#rudanyo

“I believe what Yori is saying is that the child's name is Kidd,” Dax figured. “Yes,” Yori said. “Captain Kidd Fyse is their whole name but they invited us to call them Kidd.” “Oh… I see. A very…creative name,” Nathan said. “So, even as a male, you can bear children?” “I'm a spirit. My body is as I want it to be,” Yori said. “I'm only male because my boyfriends are homosexual.” “That’s quite fascinating,” Dax said. “I was curious of any distinction between you and I but it seems to be clear now. You are not a vessel for a spirit as I am but the spirit yourself taken physical form.” “Correct. I am me. But you are two.” Nathan furrowed his brow. “You've lost me.” Dax smiled and patted Nathan's shoulder. “I'm sorry, Nathan. To be more clear… I am myself, a human, Dax. But residing within me is the spirit of the thunderbird. It is a part of me but it does not belong to me. Yori on the other hand is a spirit on his own taking a form of his choice, not bound to a human vessel. Does that clear it up?” “Yeah, I guess.” Yori went to the hall. “I'll get my children. They're next door.” “We'd love to meet them,” Dax said smiling. Yori smiled and slipped away. Dax looked around and spotted a family portrait on the mantle. “Ooh, these must be the boyfriends… The tall one is hot stuff, look.” He handed the picture frame to Nathan who took it reluctantly. “I don’t think we should touch their stuff.” “Nonsense, we're not going to break it or anything,” Dax said going through some of the other photos. “Baby pictures! So cute! They all look so alike and yet so different…” “We're going to see them in a minute, sit down,” Nathan said. “We won’t get to see them as babies,” Dax said waving the picture frame before placing it back down. “These kids are so cute. They clearly look like Yori so does that mean they're spirits like him? Or half?” “You'll have to ask them I guess,” Nathan said. “Of course. And what do you think of these boyfriends?” Dax said. “Do you think they're all in love with each other or do you think there's a focus? I have a feeling Yori's the focus but then again these two look like they could be a cute couple too…” “I really don’t want to make assumptions about other people's relationships,” Nathan said. “Fair enough. I wonder which one does the most cooking…” Yori reappeared with his three children following behind him like ducklings. They were all practically moving in sync though the girl stuck her tongue out at them. “These are my children. In order of first born to last: Marco, Skylar and Rowan.” They waved as their names were said. Dax got up and placed his hands on his hips, the teacher's sign for 'I'm you're superior but I respect you and am open to your thoughts and feelings and you can ask me anything'. A good first move Nathan thought to himself. “Look at the brilliant bunch you are. You look like you'll be little stars in my class. Marco, Skylar and Rowan. Beautiful names.” “My name's a tree!” Rowan said gleefully putting his arms straight up in the air. “That it is. You're a smart one as I'm sure you all are,” Dax said. “My name is Mr. Olivier. I'm going to be your teacher this year.” “I thought Mama was gonna be the teacher,” Marco said tugging on Yori's pants. “You're the teacher, right?” “I'm going to be a teacher but not for you,” Yori said pouting. “No, whyyy?” Marco whined. “You said you were gonna be a teacher so you'd be with us.” “They gave me a different class.” “I wanna be in that class then!” Skylar said and her triplets agreed. “I was told you're too old for my class.” “But your Mama's gonna be at the school with you every day,” Dax assured them. “You're a lot luckier than other kids for that. They don’t get to see their moms or dads at school.” “But they'll get to see our Mama more than us at school,” Rowan said. “Not all the kids. And besides, you'll have him here at home with you. The other kids don’t get that.” “I guess that's okay…” Rowan said. “Who're you?” Skylar asked suddenly pointing at Nathan. “Me? Oh, I'm another teacher,” Nathan said standing up. “I'm Mr. Cassidy. I'll be teaching Senior Kindergarten.” “What's that?” Skylar asked. “Uh it's preschool for five year olds.” “He'll teach Kidd,” Yori said. “Kidd won't be in our class?” Rowan asked. “No, you're two years older than them,” Yori explained. “That means they're in a different class.” “Aw… I wanna play with Kidd at school,” Marco said. “You can at recess,” Yori said. “Well, actually, the kindergarten classes will likely have a different recess time than you, so they won’t play at the same time…” Dax explained. “We don’t get to play with Kidd?” Skylar whined. “No, I'm sorry…” Nathan said. “But you always have time at home to play with them. He or she is your cousin right?” “Yeah.” “Not he or she,” Yori said. “Kidd is a Yulinian.” “Oh. But they're cousins?” Nathan asked. “Yeah, not entirely.” Another man showed up as if out of nowhere carrying a blue skinned child. “My brother made that one,” he said pointing to Marco. “And I made this one.” He placed the child who Nathan assumed was Kidd on the floor. “I'm Lino.” Nathan put out his hand. “Nathan Cassidy. So Kidd is your child?” “Yep. They're half me—I'm a human by the way—and half my tall blue babe…” Lino looked behind him finding no one. “Vi! Hurry up!” The Yulinian caught up to him carrying a tray of cookies. “Sorry, I wanted to check these were baked through before I brought them… Um, yes, hello. I'm Vi. Lino's partner. Kidd is our offspring.” Nathan shook the Yulinian's hand. “Do you have preferred pronouns?” From meeting a couple at the school, Nathan had learned to many Yulinians had chosen binary genders to fit in more on Earth. “Oh, he/him please,” Vi said. “Kidd on the other hand uses they/them at this time. We understand that there may be some confusion among the other children but we've discussed it with Kidd and they don't mind if there is some misgendering so long as there is correction.” “I will do my best to make sure Kidd is represented properly,” Nathan said. “I may even have other Yulinians in my class.” “Yeah, we're not likely the weirdest family with kids in this school…” Lino said. “I keep telling Vi not to worry about this stuff.” “It's okay to be concerned,” Nathan said. “Every parent worries about these kinds of things.” “Also, I feel like adding that I consider myself Kidd's mother despite identifying male and not having born them myself,” Vi said. “My own mother was not directly related to me but they were my caregiver and the one who facilitated my travel to Earth and in their spirit, I'd like to be the same for Kidd.” “I tried to tell him a dad is the same but he doesn’t listen,” Lino said. “The majority of my existence is listening, it's Yulinian culture,” Vi said. “But I came to my own conclusion about my position in Kidd's life.” Nathan smiled a nodded. “I understand. Thank you for sharing that with me.” “I've been researching Earth education systems and while I believe early learning is heavily simplified at a time when the brain is at it's keenest to learn the deepest complexities of life, I'm sure that your teachings along with supplementary learning at home will be adequate in giving Kidd an education relatively strong enough for them to succeed in their future pursuits of knowledge,” Vi said patting Nathan on the shoulders. “Uh, we probably won't be assigning homework in kindergarten,” Nathan said. “I know you won't. I meant the learning I will provide to Kidd in our home. Yulinian education. While the children can learn the necessary social skills to interact with their peers in your class, at home Kidd will advance their academic knowledge.” “You don't think that might be too much for one child to handle? Social interactions won't be the only thing we're learning. We'll be starting in math and writing and early French Immersion in our class.” “The French will be useful, but you needn't teach Kidd writing or math,” Vi explained. “They already write and calculate at a secondary level by human standards.” “…They're five,” Nathan said. “Four, but yes, a little behind for that age but we have to take into account genealogy…” Vi said tilting his head towards Lino. “Hey,” Lino huffed. “Um, children are supposed to be five years of age going into senior kindergarten,” Nathan said. “Does Kidd turn five this year?” “No, they turned four in June. We already talked to the school about this. I wanted them bumped up several grades but Lino pointed out that they wouldn't fit in with the other kids socially so we settled on advancing Kidd by one grade year.” “You know, senior kindergarten isn't even mandatory,” Nathan said. “Look, dude. Since the moment my kid was born, Vi's been trying to teach them physics and calculus,” Lino said. “Kidd needs a break. They need to go out and play and have some freaking fun. Watching them study is driving me insane.” “I want to go to school,” Kidd murmured. “And they want to go to school,” Lino said. “There's that too. Probably the most important.” “Marco, Skylar and Rowan go to school and I miss them,” Kidd said. “You won't be in their class though,” Lino said. “But there'll be other kids to meet,” Nathan assured them. “You'll have a lot of kids to make friends with.” “Okay…” Kidd pouted. Skylar swooped in and picked them up from behind. “You can't have Kidd! Kidd's ours!” she yelled before running off upstairs followed by her brothers. Lino chuckled while Vi worriedly went after them. “Kids are so crazy.” “So… Captain Kidd was it?” Nathan asked. “Probably the most unique name I'll have taught.” Lino shrugged. “Pirates are cool, dude. What can I say? And Vi turned down a lot of the other super cool names I had lined up…” “You seem like a carefree kind of guy,” Dax said. “I like that.” “And who're you again?” Lino asked. “Dax Olivier. Second grade teacher and Head of French Immersion,” Dax introduced himself. “I'll be teaching your niece and nephews.” “Are you French then?” “Québécois Métis,” Dax confirmed. “And yourself? Lino and Marco sounds…Italian or Hispanic but there seems to be more going on.” “Guess,” Lino said. “Lino Mannan. My brother’s name is Dante.” “Mannan. That sounds…” Dax tapped his chin. “Indian Italian?” “Bingo,” Lino said. “What a unique mix,” Dax said. “Which parent is which?” “My mom's from Florence. My dad's from Dubai. They met in Florence when my dad tried to hawk her an umbrella.” “That was some pretty good hawking,” Dax said. “Yeah. My dad could sell a calculus textbooks to a high school dropout.” “Must be a remarkable salesperson,” Dax said. “Requires an incredible amount of charisma and tact.” “You sound like we're playing a game of D&D.” The front door opened and the triplets came running down the stairs yelling ‘Papa'. The visitors turned to look as another man, similar to Lino came in. He grinned to the children and tousled their hair. “Hey, how are you guys? Did Mama bring us home some guests?” he asked waving to Dax and Nathan. “Yeah!” Marco said. “They're gonna be our teachers!” “Ooh, are you excited?” “Yeah!” Skylar exclaimed. “You must be Dante,” Dax said smiling. “I'm Dax Olivier and this is my new colleague, Nathan Cassidy.” Dante stood up straight and walked into the living room to meet them. “It's nice to meet you. Yori told me he'd bring home one teacher, not two.” “I'm going to be teaching your… I'll be teaching Kidd,” Nathan said. “Ah. Now I see.” Dante smiled and shook his hand. “I think the word you were looking for is ‘nibling'.” “Nibling. That's definitely a new one for me,” Nathan said. “Yeah, don't know when it came into use but a lot of dictionaries recognize it so we use it,” Dante said. “I think it's cute,” Dax said. “Now I'll have to look up something for French…” “Mr. Olivier was it?” Dante asked offering his hand. “You can call me Dax.” Dante jumped a little when their hands touched. “Oh, static…” “No, that's just me,” Dax said. “I'm sorry, you're probably the tenth person I shocked today…” “Oh, no that's alright…” Dante rubbed his hands together. “How does that kind of thing...come about?” “Oh, I'm a thunderbird,” Dax said. “The spirit within sometimes likes to meet people too…with little shocks.” “Oh. That sounds really cool,” Dante said smiling. “So, like, are you able to turn into a bird like Yori can be a dog?” “Us too!” Skylar said before transforming into a shiba inu puppy coming right out of her clothes, her brother following her lead right after. The bunch of them started running around their parents' legs. Yori chuckled and joined them, becoming a slightly bigger shiba and chasing them. Dante sighed. “Kids, when you turn back, bring your clothes to a private room, please. We're not getting naked in front of the guests.” The pups yipped in agreement and started to wrestle.

“That's incredible,” Nathan mumbled, still just in awe of the transformations he'd just seen. It made him feel weak, unable to transform at will, unable to even remember what happens when he does. These kids could do pretty much whatever they wanted as puppy without any restrictions really. “To answer your question,” Dax said addressing Dante. “Sort of. The whole bird thing is a bit of a learning curve for me. Unlike your partner and children, I don't have much control over transformation… It's sort of like the thunderbird takes over. But I have some choice of when it happens… Used to be if there was a thunderstorm, the bird took over and I was lost until the storm was over. But now I can hold my own through those kind of events but I might get a little…sparky.” “What if that happens during class?” Dante asked looking concerned. “I can assure you, should this occur during school hours, your children will not be in harm’s way,” Dax said. “I am constantly well aware of the barometric pressure and have discussed procedures with the school on handling the situation and substitution on such days.” “Well, alright… If you're sure it's safe.” “The very last thing I'd want for my students is for them to get hurt,” Dax said. “I've been teaching for four years now with no incident.” Lino bumped shoulders with Nathan. “Hey, seems like these teachers at this school have a lot of powers or whatever. You got something?” Nathan blinked and then panicked. “Uh, um…” “It's a bit personal for a lot of us revealing our species or powers or what have you,” Dax cut in. “While I don’t mind discussing mine with you, I believe Nathan expressed earlier that he rather not talk about it. Security of identity. I'm sure you can understand.” Lino shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. Personal's personal… Unless you're dangerous.” Nathan rubbed his arm. “I—” “If he were dangerous, he wouldn't have been hired,” Dax cut in again. “None of us would. However danger is relative. A normal human being can be just as dangerous as any other. But this is school we’re taking about. Student safety is number one.” “Alright, alright, chill,” Lino said holding up his hands. “ Are you gonna have some of Vi's cookies or what?” It seemed everyone had forgotten the treats the Yulinian had brought out. Nathan took one and took a bite but Dax passed. “I wouldn't want to spoil dinner,” Dax said. “I've been told I eat like a bird…” “Dinner might be a while if we have to wait for Slenderman,” Lino said. “He means our partner Ruben,” Dante said punching his brother's arm. “Ruben's on his way so I'm going to start dinner. How many are we?” He lightly pointed to everyone then twice upstairs (counting Vi and Kidd) and then adding the missing boyfriend. He paused. “Uh, Lino…” Lino raised an eyebrow. “Eh?” “Is, um, is Dusty joining us?” “Do you want him to?” “I…I don't mind either way. I just need to know how many mouths we're feeding.” “I can ask him.” “Please.” Nathan blinked, and watched as Lino left the room. This household only seemed to be getting bigger by the minute. “Nathan, Dax, do you want to help me pick a dinner?” Dante said. “We have a couple food restrictions in the house so I want to make sure everyone's happy.” “Sure, that sounds good,” Dax said patting Nathan's back. “I'm sure whatever you make will be delicious but we'll be happy to assist.” Nathan nodded, following them into the kitchen. Dante took out a big rolodex of recipes from the cupboard and started flipping. “Vi is a pescatarian so if you're down for seafood, that'll make this easiest,” Dante said. “And the kids are picky too so I gotta keep the vegetables sneaky…” “I am always down for seafood,” Nathan said with Dax nodding in agreement. Dante pulled out a couple cards. “I have the stuff for these… Seafood Paella, Lemon Parmesan Spaghetti and Shrimp , Shrimp and Crab Fettuccine...” “That last one sounds delicious,” Dax said. “Nathan?” “I can't believe you'd cook crab and shrimp for us this far inland,” Nathan said. “It's not a big deal. Lino buys a haul of seafood regularly so we have lots,” Dante said. “They have a bit more disposable income…” He leaned over and opened the pantry. “Fettuccine, Fettuccine… Ah, there…” Dax peeped into the pantry and his jaw dropped. “That is an entire grocery store of pasta.” Dante chuckled. “Well… We are Italian… And Ruben loves pasta a lot too so we keep all sorts. The dry pasta lasts a long time though I prefer fresh… But who has time to make fresh pasta all the time?” Nathan raised an eyebrow. “…Pasta can go bad?” “Yes, of course,” Dante said. “I mean, dry pasta has usually a couple years of shelf life, but it does go bad. And before then it'll lose a lot of it's flavour so you gotta keep track.” “I think I have a box of elbows in the cupboard from 2003…” Nathan said. “…Yeah, throw that out? Or you can make some art with it…” Dante pointed to the macaroni pictures on his fridge. “So cute,” Dax commented. “Rowan's the little artist,” Dante said pointing to the little orange paw print in the corner. “Marco's and Skylar's didn't…survive.” “Do tell.” “You've heard of 'my dog ate my homework'?” “Ah.” Nathan moved over near the fridge. “Would you like us to help prep anything?” “Uh, sure, let me get everything out and then see what I have for you to do,” Dante said, going to the fridge to grab more ingredients. He set them up with a few small things to do like cutting and washing vegetables while he boiled and started the pasta. After a bit Lino came back with news. “I asked Dusty if he wanted to join us all for dinner and he stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth and said he'd already eaten.” “Jeez, alright,” Dante said. “That's fine, but maybe make sure he actually eats something good. Grey too. Maybe I'll make extra anyway…” “Yeah, he'd probably like that.” Lino turned to go but Dante took his arm. “Actually, could you stir this pasta for a minute? I'm gonna go talk to him,” Dante said, directing his brother into the spot where he'd been standing. “Alright, be quick.” Dante nodded and left. “Is this more family?” Dax asked. “Who, Dusty?” Lino started stirring. “Family friend. He's living with me.” “And he doesn’t want to eat with us?” “Naw. It's complicated.” “And Grey?” “His kid.” “Will we be seeing him in school?” “Naw, he's three.” “We will have daycare services if he's interested.” “Doubt it. They're stuck together like glue. Dusty's really protective.” “Ah. Is he employed?” “Looking but he doesn’t have many human skills.” “Hmm… Perhaps he should enroll in trade school?” “Everyone’s solution to everything seems to be school these days…” “I mean, we are teachers so we're a little biased…” Dax patted Nathan's shoulder. “School doesn't always work for everyone,” Nathan said. “But we live in an age where education level is often prioritised by well paying employment… Does he have a high school degree?” “I don't even know,” Lino said. “He probably doesn't even have a résumé.” “Geez, with a child too…” Dax rubbed his neck. “It must be hard.” “That's not even the beginning of it,” Lino said. “Oh please, do tell,” Dax said curiously. “Well…” Lino looked like he was gonna say something but Dante came back a moment later. “Yeah, it's not really my business to talk about that stuff.” “Alright, alright…” Dante frowned. “Were you talking about Dusty?” “Maybe,” Lino said. “Leave him alone, Lino,” Dante said. “His business isn't ours to just talk about.” “That's what I was saying,” Lino said. “Yeesh.” Dante gave his brother a look but went back to the pot. “You're stirring it too much. Let it sit for a minute.” Lino dropped the spoon handle and backed off so his brother could take over. “Sorry.” “Could you go set the table or something?” Dante said. “I'll help,” Dax said. “Sure.” Lino looked around. “So with the kids makes ten, right?” “I believe so,” Dante answered. “Alright, we need to puts some leaves in,” Lino said waving Dax to follow him into the dining room and that he did. “Ugh, they're just gonna gossip about Dusty…” Dante sighed, getting out the shrimp and crab from the freezer. “Yeah, Dax seems to be a very…curious guy.” “You were going to say nosy.” “Yeah…” “Funny after that speech he said about personal info…” “Well, I mean he knew talking about my condition makes me uncomfortable… So I guess he just…checks himself when he knows he's overstepping.” Dante glanced over at Nathan. “Or he likes you…” “…What?” “Hmph… He was overstepping with Dusty.” “Oh. Yeah I guess so.” Dante sighed and rubbed his neck. “Dusty's a complicated situation. But he's going through hard times and the last thing he needs is people sticking their nose in his business.” “I understand,” Nathan said. Dax and Lino came back to get napkins and utensils to set the table. Dante and Nathan were nearly done when Ruben finally got home. Once again the kids swarmed him, back in human form again, and Yori greeted him at the door giving him a kiss. Ruben let Yori climb onto his back and carried him into the kitchen. He gave Dante a kiss and rested his chin on his shoulder. “Rube, this is Nathan Cassidy,” Dante said introducing the teacher. “He'll be teaching Kidd in the Fall.” “Nice to meet you, Ruben,” Nathan said. “And you,” Ruben said, letting go off one of Yori's legs to shake Nathan's hand. Nathan though Yori would've slipped but apparently he had a good grip on his partner. “I thought Yori was bringing home the triplets' teacher.” “I did,” Yori said pointing towards the dining room. “He's setting up the table.” “Ah. ‘Scuse us then,” Ruben said heading on through to the dining room. Vi came to the kitchen carrying Kidd with him on his back. “Ah, it smells so good in here.” “I'm sure you know exactly what we're making,” Dante said. “Yes, shrimp and crab,” Vi said, smiling. “Crab is my favourite. We have a species back on Yulin called tren and it's so absolutely succulent.” “Well this isn't tren of course, but it's top shelf for sure,” Dante assured him. “We're pretty much done. Could you help plate it with me? I'm not sure how much Kidd'll eat.” “Who knows. Sometimes Kidd's really hungry and sometimes they eat like they'd already come from a feast,” Vi says. “I feel like the triplets have something to do with that,” Dante said. “I know they have their own stash of snacks somewhere in their room… They've probably been sharing with Kidd even though I told them it's not as good for Kidd as it is for the triplets.” Nathan strained the pasta and sea food for them so they could start serving dinner. Dante called Yori to call the kids for dinner and then the food was brought out. The kids all sat on one side with their booster seats. Vi sat on one end so he could watch Kidd and Yori sat at the other without a plate. “You're not eating?” Dax asked Yori as he sat down beside Nathan. Yori shook his head. “I don't eat this kind of food.” “As a spirit, Yori only gets energy from sugar,” Dante said. “He'll eat when we bring out dessert.” “Why don't you eat it now then?” Nathan asked. “We don't like to encourage the kids into thinking they can have sugar instead of dinner,” Ruben said. “While they do benefit from sugar like Yori, they still need nutrition from healthy foods.” “How fascinating,” Dax said. “Perhaps, I'll have to discuss dietary differences with my class. I'm sure there are other students who will have their own health needs…” “That's probably a good idea,” Dante said. “We've had other parents look at us like we're spoiling our kids and it's hard to explain that they need more sugar without discussing their species…” “Well, at APID E you can be sure species or condition shouldn't be a problem since everyone will be different in such regards,” Dax ensured. “It's the whole point of it's foundation.” “It is a relief,” Dante said. “Not having to try and hide everything…” “Rumours went around school last year about the pups being dogs,” Ruben said. “Kids tried to pick on them about it. You know…'Teacher's Pet'.” “Oh, no… That must've been terrible,” Nathan said. “Not really,” Skylar piped up. “Well, not really for them,” Dante said giving them the eye. “The keyword was ‘tried'… They didn’t really seem to care. Of course we got calls from their teacher to talk about how our children were acting like dogs in class…” The triplets all smiled innocently. “It was hard to reason with the teacher,” Dante said. “Pretty sure she didn’t like us on Day 1 because of our family…format.” “It's sad to see bias on the part of educators,” Dax said. “Their job is to open kids minds to endless possibilities of learning, but how can they, when they can't be open minded themselves?” “Preach,” Ruben said. Dax pushed his hair off his shoulder. “In my own experience as a two spirited teacher, I have found an unfortunate amount of resistance from my peers… However there are many allies within the education system.” “Two spirited?” Nathan asked in slight confusion. “Do you mean having the spirit of the thunderbird?” “No, no… Well, in a way, yes, I suppose I'm two spirited that way…” Dax rubbed his chin. “But when I say two spirited, I refer to the native term, having both the male and female spirit. It's a very traditional concept. It is often used in the indigenous community as an umbrella term for any LGBTQ+ members.” “So you're native?” Ruben asked. “Wouldn't have guessed.” “Well, my father is of French Canadian heritage and I was mainly raised by him,” Dax said. “It wasn’t until I exhibited signs of thunderbird heritage that my father revealed my background. At that time, I met my mother's family and learned about my roots.” “Thunderbird,” Ruben said in an inquisitive tone. “Right, you weren’t here earlier,” Dax said. “The spirit of the thunderbird dwells within me. It is a sacred spirit that is born into a new host every time the old host dies.” “What's it do?” “Long story short, I can turn into a big electric bird, and occasionally zap people in this form,” Dax explained. “Oh, that's pretty cool,” Ruben said. While they ate, Nathan kept his eye on the clock. Since it hadn't taken a while for Ruben to get home, it had started getting late and Nathan really didn’t want to turn wolf on this family. He ate somewhat quickly but waited for everyone while still trying to be polite. Once the meal was over, he did his best not to involve himself in any after dinner activities but he still agreed to wash the dishes with Dax when he offered. “Now slow down a minute,” Dax said as Nathan was vigorously drying dishes. “You're going to burn a hole in those plates. Don't rush.” “Sorry…” Nathan said. “I just… I kind of have to get home soon. I have to clean up a bit.” “We can leave soon, don't worry,” Dax said. “I'll drive you home.” “Oh, you don't have to do that,” Nathan said. “I know my way from here.” “No, I'll be headed out soon too so I might as well drive you.” “Alright, thanks.” Yori walked into the kitchen and hopped up on the counter. “You're leaving soon?” “Yeah, the two of us have to get home,” Dax said. “Okay. Take some leftovers. I'll let my family know,” Yori said, sliding off the table and going back to the living room. They finished up the dishes and packed up a Tupperware each of leftovers before heading to the door. “Heading out?” Ruben said, walking up with Skylar clinging to his leg. He shook their hands. “I'm sorry I was so late and couldn't get to hang out more.” “It's no worries, we'll be seeing you around Parent Teacher meetings?” Dax suggested. “More of a Dante thing. I'll be there for pickup and dropoff.” “Alright, I'll see you around,” Dax said. Lino appeared to wave them off. “See ya. Nathan, you'll keep a good eye on my Kidd, won't you?” “Of course. See you around.” Lino nodded and disappeared and Ruben watched them until they got to Dax's car. Nathan glanced up and groaned seeing the moon hanging heavy in the setting sky. He got into Dax's passenger seat and put the sun visor down, as if that would help.

Dante spent the most time worrying about it. After all it was him and pretty much only him keeping their family organised. He'd started to keep records and folders on the kids, notable information on their growth and development. They'd started seeing a pediatrician recommended by Vi's doctor who was familiar with children of nonhuman or “beyond human” birth, as they put it. He'd learned more about Yori and what his existence was. Apparently, as a spirit brought forth from desires and not the death of someone or something, he was classified as a cryptid, and not as a ghost as they would have guessed. Ruben found him one night going through the papers. Since moving, he had office space now to work on things and keep the family stuff sorted so he was often hard at work there. “Hey, stop being a mom for a minute and hang out with me,” Ruben said coming up and wrapping his arms around Dante's shoulders. “You need a break.” Dante sighed and leaned back. “I'm actually learning some really interesting things. I found a book that actually talks about Yori's kind. They're really rare but often manifest to fulfill the desires of human beings.” Ruben rolled his eyes. “Yeah, uh huh. We know that. He did that for us.” “I know but I mean, that's literally everything he is. Just a wish fulfiller.” “Like a genie.” “No, I mean… Okay, not a wish fulfiller. He is a wish fulfillment.” “Again, we basically know that,” Ruben said. “This isn’t knew.” “Listen. He's classified as an innocuous spirit, so technically his existence is protected by the government and he doesn’t need documentation because he doesn’t belong to any nation in particular. He is a citizen of the whole world.” “Great. So do our kids get it too?” “Yep. They are dog spirit enough. Fay has that status too, as in the citizen of the world thing, though he does have documentation since he is a more corporeal being and is not so harmless.” Ruben grunted. “So how do I get on the list?” “You cannot.” “What if I die and become a ghost?” “Not only do ghosts not get that permission, but they're bound to locations or people so you wouldn’t be able to run free anyway.” “Fine. Get up. We're going out,” Ruben said before kissing his neck. “Out? Where?” “I dunno, movie? Drinking? Whatever you want.” “Rube, we have a schedule. Is Yori coming? Who'll watch the kids?” “Vi'll watch the kids. Let's go.” “You'll have to get off my shoulders for me to get up.” Ruben huffed and just picked Dante up and into his arms, causing the other to let a cry of shock before chuckling a bit. “Hey… Don’t do that without warning.” “It wouldn't be fun if I did,” Ruben said kissing Dante's cheek and carrying him out to the hall. Dante’s office was on the second floor of the house with two other rooms on that floor as well as a bathroom. Another floor up was their master bedroom, and on the main floor an open concept kitchen, living and dining room. With Vi’s income, money really wasn’t an issue and they ended with two detached homes sharing a backyard and a door on the shared wall for coming and going. Dante smiled and wrapped his arms around Ruben’s neck as he was carried down the stairs. “…Can you believe this is our home now?” Ruben shook his head. “If you told me a couple years ago that this is how I’d be living, a house, two boyfriends and three too many kids, I’d’ve punched you in the face. Then probably shoot up and make myself believe that was my reality anyway… Though I don’t think my imagination would’ve come up with dog spirits being involved. Maybe aliens and mermaids…” “I heard they got a man trapped in a slime body at the EID now,” Dante said. “No fair. I want that.” “Really?” “I mean, if he can control the slime… You could make any body part any shape and size,” Ruben said. “Oh, because you have a small dick.” Ruben huffed. “I have a good sized dick! Bigger than yours… But anything can be improved upon.” “Right.” On the main floor, the house was uncomfortably quite. The only thing that could be heard was Lino’s TV program next door. “Where’s Yori and the kids?” Ruben asked. Dante checked his watch. “Hm, naptime. Yori hasn’t come up with a designated nap area yet in this house so they could be anywhere.” Ruben put him down so they could look around. After a considerable amount of searching, Dante found them curled up together in the corner between the couch and the love seat in the living room. While the kids were in their puppy form, Yori was human and cuddling them in his bathrobe. Dante smiled and rubbed his cheek to wake him up. “Mmm?” Yori murmured. “…Yes?” “Hey, sorry to wake you,” Dante said. “But, uh, Ruben wants to go out and we want to know if you want to come too.” Yori looked up to him. “You don’t want me to watch the kids?” “We'll let Vi watch them,” Dante said. “C'mon, it'll be fun.” Yori sighed and looked down to his pups, rubbing Rowan's head gently. “…If you want me to, I'll go.” Dante raised an eyebrow. “Now, hold on. No one's making you go. If you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.” Yori shook his head. “I know.” Dante sighed and sat down. “Hey, is there something wrong? This doesn’t feel like you.” Yori frowned but shook his head again. “No, I'm okay.” “Come on,” Dante asked. “Is it the pregnancy?” Yori placed a hand on his stomach. “I can’t be a dog for you.” Dante raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Why not?” “Because of the egg,” Yori said. “It's not like me. The pups were like me so I could change and they would too but this won’t and it's too big now for me to change.” “Aw, Yori,” Dante said. “I'm sorry. Did you know this would happen?” Yori shook his head. “I didn’t think about it. I just wanted to help Lino and Vi but now I can’t be a dog for you like you wished.” Dante pet Yori's head gently. “It's alright. The kids love being puppies. I don’t need you to be.” This only seemed to make Yori feel worse and he started to tear up. “But then…then… I'll have to go…” Dante's eyes widened. “What? Why?” “Because… Because I'm not needed anymore,” Yori sniffled. “You wished for a dog and now you have the kids and Ruben wished for a partner and now he has you, so then my job's done and I'll have to go back…” Dante paled. “No! No, you can't! Ruben and I are barely even started…a-and we went into this as a trio! You're just as important to us as we are to each other!” Yori's brows knit together. “Then why won't you have sex with me?” Dante sat back and blushed. “Uh, what? We do.” “When was the last time?” Dante rubbed his chin. “Uh, well…” “You haven't had sex with me since before I got pregnant this time and Ruben hasn't had sex with me in three weeks!” Yori whined. “Uh, um…” At that time Ruben came into the living room. “Yo, what's taking so long? Is Yori coming or not?” Dante got up. “Ruben, Yori's upset and it's our fault so help me make this better!” Ruben frowned. “What? What did I do?” “No one will have sex with me!” Yori cried before burying his face in his hands. The pups woke up and started crying too just because their mother was upset. Dante figured Yori wasn't in the right state to hold them at that moment so he scooped them up and took them to Lino's side of the house to see if Vi could watch them while they dealt with their relationship issues. Ruben picked Yori up out of his hiding space and sat on the couch with him in his lap. He let him cry it out a bit against his shoulder while trying to come up with what to say to him. “Yori, we… We still love you just as much as before. It’s just been hard getting into the mood with the kids around. It's hard work.” Yori clenched his jaw. “But you've been having sex with each other. You had sex with Dante yesterday when I was with the kids.” “No, we…we didn’t…” Dante slapped the back of Ruben's head. “Don’t lie to him. Yori, it's because of the pregnancy.” Yori's eyes widened. “Really? But why? It was fine last time…” “Yeah, but that's because it was our kids,” Ruben said. “I mean, mostly.” “You mean entirely,” Dante said. “It's weird for us now because we know it's my brother's kid.” Yori frowned. “Why? What's the difference?” “It’s uh… It’s complicated,” Dante said. “When it’s…it’s someone’s else’s baby…it feels kinda strange. Like, we have to be more careful, because if something goes wrong, I gotta answer to him…” Yori shook his head. “What would go wrong? I don’t understand.” Dante groaned and scratched his head. “…I just…It’s hard to explain… I mean, when the baby’s yours, we figure your…you know…magical spiritness makes things safer and easier, but…with a Yulinian…egg…it might be more vulnerable. It’s like…we’re watching someone else’s kid. When it’s another person’s kid involved, you don’t know what’s right…” “But it’s not babysitting, it’s sex,” Yori said. “And the baby isn’t for you to be worried about, it’s for me and I’m doing a good job.” Ruben let out a small chuckle. “Oh my god… Yori, I’ve never seen that kind of sass from you…” Yori sobbed. “Why are you laughing?” “You’re right, I’m sorry…” Ruben gave him a hug. “Yori, we love you. We aren’t like this because we don’t want you anymore.” Dante sat down beside them and placed a hand on Yori’s arm. “This is really just a dumb human thing that really shouldn’t be a problem for us.” Yori looked at Dante. “When we have sex, it’s just me. You should only see me, not a baby. I’m me.” Dante nodded. “You're right. I'm sorry. Rube?” Ruben patted Yori's head. “I'm sorry too.” Yori looked up at Ruben. “Are you going to have sex with me?” The other two both nodded. Yori raised an eyebrow. Dante blinked. “What, right now?” “Yes.” Ruben looked to Dante who nodded. “Alright.”