Chapter Text
The trouble with adopting a stray, Spamton reflected over breakfast the next morning, was that there was no manuals for what to do.
Tenna would definitely get mad if he heard Spamton referring to Suzy like that, but the joke was on him; Spamton had been the stray in question ten years ago, and he'd had everything from food aggression to fleas to rabies. Suzy was one hell of an upgrade, for sure.
But the point is, Spamton hadn't really... done this before. Making terrible business decisions? Been there, done that. Conned a robot guy once and accidentally tripped and fell into love with him? Happens to the best of us.
But a kid? Not the sweet little pipis Tenna doted on, either - the talking, walking, vaguely-feral real deal?
He didn't know the first thing about it.
Thank the Angel for Tenna. Always his steady foundation, even when prone to waterworks and emotional outbursts at opportune moments.
When Spamton invited Suzy to stay the night, it was Tenna who dug out their sstore-salvaged pajamas for her. When she hesitated leaving the next morning, it was Tenna who nonchalantly added that she was always welcome to stay with them. When she came back the next night, it was Tenna who told a way-too-violent bedtime story to get her to sleep.
And Spamton felt useless.
So what if he made an expansion on the house? So what if he helped design an extra bedroom, just in case? So what if he fixed breakfast in the mornings, or made her a lunch sack for her?
Anyone could do that. Spamton wasn't special.
He didn't know how to do this right.
He didn't know how to be enough.
Stil, things fell into a routine. Suzy did not cry when she saw her new bedroom - though it was the first time she hugged Spamton, and he kept his mouth shut when he felt a few stray tears drip on his shoulder. She alternated between following him on his mail route and staying behind with Tenna to run the shop, bringing a vibrant sense of chaos to both.
She didn't stay with them every night, but Spamton got used to it startlingly quickly. It was to the point that he struggled to fall asleep without the extra loud snoring from her door. Tenna held him closer those nights, murmuring about knowing that feeling, and played white noise to help him drop off.
Suzy... made things better. Just by being there. Just like Tenna had.
(For a moment, Spamton wished he could do that, too. Brighten their lives the way they brightened his.)
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"Tenna! Mr. Spamton!" Their door didn't even have a lock to open, but when Tenna gave her an honorary key (that they'd found tossed away in the garbage), she diligently scraped it against the metal door every time. It gave them both enough time to pause from their daily junk-sorting to listen to her clomping in. "I'm home!"
"Suzy!" Tenna called warmly. He immediately dropped everything and beelined their little living room, like a dog rushing to greet its owners. It made Spamton snort every time - he always acted like it had been weeks since they'd last seen her, instead of just a few hours. "Welcome home, sweetheart!"
Ah. That was a new one. Spamton ducked his head so Tenna couldn't see his smile.
'Welcome home,' huh? It had a nice ring to it.
"Thanks, man," she said with a laugh. "Oh, and I brought someone, too! This is my friend, Ralsay!"
Despite himself, Spamton's interest peaked. In the months they'd known her, not once had she mentioned a friend. He set down the metal scraps he'd been sorting through - some of them seemed just large enough to fit Tenna, how lucky - and rounded the corner to join everyone.
Suzy's hair was still tied up in that raggedy bow Tenna fixed earlier that morning - for someone who supposedly hated ribbons, she sure was eager to let the big guy fix it for her - but the rest of her was half-caked in mud. She had one dirty arm slung around the shoulders of another boy, who had a much more respectable smattering dirt dusted on his white curls. His clothes were oddly similar to Suzy's, though his jacket was a dull green compared to her blue and he had longer, skirt-like clothes as opposed to her ratty blue-jeans. His glasses jostled when he grinned at Suzy.
And he wasn't a dragon at all. He was a scruffy, fluffy white goat.
This was the part where Tenna was supposed to say something sappy, like how wonderful it was to meet him and pepper him with questions about his life story. Spamton already had half his letter ready to go, to calm the CRT's excitement at meeting a second child in so many weeks.
But after a too-long beat, Spamton realized that Tenna had gone still.
Spamton couldn't see his face, but he didn't need to. His shoulders were always his dead giveaway. It probably had something to do with the damage, as his left one had been destroyed as long as Spamton had known him. When he was stressed out, his bad one hunched in, and his good one went rigid.
Right now, they were pulled in so tightly that he couldn't even see the wires sticking out.
Suzy paused, brow furrowing in concern. "Tenna, you good? Your- your screen is-?"
All at once, Tenna jolted back to life. It startled Spamton into ducking back a few feet, just to avoid the sudden movements as Tenna corrected his posture.
"Sorry about that, folks! Technical difficulties and all that!" He waved a hand as if to wave away the weirdness, and spun back to face the kids. "Suzy! It's great to see you again! And your friend!"
Spamton narrowed his eyes.
Tenna's smile was absolutely pristine. He even raised the left side, since it naturally sloped down further due to the cracks. It was every ounce of stage performance he'd once claimed.
It wasn't his real smile. This was the smile he used years ago, when he'd been so desperate to make Spamton like him. It had taken so long to let his guard down, and it had been even longer since Spamton saw that too-perfect mask.
That's how Spamton realized something was wrong. This wasn't his partner - this was a performer, putting on a show.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Ralsay," Tenna said, too smoothly. The kid, who clearly didn't know any better, blushed at the praise, and Susie, who normally could spot a ruse a mile away, was clearly too excited to notice just how fake Tenna's smile was. His tone was just as light when he suggested, "Can you show your friend around the shop while I finish up a few things?"
When he excused himself, Spamton risked a single glance at the kids, who were cheerfully digging around the shop as Susie showed all her favorite hiding-to-scare-customers spots. Then Spamton ducked out the back door right after his husband.