Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Evan looks at the four kids standing in his office. Or the three kids since the smallest one, who is named Pezzy according to the file in his desk drawer, is always conveniently placed behind one of the others, out of sight.

He is currently behind the tallest, Puffer's, back, who is staring him down, eyes unwavering. He has seldom felt this picked apart, as if his soul is being stripped down naked, much less by a kid. To his right is the second shortest, Droid, face completely blank and seemingly staring into space. The way his fingers twitch every time Evan even slightly moves makes it clear that he is very much paying attention though.

His biggest concern at the moment, however, stands to Puffer's left, one step in front of the others. Grizzy's expression is a carefully crafted impassive mask but his body is coiled tight and Evan has no doubt that he will attack without hesitation given the right provocation.

None of them have made eye contact even once.

He had been reluctant when a client had approached them about taking in four kids, having no experience with children. "Just for a maximum of half a year. Until we find a better place for them to stay.", he had said, "We would feel better to leave them with other mutants rather than a facility and where would they be safer than with the infamous Vanoss crew? At least look at their files before saying no."

And so they did. Not that the files contain much useful information. Still, they don't paint a pretty picture about the kids' origins.

The four had been picked up in a small city, apparently living on the street for a good while. It isn't known where they had been living before that.

Grizzy's file just says "bear-shifter" under powers. Tyler had been on board with taking him, and by proxy the others, in immediately, excited for another big animal shifter.

Now standing in front of him, Evan is astonished at the immeasurable potential he could have, given the right guidance. As a shifter himself Evan can tell that his aura is impressive and he isn't sure he could take him in a one-on-one fight even at his age. Hell, even Tyler would have trouble.

Puffer is a pufferfish-hybrid. A fact that left a sour taste in their mouths. Hybrids don't occur naturally after all. There aren't any abilities listed in his file but that doesn't necessarily mean there are none. The lines on his neck look enough like gills to Evan.

Droid, a Cyborg, is the only one with more than just one or two words in the power section. The modifications listed clearly weren't done for medical reasons and given his age they highly doubt they were done with consent. It had made Brian, their own resident Cyborg, bristle in angry sympathy.

Pezzy has "unknown" listed under powers. That could mean he has none or that he hasn't shown them yet. He hopes it's the latter. Having a non-mutant in their care could get them in serious legal trouble. Not that it matters much right now. It's clear to him that trying to separate them wouldn't be pretty.

The files didn't say much regarding personality, except for being clingy with each other, which makes him think that their client is either stupid or doesn't care as much as he claims. He hasn't been in the same room as them for more than 20 minutes and he can already see more than that.

In the end his crew had given their consent to taking them in and some even seemed eager. The extremely good pay also helped in the decision.

They were dropped off today, hence why they are in his office right now. They had decided that he should talk to them alone first, thinking too many people right off the bat would be intimidating. A decision he is happy about now. These kids are clearly on edge to a degree that makes him wonder what they have been told.

"Hello. My name is Vanoss." After a short silence he prompts, hoping for something else but blank stares, "And your names are?"

"Grizzy.", comes the short response from the bear. It surprises Evan that he takes the lead. From what he has seen so far he would have expected Puffer to answer.

Grizzy points to his friends, "Puffer. Droid." and then, tilting his head to indicate behind Puffer, "Pezzy."

"Nice to meet you." He says but silence fills the room again and Evan sighs inwardly for the nth time.

"As I'm sure you know, you'll be staying with me and my friends for a while. I'm sure we will get along just fine. Don't worry, we're laid back kinda guys." He reassures them but they show no outward reaction to his words so he tries a different approach, "Do you have any questions?"

Puffer's eyes snap to his, surprised, and he cocks his head in thought. After seemingly coming to a conclusion he shifts his weight. Grizzy immediately relaxes his aggressive stance, though not stepping back and Droid drops the facade of not paying attention. He can even see Pezzy's head peeking around Puffer.

It's impressive how in tune they are. Impressive and creepy. He shudders to think how they had to grow up until now to turn out this way.

"What are the rules?", Puffer asks. Both Grizzy's and Droid's eyes briefly flicker in Puffer's direction. It tells Evan that they didn't expect him to actually ask something and he decides to take this as a good sign.

He smiles at them. "Oh nothing crazy. Don't break stuff, listen when we tell you something...", he trails off, realizing that they hadn't really thought about rules for the kids. "That's about it for now, I guess."

Puffer's face closes up again and he nods once, eyes falling away from his. Fortunately the others don't fall back into their previous stances. Even if Pezzy's head is again concealed by Puffer's body.

He will still take that as a win. At least he isn't being threatened, however subtly, anymore so he must have done something right.

"Any other questions?", he asks but Puffer shakes his head. "Ok, then let's go. We can talk about the details at home. Our car is outside." He stands up. "There are two of my friends that will ride in the car with us. I'm gonna introduce you."

He's careful to keep his posture open and friendly, broadcasting his movements, as he walks to the door.

The kids follow him at a distance.

Their van is parked outside, Tyler and Jon standing beside it. Both smile at them approaching. Brock, Brian and David stayed home.

"These are Wildcat ", Evan says, gesturing to Tyler before pointing to Jon, "and Delirious." Tyler rolls his eyes at the use of their codenames but doesn't comment, aware of Evan's paranoia about using their real names in public. They will reintroduce themselves at home.

"Nice to meet you.", Jon says, smiling in a friendly manner but is met with the same silence that Evan has.

"And here we have", he turns around to the kids after coming to a halt in front of the van, pointing at them in order, "Grizzy, Puffer, Droid and..." He trails off, no idea which of them Pezzy is hiding behind this time. Puffer scrutinizes each of them, landing on Evan last before turning his head slightly to the right and Pezzy steps out from behind Grizzy.

"..and Pezzy.", Evan finishes and takes a good look at Pezzy since this is the first chance he got to do so. He's skinny but that's no surprise, the others are too skinny to be healthy as well. His eyes skitter around and he clearly hasn't mastered the blank look the others have adapted as a form of self protection. He understands now why the others are so adamant about shielding him.

The thing that gives him pause the most are the scars around his throat. They look like electrical burns and form a ring around his neck, making Evan strongly suspect a shock collar has been used on the poor kid.

Behind him Jon sucks in a sharp breath and Pezzy flinches slightly, his hands coming up to grip Puffer's sleeve who turns his head down to him. They lock eyes and Puffer gives him a small smile which seems to calm him down.

When he looks back up all traces of the smile are gone. Grizzy shifts nervously, eyes flickering from Jon to Tyler to Evan to the van and back, trepidation building in them. Droid has gone back to blankly staring into space.

Having no good way to address any of this, Evan decides to gloss over it for now. He gives Jon a warning look and opens the car door.

"Well, now that we introduced each other....let's go!", he says and beckons for the kids to get in the car. For a moment none of them move. Evan worries that they might refuse, having no real plan for that and dreading having to force them to come but then Puffer steels himself, grabs Pezzy's hand and moves towards the car. Droid immediately follows, so close behind that he nearly steps on Pezzy's heels and Grizzy looks after Puffer, panic on his face for a split second before he squashes it down and follows as well.

Once the kids are seated inside, Jon climbs after them and Evan and Tyler move to sit in front. Evan starts the car and they drive off.

The first few minutes are silent. Looking at them through the rearview mirror, their faces are grim like they are being driven to their execution. Jon tries not to let it show but Evan can tell how horrified and worried he is after seeing them.

"So, how old are you?", Tyler asks, body turned back in his seat so he can look at them. The kids shrug. They genuinely don't seem to know but Evan would guess they haven't reached their teen-years yet, at most..."14.", Droid interrupts Evan's thoughts, pointing to Grizzy and Puffer, then to himself, "13.", and lastly to Pezzy, "12." Everyone looks at him surprised, even the other kids. "We are?", Grizzy asks and seems to just accept it as fact when Droid nods.

Evan shares a look with Tyler and Jon at this bizzare interaction, wondering where Droid pulled that knowledge from when he was clueless a few seconds ago. And they are older than they look.

Tyler tries to engage them in conversation but he only get's answers when asking direct questions. And those are always short and to the point. Questions about their own opinions are met with bafflement and distress when they can't give an answer so Tyler gives up rather fast.

The car ride feels 10 times longer than normal and Evan is both relieved and on edge when he drives up to their house.

The house is in a clearing of a nearby forest. While the acceptance of mutants and everyone under that umbrella term has gone up considerably the last few years, there's still a long way to go and it's more comfortable to live away from the stares and judgment of the world. It's also a practical choice because like this they can train in peace and people who are out for revenge because of certain missions can't find them.

He parks in front of the garage and they get out. Looking at the kids he sees them looking around the forest with wonder in their eyes and his heart squeezes in his chest. He could already tell back in his office that the next few months are gonna be heart wrenching but it's getting worse by the second. He turns to Tyler and Jon and they are watching them with sad eyes as well.

He clears his throat and the kid's attention snaps to him. He smiles in what he hopes is a reassuring manner.

"Come on. We will introduce you to the others and show you your rooms.", he says, turning to the door and they awkwardly shuffle after him.

Later that night, when he is finished screaming at their client over the phone about his sloppy filework and leaving out some crucial details, Jon clasps a comforting hand on his shoulder.

They sit in silence for a while, letting the events of the day pass them by again before Jon sighs and tries lifting the mood, smiling weakly.

"I guess these are our kids now."

Chapter Text

Brock counts down in his head as he finishes setting the table for dinner, looking at the clock. It's been 5 days since the kids came to live with them and there has been a gloomy atmosphere hanging over the house since then. They only come out of their rooms, or room since Brock is sure that they only use one anyway, when it's time to eat. Evan told them on the first day when they approximately eat and they seem to take this as a ironclad rule, always appearing in the dining room right on the dot.

30.

But even with the limited time he has seen them, he is concerned about the behavior and characteristics they have shown so far.

While they all stay as close to each other as they can, Pezzy is permanently glued to one of the others' sides. Hand fisted in one of their shirts, trailing after them and eyes always shifting around the room nervously. He favors clinging to Puffer, Grizzy a close second, hiding into his side. If possible he isn't in sight at all.

Sitting at the table, cut off from direct contact and open to everyone's gaze, he starts trembling, shaking hard enough to have trouble holding the cutlery. He forces it away quickly but they all have noticed it. That he is able to force it away at all is concerning as well.

Approaching him in any way stresses all of the kids out so much that they have given up trying to directly interact with him for now.

25.

Grizzy always tries to stand between them and his friends. Clearly he has taken on a protective role which makes sense given that he is physically the strongest and one of the oldest. He keeps his expression as neutral as he can manage but he shies away just like the rest of them, clearly scared and stressed to a high degree.

It's honestly a miracle that he hasn't tried to attack them yet with the way he tenses at every move in their direction. Like a cornered animal waiting for the hit. Of course no hit ever comes their way. The last two days his face has shown frustrated confusion, not understanding why nothing has happened yet and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Brock hates that no one hurting him surprises him so much.

20.

Getting a read on Droid is the hardest. The first and only real reaction they had gotten out of Droid had been when they had dinner for the first time. His eyes had lit up like he was surprised that he liked it and the next few bites were faster than the carefully slow ones the kids make normally. But then his eyes snapped to Puffer and he muted himself again. Brock had looked at Puffer just in time to see him avert his eyes away from him.

He hadn't even noticed that he was staring at Droid. The pity on his face was probably interpreted as a negative emotion towards them.

Since then Droid's face has been an impenetrable blank slate. His body language is shockingly neutral as well aside from little twitches of his hands.

15.

Puffer has shown the most range of emotion so far, if only for the sake of the others. Giving Pezzy a small, reassuring smile, placing a calming hand on Grizzy's arm or gently nudging Droid when he falls too far into his portrayed apathy.

When he is not micromanaging his friends' wellbeing he is observing the crew. Sharp eyes analysing every interaction they have with each other or the kids. He's always alert to every change in mood, subtly directing the others accordingly.

The mental strain must be insane. Brock is sure he has seen him suppress several yawns these past days.

10.

Everyone is absolutely horrified at the state of them. While he knew that they couldn't possibly have a nice past, the extent of the abuse they must have suffered to become like this makes him feel sick. He had expected angry, moody, rebellious pre-teens who have a problem with authority figures. To have to fight them left and right over rules. Not these skittish, fearful kids who take everything as an order and only speak when spoken to.

He would rather have screaming matches about unwashed dishes than watch them stare confused at chocolate they got as dessert, eyes flickering to them like they couldn't comprehend getting something nice just because.

He's glad that they at least don't show signs of food insecurity, even if they are clearly too skinny and stunted in growth because of malnourishment.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Puffer's head peeks around the corner, taking a quick sweeping look of the room and then they walk in. The rest of the crew hasn't shown up yet and Brock smiles at the kids. "Hello.", he says friendly, not expecting an answer but Puffer and Grizzy shift nervously and then echo his hello in soft voices, Droid voicing his half a second later, even softer. Brock tries not to show the surprise on his face, he just widens his smile as the kids go sit down in their places.

One by one the rest slowly trickles in, all giving their greeting and being surprised at the answer they recieve. The mood during the meal is fundamentally better than it has been this past week. All because of one little hello out of the kids' mouths.

Tyler notices Grizzy glancing at the food after he finishes his plate.

"Grizzy.", he says and Grizzy tenses, looking in Tyler's general direction. No one managed to make eye contact with any of them yet. "Do you want more?", Tyler asks him, gesturing to the food. The others continue eating and talking, the less scrutiny on the kids the better. They tried asking them that before but never got a conclusive answer, them always shying away, not reacting otherwise. Grizzy's eyes move from Tyler to the food and back a few times before he shrinks down, shoulders hunching up, and nods.

Tyler holds out his hand for the plate and Grizzy slowly lifts it to give it to him. Filling the plate, he gives it back and all four of them stare at the plate, now in front of Grizzy again, in bafflement. Even Droid's face cracks. When Grizzy takes a bite of it, Puffer's eyes move back to Tyler.

He doesn't know what he expects to happen but it clearly doesn't as he slowly untenses. Droid's attention snaps to Puffer and he tilts his head. To Tyler it looks like Puffer doesn't give an answer to the silent question at all but Droid's eyes light up in an emotion he can't place and then they move to Tyler. He doesn't say anything though so Tyler asks him, "Do you want more too, Droid?"

His eyes move back to Puffer one more time and then he nods, giving him his plate when he holds his hand out. Tyler nearly drops the plate in surprise when Droid says a quiet "Thank you." as he gets it back. Grizzy looks first at Droid and then at Tyler before repeating the thank you to him as well.

Tyler smiles widely at them. "You're welcome. What about you, Puffer?, he asks, feeling encouraged by the interaction and Puffer shakes his head. He decides to push his luck and continues, "Pezzy?" All of them tense again and Tyler is sure he can feel Jon's glare drilling into the side of his head but then Pezzy just shakes his head.

"Ok.", is all Tyler says and he turns away from them to continue eating, starting a conversation with David. The tense moment passes.

The crew smiles at each other when the kids are back in their rooms.

"There's hope yet.", Brian jokes and Tyler laughs with him. "Let's not get too excited.", Jon warns and Brock reminds them, "Baby steps."

Chapter Text

Mealtimes are still tense but the kids seem to have relaxed a miniscule amount.

Pezzy has stopped shaking as much and Droid isn't completely blank all the time anymore, even if his expressions are reserved for his friends. Today Grizzy actually asked with words if he could have more to eat.

"Hey.", David addresses them before they can leave the kitchen after lunch and they stop dead in their tracks, "Do you guys want some snacks?"

Questions about their own wants and feelings never get a proper answer. Usually they say whatever they think the one asking wants to hear.

They seem at a loss right now and David stands up and moves to the cabinet they store their candy in. "Kids like sweets, right? I sure like them. Oh here, these are nice. ", David drones on, taking a packet of hard candies and holding it out to the kids.

Puffer opens his mouth and then closes it again, dumbfounded. His eyes flicker between David and the bag of sweets he is holding out to them. "Why...we...uhm...", he starts his sentence multiple times until his eyes find Evan. He seems to gain more confidence then and asks, "We can have that?"

"If you want it.", David says nonchalantly and Puffer takes a step closer, still not taking the bag. "Is this a reward for something?", he asks timidly and David's eyes narrow, "Did someone reward you with sweets before?", he asks, not liking the implications if that is the case but Puffer shakes his head.

Smiling relieved, David says, "See? You can just have it. No requirements needed and if you want more you can just take it." He tilts his head towards the cabinet. Puffer still doesn't take the bag, looking at him with wide eyes at the statement and suddenly Droid takes two steps forward and practically snatches it out of David's hand.

"Droid!", both Puffer and Grizzy say in a horrified half-whisper and Grizzy pulls him back and behind him. David doesn't even bat an eye and takes a bag of chips out of the cabinet, this time handing it directly to Puffer, ignoring the badly hidden fearful anticipation on his face. "Here, have this as well", he says and then turns to leave.

The kids look after him in confusion, eyes going from David to the cabinet to the two bags of snacks in their hands, finally landing on Evan in silent question.

Evan looks back at them and says as seriously as he can, "The kitchen is always open for you if you want something to eat. You can just take what you want." Puffer's eyebrows crease like he didn't expect that answer and Pezzy starts fidgeting, poking Grizzy in the side, who looks down at him before asking, "We can leave our rooms without permission?"

Brian swings around. "Of course! Who said you couldn't?!", he asks, agitated on their behalf. Puffer flinches back at the outburst and Grizzy shifts to stand in front of him. "I'm sorry! We just assumed....I'm sorry!", Puffer tries to placate and Brian backs off a few steps, "No, you did nothing wrong."

"You have explicit permission to go anywhere in the house that you want.", Evan interjects and is met with the confused surprise he has come to really hate. Puffer briefly looks like he wants to say something else but then he just nods and they leave for their rooms.

Two days pass with them still only coming out of their rooms when it's time to eat.

Entering the living room Evan and Brian stop, dumbfounded at the scene in front of them. David is sitting on the couch with a whole bunch of different snacks on the table in front of him and the kids are next to him. They are sitting in positions where a quick retreat would be easy, Grizzy on the armrest, Puffer cross legged right on the edge and Droid and Pezzy on the floor with their backs leaning against the couch, but they are there nonetheless. Out of their rooms. When it's not a mealtime.

Puffer has a lolly in his mouth and is avidly listening to David going on about different candies, eyes glued to his face. He seems to be genuinely fascinated by David's rambling. "These are Oreos. Good stuff. The double stuffed ones are better.", he says and hands a packet of them to Puffer who hands it to Grizzy. Grizzy opens it and takes a cookie before giving the rest to Droid who eats a few with Pezzy. The two are whispering to each other and Pezzy stifles a giggle behind his hands. The floor in front of them is already full with different opened sweets.

"Gummy bears! A classic. Can't go wrong with that", David hands them to Puffer, who again barely glances at them before handing them to Grizzy. This time when Grizzy tries them he seems to mull the taste over longer and then keeps them in his hand, eating more. Droid looks up at him and extends a hand for the packet but Grizzy holds it out of reach. He half grins down at him when Droid pouts and tries to reach for them again.

They haven't seen Evan and Brian yet, who came from a door behind them and are now standing in their blind spot.

Jon comes from the kitchen with a few bowls and bananas in his hands. The kids look up at his entrance, the kitchen door being in their line of sight, and tense up a bit even if they don't seem surprised to see him.

"You shouldn't feed them only candy.", he says disapprovingly to David who rolls his eyes and dismissively waves his hand, "We are literally not. There's plenty of healthy stuff at breakfast, lunch and dinner. These are snacks." He picks up another one, "Toblerone! Chocolate is always good but Toblerone is especially nice." Jon clicks his tongue in annoyance and this time Puffer doesn't take the candy when David tries to give it to him.

Jon smoothes out his expression and decides not to openly acknowledge the anxiety he accidentally put on the kids, trying to stay as casual as possible. He comes to a stop on David's other side, purposefully not getting too close to them, and places the bowls on the table.

"Snacks can be healthy as well.", he says and hands David a bowl with apple slices. Taking the change in mood in stride, David takes one of the slices and eats it, before handing the bowl to Puffer, who takes it after a short hesitation and another quick check for Jon's reaction. "That's true I guess", David shrugs and reaches for the other bowls, "What else do we have?"

While the two of them go over the bowls, Puffer inspects the apple slices. He takes the lolly out of his mouth and bites into one, chewing carefully. Then he hands the bowl to Grizzy and the circle begins anew. "Blueberries. Strawberries, Cucumber, Carrots.", David lists off as he hands them over one by one.

This time Puffer tries all the foods as well before handing them off and at the carrots he pauses and takes a second piece to munch on. He angles his head to look up at Grizzy, eyes bright and still chewing, when he hands the bowl over and Grizzy takes a bite of carrot but just shrugs back at him. He holds the bowl out for Droid and Pezzy but doesn't let go of it when Droid reaches for it so they just take a piece each. Puffer gives him a smile when he gives him the bowl back and he starts eating the carrots.

Brian turns and silently closes the door before noisily opening it again, pretending they have just walked in. The kids startle and all heads snap in their direction. Jon makes eye contact with Evan and smiles, subtly gesturing to the kids, expressing his happiness at the situation.

"Oh! Snack time?", Brian says casually and strolls over to the couch. Taking a banana he sits down in an armchair on the other side of the table and opens it. Evan follows him and takes some candy from the table, standing next to Jon. They have made sure that all of them are positioned in a way that the kids have an escape route open, so they don't feel caged in.

"Did you raid every snack in the house?", Evan asks amused, eating some of his candy and David has the decency to look sheepish as he answers, "Well, they need to know what their options are, right?"

"True.", Brian says through a bite of banana. "What are your favorites so far?", he asks the kids. A risky move considering how they normally react to such questions. Predictably the kids say nothing, shifting nervously but before the silence can stretch too long, Brian continues, "I myself am a big fan of Oreos. But bananas are good too."

Puffer's gaze moves from him to David to Jon and Evan, taking in the relaxed postures and friendly expressions. He looks down at the bowl in his hands and then says quietly, almost questioningly, "Carrots?"

"Good choice!", Brian smiles, "Not that there are any bad choices." Looking back up, Puffer once again checks everyone's reaction and his eyes stop at Jon, who practically exudes happiness, no longer able to keep himself casually friendly.

Grizzy has observed the interaction with guarded eyes and now looks at the different candies scattered around the room before settling on the ones still in his hand. "Gummy bears.", he says, more confident than Puffer had been. Jon brightens even more and both Grizzy's and Puffer's attention stays on him as Droid says, "Chips."

Evan watches closely as Grizzy slightly shifts and Puffer angles his head a tiny amount to the right in answer. Then Puffer places his hand on Pezzy's head, who leans into the touch as the fingers gently glide through his hair. Pezzy had pressed himself into Droid's side as soon as they had noticed Evan and Brian but untangles himself from him now, still touching but not actively trying to disappear. "Blueberries.", he says in a small voice.

The kids have said words here or there. A question or an answer to a question. But never Pezzy. The others answered for him or he shook or nodded his head before hiding more firmly from whoever asked him something. Even this single word is immense progress.

"That's nice!", Brian praises them and the others nod in agreement.

Puffer's expression is a mix of confusion, concentration and disbelief as he watches them. Like he is solving a particularly hard puzzle. Grizzy's guard is still up but his shoulders aren't as tense as they were before and he has gone back to eating the candy in his hand. Droid leans forward to grab at a bowl of fruit and then watches for Jon's reaction as he changes course to hard candy. He seems delighted when no negative reaction comes and grabs it, shoving it in Pezzy's hands. Then he takes Puffer's hand, still on Pezzy's head and tugs. His head immediately turns to him, giving him his whole attention and Droid tilts his head tugging at the hand again.

His eyes turn back to them and he seems unsure how to proceed so Evan gives him an out, "If you want to go to your rooms that's fine."

Puffer gives him a tiny nod and stands up, putting the lolly back into his mouth and letting himself be dragged away by Droid. Pezzy follows closely behind and Grizzy looks at the bowl with carrots Puffer left behind. After one last cursory glance around the room, he takes it and quickly follows as well. Soon they are gone from the room.

Brian throws his banana peel at David "Literally luring children with candy, huh?", he laughs and the others laugh along.

"Pff, can't lure your own children, right?", David answers and the good mood sours a little. He sheepishly scratches his neck and corrects, "Temporary children."

"Mhhh", Jon agrees, "Let's clean up."

Chapter Text

Puffer is sitting on the couch, encrossed in the switch that Jon has given him. The kids hadn't been completely ignorant of technology. They know what a computer, a phone or a tv is but they have clearly never used it and definitely not for entertainment like games or movies. Just another one of many sad discoveries the crew had already made and will probably make in the future.

Grizzy, never far away from Puffer, lays next to him on the big part of the couch, staring at some video on David's phone. They have been tempted to buy them their own phones but the call every two weeks with their client keeps them painfully aware that the kids aren't actually theirs, no matter how attached they have already gotten.

And they have gotten attached. It had taken less than a month for Jon's words of "I guess these are our kids now." to be more true than joke. And now, after a few more weeks of no harm coming their way, the kids have gotten more comfortable with them too, even if they are still skittish and distrustful, actually interacting with them and not just hiding away.

Droid is sitting with Brian at the dining table, watching him tinker with some gadget. He has taken a real shine to the older Cyborg and the crew is sure that he would follow him around like a puppy under normal circumstances.

All of them have a favorite person in fact. Droid with Brian, Grizzy clearly looks up to Tyler the most, often looking at him to see how to react to things, never asking openly but Tyler always makes an extra effort to see the signs. Pezzy hovers near Evan most of the time, when he isn't clinging to one of his friends.

While touching any of them when it isn't stictly necessary is still a no-go, Puffer lets David ruffle his hair and sometimes even pull him into one-armed hugs without flinching. It's easily the most progress that any of them have made. Brian's working hypothesis is that it's because David is too daft to be even a little bit threatening. A hypothesis David had taken great offense to, resulting in a small fight that had been abandoned immediately when the kids started avoiding the living areas again, sensing the tension.

Pezzy is in the kitchen, watching Evan and Brock cook today's dinner. Somehow managing to never be in their way, both are amused by him dancing around them and looking over their shoulders.

He flinches suddenly and they freeze, wondering if they had unknowingly crossed some line but he shows no signs of fear. He just moves away from the kitchen and to the couch, aiming for Puffer.

Climbing into his lap, he curls up and tucks his head under Puffer's chin. His hands are in his hair and his eyes are squeezed shut. Switch immediately discarded, Puffer wraps his arms around Pezzy, pulling him closer. One hand gently pulls Pezzy's hands away from his hair and then begins carding through it and massaging his temple. He presses his mouth to the top of his head and whispers something to which Pezzy nods. Puffer starts murmuring into his hair and rocking them slightly.

Grizzy sits up and shuffles next to them. His and Puffer's eyes meet and they have one of their wordless conversations before Grizzy stands up and leaves in the direction of their rooms.

Droid stays at the table but his eyes are trained on his friends on the couch.

The crew looks at each other, unsure what to make of this and how to handle it.

When Grizzy comes back, just a few moments later, he has one of Droid's beanies in his hand. Sitting down next to Puffer he offers it to him. Puffer gently takes Pezzy's head and moves it away from him, pulling the beanie over his head, so that it covers his eyes. Pezzy whimpers at the action and when the beanie is over his head he shifts himself to straddle Puffer, hiding his face in his neck. Puffer cradles him close again, one arm around his waist and a hand on top of his head. He starts rocking again and he and Grizzy watch as Pezzy calms down.

Evan slowly moves closer to the couch and they look at him. They don't show any indication of stress or fear about him specifically so he decides to keep going. He kneels down in front of them at eye level and softly asks: "Hey, what's wrong?" Their eyes move back to each other's for a brief moment and then Grizzy answers: "Pezzy's head hurts." Pezzy whimpers again and Puffer shushes him, thumb rubbing circles on his temple.

Evan moves his hand up and towards Pezzy, asking: "Can I...?" but Grizzy tenses and Puffer angles his body slightly, as if trying to hide Pezzy, so he lets his hand fall down again. The kids never deny anything that is asked of them, another thing they have to work on, so he could have probably taken Pezzy to have a closer look but he's not about to damage the shaky trust that they have so painstakingly built.

"Does he get migraines?", he asks instead and then rewords himself when getting blank stares at the question, "Does his head hurt often?"

Puffer nods and Evan has to stifle a wince of sympathy. "We have some pills against..." he starts but as soon as the word "pills" is out of his mouth, Puffer does a violent full body flinch, startling Evan and jostling Pezzy who lets out a whine and then starts to sob.

With shaking hands, Puffer shushes Pezzy again, who quiets down considerably but is still clearly crying and clutching Puffer tightly.

"No.", he says quietly, not taking his eyes off Pezzy and Grizzy jerks back. Evan realizes a moment too late that he just stopped Grizzy from actually attacking him.

He is rooted to the spot in surprise and mortification until Jon hisses "Evan!" and he actively looks at the kids again. Grizzy is so tense that he wouldn't be surprised if some muscles snapped and Puffer is frantically consoling Pezzy, tears gathering in his eyes.

Both are avoiding his eyes.

He slowly shuffles back and then stands up, walking away from them. When he steps back far enough to not be in his way anymore, Droid gets up from his place at the dining table and moves as quickly as he can towards the others, standing between them and Evan. His face is blank but they all know by now that that means that he is really shaken or affected.

For a moment no one says anything but then Brock takes a step towards the kids and addresses them. "Do you wanna go back to your rooms? We can call you when dinner is ready.", he says, going for a casual tone.

It's Droid this time who takes the lead. Nodding, he takes Grizzy's arm, pulling him up and Puffer stands up as well, carrying Pezzy. They disappear down the hallway.

It's much later that day that the crew realizes what a massive show of trust the first part of that whole ordeal had been. Pezzy and Puffer staying on the couch and not going back to one of their rooms. Grizzy actually leaving to get the beanie instead of guarding them and Droid staying at the table. None of them tensing up at Evan getting close even if he hadn't been allowed to touch.

"And I had to ruin it.", Evan laments, head in his hands.

"Yeah, because you could have known that offering pain relief to the kid in pain would end in disaster.", David says sarcastically and Brian sighs:, "One step forward, three steps back."

"I'm really unhappy that 'pills' is a trigger word for them.", Brock chimes in and isn't that a thought. With every detail they learn about them, the uglier the picture of their past gets.

They sit together the whole night, speaking about how to move forward from now on.

Chapter Text

Evan walks into the kitchen to see Brock looking out the window with a smile on his face. Coming to a halt next to him he looks out the window as well. It's a nice sunny mid-autumn day and the clearing is as beautiful as ever. The kids are outside.

After realizing that he had only given them permission to walk around the house, he had quickly rectified that, sure that they wouldn't take it for granted. They had been unsure at first, looking for their reaction when crossing the threshold no matter how encouraging the crew tried to be. Seems like they finally gathered the courage to leave the house.

Puffer and Droid are in the middle of the clearing, walking around slowly. Droid is picking things up and excitedly giving them to Puffer like a toddler who shows his mom a cool rock. Puffer's arms are already full of flowers and sticks and even a frog but he doesn't seem to mind, a big smile on his face.

"Is no one watching them?", he asks Brock.
"I'm watching them right now, aren't I?", Brock answers amused.

He gives Brock a look and he sighs, relenting, "Me and Brian decided to stay out of eyesight for a while. They wouldn't be this relaxed if we were there. Brian should be watching them from the living room. If something happens we can be outside quickly."

Evan hums, satisfied, and goes back to watching the kids.

Grizzy and Pezzy are walking around the edge of the clearing. Evan would worry about them booking it but knows they would never leave without the other two. Besides, they seem to be engaged in some kind of game only they know the rules to. It looks like a weird version of catch.

Pezzy is stalking behind Grizzy at a distance. Grizzy seems to pretend not to notice him, sometimes walking faster or slower, sometimes stopping, at which Pezzy always stops as well. Slowly gaining on Grizzy, he puts his hand forward to touch his back but just before he makes contact, Grizzy turns around. Picking Pezzy up, he throws him into the long grass, making him shriek with laughter. Then he turns back and starts walking again. Pezzy stands up and follows, game beginning anew.

"It's a good sign that they feel safe enough to play around.", Brock says. "Even if it's not in front of us."

"They're not stupid. They must know we're still watching them" Evan answers and he and Brock smile at each other.

"Yeah.", Brock says, turning his eyes back to the kids, "You're right."

They watch them for a few more minutes.

Pezzy and Grizzy abandon their game after a few more throws and move towards Puffer and Droid. When they are close, Pezzy starts sprinting and jumps on Puffer's back. The impact makes Puffer drop everything in his arms and Droid spins around, darting after the frog, who used this opportunity to hop away.

He catches it just as Grizzy reaches where Puffer, now with Pezzy on his back, giving him a piggyback ride, stands.

He shoves the poor frog into Grizzy's face, who slaps Droid's hand away, making him once again drop it. "Hey!", he exclaims, offended, and then they are play fighting. Their laughter can be heard through the half open window.

"We should call them for lunch.", Brock says but he sounds conflicted. Evan takes one last look outside before moving to go back to his office. "Another hour won't hurt."

Chapter Text

It's the middle of winter, everything is under a thick layer of snow and they have decided to take the kids out to an outing that's further away than just the forest surrounding their house.

There's a lake about one hour and a half away by car that freezes over thick enough to walk on it every winter. They figure that's perfect for their first excursion with the kids. Far enough to feel like a trip and near enough to go home quickly. They also want to get them out of the house more since they stopped going outside for some reason and that seems to be a fun thing to do for a few hours.

They told them about that plan about a week ago and since then the kids have a weird energy about them. Brian calls it nervous excitement but Brock thinks it skews more to dread. It's still hard to read them but since there hasn't been a meltdown over it yet they decided to just go and see what happens.

Today is the day of the trip and they currently sit at the dining table, eating breakfast. The kids are nervously shifting around in their seats and Evan decides he has enough.

"What's wrong?", he asks, looking at them.

"I don't want to go.", Puffer says after a pause, wringing his hands and looking down at the table. All of the kids have made tremendous improvements when it comes to eye contact so Puffer must be really nervous about their reaction. Which makes sense considering this is the first time any of them voice dissent about anything that they have been told.

Which also means that their reaction to that dissent is key right now.

"Are you su...", David starts but Brian elbows him in the rips, glaring him into silence when he opens his mouth to complain. Grizzy warily watches the interaction, sitting next to Puffer.

"That's fine!", Brock hurries to say, hoping to take the attention off of David, and looks at the others, silently prompting them to agree.

"Yes of course! We don't have to go if you don't want to. We can watch a movie or something instead.", Evan says. Puffer shakes his head, "You can still go. Without me.", he says quietly.

"That's alright.", Jon chimes in, "The lake doesn't run away. We can just go another day together.", he says, hoping to reassure but Puffer shrinks further in on himself.

Droid pipes up, "Can't we just go and Puffer stays here?" Pezzy nods emphatically. Both of them look uneasy as well.

The crew is at a loss for words. Is this what all the anxious energy had been about? Them suggesting to split up is very out of character for them and they don't look happy about it at all so no one knows how to react.

"We can do that.", Evan finally says, deciding to give in to what they are saying. He looks at his friends questioningly and Brock shrugs, nodding. "Okay, so we go to the lake with Pezzy and Droid and Brock stays here with Puffer and Grizzy." He says, assuming Grizzy will also stay at the house if Puffer isn't going.

"Grizzy is going too.", Puffer interjects, finally looking up again, and Grizzy's head snaps around to him. "No, I'm not." Puffer frowns back at him. "Yes, you are." Evan get's the distinctive feeling that they have had this argument already, which makes him wonder just how long Puffer had to build up courage just to say that he doesn't want to go and how many eventualities the kids have discussed.

"I'm not going anywhere without you!", Grizzy says, clearly aggravated and Puffer's frown deepens. They don't say anything else but it's always impressive to see them talk without words. It's the first time they see them disagree on something and actually get angry at each other about it.

Lots of big firsts today.

Grizzy loses this fight, predictable since he usually gives in to whatever Puffer wants but also shocking because these two are the worst of the kids when it comes to codependency, never further apart than a few steps.

They are going right after breakfast and they are already outside watching the four of them stand awkwardly at the door, clearly in distress about splitting up. But before they can change their mind and call the trip off, Grizzy straightens his back, nods at Puffer and walks to the car. Droid and Pezzy give Puffer a hug and follow Grizzy.

When they pull out of the driveway and start driving away, their gazes stay locked on the house and they are pretty tense even after that.

Brian begins talking about all the activities one can do in the snow and the kids don't relax fully but get distracted enough by David and him bickering if sledding or ice skating is better.

When they finally arrive they have relaxed a little bit but Pezzy stays glued to Grizzy's side, only half heartedly looking around and Grizzy is clearly unhappy, frowning at the ground. Only Droid seems taken at the lake and the snow but he stays close to the other two.

"If I didn't know better I would say that Grizzy is pouting.", Jon whispers to Evan who snorts a laugh. He turns to the kids. "Sooo. Have you ever done anything fun in the snow?", he asks them and Grizzy looks at the snow and then at him, shaking his head. It's not surprising but sad all the same.

"Well, first things first.", Brian says and turns to David, "Snow angels." With that he pushes David over. The kids startle but David just sighs and starts moving his arms and legs. Brian helps him back up when he is finished and they look at the snow angel, the kids' faces twisted in confusion.

David shakes himself like a dog to get the snow off, making the others cringe away and Brian shoves him again. He falls down on his front this time and turns around to him after standing up, full of snow, opening his arms. "Aww Brian, I love you too. Come here.", he says and makes to hug him. "Fuck off!", Brian yells and David chases him further into the clearing surrounding the lake.

Looking back at his pursuer, he doesn't notice how he got closer to the lake and promptly faceplants as his feet slide over the icy surface. David laughs loudly at him and the rest of the crew joins in. Hearing Grizzy snort, Evan looks his way and sees him trying to hide his smile but Evan smiles reassuringly back at him and he relaxes slightly. Both Pezzy and Droid look up at Grizzy and relax their stances as well.

"Well. We are here for the lake.", Tyler says and starts walking towards David and Brian. Giving the kids another smile, Evan says, "Come on.", and follows Tyler with the others.

By the time they reach the edge of the lake both David and Brian are gliding across it. They watch them for a few minutes and then Jon joins them, slowly stepping on the ice to subtly show the kids what to do.

"Do you want to try too?", he asks them, turning around, and Droid nods, watching David and Brian with big, interested eyes. At Jon's encouraging nod, he hesitantly moves away from his friends' side and takes a big step onto the ice, where he promptly slides, beginning to fall backwards as his feet move forward.

Grizzy darts forward, panicked, and falls as well, resulting in him landing on his stomach on the ice and Droid falling on top of him. Pezzy stands frozen, still on the snow, as both of them try, and fail, to stand up again until Tyler grabs Grizzy's arm to pull him up and Jon does the same for Droid.

Grizzy immediately tries going back onto the snow and Tyler steadies him until he is safely back on it. He looks at the ice with suspicion after that but Droid seems even more interested now. Not managing to take more than 2 steps without nearly falling, he starts frowning at his feet until Brian comes to a stop next to him and holds out his hand.

"I can pull you if you want.", he offers and Droid looks at his hand for a long moment, eyes briefly flickering back to Grizzy and Pezzy, before slowly taking it. Brian smiles brightly at him, "Great! Let's go."

Gliding over the ice, Droid starts laughing, still stumbling sometimes and Jon turns to Pezzy, happy it turned out this well, "Pezzy? Do you want to try it as well? I can pull you too."

Pezzy hesitates longer than Droid, head swiveling between him and Grizzy for a while but eventually he peels himself away from Grizzy's side and steps on the ice, wobbling slightly but staying upright. He lets Jon pull him as well.

"Grizzy, do you want to try?", Tyler asks even though his face clearly shows that he doesn't. He doesn't voice it though, fidgeting a little, until Evan reassures him, "It is ok to say no if you don't want to. It's always ok to say no."

Looking back at him, Grizzy seemingly mulls that over in his head and then he says, "I don't want to." He watches the reaction to that closely but Evan and Tyler just smile at him. "We can do something else. Do you know what a snowman is?"

He, predictably, does not and they show him how to build one as Droid and Pezzy continue playing on the ice. Pezzy gets the hang of it fairly fast and starts gliding by himself until he sees the finished snowman next to Grizzy and comes to them, curious, while Droid still mostly stumbles over the ice with Brian, laughing despite it.

Tyler and Evan let the two build the next one alone and then split up, the crew forming their own little groups.

After a bit, Grizzy and Pezzy are completely focused on the snow, both seeming to have fun and Tyler watches, content that the trip was a success until Pezzy makes a snow angel and Grizzy's face changes.

He is looking down at Pezzy laying in the snow, seemingly far away with his thoughts, but deep pain is showing clearly on his face and Tyler wonders just what he is remembering right now.

Before he can ask him what's wrong, something hits him in the back of the head. He spins around to look for the culprit of the snowball with narrowed eyes and sees Droid flinch back slightly, face turning unsure.

One of his hands comes up to grip Brian's side, whose impish smile turns encouraging when he looks down to meet Droid's gaze. Tyler bends down and gathers snow in his hands. While forming his ball he makes eye contact with Droid and smiles, raising an eyebrow and when he begins the motion to throw, Droid ducks behind Brian.

Brian starts to laugh until Tyler's snowball hits him square in the face.

"Hey, you fecker!", he shouts and bends down to make a snowball of his own. He half turns to Droid while forming it, reveling in the hand still attached to him and the excitement in his eyes, and says, "Help me pummel Tyler, ok?" He hands his snowball to Droid, who only hesitates briefly before glancing at Tyler and throwing it. He hits his arm and Brian cheers, which makes Droid even more excited and he bends down to make another.

Tyler, who had only half side stepped the snowball on purpose, shares a quick, satisfied look with Brian before turning to Grizzy and Pezzy. Pezzy has gotten up by now and Grizzy's face has smoothed out again. Both look at the exchange intrigued.

"You wanna join? Two against one seems a bit unfair.", he says as he dodges a snowball by Brian. Grizzy looks down at Pezzy briefly and nods after seeing his interest. Tyler quickly shows them how to make one, telling them to try and avoid putting rocks in by accident. Then he throws the snowball at Droid who dodges it with a laugh.

Pezzy and Grizzy both aim for Brian and Grizzy's hits him. He makes a show of grinning and throwing his own back at Grizzy, who startles a laugh as he dodges, the line of tension in his shoulders disappearing.

"Hahahaha what was that, Pezzy?!", Droid laughs at him, pointing at his snowball that missed by a lot. "Shut up!", Pezzy exclaims, highly offended and motions to throw at him which Droid mirrors. Both stop in their tracks immediately, seeming surprised at themselves and reluctant to be on opposite sides of the battle. They are startled out of it by a snowball hitting Droid in the chest and their eyes turn to Grizzy, who's already bent down to form another, grinning from ear to ear.

After that all the bets are off as they start getting into the fight.

The rest of the crew watches from the sidelines, happy with this outcome, until Tyler and Brian decide to form an alliance and the first snowball hits Jon. The whole clearing turns into a battleground after that.

It's several hours later when they decide to go back home. Evan and Jon are in the front, smiling and glancing to the back every so often. The others are sitting in their seats, silently snickering at the kids.

Pezzy is nearly out of his seat, laying across Grizzy's knees and chattering excitedly with Droid about snow angels vs snowmen and teasing Droid about falling down multiple times on the ice. Droid teases right back about Pezzy not hitting his target a single time with his snowballs and then says, "We can build a snowman for Puffer! He would like that, Grizzy, right?".

If the mood had been good before, now it's downright ecstatic. Grizzy who had before only laughed along, commenting here and there, joins the discussion on what they would tell Puffer and what they could show him.

It makes them wonder again why Puffer didn't come along in the first place but no one wants to ruin the first time the kids are completely relaxed and happy in their presence.

About half an hour before they get home, they drive right into the beginning of a snowstorm and by the time they are home it's clear that they will be snowed in shortly.

Arriving at the house, Evan parks in front and they get inside. The first thing everyone notices is that it is nearly as cold inside as outside. The light doesn't seem to work as well.

"Puffer!", Grizzy exclaims alarmed and he takes off in the direction of their rooms, the other two hot on his heels.

"Hey! Wait!", Evan shouts after them but they ignore him. Sighing, he signs for Tyler to go after them before screaming, "Brock?!"

Brock teleports in front of him. "Finally! Power cut out like 3 hours ago! I couldn't reach you. Something must have fallen on all the necessary shit in the area, I swear.", he says agitated, "I've been trying to get something to work but you guys had the car and I couldn't just leave Puffer alone."

"Where is Puffer?", David asks, eyes locked in the direction the kids have run, frowning.

"I bundled him up in warm clothes and a few blankets and last time I checked on him...", a door slams and Grizzy runs back into the corridor, followed by Droid, Pezzy and Tyler, frantically looking around. The naked panic on his face is quick to put them all in panic mode, ".. he was sleeping on the couch." Brock finishes before vanishing.

Grizzy has already moved on in direction of the living room and they all run after him.

When they arrive in the living room they see Brock looking horrified and shaking something on the couch that is still concealed by the backrest from their angle. Grizzy doesn't slow down and practically throws himself onto the couch, making Brock stumble back.

Coming closer, they see Grizzy cradling an unresponsive Puffer in his arms. His head hangs limply and his skin has turned a pale blue.

"He's freezing! I don't understand. I...he...he should at worst be a little cold.", Brock stammers, looking at the nest of blankets that Grizzy has ripped off of Puffer to get to him.

Grizzy folds Puffer's body into his, covering as much of him as possible, Puffer's hands between their chests. It looks like a practiced pose to get him warm. Tyler is sharply reminded of the way Grizzy looked at the snow earlier. This has happened before. More than once.

Placing one hand on Puffer's cheek, Grizzy starts quietly but desperately speaking to his lifeless form. He presses their foreheads together.

"Wake up. Please, wake up. Don't leave me. Please, please. Wake up. Puffer, please. Puffer. Wake up."

He's speaking himself further into a panic attack and starts rocking back and forth, eyes never leaving Puffer's closed ones even as they get blurry with tears.

"Is he..?", Evan starts, looking at Brock, but can't bring himself to finish that sentence. Brock's eyes stay locked on Puffer as he answers, "I don't.....I didn't check…"

Jon takes a deep breath and steps closer, reaching out towards them, wanting to check Puffer for a pulse and suddenly Grizzy stops pleading with Puffer to wake up and growls at him, eyes narrowed aggressively and pulling Puffer out of reach. He swipes at him when he doesn't move back fast enough and shifts himself so he is between them and Puffer while still holding him. The growling doesn't stop even as Jon backs up further.

Evan glances at Droid and Pezzy, who are on either side of the pair, half on the couch. Pezzy has his hands in his hair like when he has one of his migraines and he is frantically looking between Grizzy and them. He is still close to Brock but the growling startles him to inch closer to Grizzy. There's no doubt that he will bolt to hide behind him soon. Droid's distressed face is turning blank at a concerning pace and Evan can see the blasters on his hands light up.

The kids normally take their cues on how to deal with things from Puffer, who's the best of them at reading people, and Evan is sure that everything would have been significantly harder had Puffer decided that he liked him just a bit less on that first day, when they had been standing in his office, if he had seen him to be even more of a threat.

Without Puffer, he noticed at the lake, Pezzy and Droid seem to default to Grizzy, which, right now, is quite bad for everyone involved, considering he is clearly having a trauma response. They need to step in before the situation gets violent.

"Brian! Brock! Get Droid and Pezzy out of here!", he commands in a voice he normally only uses in missions and Brock grabs Pezzy, faster than he can react, and teleports out of the room.

Brian quickly moves towards Droid, who backs up and actually lifts his hand to shoot but Brian is faster. He grabs his hands, effectively blocking him and pulls him into a hold against his chest, dragging him out of the room. After Droid struggles in vain for a few moments his mask breaks and he starts crying out in desperation, "No, no. No! Let go! Puffer! Puffer! Grizzy! Let go!" He's sobbing by the time they reach the door.

It breaks their hearts but they trust Brock and Brian to adequately deal with both of them respectively.

Unfortunately, while necessary, this did nothing to improve the situation with Grizzy. It just added more stress.

They look at each other, trying to come up with a course of action.

"We can't force him away from Puffer. He could seriously harm one of us, himself and Puffer in the process. Not to mention the emotional damage.", Jon says and the others nod. There is enough emotional damage already.

"We should back up a little.", David suggests, "Feeling crowded won't calm him down." While Evan understands the sentiment and logic behind that, leaving them alone isn't an option right now, "But we need to check on Puffer. We can't wait until he calms down by himself."

"Well, he likes Tyler the best. We back up and he tries to calm him down.", David shrugs. "That's actually a good idea. Are you up for that?", Evan asks and Tyler nods.

They move further back, away from Grizzy, and Tyler slowly approaches the couch. He is met by the growling increasing in volume and stops.

"I'm not going to harm you or him.", he says calmly, keeping his posture open. He inches closer. Grizzy looks at him, still aggressive but there's also hesitation. "Hey it's just me. Have I ever hurt you before? It's gonna be alright." The growling gets quieter.

Tyler kneels down at the edge of the couch and continues talking, calmly and soothingly. "I'm trying to help, ok? It will be alright. Calm down."

Grizzy's eyes are slowly turning from aggressive to desperate and his growling starts stuttering. It takes a few minutes of calm reassurances for him to fully dissolve into tears, clutching Puffer even tighter, growling stopping.

"I'm going to take a look at Puffer, ok?", when Grizzy tries shifting Puffer away again, Tyler's quick to add, "You don't have to let him go. No one is taking him from you." That seems to calm him down a bit.

Tyler slowly moves his arm towards them and Grizzy growls softly but doesn't try to stop him, more of a passive than an active threat. His eyes are glued to the hand coming to rest on Puffer's neck.

"There's a pulse. He's alive."

The overwhelming sense of relief nearly brings the others to their knees and David turns to go tell Brian, Brock and the remaining kids.

"We need to warm him up.", Jon says and Evan wracks his brain to find a solution. "We don't have power and we can't get help because of the storm. Brock can't teleport that far and we can't send him through the storm, nevermind taking the car."

"Well, Grizzy has the right idea then.", Tyler says and slowly gets on the couch. Grizzy tenses again and Tyler is quick to soothe, "I'm just helping you keep him warm." He gets on the other side of Puffer, pressing into his side. "See? Just warming him up." Grizzy slowly tears his eyes away from Tyler to look down at Puffer. "He's gonna be ok?", he asks, voice small, and Tyler searches for an answer but can't find one, not knowing if he will be. He looks at Evan and Jon for help.

Jon moves forward. Fortunately Grizzy doesn't start growling again and he says, "We need to check for frostbite, ok?" At Grizzy's shaky nod he starts moving closer.

Jon talks him through what he is doing and he lets Jon touch Puffer and turn him around. Only when it looks like he is pulling him away does he react. "No.", he protests and clutches Puffer back to his chest.

"No frostbite. He's gonna be ok.", he says to Grizzy after checking Puffer over and then directed at Evan, "We just need to warm him up and hope for the best." He gives him a look that says 'We need to talk later'.

David sticks his head through the door and asks: "Can the others come back in?" Evan looks at them cuddling on the couch and nods, "If they have calmed down enough, yes."

Soon after Droid and Brian enter again. Droid's eyes are bloodshot and his face is red but he isn't fighting against Brian anymore and he doesn't look panicked or worryingly blank. Brian has both hands on his shoulders and when he sees the others on the couch he tugs against the hold.

As soon as Brian lets go he sprints to the couch and then squeezes himself between Tyler and Puffer, draping himself over Puffer's back. He hides his face between his shoulder blades and stills.

Brock re-enters through the door this time with Pezzy clinging to him like a Koala and a beanie over his eyes. The stress probably worked him into one of his migraines.

"Hey," Brock softly murmurs to him, "We're in the living room. You can go to Puffer if you want." Immediately Pezzy struggles out of his hold. Pulling the beanie away from his eyes he stumbles towards the couch, crawling on it and then just plops down on top of the other kids legs, head laying on Puffer's hip. He pulls the beanie back down and shifts around a bit before seemingly finding a comfortable enough position to stay in.

David, who has entered after Brock, looks at them and Tyler, still next to them, now pressed to Droid's back. He grins halfheartedly, "Sooo...cuddle pile to keep warm?" Tyler snorts, gesturing to the blankets, "Let's bundle up, yeah?"

Evan picks up one of thicker blankets and drapes it over Pezzy, tucking him in and covering the legs around him as well. He gives two, one thick and one couch blanket, to Tyler who wraps one around his back and the thin one around Droid and half of Puffer before going back to cuddling them. David takes the place on the other side of Grizzy, mirroring what Tyler just did. The last blanket goes on top of the little ball they created.

Jon goes behind the backrest of the couch, placing a hand on Puffer's forehead and looking at his complexion. "Now we have to wait. Not much else we can do for him right now."

"I still don't understand how this happened.", Brock says, clearly feeling guilty about not noticing him nearly dying right under his nose, "He should have..." but Droid's muffled voice from under the blanket interrupts him.

"Mix of cold- and warmblooded. Bad at self-temperature-regulation due to being unable to produce and sustain enough body heat by it...himself. Starts being considerably affected at a temperature of 5°C. Shuts down completely at a temperature of -10°C. Recovers quickly when temperature is adjusted above critical level. May develop a fever after recovery."

He says it like he is reading something out loud. It's not the first time Droid knows some weirdly specific facts about them the other kids don't but he never presented them like this before. Like a research report. A can of worms they're too exhausted to open right now.

"So all the blankets and thick clothes did jack shit!", Brian supplies, rubbing at his eyes in aggravation, "Is that why he didn't come to the lake? You should have..." Evan sends him a sharp look to shut him up. "Now is not the time!", he hisses at him.

"I know. I'm sorry.", Brian caves in immediately, crestfallen, "I'm just.... I'm gonna see if I can get the emergency power to work." With that he leaves the room and Brock follows him, wanting to help but also to console.

"Let's see what we have that doesn't need power.", Jon suggests and he and Evan leave to scavenge their own house, coming back a few minutes later with their loot which consists of a little gas burner for canned food, a few flashlights, candles and more blankets and pillows to expand the cuddle pile.

Brian and Brock return from downstairs, both frowning. "I need a part we don't have. So no power until we can get to town.", Brian says unhappily.

David opens one part of his blanket and tilts his head at Brian, "Cuddling till we can rescue ourselves?" Brian looks at the others still rearranging the blankets but Brock pushes him towards David. He moves into the open spot and closes the blanket again.

"How the fuck did you guys get it this warm under here already?", he asks, relaxing into David's side. "What can I say? I'm just that hot of a guy." David says in a jokingly confident manner and the two begin to bicker.

They all end up on the couch, huddling for warmth with the kids in the middle. It was already late when they came home and now it's the middle of the night.

The kids have fallen asleep, exhausted from the day and the emotional toil the day ended with. Even Grizzy, who clung to wakefulness the hardest, fretting over Puffer, who hasn't woken up yet, eventually closed his eyes, breathing evening out.

Jon once again comes to a stop at the backrest, looking down at them. One hand moves to Puffer's head and he starts carefully carding through his hair.

"He's full of scars.", he says quietly as to not wake them up but to the rest of the crew the whisper rings loud through the silent room.

"What?", Brock whispers. Jon's eyes stay on the kids as he answers, "Puffer. He has scars all over his body. They look like scalpel scars. Like something was cut out of him."

"All over his body? Surely we would have seen them." Evan tries, unable to handle another bombshell right now but Jon shakes his head, "They seem to be really old. Faded. Hard to see if you're not close. Little half circles..." he trails off briefly, "The lines on his throat aren't gills. They're scars as well. Deep ones."

No one says anything for a long while, grappling with that revelation. Jon get's back under the blankets after adjusting the one over Puffer again.

Brock clears his throat, willing the tears away, "Pezzy definitely has some kind of psychic powers."

All heads snap to him. The movement makes Droid and Grizzy shift but Tyler and David are quick to sooth them back down.

"What?", is asked again, this time by Evan.

"When I teleported us out of here he started freaking out. Crying, trying to get back to the living room. I tried calming him down but he just got more upset, clutching at his head. His eyes started sparking blue...and then i felt a pressure building in my head. I teleported away and got the beanie. That always seems to calm him down, right? Well, mostly Puffer, I guess, but...", he pauses briefly, "Yeah. Once the beanie was on his head he just broke down crying, clinging to me. Repeating how his head hurt. Asking for the others. I tried calming him down and then David came to get us."

"Fuck. That's not good. An uncontrolled psychic user is never good and we don't even know what his powers are exactly.", Evan says, stress headache forming behind his eyes, "Should we also talk about how concerning Droid's specific knowledge about them is while we're at it? Especially how he presented it today."

Brian answers in a contemplative tone, "It makes me think that he has a memory chip installed somewhere.", he puts one hand over his eyes, voice getting a hollow kind of angry, "All of this is the final nail in the coffin, right? No denial anymore. They're from some sort of fucked up laboratory. And the sick fuck running that put the files in his head for some reason."

Evan lets out a hysterical laugh, "So when we took this mission we thought they were street kids with a bad past we had to look after for a couple of months. Instead we got four kids so severely traumatized we can't even begin to imagine all the baggage that comes with them. No knowledge what they are still hiding from us because if they were too scared to tell us this there's no limit to what's to come. A psychic user, who knows how powerful, with control issues and to top it all off they apparently escaped from an illegal lab so people could be after them." He pauses, coming to a decision he didn't know he was making when he started this rant, "So we're keeping them, right?"

All of them look at him like he just asked the most stupid question in existence.

"Duh, captain obvious.", David mocks him.

"If the idiot, who couldn't even bother to write down the most basic facts about them in their files, tries to take our children back, he will have to claw them out of my cold, dead hands.", Tyler growls out, subconsciously shifting to lean protectively over Droid and half of Puffer, and Jon snorts, "Your cold, dead hands? Like it wouldn't be him dead instead of you."

There are several noises of agreement and Brian adds, "The fuckers who did this will wish the were dead if we ever meet them." Everyone agrees silently, mood changing from sad and frustrated to murderous.

They stay up a bit longer, quietly talking about all the things they have learned today and scheming brutal revenge before going to sleep.

Tyler wakes up the next morning and the first thing he notices is that Droid is gone. The second thing is that Grizzy is awake and whispering to Puffer which brings him to the third and most important thing, Puffer is awake. His head is still hidden in Grizzy's chest but he's definitely answering him, voice sluggish and slurred.

"Good morning." Tyler whispers and Grizzy's eyes snap to him, "Puffer woke up?"

Grizzy nods and Tyler smiles, eyes going to the back of Puffer's head. He reaches for him and while Grizzy tenses it's clearly just a reflex and he relaxes quickly, slightly nudging Puffer away from his chest so that Tyler can take a look. Tyler's smile widens at that and he gently takes Puffer's shoulder to turn him around.

His face is red and his eyes hazy. Placing a hand on his forehead, Tyler swears, "Shit. Brian, wake up!" He blindly grabs a pillow and throws it in Brian's direction, hitting David instead, who gasps awake, "What the fuck?"

"Wake Brian up.", Tyler orders. David takes one look at Puffer and swears as well, turning around to shake Brian awake.

The others are waking up as well at all the movement and noise, quickly assessing the situation and Brian scans Puffer, "41°C!" Jon stands up, "Fuck! We should still have some fever reducers." With that he leaves to get them.

Grizzy looks around at the commotion with wide eyes, startled. "What? What's going on?", he asks confused. "Puffer's fever is too high.", Tyler answers, becoming confused himself at how unbothered he seems with this. A stark contrast to yesterday. Grizzy just looks down at Puffer, who's delirious with fever, "Fever? Too high? Isn't this normal?"

Tyler is too stunned to answer and David takes over "What do you normally do when he gets like this?", he asks in a gentle tone. Grizzy starts looking more and more concerned, pulling Puffer closer again. "Wait till it goes away?", he answers unsure and David sighs, forcing himself to relax for Grizzy's sake. "High fevers can be dangerous.", he starts but Pezzy interrupts.

"Dangerous? But they said..", he cuts himself off. He is still laying on top of Puffer and Grizzy's legs but crawls upwards, stopping when his head is on Puffer's chest, curling back up. Puffer weakly puts his arms around him and starts coughing.

"Yes. Dangerous.", David emphasizes, choosing to ignore the second part, "But it will be alright." Jon returns with a few small packages in his hand.

Evan slings one arm around Pezzy's waist and pulls him up, "Hey buddy, let's give Puffer some room to breathe, ok?" Both Pezzy and Puffer whine at the separation, clinging to each other. "Ok ok, but don't lay down on his chest.", Evan gives in, not wanting to make Puffer more distressed, and Pezzy slides in between Puffer and Grizzy.

Puffer's head turns left and right a few times, hazily taking in his surroundings, before turning to Grizzy. "Droid?", he asks, voice a hoarse mumble.

"He's getting some water.", Grizzy answers but Puffer doesn't seem reassured, eyes scanning the room again. "Droid?", he asks again, more upset.

"I'm gonna get him, ok?", Tyler soothes and stands up. He shudders at the extremely cold air and puts on his shoes and a jacket before searching for Droid.

He finds him in the kitchen, kneeling on the counter reaching for a package of snacks that Tyler knows Puffer likes a lot. It's in one of the higher up cabinets that even David, the tallest of them, needs a step stool to reach.

"Droid.", he says and Droid flinches, knocking a glass filled with water that was next to him off the counter. The glass breaks on the ground and Droid's face looks like the world is about to end as he scrambles to get off the counter. "Woah, wait!", Tyler quickly moves forward, grabbing Droid before his feet can make contact with the shardfilled floor and carries him a safe distance away.

Droid is stiffly hanging in his hold and starts frantically apologising. Tyler adjusts him in his arms, setting him on his hip, "It's fine, I'm not mad. It's just a glass. We have a lot of those." He looks at Droid, frowning, "More importantly, why are you running around in socks and a T-shirt? You're freezing cold."

Droid looks at him, surprised. "You're mad about that?", he asks. Tyler rolls his eyes and starts walking back to the living room, "We may have a lot of glasses but we don't have a lot of you. So be more careful, ok?" That seems to stun Droid into silence and he gapes at him until he drops him back onto the couch, next to Puffer.

"Droid!" He is immediately hugged to Puffer, who then murmurs to himself, barely above a breath, "Safe, safe, safe.", in a never ending stream. There are tear tracks on his face and Tyler looks questioningly at Jon. Looking worn out he raises the fever reducers with one hand and Tyler understands, wincing in sympathy.

After the incident with the pain pills they have tried to explain multiple times that there are pills that are good and helpful. None of their kids ever believed them. They even tried showing them that the pills will help, making it really obvious one time that Tyler had a headache and that he felt better after taking them. Their kids had seemed intrigued at first but had ultimately been too afraid and distrustful to try. In the end it had come down to Jon getting frustrated at being unable to help and being more insistent because of it which they seemed to take as a command and Pezzy took the pain pill. They were absolutely floored when nothing bad happened and Pezzy started to actually feel better. Like a pill not causing some form of harm was unimaginable. Thinking back, it makes Tyler's hackles rise.

They still eye every pill with suspicion but it takes only a little encouragement now to get Pezzy to take one when he has a migraine. Looking at Puffer right now, barely comprehending anything in his fever, he doesn't think that logic overwrote the deeply ingrained fear of pills. He's glad he was getting Droid instead of having to force the pills down Puffer's throat.

"What was that crash?", Jon asks him and Tyler answers, "I startled Droid and he dropped a glass. I'm gonna go clean it up."

They stay snowed in for two more days during which they mostly stay on the couch, eat heated up canned soup and fret over the fever. When Evan, Jon, Brian and David leave for the city, to get the parts for the power and to talk to the client, Puffer is still feeling under the weather but he is lucid and the fever is gone.

A few hours later the house is warm again and they watch as Grizzy and Puffer sit cross legged in front of the terrace door, Puffer's head on Grizzy's shoulder and brand new battery powered heating blanket draped over them, watching Droid and Pezzy finally built the snowman they had talked about in the car three days ago.

"Our kids.", Evan says and he and Jon clink their glasses together.

Chapter Text

Jon is talking with Evan, who is angrily gesturing with his hands, about the details of a mission. Now that they don't get paid for taking care of their kids anymore they need to take missions again. They are standing in the kitchen and don't notice their kids coming in until Evan's elbow connects with Pezzy's face. Swirling around immediately, Evan bends down to eye level and takes his face between his hands, either ignoring or not noticing the scared flinch in his haste to make sure he is alright.

"Oh my god Pezzy. Are you ok? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you. I'm sorry!", he hurriedly says while looking him over. Jon, who saw all of their kids flinch back with fear, notes the change in their stances, going from terrified to surprised as they stare at Evan in astonishment. Puffer's mouth actually drops open and Grizzy looks like his brain stopped working altogether. Droid's face can't seem to decide between open shock and going blank.

Pezzy's eyes are as wide as they can go as he fixates on Evan and he asks in a flabbergasted tone, "You...you're sorry?" Evan stills in his frantic check up and looks Pezzy in the eyes. "Of course. I would never hit you on purpose.", he says sincerely, putting emphasis on "never", and looks at the others next, "We would never hit any of you on purpose."

After another beat of stunned silence, tears gather in Pezzy's eyes and he starts lifting his arms, like he is reaching for a hug before forcing them back down. When Evan opens his arms instead in a quiet invitation, he hesitates a long moment more before stepping into them and wrapping his arms around Evan, who does the same for him.

"It hurts.", he whispers against him and Evan presses him closer gently. "I know. I'm sorry.", he says again and Pezzy sniffs before replying, "I forgive you."

"Thank you.", Evan says tearily and Jon has to fight his own tears at the scene. Looking up, he can practically see the cogs turning in the others' heads as they stare disbelievingly at Evan. Puffer's face turns towards him, almost questioningly like he could answer all his doubts but all Jon can do is smile back at him, hoping to affirm what Evan said.

When Pezzy steps back he attaches himself to Puffer instead, who quickly scans his face, seemingly satisfied that no damage was done and Grizzy shuffles a bit awkwardly before saying, "We wanted to get some apples."

"Yeah, sure, of course.", Jon says, berating himself for sounding so affected and they let them through.

The next few days both Evan and Jon notice that while they still flinch and cringe away at sudden movements and the sort, they recover way faster than before. Like it finally clicked completely that they really won't be hurt without reason.

—--

Tyler, Brian and David are arguing in the hallway when Grizzy walks through. Their kids stopped shying away when they have arguments, having understood after a while that they aren't actually mad most of the time. The crew also tries to keep all arguing as calm as possible when they are around and that helps a lot as well.

Curious, he walks closer to them and comes to a stop closest to Tyler. They all greet him with a smile but don't stop their conversation.

"White is boring. Let's spice it up a bit.", Brian tells David who scoffs back at him, "We're not painting it red! That makes people more aggressive."

Brian rolls his eyes and counters, "That's a myth! Of course, you would believe that." Before David can make his indignation at this statement known, Tyler interjects, "I still think black would be best."

"Yeah, best to depress the hell out of us.", David answers and Brian agrees, "Way too dark. Terrible idea." Grizzy looks between them as the conversation prattles on and asks after a while, "What are you talking about?"

Tyler turns to him, surprised that he spoke up, and tells him, "The hallway got some water damage during the power outage.", he points to the wall, where a few water spots can be seen, "We repaired what caused it and now we want to repaint it. We just need to decide on a color."

Grizzy looks around the hallway as the argument gets picked up again and says, "Blue.", after a moment. His tone is confident but looking at him, they can see the tension in his shoulders and the slight trepidation on his face.

Quickly shaking their surprise, they inspect the hallway again, Tyler humming thoughtfully, before David smiles and says, "Sure. Blue sounds good" Tyler pats Grizzy on the back in a friendly manner, ignoring the small, instinctual flinch, and keeps his hand on his shoulder.

"That's a good idea! I think blue would be nice.", he says and Brian quickly agrees. "Definitely better than black.", he teases and Tyler laughs before nodding, "Yeah, true."

Looking at Tyler with wide eyes, Grizzy fidgets awkwardly before asking, "A good idea?" Smiling reassuringly back at him, Tyler reinforces, "Yes. A very good idea. Good job."

Grizzy doesn't seem to know what to do with himself for a moment, eyes going to the floor and around the hallway for a while as he keeps fidgeting. Then he says a quick goodbye and leaves with fast steps.

A few days later they bought the paint and prepped the hallway for painting. Their kids stand next to them and look at the blue paint buckets. Grizzy in particular seems bewildered at this turn of events. Tyler offers a paint roll to him. "You decided on the color, you should have the first roll.", he says and Grizzy gingerly takes the roll.

He walks to the wall slowly and lifts the roll even slower, like he is waiting for someone to stop him. When no one does, he rolls the paint onto the wall. "Great.", Tyler praises and lifts his own roll to start painting, "Do you guys want to help?"

Their kids look at each other briefly before nodding and together they paint the whole hallway. Evan and Brock come in after they are finished and Brock comments, "Oh ready already? Landed on blue in the end? Looks good."

"Grizzy chose the color!", Droid says in giddy excitement, his want to share that fact overshadowing any hesitation he would have otherwise. Brock raises a surprised eyebrow and looks at Grizzy, "Oh? Good choice!"

Taking another look at the, now blue, wall, Grizzy smiles a genuine smile back at him and then their kids leave to clean up.

It's with great joy that the crew notices them actually voicing their opinions and wants more openly now. No matter how small or inconsequential. Droid thinks tacos would be a better dinner than lasagna a few days later. Pezzy favors laying on the right side of the couch so he can look out of the window easier. Puffer takes sides in an argument about which animal is cuter and Grizzy's smile is blinding whenever he walks through the blue hallway.

Chapter Text

The time used previously for the biweekly calls from their ex-client is now spent for meetings about their kids where they talk about what happened recently and how to best respond to this or that behavior. Brian calls it the "New Parent Debrief" much to Evan's annoyance.

The topic about their ways to get affection from them lately gets tossed out today by Jon.

-----

Puffer has been standing in front of the couch, looking at David laying on it, for at least 5 minutes. Jon is itching to ask if something is wrong but the expression on his face, calculating in deep concentration, and the way their other kids are way too casually scattered in the room, watching the scene with rapt attention, is stopping him.

"I'm cold", Puffer says suddenly and irrational panic seizes Jon for just a moment. The house is warm, way above the critical level Droid spoke of. Brian has become very particular with the thermostat. There are at least three failsafes installed now because he would "Rather set himself on fire than ever go through that again."

Puffer also looks fine if a bit apprehensive so Jon is confused what this is about but David just takes one look at Puffer and then pats the spot next to him on the couch, arm open for him.

He and Puffer look at each other for a second longer and then Puffer inches closer slowly, kneeling on the couch. His eyes flicker between David's face and the open arm and then he crawls on top of him instead of beside him, head on his collarbone.

While Jon is surprised by this turn of events, David just runs with it, closing both arms around Puffer, who melts into the touch, and even presses a kiss to the top of his head.

Then he goes back to doing stuff on his phone, hand with it resting on Puffer's shoulder. Jon can't help but smile and pulls out his own phone to snap a picture for the others.

He notices Grizzy looking at him from the corner of his eye and realizes that it wasn't just David's reaction that was observed. It probably isn't a coincidence either that this happened on a day the others are out.

He sends the picture to their group chat, knowing he won't get a response for a few hours and chuckles at the sequence of emojis David immediately spams in answer. Their kids go back to whatever they were doing before Puffer had come to a halt in front of the couch, seemingly satisfied with the results. Jon's smile only widens.

-----

Pezzy sits in one of the chairs in Evan's office while he is going over some paperwork. The last few days he has taken to playing chicken with the open door. At first only idling around it, occasionally looking inside and retreating when Evan looked up, and then standing just slightly inside, inching closer to the desk every day. He always leaves when Evan acknowledges him, be it a glance or talking to him, so Evan forces himself now to strictly look down at his work when Pezzy is there.

Yesterday he sat down for the first time, tensely looking around the room and watching Evan work. He left after just a few minutes and Evan really wonders what the goal of all of this is.

Today he dared to come even closer, not sitting across but to the side of the desk. He has put his legs up on the chair with him, knees hugged to his chest. It makes Evan think that he will stay longer this time.

"My head hurts.", he says suddenly and Evan's head snaps up. Concerned he places one hand on Pezzy's head, searching his eyes for his pain level. "How bad is it?", he asks, "Do you want me to get Puffer? Or something for your eyes? I might have some pain relief here." He goes to open one of the drawers of his desk but Pezzy shakes his head.

Looking back at him, now looking down at the desk and gnawing at his bottom lip, it becomes clear that his head doesn't actually hurt and Evan suddenly understands what the last few days have been working up to. The corners of his mouth twitch up and he starts gently scratching at Pezzy's scalp.

"Do you wanna stay here until your headache is gone?", he asks, giving him the excuse he is looking for, and Pezzy nods, leaning into the hand on his head.

A few minutes later Pezzy has his arms crossed on the desk with his head laying on them, eyes closed, and Evan is still petting his hair, looking down at him fondly. The paperwork can wait a little longer.

-----

Brian is laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He has fallen out of favor with Droid after having to drag him out of the room. A fact he hates with a passion. His kid is no longer sitting next to him at the dining table, watching him do this and that or following him around when he does different things around the house, looking over his shoulder.

Instead he shys away when he comes near and only talks to him when Brian asks him something. At least he isn't doing his going blank spiel with him. Brian doesn't think he could take it if Droid's trust had been shattered that much.

He is not sorry for what happened. It had been necessary in the situation but it's hard to think rationally about it when Droid is avoiding him so avidly.

He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't hear the shuffling at his open door until a quiet, hesitant "Brian?", breaks him away from his musings. Looking up he sees Droid standing at the entrance to his room and he quickly sits up.

"Hey! What's up?", he asks smiling, hoping he manages to hit a casual tone. Droid shifts his weight awkwardly and clutches one arm to his chest. "I jammed something in my arm. Can you help me fix it?”, he asks and for the first time since the incident he looks at him.

"Sure! Come in.", Brian waves him inside. This is the first time any of them asked for help this directly and he's determined to not fuck this up. He stands up to get his chair and rolls it next to the bed. Beckoning for Droid to sit down he goes back to the bed. "What's wrong exactly?, he asks, holding out one hand, palm up. Droid places his arm in the hand after a short hesitation and opens the compartment on it.

Looking at the wires and circuits, Brian can see the problem immediately. He smiles reassuringly at Droid, "Don't worry. This is an easy fix." Droid's fingers twitch at that, eyes briefly flickering to the side and it finally clicks for Brian.

"I can show you how to fix it if you want.", he offers, wanting to prolong his stay, happy that Droid sought him out. Even if he did so with an excuse. Droid's eyes light up and he nods eagerly. Getting his screwdriver, Brian fixes the jam, explaining every step as he goes along.

"How did you block my blaster?", Droid asks suddenly, after Brian closes the compartment again, "Can you show me how to do that?"

Brian blinks at him before turning his arm around showing him where to press to interrupt the blaster. When he looks up again, Droid's eyes are sparkling. A rush of happiness goes through Brian's chest.

"And what...?" The next half an hour turns into an interrogation ranging from questions about Droid's inner workings to stuff around the house to help with his phone. Droid is getting more and more happily excited with each answer he gets and even starts rambling about the reasons for his questions. Like wanting to know how to make a group chat because Grizzy saw the crew's on Tyler's phone and they want to be able to contact each other that efficiently as well or if the coffee machine can be made silent because Pezzy complained to him that the loud noise makes him anxious.

It ends with Droid next to him, pressed to his side, looking down at Brian's phone as he shows him how to do this and that.

He puts an arm around Droid's shoulders, pulling him even closer, "I'm sorry for scaring you and making you upset.", he says earnestly and Droid fists one hand in his shirt, looking up at him with wide, vulnerable eyes. "Really?", he asks disbelievingly and Brian's heart once again breaks for his kid, "Yes. Really."

Droid hugs him like he wants to bury himself into his chest and Brian hugs him back just as tightly.

-----

Grizzy is trailing after Tyler in the snow. He has been doing that a lot lately. Every time Tyler goes outside to do one of his perimeter checks, a thing that's not really necessary with all the protection they have installed around their base but it settles something instinctual in him to make sure that his territory is secure, Grizzy is sure to follow. He never goes further than the end of the clearing before heading back in. Sometimes he even stalks after him inside the house, always at a distance.

Tyler tried waiting for him or asking if he wanted to come with him but he always stops when Tyler stops and he said no to going further away. Tyler can't make head nor tail of his behavior.

Or he couldn't before telling the others what has been happening. Brian started laughing loudly at him while Brock smiled widely. Even Evan snorted and patted him on the back.

"I think he's been trying to play with you.", Brock said fondly before explaining the game they saw Grizzy and Pezzy play. It seems a bit childish for Grizzy's age but he supposes that his childhood hasn't been spent playing games. He should be cut some slack.

So now he is walking towards the end of the clearing, Grizzy on his trail. He slows down, letting him catch up a little and just before he reaches the first trees, he stops, looking over his shoulder. Grizzy, predictably, has stopped as well, looking at him in unsure anticipation. Tyler grins at him and changes course, walking along the border instead of going into the forest.

He smiles to himself when he hears him quickly shuffle after him. Going sometimes faster sometimes slower he tries to recreate what Brock has described and he can feel Grizzy getting closer.

When he is close enough, Tyler does the dramatic turn around and realizes too late that he has no plan for what to do now. Throwing him doesn't feel right. Grizzy recoils in suspense, but not fear, and they are standing in front of each other in a stalemate for a moment.

And then Grizzy is off, running in the opposite direction and Tyler follows on pure instinct. He is used to having to take it easy on the others, being a big cat shifter is giving him advantages in strength and speed, but Grizzy is faster than he expected.

Eventually he catches up to him and unthinkingly tackles him to the ground. He immediatly get's off of him, berating himself for fucking up, and kneels besides him.

"Shit, I'm sorry! I got carried away.", he says hastily as Grizzy rolls around and sits up. He looks at Tyler with surprised eyes and tilts his head, confused. Then he growls, hesitant but definitely playfull. It's the most clear cut "Play with me!" he has gotten yet and Tyler is overwhelmed at how happy that makes him.

He returns the growl and retackles him. It's awkward at first, both needing to test how much strength they can use but they figure that out quickly. Tyler can use more strength than he would have thought, even struggling for real at times, and Grizzy seems exhilarated that he can go all out.

It must be frustrating to always have to hold back and Tyler can recognise now how good Grizzy is at controlling his strength, never accidentally hurting one of their other kids even when excited or panicked.

They roll around for a bit and Grizzy suddenly wraps both arms around Tyler, face hiding in his chest. He thinks it's to hold him down at first, going to wriggle out of it, but Grizzy has gone rigid and he realizes that it has turned into a hug. When he wraps his arms around him to hug back Grizzy relaxes like he had feared he would be rejected and Tyler makes note to himself to try and touch their kids more. Leading by example and all that.

Eventually they break apart and sit up again. Grizzy's hair is full of snow and Tyler reaches out to ruffle it away. Then he turns the affectionate gesture into a noogie, rubbing his knuckles into his head, and stands up to run away. "You're it!", he laughs as he hears Grizzy hurry to stand up after him.

It's a bit childish. But Tyler never claimed to be the pinnacle of maturity.

-----

"It reminds me of toddlers testing the limits of what their parents tolerate. You know, like breaking a glass on purpose or something to that effect. Just that they are testing how emotionally needy they are allowed to be.", Jon says.

"Safe for Grizzy all of them felt like they had to lie to get positive attention.", Brock says unhappily but David shrugs, "Nah, those lies were way too obvious. I think they were testing if we would let them get away with it."

"Maybe it's a mix of both.", Evan chimes in, "Regardless of their intentions they shouldn't feel like they have to do that."

Everyone agrees but no one has a good solution. Just straight up telling them has never worked in the past.

They decide to just positively reinforce it when they seek them out for now.

Chapter Text

The mood is more pressed and sad at the next 'New Parent Debrief'. After their kids realized that trying to get attention and physical affection from the crew gives them positive results, they started seeking them out like the neglected, touch starved children that they are, cautious but desperate. While it's great that their kids get more comfortable and open with them over time, the increased time together also clearly shows how far they still have to go.

The catalog of triggers to avoid grows by the day.

—---

Droid is sitting next to Brian at the table in the living room, watching him tinker with something. It's nice and familiar. Droid seems to always find him when he does that and he started asking stuff about what he is doing after last time in his room. Brian loves it. His kid becomes more animated every day. While the others still tread lightly, seeking every bit of attention and affection with carefully planned steps, Droid has started just barreling straight to the point. Not always, of course, but Brian makes sure to react the most positive to him doing that, hoping to not only reinforce that for him but also to show their other kids that his approach of 'I'm here and you're going to pay attention to me now!' is fine and worth mimicking.

Right now he is silent, watching Brian put back together a camera that malfunctioned with excited, interested eyes.

The parts refuse to go back together and Brian curses under his breath after trying and failing to reconnect them for the third time, "Useless piece of…"

Droid's flinch cuts him off and before he can react the camera is out of his hands and smashed on the floor as Droid stumbles backwards out of his chair. He can see Puffer quickly get up from the couch and move towards them out of the corner of his eye but his focus stays on Droid, whose breath becomes quicker and quicker. He shoots the camera with his blaster before his arms wrap around himself.

"Droid? What…?", he starts and Droid's big, scared eyes turn to him, panic building in them as he flinches back further, a low whine forming in the back of his throat. "Useless things get destroyed.", he croaks out but it's clearly to himself and not to Brian. The whine gets higher and he starts to repeat that sentence when Puffer's arms wrap around him. His face is firmly pressed into Puffer's chest as he hugs him to himself tightly.

Puffer presses his face into his hair and starts speaking so quietly that Brian can only hear it because he is so close to the two, "...not useless. You're not useless. You're not…"

Brian feels sick. He stands up to try and comfort him too as a shudder goes through Droid and he starts sobbing, hands gripping the front of Puffer's shirt. Grizzy steps next to Puffer and nudges them into moving away before he can reach them. He has Pezzy on his back, who is crying as well and hiding his face in his neck.

He lets them go, knowing that stopping them would only cause more stress. Sharing a look with David and Tyler, who had been on the couch with them, he lets himself fall back into the chair, feeling unbelievably tired all of the sudden.

Two hours later Grizzy walks up to him, still in the living room and building a new camera, with Droid trailing after him, hiding behind him. Brian gives them his full attention instantly and he tries to give a reassuring smile as Grizzy nudges Droid while scrutinising him closely. Droid's head appears from behind Grizzy and his bloodshot eyes stare at him, clearly scared of his reaction, as he says quietly, "I'm sorry for breaking your camera."

"That's ok, Droid. I forgive you.", he says and both Grizzy and Droid relax, "Do you want to help me build a new one?"

Droid's eyes turn wide at the question and he is clearly interested but not quite brave enough to say yes. "Do you want to help, Grizzy?", Brian asks and Grizzy shifts from foot to foot for a moment before nodding. They both sit down at the table with him and Droid relaxes completely as Brian goes through the steps while explaining what he is doing. He tries to make it fun for both kids and he thinks he is successful when Grizzy starts asking questions as well. Soon they are even laughing at his jokes and Droid's eyes gain their sparkle back when Brian hands him the camera.

"You try to connect these parts.", he says and patiently explains and re-explains what to do, guiding Droid's hands. When the camera is ready he smiles at them both, "That's it. Good job! Thank you for your help."

Droid basically vibrates with excitement and throws his arms around Brian's waist when they stand up, much to Brian's surprise and joy. "That was awesome! Can I help you build other stuff too? Can you show me how to build stuff by myself? Can we…", he rattles off a myriad of questions, faster than Brian can answer and Grizzy snorts at them before quickly going for a short hug as well. "This was fun.", is all he says before leaving, Droid following once he notices him leaving him behind.

Brian is glad that the day ended on a good note. He will make sure though that the word 'useless' is strictly banned from the crews vocabulary.

—---

The living room is dark, only illuminated by the TV screen. They have been having movie nights with an irregular regularity lately, trying to get their kids up to speed with pop culture and also just for them to have fun. It's a mixed back most of the time.

Puffer had asked the first time why everyone was lying. It had thrown them for a loop, trying to figure out which character he meant until Brock had explained to him what acting is. He seems unimpressed most of the time, not able to get into the movie. That changes when they switch to animated movies. He seems to like those a lot more.

Droid and Grizzy still need to be reminded sometimes that what is happening on screen isn't real. No, there is no outer space travel at this level. No, Godzilla isn't real. No, you can't do that stunt and survive in real life. No, animals can't talk. They are always highly entertained though and action movies are a clear favorite.

Pezzy is easily the most reactive, jumping at explosions, crying at sad scenes, laughing along at comedies. His eyes are glued to the screen, no matter the movie. He likes cuddling himself into someone's side, checking that person for their reaction when something happens too. At first he only did that with his friends but lately he has gotten comfortable nestling under one of the crew's arms.

They haven't tried horror movies, unsure how their kids would react and not wanting to add to the list of stuff they have nightmares about, and they try to avoid movies with excessive or domestic violence, wanting to keep their experience positive.

The movie they are currently watching is a teen drama, coming of age type deal where the protagonist goes on a journey with his friends. He has fallen down a waterfall and is fighting the river as his friends try to save him and he bobs under multiple times. There's a prolonged shot of him underwater when David hears a small sniffle beside him and he looks over. Puffer is pressed into Grizzy's side, face firmly hidden in his shoulder as he silently cries. His breath is going way too quick and his body shakes with suppressed sobs. Grizzy is tightly holding him and has one hand over the exposed ear, rubbing his cheek on top of his head.

"Puffer?", he says concerned, getting the attention of the others and the movie pauses,  lights getting switched back on.

"What's wrong?", David asks and reaches out, freezing when Grizzy's eyes snap to him. He isn't growling at him but his expression has a very clear message: 'Don't touch him!' and he leans further over him, protectively.

Pulling his arm back, David looks at them and then at the screen. "Was it something in the movie?", he asks, "It's fine. He won't drown."

Puffer's breath hitches slightly when he says that and Grizzy puts his hand more firmly over his ear, blocking out the sound as well as he can.

Pezzy, who sits next to Evan, cuddled into his side, looks up at him, analyzing his expression for a moment before saying, "Puffer can't swim.", like that explains everything. And it does, in a disturbing kind of way.

"Ok.", Evan says, turning the TV off, "Ok." He stares at Puffer having the quietest panic attack he has ever seen and takes a deep breath, "Ok." Jon elbows him out of his stupor as David and Tyler begin gently talking to Grizzy and Puffer, trying to get Grizzy to relax his possessive hold on Puffer and for Puffer to calm down.

They manage to get Grizzy to let them touch Puffer and David starts doing a breathing exercise with him. Slowly the sobs subside and he untenses a bit, the shaking calming down but he refuses to look up from Grizzy's shoulder, continuing to silently cry into it.

"Let's watch something else.", Brian suggests and they decide on an animated Disney movie, the safest of safe choices. They all steal glances at them during it and Puffer slowly relaxes with time, turning his attention to the movie. By the end of it, the crying has stopped completely and their kids quickly move away when Jon tells them to go to bed.

"So our Fish-Hybrid is scared of drowning, huh?", Tyler says with a dangerous edge to his voice, "Wonder how that happened."

—---

Pezzy is in Evan's office more often than not now. Even if Evan is busy and can't pay attention to him, he sits in a chair, entertaining himself quietly, perking up when Evan finishes a phone call or stops writing. He hands him pens or other stuff from around the office, preening when Evan smiles at him or pets his head. When Evan called him his assistant in front of Jon one time his good mood couldn't be broken by anything for three days, beaming the whole time, bragging to his friends. Evan didn't think having kids could make him this happy but he is disproven every day.

He is currently on the phone, walking around the office and discussing the payment with a potential client. Pezzy is following his steps, making a game out of not bumping into him and copying his walk. It's really cute even if Evan isn't really paying attention. He stops and moves to the desk, leaning over it, grabbing an empty sheet of paper and searching for a pen to write the details down.

Pezzy comes to a halt beside him and hands him his pen, which he apparently had in his hands the whole time. Smiling absentmindedly at him, he gives his head two short pats, just his flat hand briefly making contact with the top of his head, and takes the pen. Starting to write, he can feel Pezzy tense up and he quickly turns to look at him.

"Something urgent just came up. I will call you back.", he says and ends the call without waiting for an answer, throwing the phone carelessly onto the desk and kneels down in front of Pezzy, who started shaking from how much he cramped up and somehow manages to look at him with both desperate and vacant eyes. His line of sight firmly avoids eyecontact, focusing on the lower part of his face, and he stands as still as he can, like he is waiting for something.

"Pezzy?", Evan tries gently, unsure what triggered this and if touching him would make it worse. Pezzy doesn't react, if anything gets tenser and Evan only now sees that he isn't breathing. "Pezzy, breathe!", he says in a panic and Pezzy takes a big breath immediately, shuddering through it.

Shaken, Evan opens his arms, like he usually does to invite Pezzy in for a hug but Pezzy only moves when Evan says, "Come here.", stiffly standing in his arms. Evan tries shushing him, imitating what he has seen Puffer do many times and he presses him to himself and starts carding through his hair with one hand. "It's ok, Pezzy. I don't know what's wrong but it will be ok.", he says soothingly and Pezzy shudders and starts crying, arms going around Evan's neck.

Picking him up, he sets him on his hip, rocking him and continuing to softly speak to him as he walks up and down the room, trying to console him. Pezzy starts clinging tightly to him, crying picking up even further. After a long time of no sign of him calming down, Evan steps into the hallway to search for his other kids because while he doesn't think the older kids should be and feel responsible for taking care of the younger ones, he clearly isn't enough yet to console him at this point in time.

He meets Brian and Droid in the hallway and Droid's smile as he follows behind Brian drops at the sight of Pezzy. For a moment Evan fears that he will be regarded as source of Pezzy's distress as Droid quickly moves towards them but instead of glaring at him or hurriedly trying to get Pezzy away from him, Droid presses himself to his open side, eyes glued to Pezzy, and reaches up to pat Pezzy's back.

"Pezzy? Pezzy? Pezzy?", he says until Pezzy looks down at him, sniffling and letting go of Evan with one arm to rub at his eyes. When Droid tugs on Evan's shirt, he kneels down so that the two are at the same eye level.

Looking at each other, Droid tilts his head and Pezzy answers by placing his hand on his own head, choking out, "He…like her…"

Brian and Evan share a look. 'Her'? That's news to them. Droid turns his face to Evan and he gives him his full attention again, shelving thinking about what 'Her' means in the greater context for later. Evan tilts his head further down when Droid reaches an arm out hesitantly. His hand makes contact with the top of Evan's head and he pats his head the same way Evan had done to Pezzy when he was distracted, two short contacts with his flat hand.

"That's wrong.", Droid whispers to him and Evan blinks back at him bewildered, slowly putting the puzzle pieces together to a picture he doesn't like at all. He is careful not to show his anger, shifting Pezzy until he can wrap one arm around Droid as well, pulling him closer, feeling soft and protective when Droid nestles against him instead of tensing up or trying to get away, both kids now seeking comfort from him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know.", he murmurs against Pezzy's temple, who has calmed down after his interaction with Droid and then directed at Droid, "Thank you for telling me. Is there anything else that's wrong?"

While their kids have slowly stopped looking surprised when the crew treats them well, sometimes the hated confused surprise still comes out. Droid's eyes are big as he looks back at him and Evan starts rubbing his back soothingly. Turning his head back to Pezzy, whose head is resting on Evan's shoulder, exhausted from crying, Droid seems to think about the question and then he pats Evan on the shoulder in the same manner.

Avoid two short pats with a flat hand. Evan can work with that.

"Thank you.", he tells Droid again, who nods at him and exchanges a last look with Pezzy before he turns and goes back to Brian, whose expression quickly turns into a soft smile directed at him as he ruffles his hair. Nodding at Evan, he leaves with Droid, no doubt resuming what they were doing originally.

Evan stands back up and lifts his free hand to Pezzy's head, stroking a thumb over his tired child's cheek, "Do you want to go to Puffer and Grizzy?" Pezzy whines a small noise of disagreement, tightening his arms around Evan's neck and Evan can't help but feel a fond happiness because he wants to be comforted by him even if he recognises that as a selfish feeling.

Moving back to his office, Evan sits in his chair with Pezzy in his lap and he cuddles him until he falls asleep. He wakes him up for dinner after which Pezzy goes back to his friends, the four disappearing in one of their rooms.

—--

It's a hard task to navigate the fog around the intricate net of triggers that come with the four of them. Bumping blindly into them, not knowing how far the vibrations through the net will go. Some triggers are unique to only one of them like Puffer's fear of drowning. Some triggers affect just two, certain types of praise send Pezzy and Droid into a downward spiral while Puffer and Grizzy seem completely unaccustomed to even the littlest form of praise directed towards them, accepting it with awed hesitancy. Some triggers shake all of them, resulting mostly in them avoiding the crew for a few days.

But even so, progress is steadily made. Seeking comfort from one of them slowly becomes an option their kids want to take and they don't regard them with suspicion anymore, believing that they never mean to harm them.

"It's getting worse and better simultaneously.", Brock sighs tiredly at the end of the discussion and David tries lifting the mood, "At least it's getting better too."

Everyone tries to feel better because of that but every new discovered trigger just makes the picture of their past so much more clear and horrible.

"Her?", Tyler changes the subject, picking the detail from Evan's recount. Evan just sighs, "Too vague. Could mean anything and nothing. Pezzy pretended not to hear me when I tried asking him." Brian nods, "Droid did that too."

The meeting stops shortly after that.

Chapter Text

Since their first play session in the snow, it has become a regular thing for Tyler and Grizzy to go outside to roughhouse a bit. It normally starts with Tyler noticing Grizzy following him in the house a tad more than normal and him turning to him with a grin before going out, Grizzy trailing along with excited eyes. It has the added bonus that it makes him nearly as cuddly as their other children are slowly becoming, Droid hanging off Brian like a limpet and starting to go around for hugs from the others, Pezzy blossoming under any affection he can get and Puffer just randomly pressing himself to someone to get hugged, when Grizzy is normally the most reserved when it comes to asking for or wanting a hug.

To Tyler's delight most play sessions end with Grizzy cuddled up to him on the couch and where Grizzy is Puffer is quick to follow and Pezzy never gives up an opportunity to get cuddled and then Droid doesn't want to feel left out so Tyler has all four children practically in his lap. A feat only he has accomplished so far, which he is not shy to smugly hold over the others heads.

Walking past the couch, Tyler sees their kids on it and he decides that he will try initiating today. Making sure Grizzy sees him before placing a hand on his head, he rubs his knuckles into it playfully and Grizzy snaps his head up at him, mouth turning up into a smile. He grabs the hand on his head and they play a sort of tug of war with it, Grizzy laughing and letting out little playful baby growls. It gives Tyler an idea and he slings his other arm around Grizzy's neck, giving him another noogie before dropping a kiss on top of his head. "How about we go shift today?", he asks.

At the prolonged pause, he lets him go again, wondering if something is wrong but then Grizzy says, "Ok.", and follows him outside with the same enthusiasm as always.

Coming to a stop in the middle of the clearing Tyler turns to Grizzy with a big smile. He is really excited about this. Grizzy hasn't shifted since coming here and he figured it was because he was afraid of their reaction, who knows what happened to him before, but he seems pretty content right now so that worry disappears in his mind.

Running around in shift for a bit will be good for him. It's not healthy to suppress your shift for too long. Not to mention that it will be fun. Maybe he can finally convince him to venture into the woods instead of strictly staying in the clearing. He could show him the borders of the territory.

He shifts, turning into a big cat and while being in shift doesn't mean by any means that you lose your rational thinking, it puts you closer to your instincts and the stench of pure terror that suddenly slams into him from the kid his instincts explicitly recognize as one of his kittens catches him so of guard that his rational brain takes a backseat.

Quickly scanning his surroundings for the threat that scares his kitten so much, he huffs when he can't find anything. Instead he urgently moves toward him to check for injuries but after just three steps his head explodes with pain so great, it forces him down. He can't think and he can't move, he can only whimper in pain.

As sudden as the pain started, it stops. Still woozy from the strain, he gets back up, panicking when he can't see Grizzy anywhere, turning his head frantically until someone appears before him. Startled, he snaps his teeth at the person until he recognises Brock, firmly placed in his head as packmate, who holds his hands up placatingly.

"Shift back!", he tells him and Tyler needs a moment to understand what he wants, "Tyler! Shift back!"

Shifting back, he puts his hands up to his head, headache forming behind his eyes. "What the fuck just happened?", he asks Brock, who helps him stand up and together they start slowly walking to the house.

"We and the kids were watching from the terrace door. When you shifted the kids started freaking out and I mean completely headless panic. Grizzy booked it away from you and Puffer started screaming Pezzy's name, running outside, into the snow, to get to Grizzy, followed by Droid. And Pezzy….well I guess we have the 100% confirmation now that he has psychic powers.", Brock explains.

"Pezzy did that? That was fucking intense.", Tyler says and Brock winces in sympathy, "Yeah, you're lucky Evan managed to calm him down quickly. Any idea why you shifting made them lose it?"

Tyler shakes his head, "No. They knew we were going out to shift. Grizzy seemed fine, completely normal." They reach the terrace and Tyler braces himself for scared reactions at his entrance.

He can see Pezzy pressed into Evan's front as he softly speaks to him and Puffer fighting against David's and Brian's hold as they try to get him away, probably to warm him up as he is wet and still full of snow. "Puffer, calm down! You just fucking shock frosted yourself. Your fingers are already turning blue!", Brian tries to reason with him, simultaneously trying to help David reign him in and navigate around Droid, who attached himself to his side.

Puffer clearly doesn't care about the threat of his fingers falling off as he struggles, completely beside himself. Just as beside himself as Grizzy, who struggles to breathe as Jon tries to calm him down.

Stepping into the room, he catches Puffer's eye, who stops struggling, staring at him with wide eyes. "Tyler!", he shouts and Grizzy wips around. Instead of flinching away from him, like Tyler had expected, he shouts his name as well, flinging himself forward into Tyler's arms and starts crying into his chest.

Flabbergasted, he stares down at him before closing his arms around him. David and Brian finally manage to drag Puffer away, Droid staying behind, staring at Tyler.

He struggles with himself, unsure what to say but Grizzy takes that desicion from him, asking in tears, voice squeaky, "What did I do?"

"What do you mean?", Tyler asks him, not understanding what he is getting at. Grizzy sniffles, "What did I do to make you angry? I don't understand. I'm sorry!" Everything makes less and less sense to Tyler and his headache worsens as he feels panic building in his chest. "I'm not angry at you.", he tries saying firmly but he isn't sure he quite manages to.

"But you changed without the syringe.", Grizzy nearly wails and Tyler bluescreens. The syringe?!?

"The syringe?!?", he voices his thoughts, perhaps a tad hysterical, feeling sick, "What syringe?!"

Grizzy looks up at him. "That forces you to change.", he says, confusion mixing with his distress and the panic in Tyler's chest doubles in one fell swoop, making breathing difficult.

He starts frantically carding his hands through Grizzy's hair and he isn't even sure if it's to calm Grizzy or himself down.

"Grizzy, you know that you can shift at will, right? You don't need to lose control in anger or be forced through…through the syringe.", he asks and he starts to feel lightheaded when Grizzy tilts his head and delivers the next blow, "You can? Why would you do that? It hurts."

Pulling Grizzy back into his chest, arms tensly wound around him, his eyes meet Evan's. They are mirroring the same horror that he feels. Their shifter kid just told them that shifting hurts. Shifting is supposed to be as easy and natural as breathing. A comfort. A part of you. Not shifting for a long time can cause anxiety and in extreme cases depression. And their child didn't even know he could do it by himself. Sees it as a source of pain and misery.

"Hurts?", he says, voice wobbly and he only notices that he is crying when he sees the tears dripping into Grizzy's hair. Grizzy starts shaking and answers him between hiccups as his crying picks back up, "Everything gets hazy and I can't think straight and it burns."

His breath gets stocky and infrequent when he says ‘burns’, the memories clearly going through his head, and Tyler buries his face in his hair, gently saying, “Hey. Hey. Breathe with me, ok?” He takes deep, slow breaths until Grizzy manages to copy him, not choking on his own breath anymore but still crying and hiding his face in his chest.

Tyler holds onto his child for a long moment, sorting out his thoughts and feelings. Why did Grizzy even follow him outside if he was this afraid of shifting? He seemed just as happy to go play with him as always. Unless…

"Grizzy, did you know what shifting was? When I asked you earlier?", he asks him with a hoarse voice and Grizzy shakes his head, "No, but you suggested it so I thought it would be fun." So he blindly trusted him. Getting hurt didn't even cross his mind and then Tyler shifted and he thought...he thought…

"And you thought I was so angry at you that I was about to maul you?", he asks, hating that he already knows the answer. Grizzy doesn't say anything but the silence speaks for itself.

Taking several deep breaths he takes hold of Grizzy's shoulders and pushes him back at arms lenght, bending slightly down to look into his eyes. Grizzy looks at the ground, avoiding his gaze but Tyler still says, "Grizzy, even if you did made me angry, which you did not, I wouldn't hurt you. Nothing you could ever do would make me angry enough to hurt you. Do you understand?"

Grizzy doesn't answer, wiping at his tears and sniffling some more but he looks up into his eyes and nods hesitantly. Then he looks around the room. "Puffer?", he asks quietly, shakily and Jon comes closer to put a hand on his shoulder, gently guiding him, "Let's go find him." They move away, Droid and Pezzy quickly following and Tyler barely makes it to the couch, collapsing onto it. His head is pounding, his chest is tight and he feels weaker than ever before.

"What the fuck?", he whispers into the room and he can feel Evan sit down next to him, "How are we supposed to address all that? The syringe?!"

"I don't know.", Evan answers, just as defeated, "But we will find a way."

Two days later, Grizzy and Puffer are standing behind Tyler in the living room. Puffer's left hand is fisted into the back of his shirt and his right is tightly holding onto Grizzy's as they both sneak glances at Evan, who is standing a few steps further away in front of Tyler.

Talking didn't do anything to reassure Grizzy, him just nodding at them but clearly not believing it and refusing to elaborate on 'The Syringe', so they decided to demonstrate. Tyler's shift is too intimidating, big predator, not easy to overpower if need be. Scary.

Fortunately, Evan's owl shift is smaller and more managable for them to show of without fearing another breakdown. Still, their kids are afraid, hiding behind Tyler. They purposefully didn't include Pezzy and Droid just yet, fearing a repeat of what happened to Tyler if they do freak out and also not wanting them to work each other up if just one freaks out.

"Ok.", Tyler says, "Just like we talked about. Evan is gonna shift. On his own accord. Without being angry or aggressive."

Their kids stay silent but Tyler can feel Grizzy shuffle closer to his back as Evan shifts. Standing on the ground, Evan just turns his head a few times and hops a few steps to the right and back again.

Jon holds out his arm, which has a glove on it, and Evan opens his wings, flying to and landing on it. "See? Harmless. In control.", Tyler says but they don't relax and start whispering, "...only Jon?..." "...like before…"

Sighing, Tyler looks at Brian, tilting his head towards Evan and Jon. Brian starts smiling impishly and walks up to them. Evan's head turns towards him as he approaches but he stays calm. Taking hold of one of Evan's wings, Brian pulls on it, making him open it fully. Next he pats him on the head and then bobs him on the beak a few time, clearly enjoying being able to mess with Evan without repercussions.

"Completely harmeless.", he says gleefully and Evan fluffs up in indignation and hoots in protest, pecking at him with his beak when Brian starts opening and closing his wings over and over, "Oww, hey Evan! You're supposed to let me mess with you without biting back!" Evan hoots again and Brian starts bickering with him as if he was actually talking.

Tyler can feel Puffer's hand let go of him and Grizzy's stance relax slightly. "Let's go closer, ok?", he asks and takes a few slow steps forward when no protest comes. Following him, they stay firmly behind him until Tyler is right in front of Jon and he holds his arm out for Evan. After he climbs over, Tyler turns around and holds his arm out for them. They don't flinch back, standing frozen, staring at Evan, who holds as still as he can.

"You can touch him if you want.", Jon offers and lets his hand glide over Evan's feathers in demonstration, "He won't peck you. He only pecked Brian because he was being an asshole." They ignore Brian's, "Hey!", and Evan hoots at Grizzy and Puffer, who glance at each other before Grizzy reaches his hand out slowly and barely grazes the feathers on his chest with his fingertips, quickly retracting his hand again. They seem to wait for a reaction but none comes and he reaches out again, more confidently and touches Evan's wing with wide eyes.

"And…and it doesn't hurt?", he whispers and Evan turns his head in imitation of a head shake. "No. Shifting isn't supposed to hurt.", Tyler reiterates what he told him a few times already.

While Grizzy continues staring at Evan with awed eyes, Puffer's face turns miserable, eyes first going to the floor before moving to the side of Grizzy's head. Without looking away from Evan, Grizzy shifts his weight slightly and intertwines his fingers with Puffer's again, whose face turns neutral for a second before his eyes move back to Evan and he reaches as well, now both petting him.

After that, Pezzy and Droid are allowed in as well and they act a lot less scared, probably because Grizzy and Puffer have more or less relaxed by now and Droid even asks if he can carry Evan on his arm as well.

Evan stays in shift for the whole evening and their kids start to relax properly around him.

Trying to get Grizzy to shift proves to be one of the most emotionally exhausting, heart wrenching things Tyler and Evan ever had to do. After a few more times of Evan and eventually Tyler shifting in front of them, their kids don't seem scared of shifters, or at least their shifts, anymore, much to the relief of everyone.

Grizzy even believes them now that it doesn't hurt but the fear of shifting is so deeply ingrained into him that him believing it makes little to no difference. When Pezzy and Droid are in the room, he can't even try to do it, the mental block is too strong, and they can only imagine what that means since he clearly associates shifting very strongly with violence.

After that they try doing it with him alone. Tyler shifted to reassure they could stop him if he doesn't have control and to connect with him on that level if he manages to shift and Evan as human to talk him through it. All it has led to is tears and panic attacks so far. Every time he comes close he recoils, not able to go over the threshold. The days they try always end in him hiding in his room for the rest of it, their other kids also nowhere to be seen.

The mood in the house sinks with every attempt and the crew can see their kids grow weary of them again even if they try to hide it. Puffer has completely stopped coming to them for physical affection, avoiding David's attempts to reach out, and Droid and Pezzy started imitating him shortly after. Grizzy is hiding in his room even on days they don't try now and his eyes stay glued to the floor most of the time. They pretend to smile and answer normally when the crew approaches them but it's not very convincing.

No matter how disheartening this is, they can't just stopp trying. Not shifting has too many bad consequences. They reiterate that at every opportunity. "Not shifting at all is bad." or "He needs to shift to be healthy." are repeated countless times with little to no effect.

Evan looks up as someone knocks on his office door and sees Grizzy and Puffer standing in the door. "Oh hey. Come in.", he greets them and they walk up to his desk, Puffer slightly in front of Grizzy in a reversal of their usual roles. Puffer looks so serious he might as well be glaring at Evan.

"What's up?", he asks and Puffer holds out his hand, showing Evan an artikel about the detriments of avoiding to shift on his phone. "Is that true?", he asks and after quickly scanning it, Evan nods, "Yes. All of that is true." Puffer frowns down at his phone in contemplation and Evan sighs inwardly. They have been to vague with them. Explaining in more detail would have been better. He is sure that if he looked at the search history he would probably find stuff like "What is depression?" and "What is anxiety?".

"I can explain in more detail if you want.", he offers and Grizzy and Puffer look at each other before nodding. They leave after a long explanation why shifting is important for shifters and Evan feels hopeful when Puffer presses himself to David for a hug the next day and Grizzy actually goes to the living room after breakfast instead of hiding in his room.

The next time they try, Puffer insists on staying with Grizzy and Grizzy growls at them when they try to send him away. It's weird, seeing them move with purpose around the room, rearranging themselves to be curled up together in a corner, and talk back at them. "You're too close.", Puffer hisses at Evan when he tries moving closer to start what they usually do.

They would be happy about this behavior, finally not just meekly accepting things even if they don't like it, if it wasn't for the fact that they can't go near them, Puffer being just as vicious in guarding Grizzy as Grizzy normally is when it comes to protecting him and they desperately want to try to help and comfort, especially when Grizzy's breath starts to pick up in panic.

Firmly wrapped around Grizzy, Puffer nuzzles into him even more and starts whispering to him as Grizzy tightly clings to him and after about 10 agonizing minutes where Tyler and Evan can do nothing to help, Grizzy shifts, head in Puffer's lap and trembling with fear.

All bravado is gone from Puffer as he clutches Grizzy's head, who presses himself into Puffer's stomach.

"Puffer?", Evan asks cautiously and he and Tyler slowly move closer. Puffer's head snaps up, like he forgot that they were there and then he panics, pressing his head into Grizzy's fur, breath hitching.

Before he can slip too far into his panic, Tyler moves across the room, rubbing his head against his side, purring at him. Evan follows him quickly, sitting down next to Puffer and wrapping his arms around him. "Hey, hey. It's ok. Everything is fine. Grizzy is ok.", he starts soothing and Puffer slowly untenses although not letting go of Grizzy's head as Tyler starts sniffing at him.

Grizzy stays tense, not moving an inch, eyes closed and Tyler's instincts have enough of the constant distress his kittens exude. Laying down next to Grizzy, he starts grooming him. He chuffs at Puffer and Evan starts rubbing his hands up and down Puffer's arms, soothingly. "See?", he asks gently, "Grizzy is ok. Grizzy?"

Grizzy's eyes open and he stares up at them. He seems surprised and slowly relaxes under Tyler's and Puffer's attention as he regards his surroundings with more clarity. "Does it hurt?", Puffer whispers, face still firmly hidden in his fur and Grizzy shakes his head, still in his lap. Starting to cry, Puffer nuzzles further into him.

They stay like this for a good while, Evan cuddling Puffer and Tyler Grizzy until Grizzy starts fidgeting. "Do you want to stand up?", Evan asks and Grizzy nods his head. Puffer whines in protest when Evan pulls at his arms but he doesn't fight him. “Shhhh, it's ok. Grizzy's just going to stand up. Nothing else will happen.”, he reassures as he pulls him completely into his lap.

Grizzy slowly stands up with shaky legs, guided by Tyler nudging him with his head, and lifts one paw after another, as if testing if he could. It's slow and awkward, like a child shifting for the first time would be and Tyler wonders if he ever shifted by his own will. If he ever had control over his actions when shifted or if whatever drug he had been given took away all agency, making him act on instincts and stress/fear responses alone.

Sniffing the air, Grizzy's ears press against his head in distress, overwhelmed at the surplus of information he gets through his senses and Tyler rubs against him in an effort to comfort, scenting him. It seems to work a little but Evan decides that this is enough for the first time.

"Do you want to shift back?", he asks him and Grizzy nods. Tyler moves away, shifting back himself. "That's fine. Just do the same thing you did before." After a few tries, Grizzy shifts back. He seems disoriented for a moment before looking down at his hands in awe.

Tyler wraps an arm around his shoulders, "See? You're gonna be fine." Grizzy's eyes move from his hands to him and then he is tightly hugged. His and Evan's eyes meet over their kids' heads.

The next few times aren't any easier but Tyler and Evan are confident that they will get there. No matter how long it takes.

Chapter Text

An alarm rings from Jon's and Evan's phones and both look at their own immediately. The border to their territory has been crossed. The sensors have been adjusted to only pick up signals big enough for at least humans and large animals so every alarm should be taken seriously.

Not long after the others enter Evan's office and Brian leads with, "It's in an area without cameras. I can't tell who or what came in."

"The kids are playing in the woods.", David says immediately after and while everyone took this seriously before now there is an urgency to everyone's countenance.

Before winter their kids had started going outside, never further than the boundaries of the clearing and now that the weather is barely warm enough for Puffer they are going outside again. After Tyler had shown Grizzy the borders of the territory, a trip he had taken him on after he had gotten more comfortable with shifting, they ventured further and further into the woods and it is clear that all of them really enjoy being outside. Often not returning for hours and only to eat. The crew lets them wander around alone, sure that it's secure around the house.

"Give me the location of the alarm.", Brock urges Brian, "I will..." The ringing of Evan's phone interrupts him. Taking one look at the caller, Evan answers, "Scotty, I will call you back. We have an emergency."

Brian and Brock are already half out the door, when Evan sighs exasperated and waves them back in before putting his phone on speaker. "Say that again.", he says and Scotty's voice rings out, "Hey guys! I tripped your alarm. I wanted to see if I could get past it but apparently not. I need to work on my stealth. I've gotten rusty since I retired. Anyway I'm coming for a visit! You need to show me your kids."

Jon facepalms. "Couldn't you have told us that you're coming? So we could, I don't know, actually tell the kids that someone is coming today? We told you how skittish they are!", he says sternly, "This could go over horribly!"

"Aww come on. Everything will be fine.", Scotty says and Evan rolls his eyes in irritation, "Fine! Where are you? Brock's gonna get you."

Evan decidedly does not want their kids to come across a, for them, stranger in the woods they have been told are completely safe. Even if the stranger turns out to be a friend.

"I'm…woah!", Scotty starts before a loud 'thump' interrupts and a few loud dull sounds come from the phone, like he dropped it. Next they can hear shuffling noises, a struggle, before growling from a distance cuts that off. Evan presses his hands to his eyes, hating how exactly what he didn't want to happen clearly just did.

"Oh hey.", Scotty's voice sounds pressed and in pain, "Could you get off? Your knee is digging into…ahh!", he cuts himself off with a pained noise and Droid's voice rings through the phone next, calm and threatening, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Droid! Droid!", Jon shouts at the phone, fearing for Scotty if their kids decide that he is a threat. They may be meek and skittish with them but they are plenty capable of hurting someone they deem dangerous.

There is some shuffling on the other side and then Pezzy answers, clearly having picked up the phone, "Hello? Jon?". His tone is unsure and hesitant and Jon answers, "Yes! Pezzy get Droid off of Scotty, ok? We know him. It's fine." Pezzy hums and the shuffling continues, Grizzy's growling getting louder. "Jon says, he's fine.", Pezzy's voice is quiet and distant, like he is holding the phone away from him and then Puffer is on the phone.

"Jon?", is all he says and Evan answers this time, "Puffer. Calm Droid and Grizzy down for me, please.", the growling stops after a second, "Thank you. That's Scotty. A friend of ours. He didn't tell us he was coming today or we would have told you. Where are you?"

Puffer's voice is strained as he answers, giving their rough location, like he is afraid, which worries them a lot. "Brock is coming to get you, ok?", Evan says in a hopefully soothing tone but Puffer just says a quiet, "Ok.", and ends the call.

A few minutes later everyone is gathered in the living room. Their kids are clearly tense and scared, watching them warily and shuffling back slightly at every move towards them. It reminds the crew of the first few weeks with them. Not a good sign by any means.

Scotty, on the other hand, is completely oblivious to the tension. Smiling, he stretches his back, groaning a bit, "Oww, they got me really good.", they shrink further into themselves, "Honestly I'm really impressed. I didn't even notice them until I was laying on the floor with…", his eyes lock onto Droid, "...his knee in my back. Droid, right? Good…", he reaches out to ruffle Droid's hair before anyone can stop him but freezes mid air and sentence when Droid flinches back, hands going up to grip Puffer's arm.

Only now realizing and analyzing the kid's postures, he steps back a little, holding his hands up placatingly. He slowly moves back until he is next to Brian, who subtly cuffs him into the spot on his back that hurt before.

Being careful to not show the irritation he feels because of Scotty, Jon turns to their kids, getting their full attention immediately as Puffer shifts in front of Droid. Pezzy has been pressed into Grizzy's side the whole time.

Jon hates the look Puffer gives him, scared and unsure and like he needs to protect his friends from him. They have moved away from that look for a while now, unless something triggers them and his child shouldn't ever feel like he has to be scared of him, like he is a threat to them. He watches Jon closely, stepping back when he tries to come closer.

"We're sorry.", Droid says, voice shaky and quiet, not looking around Puffer but keeping himself hidden. Jon winces. Of course they would think they are angry with them. In their eyes this must be the first time they did something seriously wrong instead of just small, easily forgivable mistakes.

"It's ok. You guys did nothing wrong.", he tries but Puffer and Grizzy's faces twist in disbelief and then distrust, walls going up even higher.

Jon looks behind him for help and David moves next to him, eyes firmly on Puffer as his eyes flicker between them. "We're not angry with you.", he says calmly but Puffer shakes his head.

"No. We attacked your friend. You must be angry. There must be a punishment",  he whispers and at the word punishment the demeanor of their other kids changes from skittish to dread filled. Grizzy's spine snaps ramrod straight and Pezzy's arm makes an aborted move towards his neck as he starts shaking, pressing himself closer to Grizzy. A clear picture of what they think a punishment entails.

"You attacked Scotty. So let's ask Scotty if he is mad.", Jon tries to diffuse the situation and the look he shoots Scotty makes it pretty clear that he only has one choice of answer.

"I was surprised but it's no big deal. I forgive you.", Scotty says and gives them a thumbs up. Puffer eyes him disbelievingly, "Really?"

Scotty nods and smiles at him. "Your uncle Scotty is a magnanimous person. You should be glad.", he says in a jokingly self aggrandizing way, hoping to turn the mood around. And he does. Just not in the way he intended.

Confusion replaces the trepidation and Grizzy asks, "Uncle?"

"I'm one of the best friends of your dads. I think the title uncle is fair!", Scotty defends himself but the confusion only deepens in their kids. "Dads?", Droid asks, more to himself, and he moves from behind to beside Puffer to look at him questioningly but he just shrugs, unsure himself.

Scotty matches their confusion, saying, "Yeah, your dads? As in the people who adopted you? These guys right here?" He gestures to the crew.

Evan is filled with horror as the giant mistake they have made registers with him. He can see the realization on the other's faces as well.

"Adopted? Evan said we will only stay for a few months. We're leaving soon.", Puffer says it like he doesn't like it but with surety. He believes that wholeheartedly. Their other kids nod and Scotty gapes first at them and then at the crew. "You didn't tell them?!", he says, aghast. All they can do is gape back, shocked at their own incompetence.

Puffer looks between them a few times and his eyes widen in pure shock. "You..you did..", he stammers and a myriad of emotions flash across his face, too fast for them to discern a single one.

Then his eyes narrow, face turning hostile, and he straightens his back. This is not fear nor apprehension, it's cold, calculated aggression. He grabs Pezzy by the arm and pulls him away from Grizzy and behind himself. Grizzy and Droid straighten up in alarm.

"Why?", he asks in a low voice, looking directly into Evan's eyes.

"Puffer...", David takes two steps forward but stops abruptly as Grizzy growls at him and Droid's blaster is aimed straight at his head. Droid's eyes are still wide and confused and Grizzy looks unsure but there's no doubt that they will attack without hesitation if any of them come closer, their loyalty to Puffer overriding anything else.

Jon raises his hands placatingly, "We're sorry for not telling you but let's calm down a little ok?" Puffer doesn't react, still staring at Evan.

He's frozen under his gaze, more hostile than he has ever seen, and he can't think. Panic presses into him, paralyzing him.

"Why?", Puffer asks, more forceful, and Evan sputters, "I, we...because....because we love you."

All four stare at him shell shocked, mouths open. Droid's arm drops down again and Pezzy's head has shot out from behind Puffer. Grizzy freezes, standing still like a statue, growling stopping. Puffer's eyes start to wander from person to person, no longer hostile, searching. Searching for the lie.

"Kids...", Jon tries stepping towards them again but Puffer takes a panicked step back before turning and running from the room. Pezzy and Droid run after him while Grizzy stays rooted to the spot, only his head snapping after him.

"Grizzy, what is happening? Why did he react like that?", Tyler asks, moving towards him and his head slowly turns back, watching Tyler. He shrugs in a helpless manner, eyes sad. There's no aggression left in his stance but he shrinks away from Tyler's reach, eyes going to the floor. Then he leaves to go after his friends, disappearing down the hallway.

No one says or does anything for a good few moments, shocked at the reaction and then Brian cuffs Scotty again, making him yelp and flinch away from him, "Hey!"

"Couldn't you have told us you were coming?!", Brian rages, the others ready to jump in as well, but Scotty defends himself, "Ok, I admit that this wasn't my best idea but it's not my fault that you didn't tell them that you adopted them!"

Everyone deflates defeated at that. David is still standing where was when their kids ran away, staring in the direction of their rooms and Jon slumps into himself next to him, their scared faces still burning in his mind. Tyler sits down on the couch, laughing mirthlessly, "We fucked that up big time, huh?" Brian nods, letting himself fall next to him, already exhausted and Brock sighs unhappily, rubbing at his eyes.

Evan turns to Scotty, "You should leave. We can introduce you at a better time." Scotty looks around the room and winces at the clear distress in the air.

"I'm sure it will turn out fine.", he tries to console, "From what you told me, things have been good. They will get over it." Evan smiles half heartedly at him and Brock brings him to the border of the territory before coming back.

"Sooooo…..what are we going to do now?", Tyler asks into the room and they pull themselves together to discuss.

After hours of not finding a solution, everyone has gone to bed, exhausted. Many tears were spilled this evening.

Evan sits on his bed, head in his hands. He has no idea what to do about Puffer. How to reassure him. He doesn't even really understand what the problem is. Is he angry because no one told them? No, while clearly a big mistake from the crew that would have been a different reaction. He had been treating them like a threat. He can't wrap his head around it.

Their kids have been doing so much better lately. Accepting help, showing and receiving affection, barely flinching anymore. Grizzy can shift now without an impending panic attack even if he is still anxious about it and he started trying to roughhouse with the other members of the crew beside Tyler lately, growing more physical with them, making the younger kids follow his example. Droid is laughing more often than not, running around and showing off stuff he built with Brian or offering assistance to whatever the one he runs into is doing, eyes shining with happiness at every praise. Pezzy has gotten really confident in demanding attention, just climbing into any lap he can find to get cuddled or raising his arms, like a smaller child, to get picked up, happily chatting away at whatever interests him at that moment. Puffer has stopped watching their every reaction like a hawk, finally relaxing in their presence and he always seems happiest when the whole household is doing something together or cuddled up at someone's side.

Of course, it isn't easy and they are still learning to deal with all the triggers and setbacks that come with raising traumatized children but they seemed to finally settle in and all of that is ruined because they got told they will stay? Do they not want to stay with them? That makes Evan feel like someone is taking a hold of his heart and ripping it apart.

The door opens and closes suddenly and then Puffer stands in his room. His posture is rigid and he looks at the floor, eyes hidden by his fringe.

"Puffer...", Evan starts, unsure how to proceed and Puffer twitches. "You're keeping us? We will stay with you?", he asks, tone anxious, and Evan nods. "Yes.", is all he manages to say, throat dry.

"Really?", is said in the same tone, barely above a whisper, and Evan reiterates, "Yes."

Puffer's head snaps up and his eyes, imploring and full of unshed tears, find Evan's. "Really?", he asks again with desperate emphasis. Evan swallows around his own tears and nods, standing up, "Yes."

The tears spill over and Puffer sniffs, stumbling forward. Evan catches him in his arms. "Really?", he asks again through tears, voice muffled by Evan's shirt. "Yes.", he whispers into his hair and Puffer breaks down sobbing, clinging to him for dear life.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.", he chokes out between sobs.

"Hey, hey, hey. None of that.", Evan takes Puffer's face between his hands and makes him look at him, thumbs wiping away the tears beneath his eyes. A futile task as more follow in a never ending stream but a worthwhile one nonetheless. "You're alright. We will talk about what triggered that reaction but not now, ok? Everything will be fine", he soothes and Puffer hiccups and nods, trying to calm down. "Shhh, it's ok to cry.", he reassures and Puffer dissolves back into tears, blindly reaching for him.

Evan draws him back in, holding on tightly as his child sobs into his chest.

In the hallway the door to Brian's door opens and Brock steps out followed by David. They had been staying there for a while, not able to sleep and wanting to talk some more. He stops in his tracks when he sees their kids, sans Puffer, sitting on the floor in front of Evan's room. Pezzy sits between Grizzy's legs, being hugged to his chest with one arm, and Droid is pressed to his side, under his other arm. Droid and Pezzy look up at them but Grizzy's eyes stay glued to the closed door. All look tired and Pezzy keeps rubbing at his eyes.

"Hello...", Brock says softly, stepping closer, relieved when they don't retreat.

"Hello.", Droid answers, giving him a small wave and turns his face back to cuddle into Grizzy's side. Brock crouches down next to them, "Puffer is with Evan?" Grizzy nods, not saying anything.

David steps closer as well and asks, "Can you tell us what the problem was? His reaction was so extreme." Shrugging, Grizzy looks at him. "He overreacted. Felt unsafe", is all he answers before turning back to stare at the door.

"Ok. But why?", David presses, earning a disapproving glance from Brock which he returns. Never addressing anything because it could make their kids upset isn't productive either and David is tired of just guessing what's wrong.

"Good things don't happen to us.", Pezzy says like it's an undeniable fact, yawning around the words, and after a short contemplation, “Not without bad consequences.” Droid adds, face still buried in Grizzy's side, "And something this extremely good must mean something really really bad."

Brock and David share a look, on one hand horrified at the statement and on the other happy that staying with them classifies as extremely good in their kids’ minds. "There's no bad catch, you know? We just really want you to stay.", Brock says gently, hoping they will see his sincerity.

Grizzy closes his eyes for a moment, worn out, and sighs defeated, before nodding. "I know. He knows. He overreacted. I'm sorry for growling at you.", the last part is directed at David and Droid nods, looking up again.

David gives a small smile, "It's fine. I forgive you.", and after a short pause, "The floor can't be comfy. You should go to bed. I'm sure Puffer will be in there for a while." They shake their heads so Brock tries a different approach. "Do you wanna stay with one of us?"

At the suggestion Grizzy turns his face to Brock before looking down at Pezzy, who only barely manages to keep his eyes open. He whispers something into his ear and Pezzy nods. Grizzy lifts him up, as much as their position allows and Brock takes over from there, taking his arms to pull him up. Pezzy latches on immediately and then Brock is carrying Pezzy, koala style.

"What about you, Droid?", David asks and when Droid shakes his head again he adds, "I know Brian is still awake. I'm sure he would be happy to have a sleepover." That makes Droid reconsider and his eyes flicker between David and Evan's door until Grizzy nudges him away and he stands up.

Knocking on Brian's door, David places a comforting hand on Droid's shoulder. When the door opens he gently pushes him inside, Droid's arms wrapping themselves tightly around Brian's waist, while quietly talking to Brian, explaining the situation.

Brock looks down at Grizzy. "What about you? Do you want to come with us?" Grizzy shakes his head, "I'm waiting for Puffer." Brock frowns lightly, concerned, "Who knows how long he will take. Maybe he even stays there tonight. You should really go to bed. Should I ask Tyler if you can stay with him?"

"No.", is all Grizzy answers and Brock sighs but lets it go. "Good night then.", he says and Grizzy echoes the sentiment. Going down the hall, Brock knocks on Tyler's door and when he answers he tilts his head in Grizzy's direction, giving a quick rundown of what happened. "Stay with him?", he asks, already knowing that Tyler would have done so regardless.

"Of course.", Tyler answers and shuts his door, walking to Grizzy.

"Hey Grizzy.", he yawns and sits down next to Grizzy, putting his arm around his shoulders, who in turn leans his head on his shoulder, "We're waiting for Puffer?"

He gets a nod as answer and hums, rubbing his thumb soothingly into Grizzy's shoulder, mulling the day and what Brock told him over once again.

"Puffer felt unsafe?", he asks after a while of staring at the closed door and when Grizzy nods, he continues, "Did you feel unsafe too?" Grizzy shakes his head.

"Why did you react like that then?", he prods gently and Grizzy answers quietly, "Puffer felt unsafe." Tyler sighs inwardly, "Were you aware in the moment that Puffer was overreacting?" He gets another nod in return.

"Grizzy...", Tyler trails off, not wanting to scold but unsure if he should. Grizzy tenses and reiterates, "Puffer felt unsafe."

"Look, I know Puffer is kinda the leader of you guys but you don't...", Tyler starts but Grizzy interrupts him, "We would be dead 10 times over without Puffer." His voice is brittle, like he's holding back tears, "We would be dead in a ditch or under a bridge or in jail. We would still be..." he stocks, taking in a shaky breath, "We certainly wouldn't be here. He understands the social cues and rules the best. He stands in front of us when someone wants to harm us with pretty words. He said yes to you. When Pezzy has a breakdown he's the one to calm him down. When Droid shuts down he's the one to get him out of it. We need him. I need him. And... and.." he clearly started crying by now, trying to get his thoughts together and out. "And he worries and worries and overthinks and overthinks. He's a nervous wreck. I need to look out for him. I don't care if he overreacted. He felt unsafe. I need to protect him when he feels unsafe.", he started talking faster and faster during the rant and struggles to get his breathing under control. Tyler tightens his hold on him in silent support until he calms down again.

"Puffer protects us and I protect him.", Grizzy whispers and Tyler can't even comprehend the weight these words put on his heart. He fights his own tears, holding his child to him.

"Grizzy look at me.", he finally says and when Grizzy turns his head to him, he looks into his eyes, trying to convey the weight and truth of his next words, "I know your life has been hard and I'm so proud of you that you got through it. Protecting yourself and the others. Making sure all of you are safe and happy.", he takes a deep breath, "But you're not alone anymore. We are here and we want to help you, to protect you. I know it must be hard to understand but you can trust us. I can't promise that it will be perfect and I can't promise that we won't make mistakes. But I can promise you that we will protect you with everything we have. No one is gonna touch you when we're around. You don't need to attack anymore. It's fine to hide behind one of us, to let yourself be protected. We want to help Pezzy when he has a breakdown or Droid when he shuts down and we want to help you when you're scared or overwhelmed or sad. It's ok to ask for help. And when Puffer feels unsafe we search for a solution together, ok?"

Grizzy looks at him with big eyes. Then he looks down at his lap and back up again, processing the words. He nods tentatively and Tyler can see that he's hesitant to believe him. But that's fine. Trauma can't be healed with one conversation. They will just have to show their kids that they mean it again and again.

Grizzy leans into him again, silently asking for comfort and Tyler smiles sadly, kissing the top of his head.

Grizzy has nearly fallen asleep by the time Evan's door opens and Puffer, with tear swollen eyes and dead on his feet with exhaustion, stumbles out, steadied by Evan's hand on his shoulder.

He rubs at his eyes, looking at Grizzy. "You waited.", he says in a hoarse, timid voice and Grizzy hurries to stand up, slipping away from under Tyler's arm, and steps right in front of him, "Of course."

He places one hand on Puffer's cheek, who puts his own over it and they look into each other's eyes for a long moment. "Good night.", Grizzy says suddenly, half turning to Evan and Tyler before taking Puffer's hand to pull him away.

They look after them and then at one another, taking in each other's bloodshot eyes and tired expressions.

Tyler laughs but it rings hollow, "The next New Parent Debrief is gonna be a shitshow."

Chapter Text

Video name: Observation log, Introduction Subjects 001, 002 to 004

Ages: 001 and 002: 10 / 004: 8

The video shows a white room.

The door opens and the woman drags Pezzy in by his arm. Puffer and Grizzy are huddled in the furthest corner, watching them.

"Max, stay.", she orders and leaves.

Pezzy stands in the middle of the room, head desperately swiveling between the door and the others. He's trembling, hugging himself.

No one moves for a long time. Frozen at this new turn of events.

Puffer's eyes roam over Pezzy's form, face going from scared to confused to concerned. He begins walking towards him, which triggers both Grizzy and Pezzy into action. Pezzy stumbles back until his back hits the wall and Grizzy grabs Puffer by the waist, hauling him back and pressing him into the corner, covering him with his body. He growls at Pezzy, who drops to the floor, hands going up to protect his head and pressing himself against the wall.

Puffer squeezes himself out from between the corner and Grizzy's body and takes his face into his hands, trying to turn it to him but Grizzy stays rigidly staring ahead. He blindly tries to get Puffer back behind him but Puffer puts his arms around his neck and hugs him, face hiding in his neck. His voice is too muffled to be picked up by the cameras but Grizzy reluctantly stops growling after a while.

Now able to turn his head, Puffer presses their foreheads together and starts making calming noises.

Pezzy has stopped hiding his face and is staring at them, wide eyed and confused. When Puffer turns his head to him he flinches, trying to press further into the wall.

Puffer tries to move towards him again but Grizzy once again stops him and pulls him down with him, so that he is sitting in his lap.

This time he stays put but his eyes stay on Pezzy who seems to shrink even further under the scrutiny and hides his face behind his legs.

A long time nothing happens and Puffer redirects his attention to Grizzy after a while, cuddling for comfort and playing some game with their hands, both having apparently decided that Pezzy is neither a threat nor going to move.

Sniffling fills the room and both Grizzy's and Puffer's heads snap to Pezzy again, who's trying to keep his crying down and failing at it, curled into a small ball.

Grizzy just observes nervously, still on guard, but Puffer's eyes turn wide and distressed. His head turns back to Grizzy and he fists one of his hands into his thin shirt, tugging slightly. At first Grizzy tightens his hold on him but then he looks at Puffer, his own face turning miserable at Puffer's distress and he lets go.

Puffer nuzzles briefly into his side in thanks and then starts crawling across the floor on his hands and knees. Grizzy tries to follow but he shakes his head at him. "Christopher...", Grizzy says unhappily, a warning edge to his tone but Puffer shakes his head again and he relents.

When he reaches the middle of the room he stops and lays down.

"Hey.", he says softly to Pezzy, who startles and looks up with bloodshot eyes, "Hello, I'm Christopher. That's Nelson.", he points a finger behind him to Grizzy, "Sorry for scaring you." Pezzy tilts his head confused and doesn't answer. "It's ok. They aren't here. You can talk when they aren't here.", Puffer says, "See? I'm talking too."

Pezzy's eyes roam over him and then flicker to Grizzy, taking in their clothes, the same he is wearing, and their obvious injuries. His hand moves to his collar, holding onto it and then he softly answers, "Hello." He pauses after that, waiting for his collar to turn on but it doesn't.

Puffer gives him a smile and he slightly relaxes his cramped stance. "Hello.", Puffer repeats, "What are you doing here?" Pezzy shrugs, "I don't know. Ma'am didn't tell me."

Nodding, Puffer moves a little closer to Pezzy, "I didn't know there were others like me and Nelson. What's your name?" Uncurling a little bit more, Pezzy answers, "I'm Max. I also know Jaime." Puffer's eyes widen and he frowns, making Pezzy tense up again. Changing his expression immediately, Puffer soothes, "Hey, hey it's ok. I'm just surprised."

Pezzy seems unsure as Puffer scootches a bit closer again. "What do you do?", he asks him and Puffer stops. "Do?, he asks, "I do nothing. What do you do?"

"I make people hurt and die when Ma'am wants it. I do what Ma'am says or I get punished", Pezzy replies and  Puffers tilts his head, "What does that mean?"

"Ohh...my collar hurts me or I get hit or no food for a while.", Pezzy says, voice more confident the more he talks. Puffer's eyes light up in recognition. "Pain. Punished means pain?", he asks and Pezzy thinks it over and then nods, "Yes."

Shuffling closer slightly, Puffer's voice get's quieter, like he is telling Pezzy a secret, "We get punished too." Pezzy's eyes get wide and he uncurls completely, getting closer as well, "You do?" At Puffer's nod he adds, "Do you get rewarded when you're good?"

"What's that?", Puffer asks and Pezzy shuffles even closer, "Going to my room early or something to eat or getting a head pat." His eyes turn far away and he puts both hands on his head, his voice turning wistful, "I like getting head pats the most."

Puffer's eyes roam over him, taking in the new information. "That sounds nice", he says softly before changing the topic, "Do you want a hug?" This time Pezzy tilts his head in confusion, "What is a hug?"

Puffer doesn't say anything for a moment before smiling brightly at him. "I can show you!", he turns around to Grizzy. "Nelson.", he says and puts his arms in front of him, hands making a grabbing notion, "Hug me." At first Grizzy doesn't move, eyes trained on Pezzy, but then he stands up and walks closer.

Pezzy shrinks away again but Puffer smiles at him reassuringly, "Don't worry. Nelson's really gentle." Grizzy snorts, like that is a ridiculous statement and drops down next to Puffer. "Gentle to you.", he murmurs and pulls him closer.

Pezzy looks at them in astonishment, eyes roaming over them. "Gentle?", he asks hesitantly as Puffer nestles into Grizzy's arms, putting his own around him as well, before pausing, choosing his next words carefully, "He doesn't punish."

"And I...and I can have a hug?", he asks unsurely, like he can't believe it, "Without being good?"

Puffer breaks away from Grizzy and reaches one arm to him, nodding. Pezzy slowly shuffles closer, eyes flickering between Puffer's hand, his face and Grizzy. "Gentle?", he asks again, voice high with fear, when he is close enough to touch Puffer's hand if he reaches out. "Gentle.", Puffer reassures and Pezzy puts his hand in Puffer's.

In one swift movement Puffer pulls Pezzy to him and hugs him tightly. Pezzy squeaks surprised, panicking in Puffer's hold for a moment but calms down quickly when Puffer makes the same noises he made at Grizzy earlier. He sits stiffly until Puffer rubs his hands up and down his back and then melts into him.

"Good?", Puffer asks and Pezzy nods a few times, trying to get even closer into his chest, obviously dazed at the contact. Puffer looks up at Grizzy, who has tensely watched the interaction but didn't intervene. His face softens when Pezzy let's out a little, teary hiccup, going limb in Puffer's arms and he raises a hand to place on his head. Pezzy whines at the touch, leaning up into it.

"So small.", Puffer whispers to Grizzy, "No one hugs him." His hold turns possessive and Grizzy knocks his head gently into Puffer's, looking into his eyes in silent support.

Then he looks around the room, narrowing his eyes at how they are still nearly in the middle. He tilts his head at Puffer, who nods, and grabs Pezzy under the arms, effortlessly lifting him up. Pezzy cries out at the loss of contact, doing little quiet pleas, reaching for Puffer who frames his face with his hands, shushing him. They migrate to the corner, they had occupied previously and sit down again.

Pezzy is now squeezed between Puffer and Grizzy and Puffer draws him back into his arms. Nosing into his hair, he rocks him slighty.

"Do you think this is a reward? If it is, it's the best reward I ever had.", Pezzy yawns, rubbing his face into Puffer's side. Grizzy and Puffer look at each other over Pezzy's head and Grizzy answers, "No. We don't get rewards."

"Never?!", Pezzy asks alarmed, jolting up, and looks between them with big eyes. Puffer shakes his head, "No, never." Pezzy tears up, hands moving to his collar. "Only punishment?", he asks sadly and Puffer nods.

Pezzy sits on that information for a while, frowning unhappily, and then reaches a hand up to pat Puffer's head. It's stiltet and awkward and Puffer seems stunned for a moment. Then his face softens and he tightly hugs him again. Grizzy and Puffer coordinate until Pezzy is in Puffer's lap, who has his legs over Grizzy's, cuddled together closely.

"Nelson too.", Pezzy mumbles and Grizzy tilts his head down to him so he can pat him as well. Then he returns the favor, not as awkward as Pezzy had been and Pezzy goes boneless in Puffer's hold again.

They sit like that for a long while. Puffer has started whispering into Grizzy's ear, who nods or shakes his head sometimes, too quiet to be understood by the camera. Pezzy lays in his lap, clearly asleep.

The door opens and the woman steps back in. "Max, come here.", she says. Nothing happens for about 5 seconds and just as Puffer goes to shake Pezzy awake he starts convulsing, an electrical buzz in the air.

Grizzy and Puffer startle away from him in shock before Puffer starts hovering his hands over him. "Stop, stop!", he screams and then puts his hands on the collar, trying to get it off. He gets shocked instead and Grizzy yells, "Christopher!", before getting up and pulling him away from Pezzy. Both have started crying and Puffer starts babbling, "Sleeping. He was sleeping." Grizzy shouts at the woman, who has a remote in her hand, "He didn't hear you! He was sleeping! Stop! Stop!"

The buzzing stops and Pezzy lays on the floor wheezing. The woman gives him a few seconds to catch himself and then repeats, "Max, come here." He stumbles to her as fast as he can manage and she grabs his arm as soon as he is close enough, dragging him out the door.

The video cuts off.

Notes:

-Successful Introduction/Shows great potential as reward

-Subject 004 will be further monitored to see if suicidal ideation lessens

Chapter Text

Video name: Experimentation log - Power control, Subjects 003, 004

Ages: 003: 7 / 004: 6

The video starts and shows a room with 6 people inside. The woman in a lab coat and a pen and clipboard, a guard with a gun, Pezzy standing next to the woman, tightly hugging himself, Droid standing on Pezzy's other side, fidgeting with his hands and two handcuffed, gagged men.

“Test 32. Control. Subject 003. Starting.”, the woman begins before saying to the guard, “Get one of them to the middle.” Without pause, the guard grabs one of the men and drags him to the middle of the room, unaffected by the weak struggling.

Turning to the kids, the woman addresses Droid first, frowning at his fidgeting hands, “Jaime.”, Droid flinches, face twisting in fear and trepidation but one look at the woman makes him tense up and he visibly tries going blank, not quite managing to, “Let Max get to 70% before stopping.”

“Yes, Ma'am.”, Droid forces his eyes on the man in the middle and she turns her head to Pezzy, who has been staring at her the entire time, eyes desperately fixated on her, “Max. I want you to slowly increase the pressure until Jaime says stop.” Pezzy nods, almost eagerly and his eyes glow a light blue as they focus on the man, “Yes, Ma'am.”

At first nothing happens but then the man starts shaking his head and blinking rapidly. The shaking gets stronger and stronger and he makes some pained noises until he starts muffled screaming, body starting to convulse in pain. Both kids flinch at the noise but Pezzy continues staring at the man while Droid starts crying, hands coming up to shield his ears, closing his eyes. The screaming and twisting gets more intense over time and after about 15 minutes his head explodes, making everyone flinch and splattering blood across the room and all its occupants.

Pezzy's head immediately turns back to the woman, shivering in fearful anticipation and Droid crying gets worse, hiccuping softly. The woman stays stoic, taking out a handkerchief to wipe off the blood that splattered on her face and the guard curses angrily, “Motherfucker! This wasn't supposed to happen today!”

“First try failed. Second try will start immediately.”, the woman says calmly, scribbling on her clipboard, “Take the second one to the middle.”

The guard doesn't listen to her, angrily walking towards her and Pezzy, who doesn't react to the anger, focus completely on the woman, “That little rat wasn't supposed to explode the head this time! Look at this fucking mess! I'm gonna…”

“Casper!”, the woman hisses at him and the guard stops his angry walk towards Pezzy and turns back, dragging the other, now desperately struggling and screaming behind the gag, man to the middle, sneering to himself, “Yeah yeah, only you can interact with 004. Fucking emotional dependeny bullshit.”

“If you can't control your temper, go to 001 and 002 to get your aggression out after this! We don't have endless money to just start again if one subject turns useless! It's bad enough that we can't get rid of 001 because 002 takes his claws to his throat when they are separated for too long. We need to punish and reward the right things here for correct obedience and Max did what I asked. Jaime on the other hand…”

Droid is still blocking out the sounds of the room with his hands and the guard scoffs, stepping behind him and kicking him in the back, making him fall to the ground.

“Jaime. Stand up.”, the woman commands and Droid hurries to stand up, hands back to fidgeting and face scared, “Stop that!” His hands fall to his side, still twitching.

“You were supposed to say stop at 70%. That was 100%.”, Droid nods and shrinks down, “Jaime! Stand up straight.”, his posture snaps straight, “You aren't a child. Machines need to function in order not to be useless. Do we need to update you again?”

Breath hitching at the word ‘useless’ and flinching again at ‘update’, Droid frantically starts shaking his head before thinking better of it and his movement ceases, face going as blank as he can manage, “No. No, Ma'am, please.”

“We'll see. Again.”, she orders and both kids turn to the desperately struggling man in the middle, saying in unison, “Yes, Ma'am.”

This time, Droid stays mostly stoic, hands twitching at his side and just as the man's screaming turns hysterical he says, “Stop”, and the man stops screaming just a second later. The guard looks at a little device attached to the mans head, “73%”

“Error margin acceptable for now.”, she says, noting something down, “The test stops here.” The guard moves to drag the bound man out of the room while the woman turns to Pezzy, who is looking at her again, “Max. That was adequate.” Her eyes show clear disdain for the child as she pats his head, two short contacts with a flat hand, but Pezzy chases the hand with his head for more contact, like it is the best praise he ever received.

As she turns to Droid with pursed lips, the video cuts of

Notes:

-Power Control/Obedience of 004 excellent

-Brain wave scanning ability of Subject 003 acceptable / More obedience training necessary

Chapter Text

Video name: Observation log - Attachment testing, Subject 001, Subject 002

(POISON INCIDENT)

Ages: 001: 7 / 002: 7

The video starts, showing Grizzy and Puffer sitting in the corner of a white room, huddled closely together, cuddling. The door opens and two men in security uniforms and helmets come in.

"Christopher. Come here.", one of them says but neither of them move so the two guards approach them, "You're so fucking obedient anytime else but become stubborn as donkeys when it comes to separating." Grizzy growls at them as they come nearer, pressing Puffer into the corner and shielding him with his body.

He tries biting the hands that are violently ripping him away from the corner and Puffer struggles in the painful hold the other guard puts him in, hands reaching out towards Grizzy, who tries getting to him but gets backhanded for his effort, slamming into the wall.

The guards leave with Puffer and the video switches to another empty cell. The door opens and Puffer gets tossed in, landing hard on the floor. He looks around the room in obvious confusion.

The next few clips are time stamped showing the progression of three days and are full of picked moments showing both of them getting more and more desperate. Crying for the first whole day, curling themselves up in a corner until they fall asleep in exhaustion, Grizzy stalking around the cell in agitation, agony always present on their faces, Puffer rocking himself with his hands cramped into his hair hard enough to rip chunks of it out, Grizzy desperately throwing himself against the door, crying out, "Why isn't he back yet?! He's normally back by now! Give him back! Give him back! Christopher! Christopher!", Puffer trying to open his door, pulling at the handle, begging into the empty room, "Please. Please. I want to go back to Nelson. Where is Nelson? I need Nelson."

Both of their doors open at the end of the third day and they turn wild, desperate eyes towards the people that come in, moving as close as they dare, standing in the middle of their rooms. A man in a doctor's coat in Grizzy's room and a woman in the same attire in Puffer's.

The man speaks in a cold, emotionless voice, "Christopher died while the experiment was taking place. Stop yapping about him." He leaves immediately after that, leaving a stunned Grizzy behind. He falls to his knees after a while, not even crying but vacantly staring at the floor. Then he uses his claws to rip into his neck, blood gushing out.

His door slams open and the guards come running in. He fights their attempts to pick him up and by the time the gurney enters the room, he has passed out. They quickly wheel him out.

The video switches back to Puffer where the woman says, just as coldly as the man had been, "You will not be placed back with Nelson. He didn't survive the last test."

In stark contrast to Grizzy's devastated resignation, Puffer rushes the woman with frantic desperation, screaming at her, "That's a lie! No! He's not dead! No! He can't be!" The woman is too surprised to react at first and Puffer manages to wrestle a pen from her, backing up. "He is dead! Stop this immediately!", the woman hisses at him and a guard starts advancing on him. Puffer's face twists in agony as he clearly believes her words and then he rams the pen into his throat.

"Are you insane?", the woman shrieks and screams into the hallway, "Emergency Code Black." The guard takes the pen from him and not long after a gurney also enters the room and Puffer, still awake, blood streaming from his throat, gets lifted onto it.

The video switches again to a view of the hallway and both gurneys meet each other on the way. Puffer's eyes widen at the sight of Grizzy and he begins struggling with renewed vigor, twisting in his direction, trying to get to him but the guard quickly holds him down. Instead he starts screaming, a horrifying, desperate sound as he gurgles on blood and tears, still managing to shriek in a high pitch, "Nelson! Nelson! Nelson!"

"Shut the fuck up!", the woman screams at him and closes a hand around his neck, directly into the wound, making Puffer choke on his own blood. Suddenly the woman rips her arm away and starts screaming in pain. She briefly starts frothing at the mouth before she vomits up blood. After struggling in pain she collapses on the ground, dead.

Both gurneys had stopped when she started screaming and now all eyes turn to Puffer as he lays wheezing, growing weaker, arm still reaching out towards Grizzy. The man quickly orders to keep going, getting a phone out and ordering someone on the other side to clean up a corpse in hallway B4.

The video cuts off.

Notes:

-emotional codependency grown out of control

-separating Subjects 001 and 002 over extended periods of time strictly prohibited.

-Subject 001 found to have poison distributed through retractable spikes. Matter of handling is still pending. Update: approved for spike removal.

Chapter Text

The next ‘New Parent Debrief’, an emergency one right the next morning, even before breakfast, is indeed a shitshow of worry and guilt as Evan and Tyler recount their interactions and Brian tells of a distraught, silent Droid, who didn't stop clinging to him even as he fell asleep and Brock of an in denial Pezzy, so sure something good couldn't possibly happen to them.

“First the shifting and now this? Have we always been this useless at communicating?”, Evan asks no one in particular, elbows on his desk and head in his hands, “They've been here for so long thinking we're just gonna get rid of them as soon as possible!”

Jon hums in agreement, “That they opened up to us at all is a miracle. What the hell must they have been thinking? That they will go back to the street? To another fucking lab?! That we were just a random stroke of good luck between it all?”

“I don't know.”, Evan answers, completely miserable, “‘Good things don't happen to us’? All of their reactions are deeply concerning.”

David throws his hands up in exasperation, “All of their behavior is always deeply concerning! In case you forgot, they have been abused to hell and back!”, Evan's head snaps up, glaring at David at the dig but he meets his eyes head on, undeterred, just as irritated, “Instead of wallowing, we should start talking about how to deal with it. What the fuck are the debriefs for?! We fucked up. How do we move on from it? How do we prevent it from happening again?”

“David's right.”, Brock says, holding his hands up placatingly and Evan deflates, “Yes, I know. Sorry.” David nods at him and Brock continues, “I don't think we need to change that much. Like Jon said, it's a miracle that they opened up this much even though they thought we would abandon them eventually. So we must have done a lot right but we need to start being more direct. Especially with Puffer. He's smart and has a good eye for figuring out people's feelings but that doesn't mean anything when he can't come to the right conclusions because he has no other point of reference than their past. And the other's follow whatever conclusion he reaches. So we need to clearly tell them what we mean more often.”

“That they immediately recognized it as him overreacting is also good. That means, while he was unprepared for the news and reacted badly because of it, he knows that we wouldn't want them any harm. That they all know that.”, Jon says, “And they already rely on us for emotional support. Droid wanted comfort from Brian, Pezzy, despite all the denial, readily accepted going with Brock after a little push from Grizzy, Grizzy gave up more information about them than any of them have before and sought comfort from Tyler even if he insisted waiting for Puffer and Puffer …”, he trails off, looking at Evan.

“Puffer broke down completely after being reassured that they will really stay with us. Like a lot of accumulated stress collapsed away abruptly and he couldn't handle it.”, Evan says, remembering Puffer clinging to him, completely beside himself, for so long that his knees gave out and Evan's arms turned numb from holding him upright, “But he didn't shy away. If anything he tried getting as close as possible.”

Jon nods, “So we just stay course until we become the primary option in their eyes to come to when…,” his eyes move to Tyler as he recounts Grizzy's speech, “...Pezzy has a breakdown, Droid shuts down or Grizzy and Puffer feel unsafe?”

Everyone agrees and David sighs, “And right now? What do we do today?”

Tyler takes control of the conversation, “I think the only thing we can do right now is sit them down and just flat out tell them everything we just assumed they knew. That they are our kids now, that we love them…”, everyone cringes at that, remembering their complete shock at that particular statement, “...and whatever else we can think of.”

“That's probably already enough for today. Let's keep it simple, they must be emotionally exhausted as is. We can address whatever else comes to mind later. We should go anyway. We're already late for breakfast.”, Jon says and they all nod in agreement but no one moves, dreading facing them and scared of their reactions when remembering yesterday.

Brian is slumped in one of the chairs in the office, staring at the ceiling, mumbling, “Well, it's back to hiding in their rooms for a while…” That's the usual coping mechanism their kids have kept from the start. A trigger gets set off - no one sees them except for meal times for a few days. They think the crew might be angry with them for something - a silent house with no kids in sight. The crew just hints about talking about, what they dubbed, ‘The Before’ - avoidant eyes, a hasty retreat and a closed door.

Talking about ‘The Before’ is one of the only things that hasn't improved at all. No matter how gently they try to breach the subject, all they get is scared retreats, flat out refusal to acknowledge the attempt or breakdowns when they slip into flashbacks. All informationen gained is always accidental.

Brian drags himself out of the chair and opens the door, “Time to face the music…” The others follow him.

Entering the kitchen, their kids are already there but they aren't greeted by anxious silence like they had expected but by Pezzy and Droid beelining straight for them. Pezzy jumps into Evan's surprised arms, a big smile on his face. “Puffer said we're really staying!! Forever?! With you!? Here?!”, he chatters excitedly and Evan finds himself in a happily squirming hug while Droid bounces around the others with the same energy, smile not faltering for a second.

Relieved laughter bubbles up as Evan presses his child closer, the tension from before forgotten at the unrestrained joy that their two youngest show.

“Yes, of course! Here. With us. Forever.”, he laughs and smiles at Droid's attempt to hug everyone at the same time.

“We can stay even though we haven't been good?!”, Pezzy asks, just as happily, and Evan's smile drops a little, “Pezzy…”

Whatever he wanted to say gets interrupted by Tyler taking Pezzy out of his arms, throwing him up, “What are you talking about? Good? You are the best kids ever.” Pezzy laughs as he gets caught and thrown up again. It's a happy, carefree sound. Droid abandones trying to squeeze himself into Jon so tightly they might fuse together and latches onto Tyler's back, climbing up until he hangs around his neck, “The best?!? No take backs!! No take backs!!”

“Never!”, Tyler swears and grabs his legs to complete the piggy back, spinning around a few times, making Droid giggle and cheer, as Brian takes Pezzy next. He makes his voice all conspiratory as he stage-whispers to him, “And just between us. There's nothing wrong with being a little bad sometimes.”

Pezzy's eyes widen an almost comical amount and he whispers back, “Really?” Brian nods, all serious, “Mhm, so we would want you here even if you weren't good.” The stare he receives from Pezzy for that is amazed and awed before his head snaps to the side, wiggling out of his hold.

When he is set down, he runs to the corner of the room where Puffer and Grizzy are, wrapping his arms around Puffer and giddily saying, “They like us even if we aren't good!”

Droid let's go of Tyler, getting set down as well, to run to them, mirroring Pezzy with Grizzy, beaming up at him.

The crew looks at their two oldest now, having been too caught up in their youngest excitement to do so before. Grizzy's stance is relaxed and open as he looks at Droid and wraps his arms around him, a smile on his face. Puffer looks tired and there is still some anxiety in the way his body curls towards Grizzy but his smile towards Pezzy is clearly genuine as he returns the hug.

David is the first to start moving and he walks towards them with a smile. Puffer's eyes shyly flicker between him and the ground but Pezzy lets go of him, running back towards the crew, to Jon this time, with the same enthusiasm as before, laughing loudly when he gets picked up and swung around, and Grizzy puts a hand on his back, turning him straight and pushing him forward, right into David's arms.

He melts immediately, face hidden in David's chest, like he has taken to when hugged by them and another layer of tension dissipates for the crew. Eyes fixed on Puffer, Grizzy's smile widens before he turns to them and he lets go of Droid, both moving to their respective favorites. Droid throws himself at Brian, laughing just as happily and exuberant as Pezzy had when he gets swung around as well and Grizzy is quick to cuddle into Tyler's arms, rubbing the top of his head under his chin. A gesture that makes Tyler especially happy.

Evan looks around the kitchen, at Pezzy and Droid, still squirmy and hyper, and at Grizzy and Puffer, tucked into warm embraces. He can't believe how this turned out. They had expected timid behavior, denial and maybe a little fear and instead got two kids nearly delirious with happiness in their youngest and two kids clearly happy and relieved albeit more muted and restrained in showing it in their oldest.

Stepping closer, he puts his hand on Puffer's head, gently stroking his hair, and smiles warmly at him when he turns just enough to look at him, “Let's eat breakfast.”

Nodding, Puffer moves out of David's arms, not before getting another kiss pressed to his temple, to sit down and Grizzy follows, reluctantly peeling himself away from Tyler and sitting in his seat beside him. Droid nearly knocks his chair over when he is back on the ground, still vibrating in excitement and Pezzy only let's go of Jon when he puts him directly on his chair.

Breakfast has never been louder. Droid and Pezzy make sure of that with loud voices and exaggerated movements, smiles never faltering. Grizzy chimes in after a while, his younger brothers antics fueling his own, already good, mood and even Puffer laughs freely with a bit of time and positive reinforcement from the crew. Evan and Jon share a happy look. Their kids never looked their age more than right now. Not even at the lake.

After everything for breakfast is put away again, Evan tells them to stay for a few more minutes because they want to talk to them.

“First of all, we're sorry.”, Evan begins and their kids seem confused at that. Puffer tilts his head questioningly, Pezzy's eyebrows knit together in concern, Droid blinks confusedly at him and Grizzy's face crunches up, asking, “For what?”

“For not telling you that you will stay. We should have told you immediately. Or at least sooner. It must have been scary, staying here so long and thinking you have to leave again.”, Evan explains and Puffer asks after a short pause, “Were we gonna stay from the start?”

“No. It started the way I told you in the beginning with you just staying a few months.”, Evan answers and Puffer picks at his fingers for a moment, “When did you decide to keep us?” The question of ‘Why?’ is a silent undertone and Evan's smile is a little strained when he answers, “The day at the lake.”, their kids’ eyes light up in recognition immediately and Pezzy and Droid shrink a little at the memory while Puffer narrows his eyes a little, cogs in his head turning, “The whole ordeal made us realize that we want you to stay.”

“Me getting hurt made you want to keep us?”, Puffer asks but he says it like a useful revelation to be remembered and Evan is quick to derail that train of thought before it can take root in his head, hurrying to correct his word choice, “No. We loved you way before that. I admit that it sped up the process a little bit but we would have adopted you regardless. You getting hurt was not necessary for that decision and we don't want any of you hurt. No matter the reason.”

“On that note.”, Jon interjects, for now satisfied with the way Puffer nods, “We love you.”, the attention on him is intense as all their kids look at him, less taken off guard than yesterday but still shaken, “We have for a long time like Evan said.”

Pezzy's and Droid's heads swivel to Puffer, expectantly, but Puffer doesn't give them the usual clues and doesn't say anything, just looking at Jon, needing to process the statement. At his silence, Pezzy speaks up instead, “Why?”

Jon smiles at him, “There's no special reason. You are very good kids.”, he emphazises that point since Pezzy had brought it up earlier and repeats Brian's sentiment as well, “But even if you weren't we would love you. You're very loveable just as you are. It came naturally from spending time with you.”

They stay silent at that and the crew can't really read their expressions but they are definitly better than yesterday, contemplative and stunned and maybe a bit hopeful. Puffer's eyes move to Grizzy and they do their silent talking but from what little they gather it doesn't seem negative.

Brian grins, aiming to break the tension, “So…now that the mushy feeling talk is out of the way. You normally go out right now. Wanna show me what you’re up to in the woods?”

Droid's energy is immediately back at a 100, eyes sparkling and nearly screaming his words, “You wanna come with?!”

At Brian's amused nod, he shoots out of his seat, running out of the kitchen, no doubt to the front door to get his shoes and jacket, “WOOOOOOO!” Pezzy follows him, hands firmly pulling at Evan, “Do you wanna come too?”

Evan let's himself be lead out of the kitchen, “Sure. Sounds like fun.” Earning him excited chatter about a squirrel they have been trying to catch for weeks now and a fallen tree they discovered two days ago, perfect for climbing.

Grizzy's eyes glide over the rest of the crew. “There's a pond with frogs.”, he offers shyly and Tyler chuckles. He knows every centimeter of their territory by heart but it won't hurt being shown his kids’ favorite spots. Last time he was in the woods with Grizzy they had just gone around the border.

“Frogs. Fun!”, Brock says, standing up, and the smile on their kids’ faces is blinding, quickly moving out of the kitchen to follow Pezzy's voice and Droid's excited screaming.

It's not gonna be smooth sailing from now on, it probably never will, but it feels like the wind is finally coming from the back instead of the front

Chapter Text

Jon, Brian and David are all in the living room, everyone doing their own thing, when Grizzy and Puffer walk through and out the terrace door. No one thinks anything of it. Their kids love being outside and it's been a while since seeing them split up in the house would have been weird. At least for short periods of time.

The peace lasts only a short while though as Jon and Brian suddenly shoot up from their spots. "What? What?", David asks alarmed, following them as they hurry outside.

"Pezzy!", Jon shouts angrily and they flinch, turning to him. David only wonders for a second where Pezzy, currently being carried by Grizzy, came from when Jon continues, "Did you just jump out of a window?!" Looking up they see Droid kneeling on the window sill, looking down with wide eyes, and Jon adds, "The attic window?!"

"Droid! Come down this instant!", Brian orders just as agitated and when he sees him eyeing the ground he yells, "Using the stairs!". Droid moves inside. When he comes through the terrace door, he quickly moves to stand next to his brothers, Pezzy back to being on his own feet, and Jon begins scolding them, "Do you know how dangerous this was?! Pezzy could have gotten seriously hurt! Why would you do that? Where did you get this idea?"

They shuffle nervously, eyes avoiding him, but Jon crosses his arms and waits expectantly until Grizzy fesses up. "From a movie.", he mutters.

“From a movie?! How often have we told you how unrealistic movies are?”, Jon asks agitated and they shrink further into themselves, growing scared at the first real anger directed at them. Jon doesn't let up though, "I expect you to think twice next time before doing something this stupid! You're not allowed to use any streaming service or watch movies for a week. If you do something like this again I will install children safety mode on all of your devices and then you can only watch stuff for little babies. Permanently." With that he turns around and walks back inside, angrily muttering under his breath, leaving them behind stunned.

Puffer's eyebrows knit together, staring after Jon before he turns to David and asks confused, "We did something wrong and he was angry. Is there no punishment?" The others nod, fear slowly petering out. David laughs and puts his arm around his shoulder, "One week of no movies is the punishment."

Puffer looks at him in astonishment, clearly trying to reconcile that information with his previous experiences and Droid asks with a furrowed brow, “How is that a punishment?”

“Do you want to watch movies?”, Brian asks and Droid nods slowly, tilting his head when Brian smiles at him, “Well, now you can't for a week. That's an appropriate punishment. Hurting you is not. Do you understand?”

Four pairs of eyes blink owlishly at him and he has to fight the grimace that wants to find its way onto his face at their clear incomprehension.

“No.”, Puffer says in answer but it's so quiet that they aren't sure if it was really said for them.

“Yeah….well…”, Brian starts a bit awkwardly, unsure what to say and David saves the moment by redirecting, ruffling Puffer's hair, “No movies sure does suck! But we have many other things one can do. Let's raid the cabinet.” He pulls Puffer back inside with him, the others naturally following.

The next day Droid sidles up to Jon with a board game in his hands and holds it out to him, “Do you wanna play with us?”

“Sure.”, Jon smiles at him and moves towards the living room only to be stopped by a hand gripping onto his arm as Droid starts pulling him in the opposite direction. Confused, Jon follows him until they come to a stop in front of Grizzy's room.

Jon's thoughts briefly come to a full stop in shock as Droid opens the door and goes inside, hand still insistently gripping his arm. No one has entered the children's rooms. It is the one place in the house they would never enter, trying to make it a safe space away from the crew, especially in the beginning. They knock occasionally to get them for something but that's it. He can't believe he has just been invited in as he follows Droid inside. His eyes wander around the room.

Despite the fact that Jon knows for sure that they use Grizzy's room nearly exclusively, it's way too bare. The walls don't have anything on them, no toys or other belongings are strewn about. Their switch is standing in front of the TV, the couch is extended with all their bedding on it and all the furniture needed is present but that's about everything that indicates a child, much less four children, is using this room. Not properly communicating isn't the only mistake they made and Jon is saddened that this must have reinforced their belief that they won't stay.

Grizzy, Puffer and Pezzy are on the ground in the middle, forming a half circle. Puffer is laying on his stomach, propped up on his elbows and Grizzy is sitting crossed legged beside him. Pezzy kneels on his other side and all three look up at his entrance. No one tenses up, just calmly watching him come closer and Pezzy smiles at him.

Droid pulls at his arm again and Pezzy climbs into his lap as he sits down in the free spot to close the circle, back to chest, happily curling up in his arms as he wraps them around him. Kissing the top of his head, Jon reminds himself that they must have done a lot right too and while not excusing this oversight they have been pretty busy with gaining their trust. They will just have to do better from now on.

Droid drops the game in the middle and he and Grizzy start setting the board up. Puffer's eyes stay on Jon for a long moment before averting them to the game, “I'm blue.”

“Green!”, Droid claims immediately and Jon hides his smile in Pezzy's hair.

This will be an interesting topic for the New Parent Debrief.

—---

David pours himself a coffee at the kitchen counter, still half asleep, and turns around to go sit at the table for breakfast. He startles instead, spilling the hot coffee all over himself, when Pezzy stands right behind him and chirps a happy, “Good Morning!”

“Ahh fuck, fuck, fuck!”, he curses, gripping his shirt to pull it away from his skin and putting the mug down on the counter. Pezzy's hasty attempt to apologize gets interrupted by Brian and Tyler, already sitting at the breakfast table, breaking out into loud laughter.

“You got him good, Pezzy!”, Tyler says between chuckles and Pezzy's concerned eyes turn confused when his head swivels to look at him, “Got him good?” Grumbling to himself, David inspects his ruined shirt, turning on the faucet and trying to get the worst of it out before it dries.

“Yeah! Good job!”, Brian says, smiling with high amusement at Pezzy before the tilt of his lips turn teasing as he looks at David, “Did you see his face? Comedy gold!” Tyler laughs his agreement and Pezzy brightens at the praise and at the way the two laugh.

“Very funny.”, David scowls sarcastically at them but drops one hand on top of Pezzy's head, ruffling his hair playfully, and smiles at him when Pezzy beams up at him before crouching down and stage whispering to him, “You have to get them next, ok? To avenge my honor.”

Tyler snorts, “Your honor? How do you expect him to avenge something that never existed?” Standing up again, David starts bickering with Tyler and Brian eggs them on, making Pezzy giggle with little comments about how both of them are idiots. The bickering peters out when the others slowly trickle in and breakfast starts.

Two days later Brian walks across the living room, past the couch, thoughts running through a few calculations for a new gun he wants to build, when Pezzy springs out from behind it and a loud, “BOOO!”, makes him flinch. Giggling, Pezzy runs up to him, “Got you!”

His smile drops a little, an unsure look slowly replacing it, when Brian needs more than 3 seconds to catch himself again and only looks down at him for a moment. The giggling is back in a flash when Brian grins, “Sure did! Got me good.”, but turns into shrieking when Brian grabs him and starts to tickle him, “Can't get me and not expect revenge, you little shit!”

The shrieking attracts Puffer and Grizzy and Brian looks just in time towards the door they come through to see the last second of the worried panic melt into smiles and Grizzy wastes no time in coming towards them, always one for play fighting. The new gun will have to be built later.

Tyler opens the door to his room and steps into the hallway, listening to the silence before making his way to the kitchen. Pezzy has been going around after successfully scaring Brian, trying to surprise everyone and he has gotten everyone but Tyler and Evan, their senses too sharp to not notice him beforehand. While he could pretend to be scared for Pezzy's sake, it's way more amusing to see him come up with more and more complicated ways to hide and surprise him.

His trek gets interrupted abruptly when David's shield drops and he and Pezzy appear right in front of him from seemingly nowhere, Pezzy shouting his, “BOOO!” Completely taken off guard, Tyler's first instinct is to swing, his fist being stopped by David's shield before it can make contact with his face, just inches away from breaking his nose. The bastard doesn't even flinch, a shiteating grin on his face, and Tyler would chew him out if Pezzy wasn't there, excitedly shouting, “Got you! Got you! David, we got him!”

“Got me? I'm gonna get you!”, Tyler feigns grabbing at Pezzy, making him laugh and turn to run away. He gives him a few seconds of a head start and gives David a playful glare, “Asshole.”

“Fuckhead.”, is the amused answer and Tyler snorts, rolling his eyes, before stepping past him to chase his kid through the house.

Evan is in his office, leaning against his desk as he negotiates the pay for a mission on the phone. The client is a little stingy given the scope of the mission and Evan only has so much patience in him to politely reiterate again and again that he can pay what Evan tells him to or the crew will not lift a single finger. ‘Pay us or fuck off’ isn't exactly something he can say during negotiations if he want to keep his professional image, no matter how much he wants to. The mission isn't something he would consider a ‘must do’ anyway. Neither in payment, importance or possible personal interest.

Frowning to himself he rounds the table to sit down and actually drops the phone in surprise when he pulls the chair out and Pezzy springs out from beneath the table with a loud exclamation. Hastily picking it up again, he damage controls as much as possible while giving Pezzy a disapproving look.

Pezzy hurries to stand and Evan puts a hand on his back, leading him to the entrance of the office and outside of it, closing the door.

About half an hour later Evan opens the door again, the phone call finished satisfactory given the circumstances, and Pezzy hasn't moved an inch from where he left him, not crying but clearly distraught, eyes previously glued to the door now staring up at him in fearful anticipation, stumbling over his words, “I'm sorry! I just wanted to surprise you! I'm sorry, I…”

“Pezzy.”, Evan interrupts him and his mouth clicks shut, “I am not angry with you for trying to surprise me.”, Pezzy's face lights up eith hope only to fall again as Evan continues, “I am angry with you because I know that you know better than to interrupt when I'm working. You were allowed to be in the office until now but if you do something like this again you won't be anymore.”

Pezzy's eyes lock onto the ground and he makes himself small as he nods, “Yes, Evan.” Evan sighs and grabs Pezzy, who flinches at first but latches on quickly after realizing that Evan's not touching him to hurt him, lifting him up and carrying him with one arm. “Think before you do next time.”, he says and even though he doesn't think that this warrants a punishment, they have collectively decided that they should punish smaller things for a while to show what punishments should be so he adds, “No dessert or other sweets today.”

Lifting his head from Evan's shoulder, Pezzy looks at him with a cocked head, asking quietly, “Is that a punishment?” He stays quiet for a long while when Evan nods, staring at the side of his head. His fingers start nervously picking at the seam of Evan's shirt collar and his next question is even quieter, “Can…can I still see Puffer and Grizzy and Droid?”

“Yes, of course.”, Evan says, a bit confused at this seemingly random change of topic but Pezzy's next words make the pieces fall into place, “Even though I'm being punished? I don't have to be alone?”

Evan grits his teeth, keeping his tone calm despite his anger at his child's past, “No. You never have to be alone again. No punishment will ever be you being alone. Even if we send you to your room that doesn't mean that the others can't come in.” He adds the last part because when the crew discussed acceptable punishments, sending their kids to their rooms had been approved depending on the situation and he feels like this clarification is necessary after what Pezzy just said.

He is unprepared for the little kiss pressed to his cheek and Pezzy's arms nearly choke him when they tighten around his neck as he presses close again but Evan just tightens his own arms in response.

—---

Jon enters the kitchen to a peculiar sight. Droid is standing at the sink, filling up a pot with water, several other surrounding him, on the counter and the floor, some open and still empty and some closed with their lids.

“Droid? What are you doing?”, he gets his attention, getting a big, toothy smile when he turns to him. He waves him closer and opens one of the pots when Jon comes to a halt next to him, excitedly saying, “I didn't have enough space in the bathroom!”

Loud ribbiting of at least five frogs greets Jon, one trying to escape only to be caught by Droid, who giggles before putting it back, closing the lid again. His eyes sparkle as he looks up at Jon, who doesn't share his enthusiasm as he looks at the array of pots around him.

“Are there frogs in every closed pot?”, he asks carefully, feeling a little ill at the thought of the animals touching anything they prepare food with and Droid nods so hard his hair flings around, making the birds nest on his head even more severe. He briefly closes his eyes, exasperated, before turning back to Droid, “All of the frogs need to go back to the pond.” He almost feels bad at the complete shift on his kid's face, happiness drained in 0.5 seconds flat. But only almost when he sees the head of a frog peeking out from the pocket of Droid's jacket. How many frogs are in that pond?!

“They do?”, Droid asks, bottom lip wobbling a bit as if wanting to form a pout. “Yes, they do. You can't keep animals in the kitchen and especially not in the pots we use for cooking. We might get sick if they touch our food. You don't want to eat food with frog flavor, right?”, Jon explains and Droid eyebrows knit together in concern.

“Sick?”, he mumbles, looking at the pot he just closed in thought before his head snaps back up, “But we ate food touched by rats or dogs or cats all the time. Are frogs different?”

Grimacing at this information, Jon crouches down to look at Droid at eye level, carefully smoothing his expression from angry sadness to only concern, “On the streets?”, Droid nods, “And you never got sick from that?”

He seems stumped for a moment, cocking his head before his eyes light up in recognition, dimming down immediately with uneasiness, “I guess. One time Grizzy threw up really bad and passed out.”, his voice quiets down until Jon can barely hear it, eyes finding the floor, “Puffer cried the whole night.”

Keeping his voice steady and calm, Jon reaches out to place a comforting hand on Droid's arm, “See? We don't want something like that to happen so we are always careful with the food. So the frogs go back to the pond.”

Nodding, Droid mournfully keeps his eyes on the floor for a few seconds longer before bouncing back to his happy self, “That's ok! I still have the frogs in the bathroom!”

“No. They go back to the pond too.”, Jon squashes that idea, quickly explaining before Droid can open his mouth, “If frogs are too dirty to keep in the kitchen then they are too dirty to keep in the bathroom. Besides, the water from the tap isn't good for them and they have no plants here. They are a lot happier in the pond.”

He waits until Droid nods again and pulls out a big container from his dimensional pocket, “Good. You put all the frogs in here, we bring them back to the pond and then you will help me clean the pots, ok? You can have some ice cream afterwards.”

“Ok!”, Droid says excitedly, sadness over the frogs forgotten at the prospect of ice cream and Jon smiles when Pezzy comes back with Droid from the bathroom, helping him carry the container, asking if he can have ice cream too if he helps.

A few days later Tyler stares at a frog and the frog stares back from his spot in the basket full of dirty looking water and foliage clearly taken from the pond. Seconds tick by. They are in a stalemate.

At least until the terrace door slides open and Droid comes in, another frog in one and a water plantain in the other hand, promptly freezing at Tyler's questioning hum and raised eyebrow.

“Didn't Jon tell you not to bring frogs inside?”, he asks, highly amused, and Droid nods frantically, hastily explaining, “Jon said no frogs in the kitchen or bathroom because they are dirty.”

“And you thought that meant any other place in the house is fine?”, Tyler asks and Droid's eyes briefly flicker to the side even if he nods. Tyler holds back a snort, the little proud smile that wants to form on his lips carefully held back. Bending the rules in his favor, huh? He's glad to discover that his kid has a mischievous side but decides against calling it out for now lest he scares him back into blind obedience.

“The frogs go back to the pond.”, he says sternly instead because he can't exactly show that he approves of this behavior either, and picks up the basket, “I'm gonna help you bring the pondwater back. No frogs in the house.”

Droid nods, sadly looking down at the frog in his hands and follows him outside. Tyler is already looking forward to what his next move will be.

Brian opens the door to the living room, stops to look at the chaos in front of him and then screams into the hallway, “David! David!!”

Drawn in by the urgent shouting of his name, David appears not longer after, “What?!”

“Catch the squirrel!”

“The what?!”

“The fucking squirrel!”, Brian answers and shoves him into the room, stepping in after him and closing the door. David takes in the full picture of different books and trinkets on the floor, tipped over chairs and kids running around in a panic before the aforementioned squirrel lands on his head, only using it as a stepping stone to jump to the next shelve, frantic in it's escape attempt from Droid, who collides with him next, too fast to stop in time.

His try to continue the chase is thwarted by David picking him up and all movement stops abruptly when he catches the squirrel in a box made of shields. Pezzy is standing on the couch, arms slowly moving down from where they were reaching out in preparation to catch the now trapped squirrel and Puffer and Grizzy fidget awkwardly, one on the right side and one on the left side of the room, all eyes on David and Brian.

“Puffer, could you please open the door?”, David asks and moves the squirrel outside once it's open, setting it free at the start of the tree line, all of them watching it run away.

Turning to Droid, securely set on David's hip, Brian sees him looking around the living room, taking in with big eyes the havoc this stunt wreaked on it.

“Droid.”, he starts, stretching the vowel a bit in a disapproving tone and Droid hides his face against David's collarbone, starting to tremble a little, fingers loosely gripping his shirt.

All of the kids tense and Grizzy takes a step forward, “I'm…”, but he cuts himself off when David shoots him a look, shrinking a little, face still concerned.

Brian ignores the interrupted interruption, eyes just briefly flicking up to meet David's, who starts reassuringly stroking Droid's back, and says again, “Droid.”

Droid's head moves just enough to peek at Brian while his face is still pressed to David and Brian leans closer, “I know that you're really smart. Smart enough to built little gadgets with me, smart enough to beat Brock at crazy eights and definitely smart enough to understand that ‘No frogs in the house’ wasn't an invitation to bring other animals inside. Right, Droid?”

He waits for the barely perceivable nod, copying it a little bigger with a hum and reaching out to gently cup the back of his head, “If you can't keep the animals outside, you will have to stay inside instead. You're not allowed out for three days.”

Eyes widening, Droid moves away from hiding his face, saying disbelievingly, “That’s it?” Raising an eyebrow at him, Brian laughs, “I can make it four if you want.”

Reaching out with raised arms, Droid cuddles into him when David hands him over, “A hundred is fine too.” Brian kisses the top of his head, letting his eyes move across the room, to each of his kids, voice light like he is bantering with them, “Oh come on. We're not that cruel.” Grizzy's head tilts a little, slightly scrunching up his forehead as if disagreeing that that would be cruel. Pezzy and Puffer have similar looks on them but their attention snaps to David when he clears his throat and gestures around the room, “You're all going to clean this up though.”

Nodding, they start picking stuff up and Droid wiggles out of Brian's arms to help, mood already back up, telling them how they managed to catch the squirrel.

—--

David's currently walking to the kitchen to get a pill for his headache from the cabinet. He has been nursing the headache and a runny nose for three days now and it doesn't show signs of getting better and he wonders if he should have extended the extra after-mission-away-from-home-time they have adopted to look after wounds they don't want their children to see to let it run its course. One look behind him to Puffer, hot on his heels, lets him drop that thought. Their kids have developed a bit of separation anxiety with them lately and he doesn't want to feed into that for a measly little cold.

Puffer isn't the most clingy kid normally. At least of their children since they don't have enough experience with other kids to compare. If put on a scale from most to least clingy it would go Pezzy, Droid, Puffer and then Grizzy.

David has just returned from his mission yesterday though and that absence always makes them more clingy. More clingy in general with whoever was away but especially with their favorite guardians. Pezzy coerces Evan onto the couch with big puppy eyes and pleading hands, making himself at home on his lap and chattering about everything that happened in his absence while nestling into his chest, fingers tight in his shirt as if afraid Evan would disappear from right under him. Droid buzzes around Brian even more insistingly than normal, asking a thousand questions per minute about where Brian was, what he did, what he saw, etc until he is completely powered out, ending up being carried for the rest of the day as he clings to Brian's neck, half asleep but still semi coherently muttering to him. Grizzy latches onto Tyler, in contrast to him normally expressing his affection in more playful ways, trying to be constantly nestled under his arm and pressed to his side, wanting all of his attention.

And Puffer turns into David's little shadow, following him closely through the house long after the other kids have satisfied their need to reassure themselves that he hasn't left them forever. Usually David resigns himself to the couch or his room to properly cuddle him but he's mildly afraid of passing the oncoming cold onto Puffer as the crew is still unsure how susceptible he is to getting sick because of his weak blood. The change in routine will probably mean that Puffer sticks to him for longer than normal but that's fine with him. There are few things better than spending time with his kid after all.

A sudden scratching in his throat makes him cough and he stops, Puffer bumping into his back, when the cough is more violent than he anticipated, quickly turning into a whole fit. The kind of hacking that brings up phlegm and makes you feel like you taste blood, shaking your body.

It's only after the coughing fit calms down that he notices that Puffer has grabbed onto his sleeve with both hands, the same way Pezzy or Droid do to him when they are scared, and is looking up at him with startled, distressed eyes.

“It’s alr..”, his attempt to reassure Puffer gets interrupted by another violent cough that makes him feel light headed. Reassessing his thought of it being a 'mild’ cold, he mutters to himself, “Maybe it's not alright.” Puffer's grip tightens in response and David curses himself for saying that.

He takes a deep, rattling breath and smiles at his kid, changing plans of letting him follow like usual, “It's ok. I'm just a little sick. I'm gonna take something to make it better and be fine in no time at all.” Carefully peeling Puffer's hands off of him, he continues, “But you might get sick if you come too close so why don't you go do something with the others for today and we can do something when I'm not sick anymore, ok?”

Frowning first at the hands removing his and then at David, Puffer doesn't look reassured at all as he tries taking hold of him again, following his step back, his sentence trailing off, “But…”

Avoiding his hands, he coughs again, “I'm sorry but no buts today. I'm gonna get some stuff from the kitchen and go to my room and you're not following.” He waits for him to nod, “Don't worry too much, ok? Go play with the others.”

He feels bad leaving Puffer behind in the hallway, looking a little lost as he stares after him, but it's for his own good. He meets Brock in the kitchen who raises a questioning eyebrow at him and pointedly looks behind him,”Where's your duckling?”

“I'm sicker than I thought. Can't have him catch it.”, he answers, sneezing as if to underline the statement and Brock hums in understanding, stepping out of the way to let him get to the cabinet they keep the medicine in.

Brock clears his throat and he turns around again, swallowing his pill, sighing when he spots Puffer in the doorway, peeking in with only his head visible to the room, “Puffer, what did I just say?”

Head disappearing a little more behind the frame, Puffer answers, chastised, voice barely above a whisper, “Not to follow.”

“I'm not angry.”, he reassures quickly and shares a look with Brock, who waves Puffer in and pulls him into his arms when he tries to go to David again, “Let's wish David a speedy recovery. Get well soon.”

“Thank you.”, David answers and smiles at Puffer when he repeats the sentence, “Thank you too. I'm sure the cold will be gone in no time. See you at breakfast.” He leaves after that.

Puffer looks after him, clearly anxious and tense, and Brock is just about to reassure again that he will be fine when a cough in the distance makes him flinch and startle into following after David.

“Hey, hey.”, Brock stops him by tightening his arms around him, “He will be fine. Come on, the others are outside.”

Puffer lets himself be pulled along, head still tilted in the direction David disappeared in, only moving back forward when they step onto the terrace.

Tyler and Brian are kicking a soccer ball around with Grizzy, Droid and Pezzy, the kids laughing as they chase after the ball or kick it really high. They have bought a few toys for outside to vary their activities from just playing catch or roughhousing when in the clearing and it's been a great success so far. Grizzy likes anything that involes running after it, Pezzy and Puffer have taken quite the liking to Badminton and Droid is happy with anything really, even the jumping ropes they had bought on a whim.

He gives Puffer a gentle push forward and he moves to join the others, Grizzy looking first at him and then sending a searching look around before frowning questiongly at Puffer, giving him a hug when he is close enough. Puffer briefly rubs his eyes, pressing his face into Grizzy's shoulder but they quickly get distracted by Droid kicking the ball to them.

“Where's David?”, Puffer asks at breakfast the next day, looking around the table anxiously and Brock winces internally at the question, standing up, “I'm going to get him. He probably just overslept.”

It turns out that David didn't oversleep, bleary eyes, a sweaty face and coughing greeting Brock when he opens the door and a quick check of his forehead make it pretty clear that he has a severe fever. He's barely coherent as well.

The kids are distressed by this news but stay away from his room when they forbid them to enter and are successfully distracted after a while. Except for Puffer, who first idles in front of the door with Grizzy, who gets roped into some of Droid’s shenanigans outside after a while, and then insistently tries breaking in, no matter how many times they get him back out and tell him to quit it.

“That's it.”, Brock says, a little exasperated, when he catches him in David's room for the sixth time, this time having snuck into the bed to press into his side, “I'm going to say this only one more time. You're not allowed in here until David is better. Come here.” He holds out his hand to beckon him over.

Puffer seems to struggle with himself, worrying his lip between his teeth, before pressing himself closer to David, making himself small as he clings and warily watches Brock, “No.”

The simple word catches Brock more off guard than anything else could have. Their kids have gotten better at saying no but it's always along the careful lines of “I don't want to because…”, “Could we do x instead?” and never just a No for No's sake.

It's a bit unfortunate that one of the first clear cut Nos is not for something where he can give in.

“Yes.”, he counters, still holding out his hand but Puffer turns his head to hide in David's side so he says sternly, “Puffer.” Puffer just tenses up even further, not moving.

Giving him a few more moments to move on his own, Brock steps closer to the bed when he doesn't and puts his hand on Puffer's shoulder, crouching down a little, and teleports them to the hallway, catching Puffer in his arms before he falls to the ground from his position still horizontal in the air. He sets him down onto his feet and crosses his arms, looking at him disapprovingly, “Can I trust you not to immediately go back to David the moment I turn my back?”

Puffer's eyes flicker to the door and he looks at it for a while, face getting even more unhappy and then he looks down and shakes his head. It's almost funny that he is admitting that he will ignore the set rule to do what he wants regardless and a little bit endearing that he doesn't attempt to lie. Still. He can't let this go anymore.

“Ok so here's what we will do. You will either go to your room and stay there until David isn't sick anymore or stay with me so I can keep an eye on you. What will it be?”, he asks and Puffer's eyes widen in surprise as his head snaps up, “I…I can choose?”

Brock's demeanor softens a bit but he keeps his voice scolding and matter of fact, "Yes, you can. Going to your room means staying there the whole time except for when we eat. Going with me means you follow me the whole time. No going to play with the others or going outside.”

Eyes still wide as he looks at him, Puffer shuffles a bit on his spot and then he curls a little into himself, meekly asking, “Will the door be locked?”

Gentling his tone considerably, Brock opens one arm for him and hugs him with it when he presses into his side, “No, of course not. We would never do that. But every time we catch you outside means one more day of staying in your room even after David is healthy again.”

“Wanna stay with you.”, Puffer mumbles after a long moment of hiding his face in Brock's side and Brock uses his other hand to gently scratch over his scalp, “Ok.”

He drops Puffer off at the couch, “I still have to check on David so you're staying here until I come back.” Puffer nods and Brock quickly takes care of David, giving him new water and a cold rag for his head, taking his temperature.

When he enters the living room again, his heart melts a little at the scene in front of him. Puffer has dutifully stayed on the couch and his other kids have found him, resulting in a big cuddle pile. Grizzy is laying on his back with his head in Puffer's lap and Pezzy laying on top of him, head resting on his chest with Grizzy's arms wrapped loosely around him. Puffer has one hand in Grizzy's hair, gently stroking it, and the index finger of the other hand follows the contours of his face. Brock is sure that Grizzy would be purring if he was shifted right now, his eyes closed in obvious bliss. Droid is leaning into Puffer's other side, hugging his upper arm to his chest and the lower side of his face is pressed into his shoulder, looking up at Puffer, whose head is turned to him, foreheads touching. Brock can hear his soft giggling when Puffer occasionally rubs their noses together affectionately.

He goes to turn around to give them their moment but Puffer’s head turns to him, making Droid automatically look as well, and Grizzy's eyes snap open when his hands stop petting him, turning to him too.

“Brock!”, Droid greets him happily and Puffer cocks his head confusedly as if asking where he is going. Changing plans, Brock steps further into the room and joins them on the couch when Droid makes grabby hands at him, his arm stretched over Puffer's shoulders to cuddle him and Droid ending up in his lap. He briefly lets his hand ruffle through Grizzy's and Pezzy's hair, both smiling up at him.

All of his kids follow him around  after that, seemingly determined to not let Puffer take his punishment alone, getting jokingly dubbed by Brian as Brock's entourage. A name they seem to like, referring to themselves like that as well.

David spends two days after he recovers with Puffer fussing over him as if he was still sick, pouring all his energy into getting him stuff and putting blankets on him and making him tea, a thing he has picked up from Brock after watching him do it.

Once he has been convinced that David is fine, Puffer spends another two days getting carried around by him. It's the first time Puffer has ever wanted to be picked up and David is begrudgingly glad that he is small for his age for the sole reason that he doesn't have to set him down the whole time.

—---

Evan leaves his office late at night, hiding a yawn behind his hand, and makes his way to his room when soft noises, so faint he wouldn't have heard them if it wasn't for his enhanced hearing, get his attention. He changes course, wondering who is still awake so late.

Theres a light shining through the little gap of the slightly open kitchen door and the noise gets clearer with each step. It sounds like a video, some kind of explanation.

Opening the door just a bit more, the scene in front of him kicks him into a mild panic. Grizzy is sitting on a chair with his arm in Puffer's lap, who is sitting crossed legged on the table, looking at it in deep concentration as he stitches a big gash back together with a steady hand, occasionally glancing at the phone Droid is holding up, a video with instructions on how to suture a wound playing on it. Pezzy is kneeling beside Puffer, looking at him stitching and a bunch of bloody paper towels in his hand, dabbing the wound with a fresh one when too much blood spills out.

Despite the big wound and what is happening right now, Grizzy isn't reacting to the pain, his mouth just barely twitching. None of them seem even slightly bothered by the blood.

Evan, on the other hand, is deeply bothered by seeing his child with such a big wound and he completely opens the door, making their heads snap up to him. He doesn't give them time to panic at him catching them at something they clearly wanted to hide, saying urgently, “Pezzy. Go get Brian.”

Pezzy scampers off the table to acquiesce and Evan moves forward to take Grizzy's arm, checking the injury over. It's big and bleeds profusely but no lethal artery has been hit and while Puffer’s stitching is a little crooked, it's still tight and would get the job done in a pinch. They aren't in a pinch though, having two trained medics and four people who have basic first aid knowledge in the house and enough medical supplies that there's no need to use normal sewing equipment.

He presses the wound together to stop the blood flow a little until Brian comes and looks up to Grizzy, “How did this happen?”

Their kids have hidden wounds before. Small things like scraped knees but also bigger things like twisted ankles from falling off of trees and surely countless more that the crew doesn't know about.

At first it must have been out of fear as they pretty much feared telling the crew anything and then there had been a short period of time after the whole Puffer nearly dying debacle, when they still were testing how much they could trust them, where they had hesitantly asked for help with injuries. They stopped doing that though and no one understands why.

They told them multiple times that they want them to get help from them but the words don't seem to stick no matter how often they repeat them.

“I fell and cut it open on my dresser.”, Grizzy answers, shoulders hunched up and avoiding eye contact. The others shuffle awkwardly, Droid putting his phone away, fidgeting with his fingers afterwards, and Puffer gets off of the table, staying close to Grizzy's side, touching his uninjured arm.

They only seem mildy afraid though, more on the side of uneasiness, and Evan is glad for that. A few months ago they would have been beside themselves with fear.

“And why…”, he starts but Brian comes in at the same moment, getting dragged in by the hand by Pezzy, eyes widening in alarm at the blood and the wound.

He hastily gets the first aid kit from the cabinet and Evan moves aside to let him take Grizzy's arm, “Did Pezzy not tell you what's happening?”

“No. Shook me awake, told me you want to see me and pulled me along.”, Brian answers, already completely focused on the wound, frowning at the makeshift stitching and Evan snorts, a little amused at the mental image.

Brian works in silence, everyone focused on Grizzy’s arm and Evan pours him some apple juice to get his iron back up after the blood loss, keeping a watchful eye as he sips on it, making him drink two glasses.

When the wound is properly addressed, Brian puts the kit away and then swirls around, getting angry now that his kid is patched up, “You have been told multiple times to come to one of us when getting hurt! I could overlook the small stuff even if I didn't like it but this?! What would you have done if you couldn't stitch him back together? I don't care about your hang ups with this anymore, you will tell us everything from now on! From stuff like this to bumping into something to a papercut. Everything!”

Evan agrees but also softens the blow, “At least for a while. Until we know we can trust you not to hide your injuries.”

Their kids nod, cowed. Grizzy is making himself small, uncharacteristically dipping to half hide behind Puffer, folding his arm into his stomach to conceal the wound. Puffer's back is straight, trying to make himself bigger, as he subtly tries shuffling in front of Grizzy and Evan sighs, briefly massaging his temples, deciding to finally ask, “Why did you hide this?”

They fidget awkwardly for a bit and Puffer's eyes find the floor, losing his pose to duck his head anxiously, “You don't like when we are hurt.”

Evan sighs again, having an inkling of their reasons now, and crouches down in front of Puffer, taking his face between his hands, making him look at him, “Yes. We don't like when you are hurt. Were you hiding it because you thought we would be angry or because you didn't want us to feel bad?”

Puffer's eyes jump between his eyes as he sees him contemplating how to answer the question.

“Because we didn't want you to feel bad.”, he finally says and Evan pulls him into a hug, tightly holding him.

“It's very nice and thoughtful of you to think of our feelings.”, he starts and pulls back enough to look him in the eye, “But we feel even worse if you hide when you are hurt. If one of you, let's say Pezzy, is hurt you feel bad, right?”, he nods, “Would you want him to hide it from you because of that?”, his head shake is firm and insistent, “We feel the same way. Tyler already told Grizzy that we're here if you need us and he didn't just mean when you are scared. Our feelings aren't as important as you being healthy and happy. Your wellbeing is the most important thing. It is always the priority and I want you to treat it the same way, ok?”

It hurts him more than he likes to admit. The way Puffer looks lost, searching his face as if looking for another, more familiar answer but he nods and Evan can do nothing but take it for now and reassure himself that his children will bridge that gap eventually.

He lets go of Puffer to turn to Grizzy next, beckoning him closer from his hiding spot behind Puffer's back and places one hand on his cheek and the other on his injured arm, “This could have ended way worse than it did. Injuries should always be treated immediately and like Brian said, you should always come to one of us instead of trying to deal with it by yourself, ok?”, Grizzy nods and Evan stands back up, “Good. I want you to go to Brian or Jon every morning before breakfast so we can check up on the wound to make sure it heals properly.”

Brian nods, adding, “It could still reopen if you put too much strain on your arm so be careful until it's fully healed. You should stay in the clearing when playing outside for a while. Just to be safe in case something happens”

Grizzy nods again and looks up at them expectantly, asking after a short pause “Do I get a punishment?”

Smiling soothingly down at him, Evan softly pets his head, “I don't think you need a punishment on top of all that. Besides, not everything must have a punishment. You made a mistake, we talked about it and now we move on from it. If you do this again, any of you…”, he looks at his other kids briefly, “...we will think of one.”

He kisses the top of his head when Grizzy presses close for a hug and they send them to bed shortly after.

The next few days their kids truly take Brian's words to heart, reporting every slight bump or bruise immediately to the crew, who make sure to treat even the most trivial little thing with the utmost importance, and it doesn't take long for them to shake their reluctance to do so, also looking for help with all kinds of other stuff more frequently than before.

–---

Evan sits at the dining table, reading a report and sipping his coffee, early in the morning with Puffer sitting beside him, one arm stretched out on the table with his head laying on it. While it's not exactly commonplace for this to happen, sometimes they both wake up early and just sit together like this. A quiet start into the day.

“Evan?”, Puffer whispers into the silence and Evan looks up, meeting his eyes that look at him with an unwavering intensity. A look he only adopts when trying to understand his experiences with the crew compared to his past.

“Yes?”, Evan asks camly and Puffer hesitates just a short moment longer, eyes moving over Evan's face before he says, “Pain…Punishment means pain.” It's phrased like a statement but the tone tilts up at the end, making it a question for all intents and purposes.

Evan reaches out and places a hand on Puffer's cheek, thumb gently moving over it. “No.”, he says firmly, “Punishment does not mean pain. Whoever taught you that was wrong and it should have never happened to you.” He can't completely read Puffer's expression as his face changes from careful neutrality but he can see melancholy and misery. Putting his other arm on the table as well, crossing them, he hides his face in them, “I don't understand.”

“You will.”, Evan answers quietly. Puffer just sniffles a little in response.

Letting his hand rest on the back of Puffer's head, Evan says nothing more, hoping to be a comforting presence while letting Puffer come to terms with what he is struggling with by himself.

They stay silent like this for a while until his other kids come into the room. Pezzy beelines straight for him, “Good morning!”, he says and throws his arms around him for a hug which Evan gladly returns. Droid yawns, still half asleep, and starts dozing after sitting down.

Grizzy sits down next to Puffer, who turns his head in Grizzy's direction and they lock eyes. Evan can't see Puffer's face but Grizzy frowns for a short moment before a grin forms on his face. “Told you.”, he says quietly and Puffer huffs slightly, “Shut up.” Chuckling, Grizzy puts his head down on the table and the two move their chairs closer until they are pressed together, Grizzy's cheek on Puffer's elbow as they look at each other.

Droid drowsily looks at them and then scoots closer, putting his head on Puffer's back to cuddle close as well, closing his eyes and yawning again, and the tension drains away from Puffer's shoulders.

Their kids have come such a long way. Evan’s positive they will wrap their heads around this too with time.

Chapter Text

The New Parent Debrief starts like all others, talking about what happened in general, how to deal with this or that behavior, listing new triggers that were discovered and also talking about all the positive things, what makes their kids happiest, what progress has been made, bragging about interactions that were especially or surprisingly good.

All of that just builds to the topic they all know they want to bring up and Brian sets it off with his recounting of a day a week and a half ago. They all heard the story already, probably heard every story about to be told, but that doesn't matter at the debriefs. Everything is welcome and worth talking about. Especially when it's this good.

—-

Brian is in his room at his computer set up, hacking into a decrypted database for a mission. The only noise in the room is the combined clacking of the keyboard and of legos clicking together because Droid is lying behind him on the floor, putting together a lego technic set.

After Jon had told them how bare their room was, gracefully refraining from gloating about being invited in, they had looked into toys they might enjoy. Brian had been right on the money when giving Droid his first lego set, basking the whole day in the excited chatter, undivided attention on the toy he picked out and the many hugs he received as thanks.

Droid had ripped through it in no time at all and had seemed even more intrigued when Brian used the pieces to build something different than in the directions. His own creations had been simplistic at first but he had taken to it very quickly and Brian has already bought him a few sets and a few loose legos.

The technic series is a clear favorite with all the moving parts and Droid always wants Brian to build with him once he finishes the set normally, looking at the different ways the pieces could be used before making his own creations, proudly showing them off to everyone in the house.

Today he got a new set, an electric crane, and made himself comfortable on Brian's floor the second he had the package in his hands.

“Dad! Dad! Look! Dad look!”, Droid’s excited voice cuts through the silence and the word ‘Dad’ registers in Brian's mind even through his concentration immediately. He closes the program, effectively ruining about an hour and a half of work but he couldn't give less of a shit right now, and whirls around.

Droid's face turns confused when Brian takes the finished crane he is holding out to him out of his hands and sets it on the table but the mood swings right back to happy excitement  when Brian wraps his arms around him, pressing him to himself tightly and peppering his head with kisses, returning the hug immediately.

He starts talking about the crane and how he put it together, completely oblivious how he has just shaken Brian to the core with a single word. He stays like this for a long moment, until even Droid's seemingly endless chatter has run out. He has gotten himself more or less together by the time a short, hesitant, “Dad?”, is asked by Droid.

He lets go and smiles down at him, “Good job with the crane! But I told you before that I'm working right?” Droid’s eyes widen before looking down all regretfully but he doesn't flinch away like he was prone to do just a little while ago, not afraid of the repercussions anymore, “I'm sorry. I forgot.” It's become a general rule that it's still fine for them to be anywhere they want but not to interrupt when told that someone is working.

Brian's smile widens and he pretends to think, “Mhhhhh. I'm gonna let it go just this once.” Head snapping up, Droid looks at him in awe, “Really?!” Nodding, Brian puts a finger to his own lips, “But don't tell Evan or Jon. You know they are sticklers for the rules. That's a secret between us, ok?”

Droid giggles and nods, “I promise!”, his arms throw themselves around Brian's neck again, “You're the best!”

“The best dad?”, Brian asks full of mirth and Droid nods, “Yeah!”, but then furrows his brow before adding, “But Jon is the best too…and Tyler and Evan and David and Brock…” He trails off after that, clearly thinking very hard and Brian snorts, “We're all the best? Why don't you show the crane to every best dad and when I'm done we can take it apart again”

Droid nods and then whispers into his ear, “But you're the bestest of the best.”, before taking the crane and running off.

Brian turns back to his computer, starting the program back up. He's gonna ride this high for two months at least.

—-

Evan is in the living room, rifling through a cabinet for a book, when a small hand grips his shirt from behind. Turning around, he sees Pezzy looking up at him, teary eyed and one hand clutching his head. Crouching down, Evan asks in his softest voice, “Hey Pezzy. Did you run out of pain pills?”

Pezzy has a little pill bottle, just big enough for two pain pills, that he always carries with him so he has one on hand when a migraine hits. His migraines are unpredictable and they feel better with the knowledge that he can just take one no matter the time of day. It's only two because they don't want to run the risk of him taking too many. No matter how unlikely.

All of their kids' relationship with pills has further improved with time and reassurance. Jon has taken the time to show them different names and packages of ‘safe pills’ and they make sure to always show them which pills are put into Pezzy's bottle. It has lessened their anxiety a lot.

He's supposed to come to one of them when he has one left so they can fill it up again and normally he is very diligent with that but he nods at Evan's question so he must have forgotten.

“Let's go to the kitchen and fill up your bottle, ok? Do you want me to carry you?”, Evan asks, just as softly as before, and Pezzy slightly shakes his head. Sometimes Pezzy clings for dear life when his head hurts and sometimes he doesn't want to be touched by them at all. He very rarely even refuses the other kids. Only Puffer is always allowed to touch him.

Standing up, Evan smiles soothingly down at Pezzy and turns to walk to the kitchen, “Ok. Let's go.” About two steps in, he feels Pezzy grab his hand and he looks down at him in surprise. He is met with expectant, still miserable eyes and he closes his fingers around Pezzy's hand, continuing their way hand in hand.

Pouring him a glass of water, Evan gives it to him before taking the pills out of the cabinet, showing Pezzy the packaging before taking out three pills, giving Pezzy one to take right now and putting the other two in his bottle.

Sniffling, Pezzy rubs at his eyes and Evan crouches down again when he tugs at his pants with one hand, “Yeah?”

“Dad, it hurts.”, he says, just on the verge of whining and Evan freezes at the title, staring at his child, mind wiped blank. He snaps out of it when Pezzy sniffles again, the first tears rolling down his cheeks, and hovers his hand over him, still not touching, “I know. It will be better in a few minutes.”

“Can't you make it better now?”, Pezzy asks and lifts his arms as a request to be picked up now. A request Evan gladly obliges, standing up and cuddling him close, relieved he can finally offer some comfort, “I'm sorry but we have to wait for the pill to work. I can't make it better faster.”

Pezzy's face turns a petulant way of frustrated and this time he fully whines at him, “But you make everything better!” Swallowing against the lump in his throat, Evan presses his lips to Pezzy's forehead, saying softly, “Yeah? Dad makes everything better?” He feels sappy even saying this but he can't help it, too caught up in being called dad and the sentiment Pezzy just expressed.

“I'm glad that you have this much faith in me but I'm not almighty. The pill should work in a few moments.”, he consoles after Pezzy whines his agreement and fists his hands in his shirt, hiding his face in his neck.

“But Daaaaad.”, Pezzy complains, pulling at him and kicking his legs, and Evan supposes he should be at least a little annoyed but all he can think about is how Pezzy was too scared to say even one word to them for days in the beginning. While not happy that he’s in pain, he would take cranky Pezzy over silently suffering Pezzy anytime. He hums in answer and keeps Pezzy in his arms until his grip relaxes again, “Better?”

Pezzy nods and wiggles to be put down, hugging him briefly when he is set on the ground, “Thank you.” Ruffling his hair, Evan smiles down at him, “Of course. Always. Don't forget to fill up your bottle next time.”

Nodding, Pezzy takes off, leaving Evan alone in the kitchen to deal with his feelings.

—-

Tyler smiles to himself as he walks down the hallway, aware of Grizzy trying to sneak up on him. That routine never really stopped, just changed in its details, and Tyler never gets tired of it, happy every time his kid seeks him out.

Just a few steps further down the hall and Grizzy pounces, colliding full force with Tyler's back, making him grunt. He feigns surprise, “Woah! Grizzy, don't startle me like that.”, but Grizzy just snorts, “Liar.” Turning around he plays offended, “You're calling me a liar? Unbelievable!" Smiling, Grizzy shoves him playfully, “I call it as I see it.”

After fully realizing that there was no physical threat he had to protect his friends from, Grizzy had drifted a bit aimlessly for a while, unsure of his place if he wasn't the protector. He overcame that quickly however, the younger kids never faltering in their adoration for him, no matter if he was protecting them or not and his place at Puffer's side had never been questioned to begin with.

The confirmation that they will stay made Grizzy relax considerably and Puffer followed his lead, in a reverse of their usual roles, letting Grizzy set the emotional baseline of their kids. It had done wonders not only for their general happiness but also for Grizzy's self image, rapidly growing more self assured and confident.

A confidence he now proudly shows as he squabbles with Tyler. A little bit of shoving and a few teasing words later, Tyler has him in a headlock, rubbing his knuckles into his head as he laughs and playfully growls at him. He loosens his arms enough for Grizzy to struggle out of, which he does before trying to tackle Tyler.

“Woah whoa, if you wanna play rough, let's go outside first.”, Tyler laughs, holding him back by the shoulders. Grizzy stills, smile dropping, and he bites his lip, briefly looking down in an unsure manner and Tyler frowns, not understanding this shift in mood.

Before he can ask, Grizzy's eyes snap back up to him and he takes a deep breath, saying quickly, stumbling over the words, “Canwegooutandshift?”

It leaves Tyler stunned for a moment. While Grizzy has certainly grown more comfortable with shifting, even finding some joy in it, after long long hours of slow, tiny improvements, endless reassurance and many panic/anxiety attacks leading to his first steps, first time outside, first time playing, he never asked for it before.

He pulls him into a hug, grinning when he rubs his head under his chin. Another thing that established itself that brings Tyler joy. Grizzy's slowly learning that not all instincts are bad and lead to harm.

“Of course! Let's go outside.”, he says as cheerfully as he can. Positive reinforcement is key with their kids after all.

Briefly pressing deeper into the hug, Grizzy moves away, the big smile back on his face and runs ahead to the living room, aiming to go out back to the terrace, “Great! C'mon, Dad!”

Tyler stumbles mid step and would have fallen had he not caught himself with a hand on the wall. He stares after Grizzy in disbelief, head spinning from the word that is so simple yet still turns his whole world on its head.

He only snaps out of it when Grizzy peeks back around the corner with questioning eyes, “Dad?”.

Grin coming back full force, he hurries after his kid.

Stepping outside, Tyler snorts at Puffer curled up in a terrace chair, head buried in a book. He's not surprised. No matter how comfortable Grizzy has gotten, if he shifts Puffer needs to be near and they figure that if it makes them feel better, who are they to question it.

Briefly ruffling his hair, Tyler smiles at him when he looks up, “Hi Puffer.” Puffer smiles back at him, “Hi Dad.”

He can see Puffer's smile widen in response to whatever he sees on his face and he wants to reach out again but Grizzy's impatient, “Daaad!”, gets him going down the two steps into the clearing instead, “Yeah yeah! I'm coming.”

He shifts without further ado, loving that Grizzy doesn't tense up at that anymore, and takes a playful stance in front of him, deciding to let him try all on his own today. He can step in at any signs of distress.

Taking a few deep breaths, Grizzy's eyes move from Tyler to the terrace, no doubt seeking strength from Puffer, tension melting away after a few moments of silence and then his little bear cub is sitting in the grass.

Tyler waits while Grizzy reorients himself, carefully watching for any indication that he should step in or stop the situation altogether. Thankfully everything stays fine and Grizzy stands up, still a bit shaky, and moves closer.

Tyler spends a few minutes sniffing at him and licking a few stripes over his head, purring how proud he is at him and Grizzy purrs right back, leaning into the affection before clumsily swiping at his muzzle with his paw, wanting to play now.

Nipping at his ear, Tyler moves back and they start playing catch. Most of Grizzy's clumsiness stems from his cautiousness, thinking about every move and carefully holding back his strength. Running doesn't need that kind of thought so it's Tyler's favorite way to get him to relax for now, running zig zags in the grass, weaving in and out of the forrestline and letting Grizzy gain momentum before going after him once he lets him catch him. They're slowly working up to play fighting and Tyler always tries to encourage Grizzy's more adventurous moves.

About an hour and a half later, Tyler is curled around the exhausted bear cub, taking his time with grooming his fur, instinct simmering in contentment at having two of his kittens cuddled up to him. Puffer has joined them when playing turned into cuddling, Grizzy very carefully taking his arm between his teeth to pull him into the clearing, and he is curled up against Grizzy's side, half asleep while dozing in the sun, catching a few stray licks from Tyler.

—-

David looks up when Puffer crawls on the couch next to him, opening one arm for him to duck under and cuddle against his side. Pressing a kiss to the top of his head, he asks with a teasing note, “You're cold?”

‘I'm cold’ has become somewhat of an inside joke between them and Puffer chuckles lightly, nodding. He hands him a package of cookies and David hums, excited, “You don't need to bribe me to get cuddled.”, he tightens his arm around him to get the point across and Puffer chuckles again, used to their song and dance, finishing his sentence for him, “But it's still highly appreciated.”

“You know me so well.”, David sighs happily and takes a cookie, munching on it while Puffer makes himself comfortable, throwing his legs over David's lap and head on his shoulder, firmly pressed to his side.

Once he is settled, David waits for him to pick a topic like he normally does, starting to talk about their last grocery run when he waits in vain, going in detail over the vast array of choices of soda they had to pick from, jumping into a story from his late teenhood and the struggle of buying irish drinks in his dingy neighborhood of the time. Puffer relaxes into his side as he continues to talk about really nothing at all.

His friends would be annoyed at his, for them, aimless talking but Puffer often seeks him out for just that, sometimes with a specific question he wants answered and sometimes with seemingly no intention but to cuddle with him.

No matter how relaxed he has gotten, how open and trusting, Puffer is always watching, watching for any information he might deem useful, watching the crew's reaction to everything, eyes bouncing through the room. Taking everything in, even things that would seem inconsequential to everyone else, with a sort of detached, calculating coldness. He's a sweet kid and it's clearly not out of fear and distrust anymore but it's still clear that his brain never turns off.

But he listens to David's ramblings with a more childlike fascination, eyes trained on his face, following his focusless droning while nibbling on whatever snack he brought as bribe. It confuses the rest of the crew but David takes it in stride. If that's what it takes for his kid to turn that big brain off, he's happy to provide.

“Dad?”, Puffer interrupts his monologuing after a good while and David eyes move to him from where they had been staring into space. He answers without missing a beat, “Yeah?” It's said without surprise or other big emotions, just a simple acknowledgement that he was addressed and Puffer's smile widens.

“Dad.”, he says again and David's tone gets more questioning, “Yeah? What is it?” Pressing his face into David's shoulder, Puffer starts giggling giddily, something that is very rare for him. He chuckles or snorts most of the time, not one to show his emotions in excess like Droid or Pezzy like to do, “Dad.”

David smiles and pulls him closer, his other arm closing around him as well, shaking him a little, making him giggle even harder and he puts his chin on his head, “What? What? Tell me!”

“What do Ladybugs look like?”, he asks between giggles, picking the topic David had newly shifted to again and David easily goes along with it, pulling out his phone to show him some pictures, going back to his musings without further ado. Not mentioning the way Puffer clings just a tad bit tighter to him than before.

About 45 minutes later Puffer grows restless, eyes shifting around and hands fidgeting with each other. David can practically feel his heartbeat speed up with anxiety and he's just about to give an excuse to let him go when Grizzy steps in through the hallway, the same restless expression on his face, eyes searching.

Both of them lose all anxiety as their eyes find each other, Grizzy hurrying across the room and Puffer getting up on his knees to greet him, throwing their arms around each other for a hug. The crew noticed the pair being the most codependent before but the issue became more apparent, ironically, when they started being more comfortable doing stuff alone.

Time apart is only tolerated, or more fittingly endured, for so long before they search for each other. Often only needing a quick look to see the other is still there but also sometimes completely abandoning whatever they are doing to keep close together.

It's actually a huge point of worry for them but there are still so many issues that are more pressing to address and even with the strides their kids have taken lately there's still so much further to go, their foundation still so precariously shaky. Actively working on their unhealthy codependency unfortunately isn't in the cards just yet.

They are sure that the lake was only possible because they were still deathly afraid of them and the consequences of outright denying them at that point. The outcome of that trip surely didn't help the issue.

“Do you wanna go with Grizzy?”, he asks them and Puffer turns back to him and nods, letting go of Grizzy to briefly nuzzle as close as he can, “Bye, Dad.”, before climbing over the backrest, getting helped along by Grizzy pulling at him.

They leave in the direction of their rooms and Tyler, who had come in with Grizzy, following his search, raises an eyebrow as he looks after them and then gives David an expectant look.

“What?”, he asks innocently and Tyler's eyebrows draw together, confused, “He just called you Dad.”

“Yes, and?”, he answers nonchalantly and Tyler's eyes narrow in suspicion, “Has he been calling you that before and you didn't tell us?”

Shaking his head, David smiles at him, “No. First time.”

“And you have no reaction at all?”, Tyler asks disbelievingly and David shrugs, “I am his Dad. Of course he would call me that.” There's so much incredulousness and exasperation in the stare he gets in response that he debates feeling offended. His amusement wins out though.

“I don't understand why he likes you so much. He's such a clever kid and you're so simple sometimes that it hurts.”, Tyler scoffs and glares when David sticks his tongue out at him, huffing and leaving the room.

Watching him leave, he smiles to himself, laughing internally at the face Tyler made. To him it was always a question of when and not of if and contrary to the popular belief among his friends, he is not an idiot. He knows exactly why his kid loves him. And he will not be surprised when Puffer is ready to say that either.

—-

Jon is in the kitchen, starting to chop some leeks for the soup they are making today. The quiet doesn't last long however when Pezzy comes storming in, closely followed by Droid, clearly playing catch, and Pezzy beelines for him, hiding behind him.

“You're cheating!”, Droid shouts as he stops in front of Jon, trying to hit Pezzy from around him.

“Woah, careful.”, Jon says, letting go of the knife and stepping away from the counter but his kids seem to use that as an excuse to play go-around with him in the middle.

“Nuh uh!”, Pezzy giggles, seemingly not having registered Jon talking to them as he narrowly avoids getting tagged by Droid. Unwilling to stop their play with a raised voice, Jon grabs Pezzy and lifts him up to end the chase, “Kids…”

“Ha!”, Droid interrupts him with a lot of enthusiasm, hand finally reaching Pezzy, “You're it!”

Pezzy's smile is always blinding when he gets attention, especially positive physical attention, from the crew and his body immediately melts into Jon to soak it up but the smile quickly drops as his head snaps down to Droid, “You can't catch me now! Dad picked me up, that means you can't catch me now!”

Jon freezes, gentle warning about running in the kitchen dying on his tongue, wide eyes staring at the side of Pezzy's head.

“Nuh uh! Since when was that a rule?!”, Droid protests, unaware of Jon's inner turmoil, continuing to tap Pezzy's back over and over, “You're it! You're it!”

“Since ever! No, I'm not!”, Pezzy retorts, trying to climb higher up Jon's torso to get out of reach of Droid's arms.

“No it's not! Right, Dad? Dad?!”, two hands grab onto his shirt and Droid looks up at him with a big pout when his head snaps down to him at the words, wanting him to play referee.

Taking a few seconds to catch himself,  Jon presses a kiss to Pezzy's forehead and ruffles Droid's hair, smiling in response to their expectant stares, “Pezzy, you can't just make up rules on the spot. That's not fair.”

Pezzy doesn't protest or pout, just deflates a little, looking contrite for a few seconds before nodding and reaching a hand for Droid, “I'm sorry.” Droid smiles in response and intertwines their fingers, “It's ok!”

Setting Pezzy back down, Jon gives the warning he wanted to give earlier, “No running in the kitchen, ok? Especially when we're cooking. That could be dangerous.”

“Ok, Dad!”, they say in unison, both stepping forward to give him a quick hug before running out of the kitchen to continue playing catch.

He turns back to the counter.

‘Dad’ echoes in his head as he resumes cutting the vegetables. He never thought he would hear that word directed at him. Never thought he even would have children to call his own, had pushed that thought to the last crevices of his brain. A life like theirs doesn't accommodate for love or children after all. Scotty left for that reason. When they first accepted the mission of housing the kids it had been just that. A mission. Sure a bit closer to home than usually but nothing to get attached to. That changed so quickly Jon is surprised they didn't get whiplash back then. Barely two weeks in and they all had been smitten with the shy, so severely damaged little survivors. Keeping them had been inevitable. But even after adopting them and accepting his role as father figure he would have never thought or expected to be called Dad. How could he if his kids are so far removed from normalcy, probably never having a positive parental figure before.

Dad. A word, a concept, they couldn't possibly grasp, couldn't possibly understand fully.

Yet they have decided on their own to grace him with the title. All on their own accord and without prompting. Jon is not too proud to admit that his eyes are getting wet at the thought.

He is so immersed in his thoughts that he doesn't notice Puffer and Grizzy walking in until they are right beside him, looking at him with questioning eyes, and Grizzy asks, “You're cooking alone?”

Fortunately Jon has trained most flinch responses out of himself so the knife doesn't slip and stays safely in his hand and he just calmly turns his head to the two, giving them a smile, “Brian got hold up with one of his gu...with one of his projects. He will come help me later.”

There are always two people on cooking duty and they rotate around, a practice still in place from the earliest days of the crew to avoid fighting, but sometimes it doesn't work out and Brian basically begged Jon to start without him, too close to a breakthrough with his latest gun. Since today the plan is soup and soup is an easy dish, Jon had been fine with it. Brian is alone on washing dishes though. Jon is not that generous.

The crew has gotten better at seeing the miniscule movements Grizzy and Puffer use to silently talk to each other. Tilting of heads, tensing of muscles or shifting of weights. They are still far from deciphering the individual meanings though so Jon only sees Grizzy's head tilt slightly down and to the right and Puffer shift his weight to his heels without understanding what they are discussing.

He isn't in the dark for long when Grizzy grins up at him, eagerly leaning forward into his personal space, “Can we help?”

“Sure.”, Jon immediately agrees and lifts the knife in his hand, “You can help me cut the carrots and the broccoli.”

Puffer's eyes flicker to the knife but they move away from it fast, seeming uncomfortable, “No.” Jon can't help his own eyes from briefly dropping down to Puffer's throat, to the scars there, and he nods, swallowing down the lump that threatens to choke him at the reminder, keeping his voice unaffected, “That's fine! You can puree the veggies later if you want.”

After one last glance at the knife that Jon has quickly put back down on the counter, Puffer nods, “Ok, Dad.”

Swallowing the next lump, albeit this one for a different reason, Jon switches his attention to Grizzy, “What about you?”

Grizzy is less averse to it and starts cutting the carrots under Jon’s watchful eye. He deems him safe to use a knife fast and turns back to his own cutting. He only looks back when he notices that the carrot stick pile hasn't gotten bigger in a while.

He's unsure if he should be amused or exasperated when he sees that Grizzy hands every single carrot stick to Puffer only for them to disappear behind his teeth, “If you guys just wanted a snack you could have said so.”

Both stop dead in their tracks, fingers brushing on the carrot stick that was just about to be handed over and they look first at him, then at each other and then at the stick as if they hadn't even realized what they were doing.

Expression turning sheepish, Grizzy puts the stick on the pile, “Sorry, Dad.”, and then as if Jon needed an explanation, “Puffer likes carrots.” Snorting, Jon pats his back, “I know. But these are for dinner.”

The rest of the preparations go without a hitch and everyone praises the soup excessively when Jon tells them that the two helped.

—-

Brock is pouring himself a coffee when Droid's  voice startles him and he turns around just in time for him to barrel into him. “Dad!", he shouts as both of his arms wrap around Brock's waist and smiles up at him. Brock is not surprised at the title. While being the last to be called that, he has been confident that it was only a matter of time since hearing the stories of the others. But he can't deny that it feels good, that he is relieved. To be finally officially recognized as Dad. That his children award him the same adoration.

"Hello Droid.", he smiles back at him, using his free hand to pat his head, "Where are the others?" Droid shrugs, "In the living room." Brock puts his mug down to hug Droid properly, smiling fondly at the way he melts into him for a moment before bouncing back to the animated energy he so often has.

Today is one of the rare days that they couldn't schedule differently and only one of them, Brock in this case, is at home watching their kids. Normally they would do everything to ensure that at least two stay home but even keeping just Brock home had been a struggle this time. Their kids are always a little extra clingy when this happens, wanting whoever stayed home to do something with them every second of the day instead of going out into the woods like they normally like to do.

"Do you wanna play Mario Kart with us?", Droid asks and cheers when Brock nods, running ahead and entering the living room with the words, “Dad said yes!”

More cheers follow the statement and Brock laughs to himself as he follows Droid, his kids strewn about on the couch and the game already displayed on the TV. There's a clear spot left open for him, in between Puffer and Grizzy, nestled together in a corner, and Pezzy and Droid, sitting a bit more to the left. Smiling faces greet him as he lets himself plop down and Pezzy holds a controller out for him.

Making himself comfortable, letting Pezzy weasel under his arm despite the way that it will hinder his play ability, he looks at the screen, seeing that while they aren't in a round right now, they aren't finished with their current game yet. He leans back and lifts Pezzy fully into his lap, waiting for them to continue.

A few moments pass with nothing happening and he feels four pairs of eyes burning into his skin, making him look around at them in confusion, “What?”

“Do you not wanna play anymore?”, Grizzy asks, mouth downturned in disappointment, while Puffer tilts his head at him, just as unhappy. Droid's giving him his best puppy eyes, Pezzy following suit, and Brock snorts, lightly knocking Grizzy's shoulder with his own, “You still need to finish three more rounds before I can join. I can't join in the middle of a game.”

“No?”, Grizzy's head turns to the TV with slight perplexedness while Droid pouts loudly, “But we wanna play with you!”, before also turning to the TV, button mashing on the controller with urgency.

“Hey, hey.”, Brock soothes, putting one hand over Droid's, “I'm not going anywhere. You can finish and then we play together, ok?”

Droid still looks upset but Puffer presses start before his eyes can gain a wet sheen and his attention gets stolen by the screen as the race starts.

It's a remarkably peaceful game, especially considering that they are playing one of the worst competition rage games there is, but Brock isn't really surprised. He doesn't think he has ever seen his kids compete, let alone fight, over anything, much less anything as petty as a game.

Still, watching them play is anything but boring, their respective play styles so on point with their personalities.

Droid doesn't seem to understand that he doesn't have to go full speed the whole time, running into every wall one can run into. He seems to have the time of his life though,  giggling as he crashes full throttle every time. Brock starts to wonder if he does it on purpose for the animation after the first race. He does seem very excited about it. In contrast to him, Pezzy is very careful, slowly driving his kart along the path and stopping to look at the decorations on the sidelines, pointing out stuff he finds funny. Puffer is very clearly the one with the most skill but also with the least ambition to win against his brothers, content with running circles around Grizzy or lingering near Pezzy to look at the stuff he talks about. The only one with at least a bit of will to win is Grizzy, who plays the game fairly straight but without urgency, colliding with Droid sometimes to make him laugh. He and Puffer actually race against each other for a bit each track but mostly drive with each other as if taking a stroll together.

None of them use any items.

Brock is actually impressed that they managed to turn Mario Kart into a collaborative, slice of live, cozy game. Everytime his friends play it ends with blood drawn. And not in the metaphorical sense either.

He follows their play style for two rounds once he is able to join, indulging both Droid and Pezzy in their side quests and driving leisurely with Puffer and Grizzy. In the third round he throws a red shell at Grizzy as he passes him, much to the outrage of all four of them and several offended shouts of, “Dad!!!” The game quickly dissolves into them chasing him after that.

While it doesn't end with blood drawn, his kids find their fighting spirit the next round, laughing and screaming at each other as they race. Puffer whoops loudly when he's the first across the finish line.

Pezzy's bony body digs into him as he squirms in his excitement and Droid hits him a few times with his flailing limbs when he shouts about different things but Brock couldn't be happier as he listens to them giggle.

Later that day they sit at the kitchen table,  eating some pasta they made for dinner, and Brock finally addresses what the crew has been dancing around for some time now, “Soooo…You guys started calling us Dad.”

Puffer's eyes move to him and he can see the unsure glint in them but Pezzy interrupts any doubts that could be had about them not wanting to be called Dad, “Uncle Scotty said you are our Dads. That's what adoption means. Droid looked it up!”

“Yeah!”, Droid agrees loudly, stuffing his face full of pasta and Brock can't help his wide smile when his two youngest look at him with bright eyes, so far removed from the subdued kids they arrived as, “That's true. Uncle Scotty was right, we are your dads. No doubt about that.”

Grizzy smiles at him while chewing his food, genuinely happy, and Puffer ducks his head a little bashfully, as if shy, but Brock can see his smile clear as day. Something good has settled over the table with Brock's verbal confirmation and Brock can feel it warming his bones.

“But that wasn't what I wanted to ask.”, he continues, reaching out to ruffle Puffer's hair, “Is there a reason you only call us Dad when we're alone?”

All instances of being called Dad had been when it was only one of them, their kids falling back to their names when more are in the room. There's much speculation as to why but no one had the courage to ask yet.

It's Pezzy again that resolves any doubts, tilting his head like the answer is obvious, “It's confusing to call you all dad. How would you know who we mean?”

Brock can't help but laugh at that reason, actually throwing his head back. It's so simple and it makes perfect sense. The crew has just been too focused on the possible negative reasons to see it. He's sure everyone is gonna be embarrassed when he tells them.

This time, when he looks at them again, Puffer is the only one who doesn't look unsure at his reaction, looking at him with mirth dancing in his eyes and smiling impishly, a look he has certainly stolen from Brian. He leans closer, “Our first idea was using Dad as a title. Like in this middle ages series you showed us but instead of Lord it would be Dad.”

Brock starts laughing again, so hard he has trouble breathing and Puffer brightens even more at that. Grizzy catches on quickly, making the laughing situation even worse by saying, “Dad Brock.”, and his kids laugh with him.

The next two days are spent trying to make Brock laugh this hard again and they keep calling him ‘Dad Brock’ even after everyone is back home.

—-

“That is why they call you Dad Brock now?”, Tyler asks in tears between loud laughter and Brock nods, happy he saved this story for the New Parent Debrief.

“Why are you the only one who gets to hear ‘Dad’ every time?”, Brian whines petulantly, crossing his arms, “I'm so jealouWOAH!” His sentence gets interrupted by Jon kicking him in the back of the knees and he barely manages not to collapse onto the ground.

“Jealous of what?”, Jon sneers at him, more playful than serious, “Droid literally worships the ground you walk on and you begrudge Brock even that? You spoiled Motherfucker.”

“It's not my fault you and Brock aren't favorite material.”, Brian goads back, ducking away from the arm that Jon tries to hit him with in retaliation, snickering, “You even lost to David.”

“Yeah.”, David deadpans, nodding his agreement, “You even lost to me.”

“Dude, he was insulting you!”, Tyler laughs, shoving David, who laughs in response, “And? He was insulting Brock and Jon more.”

“Hey!”, Brock exclaims with mock offense, reaching out to hit the back of David's head, who loudly complains, “Why are you hitting me?! Brian said it!”

Evan is leaning back in his chair, watching his friends' antics with amusement. It feels good to see them like this. Carefree and squabbling like little kids, even if unlike their little kids.

Well. Yet. Their kids get livelier every day after all, finally shedding some of their ‘protect each other’ survivalist behavior in favor of playing around, even teasing each other sometimes, imitating some behaviors from the crew.

And the more lively and happy their kids become the less stressed and worried the crew becomes, making them more happy too, which reflects back on their children and so on.

His good mood sinks a little when he thinks back to the his story with Pezzy and the circumstances of that. His frequent headaches are worrisome. They should finally address that. The trust between them is now solid enough to think of the future more concretely.

Evan clears his throath, getting the attention of his crew, “I think it's time we talk to Marcel.”