Work Text:
Kaveh’s life is stable. He has a gorgeous house, (which he designed himself, if he allowed himself to brag), an enough amount of money, a ton of friends, but most importantly, he has a family.
He and Alhaitham have been married for over 10 years now, and even though they still bicker a lot, you could still see them falling in love with each other again every single day.
At some point they decided to take the next step in their marriage and adopted a little baby girl. Norah was only a few weeks old when the couple took her in their arms for the first time and they both felt that it was just right. Kaveh’s doubts about her not having a mother to grow up with immediately disappeared when he saw the care in Alhaitham’s eyes while rocking her back to sleep.
In the beginning, it was hard. their newly built home became chaos, but as the days passed, they accepted it and grew used to it. Caring for a baby is terrifying, but they had help from their friends. Even Kaveh’s mother stayed for a week at their house to properly meet her grandchild, and made good use of her experience with her own child.
Norah grew up to be a sensitive and caring child, always looking out for her classmates, and showing a lot of love towards her parents. At some point she started doing it by making drawings of them together as a family, and Kaveh sobbed the first time she gave him her drawing proudly. Alhaitham had to assure her that her papa wasn’t sad, but just really happy that she made him that.
Not only was she sweet, but also as cute as a button. Kaveh took advantage of that by braiding her thick brown hair in two braids every day and dressing her up in adorable outfits when she wasn’t wearing the Akademiya’s uniform for school. He couldn’t help it.
Alhaitham worked during the week, so he always departed with her to the Akademiya, but Kaveh picked her up, as Alhaitham always had to work till 6 o clock, when her school finished at 3. That meant that Norah and Kaveh spent the afternoon together, so Kaveh made sure he had his desk set up in the living room so she could still babble about everything that happened at school that day with her friends while he was working.
At the age of seven, Norah became aware of things and began asking questions. Kaveh couldn’t say that he didn’t expect it, but it still caught him off guard.
“Papa, can I ask you a question?” She asked, completely innocent. “Of course, baby, you can ask me anything”, Kaveh answered truthfully, completely unaware of the deep conversation he was about to have with his daughter.
“I just, see a lot of my friends being dropped off or picked up by their mommy, how come I don’t have one?”
Kaveh froze. How was he supposed to explain that his daughter didn’t have a mother when everyone does? He tried to stay calm while he told her to take a seat on the divan while he paused with his work.
“…Am I in trouble?” She asked, slightly concerned about whether she said something wrong. Kaveh assured her that she didn’t do anything, and that they would just have to have a chat about why she didn’t have a mother.
“To create a baby, you need a girl and a boy, and in most cases, they will be their parents, but not always. There are multiple reasons that some people cannot take care of their child, like being too young or too busy.”
Kaveh tried not to sugarcoat anything, and told his daughter the truth. “And those people,” He continued, “give their baby to parents who really want a baby, but can’t have one, like me and your daddy. We are both boys, and we can’t give life to a baby by ourself, but we wanted a little girl, so we adopted you. We are your parents, and not the boy and the girl who created you.”
“Two boys, or even two girls who love each other is absolutely not a bad thing, and they can also have babies, but sadly, they can’t create them themselves. Do you understand that?”
Norah looked a bit confused, which he couldn’t blame her for, but she didn’t seem upset. It took a huge lift of Kaveh’s shoulder to see how his daughter tried to understand and didn’t question why she was unwanted by her biological parents.
“Just remember, sweetheart, is that me and your daddy love each other very much, and we love you the same. We’re glad to have you as our daughter, and I hope that you are glad that me and your daddy are your parents. You may not have a mommy, but that doesn’t mean that you are different than your friends. You also have two loving parents, okay?”
She nodded, and crawled into her father’s lap, giving him a hug. “I really love you papa, I’m sorry for asking such a question.” she said, worrying Kaveh a bit.
“Norah, you have nothing to apologise for, you’re allowed to ask such questions. You’re growing up and you’re getting curious. It’s natural for you to wonder about these things. Don’t ever be afraid to ask them, we will always be ready to answer them.”
He gave her one last squeeze before putting her down again and giving her a kiss on the top of her head. He got back to work while watching her draw with her new crayons she got for her birthday.
“Does that mean I will have a wife when I get older?” Kaveh chuckled, sensing that his daughter still had a ton of questions about the subject now that she got the green light. “Not necessarily, but maybe. It doesn’t mean that if daddy and I are both boys that you have to have a girlfriend or wife, but there is a chance that you will like girls.”
“When did you realise you loved daddy?” Kaveh didn’t expect that question. “I guess when I was about 27? When we started living together I think.”
“I’m home!” They both heard Alhaitham enter the house and Norah ran towards the door to greet him with a hug.
“Daddy!” She yelled excitedly as he picked her up and gave her a big smooch on her forehead. Alhaitham always had a hard time to be expressive, but when Norah came along, it all came naturally.
“Papa said that when I get older I could have a husband or a wife, isn’t that amazing?”
Alhaitham chuckled and raised his eyebrows at Kaveh, wondering what could have brought that conversation on. Norah was put down, and she returned to her drawing while Alhaitham went to greet his husband. “Where’s my kiss?” Kaveh asked teasingly, to which Alhaitham scoffed but obliged.
As the couple shared a domestic moment, Kaveh couldn’t resist telling him about his interaction with their daughter that afternoon: “She asked me about not having a mother today.”
He worried that Alhaitham would be shocked, but he appeared to be very calm about it. They both discussed it and Alhaitham praised him for the way he talked to her about it: behing honest.
As Kaveh started working on dinner, Alhaitham went to talk a bit with Norah about their family. Norah expressed that she was really happy with them, and that she absolutely didn’t question if their family was wrong or not.
She was simply curious.
When Kaveh and Alhaitham were putting her to bed that evening, she showed them her drawing. It was a picture of Alhaitham and Kaveh sitting on the front porch of their old house, with a baby in their arms and being obviously in love with the big red heart drawn above their heads.
Kaveh cried again, wondering what he did to deserve such a loving family, and gave their daughter a big long hug again.
Later that night, he fell asleep cuddled up against his husband, sleeping peacefully.