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Four kids sit in the town’s square, heads close to one another and muttering to each other.
Something that many people wouldn’t even bat an eye for, maybe look over for a moment, smile at them, and then move on with their day – if it wasn’t that one of the children is floating a few inches above the ground, legs crossed over without touching the ground and another one is not a child at all but a large and hunkering machine golem.
Something that many people would find alarming on a daily basis, but the people of the small town are so used to their shenanigans that they let it pass. Most of the townsfolk are familiar with their fathers and a short holler over would drag them out of the tinkering shop to pull the children out of their mischief, fingers pinching their small ears.
A little girl of age 9, with long curly dark hair tied in two long braids wields a short stick and draws on the ground several figure sticks. Her little face is pinched in focus, the tip of her tongue peeking at the corner of her mouth as she focuses on the battle plan.
“The plan is simple. Burt always eats his afternoon snacks on the second swing by the playground,” the little girl draws the stick of what one may assume is a child atop a swing, “his gang of thugs always arrive a bit later so we must distract them. Naph –”
A little boy of similar age, with a wild mop of brown hair and moles peppering his face, gapes at the girl before shaking his head. “No, no no no no, I’m not gonna deal with them, Mar! Let Zoe do it!”
The floating girl giggles, a sound that is part mirth and part mischief, in excitement at the prospect of it. She has long peach-coloured hair that bleeds into purple at the tip of it, glittering underneath the sunlight. It is hard to assume her age, she looks like a child barely older than her siblings, but everything about her feels ancient and dangerous.
“I could do that, it would be fun!”
“No,” Mar – short for Amaranthine – shakes her head. “You are just gonna scare them shitless and then Burt is gonna notice. I can’t let him escape, not without my vengeance.” Naph beside her rolls his eyes, the argument old as time itself.
“Sister Amaranthine,” a mechanical voice whirs and three small heads obediently whip to look up at the golden metallic golem, “my directive is not to allow you to do anything that could be dangerous to you and the family. I have calculated the plan has a 76,23% chance of bringing you harm.”
“C’mooon, Blitz, where is the harm?” Zoe’s voice is filled with laughter as she floats atop the golem, sitting on their shoulder, “the guy kind of deserves it. He made Mar cry!”
“He did not make me cry,” Mar huffs.
“He so did,” Naph’s chuckle turns into a yelp as Amaranthine pushes her brother on the ground. The two children roll on the dirty ground, one hand on the other’s hair and bickering.
Blitzcrank lets out one long very human sigh before whirring to activity, large hands carefully picking up the two smaller children by scruffs like hissing kittens and pulling them gently apart.
The tall golden golem walks through the streets as three children hang from their arms like monkey bars. Zoe for once walks on dirty ground – she can hear, clear as day, her dad’s voice reprimanding her for walking shoeless and sockless – as she guides her siblings back home. The village the four children live on sits beneath a hill, the valley spreading ahead of their eyes and mountains peeking in the horizon. People greet them as they walk past, some asking them to give their regards to their fathers, and the four children – one inhuman, one mechanical, and two very much human but also very much pretending to be monkeys – greet the adults back with loud cheers and thank them. The adults smile and comment to each other how vivacious and happy the four siblings look together.
Their house sits lower in the valley, not far from the village’s outskirts. A small natural pond lies just in front of it, reflecting the cottage made of stones with a wooden rooftop. Sitting on the porch, a man works quietly, eyes focused on his project.
“Daaad!” Zoe takes a leap and floats over her dad. The man looks up in surprise before his face blooms in joy, moving his work away to extend his arms in welcome. He has dark hair long enough to cover his ears and nape, with a few streaks of grey here and there and a dark beard. His brown eyes are bright in joy.
“Here come my little monkeys!” He exclaims in unadulterated joy, arms wrapping around Zoe as she lands on him, short arms wrapping around her father’s neck.
A chorus of “Dad!! Dad!” follows behind as Blitzcrank brings over the rest of the children.
Zoe giggles and leans over to kiss the four silvery marks on her dad’s forehead, a habit Zoe picked up the first day she appeared in front of the two stupefied men, the two men who would later become her dads.
Her dad, in return, gives her a little peck on her cheek. She is about to flip away, sure of herself having escaped the little mischief from her dad, when the man holds her tight and his eyes, trained in years raising four children, immediately flick over her dirty feet.
“Zoe…” He looks back at her, eyes squinting in suspicion, “did you walk without shoes again?”
“Mmmmhhh”, Zoe hums pensively, as if she is trying to find a lie and excuse but, having found none that would make her laugh, she nods with a big-toothed smile. “Yes!”
Her dad sighs, but a smile still escapes her lips. “Go inside and wash yourself before your father sees you.”
“Okie dokie!” She flips backward out of her dad’s arms in a floating somersault and flies inside, her voice loud and bright as she calls, “Father!!!! I got my feet dirty!!”
The man snorts in amusement and turns to the remaining children, picking them up one by each arm as Blitzcrank deposits them securely in their dad’s embrace.
“Thank you, Blitz, for taking care of them,” he smiles at the golden golem, and presses his forehead against the metallic hulk for a moment, a sign of affection between father and his mechanical child. They are warm despite the sophisticated metal they were built in.
“Of course, father Jayce, I will always take care of our family.”
Jayce smiles up to them before his attention turns to the two children in his arms.
“So, did you have fun?” He asks before walking inside the cottage.
“Yes,” Naph says, arms squeezing tight around his father’s neck, but Amaranthine remains silent. The man looks back at the young girl, a hint of worry on his face as his eyes look over the children to see if they are hurt anywhere. They seem fine and besides, Blitzcrank would tell him if they are.
“Something wrong, Mar?” He asks at the doorstep, not walking in yet.
“No, but there is something important I must tell you and Father,” Amaranthine shakes her head, but her brows furrow in a grave expression and her voice sounds so serious – which only makes the young girl look even more adorable. Jayce fails to hide a smile as he looks at the children.
Once they step inside the cottage, the smell of delicious food welcomes them. It is still not time for dinner, but Jayce has been broiling the meat for a few hours now and he knows from the smell that it is almost ready. The cottage is big enough to house them all comfortably. The large living room functions as a kitchen as well, with tools and toys everywhere – it is cluttered but not to the point of being disorderly, only very much lived in by a family of six. In the back one door leads to the master’s bedroom and, on the left one door leads to the bathroom and the other to the second largest room, the spacious bedroom where the three children sleep in. Beside the entrance door lies the large station where Blitzcrank can plug in to rest and recharge. In the back of the cottage, the two men built their laboratory for their work.
Zoe sits by the stove, one hand holding herself on the stove as the other tries to open up the pot to taste the food.
“Come here, little lady,” a voice interrupts her attempt to steal some of the dinner as a man steps out of the bathroom.
The man – the children’s father – emerges from the bathroom holding a bucket of water and looks back at the newly arrived with a smile. He is shorter than their dad, with long brown hair past his shoulder and golden eyes gazing at his children in fondness.
“Welcome back, children,” his voice is accented, words thickening in his mouth, warm and gentle as he talks to his children.
Jayce puts gently down the two kids and as soon as they escape his embrace, they rush to greet their father.
“Father, father,” Amaranthine immediately clings to him, one hand holding his father’s pants as the man places the bucket of water on the ground and motions Zoe to sit on the stool in front of him.
“What is it?” He asks, his hand now free to gently caress his daughter’s hair. Despite his father’s fingers being bony and his hand always cold, his touch is always gentle and Amaranthine’s pout melts under her father's touch.
“Blitzcrank and Naph are trying to stop me from my great plan of vengeance,” Amaranthine announces to her father, voice serious. It is a grave matter to her, not to be taken lightly.
Jayce, now that the stove is finally freed by children attempting to steal food, has moved to check on the dinner, stirring the sauce inside the pot and tasting it before being choked by his daughter’s words. He whips his head to stare at her in confused alarm.
“Oh?” His father picks up a wet cloth and gently starts washing the dirt from his daughter. “How come?” Despite his eyes focused on the task at hand, his attention is always equally divided among his children.
“Well, there is this boy at school… Last week he made fun of me and Naph in front of the school and called us smartasses, just because we are the smartest kids in school! It’s not fair!”
“Of course, you are the smartest,” her father easily agrees. Jayce is still staring at her daughter with a worried expression, wondering if maybe he should talk to their teacher – Jayce knows their teachers but he isn’t aware that there were some issues at school before his husband continues–
“What vengeance were you planning and how? Maybe I can help.”
“Viktor…” Jayce sighs, eyes flickering between the four of them, but they are too focused on talking about vendetta to listen to him. Jayce shakes his head and turns to look at Blitzcrank sitting quietly beside the door, glowing eyes fixed on their siblings and father as well, before moving to share the same fondly exasperated look with their dad.
Ah well , Jayce thinks, at least Blitz is such a well behaved child.
Not that he would change any of them for anything ever in the world. Jayce would go to the end of Earth for his family.
The dinner is a chaotic affair, with Naph and Amaranthine trying to steal each other’s food, Zoe sneakingly making the vegetables float away and out of the window, Blitzcrank narrating their daily routine unbothered by the chaos, and Jayce and Viktor enjoying the dinner with warmth and joy in their hearts, holding each other’s hands beneath the tablet, fingers intertwined.
Viktor looks over at Jayce with a soft smile that Jayce can only mirror, pulling his husband’s hand to his lips, and gently kissing his fingers. Uneven burn-like pink scars cover Viktor’s hand and then peek from underneath the shirt’s cuff, going along his arm and the rest of Viktor’s body.
Jayce’s lips turn into a smile against Viktor’s skin and he savours the moment for a minute longer.
Jayce has never believed in Gods, nor has ever prayed much – but each day he thanks whatever entity has allowed him to be there, in this small cottage surrounded by nature, with four children to raise and give his whole heart to, and with a man to share his life with, his partner, his soulmate, his husband, and the father of his children.
Jayce is happy and, as he looks up into Viktor’s golden eyes, he knows Viktor is happy as well. Nothing else matters.