, but Daniel wouldn't change a thing about this as Eloise text him again.

Their little girl was not so little anymore at almost eleven years old. Sometimes Daniel couldn't believe how much she had grown, missing the cheeky little three year old he had met colouring in the MTC, but it was a privlage to get to watch her grow.

She was currently out with friends under the supervision of two of her friends mothers, and texting Daniel pictures of things she wanted to get Flynn dor Christmas.

Eloise had taken to being a big sister like a duck to water.

Lando had been a little worried that a new baby would upset her after almost ten years of being an only child, but Eloise had taken one look at Flynn and that was it. She loved being a big sister, and still proudly told everyone about her baby brother in a way that made Daniel's chest fill with warmth.

Every single day with his family was something he cherished more than any past win he had ever had.

They might not always be perfect, but they were his and Daniel wouldn't change a damn thing.

He used to think that this would never happen for him. He had always been told he was too loud, too unserious, too needy, for long term relationships. Everyone had seen him as a fun for the moment guy, and never wanted anything more but then Lando had come into his life and turned it upside down from the moment they had met, changing everything. There was never a moment in the last seven years where he had ever regretted this, and he never would.

A soft sound pulled his attention from his thoughts back to his family as Lando let out a long sigh.

The other was shifting in his sleep. A little crease appeared between his brows as he seemed to try and pull his knees towards his chest but couldn't because of how he was curled into Daniel. His fingers tightened a little against his shoulder, and Daniel couldn't help but laugh.

He wasn't laughing at Lando, no. He was laughing at the fact that he knew he could look at Flynn and somehow see the same expression on their son despite him being biologically Daniel's. The two of them were like little peas in a pod and Daniel loved it as Lando let out another little huff.

Daniel rubbed his hand along the others side, trying to ease whatever ever was happening in his dream, but he knew Lando would wake up soon. That whine was his "I'm waking up but don't want to whine" that Daniel was all too familiar with.

"It's okay, baby", Daniel whispered and leaned down to pepper soft kisses all over Lando's face, "I've got you"

Lando's face relaxed as Daniel continued to rain kisses down on his cheeks and forehead before his eyes were fluttering open and a soft smile tugged at his lips.

"Sorry, was I sleep?", Lando mumbled, tilting his head up for a quick, soft kiss that Daniel happily gave him.

"Yeah sweetheart, but that's okay. You can go back to sleep. I've got you both"

Lando stretched a little, craning his neck to see Flynn before he curled back up against Daniel with a happy sigh.

"Wake me in an hour?" was mumbled against the skin of his neck as Lando tucked his face against his shoulder, "Love you"

"Of course, sweetheart", Daniel kissed his curls, "Love you more"

[artemismoorea03]

DP x DC: Kings' Tasks

Danny was the King to the Ghost Zone but it came with a few... rules.

Rule 1: His human side had to be at least 18 years old.

Rule 2: He had to be in 'training' to help him learn how to properly lead the Ghost Zone and protect them in the case of an emergency.

and Rule 3: He had to do tasks for each of the Ancient Ghosts within the Ghost Zone. Most of the tasks were easy and he didn't even know they were happening.

For Clockwork he helped take down Dan.

For Pandora he helped get her box back.

For Frostbite he retrieved the Infi-Map

Now his next task was to help 'Lady Gotham'. A ghost as powerful as the others, but ten times bigger than any of the other Ancient Ghosts within the Ghost Zone.

Who would have thought that Lady Gotham's task would be helping keep her "Noble Knights" from getting themselves killed fighting crime in the most dangerous city in their corner of the Infinite Realms.

[hitoshi-yuuto]

Okay. Hear me out. KidouFudou. Like. ????

Imagined, An AU (where they are Adult) where Fudou has like 5 different jobs, and Kidou is a rich man, heir, CEO of a big company, and maybe a great football player? And he goes to a café recommended by Gouenji or Otonashi (because why not?) and Fudou is there, taking his order while being beautiful (Which is all the time) And Kidou falls in love at first sight and only dreams of marrying Fudou after that.

And so he tries to flirt with Fudou but with the "Kidou" method, giant bouquets of flowers, invitations to great restaurants, cruises on a yoat, buys him stuff, help with its money problem, etc...ect. 

And Fudou who, One : doesn't really like to receive gift (Even more so if they are expensive) Two: Don't like to receive "pity" from people. And Three : Don't believe in love because "inserted sad Backstorie" Just don't react at all to these advances.

Bonus point if Fudou is completely blind and believe that Kidou is making fun of him, or he thinks it's a rich man's thing.

Double bonus point If Fudou's colleagues/friends watch all the chaos happen, meet Kidou's friends, and start a betting pool on what will happen in the end. 

Which are :

1 : Fudou realizes he was stupid.

 2 : Kidou doesn't support him anymore and kisses him hard. 

3 : Them being idiots for the rest of their lives.

 4 : Someone tells them what's going on.

Oh, and they're also betting on when it's going to happen.

Btw for Fudou's colleagues I was thinking of Midorikawa Fubuki and maybe Kazemaru? Hiroto is a friend of Kidou's and goes out with Midorikawa but we don't find out until later.

The last thing I could add, is Fudou being a single parent? And that's why he has so many jobs, AND THAT WOULD EXPLAIN HIS FEAR OF LOVE AFTER BEING DUMPED AND ABANDONED WITH A CHILD, OH MY GOD ALL OF THIS CONNECTS!

Which would add an extra challenge to have to introduce Kidou and the child, But Kidou is a gentleman he will take care of both of them with love, no worries about

I'm writing this as I go along :')

 that. OK, I'll stop there before I have another idea XD

Really sorry for the spelling mistakes, English is not my first language, I did the best I could... 🙇‍♂️

[moregraceful]

I name all of my snake plants after Baltimore Orioles players because...I don't know why I do that.....anyway Adley (she/her pronouns according to my parents) and Adam Jones are making the trip with me but Chris Davis is TOO BIG FOR THE CAR and I'm so sad now. That was my emotional support snake plant through my FMLA leave. He has seen the worst of me (mental illness, forgot to water him for a month) and survived. Now he's like four feet tall and I have to leave him behind because he is so big that he takes up more than a third of my luggage space in the car 🥲 I took such good care of him that now he has to live independent of me. Goodbye Chris Davis I will think of you fondly as I encourage Adley to grow big and strong.

[mae-dwrites]

Tom and Jack are brothers - mainly DPxMLB (can be DPxDCxMLB)

It was clear from the moment Jack was born that he was Gina’s son, no one could doubt that overzealous nature, and while Tom didn't have the same level of entustatsum as his mother and brother it didn't mean he wasn't an excitable person either. Truly Roland had no idea how he didn't die living with them, the man didn't realize how much he was like them nor really saw how much Jack would go on to be like him in some ways.

One thing was for certain the boys loved their parents, the Fenton luck and sanguine as well as the Dupain passion and vigor were ever-present in the household growing up. Gina loved her boys very much, they were the only reason she stuck in one place for so long. However, she was able to convince Roland to take them all over the U.S. and Europe.

Jack went on to have a passion for inventing and ghosts, both of which Roland looked down upon but Gina was his biggest supporter followed by Tom. Tom ended up enjoying baking with his father. (Jack tended to forget a meal or two when he got too into his work. So it worked out.)

Jack would move out (taking his mother’s maiden name) and go to college in Wisconsin and meet Vlad and Maddie and fall in love and all that! Tom though opens a bakery a few years of baking for some personal events and such, and meets Sabine who moved to Paris to go to school, they fall in love and she takes business courses to help better run the bakery. Roland does his…thing and he never approved of Jack’s hobbies either, “that's not what job a family man takes on” or something, he of course doesn't try to contact him. He gets to be a grumpy old man in (guilty) peace.

Tom and Jack have never missed anything, they're best friends and each other’s biggest supporters. Best man, holiday’s, etc. So of course they make sure their kids have plenty of meetings despite being an ocean away. They couldn't have been happier that their kids were so close in age, which meant they wouldn't struggle to connect.

It was quick to be seen none of the kids showed signs of the Dupain shape, oh well maybe they’d still get the strength? Or perhaps the Fenton luck would just be much stronger. To say where the kids got their size from was an understatement, and to say very amusing to their wives and mother.

Marinette loved her cousins and didn't like how it was only every so often she got to see them. And her aunt and uncle were very cool, and reminded her of Nonna Gina. It was fun to see Uncle Jack lift her papa up, he was the only person she’d ever seen who could pick up her papa.

Jazz and Danny loved the Dupain-Chengs, they seemed to help level their parents out and they actually set aside their ghost obsession to just be a family. Not to mention they made the best food, going to their home was the best, you never got attacked by the food!

Jazz, Marinette, and Danny were as thick as thieves as their dads were, they were a unit. Which meant Marinette had called Jazz and Danny after she had taken the earrings off, and Danny had called Marinette to tell her about how he was dealing with his powers after dying.

And the next time the Fenton’s came to the Dupain-Cheng’s maybe Marinette and Danny hugged a little longer and a little tighter than usual, and Jazz spent her time glued to the younger girl’s side.

[mothofmyth]

Meet cute! Single parent (or other form of carer) on a plane, reading softly to their infant, and the insomniac in the seat next to them who falls asleep to the soft, rhythmic sound of their voice.

[allsassnoclass]

Kid fic prompts

Had a request to gather some prompts about characters with kids! Most of these are single parent aus, but there are other iterations of characters with kids as well.

While I came up with some of these, many of these come from my AU notebook, which is years and years old and from before I properly sourced things. If they are from your prompt list, please let me know and I'll credit or remove them, which ever you prefer!

I'm the band teacher and you're the new choir teacher at this under-funded public school

We knew each other in high school and ran into each other at the grocery store and my teenage child saw the interaction and is now trying to set us up

I PUT THE KID I'M BABYSITTING DOWN FOR TWO SECONDS HOW ARE THEY GONE WHERE-- oh you found them and are now holding them and searching for their guardian

We're camp counselors at the summer camp that we both went to as little kids

We both work at Disney World and all of the little kids LOVE you

Alternatively, you work at Disney World and I did not mentally prepare myself for spending a full day at the park with my child and no adult backup and you're an employee who is saving my life at every turn

I don't like you and you don't like me but our best friends died in a car crash and left their 1-year-old child in our custody so now we've got to act civil and learn how to co-parent

You run my kid's daycare

I'm only at this park because my younger sibling wanted to come (not because I'm secretly a small child inside haha what are you talking about) why are YOU here?

We both babysit the same kid on different days and I have to listen to the kid gush about you the entire time I'm watching them and we're FINALLY meeting at the kid's birthday party

We are overly invested soccer parents

I'm the host of a children's TV show and you're the child supervisor on set

The kids we're escorting to trick or treating on Halloween just dropped their bags and got all of their candy mixed up

I accidentally scared a kid on Halloween and their adult is angry

Your kid keeps kicking the back of my seat on this airplane

Hey we hooked up last night and it turns out you're my kid's teacher

My parents died and left me, a barely legal adult, in charge of my kid sibling and the only person that I can be myself around is you, some guy I work with at my crappy minimum wage job

My baby insists on crying all night long and you came into the hallway of our apartment complex to see what's up and offer help

We're the only single parents in the play group and all of the other parents are definitely shipping us hardcore

My kid threw a fit at the ice cream/toy/whatever store and you were the only person nice enough to help without judging me

Our kids are best friends and oh look we're both single so I guess I'll ask you out for a drink

I'm on the bus and my 2-year-old won't stop crying except you just smiled at them and they did

I asked you to babysit one time and now my child keeps asking when you will spend time with them again

You asked me to the store with you and your child and now my distant relative we met thinks I'm married with a kid

We're friends and my child's first word was your name and I'm jealous and also kind of endeared

You've been sleeping at mine because you're house is being renovated and we aren't even dating, yet every time you wake up to the baby crying and sigh "I'll go" I feel like we might as well be married

We've been on a few dates and my child just asked us when we're getting married

Our children are in the same class and we both hate the teacher, eventually the parent's evenings are just us competing at who can call out snarkier comments

We are the only two parents to agreed to attend the school trip (bonus: so I guess we share this hotel room...?)

I'm so sorry that my child pointed out how your shirt--actually never mind, I agree, that shirt is horrendous

You crouched down to coo at my baby but I forgot to tell you their favorite thing to do is play with people's hair and now they won't let go of you

I work as an elf at a mall Santa grotto and you keep bringing a seemingly endless supply of kids through to meet Santa

[corvase]

single parent romance prompts

feel free to use :)

“you have… a child.”

seeing them interact and it just completely warms the parent’s heart

like when their kid is like “what’s your job” and it’s some complicated one so they use really basic words etc etc and the parent just stands back and watches

“you’re really good with her.”

their kid runs out and they’re like “oh gosh, sorry,” and the other person is like “no need :) i love kids.”

what if they’re both single parents hmm?

single parent enemies to lovers hmm hmmmmmm??

the parent is super stressed and needs someone to watch their child so they call the love interest and by the time they return from work they’re cuddled on the couch asleep in their apartment

“i can’t bring you around her yet.”

just the idea that the love interest would become a mock mom/dad and how that would unfold :)

character b doesn’t like kids at all, but somehow character a’s child is just different and the cutest sweetest child who warms their heart

“is that her?” “yeah.” “she’s beautiful.”

fun interactions between the love interest and child (esp fun if they’re over like twelve years old)

once they’ve reached that time of domesticity and when/if the child is comfortable to use titles like mom or dad

like “dad, where’s did you put my backpack????!??!! and this time don’t spend five minutes shocked about how i called you dad IM GONNA BE LATE FOR THE BUS AGAIN.”

they knew each other in college and broke up before one had a child… now they meet again and it’s so awkward which is only worsened by a little girl running out and calling one “mommy”

so then the former love interest is like WTF IS THAT MY KID??? DID U KEEP HER DROM ME

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 63

Danny is honestly having fun. Sure his friends and him have gotten thrown into this world with a bunch of monsters and giant creatures, but it’s fun! He’s going to make friends with all of them- even if they do try to eat him in human form most of the time. They all seem pretty confused by them when they smell like ecto though, which uh, wow wasn’t how they wanted to learn the whole class has become liminal. Oh well, it’s just them and Mr Lancer on an entire island to themselves! And he can’t be the only one to want to pet and befriend a dragon, like, c’mon! It’s a dragon! And Star is already eyeing a giant lightning unicorn so he definitely isn’t the only one down to go feral! Hey, at least there’s no GIW here or ghost attacks, and seeing as he doesn’t know how to make portals like Wulf, it’ll take a while to make a ghost portal to the zone. So feral island children it is! 

Bonus DCxDP crossover is if a hero of group of heroes also get thrown into the world onto the island. To them it’s almost like a peter pan situation only the children have a single adult whose given up on controlling the chaos. Oh yeah, they also all have powers and ride giant mythical beasts. Did they mention none of the group trusts any of them either? Yeaaah, this is going to be a long trip home…

[imfinereallyy]

single parent steddie au where Steve is working really hard to keep his kid away from her mom (she’s his old professor, the relationship was very toxic and Steve was only 18) because she’s terrible for her daughter. He works hard and has a good friend support group but he’s overworked and disowned from his family. Enter Eddie Munson, Social Worker with Steve’s case, there to help him keep custody and maybe….fall and love.

And maybe big time lawyer Murray Bauman is convinced by his college intern Erica Sinclair to take on the case.

[thepenultimateword]

Prompt #220

Teenager froze, backpack slowly sliding off their shoulder and dropping to the floor with a thud.

They’d come to the kitchen for an after school snack. The last thing they’d expected to find was Villain at their kitchen table.

“What are you doing in our house?”

Villain fiddled with the sleeves of her super suit. “Oh, well…you’re dad told me to wait here… You’re out of bandaids so he ran out to get some.” She raised out of her seat with a weak smile. “Um, you’re dad said you like anything with peanut butter, do want me to whip something up? I’m pretty good at snacks.”

Teenager halted her with an outstretched hand, glaring murderously from under their lashes. “Let’s get something straight. My dad is having a lapse in judgement. He was married to a superhero. If it weren’t for the accident he’d still be married to a superhero. So don’t get too comfortable being in our lives, villain.”

[f1-disaster-bi]

Have you got any Dando ideas? Kisses All Over 🩵

Oooo this is giving me an idea for Single Parent au

Lando could hear his daughter creeping down the hallway from her room to theirs. Her little feet made soft noises against the wooden floor as Lando cracked open his eyes to check the clock facing him.

Daniel was still fast asleep beside him. His face buried halfway into his pillow. His curls were messed, and soft snores escaped him as he slept on. He was on his stomach, one hand tucked under a pillow and the other had been curled over Lando’s hip until he had turned to look at his fiancé.

Lando contemplated waking him as he reached out to brush his fingers over the messy curls, but he resisted as he heard Eloise giggle outside the door.

There was a soft knock on the door, and then a little head peaked after it was opened a crack.

Lando put his finger finger to his lips, shushing her giggles silently as Eloise nodded. He watched fondly as she tiptoed across the room until she reached him, climbing up into his lap and Lando helped her.

Eloise didn't say anything for a moment. She simply snuggled into Lando's arms, yawning as quietly as she could as Lando rubbed her back. Just like Lando, Eloise wasn't much of a morning person as she slumped against him with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

Lando couldn't resist brushing her own set of messy curls from her face to kiss her forehead, and for a moment, it reminded him of when she was a baby. It reminded him of all the nights he rocked her in his arms and pressed gentle kisses to her little face to get her to sleep or calm down.

He loved watching her grow, but sometimes he missed when she was so small he could carry her carefully in his arms.

"Can we wake Dan?", Eloise whispered, still a little to loudly but she was getting better at it.

Lando looked over at Daniel and had to hide his grin because Daniel was very much awake. His fiancé was trying to pretend at sleep. His snores a little too exaggerated. His grin a little too aware to be asleep but Lando played along.

"How should we wake him, sweetpea?", Lando whispered as he tapped a finger against his chin before grinning, "Should we tickle him? Or should we give him a lot of kisses?"

"Both!", Eloise giggled excitedly, "I wanna tickle"

Lando just nodded, letting her crawl out of his lap as Daniel pretended to roll over in his sleep. He let out a big, loud, fake snore to sell it that had Eloise giggling, and Lando had to bite his cheek to stop himself running it as she moved into position.

Lando shifted around too, making sure he could place a few kisses across Daniel's forehead and cheeks before Eloise started to tickle his ribs. Daniel pretended to wake up slowly, making soft noises before his nose scrunched up and his eyes shot open as Eloise burst into laughter at the exaggerated look on Daniel’s face.

"Are you tickling me?", Daniel gasped, hand on his chest, and Lando couldn't help but burry his laughter in Daniel's shoulder, placing soft kisses across the tan skin before he was being shoved away gently, "Oh I'm going to get you!"

Eloise’s laughter filled the room as she tried to scramble away but Daniel stopped her. His hands going to her sides and tickling her as she squirmed in his lap until her cheeks were pink.

"Papa, stop! It tickles", Eloise gasped out, and Daniel froze in shock because Eloise had never called him that before.

His brown eyes were swirling with emotions as he blinked down at Eloise who was still laughing, and when he looked at Lando, Lando had to wrap his arms around him because he knew Daniel had wanted this. He'd have never asked for it, for Eloise to call him Dad in any form, but he had wanted it.

"Are you okay, Papa?", Eloise asked after a moment as she placed a little hand on Daniel's cheek.

Lando pressed a reasuring kiss to Daniel's shoulder.

"Yeah, monkey", Daniel managed to choke out, "Papa’s never been happier"