Summary: In a world of magic, Patton is born with magic and Logan is not. As societies work - this brings discrimination (oh joy), and the couple have to battle against it.
Words: 1976
Some people have magic, and some people don't. That was the fact of the society these people lived in. What wasn't a fact was that those with powers were better than those that weren't - and therefore should be given more opportunities to thrive and those that didn't have magic needed to 'work for their place'.
Patton grew up with two magic parents, one an animal whisperer that became a vet and another a shapeshifter that was a famous TV personality. When he became four years old his power came - the power to heal. From then on he was given every opportunity to go into the world of medicine from expert teachers to internships galore, and he became a paediatric doctor straight out of high school since he didn't need a medical license.
Logan, on the other hand, was one of the unlucky ones. He only had a mother, not a father as the pair's relationship wasn't built to last through Logan's infancy. His mother couldn't get a job so Logan had to live meal to meal and get a job as soon as he could to help his family. He always found doctors honourable and wished he could be one - but there was always one question that stopped him.
One of Logan's first jobs after high school was a janitor at a hospital, so maybe he could get the chance to show himself and get a job. There was one day where Logan was brooming the hallway, and in the distance he saw a young man his age, dressed in a doctor uniform, fixing a scratch that someone made on the wall. Great - another person with magic to steal his job.
The young man didn't seem to be paying attention to the hallway and walked straight, bumping into Logan. "Oh! So sorry sweetie, you must have invisibility as your power!"
Logan rolled his eyes and sighed. "I was just in your way. I apologise." He wasn't really sorry but he knew he couldn't start an argument with someone magic - that was a sure way to get hurt.
"What are you doing with that?" The young man pointed at the brown broom Logan was using to sweep. Logan wouldn't be surprised if he had never seen a cleaning device before. He was about to roll his eyes again before a certain glance trapped him, this man had beautiful blue eyes... Well, hopefully this person didn't have a 'fall in love' power too.
"I'm cleaning? I'm the janitor." The man looked at Logan confused with a tilt of the head - maybe this was an angel coming down to give him a chance at living his dream life? "I'd love to be a doctor, but no-one wants to give me a shot."
"Well, what's your power?"
There was the question. Somewhat more than 45% of the population didn't have powers, but apparently that still seemed impossible for the lucky few to believe non-powered people were still out there. "I don't have one. I was born without. But I've still read all the books you're reading now."
He must have met an angel because the man smiled and brought out a hand. "Well, I'm Patton. And I'll see what I can do."
Part of Logan thought this would be the beginning of his dream career, although he knew that was unrealistic. He didn't expect Patton to fall in love with him though, and he was overjoyed to have a relationship with someone so desired by society. The pair did all the milestones together: going on dates, moving in together, getting married. Logan could even quit all his jobs so he could fully relax and teach Patton anything he needed to know about medicine. He tried becoming a teacher - but the kid with a magic power that meant they couldn't forget anything got the job instead.
One evening the married couple were laying in bed and Patton was talking about what he knew about the science of his power. "I know I can change the properties of objects to keep cells alive, and I read someone who had a similar power to mine keeping a fertilised egg alive though a balloon as a covering that got bigger and bigger." Logan chuckled at the idea of a baby being born that way, and then paused. They had never really discussed having a family before.
"Do you want to do that?" Logan asked, half as a joke half seriously. But what Patton said next brought Logan into shock.
"Yes, actually. My dad has said several times before he'd happily shape-shift my sperm into an egg for me. It would be awkward to ask at first but I think having a baby together would be really cute!" Patton turned his head and gave a small smirk, his blue eyes glowing in the moonlight and his lips irresistible to not kiss. So Logan agreed, kissed Patton softly, and that was how Logan became a dad.
*****
Logan and Patton's son was the little angel Logan had hoped for. He was named Kesem, after the Hebrew word for magic, even though they knew it was a 50% chance Kesem wouldn't have any magic to speak of. Logan spent every second with Kesem and every non-powered thing the baby did, from crawling instead of flying to fear of fire instead of ability to control it. He loved his non-powered kid.
It felt like no time until Kesem was a four year old, and usually kids found their power before the age of five. But Kesem was completely non-powered and loved. "Oh, honey, my friends are going to be here by the time you get back." Patton leant down and kissed Logan's cheek as the father buttoned up his son's raincoat for an afternoon of rain-play in the park.
"That's alright sweetie, I'll make sure to tire this little guy out." Logan squeezed his son's cheek and watched him cutely giggle and squish his father's cheek back. The most adorable habit the boy had always had.
Patton's friends were an interesting bunch. They were all childhood friends, and all magic. Logan felt like the odd one out but now he'd had Kesem for four years to feel like he had someone look up to him only. He was going to show his son that non-magic people were useful.
The house was quite loud when Kesem and Logan returned home, Kesem wanting to excitedly show his Dad all the water he collected in his bucket. "Dad! Dad! Look at my rain!" Kesem ran up to Patton and showed the bucket filled to the brim with water. Unfortunately Patton had his friends around.
"Did you make that buddy? Does he have a water power?" Remus asked the four year old in amazement, Kesem just looked unsure at his other father at the mention of magic. The parents tried not to talk about magic too much even though society was run by it.
"No, no, he just used a bucket." Logan tried to laugh off as he took a seat at the table, letting Kesem sit on his lap once he had poured the bucket into the sink. All of Patton's friends were here: Remus, with the power of telekinesis; Virgil, with the power of manipulating shadows; Janus, with the power of mind reading and... where was Roman? His chair was there...
"BOO!" A shout made both Logan and Kesem jump, Logan had to laugh to follow. "Got you! Oh my God you should have seen your face Lo it was so..."
"Shut up Ro, Kess is thinking." Janus said simply as silence came across the table. The mind reader had a small smirk as he watched the toddler, and Kesem looked down confused, maybe even frightened, covering his mouth with his hand.
The fathers immediately tried comforting their son. Logan stroked his hand through his son's hair, just as he liked. Patton was the one whispering. "What's wrong sweetie? Uncle Roman didn't mean to hurt you kiddo, you need my touch somewhere?"
Slowly Kesem opened his mouth but said nothing, but something began coming out of his mouth. A perfectly formed, light blue bubble. The bubble floated up as the rest of the adults started freaking out as quiet as possible, and the little object floated all the way up to the ceiling before popping.
"Kesem has a bubble power!" The magic men all screamed, immediately taking Kesem out of Logan's lap and encouraging him to blow more bubbles. In a couple of minutes the little boy was laughing and showing off his new magic and it was the talk of the table.
And Logan was left out again. He was the only non-magic person again and his son was understanding all the joys that came with magic... The joy Logan would never understand.
Logan stood from the table and escaped into the front garden, where he could be alone in the rain. He was meant to be alone apparently - he was meant to be the only person in his life without magic that helped so, so much in life. How could he think he'd ever get the chance to raise a non-magic kid like himself?
He knew he couldn't talk with Patton's friends about this. They'd said before when Kesem began developing without powers, they were worried about that. 'How do you know what he's good at?' they'd ask Patton regularly, especially recently when the parents were going through schooling options. 'What if he ends up unemployed like Logan?' yeah, that one hurt a lot when it was said as the person that said it believed Logan was out of earshot. None of Patton's friends believed that Logan had honestly tried to be a doctor, he had tried, he had!
"Honey, Logie-Bear, take deep breaths for me darling." Logan was soon comforted by Patton's calm voice and a hand on either shoulder as he spoke. Patton's magic had never worked on panic attacks, he just had to use his words to help Logan calm down and most of the time it worked. When Logan could breathe again he held onto Patton in a tight hug. "Do you want to talk about it baby?"
Patton brushed his hand through Logan's hair as he knew that comforted him, and kissed his neck as he cried some more. "I really thought... I really thought Kesem would look up to me."
"He does look up to you, silly! You're his Dad!" Patton cheered, cupping Logan's cheek as he sniffled. "He was just telling me about the day at the park, where he bounced in a billion puddles and counted all the worms with you! He loves spending time with you."
That still didn't remedy the main concern of Logan's worries. "But, will he still want to spend time with me even though I don't have magic? Will I still be fun when he can blow bubbles out his mouth?"
Patton nodded, absolutely sure of his answer. "Sweetie, you may not have magic like us, but you definitely do inside. You have the magic of being an amazing Dad to our baby boy."
Finally Logan smiled, only softly, as he watched Kesem through the window jump around the living room blowing bubbles. That was it - even though Logan was discriminated about a lot in life he knew he'd never be hated by his son. His son will always find him to be the most magic entertainer in the world.
Logan held his husband's hand and was brought up to a stand. He gave his husband a kiss on the cheek and held the most loving look as an idea came into his head. It was unrelated to Kesem or magic, just related to Logan's love for his soulmate.
"Do we have any more balloons?"