Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

TW Warnings: A couple (very mild) references to past xenophobia/homophobia.

When the Solar Opposites first crash-landed on the incredibly overpopulated Earth, Yumyulack wouldn't have ever thought he'd have come to see his replicator as any kind of "father". After all, the shlorpian whom he had been clipped from hardly possessed the qualities that would deem him anything more than the bare minimum of a legal guardian: cold, awkward and a tad close-minded (although, in his defence, he had been improving ever since he and Terry had become married), and so Yumyulack had never related to the way his classmates interacted with their own parents. He was never much of a fan of how other kids' parents coddled and fawned over them, forming classist packs when they were invited to the school for certain celebrations, like Father's Day, or parent-teacher interviews. 

Those days had never gone well. 

Moreso than the fact his "parents" were aliens, those smug degenerates found the idea of Yumyulack having two fathers incredibly humorous, something that confused him beyond words.

Overall, he never understood the human methods of teaching children at all. Most of his younger days had been governed by instructors training him, toughening his hide so he could survive in the real world, where there would be no hands to hold or shoulders to cry on. He had grown used to their harshness, the way their words stung until his soul had grown the callouses his regenerative skin could not. He had no need nor desire to be dependent on any other being than himself. Being dependent on someone for survival was just another sign of weakness, especially for him, the protector of their team. 

Although, he supposed it was nice, if not almost a little overbearing at times, to get his lunch packed the way the other kids in his school did, to have someone to drive him and Jesse to school after missing the bus, or even to get nagged in the same way as he had seen in every TV show about high school. Not that he would ever admit it, but at times he was quite glad to have people familiar and of the same species to him, that he was never truly alone in the mission. They all had their roles to play in order to succeed, and being a team meant they were all in this together. 

Learning about his true role, however... He couldn't help but feel absolutely, horrifically betrayed. 

It was his job to die every 90 days, to be consumed by the Pupa. For the sake of the Mission.

He could only remember that one encounter where he happened to escape, a little over a year ago, and in order to correct everything they had fed him a second set of memories of the past year (only the Grey Gods knew how AISHA had extracted it from the destroyed body, or rebuilt them with her AI database...), right up until just before he had obliterated the replicant printer and inadvertently killed himself.

It would have made sense to erase the previous memories, as to restore Yumyulack to his original state, but it was Korvo that couldn't do it. Not after what he had heard when he let him escape, and not after what he saw when his replicant had blown himself to bits along with the printer.

So now they both had to live with the memory of Yumyulack calling Korvo papa.

In retrospect Yumyulack knew why he said those words. He was shocked. He was scared. He didn't want to die, and each time he had this innate feeling of impending doom each time his replicator had approached him alone, hands behind his back. He knew he had to break Korvo somehow. It was the only way he could get out alive. It was an intentional slip of the tongue to make him freeze.

"I was only going to suck out your memories and then kill you-"

"No, but please- Papa- don't do that either-..."

And the look in Korvo's eyes, the way the guilt and familial love he harboured had been locked away by a now broken mask, told him that it had worked a little too well.

"-Go-! Before I change my mind!"

After returning the state of their family back to normal and witnessing the Pupa shift to a bright, autumnal orange, Yumyulack would have thought that'd be the end of it. End of calling Korvo his father. He had used it to manipulate him and nothing else, right?

Right-?

But if so, then why did the term come to him so naturally? It never had, at least not before. Before, he'd have been perfectly content leaving Korvo's name as simply "Korvo" for the rest of their days on Earth. They were merely work partners on the same mission team. He hadn't played any part in his upbringing until now- that's what the instructors and greenhouse caretakers on Shlorp were for. He had been raised in that place just as the rest of them had been. There was no logical reason to call him that.

But seeing how the ship expert had hesitated, how something seemed to shatter behind his eyes each time Yumyulack called him that name, the way he dove into the icy water to rescue him despite everything he had done to sever their already fractured relationship, and the way he now seemed almost jumpy when it came to his health and safety because now there was no replacing him at the push of a button...

Maybe he had played a bit of a role in his upbringing, at least on Earth. It seemed that, after pretending to be a family for so long, they really saw one another as real family. There were no other aliens of their species in that quadrant of the galaxy, they were all each other had left. So maybe it was only natural he had come to see Korvo in the same way a human teenager would see their own parent- overbearing, a little inconsiderate at times, but still caring and genuine and doing his best.

He wasn't sure what to call Terry either, and whether or not the two partners saw him as their son he couldn't tell, but his conflict towards Korvo was his main issue.

No matter what, though, he couldn't find the chance to talk to Korvo about it. It seemed that neither of them could muster the courage to sit down and have a talk due to the way the topic was overshadowed by their pained, now awkward memories of the past, and so instead he just kept to what he always had done: "Papa" was for manipulating purposes only. He couldn't allow himself to jeopardise their integrity more than he already had by breaking down his family's walls and growing even more attached to them than he absolutely had to...

The first time he used it after the whole incident was to get the ship expert to let him go to a party, a couple of weeks after the whole fiasco that had brought Yumyulack back from Ireland. Usually, Korvo couldn't have cared less about those sorts of things. He barely even noticed when or where or with whom he snuck out, only realising he had left in the first place when he came back hours later, or even in the first hours of the next day. But now, it seemed the replicator had doubled down on protecting the boy from even the dangers of feeble humans.

"Come on, please," Yumyulack cried practically dropping to his knees before his replicator. "It's only for a few hours, there's only a couple people there, it's not that late yet-"

"I already told you my answer. It's already ten PM on a school night, and I don't want any more phone calls from your teacher saying you've been sleeping in- in class!" Korvo's jaw clenched as he suddenly jumped to his feet after finishing a sentence of a stack of paperwork, presumed to be regular house billings. A finger was pointed towards the replicant in accusation. "You know you're supposed to be paying attention, no matter how boring that shit i-"

"Please, I- Papa, I'll only stay for an hour, tops..." his voice went unusually quiet as his gaze dropped towards the floor, rubbing the edges of his jewelled boots together. He knew he was going a little overboard with the act, but when he looked up he saw that Korvo had gone a little pale. It was working. "I'll stay safe. And plus, you don't have to feed me to the Pupa anymore, remember? So, like, who cares if I die-?"

"You're- uh, still calling me that, huh?" He stuttered, his eyes darting about as though he were trying to catch an invisible camera in the act of recording his falter. "I- You're trying to manipulate me into saying yes, aren't you? Well, it's not going to work- will you stop looking at me like that?! No, the answer's still no! And just because the Pupa doesn't need to eat your flesh anymore doesn't mean you're expendable a-at all!"

Yumyulack swallowed an uncomfortable tightness in his throat. "I know I'm not! You're just scared something's gonna happen that you can't fix with the printer- I promise I'll be fine. It's just a couple humans. They're dumb as shit, anyways."

For a moment Korvo glared at him and Yumyulack thought his plan was ruined, and that he'd have to use Plan B and knock Korvo out or restrain him in some way so he could leave in peace, but then the ship expert caved and gave an irritated huff.

"Fine. But for your own good, your suit's got an airtag on it and you can't disable it without the password. Which I changed, by the way. Come back before one."

The replicant punched the air and whooped with joy, racing out the door after yelling something to Jesse, who was upstairs on her phone. It seemed there were a couple upsides to learning how to call his replicator his father.

As the bounty hunter left the house, Korvo pinched between his eyes, sighing. He was aware of a set of eyes staring into his back, having seen everything, and a pair of hands that gently began to wrap around his shoulders to squeeze him tightly. He wriggled free of the grip to turn and face his Terry looking at him with a sappy grin.

"Looks like you're keeping the new nickname, huh?" He gushed, laughing as his husband's face flushed a bright teal at such a proposition. "Never thought he'd warm up to it after all that-"

"He's not 'warming up to it', he's doing it to tick me off because he knows it's a weak spot!" Korvo huffed in reply, rolling his eyes at Terry. "That was obviously a ploy for control-! I swear to god, I'm gonna erase that memory from his fucking brain..."

"Well, do you think erasing a single memory is gonna do anything? Chances are he'll find his way back to calling you his dad one way or another. That being said, don't you think it's kind of sweet? That little shit is bound to start using it randomly, even when he's not trying to outsmart you." Terry led Korvo to sit down on the couch, and slowly they made themselves comfortable, legs curled up besides them. "I wonder if he'll start giving me one, too, or hell maybe even Jesse might start catching on as well! Wouldn't that be adorable-?"

"I- I guess, but... I just don't know whether I'll get used to it. It's just- I don't know, different? I know he's using it to be a little shit, but part of me almost wants it to be real, but," Korvo gave a shudder, and Terry held onto him a little tighter. "I don't know how I've done enough to earn that title-

"I don't think there's any way to 'earn' the title of being Yumyulack's dad... Give him some time. Who knows? Maybe he'll start saying it without thinking. I'll sure as fuck celebrate if Jesse starts calling me dad, or zaddy, or whatever the hell she wants to call me! I don't even know if I vibe with being a dad yet. You just gotta let it sit for a while, yeah?"

"God, you know it's bad when you start making sense." Korvo sighed, his mouth finally curling into a soft smile. "I suppose you're right. Maybe he will call me papa for real. One day, at least." He allowed Terry to give him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah! It'll be completely by accident, like when you called Theo daddy about a gazillion times: Awkwardly natural, and without any warning -"

"Okay, that's it, I'm redacting your kiss privileges!" Korvo shoved him aside to stand up, trying to hide his face while Terry devolved into laughter on the couch. "So I'll just- have to wait until he feels comfortable really calling me... Papa?"

"I guess so. In the meantime, all you can really do is act like his dad." Terry replied with a shrug.

"And how do I do that? What if he wasn't calling me it already because I'm doing a horrible job?"

"Well, I think you're doing great." Terry looked up to see Korvo staring back at him incredulously, as though he had just admitted to believing in every pseudoscience video he had ever watched in his life. He jumped up and grabbed his husband by the shoulder, squeezing it a little and pulling him closer. "Korvo, they never taught us how to look after these things very well back on Shlorp, so I say that seeing as we've kept ours alive this long, we're doing pretty well for ourselves, huh?"

"...Thanks." Korvo let Terry pull him into a hug, and while he was never big on physical contact he let himself rest his head on Terry's shoulder. He felt his loving touch brush down the back of his head, and he refrained from grinning like a madman, even if Terry couldn't see it from where he was. "Ever since that shitass printer broke I've felt like a- eurgh- a helicopter parent! I don't even have a helicopter-! What if-"

"Save those for later. Go to sleep. I can see the stress coming through in your skin."

"But it's not that late-"

"God, I wonder who Yumyulack takes after? Come on, Korvy... A full night's sleep will work wonders for that overthinking brain of yours." His sing-song voice almost always made his husband irritated, but it was nearly foolproof in getting him to actually follow orders. The doctor type person was really the worst patient, huh?

Korvo groaned, but didn't complain as Terry slowly pushed him towards the stairs. Though his hearts were tense with worry and anxiety, he knew he could count on his family, and that they could count on him in return.

Chapter Text

It didn't happen often, hearing that nickname that Yumyulack felt awkward using yet always seemed to soften Korvo's steely hearts up just to break it in two. Every time he heard it his hopes had soared, thinking it was finally time for Yumyulack to admit to seeing the two adults as parental figure, but each time was accompanied by a different, ulterior request. And Korvo was becoming increasingly immune to the charms of fatherhood. It was becoming increasingly hurtful, too, unbeknownst to the young bounty hunter. How could it not? All it did was degrade its sentimental value, reducing it to a ruse, a mere tactic that had ripped a hole in the ship expert's heart a little more each time it was used insincerely. Why was he not worthy of being Yumyulack's dad?

No matter what he did, it had never changed, Yumyulack never changed. Maybe he had never seen him that way. Maybe he never would. Of course, he couldn't read the boy's mind, which meant he never could tell that his assumptions had been so very wrong.

Yumyulack and Jesse were on the school bus, now, months after that party, almost completely, strangely silent. The ambient sounds of regular, indiscernible student talk chimed out around them in a blur, and the constant vibrating whir of the bus's chugging machinery lulled them as they recognised each corner they turned on the way to the campus. Yumyulack's eyes were not gazing at his phone as he usually would, but instead glued to the window as he watched the asphalt road pass him by. He chewed on his bottom lip a bit, unsure of himself in a way that was not entirely in character for him.

In his bag was a packed lunch, made by Korvo before he had woken up to get ready for school. That was definitely a move performed by regular human parents.

Jesse sat beside him in total silence, writing in a small journal of hers. Occasionally she looked up at her co-replicant, a flicker of concern washing over her face as she saw Yumyulack's absent face screwed up in deep thought. The ride to school had never been so quiet between the two. Usually, their game plans would be expressed on the ride over, or they'd share the gossip they had collected the previous day, but ever since the Irish Yumyulack had been collected and his memories restored with the help of a bit of AI (courtesy of AISHA), he seemed almost even more broody and isolated than he usually was. Jesse understood that he was going through a hard time, but a part of her wished he would just talk to her about it. Talking always made people feel better, so why was he evading confronting it so much?

"Y'know, I don't think you can avoid it forever, Yum," Jesse said, not looking up from her book, which was slowly being filled up with doodles near the margins. "Why don't you just, I dunno, tell him how you feel-?"

A sharp growl made its way up his dry throat. "I just- I can't, okay?" He snapped, bringing his knees up to his chest to hug it, resting his feet on the seat. "There's just... no point in me saying anything."

"Are you saying that because you believe it or because you want me to shut up?" 

"I don't know! Maybe? Now shut it, will you?" He returned to staring out the window with increased intensity. They were almost at school, now. He could tell by the way the road quality slowly degraded as the route became increasingly worn from use. They hit a rock, and the whole bus was shaken up as it regained its balance. "I'll deal with it when I feel like dealing with it. Right now I... I also can't tell whether or not he wants to put up with it either."

"Well, the only way you're gonna find that out is if you talk to him," Jesse whined, giving her sibling a light slap on the shoulder. "Chances are, with the way you two have been acting recently, it might be beneficial to talk it out! Nobody's ever solved an issue by ignoring it until it was too late."

"I guess so, but... How would I even go about doing it?" Yumyulack sighed, watching as the school slowly rolled into view before them. "When we were on the pond he said he wasn't my papa, that he was only the team leader, which meant I wouldn't- shouldn't have been able to escape him again if I didn't stop him. He- he outright refused it. How will I know he won't reject it again?" He hated how weak his voice, laced with uncertainty, made him sound.

"Isn't that obvious? Korvo was obviously lying to himself! How else do you work yourself up to kill your own replicant over and over again? He probably feels like real shit too, especially now that we've figured out the Pupa can eat chalupas instead of you," Jesse replied, collecting her things into her bag so they could get off. "Speaking of, the 90 day chalupa run is coming up real soon, possibly even tonight- why don't you ask to go with him to grab Taco Bell? You guys can sit and drink your Baja Blast and talk it out!"

Yumyulack snorted. "Yeah, right, Jesse, like that'd be any easier than just-"

"I didn't say it'll be any sort of easy, dumbass!" Jesse clapped a hand to her forehead. "If you wait for too long, all that name is gonna be is an exploit that you're both gonna resent because neither of you had the balls to figure it out!" She hissed, leaving him to get off the bus first.

"Alright, fine! I'll ask to go to the- the fucking Taco Bell!" Yumyulack caved as they stepped out onto the pavement. "You happy now?"

"Attaboy, Yum! You really are like Korvo in more ways than you think, huh?" The green alien gave her brother a snarky grin as the two walked through the front gates of the schoolyard, watching his eyes almost roll out of his head and onto the pavement.

"Such as?"

"Well, you're both stubborn as hell, you can barely talk about your feelings unless absolutely required or something provokes you, and you still both don't know how to start a confronting conversation without stammering."

"Sh-shut your fucking mouth, Jesse!" Yumyulack howled, watching as his sister burst into a mocking laughter, only to be drowned out by the sound of the first bell ringing, sweeping them off to their first class of the day. God, was he glad to have an excuse to run away and ditch her.

*** (One school day I don't have the executive functioning to write) ***

"And don't forget, first parent-teacher interviews of the school year will be starting next Monday! Get those notes in so we don't have to round you little f- ahem- kids up!" Principal Cooke's voice boomed through the intercom, promptly clicking off as the last bell rang to dismiss the students from the final period. The two alien kids wandered towards their lockers, exhausted from the stresses that day had thrust upon them. Jesse's eyes were still red from receiving unsatisfactory test results, but Yumyulack was far too distracted that day to notice he had flunked the test entirely, which was evidently not a good sign given the interviews were happening the very next week. Clearly, the Grey Gods had been against them today.

"What are we gonna do??" Jesse wailed, waiting for Yumyulack to finish grabbing his bag from his locker, leaving the scrunched up test inside. "I've been getting straight A's all year, but this time I- I got a B minus! Korvo's gonna kill me!" 

Yumyulack couldn't help but laugh at such a trivial matter. "You're one to talk, I got, I think- a D plus! Besides, knowing this shit won't be important anytime soon, remember? This place will be Pupa food before you know it."

"But that could take who knows how many more years, and in the meantime we have to be doing good in school so we don't have to do summer classes!" Jesse wiped the tears that began to spring up in her eyes. "The last thing I want is for it to be recorded for all of time that I sucked at basic English! I've been speaking it for years- Terry and Korvo are gonna find out next week because of the stupid interviews that I can't write a stupid- ee-say or whatever it's called-" She crouched into a small ball, quietly crying into her polka dot dress. Yumyulack awkwardly closed his locker and joined her by dropping to his knees.

"Relax, it's only one small part of your report, and they're obviously gonna be more concerned about me flunking entirely, and plus, who's to blame you? English is fucking hard! There's no obvious difference between too, to and two, or you're and your. Nobody on Shlorp is gonna even know what English is, alright?" He said hushedly in an attempt to be supportive of Jesse, trying not to draw any attention to them as he watched some of the less nice kids walked by, mostly ignoring them.

"I hope whatever shit you have going on gets figured out, cause you're acting weird." Jesse's puffy eyes narrowed at him, but held a mischievous glint as it obviously seemed to help distract her from her own woes. "If I had known an-hic- any better, I'd have mistaken you for Funyul-"

"Do NOT SAY THAT BITCH'S NAME!" Yum hissed back.

"God, do either of those middle-grade alien fucks ever shut up?" A voice suddenly drew them from their bickering, high above their crouched figures. It was a voice Yumyulack was no stranger to - something that made his hearts give an uncomfortable skip as he looked up to see a tall senior with swishy hair and a mean frown, known to him as Marcus, or, as most people called him, "Mark". He wore a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt, sported a nasty looking scar above his eyebrow, and, to Yumyulack, was a huge prat. The bounty hunter hated how the seniors at their school acted like they ran the place, even despite his numerous attempts to climb the social hierarchy himself. He had one of his subordinates with him now, a much bigger and stronger guy than the aliens, and god, Yumyulack hated how mean eighteen-year-olds could be.

"We're not middle schoolers, ya dummy!" Jesse replied. "We're in the 10th grade, we're sophomore high schoolers now!" Yumyulack put an arm out in front of her, silently begging her to stop, for he could see the bully's hands clench at how stupidly fearless she was being. Jesse had never encountered this guy before- only he had. He was trouble, and had he not had his shrink ray confiscated and been threatened with expulsion if he used it again, he would have thrown him into the wall to be torn apart by whatever the fuck had gotten to the rest of them in there, for last time he checked it had been an absolute wasteland.

But this time, he had nothing. Before Yumyulack could even blink, though, he was hoisted right off the ground and slammed into the metal lockers behind him. He could hear Jesse screaming next to him as Mark's lackey pulled her up by her forearm only to shove her right up next to him. They kicked back like wild animals, but Mark was fast, kneeing Yumyulack in the stomach to stun him.

"How many humans does it take to teach you two a lesson?" Flecks of spit made their way onto Yumyulack's face as Mark spoke, and he refrained from intentionally gagging on the bully in reply. His breath stunk of cigarettes anyway. It was only natural the plant-life alien wanted to throw up on him.

"I don't know, three?" The bounty hunter rolled his eyes. "Looks like you're one short! Where's the third one? Did you guys get him suspended again?"

He was promptly met with a punch to the jaw, sending him tumbling to the ground, spread-eagled out before them all. He quickly got to his feet and backed up, taking his sibling with him, gently working his way in front of her as to ensure none of them had an easy shot at the little chronicler. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you- with those parent teacher interviews going on, yaknow... beating up kids ain't gonna be a great look for you, huh?" Yumyulack's voice went airy as he struggled to catch his breath.

Enraged, he threw a punch, but Yumyulack caught it and twisted his arm about, and right on time Jesse joined in, kicking his legs from underneath him with one smooth sweeping motion. Maybe getting those Shlorp-Fu lessons from the replicators weren't so bad, after all. Yumyulack smirked. "Oh, wait, your parents don't go to those things, do they? I wonder why. Maybe they can't be bothered to go because they'll be met with disappointment. That's just what you are, isn't it?"

"Fuck you! At least I have parents! Last time I checked, there's been nobody around that would even want you as their kid, you're always running around, trying to play God because there's nobody around that cares about you enough to discipline you! Why would anyone want to be your parents?" The bully snorted back, nearly causing the bounty hunter to flinch. "You're a fucking psycho who shouldn't even be coming here!"

"You think he's projecting onto us for something?" Jesse muttered, and the two aliens giggled. "Mr King of All Daddy Issues here, amiright?"

"Y-yeah..." Yumyulack took a moment to regain his mojo, something that the seafoam green alien beside him didn't leave unnoticed. Maybe it was time to back out soon. "Spoiler alert, dumbass, we  do have parents! And they're way better than the idiots that raised you! They don't do any of the weird parent events around here because the people here suck ass and would target them like you do, whereas yours actively choose not to go because they don't want to be seen as related to you-!"

Mark's face flushed bright red, but as he raised his fist to attack the blue alien boy, he froze, instead looking at something vaguely behind them. His mouth turned upwards slightly, and the two turned around to see Ms Frankie, arms folded in disappointment. Her narrow eyes darted between the aliens and the humans, a short, exasperated huff emanating from her thin lips.

"What the fuck is going on with all of you! This is the second time in a week you've been at each other's throats- can't you learn to keep it down, at least?!" She snarled. "After school detention, now! All of you! Can any of you just behave for once?! How many calls home does it take for your parents to start fixing your shitty behaviour??"

Neither group responded. They merely continued glaring at each other with pure hatred, and as the teacher began to drag them away from each other to go to their respective detention rooms, Yumyulack could see something dark brewing in Mark's eyes. It unsettled him deeply, but he didn't have time to analyse it before they disappeared down the hallway.

As he walked into the mostly empty classroom for his and Jesse's detention, he couldn't help but allow his mind to wander back to what the senior student had said. He really didn't know how much Terry and Korvo wanted them as replicants, as children. Yes, they took care of them, took on the role of parents, but did they really want that? It wasn't like there was a choice - they were all assigned to the same team by the Shlorpian higher-ups, forced to work together as just about mere strangers from the get-go, and in order to complete said mission they had to cooperate and take care of each other's physical and emotional health for the good of the mission.

So how much of it was the adults just doing their jobs, and how much was it them really easing into the idea of having a full family? Had it been any different, had they had any choice, would they still choose to raise them? Would they have chosen to plant replicants at all?

There were just too many uncertainties that Yumyulack couldn't answer alone.

And there really was only one way to find out...

Chapter Text

Just as Jesse predicted, as the replicants finally got home from school that afternoon, extravagantly late due to that horrific after-school detention, they ran into their replicators setting up the dining room in what seemed to be a 'Taco Tuesday' theme. The Pupa was standing in a high chair, watching as they set down a bright tablecloth with a pastel rainbow pattern, licking its lips with anticipation. Even the little robot, JK-Sevens was hopping about, launching small streamers about in a vivid array of colour, as though the whole ritual had in fact been a child's birthday party. Now that the problem of providing the crucial nutrients to the Pupa was solved without the use of death, it seemed to have become the custom of the family to turn it into something of a celebration.

Yumyulack, already mildly freaked out and possibly a little traumatised from the memories he kept of what the previous tradition was like, gulped and forced a chuckle.

"Oh- it's Chalupa day already, huh?" his tongue stumbled over the words as a tightness grew in his chest. He glanced at Jesse, who nodded at him encouragingly, yet it didn't seem to calm the storm rapidly developing deep below his collarbone.

"Yup! Or as Korvo likes calling it, Chalupa Chews-day! God, the accent never gets old, does it?" Terry exclaimed, waving the kids in. His smile was nothing but obliviously blissful, as always, and he quickly leapt at the excuse to get out of work by talking to the replicants. In his hands was a small, white cloth, of which the Pupa was looking at eagerly. "Imagine how different everything would have been had he kept his old one-"

"Oh, sod off, you're the one that wanted me to keep this voice, now you're mocking it?" Korvo hissed in reply, pointing at his lifemate accusingly as he stopped hanging up a decorative banner to look at him. "Is this purely for your own entertainment- Am I keeping it because you like it or because you think it makes me sound like a fucking pompous asshole?!"

"Oh, come on, Korvy, you know I love your voice just the way it is! Just messing with you. Couldn't have imagined it being any other way." Terry slipped his husband a quick kiss on the cheek before he could open his own mouth in protest. Dipping out to grab something from the kitchen but not before winking mischievously at the replicants, Terry mouthed a couple words that looked suspiciously like 'thin skin, huh?'. Korvo rolled his eyes and pursued him, picking up and cradling the Pupa in his arms.

He paused, turning to the replicants, who stood in silence from watching the whole encounter unfold before them. His expression was mixed, brow slightly creased in a way that Yumyulack couldn't tell was because of the Chalupa Day stress or because of something else...

"Hold on, you two, I'll piss you off by asking about your day soon, and why you're home so late, I just need to deal with these two first." He grumbled, gesturing to the little creature. "Terry, where the Pupa's bib?!"

Yumyulack sighed with relief as Korvo left the room, but deep inside he knew he couldn't outrun it for long- there was still that something that was making Yumyulack's stomach twist into pretzels, and the bounty hunter rarely lost his cool. His nerves were bound in a platinum alloy. He had survived much worse than a simple conversation, so he knew he could have easily hid his fear if it weren't for the gooblers making their way down onto the floor.

Wait- what?

What the hell was that feeling he was feeling?

Fear?

Without warning his breath hitched, trapping itself in his voice box like a solid stone and he kicked the tiny, stupid pink gooblers under the table, patting down his head in an effort to get them to stop and notify the elders. Leaning against the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, he raised his hands near his chest, which was constricted as though his uniform had shrunk two sizes in just those few minutes, instead fidgeting with the neckline of his uniform in a desperate attempt to ease up its hold-

"Jesse, I don't want to do this." He whimpered in a strained voice, taking a step back into the living room. Jesse followed him, making a motion to grab him but he slapped her hand away, still backing away. "You know what? I can't do this! I'm not a man of many weaknesses but- but that's exactly why I don't want to do this! He'll think I'm weak, and as his replicant that'd be a bad reflection on him! Oh, Jesus fucking Christ, man- why is being a part of a long term team-thing so hard?!" 

He tripped on the carpet, nearly knocking a lamp over as he crawled behind the couch in the living room, unaware of his Shlorpian co-replicant following him. He curled into the tightest ball he could muster in an attempt to block out any external stimuli so he could focus on just one at a time, trying to calm his strangely racing hearts to stop the goobler downpour but Jesse was already next to him, seizing him by his wrists. Her hands were cold, snapping him back into the present as he tried to focus on what he could see and hear, which, at that moment, was mostly Jesse.

"Oh my gosh, Yum, pull yourself together! He's not gonna kill you, okay? I know it's hard, but you can't bottle this shit up! It's like- like a giant diet coke, and every time you ignore it you're adding in another Mentos to the barrel... this isn't like you- you usually couldn't care less about these sorts of things! What's the worst that could happen??"

The gooblers slowed up as he buried his face in his hands, feeling his shallow breath on his pale, clammy blue palms. "What if he used to see me like his son, but ever since I was a little bitch about it he's- he's stopped? What if he's just team leader from now on? Because I forced him to? What if..."

Oh, he wondered, maybe that was what the what-if box was really for after all. Not just for fun, but for quelling anxiety, too. Huh. If only they still had it around...

His mind flicked through his memories, his life almost flashing before his eyes as he tried to pull up a memory of them actually having a familial interaction, nothing coming to mind except for stupid arguments and fights- the only even remotely useful interaction being the time he and Jesse went to the replicators after having been in a fight, and after having his honour attacked Korvo went to deal with it himself- but that hadn't anything to do with their relationship, and, even worse, it was a lie! How much of this team had been built on lies?

"Yeah, that could happen, but so what? You can easily repair that with a little bonding time, hm? If not-"

"If not, I'm going back to Ireland to see if he actually cares about me- now that I'm no longer needed around here anymore." Yumyulack spat bitterly in reply. Jesse winced, and her grip on him tightened. The moment he escaped death played in his mind again, the way he blatantly used that word against his replicator to escape certain death-! Surely it wasn't his fault, right-? 

Could their relationship still be salvaged at all?

"Come on, Yumyulack, you can talk to us, you know?" Her voice was quiet, but now they could hear footsteps of the adults returning. "...I never pegged you to be a 'daddy issues' type. That's all."

They heard footsteps approaching. Jesse's voice dropped to barely a whisper.

"Either way, it ends tonight. It's either you tell Korvo or I do-"

They could recognise footsteps, now, as none other than Korvo's heavy boots on the kitchen floor, dampening as it reached the carpet. His arms were free of the Pupa. They looked up to find his eyes fixated on the small, scattered trickle of gooblers that hopped and danced underneath the dining table, lazily tracing the trail to the source that laid beside the couch. Yumyulack found himself so caught off guard that he momentarily stopped breathing, and any further intake of air was as discreet as possible.

"Tell me what?" The ship expert scoffed. So he had heard that last moment.

The gooblers vanished.

Korvo scowled.

The way Jesse elbowed Yumyulack hard in the side brought him back to the moment, but nothing could settle the way his mind kept storming up infinite possibilities, filling his head with so much fog he could barely think straight.

"What the hell are you two doing down there, anyway? You've already wasted enough time in that detention, which I'll discuss when Terry's around... I thought you knew we had Chalupa Tuesday to be preparing for! And what the fuck's gotten you so wound up, Yumyulack? I'm not gonna take your memories- you should know that by now."

Yumyulack opened his mouth to speak, but the right words died on his tongue. He was paralysed, bones saturated with molten lead as though Korvo's gaze had turned him to stone, effectively gluing him to that very spot. He could see cogs turning behind the adult's eyes, unsure of how to react to seeing his replicant so on edge.

Eventually, Korvo's brow scrunched up and broke eye contact, finally allowing the Shlorpian teen to breathe properly once more.

"Well, come on. We have lots to do, and the Pupa's getting hungry. I don't want him gorging himself on your flesh instead and I also don't particularly feel like getting that 3D printer up and running after what happened last time."

As he pulled the two replicants up to standing positions, Jesse jabbed Yumyulack once more in the side, clearing her throat loudly. The ship expert paused. "Well?" He said expectantly. His gaze softened for a moment as he turned to his anxious replicant, whose mouth was hung open slightly as though he were about to speak, yet seemed to have had his voice stolen from him. His hesitation fuelled the hunter boy, whose worries and what-ifs felt a little less real when he saw Korvo managing what very well might have been the same confusion as he was.

He had to make a move, else he feared he might never have spoken to his replicator again. He had to say something, at least to get him into the right situation to talk to him about all the inner turmoil he had been facing in the recent weeks. If he couldn't talk about it now, he could at least make it known that he needed him- needed to talk to him.

"Oh, wait, also, Yumyulack-" Korvo began, but something cut through his words like a knife, slicing right through to his heart.

"I-I want to come with you to the Taco Bell--" Yumyulack blurted out, looking up at his replicator.

"--I want you to come with me to the Taco Bell." The adult stammered through his request, caught completely off-guard. The two spoke almost in unison, and it took a moment for either of them to register what the other had said. 

"Wait, what-?" Korvo sputtered, staring at him, utterly perplexed as Yumyulack gave him a meek smile. Success!

The two blinked blankly at each other, while a huge smile sprouted on Jesse's seafoam face. She clasped her hands together as her eyes switched between the two blue Shlorpians, who had not let up their suddenly-established staring competition against each other.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" She exclaimed, quickly continuing as she was met with two sets of dark looks that suggested her comments during their little moment wouldn't be welcome for much longer. "You two go to Taco Bell together. Me and Terry will finish setting up for Chalupa Tuesday. Deal?" She extended a hand to both of them.

"Not until you tell me why on Earth you two landed yourself in detention for the third time this term!" Korvo frowned, folding his arms.

"Oh, uh, I may have told a kid the reason his parents didn't want to go to the parent teacher interviews was because they didn't love him." Yumyulack replied, rubbing his arm with an awkward chuckle. "Well, it wasn't worded like that, I-"

"And we may have tried to beat him up," Jesse's hand moved behind her head as she brushed her addition aside a weak laugh. "But- it was self defence! He moved first. So, really, we were wrongfully imprisoned!" The best way to building up their relationship was to be honest, right? Although, it wasn't exactly a good sign that the Shlorpian before them looked like he was seconds before grounding them indefinitely.

As the replicants eyed Korvo curiously as he opened his mouth to scold them, however, he paused. He turned around, unable to face them. He seemed to be arguing with himself, cursing under his breath. At some point he seemed to clap a hand to his forehead, muttering something along the lines of, "What am I going to do with these two?" The replicants glanced at each other. Eventually, he turned around with a mildly irritated look on his face.

"God, you two are insufferable... if I had the time to, I'd be berating you but we cannot delay the Chalupa Tuesday any further. Terry's been no help either- he was supposed to be grabbing the dinner plates but I fear he's already gone and been distracted by rewatching the latest Nintendo Direct." Korvo sighed, his hand moving towards his eyes to pinch between them as he slowly let out a breath that soon became an exasperated groan. It was true, they could hear the Pupa expert's excited whoops and laughter at something that was obviously not grabbing out special dinner plates. 

The replicants' plan was working, even if Korvo wasn't even aware of it yet. The team leader turned back around to continue, this time exercising his position as team leader by laying out the game plan crystal clear as to leave no room for doubt.

"Jesse, you're in charge of keeping the Pupa and JK-Sevens out of trouble. Yumyulack, you're with me. We'll be back at five thirty, maybe six if they have a special on because that means there's gonna be a shitload of people trying to get in there." He grabbed Jesse's hand and shook it professionally, officially sealing their deal. "Keep the Pupa away from eating anything he shouldn't. And, for god's sake, make sure Terry stays focused!"

He seemed oddly distant as he then walked away from the replicants and towards the front door, beckoning for the bounty hunter to join, leaving Jesse alone in the room to find Terry to finish setting up for their new tradition. The door swung shut with a thunk, soon followed by the rattling roar of the old sedan gasping to life once again. Jesse ran to the window, watching as they pulled out of the driveway and onto the street, quickly disappearing from sight as they sped off. Jesse heard a pair of footsteps behind her, and then suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, and saw Terry, her own replicant, also watching where the other half of the team had been moments before.

"So, uh, what's going on with them?" Terry asked the chronicler.

"Oh, long story short, Yumyulack's having daddy issues, and while he wants to call Korvo 'Papa' again he can't seem to, cause he thinks Korvo won't accept it, but I'm like, ninety-nine percent sure that's all Korvo's ever wanted to hear come out of his mouth since the whole Pupa-food incident." Jesse replied without hesitation, voice nearly apathetic as she rolled her eyes at how mind-bogglingly complicated the two blue aliens had to make everything.

"They really are quite stupid, huh?" Terry grinned, though his words were not out of malice. "I mean, I know I'm not the sharpest ray gun on the shelf, but I know a pair of idiots when I see one, you really gotta hand it to them-"

"Yeah, but their hearts are in the right place," Jesse replied, but she didn't seem to be finished with her thought. "but, Terry, what if we ever go through something like that someday?"

"Who knows!" Terry chuckled, before growing a bit quieter, a bit more solemn. "Well... if you ever want to start calling me dad or something like that, promise me one thing."

The Pupa expert set down the Pupa and gently knelt beside Jesse so that he could see eye-to-eye with her. She arched her brow suspiciously as Terry put his hands on her shoulders, taking a little while to prepare what he had to say.

"You wont do whatever the fuck Korvo and Yumyulack are doing and make it a huge fuckin' mess out of it, alright? I'm completely fine being a girl dad, or zaddy, if that's what you want me to be, I'll be it! No questions asked, no need for all this emotional constipation, just let it out so we can avoid all of this sh-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know! I wont pull a Yumyulack, and you wont pull a Korvo. Got it? We talk it out, like normal people." Jesse rolled her eyes, pulling Terry into a quick hug before shying away. "I'm glad already that we can be on the same page before shit gets complicated."

The two shared a mutual humorous, knowing look. They sure did share the household with two morons, didn't they? Even if their egos suggested otherwise.

"Wow, I can't believe we've come so far. How the hell did us four dipshits turn out to make such a good family?" The replicator grinned, ultimately stretching his hands out in front of him to get ready to return to setting up the festivities. He heard the Pupa growl his name from across the room, and so he quickly added, "Five of us-!"

"I got no clue, but I'm glad we all got partnered up together. Even with Yum and Korvo." Jesse's misty eyes returned to the empty driveway. "Let's just hope they make it out the other side of this as a team, too."

**

Chapter Text

The journey to Taco Bell was, for the most part, completed in total silence when it came to conversing like regular people. Korvo was too focused on the road or reciting their order of multiple versions of the chalupa supreme, whereas Yumyulack didn't want to make it any more awkward by discussing their weird relationship dynamics.

When the weight of the silence pressing down on the both of them got too much, Korvo instead turned on the radio and listened to the news channel talking politics or whatever the hell they were on about these days. 

At some point, they made small talk about their day. Yumyulack mentioned the fight he was in, to which Korvo scoffed something about the discipline he should have learned at the Academy, but the bounty hunter remained silent about what really provoked that human boy in the first place. Yumyulack mostly fidgeted with the window button and made mean looks in the side mirror at the other drivers around them until they arrived at their destination. Korvo didn't bat an eye.

Eventually, they pulled into the parking lot, but before they got out of the car, Korvo stopped his replicant with a sharp flick to the shoulder. His lips were pursed awkwardly, and he gently gestured to his phone, which had the online website on its screen, before he began to talk.

"Hey, replicant number 2, do you, er, have anything you want to add to the order? I'm just about to place it online because I really do not feel like talking to some lame human piece of garbage who's gonna enter everything wrong..." He said.

For once his words held no traces of sarcasm or irritation. He was simply asking for Yumyulack's input.

Yumyulack paused. Did he really just ask him what he wanted? Instead of just buying the food without any input from him and telling him to 'suck it up butter-fuck' and eat his food because he misheard the saying on TV? Something had to be up. Was he maybe giving him a chance to make it up to him by acting like he really was his father? A ghost of a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. He would have loved nothing more than to just sit in the Taco Bell parking lot and drink a soda with him, opening up in a way Jesse would be proud to see happen between the two. This would be the perfect time to start anew, right?

He gave a small shrug, almost chuckling. "I- well- I- sure, Papa! I could go for a cinnamon tw-" the words effortlessly tumbled out of his mouth, just like it always did, as he looked eagerly at Korvo to see his reaction to using it genuinely and not to blatantly use him-

Korvo froze, his mouth instantly contorting into a harsh frown. The kindness he had expressed moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

Yumyulack's eyes widened. 

"Why the hell are you trying to manipulate me now of all times?! I'm literally offering you something extra!" He growled, his hand clenching the back of the chair so hard it went almost pale. "What the- just, what the fuck, Yumyulack?! Do you really not trust me to be a decent fucking person anymore?"

"Wh-??" Yumyulack winced, watching helplessly as Korvo threw open the car door with such force that it rattled the whole vehicle, and slammed it shut with almost as much force. Yumyulack scrambled for his own door, his heart jumping to his parched throat as he tried to catch up to the furious replicator. "Papa, wait-!"

"Don't you Papa me, you little lying shit! I know you well enough to know you don't fucking mean it, because you know those were the only words that had stopped you from getting killed!" Korvo yowled, almost quivering in the stark light of the street lamps. It was nearing dusk, now, as the sun slowly shrunk and fell beneath the horizon, leading a tawny orange glow to envelope them all. "You might not care about how th-that name is used but I do! I want to feel like I'm doing something right on this planet, but I can't even succeed at being a good enough guardian-parent-thing for you to actually see me as one! Haven't you seen how much it hurts, hearing that come out of your mouth only to use it against me because it's a-a weakness of mine?? You're always undermining my authority with the fact that I care about you, and I'm starting to- to think that maybe I should try and go back to the way it was before- professional! With none of this family bullshit to get in the way again!"

Yumyulack could barely formulate a sentence, he was so taken aback. Had the ship expert's face been any more illuminated by the light, for his face was covered in a dark shadow, it would have been clear as day that his misty eyes were welled up with months' worth of angry tears. The bounty hunter's hands shook like mad.

"I- come on, Korvo - I didn't mean it like that-! Not this time..." He stammered, taking a step towards the broken alien, but something inside made him pause. He deserved to have his voice heard. Yumyulack hadn't been the only one to mess this up. "I-I didn't know you saw me like that, okay?! I thought you couldn't give less of a shit about me! You killed me every ninety fucking days and you didn't find a way around it for almost five years?! That means you've killed me over a hundred times without mercy! What the hell was I supposed to do with that information?! Just- just let you kill me, treat me like some disposable, replacable-"

"I NEVER thought you were disposable, Yumyulack! You were arguably the most important part of the mission! I hated killing you, keeping that information from you, but it was the only way to ensure you'd let it continue happening for the greater good!" Korvo growled, spinning on his heels to meet the boy's livid gaze, his voice verging on breaking again. "Fuck, you were even more important than I ever was-! It hurt having to kill you! I couldn't find a reliable alternative, believe me, I looked! A-and the way you looked at me with those big doe eyes, calling me 'Papa'- I just couldn't do it anymore! I let you go- I jeopardised the mission for you despite every bone in my body telling me I couldn't because I CARED TOO MUCH!" He wiped the angry tears from his eyes as his voice finally shattered under the pressure. "I-I loved you, enough to risk everything we trained for, for our entire lives... I thought I could be your Papa, Yumyulack, but not if you treat that as a tool to use me."

The silence hurt even more as the replicant and replicator refused to even look at each other. Korvo too was positively shuddering in the dark. He hadn't yelled like that in a long time. He found himself drenched in anger and guilt and hurt, completely taking over his ability to think straight. His mind was clouded by insecurity, insecurity which he had just lashed out at Yumyulack for, despite being a kid who didn't know any better, Korvo was the adult in this situation, and he had completely fumbled that because, god, why were children so damn good at pushing all the wrong buttons-?! He was at war with himself, now, stuck between yelling at his replicant son for all the hurt he had caused him, and being wholly engulfed in such a pit of misery and self-doubt that Yumyulack'd be forced to fish him out of... he didn't know which one was worse.

Yumyulack inched forward, dying to speak but his breaths came in ragged jolts of frigid air. When he caught enough air to speak, his voice came quiet and wavering, "I didn't know that- you barely communicate! I'm sorry, I just... I-I do care, okay? And I did mean it just then. I-I just want a dad, Korvo. A dad who cared about me like I was his son- Something that'd make me more like the other kids... So I wouldn't feel so alone on this hellhole of a planet." The bounty hunter paused to draw another deep breath, his voice barely more than a whisper now, "Jesse was right. I didn't have the balls to just talk to you about it. Please." 

He looked up at his elder. His eyes held a dark look, as though someone had poured a liquid storm cloud into his irises to reflect the duskiness of the sky above. Yumyulack had seen that look before, back on the ice, back when he escaped, and he loathed it, but not as much as he loathed the consequences of his actions.

"Stay. Here." He said bluntly. He pulled out his phone and hastily pressed a couple of buttons before sliding it back into his pocket. "Car."

"Wh- you can't just leave me hanging!" Yumyulack cried out, tailing him, but Korvo gave him a harsh push. "That revelation couldn't have all been for nothing-!"

"No! I'm trying very hard to bite back my words so I don't accidentally do something stupid and- and fuck this shit up more than it already has been." Korvo seethed under his breath so that Yumyulack could barely hear him, and he couldn't tell whether or not what he said was a good thing. "I'll think about what you said inside, and decide whether or not to bust your fucking balls because you thought that undermining my authority these past few months was a good way of telling me you wanted a dad without letting me actually be one. After all that I'm not even sure what I am to you anymore."

And with that, he stormed inside, leaving Yumyulack alone, hearts racing, tears freely flowing down his face, watching his replicator desert him in the parking lot. Slowly, he lowered himself onto the curb, and let it out, finally letting his shoulders sag and shake as the confusion and guilt that he had attempted to chain down finally overtook him. Sure, yelling was cathartic, and maybe a tiny bit of the fear was lifted as he finally gave Korvo a piece of his mind, showed him what he was feeling, but why did it just make things even worse? It was now clear that Korvo saw him as his child just as much as Yumyulack saw him as a father, but just as easily as that idea had formed, it seemed now fractured as the replicant had finally pushed him too far, accidentally mocking way Korvo saw him with a fondness he struggled to express properly, perhaps even because Yumyulack had acted that way.

Why was guilt such a difficult feeling?! Why did it hurt so much?! God, he wasn't used to it. Was this what people felt when they felt bad about their actions? Did they feel their throat dry out, yet their eyes were wetter than ever as they overfilled with tears that slipped down their faces and into their mouth, tasting of salt and defeat? He was not one to feel guilty, for God's sake! He was supposed to be a bounty hunter who only cared about himself because emotions only hindered his task, complicated things- not some snivelling mess who cried when he upset somebody-  he shouldn't care what they thought of him because in the future they would all end up as food for the Pupa! None of it will matter, but why did it hurt so badly?

He sheepishly ran to the front of the store, peeking through the window into the indigo-tinted restaurant. He could just see the heels of Korvo's shoes, almost disappearing around a corner and most definitely not looking back at him. He sighed, but it fogged up the glass, blurring his view inside. He crawled near the darkest wall, where he was sure he would not be found before he wanted to be, and hid.

"Oh look, it's that weird alien kid from school again. And he's all alone, too. Perfect." 

A voice hissed from the darkness, and suddenly the bounty hunter's royal-blue blood froze over. He knew that voice. Yumyulack hastily wiped his tears away, not wanting them to see his moment of vulnerability- he'd become the laughing stock of the school if the kid saw. He steeled his facial expression over and turned around-

A large pair of hands seized him by the collar of his uniform and threw him away from the window, right into the parking lot before he could even glimpse their faces. He was sent careening into the ground, landing on his upper back which hit the ground with a sick thud, pain expanding from the point of impact like wildfire as he skidded to a painful, grazed stop. Laughter echoed in his head as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Little asshole should know not to mess with people he can't handle by himself!" Another voice exclaimed, and before Yumyulack could even recover he was rammed in the side as he looked up to see just who was conducting this ambush. 

Two burly boys that were at least a foot taller than him stood over him, casting mean shadows into his eyes, nearly obscuring the third person, who was a little shorter, but his face held enough pent up rage that would have killed a lesser alien with pure terror. Even worse, the replicant recognised him to be the kid he had messed with earlier that day, the one whom he had said his parents didn't love him: Mark. He was much older than Yumyulack, at least maybe eighteen, that is if he hadn't been held back a year or two already...

"How many people does it take to teach an alien a lesson?" Mark simpered. "Your answer? Three. Let's test that theory."

Clearly it was a sore point, huh, if he came all this way... Yumyulack couldn't help but think to himself, but he didn't have much time to make any further internal remarks as he was very quickly now dodging kicks and punches by a fraction of an inch- he was a bounty hunter, surely this would be a piece of cake! This should have come easy to him. But there were three of them, and they had the element of surprise. And he was distracted, and, as he noted by his sorely empty pockets, he wasn't armed at all. Even his suit weapons had been disabled by Korvo, locked away with a secret password, an action he very soon came to wish hadn't been the case at all. 

The attack dragged the four fighters around the corner, where a couple dumpsters lined the purple walls- why were even all the walls the Taco Bell colours, anyway? Surely they wouldn't be there for the test of time-

"You think you're so smart, alien bitch?" Mark snarled taking a swing at him that he just barely dodged, causing his fist to fly through the air where he stood a mere second ago. 

"Yeah? I'm a hyperintelligent species, you dirtbags seem-" Yumyulack quickly tripped one of the larger gang members up, thanking whatever gods were out there that he wasn't full size yet, continuing, "-like primitive assholes when compared to me!"

All seemed to be going well until one of the boys caught Yumyulack's punch and twisted his arm around, causing him to writhe in pain as suddenly he was then caught in a headlock, struggling to twist himself out. His hands were restrained by the two sidekicks, forcing his head up to meet the ringleader's cruel gaze.

"Need I remind you who the dominant species of this planet are?" Mark stared down at him, baring his teeth, which were painfully straight and blunt and hence failed to scare Yumyulack at all, but he didn't seem to notice.

"D-dolphins?" Yumyulack spat, and was promptly pummelled for his insolence. He bit back a yelp. "I think I read that in a sci-fi book guide thing-"

"No, you dumbass! It's us, not you, you extraterrestrial fuck!" He replied, flecks of spittle making its way onto the blue alien's face as he spoke, enunciating his consonants with a passionate bite in yet another attempt to intimidate the hunter. "You'll never have what we have, little alien, I have parents! And they love me, they just don't like the scheduling of those fuckin' interviews! You, on the other hand, were probably looking through that window like a lonely little parentless bastard imagining what it was like to be loved, huh?"

Yumyulack's eyes shot open- no- he was wrong, so very wrong-! He knew Korvo had loved him just the same as any father! "Wh-?" The bounty hunter opened his mouth to retaliate with a sharp, smartass quip but found a knuckle striking him across the face with such a force he heard a tooth crack, his gaze shoved downwards in subordination. He instantly returned back upright, rebelling against his tactics and using the grip the boys had on him to stabilise a kick aimed towards Mark's stomach. He reached over and bit the closest hand holding him in place, wriggling out of their grip, both red and blue blood staining his lips as he spat the fluids permeating his tongue onto the concrete. His head was a little woozy from the hit- maybe a mild concussion, he suspected- but he still managed to jump backwards in a fighting stance.

As he continued to step and strafed to each side to avoid the boys, one of his hands fidgeted with the locked controls of his suit, buried beneath the fabric, internally wishing that Korvo had set its passcode to something easy to crack so he could at least dispose of real dangers easily. He hissed under his breath everything that came to mind,

"Come on- 'Korvo's the best team leader'? 'I hate salad'?? Shit- 'I-I regret being a piece of shit'?! God damnit!!", to no avail, and he groaned in rage as he just barely escaped from getting caught.

But it didn't last forever, his effortless evasions, as he suddenly found his back against the wall, three attackers surrounding him, nowhere to hide. He shoved one out of the way and leapt onto the tall dumpster that stood next to him for a little high ground, but it rolled from his force, causing his balance to waver. He tried to regain his footing and instead stepped right onto a soft bag instead of the metal lid, his ankle jerked into a painfully unnatural angle as he fell off disgracefully, landing in a battered, defeated heap, weak and pained.

Hands were flying again, this time so were the feet as every inch of his body was attacked. "Call it off- Mark!" He howled, suddenly becoming uncomfortably aware of how his heart thrashed about inside his chest, how his blood was on the ground beside him, how one of his eyes was beginning to swell shut, how his lip was so busted he could barely speak-

Ringing pierced through his head.

It was over.

He was beat.

By a trio of- of pesky humans.

"You think you stopped when I told you to stop slandering my fucking parents?!" Mark growled, picking Yumyulack up once again to meet his eye level. His chestnut brown hair was plastered down on his head with freshly congealing blood, his dark eyes full of hatred. "You think you stopped when I fucking decked you in the hall?! No! Of course not! And now it's my chance to give you a fucking piece of your own medicine!"

And with that, he rammed the replicant alien back into the wall, watching as his head collided with the hard surface as he struggled to stay up. Yumyulack's head swam with clouded vision, panting for all the carbon dioxide-rich air he could get into his bruised lungs. He tried to speak, but his mouth kept filling with blood, instead forcing him to cough and shudder.

"What are you gonna do? Call your mummy? Call your ol' Pa? Oh right, you're aliens. You don't do any of that." Mark grinned, utterly sadistic as the Shlorpian boy grimaced, each figure wiping their eyes clean of dirt and grime. "Remind me next time, I'll make sure your not-sister gets the message too. You'll never be one of us. How long d'you think it'd take for someone to actually notice you're not around anymore? Would anyone even care?"

"Sh-shut UP! GO AWAY!" Yumyulack cried out, urging himself to rebuke them but his throat was raw, his voice crackled and then faltered as he could see his soon-to-be murderer readying his fist. "STOP-!"

His thoughts grew unintelligible from fear, and he raised his hands up to his head to protect his pounding, bruised skull, waiting to meet the end of his time conscious. Who knew where he would end up, maybe in a white-walled hospital room, maybe back home safe in his bed, maybe even meeting the Wise Old Evergreens of the afterlife...

He tried scrunching his eyes shut but they were stuck, fixated on the three figures looming above him. He didn't want to see it happen. His mind went to Korvo and his heart doubled over, oh, how he needed him now-! His replicator's broken voice echoed in his head and instantly he was reminded of how Korvo was just on the other side of those indigo walls, completely unaware of his demise- he would die before their relationship was ever recovered! In fact, he was never going to see him ever again!

He could see in the warm glow of the painfully bright street lights and cool glow of the moon how the guy cracked his knuckles, ready to end him. This was his fault. This was all his fault.

"Papa..." He mewled to nobody in particular, his voice so strained and quiet it sounded like a sob to the boys before him. Mark raised his fist. The beaten bounty hunter covered his eyes with his arms, unable to watch his own last moments. "I'm so s-sorry..."

"Papa, forgive me-"

But that final punch-out never came,

for someone had stepped between them.

Chapter Text

TW: Violence, blood. Basically like last chapter, so if you got here after reading that, then I'm like pretty sure you'll be okay.

Yumyulack had sworn he was about to die. After all, looking up at three blurry figures towering over oneself doesn't leave much to the imagination about where one is about to be sent, huh?

But he didn't hear the rushing of footsteps to his aid, nor the swishing of rough fabric of non-Earth origin, nor the sound of the punch being stopped midair by a swift deflect with another hand.

Someone had heard him, and they had come for him.

He opened his eyes and there was Korvo, holding Mark's hand back with outstretched arms as he collided with the boy, throwing him off and out from the point-blank range from Yumyulack where he had been standing. His hands had curled up into tight fists, but Yumyulack could not see just how utterly furious the Shlorpian was at the ruffians- his jaw was clenched tight as he glared at them with pure hatred.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you sick fucks?!" He barked, attempting to get the kids to back away but they did not. 

"And who might you be?" Mark replied, squinting at the figure, whom to him was cloaked in shadow. It didn't take long for him to realise he was the same species as Yumyulack, with blue skin and everything that made his blood boil. "Best you step out of the way, else you'll get it, old man!"

"I'm no old man, you little bitch boy, and this puny shit of a kid here is my son! And what, you think you can just- attack him in the middle- of a Taco Bell PARKING LOT?!" Korvo shrieked with a fire that the replicant had never heard come from his voice box before. His commanding voice rose in volume as he continued, and it took a moment for the replicant to even register what he had said. 

He had just called Yumyulack his son.

"Ah, so he does have a father, hm?" Mark retorted with a sickening grin, unfazed by the revelation. He refused to back off, but instead was joined by the two brutes who had assisted him, both of whom Korvo had matched in height, but not in bulk. Nevertheless, Yumyulack knew Korvo was no pushover- he was actually better at fighting than he had expected, knowing Shlorp-Fu like the backs of his cobalt-blue hands.

"Yes, he does. And might I suggest that you do not talk to me or my son ever again!" Korvo said, growing aggressive. Yumyulack prayed the parking lot wasn't too crowded, for the absolute last thing they needed was an audience. "This is between you and me now, you little-! I've fought plenty of rabid teens in my time!"

 "Sure, fine, we'll let the kid go, but as you said, this is between me and you- now!" His knuckles cracked as he bounced on the balls of his feet, continuing to attempt to intimidate the Shlorpian before him. "You say you're his father, hm...? Yumyulack said not all parents love their kids, if you catch my drift. So, how 'bout you fucking prove he's wrong about you?!"

Korvo stiffened, but then looked back at his son, his eyes narrow- but no, he wasn't angry, not at him. When he spoke, his voice was softened, "You go wait in the car- G-go! I'll deal with these assholes."

"But- K-Korvo-!" Yumyulack spluttered, clawing his way onto his feet, doing everything within his power not to throw up or straight up pass out on the ground. "What about-"

"The food is in the bag over there." Korvo replied bluntly, completely misunderstanding that Yumyulack was not asking about the chalupas, but instead was worried for him. The adult returned his steely gaze to Mark. "Which, by the way, is not a very good way of trying to get away with something! Come on, you couldn't have, like, at least gone somewhere where people aren't gonna hear your big debacles? God, humans are pathetic, stupid little-"

As he was ranting, he silently made a slight gesture behind him for Yumyulack to get the hell out of there. The ship expert moved forward as he spoke, not with any sort of cool, collected demeanour, but with a tone utterly devoid of sympathy for the boy he was chewing out, allowing for Yumyulack to sneak out and flee. He staggered out with a limp, praying that perhaps eating a bit of dinner early would kickstart his regenerative healing. His heart was so overwhelmed with emotion, from the stress of battle, to the shock of seeing his replicator stopping the battle, to the further shock at how... Oddly protective he had appeared, going as far to call him his son-!

His brain was so frazzled he would have laughed out loud had his ribs not been so bruised.

So perhaps Korvo wasn't still mad after all. Perhaps they could repair their relationship just like he wanted to- and start anew! Yumyulack grabbed the abandoned food and beverages and crawled to a safe corner, ripping open the plastic to find their orders of chalupas and tacos and-

The cinnamon twist he had asked for before everything had gone up in flames. 

The poor, injured bounty hunter nearly cried from the thoughtfulness. It was still fresh- well, as fresh as a cinnamon twist from Taco Bell could be. He forgot all about the main dinner and wolfed at least half of it down at once, washing away the blood taste of metal with the sweetness of cinnamon sugar. He held his breath for a bit as he opened his soft drink and tipped some down his throat, its bubbly sugariness fully cleansing his palate, allowing him to calm himself down with a couple deep gulps of air. His body was responding to his sudden intake of glucose by beginning his healing process- he could finally relax.

As his heart rates were beginning to lower and resync, effectively restoring to a normative state once again, he began to truly think regularly and breathe easily once more.

But with thinking came worry.

He had fled a battle. Like a coward, because he needed his ass to be saved by Korvo. Who was, as a consequence, now fighting those three alone. He might have been a good fighter, but Yumyulack was a bounty hunter- his skill was superior, and even he had failed without his suit. Come on-! It was his role in the mission- security! He was the head of security, it was his job to protect, not be protected- hell, those weird orientation crystals told him he had to be willing to die for the team!

He couldn't stand by and let the team leader, no, his father get absolutely slaughtered by those maniacs!

He stumbled to his feet, hiding the plastic bag containing their dinner in a dark shadow. He had to go back. He had to do his job. He had to protect him. His muscles protested, yes, he was stiff and his ankle was absolutely not happy with the way he decided to stand up instead of rest like any sane person would, but he didn't care. He was needed by his family. He was a necessary part of the mission team. If he failed at what was now his only mission role (as far as he knew feeding the Pupa has been his only other job), he would jeopardise the mission. He'd jeopardise it way more than if he had grown to think of his team as a family, Korvo as his father.

He had to save him-!

He could hear the fight growing louder as he snuck a little closer. It sounded like the ship expert was putting up one heck of a fight, which was quite a feat given Korvo was not terribly in shape and definitely not usually a Shlorp-Fu fighter, more of a mechanic and organiser who used ray guns in battle...

But even then, minor flaws in such a fighting style, and the reluctance to use ray guns in a public area (they had received enough warnings from policemen to know that they did not want to go back to jail), all compounded his concern tenfold- what were they going to do to the ship expert if they defeated him?

At first, they sounded quite evenly matched, soothing Yumyulack's concerns. Perhaps he wouldn't have to return to intervene, probably forcing Korvo to give him the password for his suit weapons in the meantime. After what they had been through, allowing the bounty hunter to use lethal force every once in a while wasn't such a bad idea-

He'd have continue his thought process had he not heard in that moment a terrible crack and then laughter, cruel, unrelenting laughter that chilled him to his core. 

Something was very, very wrong.

***

It was perhaps the first time in Terry's life that he had managed to finish doing his part of the work before Korvo had come home. The special lights were up, and a special set of candles scented like generic spices were lit and now were creating a very appetising aroma that caused their stomachs to twist up in anticipation. The orange Pupa was sitting in his chair impatiently, licking his ravenous lips as he watched Terry and Jesse survey their surroundings, searching for signs of imperfection that Korvo would definitely find and scold them for.

Special dinner plates? Check.

Stereo connected to Terry's phone? Check.

Mini speeches planned to celebrate the dawn of a new Solar Opposites tradition? Double check!

"Wow, we really pulled this one off, Terry!" Jesse exclaimed with a grin, dusting her hands clean. "This place is looking spicy! All we need is for Korvo and Yumyulack to get their asses back with the food, and we'll be ready to go- Don't worry, Pupa, dinner will be here soon." She added, noting his not exactly happy expression.

Terry sighed contently. Oh, to see the look of loving pride on Korvo's face when he sees he's really put effort into the set up, and not be such a lazy piece of shit for once! He was getting better every day, it seemed- and he knew he could absolutely sweet-talk his partner into giving him a little "reward" for being such an attentive husband... That is, if he came home not in one of his irritable moods that he so often did...

He quickly peeked at his phone to see if the blue Shlorpians had any updates to give. As expected of the terrible communicators, absolutely nothing- hold on, what the hell? It was already six o'clock! It was dark out! What on earth was keeping them?! They should have been back already!

"You'd have thought Korvo and Yum would be back by now, huh?" Terry murmured, looking to the window to find the car had evidently not returned. "For once, I'm surprised we finished faster than they did! Korvo's usually so fast I barely have time to make it look like I even did anything- I wonder what the hold up at Taco Bell of all places is?"

"Yeah- Maybe there's a special on, like Korvo mentioned before. I just hope they hurry up and get back here before dinner goes cold," Jesse pouted with folded arms and a creased brow, following Terry's line of sight to the window. "Microwaved tacos might give you guys even worse explosive diarrhoea than the regular ones!"

"Hey, at least we're not getting just the tacos this time... Chalupas are gonna be the main course," Terry said with a slight chuckle, but his eyes never left the driveway. The smile that had sprouted on his face at Jesse's comment shrunk a little. "Although the Pupa does look like he's getting hungry. If they don't show up within the next five minutes-"

Before Terry could finish his sentence, however, a jarring alarm bell suddenly shrieked through the house at ear-piercing volumes, causing the easily-startled adult Shlorpian to jump into the nearest person's arms, but instead of it being Korvo's arms like what usually happened, it was Jesse's and with a set of equally panicked cries (for Jesse certainly couldn't carry the taller Shlorpian on such short notice) the two tripped and crashed to the floor in a discombobulated heap. Almost as quickly as it had begun, the alarm shut off again, leaving the two aliens in complete silence, except for the Pupa, who was stuttering out baby-talk to JK-Sevens, who was equally as confused.

The little chronicler gave an aggravated grumble as she shoved Terry off from her, quickly hopping to her feet to brush herself clean of dust while Terry gathered his wits and picked himself up off the floor.

"What the hell was that noise?!" The Pupa expert squeaked, his hearts racing from such a fright. "It- it sounded like it was coming from the ship!"

"Aw, geez- if the ship had a meltdown while Korvo and Yumyulack were out we'd be done for!" Jesse cried out, her hands dashing to cover her mouth in horror. "They'd never let us be home alone again- we'll never get to actually do a Home Alone next time if there is no next time!"

"To the ship!!" Terry crowed, and, as if someone had lit firecrackers beneath their feet, the two practically flew up the stairs at record speeds. "AISHA better have an explanation for this-!" Terry threw himself onto the elevator platform that lifted them up towards the main deck, pulling Jesse along with him by the wrist so hard she was nearly flung into the wall. "It nearly broke the no-gooblering streak I had going!"

The two made their way into the dimly lit cockpit, greeted by the glowing form of AISHA in front of them. Before her was a holographic indigo-tinted map that she kept interacting with, muttering under her breath. Upon the elder Shlorpian clearing his throat, the shimmering orb rotated to face them, brightening the lights in response to their presence.

"Well, that certainly did the trick. How'd you find it?" She exclaimed with a mild, mocking giggle as she examined the state of panic that their faces were stricken with. "Was it as effective to your liking?"

"Uh, heck no, I'd much rather you call us up with the sort of nice acoustic alarm I'd sleep right through." Jesse replied with an exaggerated shrug.

"Well, you guys ignored that a bit earlier! Can't blame me for bringing out the big guns."

"What the H-E- double fucking hockey sticks, AISHA! What did you call us up here for?!" Terry cried, taking Jesse's hand in his own, partially to comfort her worries but also to soothe his own. That alarm certainly didn't sound like a good thing. And it certainly didn't seem like a test drill.

"We-elll... It's hard to say from the map, but," AISHA blinked, dimming a little as she edged closer to the flickering screen. "Yumyulack persistently seems to be trying to activate his suit again. That airtag Korvo put on it says they're still at that darn Taco Bell, but given they've been there for, like, over half an hour when usually something like that takes fifteen, twenty minutes... something about it just doesn't feel right- I can't tell who's with him or what he's doing... Did anything seem off when they left?"

"Not really, they were just going to sort out some issues, that's all!" Jesse replied hastily, a growing knot in her stomach reminding her that Yumyulack and Korvo were not exactly the best at healthy conflict resolution. "Wh-why do you ask?"

AISHA glanced back over at the map. "Well, Yumyulack's trying to take someone out using lethal force in the middle of the Taco Bell! You tell me whether or not that's a bad thing! Now, it could just be some random civilians, or-"

Jesse slapped a hand to her forehead. "Orrr Yumyulack's about to kill Korvo. Just great." Her vision swam for a second as a rush of emotions threatened to drown her. What the hell were they to do about this?! This wasn't good. Terry helped keep her steady as she muttered, "Oh- shucks, this is my fault, isn't it-? I'm the one who sent them out there to work on their issues-! Ah, geez, oh shit-"

"Hey, it's okay, Jesse, settle. Breathe. It's not your fault, and it's gonna be just fine. I'll call Korvo and ask how dinner's coming along. Simple." Terry replied, pulling his phone from his back pocket and quickly dialling his beloved's number. "I'll tell them to pick up the pace, cause we're getting hungry here!"

But, to their mild disappointment and horror, Korvo did not pick up. He rarely missed calls, well, at least not from his husband of all people. The green Shlorpians shared a couple of dark looks.

"Do you really think they could be trying to kill each other...?" Terry muttered. He could feel his hearts trying to escape their positions within his chest. Don't goobler, he thought aggressively to himself. You can't lose that streak now just 'cause Yumyulack's gone on a rampage!

"I wouldn't say it's impossible, no," Jesse replied. She stepped forward and peered at the map, which gave no helpful tips except for that Yumyulack was in a parking lot. She rubbed the back of her head as she thought, trying not to let the panic take over. "But how long before Yumyulack guesses the password and obliterates whoever he's fighting-?"

"Long enough for us to get there." Terry said determinedly, hitting his palm with his fist. "Jesse, the blue car! Is your license still active or did you get it suspended after Rainbow Road?"

"Oh, hoh, hoh, I guess we're about to find out!" Jesse smirked with a look that matched her replicator's in stupid bravery. AISHA wished them luck as they returned to the elevator, watching as they disappeared behind the metal doorway clamping shut after them. Her eye returned to the map, blinking slowly as she watched Yumyulack's position change ever so slightly. These things were useful. Perhaps she should hide tags on all of the Solars, to make them easier to keep a track of--

The little blue dot that was Yumyulack flickered.

AISHA, quite literally, froze for a second, forcing her circuits not to jump to any conclusions...

Please, don't be pulling any stupid moves, you two...

****

Korvo hadn't had a good fistfight in a long time.

It was a three against one battle, and so he kept himself light on his feet, at least as much as possible. He wasn't as light as he was back on Shlorp, and he was also quite out of practice, so the odds did not seem to be much in his favour.

That was not to say he was a poor fighter, no, he was quite excellent in a pinch. He managed to manoeuvre his way out of two sets of fists, a move which ended in the two burly sidekicks of Mark hitting each other at full force. His main focus, however, was on Mark, although he couldn't tell whether it was because he was the bigger threat, or that he was the one who had been in front when he had saw Yumyulack in danger. Great Grey Gods, it was a sudden turn of events, having walked out of the Taco Bell, completely ready to make up with Yumyulack and let the bygones be bygones (a rare instance for him), yet instead found him injured at the hands of a stranger ready to finish the job.

He would not- no, could not let him be taken down by a couple stupid humans. He was partially to blame, too, for his aggressive outburst had led to Yumyulack staying outside in the first place. No, he couldn't guilt trip himself now! He had to focus on the battle!

"Careful, old man, don't want to leave your little brat an orphan." Mark taunted him as they circled each other. In the corner of his eye Korvo watched the two brutes like a hawk, parrying an attack from behind as he did so.

"Fuck you! And for your information, I have a husband! So even if you took me down, he'd still have a dad who's proud of him!" Korvo hissed back, aiming a swing at him. "Unlike someone who I hear whose parents can't be bothered to show up to the school interviews! Jealous, are you?" He swiftly delivered a low kick to the kid-turned-villain (for he looked only to be about eighteen or nineteen, had he been given a choice Korvo would have settled the matter with him bloodlessly, because attacking a teen that went to the replicants' school might result in the replicants' expulsion...), who had Mark taken way off-guard from his retort. He gave a livid howl, jumping back to his feet only to tackle Korvo to the cold, asphalt road below them.

The ship expert tried to push him aside, kicking and struggling against the boy who was now holding him down, but found that something had taken hold of his ankles and wrists- the other assailants! He could barely brace himself as he was decked, fist colliding with his face with no mercy, twice, thrice. He twisted one hand from its prison and elbowed Mark off with all his might, and with the sudden weight off his chest he twisted himself out of the death grip he was held in, and leapt back to his feet, if not a little shakier this time as he coughed and spat blue blood onto the ground. 

He blinked back the throbbing headache it had given him, wiped his mouth clear and continued the fight.

Each minute made his plant lungs burn, his arms and legs straining and protesting as he continued to fight, continued to get back up to exact his revenge on his replicant son's assailants. He only prayed Yumyulack had made it somewhere safe, and was not going to do anything stupid. 

For a while they seemed to be locked in a stalemate, until the older Shlorpian began to feel the burn of exertion beginning to flare up in his aching muscles. Korvo's hearts pounded in his throat as warm, sticky fluid trickled from numerous wounds all over his hands, torso, neck and face. Mark and the others were also worse for wear, with the shorter leader continuously wiping away a stream of fresh blood that constantly made its way into his eyes, and the sidekicks' hands and faces covered in newly formed scabs and grazes.

"Alright... This is taking too long." The ringleader muttered, his eyes sporting a wild glint as though he were a hungry wolf, or rather, a ravenous rabbit looking at its next plant meal. 

He began readying an uppercut, but as Korvo stepped back to avoid it, Mark quickly changed paths and swept Korvo's legs from underneath him, causing him to land with a heavy thump as his head collided with the solid asphalt below. He backed away but was dragged up, only to be pummelled right back down again. Before he could event react, one of the bulky perpetrators suddenly grabbed Korvo by his collar, yanking him right up and causing him to choke as he was thrown into the side of the metal dumpster, his body and skull giving a horrendous crack as he was instantly overcome with white hot agony that coursed through him in flashes. His eyes watered. His hidden ear holes rang. He couldn't see. His lungs were on fire, yet it felt like he was drowning. He was stuck in a sitting position, for no matter how hard he urged his muscles to respond to him, he just couldn't get himself to move.

The first thing he could properly hear was the sound of sweet, mocking laughter.

"Well, well. You actually managed to put up a fight. A stupid decision, given that you were badly outmatched, but almost impressive nonetheless. Almost." Mark made an effort to spit on the ground before him, taking a twisted, smug note of how Korvo's eyes were mildly unfocused, and his breaths came in weak, shallow gasps.

"Come on...
I'd finish him myself, but I can't stand having any more of his blood on my clothes. God, I fucking hate whatever the hell you and your species are."

Korvo lowered his head, and waited for the end to come. He became drenched in a cold shadow as one of the sidekicks came forward, readying the steel cap of his boot to smash his face in once and for all -

"PAPA, NO-!"

Korvo's eyes flung open and Yumyulack was there, standing in front of him, his arms spread out wide as to shield him from harm's way. The assailant tripped back, having lost their balance, but not before they managed to land a hit on the smaller alien boy, sending him tumbling right into Korvo's lap, completely and utterly still. 

The panicking ship expert instinctively wrapped his arms around him, trying to check if he was okay- no, what the fuck was he thinking?! Of course he wasn't okay! He had just been kicked in the gut at almost enough strength that would have taken Korvo himself into the freaking grave-! He was completely limp... the ship expert couldn't breathe- was he-?

Oh...

Thank the Grey Gods- 

he was still alive... Barely...

"Sh-shit-!" Korvo gasped under his breath, being barely comforted by the fact he could still hear his replicant son's rhythmic heartbeats underneath his quaking hands. The men were approaching again - this time he could not miss.

"Finish them both off, will you?" Came Mark's merciless order. "We can go get Taco Bell afterwards, how does that sound?"

"No-! Stop-! Please!" Korvo yelped, changing his approach to the dangerous group, angling himself onto his knees so that he covered Yumyulack from harms way, hugging him tightly, swearing under his breath again. There was no way out. He was fucked. They both were. They were going to die there. 

Wait. There was a way out still. He couldn't quite place it, but something wasn't quite right.

Hold on a second-! 

Korvo hadn't any time to lose, the brutes were getting their fists and feet ready to stamp their lives out like dying, smouldering fires. He racked his brain, watching as the fists came closer and closer, gathering speed- he needed to say something, something that'd save them both-

Then he remembered.

"I LOVE YOU-!" Korvo howled at the top of his lungs, hot tears flooding his eyes.

The brutes froze, immensely confused.

Korvo gently moved himself out of the way, curled up into the tightest ball he could muster and-

SH-INGGG!!

The unmistakable sound of a set of giant metal spikes protruding from the unconscious Yumyulack's suit rang out, impaling the bulky assailants through the stomach before they could even open their mouths to react to whatever the hell they just heard and saw. Korvo haphazardly looked up to see Mark's mouth stuck open in horror as the spikes retracted back into the suit, leaving two sick growing puddles of bright red lifeblood pooling around the two, now very much unconscious (well, let's be real here, most likely dying) figures before them.

Korvo chuckled to himself weakly. All they needed was a little lethal force, yet he almost forgot the password. He tucked Yumyulack's still lifeless (but thankfully, unlike the other's, very much alive) figure gingerly back into his arms, watching as Mark slowly stepped back from the scene as a howl erupted from his throat as he began to speed up, eventually turning and sprinting-

What Korvo didn't expect to see was a sleek blue car come out of nowhere to chase Mark at top speed, honking aggressively as the human fled the scene. Hold on. He knew that blue car- that was the one they owned, parked right outside of their house, no less! They owned that car, but who the fuck was driving it?!

Mark narrowly evaded the car's lethal path by leaping over a fence that the car refused to drive through. Now, however, the tires were now squealing and brake pedals screeching as it turned around to park much closer to where Korvo and Yumyulack lay. Korvo could feel himself grow lightheaded, unsure of how much more adrenaline he could take before he completely passed out.

He managed to make it right as none other than Terry and Jesse made it out of the car. Refusing to let go of Yumyulack just yet, the ship expert aimed a soft smile of pure relief towards them, immensely surprised and honoured that they, of all people who could have found them, had arrived just in time... The two seemed concerned and frightened out of their wits, and Korvo wanted nothing more than to speak to them, but his voice failed to say anything to soothe their anxieties, to explain what on earth just happened and that maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked, and so all that came out of his mouth was a small gasp.

He could see Terry and Jesse's mouths move but their voices fell on deaf, ringing ears, and their distraught faces on a blurred, quickly blackening vision as Korvo, relieved from the desperate necessity to stay awake to fight and protect, slowly sunk to the ground beside his son, and promptly fainted dead away.

***

Chapter Text

TW: some death imagery (but trust me there's a happy comfort ending the tags do not lie) (If you're not sure with this kind of stuff you can scroll past it and it'll probably still make sense) <3

The first thing Yumyulack noticed when he had awoken was that he was back in his bed.

The second thing he noticed was his immense stiffness. While a lot of his wounds had been tended to and had begun their healing process quickly and without too much issue, his body still felt weighed down and sluggish. He sat up gently, gingerly interrogating how he felt as he rose, adjusting himself into a sitting position. His muscles had a dull, throbbing sense about them, his chest was definitely bruised somewhere he did not remember being hit.

Now...  the only issue was how on Earth did he get there in the first place?! He could barely remember the events of the previous night - for fresh daylight was streaming into his room, indicating the start of a new day - and his head was so fuzzy and slow to remember that he wouldn't be surprised if his cranium was filled with cotton balls instead of brain matter. Taking in deep breaths was tiring and, to be quite frank, awful to uphold. Had it been any worse he'd have been sure a rib was cracked somewhere in there.

He rubbed his eyes, allowing the lilac walls of the room to slowly come into focus. What had happened yesterday?

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, shit-

Where was Korvo?!

It were as though a jolt of lightning had been sent coursing through his spine as he leapt up, quickly realising that he was still unsteady on his feet and seizing the corner of the bed for support. His chest and stomach protested the movement as well, his stiffness morphing into some level of pain as he clutched his torso, forcing himself to breathe in a box rhythm until the black specks backed away from the corners of his shaky vision. He lowered himself back down onto the bed as his sight began cloud with blurred images forcing their way into his mind, telling him in some shitty picture book format just what exactly happened that night.

There was an argument - outside the Taco Bell, he almost lost Korvo for good right then and there.

But then, there was a fight - not verbal but physical, against a revenge-hungry scumbags from his school, they ambushed him- they beat him nearly senseless, he was sure he was going to perish in that moment-

But someone got in the way. Korvo did. Yumyulack fled the battle, but instead it lead to his defeat at the hands of those absolute asshats...

He remembered hearing something crash- something that made his skin crawl, not with boredom, but with pure anxiety as that cruel laughter rang in his ears.

He had jumped up to his feet, his hearts threatening to leap out of his mouth along with some of the contents of his stomach as he watched as Korvo lay spread-eagled against the dumpster, too tired to fight back the next punch-

He could not remember any further. Why couldn't he remember any further?! He couldn't even remember if those assholes had even been given up to the police, or whether- He bit his lip uncomfortably as his brain kept prying for answers he did not have. He had to go find Korvo and make sure he was alive, for god's sake, and then kill him himself for the shit he put him through!

He tried standing again, this time fighting through the shakiness and the lightheadedness as this time he made it to Jesse's bed, grabbing hold it by the little box at the end to catch his breath. He grumbled at the state of his body, at how long it would take to even reach any part of the house when he could barely get himself to the door of his own room. 

The door right next to him gently clicked open, and Yumyulack spun around to be greeted face-to-face by Jesse herself. He couldn't feel nor see the smile growing on his face as his heart soared at the sight of her- not that he would openly admit she was a sight for sore eyes after everything that had just happened. He was so heart-shatteringly relieved to see a friendly face that he didn't even complain when his co-replicant pounced at him, trapping him in a tight hug that made his lungs heave with pain.

"Oh my G O S H, Yum-!" She wailed, and Yumyulack very soon became aware of her shuddered hiccups as she buried her head in his suit. "I hate you sometimes, you know that?!"

"Wha-?" Yumyulack began, but Jesse wasn't finished with him yet.

"We could have lost you, you absolute jerk!" She hissed into where his ears would be, the squeezing around Yumyulack's chest growing ever stronger as she held him, almost to the point he couldn't breathe. It was unlike her to be so- so emotional- even when bad things happened to Yumyulack, like when he was almost killed by Scholastic of all people- what was going on?

"Hey- I'm here now, so don't get your bow in a twist, alright?!" Yumyulack groaned, and with great care he gingerly pried Jesse off of him before pushing her away with his hand on her face- Jesse almost bit it right off, though, so he was quick to recoil his touch, instead putting that hand back on the bed for support. "What's going on with you?!" He added as Jesse was then overcome with a silence he didn't even know she could withstand. Her puffy, tired eyes were pointed to the ground, unable to look him in the eye. She clutched her elbow as her head pricked with gooblers.

"Oh, Yum...." Her voice wavered and, for once, Yumyulack felt true concern for his co-replicant, as much as they bickered and disagreed on almost every topic known to man.

"What?! Just tell me, god damnit!" The bounty hunter's voice rose, trying to push past her and out of their shared bedroom but she stopped him. If he were any stronger, he'd have slammed the smaller Shlorpian into the ground, but as much as he wanted to he could not find the sheer physical ability to.

"You're not g-gonna wanna hear it.... Not from me, a-anyway-" She replied.

"Come on just say it! I don't give a shit about who says it!" A knot twisted his stomach into a Wetzel's Pretzel. He wasn't liking how serious she was being. He wasn't sure his hearts could take much more of it- he was sure it was bound to be bad.

"Fine-!" She cried. "It's Korvo. Thing's are- aren't looking too good, okay? Terry wanted to be there when we told you, but I can barely get him to leave his side!"

Wh....What-???

A chill shot up his plant spine, he felt as though he would wilt if Jesse had even breathed on him wrong- what the fuck happened?!

Was his jump not enough-? Did he miss? On what may have well have been the most important move he could have pulled as the team protector?

Any more information Jesse might have spoken he didn't hear for his internal monologue had been kicked into overdrive, silencing his senses and banishing them to the back of his torn, numb brain. He brushed Jesse aside and threw open the door, allowing his feet to take him on autopilot to the master bedroom, he could barely even feel the aches that it sent up his legs. The door was shut, and he could barely a thing, but as he pressed the side of his head (which was beginning to grow sore with yet another tension headache) to the cold, hard wood, he could begin to make out something, very faint.

Crying.

No- no, no, no- that can't have been Terry in there making that noise- Terry never cried deaths. If anything, he would be the one to laugh during a funeral service!

Without any further hesitation he wrenched the knob around and burst in, very quickly surveying the area for potential danger. The room was bright from the window curtains being pulled to the sides, and he could see a figure sitting in a large couch chair that had been haphazardly dragged across the floor to be near the bed-

"No...!" Yumyulack grew almost so pale he was practically white. Korvo was lying in the bed. Not moving. Eyes closed. Nearly as grey as the sheet he lay on. Terry was hunched over because he held his partner's hands in his own, shaking green arms propped up with the bedside, running his thumb over the blue-toned spots atop Korvo's head.

And Terry was crying.

Yumyulack couldn't take it any longer. He sprinted to their side, his eyes welling up as choked gasps clawing their way up his throat, which felt as though his windpipe were being crushed by some invisible force.

"Y-Yumyulack-! You're awake?!" Terry yelped out as Yumyulack barged in between the two, trying to shake the wounded blue Shlorpian awake. Terry got up and grabbed his partner's son harshly, pulling him into the second overly tight embrace he had received today. But this time it wasn't comforting. It was stifling. He tried to writhe his way out, making small, pained noises as he wept and yelped and made a fool of himself- He couldn't take his eyes off his papa. Not after they had come so far. "Yumyulack, calm the fuck down-! I'm not trying to- I'm not trying to hurt you, you little bitch! Just sit still for a second!"

"Korvoo!!" Yumyulack howled, trying to reach out to even just touch the ship expert, just to know whether it was real or not, whether it was just a bad dream or whether he had just experienced something that would shake him to his core. "Let- go- Terry!"

Just as he thought the squeezing would never lighten up, he was released, and Yumyulack fell almost to his knees, putting his hands on Korvo's shoulders and trying to shake them with his weak limbs. Please, dear gods, let that not be where their relationship had ended. Please.

"So, uh...." Terry quickly wiped a couple stray tears away. "Do- do you want to go to the water park-? There's not much we can do, uh, standing about-"

Yumyulack ignored him, his eyes were locked onto his replicator's own closed ones. He couldn't feel his chest rise nor fall. He couldn't feel his hearts beating. Even worse this wasn't the first time he had seen him like this- memories of something from long ago, maybe five, six years ago, arose, telling him it wasn't the first time he had cheated death- perhaps it was another clone he had tricked into taking his place-

"Come on, big guy-" Yumyulack murmured under his breath, trying, and failing, to wake the elder Shlorpian up from his slumber. "Please... this isn't funny anymore- Whatever it is y-you want from us, we'll do it- just, please, stop with this bullshit. I- I'll learn about ship repair, we can reinstate T-taco Tuesday-!"

Nothing.

Yumyulack had reached his limit. Nothing mattered anymore. He couldn't care less about what the others thought of him- that he was weak, or in reality a big softie (which he wasn't, this was just a really, really big shock), he just wanted to wake up from this nightmare and see Korvo at least one last time. He dove onto the elder Shlorpian's chest, sobbing, cradling him as close to him as possible, as Terry, behind him, merely sat back into his lounge chair and buried his face in his hands, speechless. 

No, no, no NO-!

"Come on, Korvo!" He cried out, his mind going back to one last resort. 

"Papa, I love you-! PLEASE-!!"

And with that.... It was as though a switch had been flipped.

The room suddenly went dark, Yumyulack felt himself falling, his body and brain numbed to the point he could not tell which way was up. He tried to scream, but no voice came out of his throat. For all he knew, his voice box had been removed. His non-ears rung with a rattling whine that pierced through his skull. His eyes flooded with tears. Perhaps he had fainted, or, more likely, had just keeled over and died from some form of fetal shock.

Almost as suddenly as he had begun falling, he hit the ground. He was no longer in the bedroom. His face was pressed up against something cold. He was so emotionally exhausted from the events of what was only the last 24 hours or so that he could barely think.

"Okay, guys, I really think that went too far-" a voice piped up from above him. He could hear laughing again- wait, not like the cold, sneering laughter he had heard when he leapt to save Korvo, but... Humorous?

His eyes shot open as he sat up, gasping for air. The moment he realised just who he was looking at made him pinch himself. Yep, things still hurt. What he was seeing now was the real thing.

Before him were three friendly, familiar, very much alive aliens, including the one he had just thought to have failed to save. The ship expert was not dead. In fact, he looked perfectly cleaned up, and upon closer inspection of himself Yumyulack could see he was free from his wounds too, and the adults' smug, shit-eating grin told him all he needed to know. None of that presumed death debacle had ever happened. His chest no longer felt as thought it were about to implode. His pain had evaporated. It had all been a trick.

Yumyulack almost passed out right then and there.

They had been on the Pretend-O-Deck that whole time?!

"Did you hear the way he started sobbing when he thought you actually had died?" Terry grinned, helping Jesse pull the traumatised Shlorpian to his feet. "I don't think I've ever heard that sound come out of his mouth before. He might develop worse daddy issues than we ever had!"

"I-I-" Yumyulack spluttered, glaring steel daggers up at the adults. He wondered if his heart would ever recover from the absolute tsunami of emotions that had just washed over him in the span of a few hours, and as soon as Yumyulack regained control of his feet, he ran over to his replicator and rammed his knee into his mound as hard as he could so he could spitefully watch as he instantly doubled over in pain, cursing in whatever languages he knew as he practically dropped to his knees in pain. If it didn't fix anything, it had at least made him feel better. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Why on Earth would you do something like that?!!" Yumyulack growled as Korvo regained his balance, his teary eyes narrow with wrath.

"I swear to god, Yumyulack, you have to stop kicking there- it hurts like a bitch-! " Korvo coughed out before glancing over at Terry, giving his hand a squeeze "As for your question... Terry? would you like to tell him?"

"Hell yeah!" Terry said, giving the bounty hunter a light punch on the shoulder. "We just did what the humans call a 'dad joke'! Ya know, 'cause you guys both seem pretty much on the same about your relationship shit, right? I mean, that's about as much as what Korvo told me, at least!"

"That's- that's not what a dad joke is, you guys-" Yumyulack fought to get the words from his throat and out through his mouth. "A dad joke is usually, I don't know, a pun?? That was- what the actual fuck- I- FUCK you, Terry and Korvo! I hate the both of you for whatever the HELL you just pulled! That w-was cruel, even for me!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Terry and Korvo nearly keeled over cackling as Yumyulack protested their horrific, elaborate prank, which involved many, many curse words and insults so strange they may have come from the homeworld instead of Earth. As he calmed down though, the relief that his family was safe nearly overtook him, and he forced himself not to cry as the fatigue and confusion and hurt slowly whittled his strength away.

They were going to have a happy ending.

"Oh, look, he's smiling," Korvo began lightheartedly, but was not expecting to be given an extremely awkward, stifling hug from the bounty hunter, who silently held back tears as he buried his face into the rough fabric of Korvo's robes. "Hey, what, er- what are you doing? Y-you okay there?" He didn't know what to do, so he awkwardly pat him on the back, allowing him to do his thing despite every bone in his body complaining about the overstimulation of physical contact after just being healed by the medical machine in the ship.

But the bounty hunter didn't stop. He just quivered and clenched the robe, feeling the way his chest rose and fell, feeling the fabric that was warm with life in his hands. He was perfectly fine, not a hologram, or a clone, or simply a bad dream...

"Do you really see yourself as my Papa?" Yumyulack croaked in a whispering voice. "Even after everything it's put you through?"

Korvo was taken aback from the bluntness of it all, but as the events of last night dawned on him once more, how he effortlessly jumped in to protect Yumyulack from those bullies, fighting until he could physically fight no more- He didn't suppose he came all this way not to end up as the boy's father, right? He glanced at Terry and Jesse for support, receiving two huge smiles in return. It was either now or never.

"I, Yumyulack," Korvo began slowly, his hearts pounding. He wished his throat wasn't so dry, he swallowed uncomfortably, and continued. "Yes, alright? I do want you to see me as a sort of... father- to you, and of course I see you as my son. After five years on Earth you'd think I'd have adapted to it faster, heh... But I hadn't, and now that I look back on everything I really wish I had. I wish I'd been a better mentor to you. I've almost always been the piece of shit in this household, a-and I don't deserve all of this, this team-family... I guess my only question to you is whether you still want me as your Papa at all."

Yumyulack looked up at Korvo's concerned, doubtful face. Sure, there had been many ups and many, many downs to living on Earth against their will, but in the end Korvo had been the one to keep them all functioning as a family at a core level, keeping the bills in check, making sure the kids had lunch each day for school, beating up bullies in the Taco Bell parking lot...

"...Of course, Papa." Yumyulack said quietly, tracking Korvo's response, readying himself to jump away if needed, in case Korvo was about to blow his top again. After all, it had been less than twenty-four hours after that word had been a fuse that had lit every time it was uttered, but instead, to his relief, Korvo simply reciprocated, slowly wrapping his arms around him, tightening his grip as soon as he realised what he was doing. It was awkward, given he had rarely hugged Yumyulack before, but he gave it his best go, pulling him in close to his heart until all Yumyulack could feel was the safety net that was a perfectly safe pair of Shlorpian hands on his back.

"Thank you," Yumyulack murmured, smiling at how the now non-taboo word still came so freely to him. His eyes still threatened to betray the full strength of the emotions that were about to burst from weeks and weeks of bottling, but he bit on his lip to get himself to continue. "Thank you, Papa..."

"Guess we have to start showing up for those stupid interviews, huh?" Korvo chuckled lightly, gesturing to the others as they also joined in on the cuddle pile. He couldn't hear it, but Yumyulack indeed was beginning to cry, but thankfully the family was noisy enough as to drown his ugly gasps out. Although, as Korvo gently rubbed circles into his back in a way that he had been taught as a method of comfort, he wasn't sure his crying was entirely left unseen.

"Awwe, ohmygosh, look at us! We're one big happy family!" Jesse gushed. "And nobody died! It's a happy ending for the Solar Opposites!!"

"Except for those guys we almost killed in the parking lot." Korvo reminded her, but she only shrugged and continued to hug the group, smushing her way into giving Yumyulack a punch on the shoulder with a knowing look that said, I knew you would cry, but I won't bully you for now.

"Did we ever end up cleaning up that spot behind the Taco Bell? I mean, we healed those guys with the exception of fucking with their memories, but did we get around to power washing that concrete?" Terry asked, prompting a slow groan from his husband. With professional ease Terry brushed his thumb across the ship expert's cheek in an attempt to disarm his overreaction, but it was too late.

"I told you we could get in trouble if we didn't! Their blood is all over the place-! They could track all that back to us and try to charge us for assault!" Korvo mewled in response with a voice high from worry. "Although, I suppose if nobody remembered..."

"Oh come on, you guys- just be in the moment! This is important!" Jesse rolled her eyes, tightening her grip on the three. She could feel Yumyulack laughing near the the middle of the group, and in all honesty she was glad to finally see him laughing after everything he had been put through. "Doesn't it feel nice to finally have things be clearer now? No more fights!"

"Terry, please hurry up your graduation to fatherhood, the parent-teacher interviews are coming up and I don't want to deal with those human piles of garbage by myself." Korvo groaned, but his face bore a small grin as he looked to Terry.

"Hey! Don't rush the 'Zaddening'! I'll become one when the time is right. Maybe I'll take Jesse to a couple of those father-daughter events that always happen during school holidays-" suddenly, he paused. "Oh my god." 

"What is it?" Yumyulack piped up, finally feeling strong enough to talk without his voice cracking as he looked to Terry inquisitively. He saw the blood drain from his green face for a split second, and his brow creased in concern for the Pupa expert before his face broke into a smile to scream,

"WE CAN CELEBRATE FATHER'S DAY!!!" On instinct, Terry leapt into Korvo's arms to give him a celebratory peck on the cheek as he looked at him with a loving chuckle.

"That was on the first of September, Terry." Korvo replied, but naturally he didn't refuse Terry's advances, finally freeing his hands from his replicant son to catch him. The kids, of course, continued to hug his waist as he returned Terry's kiss.

Eventually, with a gentle sway to loosen up Terry's grip, Korvo released him so they could hug each other properly instead.              

"Well I don't care! You fucks better do something nice for us as a late Father's Day gift, alright?! I'm expecting breakfast in bed! With orange juice and tea and whatever the hell you guys can cook! God, pancakes sound so good right about now-" Before Terry could get away from Korvo to pick up the kids to torment them they leapt out of the way before the three began roughhousing them a little, Terry chasing them around the Pretend-O-Deck as fast as he could muster without tripping. Korvo merely watched, not really in the mood for any more running than absolutely necessary, losing himself in his thoughts as he did so.

AISHA sparked into view, brightening in amusement as she too heard the playful laughter of the Shlorpians. Korvo placed the back of his hand onto his cheek, surprised at how warm they were, grinning a little as Terry was finally tripped up and promptly plummeted into the hard floor face-first. Terry was his husband, Yumyulack was his son... Would Jesse come to see Terry as her father, the same way Yumyulack came to see him as one?

His heart swelled with pride and with love as he realised just how lucky he was to have them all with him, as a family. He and AISHA shared a glance, with the robot hologram blinking at him softly, reminding him of his sheer luck that this was the team he had landed on Earth with. He really had come to love their little family as something he could not give away for anything in the whole galaxy.

Well, well, well....

Looks like the Solars were going to be celebrating Father's Day just a teeny bit late, huh?

If Terry could reach that status, that is....

** Later / Epilogue **

It had been a long time since Korvo had been woken up by the sound of tiny, terrified footsteps.

What should have been one of the exhausted sleep expert's soundest night - given he had finally worked things out with Yumyulack and peace was now restored to the family once again - was instead plagued by bouts of restless thinking and worrying, coupled with what might have even been a nightmare or two. And, even worse, they weren't their usual scenes of what was usually his nightmare material, like re-witnessing the annihilation of their home planet, or getting lost in a Spirit Halloween, but instead this was of Yumyulack of all Shlorpians!

Now, Korvo was rarely one to get night terrors, not anymore, at least. He had since grown rather fond of Earth (A secret he'd just about take to the grave for fear his dignity would be ruined, imagine the hypocrisy-!), and, more recently, he had grown used to the ways of life on Earth as a team family.

What he had never grown used to was, and was now quite sure he'd never grow used to, was the unbridled fear that had gripped all three of his hearts when he had realised that, while stupid as all hell, humans could pose a true threat to the safety of his family. Only the Great Grey Gods knew what could have happened had he not stepped in when he did... And with that replicant printer most likely fully out of order... Korvo shuddered at the mere thought of it. While those replicants were perfectly independent and capable of looking after themselves, it did not mean that they did not need each other. The only way the team would continue functioning was if all members were present.

Yumyulack could have died there, alone, thinking nobody would come for him. And his blood would have been on Korvo's hands for leaving him there to die.

And, for a moment there, his blood was on his hands. For a moment he was back at the restaurant, something small and frail and injured in his arms because he was too bloody focused on himself rather than what anyone else had been feeling-

Tap, tap, tap. It didn't take much to wake him up from that awful image. Before he could even acknowledge the sounds that woke him up, he quickly looked at his hands, illuminated by the moonlight that softly greeted him from outside. No blood. He was back in his bed. He was safe. Terry was lightly snoring beside him, as completely knocked out as he always was when he fell asleep. Perhaps both a blessing and a curse, he wondered.

The doorknob whined a tiny squeak as it was gently turned, the door edging open just a smidge to reveal the short stature of a familiar blue figure clad in pyjamas.

Their eyes met, both sets wide and sleep deprived, and they froze as though they had both been caught in a set of headlights.

Yumyulack gulped. "Couldn't sleep." He murmured, glancing down at the carpeted floor.

"Neither." Korvo whispered back. After checking the Pupa expert was sound asleep, Korvo untangled himself from the quilt and stood up, carefully avoiding the section of carpet whose boarding beneath creaked so he could silently approach the replicant he called his son. "I'm, er, guessing you didn't have the best sleep either, huh?"

Yumyulack shook his head, and as Korvo widened the door to let himself through he could see an unusual darkness under the bounty hunter's eyes, and a small trail of purple gooblers that were making their ways into the cracks in the walls. Without saying another word, Korvo gestured for him to follow and together they made their way down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What are we doing down here?" Yumyulack asked in a hushed voice.

"Milk or hot chocolate?" Korvo asked suddenly, fidgeting with his hands as he spoke. He opened the fridge to grab the carton of milk in the door, wincing as the fluorescent light came on and stung his eyes. "Can't have coffee, else you'll be too wired to sleep."

Yumyulack tilted his head inquisitively. "What? Uh, sure, milk? What're you doing, though?"

"I don't know-! I'm making this shit up as I go along!" his replicator-father snapped back under his breath as he retrieved two mugs from the cupboard. After nearly hitting his head on an open overhead cupboard and a swift curse, he sighed and turned on the light. "Apparently it's what some people do for human kids when they can't sleep. I can't understand why that is the case, though." He added as he filled up the mugs and placed them in the microwave to heat up.

Silence bloomed between them as they stood, peering at the cups as they spun around in a consistent circular motion like two planet rotating about a star. They could have watched it for a long time, that mesmerising orbit that only some years ago Shlorp itself had followed religiously, if it were not for the timer nearly going off obnoxiously loudly, and a second before it rung Korvo shook himself out of his wandering mind and rammed the stop button so hard it almost broke. He fumbled, pulling out the steaming cups, giving them a haphazard stir and temperature check before handing one to Yumyulack.

They took a seat in the dining room, looking out to the back garden, allowing the mugs to warm their cool hands. It was nice for while, however eventually Yumyulack, having given up on waiting, snuck over to Korvo and pinched him, effectively drawing them both out of their permanent silence. "Ow- what the hell was that for?" Korvo held back on his volume and glared at him, who only managed a small grin and a laugh.

"Just had to make sure you're still... real." The younger Shlorpian's voice suddenly grew weak, and he downed a gulp of milk in an attempt to soothe the massive lump that had taken up residence in his throat. "You're a huge dick, you know that? For a moment there I- I thought I failed y- er, at the one thing I'm supposed to be good at- I let myself get beat by a bunch of lousy humans! I had a dream I-I failed to get to you in time, okay? And I... got scared. That's all." His grip on his mug tightened as he refused to look Korvo in the eye.

"Well, I'd hardly call it a fair fight at all," The elder Shlorpian replied. "I locked down your suit, a-and you got ambushed from the looks of things... The way they had you trapped- I don't think I've ever felt that way before when I realised what was about to happen." He took in a slow breath, keeping his eyes firmly on the stars above through the sliding glass door. "By keeping you out there when I should have let you in, I let you get attacked. And, well, for a moment there I thought I'd lost you. I had that same dream, only, you know... and- well, it scared me too."

His voice hitched in a way he hated hearing, but he didn't try to bury it. Instead, he let it tremble for a moment, noting how Yumyulack turned to look up at him with round, sad eyes.

"Shlorp never prioritised family." He continued, now unsure of where he was heading. "And because of that I never really knew my replicator. But, now that we're here, I want that to change. Sometimes the only way we've gotten out of, well, these predicaments was because we're family. Shlorp deserves that benefit. You deserve that benefit. You deserve to have someone looking out for you the way I never had. And I'm- sorry I waited so long to start acting like a leader and take action and be there for you."

"No more dad jokes?" Yumyulack asked with a small smile, causing Korvo to almost choke on his drink.

"No-! Not in that way. I know now that jokes from fathers aren't practical jokes, but rather really bad puns. Would you rather I do that?"

"Fuck, no thanks- not all dads are like that, I'd much rather you be one that didn't do that." Yumyulack said quickly before yawning. The drink really had worked wonders, huh? "And, er, also... thanks for saving me back there. Even if you were a jerk about it afterwards. I'm... just glad you're here. I know it sounds stupid... but I'm starting to like the idea of having a dad."

Korvo's mouth managed a small grin. "One thing I've learnt about being a parent during our time here is that you always have to have your kid's back. I might not be a very good parent yet but I know that much. We're a team family. It's my job as leader and parent to keep you little shits alive, or else the human parents are gonna start suspecting I'm a fraud."

"Who cares what they think? You're my Papa, end of story. But... just please don't treat me like I'm different or something, okay? I don't want the others to think I've gone soft or any stupid shit like that, and plus it might get just- plain weird." Yumyulack's eyes were flickering, as though he were running out of awake time. He rested his head on Korvo's shoulder, letting out another yawn. "I forgive you, anyway. I think I'll be okay for tonight at least. Who knows, maybe we'll go back to being shitheads tomorrow. Except this time we know we got each other's back, right?"

"Of course. As long as I'm around I'll have your back." Korvo stood up, gently bringing Yumyulack to his feet. He took the mugs and put them in the kitchen sink before beginning to lead the boy back upstairs.

But, instead of pushing him back into his own room and his own bed, this time Korvo let him come back into the master bedroom. He sat down on the bed, squishing himself close to Terry before gesturing for Yumyulack to join. On any other occasion Yumyulack would have refused, especially now that he had gotten over his own night terror, but this time he didn't say a word and instead laid down beside him. Somewhere behind his back was Korvo, and while it was a bit of a tight squeeze he was too tired to care.

He could feel and hear Korvo's steady breathing, reminding him that everything had turned out okay. They were both alive. They were both safe and healthy and neither of them were going anywhere anytime soon.

"What was the passcode, anyway? To my suit?" Yumyulack murmured, rubbing his eyes. "Shit, that milk worked too good."

"I love you."

"I, uh, love you too, but what was the passcode?"

But Korvo was already asleep, and it wasn't long until Yumyulack found himself drifting off to sleep as well.

Only this time there were no night terrors to be found.

~~ The End ~~