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He may admit that going into that alley wasn't his smartest decision. Really, the whole rude Stratos persona would be very difficult to keep up if someone managed to see him following the cry of a baby into a dark alley. Listen, he may be a villain but even he was tempted to follow that. It was very possible that the crying was a trap, of course he thought that he wasn't that dumb mind you, but the more he thought about that the more he realized that, if someone prepared that trap for him, they possibly knew his civilian identity.
So, after doubting for a couple minutes, he finally walked into the alley
He was expecting a lot of things in that alley but seeing an actual baby in a humid cardboard box was a surprise.
"Hello there little man" he said softly as he picked the brunette in his arms. "How did you get here?" The baby stopped crying, apparently amazed by seeing another person near him or maybe because he was receiving heat.
He looked around, there was no trace of a soul nearby. The kid was completely abandoned and, even with him being a villain, he knew the kid needed a place to be. He may be Stratos, one of the most dangerous villains in the whole city, the most powerful one in the Empires district, however he was still human. Not the nicest human you would meet but a human still, so letting the baby there knowing that if someone managed to find him they wouldn't give that child a happy life wasn't on his plans.
A pair of wings flapping near take him out of his train of thoughts.
"Why are you still here Stratos? You are putting yourself in danger" Watcher, the voice he would recognize anywhere. He held the baby near his chest trying to get him out of the incessant feeling of being watched while being around Watcher, even for some adults that feeling was stressful, sometimes the feeling of the eyes near you was enough to faint, so no more crying for the baby he didn't want to deal with some unfortunate curious souls that decided to follow the sound of cries of a baby.
"Oh" the mischievous voice of the blonde filled his ears. "What do you have there Stratos? What are you hiding?" The Watcher said as he came closer to him.
"A baby?" The teasing tone abandoned his voice "Joel? Why do you have a baby?"
"I found him"
A sigh left the blonde.
"Take him with you, but cover him. I will make sure no one notices that you have something or, well in this case someone, with you. I will go and visit you after I make sure of that so you better take care of that child"
"Thanks"
"Don't mention it. I don't want to see another poor child have the same destiny that me or Jimmy had" and with that he flapped his wings and took flight.
Arriving at the apartment with the kid tied in his chest wasn't an easy task but he managed. He managed to change his clothes and tuck the baby into bed before he heard the doorbell ring indicating that Grian had arrived.
"Where is the kid?" Grian asked as he passed through the door.
"Well, hello to you too. I'm fine thank you for asking"
"Joel, I had to fly between a main street and be followed by heroes to make sure that there wasn't any attention on you so you could take the baby here without any complications. Just let me see the baby" Grian's wings flapped matching the emotion that was filling his voice. "Which, by the way, how did you find the baby? You didn't told me"
"Oh, I followed some crying into an alley and I found him in a box. Now I guess I will take care of him"
"I don't know if I should be surprised that you follow some random crying or the fact that you want to take care of a child without knowing anything about parenting." Grian sighed
"What can I say, I'm full of surprises. But actually, do you know anyone that would be willing to help me?"
"Pearl has a friend called Sausage, he works at a daycare so he deals with a lot of kids. Pearl also says that he likes kids so I don't think he would have a problem. I will ask Pearl to mention him about…" He looked at Joel's eyes "How is the baby called?"
Oh right, kids have names. He needs to give that child a name.
"I don't know. He didn't have a note with his name or anything" Joel said.
"Then let me see him and we can brainstorm a name for him!"
"Grian you sound like you just got a new puppy and you are excited to see it do normal things."
Grian let an offended sound escape him. "It just that you don't seem like the type of person that wants to have kids"
The baby could fly.
Well, technically he could levitate.
"So, your kid is a shulker hybrid. Good luck with that" A giggle followed Grian's words.
A little white ball came out of the little boy's arms and set its course for Grian's chest, which it hit without causing any effect, probably because of his age.
"I didn't know that shulker hybrids could shoot at such a young age" Joel said.
"Neither do I" Grian responded "but, honestly neither of us know a End hybrid. Let alone a shulker hybrid"
Another ball hit his chest.
Grian opened his parrot wings, hoping that the bright colors would distract the baby enough to grab him without him crying of the sudden contact and put him again in the bed. It worked and now the baby had a multicolor feather on his hand as his new toy.
"Anyways, this little fella needs a name. So, give me some ideas, some random name you liked as a kid, a character that you like a lot, something related to your brand?"
"Wait, my brand?" Joel asked curiously
"Your Stratos persona screams Greek mythology. Hell, even your name sounds like that. It wasn't on purpose?" Grian seemed genuinely lost. He always thought it was all intentional.
"I suppose I just like Greek mythology quite a lot"
"Well either way, that doesn't matter. This kid needs a name, so how if we take your brand? Some god you like that may have a relevance to the way you found him or something?" Grian started thinking maybe he would find a name fit for the kid.
"Is that the way you're supposed to name your child?" Joel answered
"I don't know, the most similar thing I have to a child is Grumbot and he's a robot"
Turns out it was more difficult for Joel to choose a name for the child than actually adopting the child he found on a cardboard box. He decided to take Grian's advice and take some Greek god name and give the child their name because really, he couldn't always call the boy things like child or kid or something related. That boy needed an actual name.
That's how he ended up in the living room reading a book of mythology while Grian played with his now son on the bed of his room. Apparently the kid liked Grian a lot more after he showed his wings. Soft giggles escaped the little lips of brunette, his tiny violet eyes often trying to search Joel failing terribly as Grian gently slid another feather across his cheek while making sounds attracting the infant's attention. The scene was cute, sure, but his son needed a name. He would have time to spend with his son teaching him about his future name. Which, by the way, seemed much harder to find than he thought. He knew exactly which god would give the kid his name but he could manage to find it. The one time he needed to actually know the name of a god it just slipped his tongue.
Finally he seemed to find it.
Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide" , a conductor of souls into the afterlife.
God of boundaries, roads and travelers, thieves, athletes, shepherds, commerce, speed, cunning, wit, magic and sleep
Psychopomp and divine messenger.
Sure, maybe the kid didn't have winged sandals but he had the white levitating bullet that shulkers shot and apparently it could be used on himself so it was an equivalent and his species were from the end so he could also move freely between realms.
Hermes.
It was great finally giving the kid a name.
"Joel?" Grian's voice asked from the other room.
"Yeah?" He responded as he passed the door of the bedroom.
Little eyes seemed to shine when the silhouette of the other man appeared in the room. Shooting himself on the chest with a much smaller bullet giving him enough time to be caught by his father's arms.
"Hello Hermes" a smile could be heard on Joel's voice.
"Oh Joel I wanted to show you" Grian quickly got off the bed and near the two." Look at his knees"
Shulker shells
When the travels to the end began to be banned after multiple murder and attempted murder cases started to spread, the shulker shells became incredibly expensive. It was a business only possible to End hybrids, those were the only ones with permission of crossing. Some hybrids needed the end air to survive or the closeness to the dragon to heal.
Then nobody was allowed in the end.
Not a lot of people seemed to know about the reason for this restriction but, after a few years of End hybrids having the monopoly of shulkers boxes and shulkers shells, the discrimination of this species increased so when the restriction finally applied nobody seemed to care a lot about it. End hybrids became almost extinct.
Then the shulker boxes crisis began, but by the time people really started asking for them, the locations of the End portals were lost. People with shulker pets were forced to give them to the government to avoid conflict. At least that was the historical version, possibly if he searches for it the next time he invades a government building he could search for more info about the End. Now he has a reason.
But the shulkers shells on Hermes' knees make him a target. The black market pays well for shulker shells even if they are old. Some young and fresh shulker shells would be the glory for some illegal shulker box making. He needed to protect him at all cost.
"I know, they make him a target" Joel responded. " Are you sure Sausage is safe?"
"Yes, I trust Pearl with her judgments. She always says he is a good person." Grian said proudly
"I'm gonna trust you in that one. I want to give Hermes a maybe normal life, or as normal as it could be with having a villain as father"
"So Hermes would be his name?" Grian asked.
"Hermes is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, aided by his winged sandals. I remembered that from the book and thought it would fit him, however I forgot the name of the god so I had o read the whole book again." Joel responded simply
"I think it fits him"