To Be
It felt sort of odd, walking outside to pick up the disposable data pad that was supposed to be the futuristic attempt at the old tradition of newspaper thrown on the lawn. Well, not so much the picking it up, but the fact Zero felt weirdly human doing so. A Hunter’s typical news-pad was delivered to his or her dorm room and slotted in with their report work for the day, and to have to go outside and get the weather-resistant one like the typical human man made Zero feel awkward. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, but he didn’t hate it either.
He flicked the pad on, wondering why his normal reports and paperwork were still on paper instead of data pads like this. Course, thinking of the correlation this thing had with the old-fashioned newspaper, Zero probably answered the question himself: Cain wanted Reploids to ‘feel like humans,’ and what stereotypical thing to do in a work setting than to have paperwork?
Humans were clingy bastards to traditions, it seemed.
“Anything good?” X asked as Zero stepped back into the house.
“Naw,” the blond tossed the pad into the disposal center. “The usual: idiots getting into bad traffic accidents, mech malfunctions causing small panics… there was a fire close to downtown cause someone decided to light a cigarette in a bookstore and put it on a shelf while they looked for their wallet.”
X sighed heavily. “And you wonder why I offered the electronic cigarette to you.”
Zero rolled his eyes. “I’m careful with my little arsenic sticks. Where’s Axl?”
The brunette looked at the clock on the wall, although it served more as a wall decoration that any functional piece. “It’s still before ten; he won’t wake up for a bit.”
Zero had another twenty-five minutes before he could use the food-scent trick to get Axl out of bed, provided the kid still had his digestion system on. Sometimes he woke up with incomplete startups, making him uncharacteristically mopey. But neither parent could figure out what caused these incompletes, although Lifesaver claimed it all originated from his weird copy chip. On those days, the two had to just deal with it like any typical family with a teenager.
The blond was going to the kitchen for a glass of water when Axl clambered down the stairs, glazed eyes and mouth slightly open in a half-asleep expression. It would have been comical if Zero’s first reaction wasn’t ‘aw fuck.’
“Don’t—” Zero started.
Too late. Axl miss-stepped and tumbled head first down the short flight of stairs. Both Zero and X bolted for him, with Zero being the one to catch the boy before his head cracked the floor. It may not do too much damage, but if something got knocked loose…
“M’fine,” Axl mumbled against Zero’s chest, completely limp in his father’s arms. “M’kay. Promise.”
Zero rolled his eyes, heaving Axl over his shoulder. “Call Signas,” he said to X as he carried the boy to the basement. “I’m putting him in the pod.”
~*~
Axl was hooked up in the diagnostic pod in minutes, and Zero tapped the thing to life. It hummed as it booted up and immediately began its routines. He supposed he could have left, but Zero leaned his back against the pod, elbows propped up on it, and he sighed deeply.
“You’re such a handful,” Zero muttered more to the wall than to Axl, “but I still can’t help but rather like the fact I can take care of you like this.”
Talking to the silent Axl brought back the memory of how he tried to comfort Zero, out there in the graveyard. He didn’t tell anyone, but Zero had felt as if Iris and Colonel would never forgive him for anything if he didn’t assure Axl of his place as Zero and X’s son. Forget traditional family, embrace the heart… yeah, that was something Iris would lecture about while Colonel would sternly nod his head. And Zero had been acting like Axl’s dad… but, really, he was only acting.
After that little stunt, Zero swore to be his dad.
“I dunno how or when you got so damn endearing,” Zero chuckled, looking over his shoulder down at the sleeping Axl, “but I’m glad you’re our boy. X, you, and me… we’re the most perfect dysfunctional, insane family ever. I’ll tell you later when you’re a little more mature, but you really complete me and X. You don’t really know that, but hey, you do. Love you, boy.”
Zero rapped the glass once with a smile, then left the basement to let Axl recover. One day he’ll give Axl the speech, probably a little more condensed and not so corny, but muttering to him when he was out just proved to be good practice runs.
“How is he?” X asked anxiously from the basement door.
Zero wrapped an arm around X’s waist and lightly kissed his forehead. “Our little boy’s gonna be fine, Momma-X.”
X punched his shoulder, but he was smiling. “Thanks for tucking him in, Daddy-Z.”