Aaren shrugged. “It’s a good motto to have in life, though. Surely you’ve faked it ‘till you made it at least once.”
Hades coughed.
The teacher winced. “We value honesty in this school.”
Aaren shrugged again. “But when you give presentations in class, you have to fake confidence even if you have stage fright,don’t you? That’s a literal application of this song. And you get rewarded by getting better scores if you appear more confident.”
The teacher sighed.
Hades grinned.
“Okay, wait, what’s ESC, again?”thirteen-year-old Jeremiah said. “You’ve told us before, but you’ve never saidwhy.”
“Why, why, why?” seven-year-old Katie said, bouncing next to her brother.
Hades sighed. “You may as well.”
Aaren coughed. “Well, you know how people have emotional support animals?” Both children nodded. “Your papa’s chest is my Emotional Support Chest. It has been for a very long time.”
Jeremiah scrunched up his face. “Ew!”
Katie tilted her head. “Can I have an emotional support tree?”
“Of course you can,” Aaren said.
The morning after Christmas,Hades and Aaren stepped out of their bedroom to find large white labels on several things in the house.
Emotional Support Table.
Emotional Support Cookie.
Emotional Support TV.
Emotional Support Toilet Paper.
“What... is this?” Aaren said, stunned.
Jeremiah was clutching the label printer he’d requested for Christmas. He hurried over to them and stuck a label on Hades’ chest.
Emotional Support Chest.
Aaren began to giggle.
Hades took one look at his chest, and snorted.
“Daddy! Papa! I got a label too!” Katie came racing around the corner. There was a white label on her forehead.
Emotional Support Sister.
“Aww,” Aaren said, melting.
Hades’ eyes gleamed. “What about Daddy? Does he get a label too?”
“Yeah!” Jeremiah punched the keys on his label maker. It spat out a new label, and Jer tore it off, waving it in the air to help it dry faster. He stuck it on Aaren’s belly.
Emotional Support Belly.
Aaren stared at it.
