Chapter Text
Ciarán almost gave Jason a heart attack.
Jason was unloading the dishwasher and urging their son to eat his samsas, promising him a trip to the park if he just stopped smashing his food to smithereens.
Then, as Jason was taking out the last dish, his son exclaimed with the enthusiasm of a two-year old who's found an interesting, new thing : "Baby ! Daddy, there's a baby !"
The interesting, new thing being, apparently, a baby. Though Piotr had a history of confusing anything small with baby humans.
Jason sighed, and looked up from the dishwasher, ready to break their toddler's heart by telling him that, no, squirrels were not comparable to baby Evan, when his eyes dropped on a real, human, baby in his garden.
His grasp on the plate loosened, and they winced when it fell on the ground and shattered in pieces. Piotr, startled by the sound, started wailing, hands pressed on his ears.
Jason stepped over the shards and took his son in their arms, rocking him gently and humming under his breath. Piotr's cries soon stopped, and he just hiccuped against Jason's chest.
"Shh, sweetie," they whispered. "No more loud noise. You're safe."
"Promise ?" asked Piotr.
"Promise."
Piotr nodded and let his head rest on Jason's shoulder.
"The baby," he added. "The baby's cold."
Jason had forgotten about them. They looked outside, and the baby was still there, standing on their wobbly, chubby legs, hands on the glass door. Dread curled in Jason's chest when they realized that it was October. They were in the middle of October, and though California was less cold than, say, New York, it was still too cold for a baby under one to be outside with only an onesie on their back.
Jason opened the door, sliding it inside, but that movemet from their support made the baby fall.
Piotr hid himself in Jason's neck with a whine, and Jason slowly lowered themself, trying not to drop their son, and picked up the baby.
"Shh," he said slowly. "I'm here now. You're alright, bud, I'm here.
"Baby's tired," whispered Piotr. "Daddy, the baby's tired."
Jason hummed and loosened his grip on their son, who slid down and landed safely on his feet.
Jason watched his son pat his own cheeks and wipe his tears, and then looked around, outside, searching for someone, anyone. Because, maybe the baby had ran away. Maybe someone was looking for them. Maybe, maybe this baby had somehow found a way to sneak in Jason's garden and had a family looking for them.
Nobody.
"The baby's tired," repeated Piotr.
Jason kissed their teeth, then closed the door, rocking the baby gently.
"Sh, buddy," they whispered. "No more cold air. We're gonna wait for your caretaker, and you're gonna rest, okay ?"
Jason went to the living room, their son on their heels, and laid a plaid on the couch, then put the baby down on it, before putting a cushion between them and the void, to avoid having the baby fall over.
"Petek," he called. "Can you get me my phone ? I have to call your Tìo."
Piotr hurried out of the room with an excited shout — he'd always liked Leo better. Jason tried not to be offended.
Jason looked at the baby again — their cries had stopped, and they were starting to doze off, surely exhausted by all this exercise, and and these emotions. A soft smile stretched Jason's lips — he was glad that the baby was resting, and they were just adorable. Then, his eyes caught a flah of white peeking out of the baby's onesie, and, with a frown, they took out a folded piece of paper.
Thankflully, Jason didn't have dyslexia — though he had dyscalculia, which kinda made his job as an architect harder —, so he was able to decipher the trembling, uneven handwriting.
The paper simply read 'Tell my baby I'm sorry,
I just can't take care of them.
Please love Ciarán.'
Ciarán.
Jason's eyes widened, and they landed on the baby, Ciarán, who was sleeping peacefully, unaware that their whole world just had been shaken — that their life was now changed.
"Daddy," called Piotr, holding out Jason's phone. "Is they gonna be my sibling ? Niall has a brother 'n Selma has a sister."
Jason looked at their son, and took him in his arms, then looked back at Ciarán.
He'd heard that having siblings was good for the development of children. And they were now in care of Ciarán, if he'd understood correctly — if Ciarán's caretaker really had abandonned them.
"Sure, sweetie. Meet your sibling."