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Way finished washing his face off in the bathroom and sighed. Though it was nice to see his children having a good time with his cousins, he wished it didn’t make his daughter want to tease him more. Seeing that he’d been distracted giving driving tips to one of his nephews, she’d taken the opportunity to hold up Banzai to his face to let the dog lick him. The elderly shih tzu was truly gross now to receive kisses from, so Way had to escape to clean the slime off of him as a bunch of young adults and teenagers laughed at him.
At least they were all having fun together. It’d been getting harder and harder to have all the kids in the pack in one place as they grew up and started figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives and careers. Martin and Prince were the hardest to get ahold of, as Martin worked hard in his position at Beyond Group while also starting his own small businesses, and as Prince had joined a Formula 2 team and spent much of his time training or traveling. So when Prince had come home to see his parents and siblings, and Martin had an unexpected day off forced upon him by Pete, Sally and Champ had arranged for all the available cousins to swarm on Martin before he could find something to work on from home.
So everyone had ended up at Way and Pete’s house instead of the usual pack hangout at Alan’s.
After forbidding Martin from trying to poach any of the kids involved in karting or racing into joining the team he’d set up, they’d all started to have a lot of fun.
Way smiled to himself. Years ago he never would have imagined being able to be part of such a big happy pack, a family of his own. And now he had just that. He and Pete had been married for years, and had their own children, and the X-Hunter pack had grown and stayed as a close family.
“I swear, Martin, if I hear you say anything about Champ switching over from being an X-Hunter junior driver to part of Beyond Drives again-” Way heard one of the kids yell, exasperated. It sounded like one of the later additions to the pack, Six. It’d taken a bit for the pack to come around to Dean and Winner, so Six hadn’t been considered one of the cousins until later on, even though she was the same age as Babe and Charlie’s second son. There was an uproar of laughter as Martin was presumably banned yet again from trying to add more of his cousins to his team. “You already have Sally and Yai! You don’t need more drivers! You can’t steal my teammate!”
Way couldn’t hear Martin’s reply over even more laughter, but he knew exactly what his stepson would say to that. If he got Prince or Champ as a driver for the small team he’d set up, he could start putting either of them and his sister into the senior division races, and his little brother could continue as a junior driver for the lower divisions they were currently stuck in.
Setting down the facecloth back on its hook, something brightly colored caught his eye in the wastebin. Way stepped closer to look. He couldn’t tell what it was, a piece of white plastic of some kind with a bright pink tip. It was just sitting underneath a wrapper, so Way nudged the bin with his foot until the wrapper shifted to reveal the item underneath.
Way swore loudly, “What the fuck?!”
A pregnancy test sat there in the bin. Though he certainly didn’t really want to see it in the house, forced to think about how his pups were now old enough to pursue relationships, he absolutely did not like seeing that not only was it there, but the two lines and little writing on the plastic next to the results showed that it was positive.
For a moment, Way felt like he might pass out. He forced himself not to think that it might be from his youngest son, who was only sixteen. Yai had shown zero interest in anything relating to dating or even making friends with the ability he’d inherited from Pete making it difficult for him to touch anyone that wasn’t related to him or someone he’d known his entire life. It just couldn’t be him.
That left Martin and Sally. Briefly, he was shellshocked imagining either of them pregnant, then remembered that it probably wasn’t possible. They were both Enigma. Though he’d gotten pregnant despite having the same designation, Way thought they’d inherited the dominant version of the designation from Pete. He was fairly sure that meant they couldn’t get pregnant themselves, but that wasn’t a proven fact.
So it must have been from one of their partners. Martin hadn’t mentioned anyone he was dating or interested in, but Way couldn’t dismiss the idea that Martin had simply gotten someone pregnant who had given him the test as proof. The same with Sally, though for more of an opposite reason. She went through girlfriends rather quickly. With both of them being Enigmas, they could have gotten any partner pregnant.
Still, it could also be them, the dominance not being an actual thing. Sally was still talking about her upcoming race, and Martin hadn’t made any mention of easing up on his workload. There was the chance that could be choosing not to go through with it. He had no idea how long it had been sitting there. It wasn’t the most frequently trafficked bathroom in the house. But Way couldn’t see why they wouldn’t have told him or Pete about it, or anyone else. If they’d said anything, it would have made its way through the whole pack quickly, or at least from Pete to him. He’d really thought their parent-child relationship was good enough for that.
Way went back out to the living room. He stopped in the doorway and waited for a more quiet moment. “Martin, Sally, could I talk to you for a second?”
Unsuspecting, the two came right over. Yai eyed them worriedly, picking up on his mother’s feelings, but the teenager didn’t say anything. One of his cousins said his name, and he looked over.
Way led them to the bathroom. “What’s up, Mama?” Sally asked.
He pointed down at the wastebin, where the test was. “What is that?”
They came over to look. Both of them jumped back in surprise. “Whoa! What’s that doing in there?!” Sally asked.
“Is that thing positive? Whose is that?”
They both looked at Way, and then at each other. Then they both exploded at once.
“Mama, it’s not mine!” Martin cried out, latching onto his arm and tugging on it desperately. “I promise!”
“It’s not mine either!” Sally insisted. “I always use protection! And I don’t do anything where I could, anyway! I like driving too much!”
“It’s not from one of your girlfriends?”
“If I ever gotten one of my girls pregnant, they have not told me.”
That was not what he wanted to hear. Way gave his daughter a horrified look. She was only eighteen, he thought. She shouldn’t be saying that kind of thing. Even if he and Babe had gone just as wild when they were her age. He supposed he should be thankful that Sally was only into the girls and not bars or parties, but at the moment he couldn’t feel grateful for the fact that Martin had hired one of their cousins to keep Sally from getting too swept up in the post-race celebrations at all, no matter how well Sam did her job as Sally’s trainer.
Seeing his look, she added, “I’m always super careful, Mama, I promise!”
“You don’t have to live a stereotypical driver’s lifestyle, sweetheart.”
“I can’t help it when it just happens so easily,” she muttered. Then her voice raised, “It really isn’t mine! You can check my phone!”
Way had no desire to see his daughter’s phone. He did not care to see the pictures and messages the grid girls from the lower division races sent to Sally’s number.
“You can check mine too, Mama. I always tell you when I’m going out with someone anyway. You know I’ve only gone on those little dates my coworkers set up.”
“Fine! I don’t need to see your phones! But if it’s not yours, then whose is it?”
They exchanged a look again, and then Martin shrugged. Sally threw up her hands. “I dunno! I guess we should just go ask.”
She grabbed the test and went out to all her cousins. Martin squeaked her name, but she didn’t stop.
Way had a feeling that this would not end well. They chased after her.
Although she burst into the living room, Sally thankfully did not just demand answers. Instead she grabbed onto her little brother’s shoulder. Yai jolted, and then got up and grabbed both Banzai and his younger cousin Charlotte’s hand. “Char, let’s go take Banzai out. He wants to play.”
“Oh, okay!” She went without any resistance, always eager to spend time with a dog. It looked like a game console was being set up, and even though a remote had been in her hand, she gave up her turn and set it down immediately.
Once the youngest child had left the room with one of the other youngest, Sally presented the pregnancy test. “Whose is this?”
Martin covered his ears as all his cousins started yelling. Champ, who had inherited a partial version of Babe’s sense, also physically recoiled at the volume and covered his ears too. Six slapped her hands over his for good measure. Prince complained that his hearing aids were muting because of the sound. Way winced at the volume. It seemed like everyone was either denying it or asking where it had come from or if it was even real.
“Mama found it in the bathroom down the hall there,” Martin finally said once the loud denials had calmed down a bit and everyone was looking at each other. “Who has gone in there?”
There was silence. Only Prince raised his hand, rolling his eyes.
“There we go. It’s Prince’s, then, Mama!” Martin told Way, relieved to get the suspicion off of him once and for all. But then he blinked. “Wait, but… Prince, how is it yours? When did you get a boyfriend? I thought you were still with Jasmine.”
Everyone stared at Prince, except for his brother. Champ just buried his face in his hands. Six patted his back.
“Huh?” Prince asked, looking completely bewildered.
Sonia went over and smacked the back of his head. Manik did the same thing as his twin from the other side. “You cheated on your girlfriend?!”
“Yeah! You haven’t seen her in person in months, P’Prince! With her at that cooking school and you in Europe-!”
“She’s an Omega so there’s no way it was her,” Bo added, even as she and Sam pulled the twins away to keep them from ganging up on Prince. “How could you do that to Jasmine? P’Jay is great!”
Prince looked furious. He shot up, gesturing wildly as he shouted, “I didn’t cheat on my girlfriend! What the fuck is wrong with you guys?! Jay and I have been together since we were like eight! I’d never do that! It would totally fuck my career too, and I don’t do anything that would risk my future world championship!”
All of the cousins giggled or snickered. Prince’s voice was totally off because of his heavily bandaged broken nose. It made it extremely hard to take him seriously.
“It’s still yours, though?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.
Prince stomped over to Sally and snatched the test out of her hand. “Yes. I threw it out. But it’s not real! Someone stuck that into my bag as a prank. I threw it out when I was re-bandaging my nose in the bathroom and saw it.”
Martin sighed. He reached over to lightly tap his cousin’s bandaged nose. “Prince. It’s real. You just can’t smell it.”
Prince screamed and threw the test. Manik screamed as it touched him, falling to the floor as if dealt a fatal blow. Sonia burst out laughing until Manik dragged her down with him. It touched her and she screamed as well, even though it was just the plastic part.
That checked the three of them off of the list of suspects. Way was glad. Sonia and Manik were younger than Yai and like him, still in school. He also didn’t think North or Sonic would survive being told one of their twins was going to be a parent already. He’d barely been able to cope with the idea of Martin potentially being the one, and Martin was already 24.
Since Prince had reacted so strongly and was a horrible actor despite who his father was, his story kickstarted the kids’ investigation.
Now that they knew someone had slipped it into Prince’s bag, there was now a much larger timeframe and chance for everyone. Way suggested they wait for Pete to get home to act as a lie detector, but they insisted they could figure it out themselves.
Eventually, after much grilling and accusation, Sam spotted the security system and suggested they check the camera to see who had touched Prince’s bag, which had been sitting in the living room the entire time until he brought it with him to the bathroom. Way saw Yai and Charlotte coming back in and made a desperate gesture for them to go back outside. Though confused, the two shrugged and headed back out.
Martin grabbed his tablet and then screenshared it to the tv, Bo unplugging the game console from it. They went back through the entire time, starting when Prince first arrived with Champ and Charlotte.
No one had touched it. The only thing that came close was that Manik had stepped on it and almost tripped, but managed not to be seen and pumped his fist. Prince went over to start hitting him with a pillow. “You stepped on my bag and didn’t check if anything broke?!”
“I didn’t hear any crunching or anything!”
But as it reached the point where Prince had grabbed his bag, they realized the test had been put in before he arrived at the house. Prince loudly assured that he’d packed his bag the night before, so it wasn’t from some teammate or friend.
That left only one culprit, since there was no way that it was Charlotte, who was barely even 14.
Six shook Champ, “It’s you?! Since when we’re you dating someone? We train all the time, when did you even have the time to meet someone?”
“Champion?!” Prince gasped in shocked horror, using his little brother’s full first name. “It’s yours?!”
Champ gave an awkward smile that reminded Way so much of Charlie from when they’d first known each other that he completely gave up on this whole thing. He wished he hadn’t found the thing in his house.
“Wh… how far along are you?! You did a race last week!” Sally asked. Prince looked like he was going to pass out, so Sam went over to tug him towards a couch. He sat down much harder than he should have, practically collapsing onto it.
Champ shooed away his concerned cousins. “It wasn’t me that took the test! My boyfriend slipped it into my bag to surprise me.”
“So why did you put it in mine?!” Prince asked, voice pitched. Combined with the muffling and change from the swelling and bandages, all his cousins and even his brother laughed at him again. “Stop laughing at my stupid voice! My nose is broken!”
Once everyone had calmed down, Champ explained awkwardly, “Well, I didn’t want Mama and Papa to see it yet, so I shoved it back in the bag after I called Ven. But I guess I was still pretty shocked, so I put it in your bag by mistake, Phi.”
“You didn’t tell me about this!”
“You were asleep, Phi. I tried waking you up but those painkillers knocked you out. And then I couldn’t tell you while Mama was awake this morning, and then we came here…”
Prince jumped back up. “And when were you gonna tell our parents?!”
Champ leaned back, far too casual about all that was happening. Way supposed it was because of his parents that he could be so calm about suddenly finding out his boyfriend was pregnant. He was too much like Charlie. “Well, Ven is on vacation with his family right now. He snuck it in my bag when I was saying bye to him yesterday. So I have to propose when he gets back so that when we tell his brothers and uncles, they won’t kill me. And Ven really wants us to tell his Hia first, and then we’ll tell Mama and Papa together.”
Prince looked like he was now on the verge of tears. “You’re getting married?!”
“Yup. I’ve got to find a ring before he gets back in a few days. Can all of you not say anything to my parents until then? I’d rather surprise them myself!” Champ really was far too cheerful about the whole thing. It seemed he’d only been so silent for so long because of the volume and the embarrassment of sticking the test in the wrong bag, not that he was really trying to hide it.
A tall order considering how information and gossip spread through the pack like wildfire, and this was the biggest thing to happen in quite a while. But maybe everyone would find the strength and restraint not to do it.
Prince burst into tears, engulfing his brother in a hug. “I can’t believe you’re gonna get married and be a dad…!” Prince, of course, still seemed to view his siblings as his baby siblings, and was overwhelmed now that Champ, who was now technically an adult, was being an adult instead of the little kid that followed him around everywhere.
Champ patted Prince’s back, trying not to laugh at how funny he sounded as he sobbed with a broken nose. “Aw, Phi. It’s pretty cool, huh? I’m glad you’re not mad.”
With the mystery solved, Champ received a round of congratulations and scoldings from everyone.
Then, Six started off an interrogation. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were dating that Ven guy! We’re best friends, Cee!”
As Prince cried against his brother, the rest of the kids grilled Champ about his apparently secret boyfriend. Martin went and got some coffee, content to leave his cousins and sister to the chaos now that he wasn’t involved in it.
“So what’s his actual name?” Sam asked.
“Oh,” Champ said, smiling. “Ven’s full name is Venice Theerapanyakul.”
Martin started to choke on his coffee, spilling part of it. Way grabbed him some tissues to wipe up. While struggling to catch his breath, Martin shook his head and tried to leave the room.
Seeing that her older brother knew something, Sally ran over and grabbed his arm. “Wait, wait, Phi!” She yanked him into the middle of the group. “Do you know Ven?!”
Martin coughed a bit and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Oh my god, Champ. Do I know Venice?” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Not personally.”
Sally whined, asking what that was supposed to mean. Champ shrugged and told Six, “I didn’t really know we were actually dating until this. Ven’s real hard to read sometimes.”
“I bet,” Martin mumbled under his breath.
Sally shook him, hard, wanting to know what he was talking about. When Martin just shook his head some more, she turned to Way. “Mama! Tell Phi to tell us what he means!”
Having checked out of the conversation, Way just sighed.
“You know what his family does for work, right?” Martin asked instead of answering his sister.
“Yeah! Totally cool, right?” Martin did not seem to agree, but did not want to dampen his cousin’s spirits.
With Martin at the center of attention as a source for more information and intriguing because of his unexpected disapproval, Champ and Prince were left off to the side. Champ kept patting his brother’s back. “Anyway, Phi, when you’re done crying later, do you and Charlotte want to help me find a ring?”
Prince nodded, sniffling, “Mhmm.”
“Phi, you’re too much like Mama, y’know.”
“Well now you know what’ll happen when you tell him and Papa,” Prince warned him.