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1. The wedding's informal - folding chairs on the lawn by the porch, and they concede to let Brad's girlfriend set pots of flowers on the steps. Mrs Gunderson goes online and gets herself ordained at the Church of Who The Hell Cares, and Rodney wears a blue shirt for the occasion (John's is white). Brad stands up for Rodney and Mitch stands up for John, and both buy a new pair of jeans for the occasion and ditch their ever-present baseball caps. Finn's the ring-bearer (in a blue shirt he picked out to be like his Dad) but he balks at walking between the rows of chairs to the porch. He won't come out from behind Mrs Miller's skirts until John crouches down, grins conspiratorially, and says "c'mere buddy," while beckoning with one hand. Finn runs to him, hides his face in John's neck, and doesn't look up again until he decides it's time for his other dad to hold him, reaching out just as his parents are supposed to be saying their vows. Rodney grins and plucks Finn out of John's arms, sets him on his hip, and it's all done before two more minutes go by. Brad whistles fit to call the pigs home, and Mrs. Gunderson gets teary, but Finn just claps when his daddies kiss.
2. Finn walks very very carefully, but still manages to slop most of the milk out of the bowl of Lucky Charms before he's made it to the bedroom. John follows behind, cheerfully resigned to the clean-up he'll need to do later, a cup of coffee in one hand and a sippy cup of juice in the other. Rodney's still sleeping, and Finn pauses as he gets close to the bed, looking up at John as if waiting for a cue. John plucks the bowl out of his hand, nods his encouragement, and grins as Finn runs the last few steps.
"BOO," Rodney yells just as Finn reaches him, grabbing him and tickling him as Finn shrieks with laughter and surprise.
"Dadddyyyyyyy!" Finn gasps, wriggling helplessly while John chuckles, setting down the bowl, the coffee, and the cup.
"What did we practice?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at Finn, who's managed to squirm free of his other Dad's hold.
Finn kneels up, grinning. "HAP' FAH-VERS DAY!" he yells, and Rodney grins wide enough to split open half the sky.
3. Finn's backpack's almost as big as he is, but it doesn't slow him down as they head into school. John and Rodney help him find his cubby, stow his gear, say hi to his teacher, but then he spots Jack Williamson playing with the blocks in the corner, and he runs over to join him, casually yelling 'BYE DADDIES" as he flies. Rodney frowns, looking pained, working his fingers against one another in restless loss. John cups a hand under his elbow, presses a Hershey's kiss into Rodney's palm, and pulls him away.
They're quiet on the drive home, and once they're back in their kitchen, John can't help but try and kiss away the sadness on Rodney's face, can't help but to keep kissing him because this is Rodney and he has to touch. And after sex, curled up in a nest of crumpled bedclothes, if Rodney falls asleep with his head pillowed on John's shoulder, still looking a little heartbroken, John'll never tell.
4. Finn graduates cum laude, and manages to look handsome even in the high school's repulsive purple graduation robes. He grins at his fathers as he crosses the stage, and Rodney wonders with amused resignation how he managed to get John's smile without a single strand of his other father's DNA. He turns to whisper his question and realizes John's unnaturally still and suspiciously bright-eyed. He shakes his head, heart squeezing, and threads their fingers together, gossips be damned.
5. They drop Finn off at college, and come back to a farmhouse that's never going to feel quite the same. Rodney stows the groceries they picked up on their way home, babbling about the dorms and the classes and how he never respected the guy who's chair of the Physics department, but the woman who's in charge of Math isn't a complete waste of time. He doesn't notice John slip away, only becomes aware of his absence when he shuts the fridge door and looks up to find empty space where John once stood. He checks the living room then climbs upstairs, finds John in Finn's room, sitting on the edge of the bed, the bear he bought Finn before he even knew him clasped in his hands.
Rodney sits down beside him, rests a hand on the back of his neck, and kisses his shoulder once, twice.