Y/N, like most people, didn’t know much about Kiran Blaize. The only reason he was in the public’s eye at all was because of something that happened near decades ago. Y/N pulled up some old articles on her phone that explained as much as anyone could. The headlines pieced together a fairly cohesive story.

First Baby Born in Space Loses Parents in Cosmic Event

ASTRA Mission Gone Wrong

Organization Sends Two Astronauts Up, One Child Comes Back Down

A Tragedy and a Miracle: The First Space Birth

Is John and Kristen Blaize’s Baby Legally American? Immigration Officer Weighs In

Kiran Blaize: Human or Martian?

After the first page of links on the internet browser, the articles started getting weirder and more like gossip from reality TV than an account of Kiran’s birth. Because he was the first to ever be born in space, a lot of organizations had been chomping at the bit to examine him, test him, and study him. He probably would’ve grown up in a petri dish were it not for Dr. Yamada.

ASTRA Adopts Space Baby

Can An Entire Scientific Organization Have Custody of One Child?

Tired of Dark Circles? Try This One Trick Heroes Swear By!

Memorial for John and Kristen Blaize Erected in Lightbridge

Hot Single Women in Your Area

Y/N closed out of the tab. Now it was just getting weird. Somehow, Kiran had managed to stay out of most of the limelight, even in scientific circles. ASTRA, mainly Dr. Yamada, had raised him from an infant, and trained him when his powers started to develop. Naturally, that last part had been kept under lock and key.

The doorbell ringing had Y/N setting her phone in her pocket and getting up. The guest room Kiran had gave her was spacious and well-kept, but still mostly barren of anything sentimental. Y/N had been slowly setting out what personal belongings that Apollo’s Guild had been able to recover for her. At least her wardrobe had survived the trip. She couldn’t imagine wearing the designer clothes that Kiran sported.

She made her way down to the foyer, where Kiran greeted a small group of people Y/N didn’t quite recognize.

“Merry Christmas, Kiran!” a girl with brown hair and blue eyes beamed.

“Merry Christmas, Laurel,” Kiran said, moving aside to let the girl in.

Laurel stepped through the doorway, nearly wobbling from the weight of several brightly-colored packages and bags with festive tissue paper sticking out.

“Oh, hi! You must be Y/N!” Laurel greeted, “Kiran, where can I set these down?”

Kiran came over to help while a girl with wild, curly red hair zipped inside on roller skates, followed by a young man with blond hair and a deep-green turtleneck sweater. Finally, Dr. Yamada entered the house, closing the door behind the lot of them.

“Merry Christmas!” he said, “I bring supplies!”

He held a wrapped, glazed ham that needed cooking. He also balanced fresh rolls in his other hand the way a waiter would.

“Hey, Y/N~” the red-haired girl greeted, untying her roller skates and setting them by the door, “Merry Christmas!”

“Hi,” Y/N said politely, “…have we met?”

Her eyes went wide.

“No! Nope! We, uh, we have definitely not met,” she said, “I did not meet you, and you did not meet me. I know your name because-”

“I told Coral about you,” Kiran finished, coming up to them, “and showed her some pictures of us.”

Kiran’s tone was light, and his expression cheerful, but the hand he put on Coral’s shoulder squeezed a little harder than what was considered congenial.

“Heh, yeah, of course,” Coral said, “that’s what I was gonna say. Sorry, I’m kinda all over the place today.”

“You’re telling me,” Kiran sighed, releasing her.

…

Everyone was seated in the living room, save for Dr. Yamada, who busied himself in the kitchen.

Merit, that was the blond man in the turtleneck, turned his head in the direction of a cry.

“Dr. Yamada?” he called.

“I need Kiran,” he said, “now!”

Kiran got up and Y/N followed. She wasn’t a professional chef or anything, but if the man needed help, then she’d of course try to oblige.

Dr. Yamada looked sadly at the glazed ham in the open oven, which had completely turned off. The digital clock wasn’t even showing.

“It never finished cooking, it’s underdone still!” Dr. Yamada said, “Kiran, I need you to-”

“Way ahead of you,” Kiran said.

He folded his hands in front of him, stretching. Then he formed a fireball between his hands.

“Stand back, Y/N,” he said, grinning with something akin to wicked glee in his eyes.

Within seconds, the ham came up to the desired temperature, and was evenly and perfectly cooked throughout. Kiran blew smoke from his fingertips.

“You’re welcome,” he said, “Christmas is saved.”

He looked like he was going to gloat some more when a grimace came over his features. Y/N tilted her head. The expression was gone in an instant, replaced by a triumphant smirk.

“I want the first slice for my trouble, Horatio,” he said.

“Oh yes, all that trouble.” Dr. Yamada rolled his eyes, “how tedious that must have been for you, almost as bad as blinking. Dinner’s ready!”

Everyone gathered in the dining room. Merit sat on one end of the table, and, at Dr. Yamada’s request, said grace.

A few slices of ham found their way to each plate, along with mashed potatoes, buttered rolls, cooked vegetables, and drinks ranging from sparkling grape juice to actual wine.

Y/N tried to focus on eating, but she could swear she heard a few winces escape Kiran as he sat next to her.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Fine,” Kiran said, “just a little…argh!”

He clutched his side and curled inward.

“Kiran?” Laurel asked.

“It’s nothing,” he said, “just a stomachache…”

He tried sitting up straight, but that brought tears to his eyes, which made him curl in tighter.

“Oh my gosh,” he breathed.

By this point, Merit had jumped up from his seat, along with everyone else.

“I’m good, I’m good,” Kiran panted, “don’t make a fuss over-hhng!”

Merit pulled Kiran’s chair out with him in it. He pried his fingers from over his right side.

“Kiran, does it hurt when I-”

Kiran howled at the feather-light touch Merit made over his side.

“Yes!” he cried through gritted teeth.

“You don’t think it’s-” Coral started.

“That’s exactly what I think it is,” Merit said, lifting Kiran into a bridal carry.

It was clear Kiran was trying not to scream. His eyes screwed shut and he bit his lip until blood dribbled down his chin.

“I’m calling an ambulance,” Laurel said.

“No!” Kiran and Merit shouted.

“Secret identity,” Kiran bit out.

“And they won’t get here in time,” Merit said.

He glanced at Y/N.

“I’m taking him to the med bay at the base,” he announced.

“Merit!” Laurel exclaimed; her eyes bounced to Y/N and back to Merit.

“She was going to find out eventually,” Merit said.

Merit ran through the front door and jumped into the air… and stayed there. He flew up, up, up, until he was several feet off the ground.

“Meet me there as soon as you can,” Merit said.

…

Kiran felt like his stomach was being stabbed with a knife bigger than his arm. His breathing was labored and shallow. He dared not take a deep breath, that only made the pain worse. He was distantly aware of Merit laying him down in an operating room, while guild doctors surrounded him.

“I know this is short-notice,” Merit said, “thank you for coming on a holiday, I know that-”

“You’d do it for us, Resonance,” one of the doctors said.

Something cold pierced Kiran’s skin, and then ice flooded his veins. Someone manhandled him into lying flat, and he screamed. He felt one of the doctors lift his shirt up and clean the area with an alcohol pad.

“What’re you-”

“Count backwards from ten,” the other doctor instructed.

“Why-”

“Do what she says, Kiran,” Merit said.

“Ten…nine…”

Kiran never got to eight. The lights faded above him, and then… nothing.

…

“You can come in now, Y/N,” Merit said.

Y/N shuffled into the recovery room. Coral, Laurel, Dr. Yamada, and herself had all piled into the scientist’s little red Miata and blitzed off to the Apollo’s Guild base. Oddly enough, Dr. Yamada never put his hands on the wheel.

“Appuru,” he had said, “take us to the guild please.”

Some blinking lights and some beeping noises, and the car had roared to life.

“Quickly, if you don’t mind.”

At that point, little rockets had popped out of the back of the car, and they were at their destination in under five minutes.

Kiran’s operation had taken much longer. Almost forty-five minutes. Appendicitis, the doctors had said. His appendix had been minutes away from bursting. If Merit hadn’t acted when he did, Kiran would likely have died from complications like peritonitis or sepsis. There were a lot of other fancy words the doctors used, and while Y/N wasn’t one hundred percent sure what they all meant, the general meaning got across: Kiran had been very, very lucky.

As Y/N stood in the doorway, she noticed how small Kiran looked in the bed. Kiran had never seemed so small before. Small, weak, fragile. Y/N hadn’t really registered before that even superheroes weren’t invincible. Now, however, it was crystal clear.

“Heyyyy,” Kiran slurred.

“Hi,” Y/N said.

She approached his bed.

“How do you feel?”

“Tired,” Kiran admitted, “really tired. Am I dreaming?”

Y/N held back a chuckle.

“No, you’re awake,” she said.

“Ohhhhh. Am I dead?”

“Nope.”

“Ohhhh. Well then how’d you get in here?”

“What do you mean?”

“Angels don’t show up unless you’re dreaming or dead,” Kiran mumbled, making a lot of clumsy gestures with his hands, “so, like, are you on a Christmas mission or something?”

Pink rose into Y/N’s cheeks. She stammered, looking for something appropriate to say to the clearly inebriated superhero.

Dr. Yamada entered the room.

“Daaaaad.” Kiran beamed.

Dr. Yamada didn’t show a visible reaction beyond his gaze softening. He sat down at Kiran’s bedside and produced a blanket he had been carrying under his arm.

“You scared us, Kiran,” he said, tucking the blanket around him, “you need to rest for some time. I’m telling you now before you can weasel your way out of it. No arguing.”

“Awwwww…”

Dr. Yamada fixed Merit with a questioning look.

“He’s on the good stuff.” Merit shrugged.

“He must be. Surrender isn’t his style.”

Coral and Laurel would stop by later to check on him. Merit would arrange guest rooms for Y/N and Dr. Yamada, but they would barely use them, opting instead to stay in Kiran’s hospital room for most of the night.

The Christmas presents sat neglected on a side table in Kiran’s house. It looked like the festivities were going to be stretched across a couple weeks.

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