InsaneJournal

As the leader of two previously quite contentious (and still sometimes presently, depending on who he was dealing with at any given time) groups of people, Teddy was not unused to going to bed exhausted. He loved his people and he was doing everything that he could to keep the Skrull and Kree on a path of growth and healing, but some days were more difficult than others. For a guy who had not so long ago just been his regular self, hanging out in his very nice apartment with his then-boyfriend between taking on bad guys and just living life, suddenly being referred to by royal terms and having to be in near constant meetings to make decisions that would effect so, so many people…well. Most nights he would fall into bed and--if he was lucky enough for his mind to let go of the day's troubles and let him let go--immediately pass out.

Teddy knew exhausted. What he didn't know was exhausted, though.

Sebastian was amazing. There was no other word for it, truly. Teddy hadn't expected a Skrull child to fall into their lap in Vallo, but, with the gift of retrospect, he now couldn't imagine why he hadn't expected it. With it happening to so many others and understanding the trajectory of his relationship with Billy after having a many middle of the night conversations where they mused about what their lives together might look like in five, ten, twenty years, Teddy knew that children were an inevitability--eventually, when they were ready, when they were more adulty adults. So, of course there was a chance that Vallo might let them get a glimpse of that distant future.

Part of Sebastian's amazing, though, was the utter handful that he was. Teddy was starting to understand the stress that he'd put his own mother through, having to raise a young shapeshifter. He had lost track of the number of times he'd panicked in a crowd, when Sebastian was right next to him, giggling in another person's form. He was astounded by the sheer amount of energy the boy had, both impressive and almost worrying. But he was likewise just blown away when he could watch Sebastian get enraptured in a video game, when he mimicked Tommy as he followed him around the apartment, how he was so comfortable just curling up next to Billy as they watched a movie.

Again: he was amazing and Teddy felt so unimaginably blessed to get this time with this child that he could only hope would return to them in Vallo for good one day. He knew that it was temporary and he was already feeling that bruise to his heart begin to develop at the thought of him disappearing back to his actual time and place, though he knew it did no one good to dwell.

Right now, though, all was quiet. Teddy was an early riser, not needing an alarm to wake him up for his pre-dawn run that led him around Vallo and returning to the apartment with donuts for breakfast. As he woke that morning, he wasn't so sure if he was ready for his run, however. He knew it was only a matter of time before Sebastian acted as an alarm clock in his own right. So, instead, he broke his routine, reaching out for Billy and pulling him in closer, face pressing into the back of his husboyfriend's neck. Teddy didn't know if it was enough to wake Billy, but it was quality spooning.

Billy hated the morning. He resented the sun, born out of his habits of studying late, or playing video games, or binging some show, or getting too engrossed in his comics. So, you know, maybe it was less the morning’s fault and more Billy’s poor time management but that didn’t stop him from greeting every day like it had personally offended him. Teddy, by contrast, was the pinnacle of a summer child, who could have thrown open the windows and had no less than three birds, a squirrel, and a fox come up to him. Billy loved their differences! He wouldn’t have changed Teddy for the world, even when Teddy, Billy’s personal space heater, left him to go running.

He came back with donuts so it was usually worth it, but still.

And sue Billy for being a little grateful that Teddy hadn’t decided to abandon him (it wasn’t abandoning, Teddy liked running and used it as an outlet to clear his head and start the day off well, Billy never minded but he was a little dramatic in the morning). He turned over and shoved his head in the crook of Teddy’s neck, biting down on his collarbone in greeting. They had a kid and he was amazing and smart and funny and everything they could have wanted and had so much energy that somehow the five year old out ran Tommy in energy. And pretty soon judging by the past few days, he’d come creeping in, not at all bothered by his entire family being younger than they should have been, just happy to be there.

But still, so much energy.

“Hi,” Billy mumbled, mostly still asleep. “If I wanted to, I could just make the world a donut.”

"A donut," Teddy repeated, his voice quiet but nevertheless full of a chuckle at the thought. His arms pulled Billy in even closer, his head tipping forward so he could nose along Billy's hairline at his temple. "That would be a pretty extreme way to get me out of my run."

Not that he seemed to be looking for a reason to go at the moment. It caused a pang in Teddy's heart sometimes, when he considered that Billy had gone such a long stretch of time without him here in Vallo. Not that he thought that Billy needed him (Billy might have counter-argued that point and Teddy would have conceded because of course he would have, but his opinion would have remained), but Teddy himself hated the thought of being separated from Billy for more than necessary.

Which, really--was just one more reason that maybe he could skip today's run?

"Would it be a chocolate donut? Or..." Teddy pressed a kiss instead to Billy's temple. "Or are we talking jelly? Cronut?"

“Boston cream or jelly donut,” Billy replied, half a yawn. “Because of the center.” His eyes still closed, Billy stretched up to kiss Teddy and got the edge of his chin. “I’m hungry now but also if you leave me to freeze I won’t be able to eat anyway,” he groused, and wrapped himself even more around Teddy. And if this, Billy thought, if this, the sun just coming in through the curtains, the soft rustle of sheets and the sound of Teddy’s heartbeat and steady breathing, was what Billy got to wake up to for the rest of his existence, it would be everything.

Almost everything. The door handle rattling as it turned caused Billy to smile in spite of himself. It was so weird to think of himself as someone’s future father–Teddy had dad energy, every kid deserved to be loved by Teddy, who would basically be dad of the universe. Teddy had the quiet strength and comfort, Billy was all nerves and energy. Teddy was gentle and kind as a default, Billy was to leap to immediate action and defense. “See, you really can’t leave now.”

Sebastian plodded in, blonde hair sticking up in every single direction and a Robin Funko clutched in his hands. He crawled under the blanket from the side of the bed, a wandering lump who went over Billy’s legs and then up between the two of them–Billy had disentangled himself from Teddy enough to give the little boy room to land right in the middle, where Sebastian somehow sprawled out, taking up much more room than one five year old physically should. He rubbed at his eyes, blinking blearily at his dads before snuggling further down into the mattress.

“Daddypapa it’s morning now?”

New and complicated things happened in Teddy's chest as he watched their son's sleepy journey through the room and between them on the bed, a smile of his own crossing his face. He followed Sebastian's lead, snuggling further into the blankets and bed before he glanced across their son toward Billy. He also had to think that if he got the chance to wake up next to Billy for the rest of his existence that he would be lucky; the thought that he might get Billy and Sebastian, though? He didn't have words for how lucky that made him feel.

Because as much as Teddy had always known that he liked the idea of being a dad one day, he knew that he couldn't imagine doing that without Billy at his side. They'd been a team, in more ways than one, for so long now and potential parenthood would be just one more thing they'd tackle together someday. Getting that glimpse now, though? Very cool.

"It's morning," Teddy confirmed, rolling over onto his side so he had a view of Billy and Sebastian both. "It's still a little early, though, if you need more sleep." Teddy didn't really know how many hours of sleep a child needed and if that was different for Skrull children. Had he slept more or less as a kid? He definitely didn't remember.

“No sleep,” Sebastian grumbled, more of a pitiful pout than anything as he wiggled and stretched to find a good spot–almost elbowing Billy in the face while doing so. “Can we have ice cream for breakfast?”

Billy snorted. “Didn’t you have enough ice cream with Grandma?” Not that he minded–well, maybe he should have considering the sugar rush and subsequent crash, but seeing Wanda so happy, seeing Wanda so happy with this boy who was so very obviously his and Teddy’s, was worth it. He carefully adjusted Sebastian’s arm, bent in an awkward way behind his head, because surely it was uncomfortable. “We were thinking donuts, how’s that sound?” Billy was struck then by a memory of his own dad asking Teddy how he wanted his eggs after the two of them accidentally came out as boyfriends, not as superheroes as they had intended. Rebecca and Jeff Kaplan were great parents, supportive, kind, involved, and his relationship with Wanda here was very close, especially considering that they weren’t the version either of them knew.

Sebastian cracked an eye open. “Donuts?” he asked, hopefully. “How many? What kind?” He wrapped his arms around Teddy’s neck, once again barely missing giving Billy a black eye. “Please, Papa, say yes! Say yes, say yes, say yes!” All of a sudden the sleepiness wore off with the promise of sugar! And maybe a walk where his dads could hold his hands and swing him back and forth!

It was hard to hold back a laugh, so Teddy didn't even bother. Somewhere between the immediate perking up at the promise of donuts and the way Sebastian clung to him, his heart was too warm to keep the sound locked up.

"Yes, yes, yes," Teddy promised, tipping Sebastian over just a bit so he could tickle his sides gently. "We can have donuts for breakfast. Whatever kind you want. Any of your favorites." That was an open ended and possibly dangerous promise to make, but it was hard not to give into much of what Sebastian requested. They both knew that their son was only going to be with them for a short amount of time, at least for now; he would be back in their lives eventually and that day would be pretty darn good, indeed. But for now, Teddy just wanted to savor the time they were being given and spoil the boy just a little bit.

Teddy's gaze lifted to look at Billy, his expression incredibly soft as he simply melted. He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky on a regular day, whenever he looked at his husband (husboyfriend) and thought about how he'd won that particular lottery. To throw Sebastian in the mix, well. It was very good.

“My favorites are strawberry! Chocolate! And–” What was surely going to be a litany of every donut flavor ever was interrupted by Sebastian’s giggle fit in the midst of being tickled. He kicked his legs and sent the blankets flying, “Papa that tickles!!” His giggles calmed down to just the occasional laugh, but still one that had his entire body rolling. Sebastian’s hand scrambled behind him to find the Robin Funko and he brought it in front of Teddy’s face.

“Papa, this is important, this one’s name is Robin but his real name is,” he craned his head over to look expectantly at Billy, who smiled and ruffled the boy’s hair. “He’s from Gotham Nights, so that’s Tim Drake.” “Tim Drake!” Sebastian repeated, pleased. “See, he’s got a bo staff here and this is Dad and mine’s favorite.” At that, Billy had to reach over and grab Teddy’s hand, squeezing once. Go figure it was realizing that he would have talked to their kid about comics, shared that, knowing that it meant something to him, that had Billy emotional. Not because of the comics really (although his kid had great taste thank G-d) but because it was evidence that they at least had that connection and for Billy, who questioned everything about himself, that confirmation meant a lot.

“Papa,” Sebastian started. “Can I get a bo staff too if I promise to use nice hands with it?”

Teddy laced his fingers through Billy's, caught up in reading every microexpression and twitch of his face. He thought that he knew exactly what Billy was thinking, not just because Teddy was in tune with him in a way that made him feel like it was fair to be confident, but because he had been emotionally knocked over time and again in the short while Sebastian had arrived in their lives. Whenever Sebastian said something that reminded him so much of Billy--not just now, with the clear matching interests, but sometimes with just a turn of phrase or cadence when he spoke--or when he pulled a face that he knew was straight out of Tommy's playbook or when he showed off his shapeshifting abilities, Teddy felt as though he had to just sit with his emotions or he would combust.

It wasn't an uncommon feeling, the realization of just how absolutely lucky he was to have the people he had in his life in his life. It had just extended to include Sebastian.

So wrapped up in looking at Billy (something else that was not uncommon), Teddy nearly missed the question about the bo staff. His eyes moved back to Sebastian, his mind whirling as he tried to think of a proper parent response to this question. "Ah, maybe." They probably had bo staffs for kids, right? Classes they could take? Foam ones, at the very least? "Bo staffs aren't toys, so you would need some lessons to learn how to use it, I think." Oh gosh, what was he setting up for their older selves to have to deal with when Sebastian went to his proper time?

Billy looked fondly exasperated, snorting a laugh. He might not have been logical about, well, much, but he did try occasionally and was fairly certain that agreeing to bo staff lessons for a five year old was a bit much. That might have been hypocritical, given that the Young Avengers had been teenagers when they’d started the whole superheroing and had been told by basically every major superhero (except for Jessica Jones, who had been insanely cool) that they were too young to start training and fighting crime, but that was different! They were teenagers! Sebastian was just a little guy, wide eyed and innocent and who deserved to be protected from all of the evils of the world.

Once again, Billy was reminded of his parents and suddenly what he thought had been their overreactions to the news of his superheroing seemed…totally reasonable. “We can talk about that later,” he promised Sebastian, and maybe it was unfair of him to kick it back to future them, but! Oh well, he’d forgive himself. “And we’d have to make a lot of rules about that. Maybe some karate classes first?” That seemed at least like something that would get some of Sebastian’s boundless energy out, as well as being practical.

“Yes, lessons!” Sebastian agreed, as he would agree to just about anything judging by the way he bounced even as a starfish in between his dads. “But I have to be careful with my super strength too, because it’s not fun if everyone isn’t having fun and I have to listen to voices in case the voice isn’t happy. And only pull what Grandma says I can pull out of the garden,” he added. Grandma had never been mad at him about her garden anyway because she could just fix it with magic, but it was still polite to treat the garden nicely. “Can we go see ducks after donuts? And maybe give them food?”

Teddy's internal panic about bo staffs softened, both between Billy's tempering of the question (and clearly kicking it to their future selves to have to clean up; ingenius, really) and then listening to Sebastian and all of the other little lessons he had clearly been told about over the course of his handful of years. All of these glimpses of how they might have parented together amounted to a greater whole that he would get to see one day. And, given how many shades of wonderful Sebastian clearly was in the short time they'd gotten to spend with him, Teddy had to think they did a pretty good job.

Raising his free hand, Teddy lifted a finger as he ticked off, "Donuts. Food for the ducks. Feed the ducks." He reached over, ruffling Sebastian's hair as he added, "I think that sounds like a pretty great way to start the day."

Looking up to Billy, he squeezed the hand that was still linked with his once more and added, "Think we should let your dad make any requests, too?" Teddy smiled, a little crooked and all happy.

Billy couldn't reach well enough to kiss Teddy, which was a shame because when he was looking like, well, that, all soft eyed and hair mussed in a familiar way, it was hard not to. Billy's magic may have relied on his willpower and literally speaking something into existence, but sometimes with the way he felt about Teddy, that felt like something more powerful than reality warping.

So instead he brought their joined hands to his mouth and kissed one of Teddy's knuckles, smiling at him as he did so.

“Daddy?” Sebastian craned his neck around again to look at Billy and honestly maybe the kid had a little bit of Reed Richards in him with how he was able to contort himself around without pain. “Do you want to do something?’

Billy squinted. “Extra sleep?” he offered, drawing more giggles as only could be expected.

“No, it's morning!”

“Broccoli for breakfast?”

“We said donuts!!”

“Hmmmmm,” Billy hummed, pretending to consider all of the choices. “What I want,” and oh boy when you were Billy Kaplan wanting things was a dangerous premise, but for as much as he wanted all of this now he knew it would be worth it to wait, knew he couldn't and wouldn't do anything to shift time to endanger things long term. So he said it without any sort of magical charge, save for the warmth in his own heart. “Is to be along for the ride. That'd good enough.”