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After the incident with restoring the twin's memories, and the breakdowns that followed, Verlaine and Rimbaud were more than happy to not push the kids. No details about what they’d gone through, or bringing up when they did something that was out of the ordinary. They had even accepted that Chuuya would only use his ability for silly little things, and that if they saw him curled up on the ceiling, they should just leave him be.
Of course, there were some small issues that across, such as nightmares. But they were mostly handled in a healthy way, even if Rimbaud was pretty sure his partner wanted to scream over half of the time. There had been a few weeks after the incident, where they’d been looking to get a house, so they wouldn’t be living in places that they rent for a short while, and moving around a bunch.
None of them had enjoyed it, and especially not when both former spies found they’d been locked out of their bank accounts. They hadn’t responded to anything about the mission, and had destroyed their phones, so to say they might be dead or being tortured for information wasn’t unlikely. Which meant their money was probably being used by someone else in the government’s eyes.
It had been annoying, but Verlaine had gone out to find a job, while Rimbaud took care of the kids, and tried to find a house. There had been minimal success on Rimbaud’s part, while Verlaine ended up meeting a sketchy man who asked him to do some illegal business with him. The work would be easy, so he took it, and was paid in cash.
That had paid for food and a place to live for a few weeks. Rimbaud ended up meeting the man giving Verlaine work after a while, and started working for him while Verlaine was home. Alternating worked out for them, since they were bringing in a decent sum of money, and were eventually able to find a three-bedroom house.
The bedrooms were on the top floor, along with a bathroom, while the rest of the rooms were downstairs, including another bathroom. While moving in, the Chuuya and Chiharu refused to have separate rooms. It ended up with a spare room, later turned into an office.
Bunk beds were gotten for the boys, who choose quickly, with Chuuya being on the top bunk. He wanted it to be hard for anyone to grab him. Despite being safe from all the horrors of the lab, he still had the fears from it.
Of course, things were still changing really fast for a while after they moved in, including when the twins got enrolled in school after being homeschooled for a few months. They got things to personalize their room, with a desk in one corner, and a shared dresser in another. The room was clearly very lived in.
So, one night, when they were called down for supper. Having turned eight a while ago, they were both still making mention of how they were getting older. Teasing back and forth, as Chuuya called Chiharu his younger twin. That was what he introduced Chiharu as during their first day of school.
“Dad, can we eat in the living room tonight?” Chuuya asked, wanting to watch TV.
“Sure, as long as you don’t get any food or drinks on the couch,” Rimbaud agreed, being lenient with the kids.
Verlaine walked in the front door as the twins ran into the living room. Turning on the TV, and watching some animal show. The blonde made sure the kids weren’t looking their way, before planting a soft kiss on Rimbaud’s lips. They’d become almost domestic since taking in the twins.
It wasn’t often they got to be sweet and romantic though, as the twin would call them out for being gross. They knew it was a thing children did, but it was a bit annoying to both of them. What made it worse was that Rimbaud worked the nights, and Verlaine the days, so they couldn’t even spend the night cuddling and kissing.
Standing there, in the kitchen, they realized they needed to eat. Grabbing their plates, the partners sat at the table. Eating, and going over some shared work, and telling stories about things that had happened since they last sat down to talk, which was at breakfast.
While they were talking, Chuuya brought his plate back, and put it in the sink. “I’m going to have a bath,” he informed them, leaving to head upstairs.
That wasn’t a surprising thing, the oldest of the boys liked baths more, and would request certain bubble bath mixes. It was one of the few things that relaxed him after everything. So, he was given what ever he was needed to remain calm, and avoid another big breakdown.
After the interruption, they went back to eating and talking. Rimbaud had work in an hour, and he knew he’d have to start getting dressed soon. That was when they saw it.
A plate floated by, and landed in the sink.
Both of them knew it wasn’t Chuuya’s doing, which made them both turn to look into the living room. Chiharu had realized what he’d done, and looked like he wanted to curl into himself. He hadn’t told them he had gotten an ability. It was, like Chuuya’s, gravity manipulation.
“Chiharu, can you come here a moment?” Rimbaud called out for him.
The child came to the kitchen, looking like a kicked puppy. “Sorry.”
That caused the adults some confusion, “Why are you apologizing?”
“I didn’t tell you what I could do,” he mumbled, looking down at the floor.
“You aren’t going to get in trouble. It’s okay that you didn’t tell us, since an ability is a big thing. Plus, you’ve seen some terrible things done because of people wanting to get their hands on ability users. There is no anger in you keeping secrets.” At the reassurance, Chiharu started crying.
Through his tears, he mumbled, “Thank you…”
Verlaine came around the table, and pulled the kid into a hug. “We adopted you two to help you, so don’t feel sorry, we don’t mind you being slow to tell us things like this.”
Chiharu was a mess, and clung to him tightly. He didn’t cry often, mostly just froze and got shy, stumbling over his words instead. So, the show of tears was taken seriously. Wrapping him up in hugs, food abandoned until their youngest son was feeling better.