A7X One Shots

The best part about coming home after a long tour was spending time with my family. I loved when I got to be a dad and a husband, and not have to worry about all the things that were happening in the world. I got to relax and be me. It was weird, but I loved it a whole lot.

We were going to be going back on tour soon, but I still had a few days with my kiddos. In fact, today I was going to have to have a teacher/parent conference. Apparently, my little five year old was exactly like me. This was both a good and a bad thing, so I had to go talk to his teacher.

River wouldn't tell me what he did either, but he said that he was in trouble. He had said I was in trouble too. Val had just rolled her eyes and told me to fix it. It was funny to hear her say that. Of course, she always had to solve the problems, so I understood why I was being pushed to fix this one. Whatever River did, it was because of me according to my little man.

Walking into the school, I saw the glances the other teachers and parents shot me. I wasn't surprised by this. Even at my age, I was a big dude covered in tattoos. People looked at me and wondered what the hell I did for a living. Not a lot of people in this area knew what I did. We were in Huntington Beach, so they had heard of Avenged, but unless they were metal heads, they didn't know who the fuck M. Shadows was.

"Mr. Sanders?" River's teacher motioned for me to come to her classroom. "Hi, I'm Mrs. Johnson."

I followed after her and sat down at the chair across from her desk. She gave me a nervous smile. I could tell she was nervous about whatever she wanted to talk to me about. Maybe it was my stature, or maybe it was because River had done something really bad.

"What's this about, Mrs. Johnson?" I folded my arms across my chest.

"Your son, River, announced in class what you do for a living today. He said two of your songs that he loves are 'God Damn' and 'Fuckin' Nightmare.' We don't tolerate that kind of language, Mr. Sanders."

I couldn't suppress the laughter. Of course it was River's language that got him in trouble. To be fair to my son, it was all of our faults that he spoke like that. Brian and Johnny didn't control their language, Zacky tried but always failed, and I sang to my boys. They were going to cuss.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Johnson. I just find it funny. Don't worry, I'll talk to River about his language."

Notes

Super short, but based on this interview! https://www.revolvermag.com/music/m-shadows-chester-bennington-intimidating-covers-whats-missing-music