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Simon had always dreamed of taking Max home with him after work, but he’d never thought it was possible. Max had always been too dangerous - Adrian and his own powers were too useful to lose. Even when they’d found the vitality charm, Simon hadn’t thought it was possible.
But it was, and instead of just Max, the Everharts had two more extra houseguests.
Simon quickly glanced back, noticing how Adrian’s hand squeezed Nova’s.
Nova Artino, Renegade alias: Insomnia, but also previously known as the Anarchist Nightmare. A ruthless fighter and inventor who never slept, always spoke her mind and struck terror into the hearts of every Renegade loving citizen in Gatlon.
Also a sixteen year old girl who’d been lied to her entire life and had only just learned the truth. And Adrian’s girlfriend. Simon wasn’t really sure about how he felt about that part. Especially since she was moving into their house.
While Nova was being led along by Adrian, their second houseguest still hung behind.
Narcissa Cronin. Daughter of the late Gene Cronin, librarian and arms dealer. Apparently the teen was a mirror-walker, and she’d found herself with nowhere to go after the Supernova. Simon’s parental instincts had kicked in the minute she’d been pulled from the rubble. The poor girl was taller than average, but she looked majorly underfed. Her eyes had dark circles and her red hair was limply pulled back.
He needed to make macaroni and cheese tonight. Yeah, mac and cheese would help.
It was the meal he’d made for Adrian the night Georgia died, plus he’d made it for all of Max’s birthdays. Even if Nova and Narcissa weren’t his and Hugh’s children, he still needed to treat them the same.
They were all dead on their feet, but Simon still sent everyone to go shower. They were not going to spend dinner covered in blood and dust if he had a say in it. Nobody objected, and within an hour, everyone had made their way back to the kitchen, where he was waiting with a pot full of steaming macaroni.
“I think we’re going to have to set a few ground rules,” Hugh said after scarfing down his bowl. “Right?”
Simon looked at his husband. Was he going to do this now? He’d already heard all of the rants after Nova had first been outed as Nightmare, and he had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen now. And he also knew that Nova had just escaped years of being overruled by ill-meaning adults.
“Rooms for one,” Hugh continued. “And bedtimes. Nobody should be leaving their rooms after those,”
“I don’t sleep though,” Nova said. “I can still leave the house, right?”
“Why on earth would you want to leave the house after dark?” Hugh demanded.
“There’s at least ten hours that I spend completely alone, every single day!” Nova protested. “I go out to parks, those twenty-four diners, places to get materials for inventions!”
“That’s extremely dangerous Nova,” Hugh said. “I can’t believe the anarchists let you do that!”
“They understood that I couldn’t be kept in one place by myself for that long!” Nova argued. “Besides, if nobody else is out at night, then it’s just me!”
“Well you won’t be doing that anymore-”
“Like hell I’ll let you order me around-”
“Stop!” Simon yelled. “That’s enough. We’ll do this tomorrow.”
Hugh and Nova listened, but still glared at each other over the table. Adrian and Max would have tried to make conversation, but it was too awkward. Narcissa shrunk back into her seat. Simon put more food on her plate, and everyone else started to eat.
“You’re being too hard on Nova,” Simon said, turning out the bedside light. “And it’s scaring Narcissa,”
“What?!”
“Think about it Hugh,” Simon said. “Both of those girls basically raised themselves, not to mention they were terrified of us, and you’re only confirming all those nightmares they had,”
“But they were anarchists!”
“Narcissa was a librarian. Nova was raised in a cult,”
Hugh sighed loudly again, but this time there was a hint of regret. He rolled to his side to go to sleep, leaving Simon alone to think about the plans for the coming months.
While they worked on rebuilding the Renegades and making reforms, Max and Adrian were rooming together. Narcissa and Nova were also sharing the only functional guest bedroom, which wasn’t even that good.
One night, after getting home after a long day of meetings, fights, and plans, Simon rolled up his sleeves to start the renovations.
They started with Max’s room, which was on the same floor as his dads. They painted the walls a bright white with one red wall, and put up shelves for figurines and models of different buildings. They put in a long desk across the wall and set up his own bed, then added a rule about ‘no glass buildings on the floor’ for good measure.
Next was Narcissa’s. Hers was painted a nice dusky purple, and her bed and furniture was a light metal gray. It was relatively blank, but the mirrorwalker started to add photos she’d taken and drawings she’d done to the walls.
Finally was Nova’s room. They started out with a deep navy color, and Adrian volunteered to paint a mural of a night cityscape across the wall from her bed. Her room was on the ground floor, which gave her the ability to leave if she needed to, but it also put her next to a workroom so she wouldn’t feel the need to do that often.
When they finished the last bedroom, Narcissa approached Simon and Hugh with a question.
“I want to be a renegade,” She said. “Is that possible?”
“Of course it is,” Simon told her.
Narcissa was sworn in the day the Renegade compound officially reopened. At the ceremony, Simon and Hugh stood in full costume, their boys and newly added girls standing with them too.
“I’m proud of you kids,” Simon said to Nova and Narcissa, squeezing them into a hug. “You’ve come so far,”
“Thanks Dad,” Nova slipped, then looked at him nervously. Simon just smiled, then went invisible to hide his grin.
Years later, when their kids had all moved out and started their own lives, Simon still made mac n cheese.
“Are you done in there yet?” Hugh asked, appearing in the kitchen doorway as his husband pulled the pot off the stovetop.
“Just about,”
The older heroes walked towards the dining room, the sound of voices getting louder as they approached. Cluttered around the large table was Adrian, Nova and their kids, Max, and Narcissa, Danna and their daughters.
“Where is everyone else?”
“We’re here!” A loud voice yelped as Ruby and Oscar skidded into the room. Close behind, their kids followed. “We’re not missing family dinner!”
“Family Dinner,” Simon thought. “That sounds nice,”