#finnava

Lance and Dot sat in their living room, idly chatting in between tasks. Lance’s eyebrows furrowed as he annotated a textbook that the Bureau would need to make an updated copy of soon. Dot, as quietly as he could, was trying to put a design on his violin, as the wood was starting to fade in color, and he’d been wanting a unique appearance for it for a while.

Just as Lance had looked up to ask Dot a question, though, Dot’s phone had rung; Finn was calling.

Dot quickly shot an apologetic look to Lance as he answered, “Hey, Finn! What’s up?”

“Hey, uhm… I don’t know how to explain this, but we just took in another kid, and… I think they’re related to you?”

“You. You think they’re what?” Dot questioned.

Lance tilted his head at Dot, who held up a hand as a response.

“It might be better if you come see for yourself.” He chuckled, “Oh, and bring Lance, if he’s not busy.”

“Uh- Sure, I guess! We’ll be there soon…?”

“Great, thanks Dot! I’ll see you in a bit, then!”

“Right..” He hung up, placing the phone back down.

“What is it?” Lance walked over.

“Apparently, a new kid Finn and Ava took in might be related to me?”

“Oh. Well, that’s.. Something.” Lance blinked.

“Yeah. He wants us to go check it out, if that’s okay?”

“Of course. I was getting tired of that book anyways.”

Dot just laughed in return, moving to get ready to go out, Lance not far behind.

~~

The two walked up to the door of the Ames Children’s Home, Dot taking a deep breath before he knocked.

Soon after, Ava opened the door, smiling at them. “Hey, thanks for coming!” He stepped aside, “Come in! Finn and Jinx are in the common room.”

“Jinx?” Lance asked.

“Oh, yeah, that’s the kid’s name!” Ava began leading them to Finn, “They don’t talk much, but also they only met us a couple hours ago, so it’s only fair.” She shrugged.

“Uh…” Dot hesitated, “Are they a boy or a girl..?”

Ava tried, and failed, to disguise her laugh as a cough, “You sound so scared to ask that! It’s fine! So, supposedly they’re intersex, at least that’s what the parents told us, and given that they’re not old enough to really identify themself either way, we’re just… sticking to the middle ground.”

Dot blinked, confused, and turned to Lance, but before he could begin to ask the question, it was already being answered.

“Intersex is having qualities of both sexes biologically. It can create changes to the genitals, to hormones, to organs, to chromosomes, etcetera. Though, Ava, do you know what variation the kid has?”

“Not sure! The parents didn’t give us much info, I think they just wanted to get rid of Jinx.” She shrugged, “At least they knew to come here, though.”

The three of them walked into the common room, where Finn stood, smiling, and greeted Lance and Dot. A small, quiet figure peeked from behind his legs.

“Hey, guys! So glad you came!”

“It’s no problem.” Lance stated, Dot nodding in agreement.

“I’m sure Ava gave you a bit of a rundown, but uh,” He stepped to the side just enough for the figure to be visible, “This is Jinx!”

Jinx silently waved at them, to which they waved back. Dot crouched down to reach their height, and began talking in a soft tone.

“Hey, kiddo! How are you doing?”

They shrugged.

“Fair enough!” He smiled, “Say, do you wanna go play a game? My friend Finn over here has some really fun ones, promise!”

After a moment, they nodded, to which Dot gave a quiet cheer and led Jinx to a different room, where he knew the games would be. When Finn had first opened the orphanage he had the main friend group help out with the layout and decor, so they all know their way around the place decently well.

Lance stayed behind with Finn and Ava, watching his husband excitedly walk away with Jinx by his side.

“Anyways!” Ava turned to the other two, “While he’s doing that, let’s have a chat.”

“Yeah, I’d like to know why you think they’re related to Dot..?” Lance asked.

“Well, we have no confirmation, but Jinx’s mom looked a lot like Malta.” Finn said, moving to sit down at the couch, Lance and Ava following.

“You didn’t get to ask anything?”

“Nah, they really wanted to leave as soon as they could, for whatever reason. They kinda seemed like they didn’t know how to raise a kid at all, which is probably why they gave Jinx up.” Ava explained, “But the mom, I think her name was Clara? Her hair was just a bit darker than Dot’s is, and she also had one of those zigzag marks.”

“Do you know anything about her magic? Or other family? Did she give you any information to go off of?”

“I overheard her talking to her husband as they were leaving, and they said something about her grandmother, but I couldn’t catch the name.” Finn sighed, “I don’t know if this hunch is actually-“

Dot marched back in the room loudly announcing, “Guys, I figured it out!”

Jinx trailed slowly behind, wincing at his booming voice. Dot turned to them with a quick apology before looking back at the others.

“Jinx’s mom is my second cousin!”

“Wait, really?” Lance asked.

“Yeah! My cousin Clara! Our grandmothers were sisters, and we grew up around each other for a while, but then Clara and her parents had to move when I was like, 8 maybe? No one ever told me why, though.” He shrugged. “I haven’t heard from her since, though. Had no idea she had a kid, or even a boyfriend!”

“They’re married, I saw rings.” Finn pointed out.

“A husband! And I never knew!” Dot laughed, “Well, that settles that, then!” He put his hands on his hips.

“Right, well, I suppose we should get going, then.” Lance stood.

Finn and Ava quickly glanced at each other before standing too, stopping the others.

“Actually,” Finn whispered, “Can I talk to you guys? Like, outside?”

“Uh… Yeah..?” Dot worried, “Is everything okay?”

Ava slipped off to go distract Jinx while Finn took Lance and Dot outside.

“What’s wrong?” Lance asked.

“Look, here’s the thing.” Finn sighed, “We wanted to make sure Dot was related to Jinx because, well… we were wondering if you two would take them in?”

Lance and Dot both froze, unblinking, at Finn’s words.

“You want us to… raise Jinx?” Lance asked after a while.

“You don’t have to! It- you know, it was a stupid question, sorry! Forget I asked that, then-“

“No, hold on, Finn.” Dot cut him off, “Why are you asking? Genuinely curious.”

“Well, uh… Clara, and her husband, they seemed, not like the best parents. I don’t think they were ready to have a kid, I figure they named Jinx that for a reason. I doubt they were abusive at all, though, just.. uncaring?” Finn paused, “And when I realized they might be related to you, I figured maybe this would give them a chance at having what they had before, but better. Two parents, no siblings, something… quaint? Smaller than an orphanage, you know? But if you don’t want to, then-“

“We’ll think about it.” Lance stated simply. “That’s not a decision that should be made on the spot. Give us a week, alright?”

Finn’s eyes lit up, “Yeah, yeah of course! However long you need!”

Dot turned to Lance, “Really? I for sure thought you’d be immediately against it.”

“Are you?”

“I mean, no, but you’re working for the Bureau a lot, I didn’t think you wanted a kid.”

“I never said I didn’t.” Lance shrugged.

“Fair enough.” Dot agreed, turning back to Finn, “Yeah, we’ll think about it, man! And, even if we decide against it, I can still come visit Jinx, right?”

“Absolutely! They’ll be safe and sound under my roof, I promise you that.”

“Awesome! Well, then, we should actually get going now.” He chuckled.