I AM BACK WITH WORDS PEOPLE! Had a situation irl that disallowed me access to my laptop but I have regained access and I am ready to finish this bad boy! >:D
(Also, I could access the doc from my phone BUT it's so big that the poor device couldn't handle it lol)
A big thank you to merrijack on Ao3 for leaving the funniest dialogue in the comments (which I have borrowed and used in theeeeeeeeeeee *searches through chapter* third segment (before the last segment) :D
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"Hey, 'Suma, so... this is going to be an awkward chat..."
Both boys back away the instant they hear the word "Suma". That is Parrot's nickname for Xisuma– certainly this Grian guy doesn't know Xisuma. Oh, but he certainly does, because he wouldn't have known his name if that were the case. Parrot can't decide if they are lucky or unlucky that they bumped into one of Xisuma's acquaintances. The plan was to ask a stranger to borrow their phone for a minute tops and now they have bumped into a man who is a non-stranger.
He can't deny that he feels a little nervous. Normally, he doesn't care what other people think of him... Or, he used to not care what other people thought of him. Recent developments involving a voidwalker man and a roof over his head must have changed that because now he feels obligated to make a good impression on the avian in front of him for Xisuma's sake.
Speaking of, this man is an avian. He sneaks a few peeks at the colourful feathers that stick out of Grian's back, regarding the colours with awe. Maybe he also takes after a parrot! Which could be good? He doesn't know what to make of it. All he knows is that meeting this avian fellow has made his mind a little clearer; his heart a little lighter.
"I found two kids who claim that you are their dad..." Grian continues, kicking the ground awkwardly. It is a pretty awkward conversation to be having with a friend, who didn't have two Primary-age kids months ago. There is muffled noise that comes from the phone's speaker and Grian responds, whilst looking each of them in the eyes. "Yeah, Parrot and Spoke– they're yours?!"
As Grian has his little moment or realisation, Spoke leans in towards Parrot. "His eyes do the thing your eyes do. It's strange."
Parrot turns and looks at him questioningly. "What do my eyes do?"
"They stare into my soul."
The man's wings flare open with a loud ruffle, yellow, blue and red feathers with little blinks of green spread out like a fan.
"When did you– Oh, they're the kids you were supposedly babysitting for a friend, aren't they?" Grian sighs into the palm of his hand. "This makes more sense now... Okay, so I found them near my workplace–"
And the muffled mumbles explode into loud yelling. Parrot swallows a knot in his throat. Oh, they are in so much trouble.
"Woah! Calm down! I don't know what they're doing out here– shouldn't I be asking you that?"
At the accusation of bad parenting, the yelling quiets instantly. Spoke hides his grin behind a hand. Saying to someone that their children have about ten years of street experience isn't a normal thing to say.
"Nah, mate, you stay there, I'll fly them back."
A moment later, Grian gives them the phone with a blank look on his face.
"He wants to speak to you."
"On no..." Spoke mutters under his breath.
Parrot hesitantly takes the phone into his hands and taps the speaker icon. Spoke shuffles close to him and half-hides behind his back. Parrot shoves him out of his hiding spot with a wing.
Looking up at the avian once, they see Grian mouth: "You're in so much trouble."
Not very comforting...
"Heyyyy, Suma... You're on speaker."
"Parrot, Spoke...", Xisuma's voice is so calm, so even. It's like he wasn't yelling into Grian's ear just a moment ago. Should they be scared? "Call your friends over when you get back. I'd like to have a group meeting." and then the call ends.
Yes, they should be scared. Luckily, this isn't Among Us, so no one is going to be ejected from the apartment. Someone is going to get in trouble, though, and Parrot wonders if it's the right time to spill the beans to Xisuma about Xanthus.
He hands Grian his phone back and the man puts it into his pocket. Then, he kneels down, balancing on the balls of his feet as he lowers himself to their level. Parrot inwardly cringes; when is that supposed growth-spurt going to come?
"Okay, kids, sooo... I am a friend of your dad's–"
"Yeah, we heard." Spoke snaps at him. Thankfully, Grian doesn't take offence, smiling at them instead of frowning.
"Of course," he says without dropping his smile and dismisses Spoke's rude tone like a cloud of mist. It's a genuine smile; the rare kind. "I offered to fly you back, so are either of you afraid of heights?"
At the mention of flying, Parrot feels a shiver run down his spine. He is an avian. He has the wings to fly with but he has never dared to jump off a rooftop to test if they can hold him up. He was too busy staying hidden in the shadows of alleyways, running away from the eyes of the orphanage ladies and the sky would be the first place they'd look for a kid with wings.
He can't help but feel nervous about flight even with an experienced adult; he doesn't trust adults.
He has never felt the wind rush by his ears louder than the whooshing that follows running after a ball in a game of football. He didn't let himself explore the abilities he was born with because it would have been dangerous. Now, though?
Grian's smile drops into a concerned Parrot as he takes notice of the boy's nervous behaviour. His wings have tensed, he is fiddling with his fingers and looking at nothing like he's trying to weigh the cons and pros of the offered service.
"Parrot?" he asks, voice and mind full of concern and not just because they are his friend's adopted children. They look like normal kids, even though their eyes look older than their age. They're nice enough: they haven't thrown curse words around nor tried to offend him somehow, so they are good in his book. "Are you okay there, mate?"
"Hm?" Parrot snaps his attention towards him. He feels Spoke's hand resting gently on his shoulder. "Ah, yeah, yeah, I'm good."
"He's never flown before."
Grian looks at Spoke, eyebrows going up in surprise. He doesn't say a word, only nods his head before regarding Parrot with the softest curiosity.
"You haven't?"
"...No." Parrot responds shyly, feeling a little embarrassed. "Never got to."
At that, Grian smiles comfortingly, lowering his wings enough for the primary feathers to touch the floor.
"I see..." he says, extending a hand palm-side up in an offer of a handshake. "I can carry both of you and I promise that I will not drop you."
Parrot thinks about it. Flying sure sounds better and even though he has never met this man before, he trusts him. Some primal, avian instinct tells him that he can trust this similar-winged individual. The alternative would be to walk and that doesn't sound as appealing. Plus, it's tiring and takes more time to go from here to the apartment and they also have to round up the others for that 'group meeting' –whatever that means. Why does he want to talk to their friends though? Oh, no... Has he found out–
Spoke shakes Grian's hand in Parrot's stead. "He's fine with it."
The man looks at him in bufflement. "But he–"
"He's overthinking." the boy shrugs before violently shaking Parrot's shoulder until he snaps out of his thoughts.
"Hey!"
"Hey!" Spoke counters Parrot's pout with a teasing grin. Grian chuckles at them, prompting their attention.
"Let's get going then.", he tells them, standing up and turning around in a squat, spreading his wings out in a flash of colour. "Climb on!"
He doesn't need to tell them twice.
While they fly high in the sky, above buildings and trees, Grian carries one boy on his back and the other in his arms. Of course, Parrot is sitting on him, hugging his hips with his thighs and squeezing so hard, he could break bone if he tried just a bit more, and his fists have bundled the fabric of Grian's red jumper so tight that it might just rip. His nervous trembling subsided quite quickly once they took off and now he's simply clinging on in fear of falling off, eyes closed and as stiff on his back as a turtle shell. In his arms, he is cradling Spoke, who has his own feet wrapped around his torso and his hands are pulling at his collar. He hasn't done anything other than look around and admire the view, his head going this way and that when he spots something interesting on the ground.
After a few minutes of no other sound but the whooshing of the wind and the beating of multicoloured wings, Grian decides to express his curiosity.
"So, what did you two do to get Xisuma so mad? Other than leaving the house with apparently zero warning, that is." his words aren't muffled despite the wind rushing by them, which they both find weird but don't bring attention to it. It's probably a physics thing; they'll ask Mr. Marriott later. Parrot pops open one eye.
"We? Nothing." Spoke answers.
"Nothing?" Grian laughs– then coughs because a bug flew into his mouth. "Ex doesn't get mad about "nothing"; you've done something."
"We don't know what we've done yet, so..." Parrot trails off as he opens both eyes and looks around at the city from above. "Woah..."
Grian snorts in amusement. "You don't know what you've done?", he shakes his head and hearing Parrot's amazement, he tilts his head upwards to look at him out of the corner of his eye. "Do you like the view?"
And Parrot responds a little breathlessly, his heart thrumming in his chest like little wingbeats. "Yeah... It's amazing."
The boy doesn't see the man's shit-eating grin at his words but Spoke does and he can't help but share the excitement. He remembers the Parrot who dislikes flight, who thinks of it as a bad thing. Now, though, with this man there is a chance for a new Parrot: a fearless Parrot who loves to fly and do tricks in the air. He can't help but feel happy and giddy for his best friend.
"Try opening your wings!" Grian suggests.
"Um..." Parrot pauses for a second. Then he digs his fingers into the avian's back, making Grian wince –Spoke snorts and tries to muffle it with a cough. The boy looks left and right, from one red, moving wing to the other and holds on a little firmer. "Okay!"
A smaller but brighter pair of wings unfold over the crimson, the amber and the navy feathers. An incredible assortment of vivid azure and golden feathers rest over them, wings outstretched like spread hands. The primaries barely reach the halfway mark of the fully-grown wings, shocking the boy with how much bigger his wings will get in the future. Wind blows, breaking apart at the length of the arms and brushing past the smooth surface of the feathers and rolling off the tips in little vortexes– and it feels so natural... he's never felt this weird nostalgia before.
He can't help the smile that settles over his face.
"How does it feel?" Spoke asks, throwing his head over Grian's shoulder. Parrot does not hesitate to answer.
"It feels fucking awesome!"
Grian indignantly squawks at the swear.
"Watch your tongue, young man!"
"I can't, it's in my mouth!"
When they get home, they enter in Grian fashion: through the balcony door (Grian almost smacked himself into it but had enough common sense to figure out that there is probably a door blocking that big empty space at the balcony and pulled up at the last second –being an avian also has the downside of not being able to distinguish glass). The rest of the friend group was notified by Spoke yelling at the tops of his lungs, while they were flying into the neighbourhood: "GROUP MEETING MOTHERFU– MPHF!" before Grian slapped a hand over his mouth and demanded to know where he learnt those words. They didn't throw Mr. Marriott under the bus, even though it would have been fun to see their teacher answer to the principal about the bad language he's been teaching them... They've been hanging around Xisuma for too long, that must be why they didn't jump at the opportunity.
Speaking of, Xisuma is not in a good mood. He is sitting quietly at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of tea in his gloved hands. The air around him is so thick that as excited as he is about discovering the delightful feeling of flight, Parrot doesn't dare say a word as he climbs off Grian's back. Neither does Spoke, when he is set down next to him.
"Hey, X-I-Suma!' Grian greets as he bursts through the two boys, one hand raised in a wave. He walks into the living room like nothing is wrong. Parrot and Spoke watch from behind the avian's back. "I have brought back the kids! So, what did they do?" and he looks back at them like it's their fault that Xisuma is mad.
...It is their fault but he doesn't have to call them out on it! Xisuma must have his suspicions but it isn't Grian's job to confirm them!
The doorbell rings before Xisuma can respond. The voidwalker sighs, rubbing at the side of his helmet, right at his temple. He stands up and walks with heavy steps to the door to open the lobby entrance for the rest of the mischiefs.
"Grian, could you leave us alone, please?"
"Oh." Grian's wings tuck against his back. Turning around, he whistles in surprise. "What did you guys do to upset him this much?"
"...Nothing."
He raises an eyebrow at them but doesn't ask anything else. "I suppose I'll come back later then. We haven't hung out in months, Suma!"
"Come back in an hour or so, mate."
"Gotcha!"
With that, Grian is walking out into the balcony and leaving them behind to face Xisuma's silent rage. He shuts the door on his way out, bumping both of the boys until they're fully inside.
It's scary. They have seen Xisuma happy, sad, distressed, mad. They've seen his caring side, the one that has so much love to share with the world; the love that allowed them to live under his roof. He was sad when Xanthus sought shelter at Xisuma's, distressed when his brother disappeared off the face of the Earth. All those happened numerous times but they've only seen him mad once: when Clownpierce sought to hurt them; when they were in grave danger. That episode in the vast darkness of the Void is one they'll never forget, nor the relief that washed over all of them like a refreshing wave when they returned to stable ground.
All of the negativity, however, was directed to outsiders, to people who were technically strangers to both Parrot and Spoke not too long ago. The sadness, the distress, the anger... all of it had other targets. He has never been mad at them, not even when they created a stall at the school to sell Spoke's illegal items or when they put glue on the teacher's chair. He's always been lenient, letting them get away with harmless pranks, so long as they returned home on time for dinner, safe and sound.
He has shown them trust. Parrot thinks they might have broken it.
"Parrot, Spoke, please sit on the couch."
They do as they're told without question, fearing that they'll make him angrier if they so much as say a word. Xisuma isn't violent but they can tell that it wouldn't take a lot to convince him to throw a punch right now. The things they've seen adults do when they've reached their limits... Parrot and Spoke sit quietly, backed into the farthest corner away from Xisuma, the avian boy wrapping a wing around Spoke in a fruitless attempt to hide him –just in case.
It isn't long until Xisuma opens the door, wordlessly greeting Reddoons and Zam, who are closely followed by Jaron and Planet. He herds them inside, tells them to sit on the couch with the other two. Reddoons mouths a "what is up with him?". They don't know the answer to that, so they both shrug their shoulders.
The couch quickly becomes crowded. It just fits them all on it, the perfect size for a group scolding or whatever this is supposed to be. They can only guess what is going through Xisuma's mind. It is not long till they get a hint of it, however.
"This meeting is long overdue.", he sighs, sounding a little more than emotionally frazzled. "You are going to explain to me what has been going on behind my back for the last couple of weeks. I will not accept anything less than the complete truth."
At that, the whole living room erupts in questions. Even Jaron, who usually sits at the side and observes everyone like a detective is now talking over the others. Actually, everyone is talking over one another, resulting in a chaotic atmosphere and an unproductive situation.
Questions that could easily be translated into accusations fly around the room, followed shortly by exaggerated hand gestures and the overcrowded couch is soon groaning with the effort of keeping itself up.
"You told him?!" Zam shouts at Parrot, Spoke, and poor Pangi who had a minor role in that scenario. He sounds betrayed, as does everyone inside the apartment.
"No, we didn't tell him nothing!" Pangi shouts back, throwing his arms around in frustration and almost hitting Planet and Mapic in the face.
Before any of them can injure themselves, Xisuma intervenes with a shout of his own and a loud knock on the wooden coffee table that draws everyone's attention to him.
"QUIET!"
Silence fills the room. The kids reflexively flinch back, shying away from the voidwalker who has called them out on their shady dealings. The teens aren't fazed as much as them but still look at Xisuma like they've been slapped across the face. Normally, Xisuma wouldn't have raised his voice, he doesn't like losing himself in anger; it paints an ugly picture. However, normally there aren't a dozen or so troublemakers creating problems while keeping him in the dark about it.
"Neither Parrot, nor Spoke, nor Pangi told me anything. You were all acting suspicious, so don't blame each other." –he spares Planet a knowing look– "Don't think that I didn't notice you trying to talk to the boys in private at the cafe, Planet." –then towards the rest of the teens– "Or the calls I received from the middle school principal about your random absences."
Some nod at his words, albeit hesitantly; fearing that they might enrage him even more if they so much as breathe. They've been through so much at such a young age that even a fast move of the hand could trigger a fight or flight response –that's what Xisuma tells himself to calm his nerves, at least. He can't know how any of them might respond to an adult being angry and aiming said anger towards them but he can estimate.
"Parrot? Spoke?" he urges the two boys to start speaking. They don't say a word for a bit but after a few pokes from someone behind him, Parrot finally talks.
He talks and talks and talks. At some point, Red cuts in, sharing the weight of their secret plan of getting Xanthus out of debt with the kids. He speaks fast, fumbling over his words but still tries to play it cool and unbothered by the situation.
Xisuma listens. He is still standing, arms crossed at his chest and he listens to the whole story. They don't try to lie, though they do try to hide some of the truth, namely the fact that two kids walked into a very illegal bar. The man doesn't pick up on that lie, not that it matters much to the grand scheme of things as they are.
At the end, he is much calmer due to having learnt the truth. Calmer but still angry at the fact that his brother allowed Spoke and Parrot to act out their plan and get themselves in trouble. He is an adult, he should have the responsibility to turn down help from two twelve-year-olds no matter the situation he's in! Sometimes, he wonders what extent Xanthus' lack of responsibility can reach. It doesn't matter now, Xisuma figures he'll yell at his brother when the opportunity arises. Right now, he has a bunch of kids he needs to take care of.
Then, Zam tells him of Clown's demand and that is how Xisuma finds himself sitting at the kitchen table, his head in his hands and feeling like he's going to faint. The kids are standing around him, timid and afraid to touch him, fearing that they'll make his condition somehow worse if they poke him.
"You're grounded." he says, his voice slightly wavering. "All of you."
"But–" Red attempts to protest, only to be cut off by Xisuma pounding his fist at the table and raising his head to give everyone the most incense of glares with his glowing, purple eyes. This time, his voice is firm and his tone is just betraying his angered state.
"You're so grounded, my anxiety is getting jealous."
Surprisingly, no one argues with that.
Not long after that episode, the apartment empties out. Only Xisuma and his boys remain. The man is pacing around the living room, trying to come to terms with the fact that he will have to send Spoke to the wolf's mouth in order to save his brother. Even then, however, he will have to fear for his brother's life because of who he deals with in the underground. Who knew that when he said he'd be going to college, he'd simultaneously be making contacts with the criminal world? Not Xisuma, who worked his butt off to rent him a small apartment near his university. Not Xisuma, who hyped him up whenever he thought he was failing.
Regardless, now is not the time to care about Xanthus. It is the time to care about the kids of whom he has become the father figure of. There is no way he is going to let them down, not when they really need him. He doesn't think Clownpierce will let this go –he'll have to find a loophole or a way to minimise the damage if the assassin insists on his payment.
Payment... A mere child is the payment. A poor child who has lived in the streets, who is traumatised enough for the whole of his life, is the payment. Xisuma feels sick to his stomach.
"Spoke," he regards the black-haired boy. Spoke looks up from the floor, which he'd been staring at alongside Parrot for about five minutes, and meets the voidwalker's eyes with his own.
"Yeah?"
"I need you to tell me: do you truly want to work for Clown?"
Both boys freeze. Parrot looks at him like he's seen a ghost. They weren't expecting him to react so calmly about it –calmly would be an understatement but they can't find the words to describe it. Cold and distant wouldn't do his character justice but calm is also not a word for his current tone. Perhaps caring and logical would be a better match. Still, he isn't yelling like they thought he would be, nor listing off their mistakes like he should be doing.
"You aren't mad?" Parrot finds the courage to ask. Xisuma blinks at him, then looks at Spoke, who is also at a loss for words.
The man takes a deep breath in, and then speaks in an even tone.
"I'm... upset that you didn't listen to me, yes." he says, and he clears his throat. "I told you not to get involved not only because of the law but also because it's dangerous." –at the same time he thinks that they have lived within danger for so long that they may not be able to recognise a dangerous situation anymore.
"I suppose I am also upset with myself for not picking up on what you were doing sooner..."
Parrot makes one single sound of surprise.
"Oh."
He should have done something more drastic. Now that he knows what has gone down, he can see how weird everyone was acting. He takes a step closer to the couch, shoulders slouching.
"I worry about you and Spoke. You can handle yourselves, I know, but there are things that you can't face alone."
His mind immediately wanders to the late night commotion in his house. The knock on the door still haunts his nightmares, the gangly frame of a clown waiting on the other side to slaughter all three of them still sends shivers down his spine. The safety of the cold void, where he hid his children warms him but the danger of it swallowing the whole building still troubles him.
There are situations a mere child can't face; that was one of them.
Had he not called the abyss into the Overworld, then Parrot and Spoke... He can still see the damn clown darting towards them. His stomach twists at the implication of what would have happened if he hadn't intervened.
"That's why I'm here–" he says, cutting himself off to sit on his haunches before the two kids huddled on the couch. "–to have your back. Will you allow me to at least do that as your dad?"
And Parrot– The boy hesitates, wings shifting. He knows Xisuma has had their back, especially at school, when the principal threatened to expel him for disrupting class or picking fights or for even defending himself and his classmates from the older bullies with some kickass moves and words that a child his age shouldn't utter, or for selling rubbers and other duplicated stationary in the backyard. Still, he likes keeping the man at a distance from his more illegal past.
Spoke, on the other hand, hasn't been living with him as much as Parrot has. He sees that Xisuma is a good man; he also feels it. There is no ill intent when he offers to buy them things and the most genuine smiles he's seen have come from him. However, for so long, any adult he came across would look for something else in him. Be it sending him to beg on the streets, sell paper towels, wash windshields at traffic lights in the hot sun, all they saw in a poor, orphan child was profit. Only Parrot was there to witness the heat strokes he suffered and who dragged him into the shadow of a tree.
He's just glad he didn't end up somewhere way worse.
As he worked, he saw other little boys and girls –babies, toddlers, children, teenagers– walk along the sidewalk with their parents. He saw the smiles and heard the laughter, and he really wanted to have that for himself. All of them wanted it.
Now he has it –he thinks he does, at least.
The fact that he feels safe here doesn't mean that he doesn't need reassurance. Words aren't always true after all. People lie and adults are masters at tricking little kids. Sure, Xisuma is nice but there are white lies.
"You aren't really our dad..." he says it as a challenge, as a threat –as if he'll snap at Xisuma if he dares to say otherwise. Xisuma unknowingly accepts it.
"Perhaps not on paper but at heart, I believe I am."
A parent is the person who takes care of their young, not the one who brought them to this world. Xisuma takes care of them, he cares about them, he worries and he puts Superman-themed bandages on their cuts and scrapes. He believes that if he was anything to these two, he's their only guardian and father figure –meeting and gun technicalities long forgiven. He also believes that both of them understand that biological parents aren't the only family they can have.
"That's what matters most, don't you agree?"
Hesitantly, Spoke nods.
"Sure..." he shyly agrees, sinking into the couch like he's trying to hide.
"So, what do you say? Can I have your backs?"
Xisuma offers his hands for handshakes. He doesn't expect Parrot and Spoke to jump into them. He tilts over, falling on his back laughing in surprise with Parrot and Spoke held tight against his chest so that they don't fall to the floor and hit their heads. Had he not been wearing a helmet, he would have surely eaten a handful of feathers.
"And our fronts", one of them says, their voice so muffled against the hard armour that Xisuma can't distinguish whose it is. Regardless, Xisuma squeezes them tighter, happy that they have finally allowed him to guard them like a proper (legally unofficial) father. Gone will be the days of Xisuma chasing them around the house to tell him what's troubling them!
They share the hug for a whole minute, sitting in complete silence, comfortable in each other's company. Then, Parrot shuffles until he pulls away just enough to look Xisuma in the eye. Spoke watches with one eye popped open.
"Does this mean we aren't grounded?"
Xisuma looks him dead in the eyes and responds with the flattest of tones.
"No. No, you are very much grounded, Parrot."
Both boys groan in protest. The man pats their heads, tousling their unkempt, wind-battered hair.
"Accept defeat with humility, boys."
=================
my sweet boy Parrot has discovered that his wings can flap, so proud, they grow up so fast
also uncle grian maybe? Auntie Pearl? *eyes emoji*
Next up Xisuma confronts Clown JOJO-style (not really but it makes for a funny image, just imagine Clown doing the Dio pose or them doing the "Oh? You're approaching me?" stances lmao)