D'you ever think that Rio Morales looks at her son and thinks "when did you get so tall?" She knew that it would happen but it happened too fast, suddenly Rio has to buy new shoes and clothes for her ever growing boy. She smiles as she watches her husband happily make lunch boxes for him. "He's finally appreciating my chef expertise!" Jeff claims triumphantly. "I'm not sure if making a basic sandwhich and cutting apples are exactly chef expertise, amor." Rio teases, earning a side glance from her husband. She cackles. "Oh please, I know you're a good cook! I'm just happy he's eating, es demasiado flaco."
D'you ever think Rio sees how Miles' freckles become more apparent as he's older, how the sparse dots are not exact replicas of hers, but definitely taking after her? She sees the young man take after her lithe and slender form - maybe Miles will be lean like his mama, with her sassy side eye and pursed lips or her loud, lovely laughter. He likes that they both roll their eyes dramatically, how they both talk fast when they're passionate but seem to get comfortable in awkward lulls in conversation when nervous, how their fake laughs are always higher pitched than their real ones so he knows which jokes land. At the very least, Jeff hopes that Miles will be more like Rio. He sees so much good in his wife, his lover, his everything perfect in this world.
He thinks about how he took the chance of moving out of his "dad's" place with Aaron as soon as he got into college. Leaving the old man in his lonely place in Harlem, he didn't care if he had to wake up early to drop off Aaron to high school, he'd do it. It's not like his dad ever did it anyway when they lived with him. He was a boulder of a guy, but he hadn't really built up as much muscle as he has now at the time. Skittish, quiet, glasses - then gorgeous and confident nursing major Rio Morales came into his life and he never wanted to take someone else's last name so fast. She was like a beacon of light, specifically when things got rocky between him and Aaron. Jeff hopes Miles becomes more and more like Rio every day.
But Rio can't help but insist it's him that Miles looks more like. "He's got your forehead!" She explains, reassuring Jeff that that's a good thing. Yes, Miles and Jeff had the same forehead, the same tight curls, same full lips that would go in a deep frown when he's shocked, eyes bulging as he moves his head back and revealing a double chin (she thought it was so cute and funny.) They had the exact same smug smirk and hooded eyes when they're correct, they both had a dorky way of giggling when they were flustered, all snorts and giggling. She thinks about how their voices breaks every time they're emotional cus they're men who aren't scared to feel but still scared to show it - and with how Miles has been growing? "He'll be a giant like you, I know it!" She laughs as Jeff shakes his head.
But something in Jeff's heart aches when he sees that Miles busts a move in triumph like Aaron does, or how he smirks all charmingly when he talks to a girl - just like his lil brother back in high school. Jeff knows how Aaron's footsteps sound like when he's sneaking back into the house too late so he always catches Miles cus they sound the same. He feels something in him break when Miles smiled at him and he noticed that he got the same dimples as Aaron. What's he supposed to do when the boy walks like he's confident but too scared to really confident. He's too much like Aaron; what is Jeff supposed to do when he finds spray paint finger prints on his son's clothes just like he does when he does Aaron's laundry- oh.
He did Aaron's laundry. On Earth-42, Aaron has to remind himself of that when he sees Miles redo the laundry he folded just like how Jeff used to do. Those same hands always fiddling with something, quickly spinning his pencil while doing math problems, he's got that patient but firm tone when he explains carefully to Aaron whatever he did in Applied Physics just like how Jeff would help him with fractions as a kid. Miles G walks with his back too straight, and just like Jeff, he jumps ropes with the line that's between being endearing and being awkward when he talks to a girl. His nephew has that same, tired, far-off look in his eye that Jeff used to have, that same flickering ember that's awake enough to get up and do something right and it makes Aaron's blood run cold in fear every time he sees Miles G jump off a building too high or swing around too fast. He's too much like Jeff.
"Is he? I think he's sorta like you." Rio muses to Aaron in Earth 42. "He's all lanky like you, and likes going out late at night doing God knows what." She scoffs.
"He's doing good things, always studying and being a smartass like you." Aaron assures his sister-in-law. The two were never close, mere strangers, but a unlikely friendship had grown in the absence of Jeff; Rio had become a sort of big sister to Aaron, and he couldn't help but feel like he needed someone to guide him, even at his big age.
"He better." She pouts. In Earth 1610, Rio was telling Jeff the same thing. I mean, in every universe, Miles was their baby boy. "He's gotta have the best of us, right?"
