Work Text:
Philip walked into the house quietly, closing the door himself so it didn’t slam. He tried to walk up the stairs without Alex stopping him, but his plan fell through when he looked up from his laptop.
“You’re quiet today bud, something happen?”
Concern flooded his voice and it only made Philip upset, upset that his emotions were that transparent to his dad. He wanted to shake his head and run up the stairs but he couldn’t bring himself to move. Instead, he opted to stand still and say a silent prayer that the tears welling up in his eyes wouldn’t fall down his face. That prayer went answered.
Alex got up from the table as soon as he noticed him crying, kneeling down on the hardwood in front of him and brushing the hair out of his eyes. The affection only made him emotional.
“Hey Phili, you’re okay. What happened?”
Philip hiccuped and wiped his face with his sleeve, sighing as he went to talk.
“Boys at school. Said pink’s a girl color and I told them my daddies said it’s not and hiccup they said hiccup that I’m a hiccup queer like you guys.”
By now he was full on crying, and Alex hugged him tightly, the incident reminding him of things he experienced. He kissed his hair and stood back up, grabbing the keys and motioning to the door.
“Put your shoes back on, we’re gonna go for a drive. I’ll text daddy to meet us.”
Philip listened, slipping his pink sperrys back on before turning back to Alex.
“Where’s he gonna meet us?”
“You’ll see.”
-
They drove for what seemed like hours, even though after 20 minutes they were pulling into a shopping village on the outskirts of town. Philip didn’t question it, holding Alexs hand and walking as close to him as possible when they got out of the car. They walked and window shopped, Philip pointing out the things he liked and Alex dropping his voice to give ‘official reviews’ of them. They eventually got down to a small used bookstore, John waiting outside still in his office clothes. Philip broke away to run and hug him, holding on a little longer than he normally did. John pulled back first, ruffling his hair and looking down at his shoes.
“Your shoes are awesome, I wish my job let us wear sparkles but I don’t think my boss would like it.”
Philip seemed happily taken aback by the comment, beaming and talking Johns hand before reaching out to grab Alexs with his other. They walked into the bookstore together, Philip sticking with them until he found the children's nook and ran off.
“My parents, well the Washington's, always did this when I came home from school upset. Just grabbed the keys and off we went until I forgot why I was even upset.” Alex said and John snaked an arm around his waist, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
“But I’m still scared. What if the kids don’t let up?” His voiced edged on nervousness and he sighed, leaning his head on Johns shoulder.
“We’re contacting the school when we get home to make sure they let up. If they don’t, we go from there. He has you as a dad, he’ll be okay.”
“He has you too. We’re both damn good parents.” Alex remarked and John chuckled, watching as Philip tried to balance the stack of books he was carrying back to his parents. He somehow made it to them without the stack falling, and promptly gave short summaries of all 9 of them.” Alex told him to pick his two favorites, which ended up being children's history books. One about ancient China and the other about the American Revolution. Philip flipped through the second one, stopping when he got to a certain page and holding it up for Alex to see.
“He has the same name as you papa!”