I’ve housed; Unfounded doubt; Since breaking out

“Only half my inventions turn evil. The other half are just wildly misunderstood!”

“Sonia’s nice,” James said instantly. “It’s pretty.”

He seemed, at last, to suspect his words had been taken wrong, and added, almost as a peace offering, “When I was younger I always liked Mei if I had a daughter.”

Gyro’s shoulders relaxed. “That’s also nice,” he said. “Sonia is my mother’s name. I was talking with the girls earlier, and the conversation lead to a mention of her.”

A shrug. “I figured if I already had my father as a middle name, it’d only make sense to give my mother’s name to my dau—”

“I know,” James said, probably more irritated than he ought. “I’m not accusing y- I’m just saying that there are other options. So you don’t think it’s a choice between taking her or leaving her on a mountain somewhere. It’s not an easy choice, but you can at least decide better if you know it’s not a fatal one.”

And James had ping-ponged back into the annoying side.

Gyro sank further into himself, and took another bite of food to at least force himself to think of a less hostile response.

James pursed his lips at that; he said nothing, but his silence was loud.

He handed Gyro a plate and began laying out their food containers, staring them down like they’d personally offended him.

“I meant it, you know. If you don’t want her. We know people. One of my friends is- knows how to handle changelings, and has been talking about kids lately. And- even if- well-” He looked over at her, then shook his head. “Never mind.”

“I’m not saying I don’t want her!”

It came far quicker and far more defensive than Gyro had probably intended, and he let his gaze fall in slight embarrassment at his outburst. He was almost positive that James (probably) hadn’t meant it that way, and he was in the man’s home after he’d bought him food and clothes for the baby.

Ruffled feathers or not, he should at least behave.

“It’s not...that,” he tried again. “It’s nothing to do with her. She’s far from the strangest child I’ve ever-”

But he wasn’t ever really a child, was he? Just a weapon.

James went to unload everything in the kitchen, but he just stood by the table for a minute, staring. He’d lifted the chairs onto the table when he’d mopped last week, and while his own chair had been returned to its place as soon as he needed it, the second, the one that had belonged to Arthur, was still there. He’d had no reason, no one, to lower it for.

He had to lower it now, he needed the table. He set their food down and used his free hand to move the chair so he could load everything else onto the table. Then he grabbed a couple paper plates from the stack in the bread box and headed back out with the food.

“Have you put any thought to names yet?”

Like Junior, James seemed to decide to just bring everything at once, loading most of their bags onto his right arm before leading Gyro up to his apartment.

Atlas Towers was the fanciest building in town, and when they got into the lift James punched the button for the penthouse suite. The ride up was silent- in fact, James didn’t say anything else until they had made it to his door and he’d let them both in.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he said, gesturing to the extra-long couch in the living room. “I’m going to put everything down and then we can eat.”

With one last, uncomfortable shifting of his weight, he turned and disappeared into the kitchen, the door swinging behind him.

The living room looked comfortable. Along with the extra long couch, there was a glass coffee table and a big screen tv, and a bookshelf dominated one wall. But it seemed oddly bare, too: there was the right amount of furniture, but there were huge gaps on the bookshelf, gaps in the vhs shelves below the tv. Even the photos in the room had gaps, spaces where there should be a frame but there wasn’t. The only part of the decor that looked completely in tact was a series of woodcuts on the central shelf bearing illustrations from some children’s book or other.

Despite his exhaustion, Gyro couldn’t help but observe his surroundings as he waited on the couch alongside the baby carrier (complete with still-sleeping baby). Hey, he was a scientist, it was difficult to turn that part of his brain off completely.

And while he wouldn’t simply go and say it out loud, James’ place was strongly reminding him of his own, half-unpacked and partially empty apartment. But rather than giving the appearance of someone who just moved in, it was more like someone had just moved out.

Interesting indeed.

“I thought so.” He reached into his coat and took out a Yolkia phone, punching in a number and waving for Gyro to go ahead and get the carrier installed while he called into their order. “What’s your usual?”

An order and a short ride later, Gyro found himself back at James’ place with food and a sleeping baby. Both an absolute relief after the previous events of the evening, and also an opportunity to finally breathe after the aforementioned events.

“Bye Dr. Gearloose, bye baby,” they chorused, hurrying to join their father at the door. They paused to hug James, and hurried away with a, “Bye Mr. Ironwoof, see you Monday!”

Once they were gone, James turned his attention back to Gyro. Some of the softness that had appeared with the girls had left with them as well, leaving behind stiff shoulders and hands once more folded behind his back.

“We should get going too,” he said. “Are you hungry? I can call an order into Lotus Garden and have some food delivered to my place. She’s not the only one who skipped lunch.”

“Papa says that about Mama sometimes.”

“And then she says stop trying, two is enough.”

This set the girls off giggling, as if they were in on some grand joke of some kind, and their giggles were broken off to Junior calling them from the door. A few bags were still hanging from one hand; his own haul, presumably.

“It’s time to go, girls,” he said. “We still have more errands to run, and James and Dr. Gearloose have work to do as well.”

Dear God, he’d lifted all the other bags and was able to carry his own without so much as breaking a sweat? How much could that man handle? ...How much was he willing to handle?

No, wait, the girls had just mentioned a wife, and even if it turned out he swung both ways, he’d clearly shown more of an interest in a guy like James.

Well, at least he’d been kind enough to help. And had the sweetest daughters.

Behind them, James and Junior headed out to the van to load everything, while the girls clamored over to peer at the baby, shushing each other and making more noise than if they’d just stayed calm.

“She’s sooooo cute,” one said. “Miltia, isn’t she the sweetest baby you’ve ever seen?”

“I think she must be the prettiest baby that’s ever existed,” the other agreed. And her plumage is such a good color for matching clothes to.“

Gyro felt a burst of pride swelling in his chest at their swooning. “I’ve heard that, as well,” he said. “When I was growing up, my mother always went on about how grateful she was to have white feathers, because it made putting together outfits much easier.”

James shook his head. “As Stella so… astutely… put it, I have more money than I actually know what to do with. Helping you is as good as anywhere else I might decide to put it.”

“Mr. Ironwoof says it’s important that we use what tools and talents are at our disposal to make life better for the people around us,” one of the twins piped up, reciting each word carefully as she parroted them, and the other added, “And Papa says that everything goes smoother when we’re willing to grease the wheels of society.”

“Can we see the baby?” the first said. “Please?”

“We picked out lots of new clothes for her! Mr. Ironwoof says babies soil their clothes really quickly and let us pick everything out ourselves!”

“Mama takes us to fashion shows all the time so we know all about what’s fashionable and stylish! You’re baby’s going to be the best dressed baby at all of her playdates!”

“We also got diapers, formula, wet wipes, and other necessities,” James said quickly. “But the girls are enthusiastic and hard to say no to.”

There were so many questions from both of them, Gyro had no time to answer any before another one was thrown his way.

James raised an eyebrow, and turned back to take his change from the cashier. Stella got Gyro’s attention with a pat to his back and whispered, “He’s got like three family legacies in his bank account, he’s loaded. Let him pay for anything he wants to.”

“I heard that,” James said. “I don’t mind paying, it’s not a big deal. Are we ready to go? Junior agreed to carry our bags to the car for us.”

“Anything to be helpful,” he said, looking right at James. Pointedly.

His gaze moved between them studiously, before—ah.

Well...at least he seemed to be in more familiar company than initially realized. Even if he apparently still didn’t have much of a chance with one of them. Oh well, better to have no chance with similar company than no chance with strangers.

Or was it actually worse? Either way...

“You sure it’s not a big deal?” Gyro asked, deciding to shift the topic. He had no idea why he insisted on pressing; especially since it meant he didn’t have to pay, but— “I...I can buy her what she needs.”