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Jay stuffs his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt as he walks down the hall besides his mother. They're in what most people outside Gamorra would only know as where the president's family lives, if they know it at all, but in practice is really a sprawling, communal building with nearly everyone who works in the government. It's more like a walkable neighborhood with walls than a simple home.
"Doctor Fate and his child will be here soon," Sara tells him.
"I didn't know Fate even had a kid." Not that he's paid a whole lot of attention to Doctor Fate in the past. From what he can tell, most magic heroes don't end up on the news very often. Their adventures are far more in the shadows, with no real trail that even Jay could track.
"It seems like a pretty new situation for them. He sounded a little… frazzled about it all. I'd imagine it's more complicated than typical adoption too."
So new family, struggling with the whole dad thing, and probably something to do with superhero stuff or magic stuff, given that's the general trend with superhero parents. Jon's probably one of the only exceptions where a superhero parent didn't get their kid through superhero nonsense.
Jay meets his mom's gaze as she looks over at him, expression briefly turning serious, or at least serious-er. "Stitch will be here for a few weeks to learn magic, and in return Doctor Fate has already been helping with the rebuilding." That Jay had already been aware of it. There's a lot to fix after the past few years, and other buildings that Bendix had put up and now need to be torn down and replaced with something new. He's sure everyone in Gamorra has seen or heard about Fate the last few days, carefully working with Gamorran architects to piece back together some of the bigger buildings. He may not know a lot about Fate, but it puts him near the top of Jay's favorite superheroes list.
"I'd like if you could help guide Stitch, show them around. Make sure they don't get lost." Jay raises an eyebrow at his mom's smile. There's definitely more to this than simply being a tour guide.
"That's not going to be easy, is it?"
Sara's smile only grows larger as they step into the foyer. There's no time to ask more questions before a golden ankh shimmers in the air, as tall and wide as a door. Doctor Fate walks out first, standing tall with the golden helmet on his head. On his heel comes a walking ragdoll, their body a patchwork of different colors. They have on a sweater and skirt, the sweater's hood pulled up and their hands in the pocket much like Jay.
Jay had assumed Stitch was their superhero name, but maybe he'd been wrong.
"Thank you, President Nakamura, for letting Stitch study here. It'll be a great opportunity for them," Khalid says as he takes a few steps forward to shake Sara's hand. While they've had a few conversations already, and she's been very kind to him, he still thinks it only appropriate to still be formal with her, especially when she's only recently gained her position back.
"It's no problem at all, Doctor Fate," Sara responds, a casual smile on her face.
Khalid looks over at Stitch. Normally they can't stand still for more than a few seconds at a time, but now they're frozen in place. Their eyes are wide as a saucer as they stare directly at Jay. They're whisper-yelling to themselves. "Oh my god, it's Gossamer. I'm in the same room as Gossamer. Be cool, Stitch, be cool." Khalid sees Jay's eyebrows raise before laughing to himself.
Khalid knew Stitch was aware of Jay, but he hadn't realized it was full hero worship mode. Hopefully Stitch can still focus enough to learn here, and preferably not try to show off with pranks and magic they barely understand. That's how they ended up with five griffins on the loose in Boston last week. He frowns beneath the helmet, the concern spreading. A small orb, barely bigger than a marble, appears in his hand, golden and with an ankh shining on the side. He hands it to Sara. "Use this to call me if there are any problems. I'll answer immediately."
Sara nods to him, before he turns towards Stitch. "Make sure to listen to President Nakamura and, uh, maybe call once in a while? Let me know how everything is going and what you're learning, y'know?"
"Yeah, yeah. Bye." Stitch waves him off, their attention entirely on Jay. It hurts a tad, especially when Khalid's still not used to the idea of Stitch being somewhere he's not, but he supposes this is a normal teenage reaction to your parents and the idea that they're embarassing you by merely existing in your presence.
"Bye, Stitch." Khalid turns away and takes two steps before pausing. He spins around on his heel and holds a hand out to Stitch. "Okay, give me the glitter bombs, now. You know you're banned from those, especially while visiting Gamorra.
That seems to break through Stitch's awe-struck stance as their head snaps over to him. "I don't-!"
"Stitch."
They slump over with an exaggerated groan. A few seconds pass before they pull far too many glitter bombs out of their sweater pocket. If not for magic, Khalid would have to ask how they'd ever managed to store that many there. As is, he sees Jay's eyebrows rising to his hairline as the glitter bombs keep coming. With a flick of his hand, Khalid sends them to a room in the Tower of Fate that he has dubbed the "No Stitch Zone" for all of Stitch's pranks that they're now banned from.
Khalid looks between Stitch and the Nakamuras. Stitch is a good kid, but they can get a bit… chaotic. He hopes this isn't a mistake. He nods at Sara. "If you need anything-"
"I'll call you, but it'll be fine, Doctor Fate," Sara smiles to him. She's a mother, so she certainly understands how kids can be, but Khalid somehow thinks that her son was a lot easier growing up than Stitch.
He takes a deep breath. It'll be fine. Hopefully. He thanks President Nakamura again and gives a final look to Stitch before taking his leave.
Stitch can't stop bouncing as Jay leads them through the building. They'd been stunned to immobility at first, but now all that energy is back with the excitement and the oh my god it's Gossamer he's giving me a tour I get to talk to him it's GOSSAMER. So far they haven't actually managed to say anything though, just holding back the desperate urge to squeal as Jay points out different rooms to them.
They last approximately two more minutes before they blurt out right over the currently-talking Jay, "Are you still running the Truth? Because it's so, so cool and I've watched everything, I even went back and watched the stuff before I existed which is a lot of stuff b-t-dubs, and you're so cool, like the coolest hero ever! Though your first mask was kinda weird and your new one looks way better, fashion upgrade! But yeah, the Truth?"
Jay stumbles over his words for a second, thrown off guard by their barrage, before chuckling. "We're sharing responsibility, but yeah, I'm still with the Truth."
"Sooo cool." Stitch is positive most of their understanding of the world has come from the Truth. They might know next to nothing about math or science or language arts, but who cares about any of that when they're learning about social issues? Plus, math is stupid. And hard. And stupid.
"Now I have a question for you," Jay starts, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Were those actually all your glitter bombs?"
Stitch stops and looks conspiratorially over their shoulder and around them, as if ensuring there's no one around to possibly be listening to them. Then, with a grin, they pull another glitter bomb out from thin air. "Nope! I always keep one in super secret hiding. This one is small, but powerful."
"Perfect. I know just the person."