Chapter Text
“Mama is dead?” Gen asks, chewing on his fingernails. Xeno nods his head before getting down to the toddler's height. His hand comes up, rubbing across Gen's black and white hair, ruffling it in a manner that made him pout.
“Yes, your mother is dead. You will be living with Stan and me from now on. Your mother left you in our care, so you will be safe and cared for under our roof.” Xeno spoke calmly and clearly. Before their first meeting, in which his mother, Xeno’s coworker at NASA, asked him to babysit while she had surgery, Gen had already witnessed the sudden death of his father. Skirting around the subject of death only made Gen press harder, making everyone uncomfortable until they eventually panicked and gave the boy whatever he wanted.
Such tactics may not have worked on Xeno, but they most certainly did on Stanley. Despite his husbands callus and vulgar personality, he took to Gen like a mother hen, swearing to protect him forever. At a certain point, they became the default babysitters and, eventually, a part of the family. It was only natural that when Aoi succumbed to her sarcoma, they would become the boy's legal guardians.
“Okay, she and dad going to be buried close?”
“Yes, we’re going to set everything up. Don’t worry.” Gen nodded, holding on to his stuffed rabbit, Houdini, tighter than Xeno had ever seen the boy grip anything. He trampled in place but didn’t cry, his eyes glazing over as he smiled a little.
“They’ll be together again!” He shouted, as if having a moment of epiphany. Xeno jumped back in surprise, nearly falling over from his wobbly crouch. The toddler rammed into him, knocking him flat on his ass to the sterile hospital floor. Xeno barely heard as Gen began whispering to himself.
“It’s okay, I still have my dads.”
Xeno didn't say anything back.
~~~~~~~
Later that night, when Stanley had put Gen to bed in the guest room, now turned into Gen's permanent room, the crying began. Xeno stared at his husband and watched his face drop.
“Aoi was a good woman, a good mother. How are we ever supposed to live up to her?”
Xeno sighed, defeated. “We shouldn’t try to live up to her; we just need to raise him as any good parent should. How we always have.”
Stanley laughed, a small smile gracing his face as he heard hiccups start through the walls. “He’s always been our son, hasn’t he?”
Xeno didn’t answer.
~~~~~~~~~
It only took Gen three months before he began calling Stanley ‘papa.’ Another two weeks later, and Xeno was ‘daddy.’
The couple was overjoyed but never brought it up for fear of Gen stopping. For months, their hearts would pound in their chests as the boy would become more comfortable with them. Eventually, he began acting less like a hermit and more like a four-year-old again.
They didn’t say anything.
~~~~~~~~
“Papa.”
“Yes, Bud?”
“Would you be mad if I got into a fight?”
“Not if you won.” The six-year-old giggled a little. “You’ve been in school for a week, baby. Who did you get in a fight with?” Stanley asked as he rotated backwards from the counter, away from the snack plate he was making for his son.
“Tanner! He was being mean to Kelly. I like Kelly; she’s sweet, so I hit him. Mr. White got mad, but since Tanner wasn’t hurt, I just got a long talk.” Gen was rocking on his feet now. “I know you can make people hurt, so can you teach me how to make him hurt, please?”
Stanley laughed, deep and raspy. The cigarette between his lips fell into the snack plate. It took Gen tugging on his sleeve for him to look back down. He ruffled Gen's hair.
Stanley nodded.
They didn’t say anything.
~~~~~~~~
“Dad!” A flustered 9-year-old yelled from the doorway of his bedroom as his father opened the door to the home. “Mrs. Slowinski gave me an F for cheating, but I didn’t cheat!”
Xeno felt his own face twitch, dropping into a scowl worse than the one that formed on his face at work. He dropped his briefcase next to the door before kicking his shoes off and shoving them on the rack.
Gen had studied hours for the quarterly test, and with Xeno helping, there was no way Gen should have failed. That teacher had accused Gen of quite a few things during the school year, and Xeno was getting fed up. Time to pull out the big guns.
“Tell your papa when he gets home,” he yelled. It only took Gen a moment to skitter to the upstairs railing; a look of bewilderment spread across his face. “He gets home on Thursday. Make sure to write everything down so you don’t miss any details.”
Gen squealed, running back to his room so quickly his sock slid against the hardwood right from under him. Xeno felt a slight well of anxiousness grow in him. This could go very wrong.
He swallowed it down thickly. He could imagine Gens' excitement through the walls, ready to destroy a woman's mental stability. God, they’d raised a monster.
Xeno didn’t say anything.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Gen was 13 when he decided to pick up magic. He claimed it was a new hobby, but his parents could see that he was trying to impress a girl at school. He taught them tricks to fool coworkers and others to excite people.
At a certain point, it became less about the girl and more about his genuine enjoyment. He had finally found something he loved that wasn’t manipulating people. They were proud of him.
They never said anything.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Teenage rebellion was a bitch. Being off duty for a few weeks was always nice to Stanley, but when he had to spend every second of every day tracking his 15-year-old son to make sure he didn’t kill someone (or himself), it became much less relaxing. He came home day after day with something new, and sometimes horrible, in tow.
Day one was simple; he came home with fully black hair. Day two was fine; he had used his money to buy some clothes before cutting them to ribbons and making new outfits. Day three came with a few beer bottles shoved in his backpack. Stanley stopped keeping track of the days after that.
Xeno said to let him dig his own hole and deal with the consequences. Didn’t stop Stanley from tracking his whereabouts at night. His grades slipped, his old friends left him, and his girlfriend closed herself off before ending things. His dads were there to pick him back up after he finally saw the destruction.
Gen apologized, got his grades back up, and friends back.
His dad’s never mentioned it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The best day of Gen’s life was his graduation. Not only was he finally done with high school, but he had gotten an internship with a celebrity magician in Japan the same day. He jumped for joy in line to walk, everyone looking over at him as he beamed. He didn’t care.
Leaving his parents for the summer was exciting; he had never been away from them for anything but camps and Boy Scout trips.
Gen was ready to forge his own path, seeking an apprentice within the magic industry.
His dads promised to call and text regularly, and to make sure they stayed in touch in case anything happened. They were happy for him, excited even.
He loved his dads.
He finally said so at the airport gate.