Chapter Text
"Why in the name of creation do you like these accursed things?!"
Esidisi laughed dryly, though his face bore a grimace. "I swear they're cute when they aren't crying."
"Wamuu has been crying for three fucking hours!"
Kars slammed his face into the desk and groaned. He'd been trying to study the properties of the newest cluster of jewels they found, to no avail. And if that wasn’t frustrating enough, the incessant screaming of their infant son Wamuu was certainly not helping.
He looked to Esidisi pleadingly. "You're supposed to be a nanny, you figure out why he's screaming."
"He probably wants his mom."
Kars winced and looked away. A mother’s love was invaluable to the growth of a child, something he and Esidisi could not give the boys they had taken. An uncomfortable silence would have permeated the room if not for the deafening wails emanating from the crook of his husband's arms.
Esidisi broke the tension with a sharp inhale. "Well, you're the mother between us, you comfort him."
"W-what?! How am I the mother? You're the one that dotes on them," Kars said indignantly.
"You look more feminine than me."
"He's a baby, how would he know what feminine looks like?!"
Esidisi scoffed, "Look, just trust me, he likes you! Take him." He didn't wait for Kars's reply before shoving the baby into his husband's arms.
Kars blinked in surprise and cradled the sobbing boy. His knowledge of children extended not much further than knowing Wamuu was a healthy size and weight, and growing fast. As much trouble as Esidisi could be, it truly was godsend that his partner excelled in taking care of children. Kars wouldn’t have even taken them if Esidisi hadn’t practically begged him, though he was glad things turned out the way they did; he didn’t cherish the thought of mercy-killing defenseless orphans. Children he had made orphans.
He shook the thought from his head quickly, brushing his thumb over the small child’s soft blonde hair. Little green eyes clouded with tears peered up at him, screams dwindling to a distressed blather. Kars hushed him, muttering meaningless little comforts as he rocked the boy. Wamuu stopped making noise suddenly, staring up with vigilance. His petite arms stretched upward, grasping at the object of his attention.
Esidisi smiled triumphantly. “See, I told you he likes you! I’m just glad he didn’t make Santana start cr-”
“Esidisi.” Kars’s voice was low and urgent, silencing the other man immediately. “Why is he doing this?”
Wamuu held two fistfuls of long violet hair. His curious little eyes sparkled, earlier woes long forgotten as he tugged the soft locks that hung around him. Kars gaped at the audacity of the adorable, insolent little monster in his arms. He looked up desperately at Esidisi, only to find his husband on the brink of screaming in awe.
“Don’t you dare! If you wake up Santana, I swear-”
“Kaaaaars, he likes your hair!” Esidisi squealed, jumping on Kars’s back dramatically as tears of joy brimmed in his eyes. Before Kars could threaten him he reached down, taking a bit of the disgruntled man’s hair and waving it over Wamuu’s face. The small boy giggled, releasing his vice-like grip to bat at the fluffy waves brushing over his nose.
“Awww! Kars look, he’s so happy!”
“I see it.” Esidisi looked at his husband’s bright red face and poked him on the cheek.
“You love him! Come on, even you can’t say this isn’t the cutest thing ever.”
Kars’s patience broke and he shrugged the larger man off of him. “Nonsense! Take your nightmare child and put him to bed immediately. I have work to do,” he said as he handed the baby off to Esidisi. The latter cackled with joy, waltzing back to the nursery with an equally delighted child in his arms.
Kars huffed, rubbing the warmth from his face. No doubt Wamuu would end up just as energetic as Esidisi, though hope still remained for his chattiness. Honestly, the nerve of his husband! He huffed again, combing through his hair fussily.
...He didn’t really have any work to do. Obviously none of the gems they got was the Super Aja, and there wasn’t much point in studying them outside of that. Kars bit his lip, pondering what to do next, when a preposterous idea popped into his head. He tried to rid it from his mind, it was absolutely beneath him, but with a familiar stubbornness, it had planted itself firmly in the forefront of his brain.
A moment of hesitation, and then he reached to his desk for a blue gem, one with a particularly sharp edge. He picked a lock from his mane at random and held up the jagged edge toward the top. One swift motion cut it free from his head and Kars hid the short choppy remains in with the rest of his hair.
The nursery was quiet now, Santana still slept soundly and Wamuu played with some metal bracelets Esidisi had taken from a wealthy human, clinking them together mindlessly and enjoying the noise. Kars cursed internally at the boy’s ridiculousness, and his own.
Kneeling down next to Wamuu, he picked up a bracelet. The boy watched him as he looped the severed lock around the ring and tied it tightly.
“There,” Kars said. “Will this keep you from hollering while I’m trying to work?”
Wamuu beamed, throwing his arms up with a happy babble. The young child resembled the sun in a way, a kind of comforting and contagious warmth that consistently forced Kars to fight off a smile. He picked up the bracelet by its new accessory, marveling at the length of the dark purple hair. With shining eyes, Wamuu lifted up the ring and put it on top of his head like a crown of solid gold, mismatched hair falling over his face and pooling on the ground. He giggled, and Kars had to put his face in his hands. Curse these infernal beasts and their naivety. He couldn’t help but want to protect them.
With a soft pat of his son’s head, Kars stood and walked quietly to Santana’s bed. The smaller boy hadn’t roused at all; he tired easily and needed lots of sleep. Esidisi had assured Kars that Santana wasn’t sickly, he was only born a bit early and would grow in time, but both fathers were a bit anxious. Wamuu’s liveliness was in stark contrast to Santana’s quiet nature. At least he didn’t have hours-long screaming fits, Kars thought as he brushed his fingers over the sleeping boy’s soft vermilion hair.
He looked back at his children for a moment before turning to leave the nursery. The house was finally peaceful and quiet once again.