Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Chapter 1

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Khun had lived for many years and has been called many, many things by his allies and foes alike but there was a word that was never used on him.

“Papa!”

He watched, stone faced as a small blue haired boy dragged his companion’s—a brunet who looked to be of same age—hand and quickly ran to his direction. The boy stopped short just in front of him. A pair of gold eyes blinked and stared curiously at him, “Did you cut your hair, Papa? It looks nice!” he then frowned, “But I cannot braid it if it’s too short.”

“K-kh-khun...” Shibisu managed to say. He was the first (and probably the only one) to speak after witnessing his friend being addressed as ‘papa’ by some random kids. True, the kids have magically appeared as some kind of crazy reward for passing the test on 66th Floor. The two little boys have been sleeping peacefully, cuddling each other when they first appeared in glowing orb of white light. One of the boys had a short blue hair and was wearing navy pajamas with miniature moons and stars. While the other had long brown hair and was wearing dark red pajamas with miniature suns and clouds.

Somehow a bit lost on what they were supposed to do to a pair of children who appeared literary out of nowhere—as their reward nonetheless—the team had finally decided to bring the sleeping boys with them. After all they were (mostly) not that heartless to let innocent children alone in such dangerous place. Getting Khun to carry the kids in his lighthouse, however, was a bit difficult as the blunet has complained about not being a glorious porter and that the children were quite suspicious. 

But Bam, bless his kind soul, has taken one look at the sleeping children and turned pleading glance at the light bearer. In the end, Khun, as always, has relented to the Bam’s request and put their ‘reward’ inside his lighthouse. The two have stayed there, thankfully remained sleeping as they ascended to the next floor and took care of their housing arrangement. 

With everything sorted out, however, they finally have to decide what to do about their ‘reward’. What they clearly did not expect was the kids to wake up—

(“Papa? I am in time-out?” The boy asked, apparently not bothered by the glowing lighthouses or the team surrounding him.  “…I di n’t do ‘thing bad...” He mumbled, clearly still half-asleep.

“Err…kiddo, I am not sure your ‘papa’ is here. But if you tell us who he is, we will be happy to help you find him!” Shibisu exclaimed, ignoring his teammates’ protest on not wanting to be dragged on one of his good deeds of the day.

The kid, the blue haired one, blinked owlishly at the tracksuit-wearing male, “But I heard papa’s voice…” he looked around again. This time clearly more awake than before. He searched among the clustering individuals and immediately beamed upon seeing the familiar shade of blue. 

“Papa!”)

—and referred their cunning strategist and light bearer as his supposed father. 

“Wha-why didn’t you tell us?” Shibisu continued, voice high-pitched. 

Khun looked at him with a frown. While he was actually thankful for Shibisu’s blabbering having temporarily taken everyone’s attention off him, he clearly didn’t like the direction how this was going. The scout could be quite an annoying drama queen if he so wished.

“Why didn’t you tell us that you already have your own kids?!” The older male protested, causing Khun to twitch slightly. “You should have told me! Daddy would not judge you! You said you weren’t seeing anyone. But by the looks of it, you have progressed further than mere ‘seeing’ anyone…” Shibisu then darted his gaze to the two boys, mentally calculating their estimated age. He had known the blunet since the second floor, and they have somehow been climbing together ever since. With how old the children looked like… “To think my son would grow up so quickly and give me grandsons this soon. You must have started very early…” He covered his face with his hands, shamelessly imitating an embarrassed teenage girl.

“Be quiet! They’re not mine!”

“How can you even say that? How could you even deny that they’re not yours when the evidence is there?” Shibisu countered.

Khun didn’t say anything at that. He could easily have countered it by saying the children could belong to anyone from his family. Hell, even saying that the children were one of his father’s numerous children would be believable too. After all it was no secret how many wives Khun Eduan has by now. 

But honestly, he might have to admit that Shibisu was probably right. The resemblance with him was great—why only to him and not other Khuns or even Khun Eduan himself, he didn’t know. After overcoming his initial shock and upon closer inspection at both children’s face, he could recognize some of his features on them. One of the boys did have the Khuns’ unique silvery blue hair. Although the boy’s eyes were the color of molten gold, he could still see himself in them. But there was other mixed traits which looked somehow familiar. The other child was no different. Despite the long brown hair and overly long bangs shadowing his eyes, he could still pick up a single, blue eye staring expectantly at him. He calmed himself and then turned to speak to the two boys that somehow manage to sneak their arms around his legs. “Hey, can you tell me your name? Where’re your parents and where did the both of you come from?” 

Beside him, Bam was sending him concerned looks, like he could not decide between helping him getting rid of the two koalas clinging to his legs or simply let them be. But knowing how kind Bam was, he probably expected Khun to play nice and treat the two children gently. Really, being kind was not good for his heart!

At his questions, two little heads looked up to him. There were frowns on those chubby little faces. “Papa? Why?” The younger blunet asked confusedly. He traded glances with his brown haired companion before both of them turned back to him. Khun could feel a slight tingle of something as the children’s gaze focused on him. The feeling didn’t last long as the boys finally released a relived sigh after confirming whatever it was that they were looking for. Then it seemed that they have made up their mind as the blue haired boy looked up again and beamed, “Papa Aguero!” The small brunet, meanwhile, just hugged his leg even tighter than before.

“See?!” Shibisu exclaimed loudly. The only one crazy enough to even speak during the whole fiasco.

“I said shut up, Isu!” He snapped at the scout before turning to the boys again. “Fine, then what’s your name?” Khun could feel the telltale of what is going to be an annoying headache as he unconsciously massaged his forehead. “How did you come here? Where’s your other parent?” 

The little blunet lifted up his head and smiled brightly as he answered his questions. He apparently was no longer bothered that his supposed father was asking for both of their names. “I am Luan. And that is my brother, Vihan. But me and Papa usually call him ‘Vi’! Nice to meet you!”

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Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

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“So you two are brothers then?” Shibisu, still being the only brave soul in the team, asked in response to Luan’s answer. If Rak and some of the more talkative bunch were here, the situation might be much more chaotic than it currently was. Sadly, as it was already pretty late, most of their members have decided to retreat earlier or were on some kind of errand by now. Hence, only Khun, Bam, Shibisu, Hatsu, Endorsi, Hockney, and a sleeping Laure were currently present.

“Un! Vi is my older brother. Papa said Vi is older by ten minutes!”

“Ten minutes—wait, both of you are twins!?”

A blinding grin was his answer. Luan suddenly let go of Khun’s right leg, where he has been clinging all along like baby koala, and ran towards his brown-haired counterpart. He hugged Vihan tightly and beamed happily at the other’s questioning look. Khun, however, has to find his balance quickly as there was suddenly twice the weight on his left leg.  

“How old are you?” The next question came from Hockney. It was quite surprising to find out Khun of all people (would) not only has sons but twins at that. But the two seemed pretty small, so he believed that they were only around five years old or something close. 

“I am four!” Luan replied, proudly showing four fingers. Vihan peeked from behind Khun’s leg and nodded shyly, supporting his brother’s answer.

Shibisu cooed at how cute the kids were and skillfully ignored the exasperated groan from his teammates. His fingers were really itching to take pictures of the two boys! Since they didn’t know yet the details of the twins’ existence, he should take advantage of this opportunity and take as much as pictures as possible! After all, they were supposed to be Khun’s kids! There might not be another opportunity to get such perfect blackmail materials in the future!

“That’s nice and all. But can we quickly get to the point who the other parent is?” Endorsi suddenly cut in. She has been silent all along, but now she sounded pretty cranky for some reasons. None was daring enough to ask her what caused the sudden mood change. Their resident princess was rather known for her violent outbursts. It’d be better to stay clear in case she was looking for unfortunate someone to release all that pent up emotion.

Luan titled his head, staring at the scowling Endorsi in confusion, “You mean Daddy?”

“Yes, daddy, dada, father or whatever.” She snorted, “Why am I not surprised there is no mommy?”

“Daddy doesn’t stay with us. Papa said daddy is busy with his miss-i-on so we cannot see him yet.” Luan explained cheerfully. His smiles got bigger as he remembered all the stories papa has told Vi and him about their other parent. Their daddy was amazing! “But Papa promised that we would see Daddy soon!”

Well, they did not really expect that. Does it mean that Khun would be raising and taking care of his children alone? 

“Oh, did your Papa say what Daddy’s mission is?” Shibisu tried to ask, feeling the atmosphere turned awkward all of sudden. He was not expecting some perfect happily ever after stories, honestly. This was Khun they were talking about. But, after finding out that they were Khun’s kids, he was actually looking forward to hearing something nice about his friend’s future.

“...to defeat an evil king.” came a soft voice. This time the answer came from Vihan. Everyone strained to hear what the little brunette was saying, “Papa doesn’t want Daddy to get hurt protecting us. So we just have to be patient and wait for Daddy.”

Now, that sounds strangely familiar. Since their supposed ‘papa’ was Khun, then…

“Hey, can you tell us your Daddy’s name?” Shibisu quickly asked.

The twins blinked and looked confused for the first time that night.

“Daddy is Daddy.” Luan, the apparent spokesperson between the two, was the one to answer again. 

“No, no. I mean your daddy’s name.” The tracksuit wearing male rushed to explain, “Your papa is Khun right? Then, your name is Luan and he is Vihan. So, do you know what’s your daddy’s name?”

If his hunch was correct, then it’d all make sense. The children coloring—one has blue hair and golden eyes; while the other, brown hair and currently unknown eye color (Shibisu would bet they were blue, just like Khun’s). But all those colors were quite common in the tower, especially with the enormous number of Khuns that was running around the tower at the moment. Blue hair and eyes were the distinctive characteristics of the Khuns, almost all of the Khuns. Then the brown hair and gold-yellow eye color too. Although they were not particular to specific families, many people also have those hair and eye color. That’s why they didn’t really want to jump into conclusion at first. But the other parent, the one who was said to have the mission to defeat an evil king could only be—

“—Can we continue this tomorrow? It has been a long day, I am sure everyone is tired and want to get some rest.” Bam suddenly spoke, making almost everyone turn to look at him. The older brunette in turn simply pointed at Vihan, who was yawning and started to nod off. It was already late indeed, and children are supposed to get more sleep compared to adults...

But they were so close! So close to find out the identity of the twins’ other parent!

Still, there was no way to fight Bam once he made his decision. Even Khun has failed to make the brunette change his mind nowadays. Shibisu sighed, “Yeah, I guess we can continue tomorrow after everyone gets a good night’s sleep.” He concluded. Hearing this, Endorsi immediately made her way out of the room. She did not even speak to anyone as she left. Hockney was the next to go. He kept glancing back at Khun and the twins as he exited. Now only four of them plus a sleeping Laure was left in the room besides the two children. 

Khun, who has been silent since the twins’ revealing their names, looked down as he felt a sudden tug on his pants. “Yes?”

He saw the brown haired one, Vihan, raised his hands towards him in what he recognized as the universal gesture of a child asking to be picked up. Khun stared and really stared at the child as he would do to an unknown variable in his plan. While the gesture was familiar to him, thanks to Shibisu and his persistence of having team bonding by watching some family dramas, to actually have it happen to him was an entirely different matter. 

“Khun? Do you want to carry him? If you are too tired I can help you bring him to our room.” 

The blunette looked up to find a pair of golden eyes looked at him in concern. He silently berated himself. Bam must have seen Vihan reaching out to him and how he simply looked at the boy and didn’t do anything. 

“No, Bam. I get this.” Khun replied quickly, continuing to stare at Vihan who still has his hands stretched out towards him. He wondered if his mother ever picked and hold him in her arms like most mother would do.

Minutes passed with neither of them making any moves.

“Khun?” Bam called out once again.

“Ah, yes. Sorry I was thinking of something.” With that Khun crouched down and quietly gathered the boy in his arms. He tensed as Vihan suddenly snuggled into his neck, making a content sigh. It felt strange holding something so small in his arms. The brunette was warm and heavy—and seemed to be awfully trusting that Khun would not drop him. How could this child trust a stranger so easily? Even Khun wouldn’t even trust himself to carry the child and not to suddenly drop him given the right circumstance. If the child was really one of his sons like how they claimed to be, then he should have known what it meant to trust a Khun—no matter what their blood relation might be. 

Feeling troubled all of sudden, the light bearer was about to stand up when he caught the other child, Luan, sent him a pleading glance. Khun paused. The younger twin could not possibly expect Khun to also carry him right?

“Would you like to go with me?” Bam asked with a smile. He was suddenly there, kneeling down next to Luan and offering his hand to the little blunette. “I am afraid Khun cannot carry both of you at once.”

Luan stared at the hand being offered to him before he looked back at Bam in silence. He really resembled Khun at the moment that Bam could not help but chuckle. After some time, the younger twin finally nodded. He then circled his arms around Bam’s neck and made himself comfortable in the brunette’s arms.

Khun silently thanked Bam for his insight. He already found it difficult to carry one child, so two would be really pushing it. Never would he expect that one day he would be carrying a child who was supposedly his own. Although there was the matter of who the other parent was…

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Bam’s saying goodbye to the others as they started to walk back to their room. He watched as Luan babbled about something to the older brunette and Bam responded in kind with something that made the small child giggle. Really, Bam seemed to be naturally gifted at handling children. It might be another talent of his. Or maybe it was the irregular’s charm at play. 

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It didn’t take long for them to reach their room on the second floor. However, the second he opened the door to their room, Khun realized they might have some problems with the sleeping arrangements. “We don’t have enough bed here. So you two have to share with someone else if you want to stay here.”

Vihan tugged Khun’s shirt and looked at him expectantly, “Sleep with papa?”

The blunette took a moment to answer. Maybe tomorrow he could think of something. But as for tonight, there was no other choices. “...I guess. But only one of you, there is not enough room.”

“Me, me, me!” Luan chirped, from where he was perched in Bam’s arms. “I want to sleep with papa too!”

Khun groaned. He set Vihan down on his bed. Soon Bam followed him and put Luan down besides his brother. “I already told you there was not enough room here. The bed is already pretty small.”

“They can take my bed, Khun. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor!” The wave controlled offered helpfully. After years of sleeping on the cave floor and then on whatever available surface during FUG’s missions, he has gotten used on sleeping almost everywhere. So he really didn’t have any problem with giving his bed should anyone need it. 

“No, Bam. You should not do that!” Khun protested. He turned back to the children who was watching them curiously, “Listen, we don’t have enough bed in this house. So, you…” he paused, “…one of you can sleep with me sometimes. But the other one have to sleep with someone else. Understand?”

“Yes, papa!” came the twins’ answer. 

“I don’t mind sharing my bed then.” Bam stated, smiling softly as he watched how Khun handled the two children. “Both of us usually stay in the same room, so the children may feel more comfortable since they are close to you, Khun.” 

“Thank you, Bam.” He sent an answering smile at the brunette before turning back to the pair sitting on his bed. “Now, I want you to wash up and brush your teeth before going to bed. You also need to change your clothes.” They were quite small, probably close to Rak’s size. But there was no way Khun would be borrowing any of Rak’s clothes. “I don’t have any spare clothes for children in my lighthouses so you can wear one of my old t-shirts. Is that clear?”

“No warm milk?” Luan asked, disappointment clear on his face. 

Khun raised his eyebrow. These two must have grown up in comfort if they could make such request. He filed the information for later date. 

“I can prepare some warm milk for them, Khun.” Bam interrupted before Khun could say anything. He crouched down before the twins and smiled. “Do you want some honey with your milk?”

Luan gave an enthusiastic nod. But Vihan simply shook his head while murmuring, “Chocolate...”

“Ah, you want a chocolate milk then?” At the boy’s nod, Bam gave Vihan another smile and stood up. He then looked at his light bearer, “Do you also want to drink something before bed, Khun?”

“I am fine, Bam. Sorry about this, I know you must be pretty tired.”

“It’s okay. I will be back with the milk shortly.”

Khun waited as Bam’s footsteps grew fainter as the brunette walked away from their room. He listened quietly to any sounds that might indicate someone was sneaking around and trying to eavesdrop on him. Finding nothing, he double-checked his surrounding using the lighthouses to make sure that the coast was clear and that none was going to come and disturb him anytime soon.

Satisfied, he set up a soundproof barrier around the room before finally turning to face his ‘sons.’ 

“Now, tell me everything. Starting from your name, your full name.”

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“Jyu Vihan Khun.”

“Jyu Luan Khun.”

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Chapter Text

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Chapter 3

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Khun woke up to the sun shining on his face and some kinds of weight that made him unable to move. He was currently facing a window in a room which let out a good amount of sunlight which awoke him. As usual, it took him quite some time to fully wake up. At first he was a bit disoriented, he pondered for a moment what had happened and then the events of last night slowly came back to his mind—

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“You told us to never introduce our full name, Papa. Because you said there are a lot of bad people out here? But since papa is the one asking so it’s okay!”

Khun remained silent. Learning about their full name had further confirmed his suspicion, there was only one person in the whole tower that he knew possessed that surname. Unless there was suddenly another surviving relative or someone with similar name, then it was clear who their other parent was. Yet he still could not bring himself to say that name. “What about your ‘Daddy’? Have you ever met him before?”

The twins shook their head.

“You never said anything about Daddy’s name, Papa. At bedtime, you usually tell us stories about Daddy and a talking ar-ari-arigator!” The little blunette struggled with pronouncing the word correctly. “That’s my favorite!”

Luan continued, swinging his legs as he looked trustingly at his blue haired father, “But but you always said that I have daddy’s eyes. I heard Uncle Ling mentioned that Vi will look like Daddy when he grows up too!”

Khun paused, his mind quickly going over the list of people he knew who would have such nickname, “Uncle Ling?”

“Un! Uncle Ling always comes to bring us games and chocolates!” Luan answered enthusiastically. He then pouted, “But you always get angry when we eat too much chocolates!”

“And cakes…” Vihan added.

“Uh-huh. Cakes too. Can we have cakes, Papa? I want the chocolate cake you usually make for our birthday.” Luan’s eyes shone with excitement. “Can we, can we?”

Khun frowned. Only a small number of people knew he was good at baking and that chocolate cake was one of his specialties. While Rak was a blabbermouth, he knew that the gator and Bam would not simply tell anyone about it. 

“Papa?”

“Listen, I am not really your parent or the ‘Papa’ you have been talking about.” Khun saw Luan immediately got teary eyed as the younger twin heard what he was saying and groaned. That’s why he didn’t like dealing with children. They were quite troublesome to question every time. And he really could not use any of his usual preferred methods on them, not unless he wanted Bam to find out. The wave controller probably would not allow him to do anything to such small children anyway. Khun sighed. He was really getting too soft for his liking. “Fine. You will get your chocolate cake but both of you have to promise to answer all my questions. Is that clear?”

“Yes, papa!” the twins answered in unison.

“Then, do you have any proof that I am really your ‘Papa’?”

For once, Luan was quiet. His face scrunched up in concentration as he tried to find the answer Khun’s question. It was difficult. Papa was Papa. There was always no need to question that. So how could they prove that Papa was theirs? 

The younger twin frowned. Was this one of Papa’s study time again? Did they have to answer this so they could get their favorite dessert after dinner? Luan pouted. He hated studying! His brother was always better than him in that studying stuff and answering Papa’s questions. 

…maybe Vi could answer this one for them? 

He looked to his usually silent twin, only to see him nod and reach out for something...inside his clothes.

“Ah.” Luan exclaimed in surprise. He understood! They could show that to answer Papa’s question! “I almost forgot about it! Papa gave this for our birthday and told us to wear it always!”
 

The blue haired child also drew out an almost identical pendant that had also been hanging around his neck, hidden by the clothes (and in Vihan’s case also his long hair). Khun studied the pendants carefully, the design was pretty simple and there was a small, crystal like stone on each of them. Luan’s has a blue-colored one, while Vihan has amber. They really didn’t seem like suspendium or any other rare materials too. 

Carefully, Khun raised his hand to touch the one worn by Luan. However the stone suddenly turned red and released threatening sparks as soon as he touched it, causing the blunette to hiss and hurriedly draw his hand back. 

Too late. 

A thin layer of frost have rapidly begun to creep up from his finger which touched the stone directly. Khun quickly dispelled the ice before it could progress any further and recognized almost instantly the quality of shinsu emitting from them. It felt like his but somehow a bit different. The ice shinsu was definitely more potent and colder than his current one. Hence it has taken him longer than usual to get rid of the ice. 

But, this showed that the pendants (or rather the stones) were not normal ones. The items were most likely intended for protection and would require an impressive amount of control and effort in creating them. Though as far as he knew currently there was no items, not even the ones from the Workshop, that had similar capability. 

The light bearer glanced back at the stone, which had returned to its original state once it made contact with its owner again. He decided on his next question, “Tell me, when were you born?”

The two boys looked at each other quietly before responding, “We—“

“Khun? I am sorry but can you open the door? I think it’s locked.” Bam’s voice suddenly called out from outside the room, bringing a halt to the on-going interrogation.

Khun hold back a sigh. Bam really had the worst timing sometimes. But, well, it seemed like his time was up. He would have to settle with the information he had gathered so far and tried to find more later if he wanted to know about these kids. He stood up, deactivating his barrier as he walked to open the door for Bam.

“Sorry about that, Khun. I didn’t know that the door would be locked like that.” Bam had entered carrying milks and some cookies for the twins. 

Khun waved the brunette’s concern aside and told the twins to drink their milk quickly—and no, they could not eat the cookies no matter how much they begged him—before ushering them to the bathroom to wash up and brush their teeth. It was quite an entirely new experience for him. He never knew how troublesome it was to send children to bed at night. At least Bam was here to help him, patiently coaxing and smiling at the twins all along. He didn’t think he would be able to finish even half of the nightly ritual if Bam did not help him.

When they finally went to bed however, Vihan has given him another pleading look until he relented and slept beside the boy. In the bed across from him, he saw Bam doing the same with Luan. And then...

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Khun could not honestly remember anything after that. He assumed that he had fallen asleep at some point. Still, he could not believe how he could easily sleep besides a complete stranger. A child Vihan might be, but Khun had been trained for years not to trust anyone—even his own family—so easily.

He glanced to Bam’s bed, only to find the usually tidy bed missing its blanket as well as its original owner. He drowsily wondered where Bam might be—was he in the shower? He tried to shift a little to get a better look of their room but found out that he could not move even an inch. The ice user looked down only to see a small head of blue hair lying on his chest, and another mop of brown hair sticking to his side. 

Ah, so that’s why.

No wonder he could not move and was feeling quite hot then. He had two small bodies plastered on him the whole time. Vihan was using his right arm as a pillow, soundly sleeping as he pressed his body closer to his dear papa. While Luan was lying directly atop him, also sleeping peacefully. Both children had a good grip on his clothes, ensuring he could not move without waking either of them.

Didn’t Luan go to sleep with Bam last night? Why was he on his bed then?

Khun stared at the ceiling, pondering if he should call Bam or anyone else to move the two clinging koalas off him or to simply go back to sleep. 

Hmm...

Sleep sounded good but it was starting to get really hot here. There was unlikely he could get back to sleep if he was already getting too hot with simply lying here with all these additional body heat! 

As if feeling his restlessness, a pair of drowsy golden slowly opened. Luan yawned as he took on his surrounding. He immediately brightened as his gaze landed on his blue haired parent!

“Morning, Papa!” Luan chirped—far too cheerful for someone who had just woke up—and quickly sat up on Khun’s stomach, gaining a surprised ‘oomph’ from the older blunette. “Can we eat chocolate cake for breakfast?”

“You can’t eat cakes for breakfast.” Khun answered groggily. He was not fully awake, not yet. He would need a full cup of coffee for that. But even half asleep he knew that eating so much sweets was not good for breakfast. Unless you were a certain Gator who ate nothing but banana and chocolate all day anyway. Still, children were supposed to eat plenty of healthy food or so he read once time ago. 

The light bearer groaned as he realized that he might have to look for some information on how to raise children if the twins were to stay with their team. 

After last night, he had to admit that these two might somehow be related to him. However, whether they were really his sons like how they claimed to be still remained to be unseen. He would have need more data and information before he could finally confirm his decision. After all, it was not everyday that someone discover his/her offspring even in the tower. So these two could be either some kind of spies with shape shifting abilities that their enemies or reluctant allies planted, or they could genuinely be his children like they have been saying—though how and why they were here now were still a mystery. 

“Hungry…” Another voice came from Khun’s right side. Unlike his twin, Vihan’s voice was even softer in the morning and he seemed to be still half asleep as he blinked slowly at Khun. Since he was still lying down on the blunette’s arm, the little brown haired boy simply curled back and snuggled sleepily towards his father. 

“Me too! Papaaaaa hungrrrryyy!!!” Luan bounced impatiently on his father’s stomach. Khun winced in pain as his breath was suddenly knocked out of him. He scrambled to get hold of the still bouncing Luan with his left hand as his right was still trapped under Vihan.

“Stop!” Khun ordered swiftly as soon as he caught the younger blunette. Luan blinked and thankfully ceased his bouncing almost immediately. “Go wash up with your brother first. We will get some food once you are ready.”

“Chocolate cake?”

“No.”

The blue-haired boy pouted. “Pancake?”

“Maybe.”

“Papa cook?” This time it was Vihan who spoke, “Want muffin and omelet...”

The light bearer twitched. Even dealing with that gator was not this difficult, he could simply ignored whatever request Rak made as well as the tantrum that followed shortly. But with these two… “Would it make you stop if I agree?”

An enthusiastic nod was his answer. 

“Fine. Now get off.”

Luan smiled happily as he cheered at the prospect of having breakfast cooked by his beloved father. “Thank you, Papa!” Giving Khun a quick kiss on the cheek,  the little blunette shook his half asleep twin and hurriedly dragging him to the bathroom, “Let’s go, Vi! Papa is going to cook for us today!”

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Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

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Chapter 4

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“Stop sulking.” Khun said to Luan, who had been pouting nonstop since he found out that his dear papa would not be cooking them breakfast as promised. “You already had pancakes like you wanted. And we just bought a chocolate cake for later."

Since they woke up quite late, Khun had taken Luan and Vihan to buy some food and also clothes with him. They spent a few hours walking around and buying all the necessities for children. Currently they were taking a break in a family restaurant for lunch. The twins had been quite subdued the whole time, but Khun had chalked it up to mere hunger and exhaustion. Children did tend to get hungry and tired pretty quickly, didn’t they?

But apparently those were not the problem.

The twins were actually disappointed at him. Luan, the most predictable of the duo, had been very moody and petulant. He had refused to talk let alone look at Khun ever since they left the house. Vihan, on the other hand, had been as quiet as always. Although, Khun could somehow feel the dejected look that the little brunette kept sending him under that long bangs of his. He honestly could not decide which one was worse between these two. 

“It is different!” Luan didn’t cease his pouting, “You already promised to cook for us, Papa!”

Khun raised his eyebrow at the younger blunette. He had forbidden the twins from calling him ‘papa’ or any of its equivalents when they were outside. Since battle of the nest, their team had been under a lot of scrutiny and now people had even begun to recognize him especially as the Slayer candidate’s strategist. Even in what appeared to be a peaceful floor like where they were right now, there were numerous pairs of eyes and ears that still shadowed their every move. Thus it would be no good if someone suddenly discovered that the kids belonged to anyone in their team.

If Luan had listened to his instruction, he could make it seem that the twins were one of his numerous brothers or cousins that he was currently taking care of. Luan could easily pass as a normal child of Khun with his trademark silvery blue hair; while Vihan might have to pose as Luan’s friend or a distant relative rather than his twin. It was quite simple, really. But it seemed that Luan had forgotten about it all in his little tantrum. He gave the child a flat stare. “What did I tell you about calling me that in public?”

Luan turned his head stubbornly away, “No! Papa promised!”

“And what did I promise?”

“Cooking for us!” Face set into an adorable scowl, Luan turned to look at his father unhappily. A pair of huge amber-colored eyes stared at him intently as the boy continued, “Chocolate cakes, pancakes—“

Khun found his initial displeasure lessen slightly as he faced the familiar golden gaze of the little blunette. He really could not bring himself to get angry when he saw those eyes. A certain wave controller had similar tendency of going against his plan whenever the brunette saw fit. So, Khun should not be surprised if the twins had followed in that person’s footstep.

“...muffins, omelets…”

The light bearer sighed, feeling the last thread of his annoyance slipping away at the sound of Luan’s chatter. It was not even one day since he knew them, but he had already found himself being too soft with these children. Really, his mother would not be very proud if she could see how nice her disgraced son was nowadays.

“—and breakfast!” Luan finished his long list of ‘food that papa promised to make’ and crossed his hands in one of the intimidating poses that his blue-haired father usually made whenever he or Vi had done something particularly bad. Unfortunately, the pose had made him resembled more of an angry hamster rather than an intimidating one. 

An amused smirk tugged at the ends of Khun’s mouth, “Did I?”

"Papaaaaa!!" Luan whined, clearly unhappy that his so called father didn’t take him seriously. "Lying is bad! Papa bad!" the boy turned his head away with a humph “Don’t want to talk with Papa!”

"Well, I never mentioned 'when' I would do that, did I?"

“But you promised!” the younger twin protested, obviously getting more upset by every second. “Papa promised! No lie! You promise!”

A shrug. “There is no time. And you two also need some clothes.”

When no more responses came, Khun thought that Luan had finally gave up. 

But oh how wrong he was. 

Khun didn’t even get any chance to prepare himself or do anything as the blue haired child actually cried—releasing real, honest-to-god loud wail and attracting the attention of almost everyone around them.

Fuck.

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Bam had always been an early riser, thanks to his years of training and working with FUG. No matter how late he went to bed, he would usually be the first one to wake up every day. 

This morning was no different. 

Bam shielded his eyes as they slowly slid open, the light of daybreak letting him know what time it was without even glancing at his pocket. 

It took him a few moments to gather himself before he was truly awake. The wave controller was about to get up and prepare for the day when he discovered a small, warm body currently draped on top of him, tangled in twisted piles of blanket. His gaze immediately landed on his sleeping companion from the night before. 

The blue haired twin, Luan. 

Bam glanced down to see Luan’s head resting comfortably between his chest and the crook of his neck, fluffy blue hair brushing against the brunette’s chin. The boy’s arms were clutching Bam’s shirt tightly, while his legs were sprawled rather haphazardly across his stomach. 

Every time the Slayer-to-be tried to move, the child would whimper slightly, and would only settled down once Bam stopped moving. 

The older male chuckled, quiet and deep in his throat, as Luan snuggled even closer to him. His warm breath tickling his neck.

Bam waited patiently until the boy had settled down to sleep before trying his luck in moving for the nth time. 

He was in the process of carefully getting Luan off of his chest and back to the actual bed when a muffled groan came from the little blunette. Bam looked down to see one golden eye creaked open dazedly. “Hello,” he greeted softly, afraid of startling the younger twin.

“…’apa?” Luan mumbled, struggling again the drowse of sleep. His voice was muffled as his mouth was still half pressed against Bam’s chest.

“Sshh…you can go back to sleep. It’s still too early to wake up.” Bam placed the boy back on the bed and covered him with a blanket. He slowly ran his hand through the silky blue locks and shushed him gently when the boy released a quiet, distressed sound. 

After making sure that Luan had drifted into peaceful slumber once more, the brunette quietly got up from the bed and headed to the connected bathroom. 

He took a quick shower, feeling somehow uncomfortable at leaving Luan’s sleeping alone. The brunette did not even bother to dry his slightly damp hair before he hurried back to the main bedroom. His gaze instantly swept around the room to ensure that nothing was amiss.

He approached his bed once more and saw that Luan, during his brief absence, had somehow managed to kick his blanket and get it all tangled again.

The brown haired male smiled, warm and fond. 

That could not be comfortable.

Reaching out to fix the messed up blanket once more, Bam was startled to hear a distressed sound from Luan. He turned to the still slumbering child and found him reaching his hand out to the empty space beside him in obvious distraught. The boy’s face became more troubled as he failed to find any comforting body heat nearby. He truly looked like he was going to cry.

“Pa….” came the agitated call, “Vi…?”

Bam’s heart gave a painful lurch at the sound.

He carefully scooped Luan into his arms and gently rocked the boy in order to calm him down. The younger blunette, apparently comforted by the new presence and comforting heat surrounding him, quieted down almost immediately. Bam breathed sigh of relief as he watched Luan’s face smoothed out into peaceful youthfulness, mouth curved in a small smile of contentment as the boy slept.

It felt strangely comforting, Bam thought, holding Luan in his arms and watching over him as he slept. 

Did all parents get this kind of feeling when they take care of their child? 

He decided not pursue that thought any further, less it reminded him of some memories he would rather not remember at the moment. 

But, while Bam didn’t really mind holding Luan until the boy woke up, he still had to go for his morning training soon. He could not slack off on his training if he wanted to keep his precious people safe. 

And although he knew that it’d be too dangerous to bring Luan with him, Bam could not really leave him alone after witnessing how distressed the boy back then. He was still unsure what might cause Luan to be like that. His first guess was that the boy’s having a bad dream. But seeing how Luan had instantly calmed down at his presence, he believed that it might have more to do with how the boy was used to have someone close to him when he slept.

Golden eyes moved to the other bed where Khun was sleeping soundly wrapped in his usual cocoon. At his side, Vihan was also sleeping with his head pillowed comfortably on the blunette’s right arm. His small face pressed onto Khun’s chest as the boy snuggled deeper into his papa.

Both looked so peaceful sleeping together like that. 

Bam’s feet carried him to the other bed almost unconsciously. 

He gently placed Luan besides his twin and Khun somehow, despite still being deeply asleep, apparently recognized the presence of another child and made room to accommodate him. 

It was a pretty tight fit since the bed itself was made for a single person to begin with. However Khun (or at least his sleeping self) didn’t seem to mind as he drew both kids deeper into his cocoon of blanket. 

The light bearer sighed in content as soon as he had the twins safely tucked in his arms, sleepily snuggling into him. It might not be the best place to sleep, considering the tight space, but the slumbering trio didn't seem to mind as a small smile can be found in each of their face.

Bam watched the whole scene in silence, a strange new feeling began to stir in his heart. 

They looked so peaceful together—

—without him. 

Bam was then reminded of how much fun they all had while preparing for bed the night before. Even though Khun had seemed annoyed and complained a lot last night, the brunette didn’t miss how his friend’s eyes had soften slightly whenever he looked at the twins. He knew that Khun had actually enjoyed helping Luan and Vihan wash up and then dressing them up in his clothes, despite his complains. 

Is this how a family look like?

Back then in the cave he had grown up all by himself. He didn’t have a house or a family. The only thing he had back then was a dirty piece of cloth. So he thought he would die there doing nothing and all alone.

But now—

He looked at Luan’s silvery blue hair and remembered the twinkling golden eyes that the boy’s possessed. Then, he glanced at Vihan’s and his long brown hair. The boy had barely said anything, preferring to hide his eyes under the long bangs and clinging to Khun the whole time. The children had introduced themselves as brothers, as twins, and they had referred to Khun as one of their parents—their Papa. 

(“Where is your other parent?”

“You mean Daddy?”

“Daddy doesn’t stay with us. Papa said daddy is busy with his miss-i-on so we cannot see him yet.” 

“But Papa promised that we would see Daddy soon!”

“Oh, did your Papa say what Daddy’s mission is?” 

“...to defeat an evil king.” 

“Papa doesn’t want Daddy to get hurt protecting us. So we just have to be patient and wait for Daddy.”)

They are…

Are—
—can they be truly his?

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

It was past noon when Khun came back with the twins. The house was mostly deserted with everyone busy with their own things. Shibisu, the one left to watch the house, was just going to refill his glass when he passed Khun on his way to the kitchen. 

“What happened?” Shibisu asked, seeing the frown on the light bearer’s face. Khun seemed to be quite annoyed by something. He was carrying a sniffling Luan in one arm and holding Vihan’s hand with the other.

The blue haired male didn’t even bother to response, simply continued walking to his room as Shibisu trailed curiously behind him.

“What’s wrong with Luan? Wait, did you make him cr—”

“Do not ask.”

They arrived to an empty bedroom. Apparently Bam was not back from his training yet. Khun walked directly to the bathroom and told the twins they had to wash their hands and face first if they wanted to eat their cake. He watched Vihan took his brother’s hand quietly and guided him to one of Khun’s lighthouses that served as a step stool for the twins. After making sure that the kids would be fine on their own, Khun left the door open and headed back to the main room, where he proceeded to take out all the items they brought today.  

Shibisu looked at the amount of boxes and shopping bags that Khun was taking out of his lighthouse in growing amazement. They were so many of them! Did all of them belong to the twins? Or was Khun raising a small army of kids without their knowing? “Err… Khun, don’t you think that this may be a bit too much?”

The blue haired male glanced at Shibisu then at assortment of items lying near his feet. “Not really.” He turned back to his lighthouse to pick some more items. “I already tone it down a bit since I don’t want to spend too much points on them. But since we don’t know how long those two will be staying here, then they will at least need this much.” 

Shibisu squeaked. There were more than twenty sets of clothes here, not counting the other types of clothing such as hats, shoes, slippers, scarfs, and a bunch of stuffs that he didn’t even knew the name of. Seriously, at this point Luan and Vihan probably have more clothes than what he owned through the years. And they have only been there for a day! He could not help but yelled out, “At least?!”

Khun waved his hands dismissively. “Yes. These are just basic necessities.”

Shibisu immediately went to the corner of the room and sobbed over how unfair Khun was. He then mumbled how Khun had forgotten all about him now that he had his own kids. The scout continued to babble more random things like how cute his grandsons were, how he hoped they would not grow up like their not-so-nice papa, and how…

Khun tuned him out, too used to the scout’s antics. He focused instead on organizing everything he had bought for the twins. The children’s clothes should all fit into the closet. But he kept just a few pairs inside his lighthouse in case of emergency. As for the shoes and slippers—

“Khun.” A familiar voice called out to him. 

The blue haired male turned to see Bam standing just outside their room. “Bam? Why don’t you get inside? The children are still in the bathroom, but you can go there if you want.” 

“Khun, we need to talk.”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

-♤-♡-♢-♧-

Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 5

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“Sure, Bam.” Khun agreed easily, “Do you want to talk outside?”  

The golden-eyed male didn’t speak but simply nodded. 

“Papa?” a small voice called out.

Khun turned to see that the twins have just returned from the bathroom and were currently staring at him in confusion. 

“Are you going somewhere? You promised we would eat cakes together!” Luan protested, upset that his papa was going to leave and break his promise again.

“Don’t worry!” Shibisu butted in cheerfully. He had somehow moved from his corner and was now kneeling before the two children. “Your Papa is just leaving for a bit okay? He will be back soon! You can spend time with Uncle Isu while you wait!” 

“Papa?” Luan asked, looking for his permission. The boy had been pretty talkative and did not seem to have any problems with Shibisu during their first meeting. But now he seemed unsure. 

Khun thought back to last night, when he was asking why the twins did not disclose their full name from the very beginning. At that time they have mentioned something about how he was the one who didn’t allow them to speak of their full name because there were a lot of bad people out here. And then—

(“The people with papa, are they nice?”

“That would depend on your definition of nice.” Some people would have instantly exclaimed how trustworthy their long time companions were—especially with having people like Bam and Shibisu in their team. But for him things such as being nice or kind were always highly subjective.  

“Papa think they are not bad?”

The blue haired male shrugged. “Maybe.” The team was not bad at least. They knew when to listen to his instruction and were some of the best in term of strength and ability. “What do you think about them?”

“They seem nice…” Luan replied, “but the lady is scary.”

The lady… “Do you mean Endorsi?” At the boy’s nod, he asked, “Have you ever met her before?”

Both Vihan and Luan shook their head.

“Did you recognize anyone back then? Anyone you have seen before?” 

“No, papa.” The twins spoke in unison. “Should we?”

Khun was silent. He took a moment to think, organizing the information he has collected so far. If the kids could not recognize any of his current teammates, then it could lead to various possibilities—his making an entirely new team in the future, cutting ties with his current ones, and...

“What about Bam?”

Luan titled his head in confusion, “Bam?”

“Bam was the one who carried you upstairs. You were talking with him just a few minutes ago.”

The younger twin’s face immediately brightened. He nodded enthusiastically as he replied, “Un! I like Mister Bam, he is nice!”

Mister huh? It reminded Khun of what Bam used to call him back then. 

“…so today is the first time you see Bam?”

Luan slowly nodded with a small frown, “Yes….” He could not remember meeting the older brown haired male before. But maybe he is wrong? Is Mister Bam someone important?  Is that why papa keeps asking about him? The blunette then looked at his brother, just to make sure that he was not making any mistakes because of his bad memory. “Vi?”

Vihan answered his twin with another nod. “First time. He is papa’s friend?”)

“Papa?” 

“Stay here. Isu will keep you company when I am gone.” Khun gestured for the kids to follow Shibisu and watched as they reluctantly obeyed. 

“Papa back soon?” Vihan asked, looking at Khun hopefully. He didn’t want Khun to go. The older twin never liked to be separated from his dear father in the first place. So whenever Khun had to go somewhere, Vihan would always ask papa to come back to them soon.

“Yes. Be good and don’t cause any troubles.” Khun waved over to Shibisu, who gave the twins his best Mr. Nice Guy smile and a thumbs-up. “You can ask Isu if you need anything.”

With that, he followed Bam outside, silently wondering what the brunette might want to talk about this time. 

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“So what do you want to talk about, Bam?”

He glanced over at Bam as the other stayed silent, his eyebrows pressed into a frown and lips pulled into a tight line.  

“Are you okay? Do you want me to get anything for you?”

The wave controller shook his head. “Sorry, Khun. It’s just…I was thinking about something. But it’s so hard to say…”

“Bam…” Khun’s look softened. While Bam has become more confident and assertive these days, he was still having troubles speaking what he truly felt at times. But it was moments like this that truly reminded him the young man before him was still the same person as the timid irregular he encountered in the floor of tests. “Take your time. I am sure Isu won’t mind watching over the children a bit longer.”

Something he said must have spurred the brunette because it didn’t take too long before Bam started speaking.

“The children...did you manage to find where they came from?”

“A bit.” Khun replied with a shrug. It had been difficult to get clear answer from Luan and Vihan, but it’s a work in progress. He would definitely find out everything about the twins given enough time. “Although I am still not sure how they managed to appear here out of all places.”

“Oh.” Bam paused, yet Khun could see that the other didn’t seem to be really surprised by his answer. So he waited patiently as the brunette slowly continued. “Do you think...they are really your sons?”

“Mmm,” the light bearer hummed, lips pulled into slight smirk, “Who knows? They said so and have some proofs to support the claim.”

“Then—” Bam began, fiddling with his fingers almost absentmindedly. “about their other parent…”

“Bam, if this is making you uncomfortable we can stop here.”

“No, Khun. I just....” He paused once again. A shadow flickers across his face, a hint of something deeper that Khun could not quite put his finger on. But when he spoke again, the ice user found himself starting in surprise “I just want to know if the children are actually mine too?”

Despite himself, Khun’s eyes swiveled to lock upon Bam’s intense gaze. He studied him for a moment, recognizing the apparent worry and steel-like determination within the other’s eyes. Finally, taking a deep breath, he moved away from the brunette. “I am not sure I know what you’re talking about, Bam. Luan and Vihan already said that they don’t know who their other parent is.”

“I know, Khun. I was here too. But I can see that they share my traits.” The taller male was not backing down. He might not be as smart as Khun but he could recognize what he seen in two little boys. “I also understand what Shibisu was trying to say the first night they came here. And all the things they have said about their Daddy and his mission to defeat an evil king... They are all about me, right?”

“Bam...” Khun’s frown deepened. He had not decided if he should tell Bam about the twins’ other parent this soon. It’d make things difficult if the irregular got too attached to their small guests…

 
“Did I make some kind of mistake Khun? Is that why you would rather raise them alone without me? They don’t even know who I am and how I look like.”

A painful pang echoed through the blunette’s heart and he pressed his lips against the hidden emotion threatening to peek out from the shield guarding his features. He knew that Bam has this fear of never being good enough and of being left alone by the people he held dear to his heart. He racked his brain for an excuse, but another glance at the forlorn looking male made him deflated.

Khun sighed finally, giving up on denying that the children might not be his—or rather theirs—at least for the Bam's sake. “I don’t know Bam. Their ‘papa’, that person is not me. So I am not sure what happened and caused him to make those decisions…”

Bam bowed his head, chestnut colored hair falling in front of his face shadowing his golden eyes from view. After several long moments of silence, the brunette muttered, “Do you remember what I told you and the others in the second floor? I didn’t have a house or a family. The only thing I had was a dirty piece of cloth. So I thought I would die there doing nothing and all alone.” He took a deep breath and when he looked up again his eyes was full of determination. “But then I met you guys. You’re the first friends that I’ve had. So I really treasure you.” 

Bam stared at his light bearer for a long moment, and Khun could almost sense the conflicting emotions swirling within the other’s golden depth. Bam always held back, he’s rarely made the first move. He’s always allowed him to take the lead, even when he might have taken the brunette through long, winding road full of lies and deceits. Bam never complained and asked him questions he preferred not to answer. But now, as the other stared at him with countless emotions radiating from his amber gaze, Khun had to stop himself from hiding. From tearing his gaze away and pretending that he didn’t know more than he let on. 

“That’s why if the children—if they are really mine, I will finally have a real family…my own family. And I want to treasure them.” 

“So please tell me, Khun.” Bam asked quietly, his golden depths still fixed upon the other’s bright blue gaze. “The children—Vihan and Luan—are they my sons too?”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 6

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“Jyu Vihan Khun and Jyu Luan Khun. That’s what they are called.”

“Jyu—” Bam stopped, apparently recognizing the name that FUG has branded into him. The name that was said to be his real name. “Why do they have that name?”

“I don’t know Bam. You have to ask them yourself if you want to find out.”

After a few seconds of momentarily silence, the wave controller asked again, “Then…can I spend some time with them?”

Khun shrugged, “If you want to. I am not their keeper, Bam.”

The brunette smiled, bright and honest. He seemed to be truly happy that his light bearer had granted what seemingly to be such a simple request. And for the nth time since the children had made their appearance, Khun wondered what might have caused him, the other him—the twins’ real father—to deny Bam the chance to know his own sons.

“Thank you, Khun!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Khun didn't expect to see such a scene when he returned to his room. After everything that have happened, he really wanted to take a break and probably get some much needed work done. He had been hoping that Shibisu would be willing to take care of the kids so he wouldn't have to deal with them for a while. But luck was not in his favor. 

The light bearer walked into his room to be met with a rather peculiar sight of Rak sitting on the floor, folding his hands stoically as a bright eyed Luan circled around him enthusiastically.

“What are you doing here? Where is Isu?”

He watched three pair of eyes immediately focused on him as he entered the room. A sense of foreboding hit him. Somehow he knew that he would not be able to get any rest let alone work with the trio around. Really, Rak was already bad enough on his own. But to deal with him together with the twins would be pretty troublesome.

“Blue turtle!”

“Papa! Look look! I found a talking arigator! Can we keep it?” 

“Stop calling me an alligator, baby turtle!”

“But you are a talking arigator! Just like in papa’s stories!”

“I am not an alligator!”

Khun sighed, he really didn’t not need to deal with more craziness today. The short haired male then looked at quiet brunette who had clung to his leg the second he made his way inside. Since Luan was pretty much distracted by seeing Rak for the first time, he decided to ask Vihan about what happened. “Did Isu said anything about where he has ran off to? He was supposed to watch you two.” 

Vihan nodded. “…helping someone. Urgent call so he must go quickly.” He then raised his hands and stared at Khun quietly until the blunette finally sighed and bend down to pick Vihan into his arms. The older twin smiled as he met his papa’s familiar cobalt eyes. He gave the other a quick kiss on the cheek and muttered, “Welcome back, papa.”

“Ah, Vi no fair! I want to kiss papa too!” Luan cried out, immediately rushing from where he had been busy bickering with Rak. He stopped just before Khun and started hopping like an impatient bunny in his effort to reach the older male. “Papa, hug! Kiss!”

Khun, who had frozen upon feeling Vihan’s kiss on his cheek, stared at Luan in stunned disbelief. He distantly remembered the younger blunette kissing his cheek this morning before the twins had rushed to the bathroom. His then still half-asleep mind has dismissed the occurrence as one-time thing and didn’t bother to dwell on it any further. 

The light bearer was not a very affectionate person by nature, and since any displays of affection were almost nonexistent among his family, he had grown up without truly experiencing them. 

His mother’s hugs were rare and always carrying hidden messages and whispered commands. Her kiss—had she ever kissed him before? Before he went to sleep or after he woke up? Whenever he left the house or did well in school? 

He honestly could not remember.

“Papaaaaaa!!!!” Luan whined, upset at being ignored by his father for the second time that day. “I want to kiss and hug papa too!”

“You already did this morning and afternoon.” 

“It’s different! Wanna hug and kiss papa!”

Khun groaned as he saw Luan’s teary eyes, recognizing that the boy would most likely began crying again if he didn’t get his way. Clearly not wanting to go through the same embarrassing experience like he did this afternoon, Khun reluctantly kneeled down and let Luan to shower him with affectionate hug and kisses.

“Thank you, papa!”

“What did you when your leader was gone? Why are there suddenly baby turtles here?!” Rak demanded, red eyes following what seemed to be a happy family of three.

“I am not a baby!” Luan protested. He raised his fingers and proudly showed them to Rak, “I am four, mister arigator!” 

“I am not an alligator! I am Rak Wraithraiser!” Rak responded with his booming voice but Luan simply squealed louder. 

“It even has a name!” the small blunette said excitedly, “Can we keep it please papa? I promise to take care and feed it everyday!”

Khun turned away and tried to hold back a snicker. Did Luan really said that? Taking care of Rak? Feed him everyday?

“I won’t forget to take it for a walk too!” the boy insisted, much to Khun’s growing amusement and Rak’s displeasure.  “Please papa? I always want to have a pet arigator like in papa’s stories!” 

Khun could not help himself, he let out a scoffed laugh. The blunette then looked over at a fuming Rak and laughed even harder. 

“Shut up blue turtle!”

“Make me gator!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

After the chaos in the bedroom, the four of them have moved to the kitchen where the twins finally get to eat their promised chocolate cake. 

Luan and Vihan seemed to have enjoyed the cake, although they have commented that it was not as delicious as the one their papa usually made. Rak, on the other hand, had complained about sneaky turtles eating without their leader and had proceeded to devour a whole cake on his own. 

But, Khun hold back a snicker as he remembered the interaction between Rak and a certain blue haired twin.

Who knew that gator would be all softie like that? 

Khun had thoroughly enjoyed watching as Rak endured all the poking, giggling, whining, and babbling that Luan has subjected him to ever since the boy finished his cake without any fuss. 

The gator had only protested once in the beginning, when Luan started climbing and clinging into him. 

“Stop that! I am not a jungle gym!” was what Rak said at first. 

Yet the other hadn’t made any complains after that, simply allowing the small blunette to do whatever he wanted.

It was certainly interesting watching those two interact. 

Since Rak had nothing to do but eating bananas all day anyway, Khun thus decided to make the other babysit Luan while he tried to get some work done. Vihan was not a problem, the boy had dozed off once he finished his cake. So he had left the little brunette sleeping on one of the sofas nearby as he did some researches on the upcoming test for 67th floor as well as on any mentions about receiving a reward after passing the test in 66th floor. 

He took out a new file from his lighthouse and proceeded to move another one to its designated folder—all the while absentmindedly paying attention to what was going around him, including a conversation between Luan and Rak. 

“Do you want to play with me?” 

Rak crossed his arms with a huff. “I am a hunter. I don’t play with my prey.”

“Oh.” Luan stared, curious. “Is it fun being a hunter?”

“Of course! I become stronger by hunting!”

“Do you usually hunt with papa, mister arigator? Are you papa’s friend?”

“It’s Rak and I am the leader of all these turtles.” Rak answered. He looked down silently at the boy, paying attention to the short blue hair and golden eyes. “Baby blue turtle.”

Luan giggled, a small happy sound. “You are nice, uncle Rak.”

The last part made Khun paused and looked up from the file he was reading previously. “What did you just call him?”

“’Uncle Rak’?” Luan responded, head titled in confusion as he met his father’s gaze, “Uncle Isu said that everyone in Papa’s team is our uncle and auntie. So we must call them like that!” 

Khun silently cursed Shibisu and promised to make the scout pay the next time he saw him. “Just call him ‘Gator’.”

“Uncle Gator?”

“Blue turtle, stop corrupting baby turtles! My name is Rak, Rak Wraithraiser!”

Luan clapped, still as high spirited as always, “Uncle Gator-Rak!”

“It’s Rak! Stop listening to blue turtle, baby turtle!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

It took about two hours for Khun to organize and put together all the new information he had collected so far. The blue eyed male checked his pocket and saw that it was already 4.30 in the afternoon. 

Still a bit early, but with a sigh he remembered that Bam most likely had not eaten anything since they last talked. The wave controller often had this tendency to forgo sleeping and eating whenever he was training or feeling particularly stressed. If someone didn’t remind—or sometimes force—him to take a break and eat regularly, then the other probably would be pushing himself to the point of collapse. 

He walked to the kitchen and found that Luan and Rak were still where he last left them. The gator was currently showing various banana flavored chips to the child and teaching him something about how to differentiate them? 

Khun passed the duo, waving away Luan’s cheerful call of “Papa not working anymore? Play?” and made his way further to check the food they had at the moment. 

A single piece of chocolate cake—strange, Rak usually would eat everything and left nothing behind—then some biscuits and sandwiches. They would do, he thought. It wouldn’t be long till dinner anyway. 

He put all the food he found together with some water and placed them in a small bag. He called Luan over, stopping the younger blunette in his excited chatter with his newly crowned ‘Uncle Rak’.

“Yes, papa?”

“Can you bring this to Bam?” Khun pushed the small bag to Luan and watched as the boy received it and immediately tried to look at the content. “No peeking. Send it to Bam and make sure he finishes everything before you come back okay? And tell him to rest!” 

Luan nodded quickly at his instructions. “Yes, papa!”

“Do you remember everything I said?”

“Un! No peeking, give it to Mister Bam, tell him to eat and rest!”

“Good. Bam must be back in the training room by now. Do you know how to get there?”

“The big room in the back with the bang bang noise?”

The older blunette raised his eyebrow at the description but he still nodded. Luan gave Khun another big grin before the golden eyed kid suddenly landed another kiss on his cheek and left quickly. “Okay! Bye Papa! Bye Vi! Bye Uncle Rak!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

 
“Mister Bam?”

Bam stopped his training as he heard a small knock followed by what appeared to a child’s voice calling his name. The brunette walked slowly to the door and pushed it open to find Luan standing there with a cheerful smile on his face. 

“Ah, hello? Are you looking for me?”

“Yes! Papa told me to find you and send you this!” Luan answered, showing the small plastic bag he was carrying to the older male enthusiastically. Bam accepted it rather awkwardly, like he didn’t know how he should act now that he had found out the boy might potentially be one of his sons. He settled on smiling and thanking the small blunette quietly. “Are you alone?” 

Luan nodded and peeked into the room, his eyes immediately brightened at seeing many strange things inside. He passed through the small gap between Bam and the door and quickly found his way in. “What’s it? It looks so cool!”

“W—wait! You shouldn’t—” 

“This one too! How do you use this, Mister Bam?” Luan exclaimed. He continued to bounce all over the place, picking up new things and briefly asking what they were for before dashing to another corner to look at the newest thing that caught his attention. It took Bam more than ten minutes before he could finally (safely, carefully) catch the boy and get him to sit down. 

“That was fun! Can we do that again?”

“I am…not sure it will be safe. You have to ask Khun first.”

“Okay!” Luan agreed easily. It had been boring waiting for papa to finish working and for Vi to wake up. Uncle Rak didn’t want to play with him too and only wanted to hunt! But Mister Bam was pretty nice and he had so many interesting things that Luan hadn’t seen before. So next time he only needed to ask papa and he would be able to play with Mister Bam again right?

“Ah! Papa also said Mister Bam should eat and rest!” Luan added. “I will stay here so you won’t feel lonely when you eat alone okay? I usually have Vi and Papa with me so I don’t feel lonely!”

The expression on Bam’s face changed, softened, he became less tense and more relaxed. He leaned in closer to the little blunette and brought up his hand to pat the boy’s head. 

“Thank you.” Bam smiled, a strange feeling warmed his inside, “Do you want to eat this together with me?”

Luan eyes sparkled. “Can I?” then he paused. The boy had his brows furrowed, head tilted to a side, lips jutting out in a small pout. “But papa will get angry if he knows…I already eat a lot of sweets today.”

Bam carefully cut the cake into two and pushed the bigger half onto Luan’s direction, “Then let’s keep it a secret from Khun okay?”

A smile instantly found its way across Luan’s face as the boy beamed happily, “Thank you, Mister Bam!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

From: Blueberry

It’s quite rare for you to contact me first, little brother. Do you miss your cool big brother?

As for your question, I don’t think anyone from our dear family has twins recently. None from the ten great family has actually. Twins are rare, male twins especially. It can be considered a miracle if they manage to survive until adulthood without any incidents.

About the information you are looking for, well, it will cost you more if you want to find out. 

PS: Let me know if you are planning to give me cute lil nephews soon :)

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 7

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Khun was not in the best mood when he woke up the next morning. He hadn’t really slept well because the twins had been particularly fussy last night.

It all started with Luan’s throwing a tantrum and stating it was his turn to sleep with Khun. But then Vihan didn’t want to give up his spot and insisted that he also wanted to sleep with papa. So both ended up crying and wouldn’t stop until Bam finally offered to push the beds together. There was not a lot of space really, but that was the only way four of them could fit and sleep together in the same place. 

Khun, who had been too tired and in pretty bad mood by then, didn’t even protest as he climbed to the newly made bed. The twins followed his example and quickly took their respective place on each side of the blunette, snuggling happily as both managed to get what they wanted. 

However, while the kids only took a few minutes to fall asleep, the same could not be said to the two older males accompanying them. Khun especially was kept awake by every little whimper and cries that the twins made all night. 

So it was a very grouchy, short-on-sleep light bearer who entered the kitchen the following morning. 

Shibisu, who was the only one present during the blunette’s arrival, actually backed away as he saw the deep bags under the other’s eyes. “What’s happened?” 

Khun didn’t answer and simply walked to the coffee machine, where he proceed to make his preferred cup of coffee and drank it in one go.

“Did you not get any sleep last night?” Shibisu tried to ask again. 

His question earned him a scowl and a cold look from the blue haired male. “Do you think I would be able to sleep with two kids crying and screaming all night?”

“Ah,” Shibisu started. Khun looked cranky as hell. He didn’t want to say a wrong thing and ended up ticking off the light bearer. “Must be tough, huh?”

Khun glared at him. “Shut up. Don’t think I have forgotten that you were supposed to take care of them yesterday.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. But Hatz called and told me he needed my help quickly.”

Khun hummed, not really paying attention to the other’s excuse. Poor Shibisu was beginning to sweat as he watched Khun turned away from him. The other could hold a grudge for a long time. He would be screwed if Khun planned something particularly embarrassing just to mess with him.

“Where is Bam?” the older male tried to change the subject. “And the kids?

“Bam is out buying breakfast with Luan. Vihan is still asleep.”

“That sounds nice. The little guy seems to really like Bam huh?”

Khun only made a noncommittal hum in response.  

“You know, I think we should rent a bigger house next time. That way the kids can get their own room. Or we can get one with a huge master bedroom so you and Bam can stay together with the kids in one room.”

This made the light bearer paused and finally looked at the older male again. “Excuse me?”

“Come on Khun. We already know who the ‘daddy’ they keep on talking about.” The scout stated, grinning. “Anyone would be blind to not notice their similarities to you two.”

Khun narrowed his eyes. While any lesser men would have cowered under his icy gaze, Shibisu, with his years of experience in dealing with the blue-haired strategist, just kept on grinning broadly. “So have you talked about it with Bam?”

 
Khun looked at him with annoyance, “Are you always this noisy in the morning?” 

Shibisu laughed awkwardly and decided to keep his mouth shut after that. A tired Khun was always a difficult one to deal with, he remembered. Best not to annoy the blunette more than he already was. 

The two then continued drinking their coffee in silence. 

But then they stopped when they heard what appeared to be a loud, childish laugh outside. The laugh was soon replaced by giggles and happy squeals as the sound of talking slowly approaching their location.

It didn’t take a long time before the figure of their wave controller and a blue haired kid made their way inside. The brown haired male was smiling softly at something his little companion was saying. It was actually a good look on Bam. He seemed to be really happy as he entered, carrying Luan on one arm and holding the many bags containing their breakfast with the other.

“Good morning papa! Good morning uncle Isu!” Luan greeted, waving to two males sitting before him. 

Khun just nodded while Shibisu responded with an equally cheerful, “Morning, Luan!” and waved back in return.

His gaze then landed on the bags Bam was carrying, recognizing the logo was that of a well known establishment downtown. The place was pretty popular for its breakfast and lunch dishes so it usually was packed during the day. He knew for a fact that the place only opened at 7.30, and that it took about 20 minutes to walk there from their current residence. It’s only 8—a mere 30 minutes since the restaurant was supposed to open. So there was no way that the brunette could buy everything and be back this soon!

  
He paused. “Bam, did you happen to fly to the restaurant to buy all of those?” Shibisu asked tentatively.

Bam nodded. “Yes. It was faster, and Luan said he never flew before…”

“It was fun!” Luan chimed in enthusiastically, “Mister Bam has wings that look like butterfly’s!” He made a gesture with his hands to show them what Bam’s wings were supposed to look like and continued on, “They are so big and pretty! Can we fly again later, Mister Bam? I want to fly with Vi too! And with papa! Can we?” 

“That’s fine with me.” Bam answered, still supporting the same soft smile he had been showing Luan since they first entered. “But you have to ask your brother and Khun first.”

“Yay! Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise.”

Even Shibisu didn’t have the heart to intrude on such sweet moment between son and father. No matter how much he would like to remind Bam for possibly attracting attention with taking his shinsu wings out and flying around for such simple task of buying breakfast. 

Or maybe Bam did that because it was Luan’s request? 

As a father (at heart) himself, Shinisu could understand his feeling of wanting to fulfill all of his child’s request despite the consequences. So, maybe he could let this one go.

And the two of them—Bam and Luan—looked really cute together! 

The scout thanked his lucky star for waking up early today and having his observer recording everything at the moment.

When Shinisu was busy with his inner monologue, Khun was also paying attention to the interaction between Bam and Luan. The brunette no longer acted awkward around the small blunette. Also both even seemed to be closer than before. 

It should be a good thing, shouldn’t it? Even if the other him—the twins’ real papa—had been keeping their existence a secret, Khun would not do the same. If Luan was really his child, then Bam should have the right—the opportunity—to know about him and Vihan. That was also what Bam wished for. 

For companions.

For family.

For not being alone and lonely anymore. 

And he was never good at denying Bam anything the other asked for. 

“Did you give him anything to eat before coming back?” Khun asked all of sudden, noting a distinctive colorful smear around Luan’s mouth. The boy most likely had eaten something while he was away with Bam.

“Well…” the brunette appeared to be hesitant for a moment. He traded glances with Luan before slowly answering, “I gave him some ice cream since I remembered Master saying that children love ice cream.”

While it’s quite surprising to hear Jinsung Ha of all people teaching Bam anything related to what children liked or not, Khun could not help but sighed. “Bam, it’s not good for children to eat too much sugar in the morning. They will feel full and won’t have room for proper breakfast. It’ll be bad for their health.” he chided the other gently. Then he turned to Luan, “What did I tell you about eating sweets before meal?”

Two identical pair of molten gold immediately turned down at his scolding. 

“Sorry, Khun.”

“Sorry, Papa…”

Both resembled a pair of sad puppy as each of them offered their own apology. It made him feel bad enough, even without a certain scout throwing disappointed looks his way. 

“Oh, fine! Just make sure to remember next time.” The light bearer finally gave in. “And you should not spoil Luan too much, Bam.” 

“I understand.”

“I promise I will be good!” Luan beamed, back to his usual self in no time. He then started to wiggle around and asked Bam to put him down. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the boy didn’t waste time and ran to Khun, where he proceeded to hoop up and down asking for his daily kisses and hugs. “Papa kiss!”

Still not used to such blatant display of affection but seeing no way out of his current predicament, the light bearer resigned himself and allowed Luan to climb to his laps for his morning kiss and hug. 

“Papa, can I play with Mister Bam today?” Luan asked after the whole kiss-and-hug-papa ordeal and he made himself comfortable on Khun’s lap.

“With Bam?”

“Un! Mister Bam promised me yesterday! I want to learn making pretty water balls like him too!”

“Pretty water balls?” Khun raised his eye brow, turning to Bam who was smiling sheepishly at him. He then realized that Luan must be revering to the orbs or one of the brunette’s shinsu manipulation skills. “Do you want to train your shinsu?”

“Shinsu? Like papa’s snow and ice?”

Snow? So future him could utilize his shinsu into making snow too? This was the first time he was hearing about it. “Yes. Do you want to train with Bam?”

Children from the Ten Great Families usually received training pretty early. So it’s not really surprising if Luan wanted to start with his shinsu training. As long as the younger blunette didn’t start asking him to train with spears then it should be fine. 

Though maybe he should start asking about the other him—their real papa's—ability in the future so he could be prepared in advance.

“Can I? Please papa!”

“That sounds dangerous.” Shibisu commented with a frown. “Luan is only a kid. Even some of us didn’t really know a thing about shinsu until we start climbing the tower.” 

“Bam?”

“It’d be dangerous, Khun. And I have never trained anyone before…”

“It’d be fine, Bam. I am sure you’d be a great teacher. As for Luan…” Khun turned to bright eyed child who was still looking expectantly at him, “Did you get any training before you came here?”

“Training with papa?”

“Yes, with your papa or anyone else. Have you and Vihan ever received any formal training in shinsu before?”

“Papa always makes the prettiest snow and ice for us!” Luan explained, gushing happily, “When it gets too hot papa will bring us outside and we will be playing ice skating on the ring papa made! Then then there will lots of snows so me and Vi can make snowman together with papa!” A pause and then a pair of twinkling golden eyes turned to Khun. “Can we do that later papa?”

Already used to Luan’s random request, Khun agreed easily. Though as usual he made no mention about when he was going to follow with the boy’s request. “Only if you answer the question first. Did anyone ever teach you about shinsu before?”

  
“Shinsu like papa?” 

“Yes.”

Luan scrunched up his face as he thought long and hard about the answer. “Grandpa—” he cut himself off, “—I mean Mister! Mister En always teaches me and Vi stuffs when he comes!” 

Shibisu chocked on his coffee, “Grandpa?!!”

Luan raised his finger to his lips in a gesture for silence. “He doesn’t like it if me and Vi call him that! So don’t tell anyone okay? Gra—Mister En is really scary when he is angry!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 8

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“Oh.” Shibisu, having gotten rid of his choking fit in record time, quickly brought his head down to the boy’s eye level. “Are you afraid of this Mister En?”

Luan shook his head. “No. But papa always says that Mister En is a moody old man so we should not make him angry.” He looked up at Khun for confirmation. “Right papa? Mister En is really scary when he is angry!”

Khun didn’t answer him. The light bearer had tensed at the first mention of grandpa coming from Luan’s lips. He never expected the twins to ever have a grandfather-like figure to begin with. Because his only living relative who was supposed to be the grandfather to Luan and Vihan was someone he rather not — never — associated with. 

Khun Eduan. 

“Hey, Luan.” Shibisu called to the small blunette, who immediately turned to look at him with curious golden eyes. He hesitated slightly. He knew that Khun would not be happy with him once he asked the question. But hopefully the blunette wouldn’t do anything too bad with Bam and the kids around. “Your grandpa, the… this Mister En, does he happen to have a long blue hair and looked just like your papa?”

……

Luan blinked. “Code?”

“Yes. I will give you a set of codes that you need to memorize just in case.”

“Is…” Vihan started, titling his head to look up at Khun, “Is that similar to the secret signal papa told us before?”

“Your papa—“ The blue haired male paused. “So you already learned about something similar before?”

The twins nodded.

“Papa taught us, remember?” Luan beckoned to Vihan to come closer. The older obliged and stood beside his twin silently. “One tap means ‘yes’,” he gave Vihan’s shoulder a light tap and grinned as his other half looked at him curiously, “and two taps means ‘no’. And if we understand we will give papa ‘three’!”

Khun nodded. The signal was simple enough for children to understand. And most people wouldn’t think twice if some little kids clapped or blinked several times.

“Alright. So next time I give you the signal—“

……

Two taps. 

Luan turned to his silent father and blinked three times. “...I don’t know. Mister En never has same hair and eyes color when he visits us.” The boy paused. Mister En didn’t live with them, but he had came quite often that the twins had long gotten used to the other’s presence. The small blunette titled his head as he tried to think of answer that would not make papa upset at him. “I like it when his eyes and hair are red like fire. It’s so pretty!” 

“Prettier than your papa?” Shibisu asked teasingly. 

Luan puffed up his cheeks, “No!” the boy denied. “Papa is the most handretty person in the world!”

“Handretty?!” The scout repeated, trading glances with amused Bam and still silent Khun, “Is that even a word?”

“Yes! Uncle Ling helped me make it when he came last time.” Luan responded enthusiastically. “Papa is the most handretty person in the world!”

Khuns usually looked similar to one another. Even though they were said to have the prettiest genes in the tower, since so many of them around the novelty had quickly wore off and they have became quite ordinary sometimes. 

So Khun, used to people commenting on his look, didn’t show any visible reaction at Luan's excited chattering. Although, this was the first time someone ever described him as 'handretty'—if such word really existed. 

The blue-eyed regular decided to cut in before Shibisu could ask any more intrusive questions, “Do you still want to train with Bam?”

“Can I papa?” Luan turned his bright golden eyes at him, puppy like, “Please please pretty please! I want to play with Mister Bam again!”

“You are going to disturb Bam.”

“I won’t!” Luan was positively pouting now. He quickly looked at Bam and gave the older male a pleading glance. “Right Mister Bam?” 

Bam smiled at the boy, kind and a little hopeless. “He can go with me, Khun. I probably can teach him some of the basics if he wants.”

“Yes!” the younger twin bounced impatiently, “I wanna learn with Mister Bam!” 

Khun couldn’t help but to answer him with wry, stern eyes. “Do you promise to behave?”

Luan nodded eagerly. “Yes, papa!”

“Fine. If he is getting too annoying or distracting, you can send him back, Bam. I am sure Gator won’t mind taking care of him for a few hours.” 

“Of course, Khun!” The chestnut haired male gave a nod in response. His student for the day, Luan, cheered happily at finally getting his papa’s permission to spend the day with his new favorite person. He could not wait to play with Mister Bam again! Yesterday was really fun! And the gold-eyed male had taken him to fly with his pretty butterfly wings too~ He really should ask Vi to join them next time!

“Papa…?” 

Another small voice called out. Four pair of eyes turned to see Vihan by the door, messy brown hair sticking to different directions as the boy walked sleepily inside. 

“Vi, you wake up!” Luan called out to his brother. He easily jumped from Khun’s lap and ran away to where the other was standing, still half-asleep. “Look! I ask Mister Bam to buy your favorite breakfast! Vi likes smoothies right?” He proceeded to drag his older brother to Khun's direction and once again asked the blue haired male to pick and let them sit on his lap.

Khun picked the twins up without any complains. But instead of placing them on his lap like Luan wanted, he put them into empty chairs beside him. 

Luan pouted at this. He didn’t want to sit alone! He wanted to sit with papa and Vi as usual! “Papaaaaaaaa~”

“No. If you want to go with Bam then you have to be quiet and stop complaining.” 

At the mention of Bam’s name, Luan seemed to forego his pouting in lieu of talking to his twin, “Vi, I am going to play with Mister Bam today!” he informed the other excitedly.

Khun frowned as bits of food flew from the boy’s mouth, “Don’t talk with your mouth full.” He reminded the boy sternly. Luan quickly put his hands over his mouth and apologized with a cheerful, “Oops, sorry papa!”

Shibisu snickered at the scene, earning a warning glare from a certain blue haired strategist. The older male stopped snickering but didn’t remove the huge grin from his face. He was so proud of Khun! His son had grown up to be such responsible father just like him! 

“Do you want to go with me? Mister Bam is going to teach me how to make pretty water balls today!” Luan continued. This time he made sure he finished his food before speaking so Papa would not be angry at him, “We are going to go flying too!”

Vihan didn’t answer, he simply stared at his brother silently before turning to look at Bam who immediately sent the smaller brunette a warm smile and nod upon meeting his gaze.

“…no,” Vihan finally replied. He jumped down from his chair and quietly made his way to Khun. The light bearer only sighed and resigned himself as Vihan used his leg as a stepstool and climbed into his lap. Once he settled, the brown haired twin buried his face onto Khun's chest and sighed contently. “Wanna stay with papa.”

“Finish your breakfast first.” He ordered Vihan, pushing the plate with half-eaten bagel closer to the boy. “Then you are going to take a bath and change your clothes. You cannot go around only wearing pajamas all day.”

“Bath with papa?”

The boy was still four years old, it might be difficult for him to do it alone. There was no harm if Khun helped him with his bath, he needed to take one anyway. And since Luan had already taken a bath with Bam before they went out… “Yes. We will visit Bam and Luan later, so eat your breakfast quickly.”

Vihan nodded, a small heartfelt smile on his lips. “Okay, papa!”

“I am finished!” Luan pushed his empty plate away and stood up quickly. “Can I go now, papa?”

“You should ask Bam.” Khun replied, “But wash your hands first.”

“I am done too, Khun.” Standing up, the wave controller walked to Luan’s chair and helped him with putting away the empty plates and washing his hands. 

Khun glanced from the corner of his eyes as Bam wiped the pieces of food around Luan’s mouth with obvious care before proceeding to lift the boy back onto his arms. Words of reprimand — don’t spoil him, don’t get too attached — were already on the tip of his tongue, but he tried to hold them down. He could not take that from Bam, the brunette actually looked happy taking care of Luan. 

“Be careful not to get hurt okay?” Shibisu advised the high-spirited pair. 

“It's okay!” Luan gave his so-called uncle Isu a bright grin, causing the older male to swoon at the boy's cuteness. “If I get an ouchie, Fifi will heal me, right papa?”

Khun paused on his musing and gave the boy a blank look. “Fifi?”

“Papa’s fire fish!” Luan chirped, “Fifi!”

Khun didn’t even know how to react. Fifi? Was that actually the fish’s name? He wasn’t even sure that the fire fish was a female to begin with.

He summoned the fire fish.

“Fifi!”

Luan giggled as the fire fish appeared and circled around him, orange colored flame flared dangerously close but not quite touching the small boy. 

‘How strange.’

Like before, Khun was the only one who could hear the fish's voice. He glanced as it now headed towards Vihan, who was blinking at its approach but showing no sign of being afraid of the fire fish.  

‘What?’ He asked, seeing the shinheuh gave Vihan the same treatment as it did to Luan. The fire fish circled Vihan twice, stopping at the boy's eye level and started at him for a long time before it swam back to Khun.

'The little ones….' It answered, voice surprisingly not as cold and detached as it did when speaking to him last time. If anything, he would say that the fire fish seemed to be as surprised as he was, its voice colored with hints of curiosity and interest, ‘they carry my mark.’

‘What do you mean your mark?’ Khun remembered Rak mentioning something about his eyes looking different when he used the fire fish's power. Was that the mark it was talking about?

But the shinheuh didn’t answer him. It circled around Luan and Vihan a few more times before it sink back into his body with one last message. 'Keep them close to you, Khun Aguero Agnes.'

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends 

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Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 9

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Vihan was clearly a lot different from Luan.

For one, Vihan was much more subdued and quiet compared to his ball of sunshine brother. 

Then, he seemed to dislike crowds and avoid talking to other people as much as possible. The small brunette rarely interacted with anyone besides Khun and Luan, preferring to stay close to either or both of them.

Though Khun had to admit that he found it easier to take care of Vihan. The older twin was not as persistent and high-maintenance as Luan; thus not very difficult to reason with. 

Just like now.

After helping him with his bath and choosing his clothes for the day, Khun told the little brunette that he needed to do some works and that Vihan could stay as long as he didn’t disturb him. 

While Luan would have pouted and threw a small tantrum at that, Vihan only nodded and silently accepted the coloring books, paper, and crayon box that Khun gave him. The kid then headed to a lighthouse that he would be using for workbench and was quickly immersed with his coloring.

Khun similarly turned to his lighthouse and started working. The bluenette shuffled around the files in front of him, fingers flying over the keyboard, barely pausing as he quickly went through new information and updated his data.

The only sound in the room was that of his typing as well quiet shuffling and scratching of paper and crayon.

Khun had mostly left Vihan on his own as he set to finish more work that he had been neglecting due to the twins sudden appearance. 

Yet Vihan didn’t seem to have any problem with being left alone. The brunette seemed content simply by staying near his papa and busied himself with his coloring books. He had been mostly quiet, only asking Khun about some random color occasionally. 

“Papa, what’s the color of the sky?”

“Hm?” Khun responded distractedly, opening up a new file one after another. “It’s blue.”

“How about the sun?”

“Yellow.”

“Like egg?”

“Yes. Just like an egg.”

“Okay.”

A rustle and more scratching noise. 

Khun focused his attention on the flashing screens and changing diagrams before him, making adjustments to his file with the updated information. 

“Papa?” A tug on his pants leg.

Khun looked down to see Vihan holding up his crayon box. “What is it?”

“For apples.”

The regular picked up green and red crayon. “You can use this one or this.”

“No blue?”

“No. Apples are usually red or green. If you want to use blue, you can draw blueberries or something.”

Nodding, Vihan reached out to take the crayons Khun was holding and walked back to his lighthouse.

Khun watched the four-year-old go and continued his coloring in silence. He silently wondered if Vihan was used to this routine in the future. The boy had been a good company so far, staying quiet and doing his best not to disturb him working.

 
Unlike a certain blue-haired twin of his…

“Papa papa papa papa!!!”

Khun sighed, but it wasn’t exasperated or angry sigh like he usually did. Just resigned and probably a little tired. 

The light bearer turned around and found Luan running into the room while carrying several packs of sandwiches.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be training with Bam?”

“It’s lunch time, papa! Uncle Rak came when I was playing with Mister Bam. So we ate lunch together!”

The golden-eyed boy approached his twin and peeked over Vihan’s shoulder in curiosity. “What are you doing, Vi?”

“Drawing. Papa gave me these.”

Luan oh-ed in amazement. “It looks nice! I want to draw too!”

Vihan wordlessly handed one of his paper and shared his crayon box, causing his brother to squeal in happiness.

“Thank you Vi! What are you drawing?”

“Apples. Papa said I should use red or green…”

“Then I’m going to draw bananas for Uncle Rak and Mister Bam!”

Khun watched as the twins picked up different crayon and began drawing. He actually didn’t want to disturb them just in case Luan changed his mind about wanting to draw and started bothering him instead. But Khun was sometimes too curious even for his own good.

“How was your training?” he asked the younger blunette.

Luan looked up from the piece of paper he was doodling in. “It’s really fun, papa! Mister Bam made lots of pretty water balls and taught me how to do it.” he responded excitedly, “Then uncle Rak came and we played together! Uncle Rak has this power to control rocks and make a big rocky tower. I want to climb it but Mister Bam said no because it’s too dangerous.” 

Luan was speaking so fast that Khun actually had to focus to understand what the boy was saying. The newly dubbed father was wondering how did Luan manage to say all of that in one go, he didn’t think the other even paused to take a breath when he said it. 

“Then we stopped because uncle Isu told us it’s lunch time! He brought us a lot of sandwiches. See? I don’t forget to bring some for papa and Vi too! Because papa always forgets to eat when he is working!” Luan proudly showed the sandwiches he was carrying moments before to Khun, who was frowning but accepted the food with a nod. The older blunette actually wanted to know what Shibisu was planning by this sudden visit to Luan and Bam. 

“Uncle Rak told me I must eat lots so I can grow big like Mister Bam!” Luan continued, still as cheerful as ever. “But but uncle Isu said Mister Bam was small like me before. He showed me this picture!”

Khun took the picture from the boy’s fingers and his frown deepened even further as he saw it was their group photo back from the second floor. Really, what was Shibisu planning this time? To show that old picture to Luan all of sudden…

“So, what did you come here for?” Khun abruptly asked, changing the subject to stop Luan from chattering any further. He initially planned to bring Vihan to visit Bam and Luan after he got some work done. But now that Luan was here then his plan was thwarted. “Are you not going to continue training with Bam?”

Luan beamed and smiled widely at him. “I will! After Papa cut my hair!”

The blue-eyed male looked at the boy and raised his eyebrow in mild curiosity. “And why do you want that?” Or rather why would he want Khun to do that? 

“I want to have short hair like Mister Bam! Just like in the picture!”

“Bam’s hair is not short anymore you know?”

“It is! It is shorter than papa’s hair!”

A sigh. “It doesn’t mean that you must cut your hair.”

“No!” Luan shook his head stubbornly, “I want to have short hair like Mister Bam, so I can grow big and strong like him! Uncle Rak says so!”

Khun pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the incoming headache. He knew from experience that sometimes there was no reasoning when dealing with children. They could be as stubborn as a mule and would not expect ‘no’ as an answer. Just like Luan right now.

“You should stop listening to Gator. He might not know what he was talking about anyway.”

“No! I want to!” Luan insisted, stomping his feet defiantly. “Papa promised to cut my hair! Papa lying!”

Khun sighed in near exasperation. Not this again. He really should stop promising Luan anything in the future. The boy could be such a stubborn little diva. It must be Shibisu’s influence.

“Fine. But if you end up looking horrible, don’t blame me. Understand?”

Luan nodded eagerly, all smile now that he managed to get what he wanted. The boy ran to hug a disgruntled Khun and beamed brightly. “Thank you, papa!”

“Go to the bathroom and wait here.” He told Luan without looking at him, his mood souring a bit at having to follow the boy’s whim. He knew that Luan was only four years old and it’d be silly to get irked by his childish demand. But he never liked to be forced to do things he didn't want to—

A small tug followed an equally little voice caused him to look down to face Vihan. A single blue eye peeked from his long bangs. “Help papa?” 

“Do you want to help?” Khun questioned. To be honest he didn’t really need any help with cutting Luan’s hair. He already had everything he needed stored inside his lighthouse. And it should not take too long to make Luan’s shoulder-length blue hair to match Bam’s old hairstyle. But Vihan had wanted to help, and it was supposedly good for children to develop a sense of responsibility, so…

“Can you hold this for me?” he took out a small hand mirror and handed it over to the boy. Khun watched as Vihan struggled a bit before he finally could hold the mirror steadily. “Yes. Just keep it like that. You can show Luan how his new hair looks like later on.”

“Okay, papa.”

 
“Good.” He ruffled the boy’s fluffy brown hair and earned a shy smile in return. It lifted his mood a little bit. “Now let’s go to that stubborn brother of yours.”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“Are we do done yet, papa?”

“No.” Khun answered shortly. He divided the short blue hair into three parts—one on the right, one on the left and the other in the middle. “Stay still. I cannot cut your hair if you keep moving like that.”

“But it’s so boooooring.”

“You were the one who asked for a haircut. So be still.”

Luan pouted.

The blunette didn’t respond, focusing on first trimming down the tip of the hair. He then moved, cutting each section until they were exactly of the same length.

“So, do you like Bam?”

“Uh-huh.” Luan swung his little feet, humming an unfamiliar cheery tune. Khun already gave up in this point in trying to make the boy stay still. “He is nice!” 

A pause. “It feels comfi, comfo, comfola—comfor...” Luan scrunched up his face in confusion as he tried to remember the word papa taught him before.  “Compa…”

“Comfortable?”

“Yes! It feels comfoable with Mister Bam. Just like with Papa!”

“It’s comfortable not comfoable.” The older male corrected automatically. He continued trimming the short blue hair from the front and end at the back, keeping the hair between his fingers as he added some final touches. 

“Done.” He signaled to Vihan to hold the mirror in front of his twin and moved to clean up everything as the twins were now preoccupied with admiring Luan’s new hairstyle.

Luan immediately squealed when he saw his now short hair. The boy did a twirl in front of the mirror to take a better look at himself. “Thank you, Papa!” He hugged the light bearer briefly before quickly jumping out of his chair and running out of the room in record time. “I am gonna show it to Mister Bam, uncle Rak, and uncle Isu. Bye Papa! Bye Vi!”

And then the boy was gone like the wind.

Getting somehow used to the twins’ (especially Luan’s) random displays of affection, Khun just shrugged and turned back to his cleaning. He briefly glanced to the side when he didn’t hear anything from the other occupant of the room. 

Vihan was currently staring at the scattered blue hair on the floor with a strange expression on his face.

 
The blunette tsked as he looked at the long fringe that obstructed the boy’s eyes. He really couldn’t understand how the future him would allow his son to have such a terrible hairstyle.

“Do you want me to cut your bangs?” He asked the older twin. 

Vihan looked up at him and shook his head slowly, “Don’t wanna...”

Khun sighed. He still had his scissors and everything out, it would easier if he just cut the brunette’s hair now rather than later. “Do you want to tell me why at least? It would not be good to let your bangs get too long like that. Someday it would get in the way and make you trip and fall down.”

Vihan stayed silent, seemingly retreating further to himself. After some time, the boy mumbled something unrecognizable.

“What was it?”

“...I...no like it. Different from Lu....”

“What do you mean?”

The boy raised his hand to cover his left eye. “My eyes...weird, not same…”

Khun kneeled down before Vihan and pushed the boy’s long bangs to the side. And for the very first time since he encountered Vihan, Khun finally saw what the young brunette had been trying to hide all along. 

Two differently colored eyes stared back at him in obvious alarm. Vihan’s right eye was the color of cobalt blue like his own, while his left eye was the color of warm amber, which meant—

“…a complete heterochromia.”

Vihan looked up at him, eyes shiny with unshed tears and distress. “They are weird, aren’t they papa…?”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

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Chapter 10

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“Did anyone tell you that your eyes look weird?”

The boy flinched slightly and would not meet Khun’s eyes. “…no.”

“You should not let yourself be ruled by other people’s opinion.” The light bearer stated not unkindly, mentally going over the list of people who could possibly have contact with the twins and making such distasteful remark. Luan probably knew, he concluded. He was going to ask the boy and find out what actually happened to make the older twin act like this. “You impose the rule and control your own life.”

“But my eyes are weird.” Now the brunette sounded like he was going to cry. He was looking down and clutching his shirt so tightly. “My eyes, they…they are not like papa’s and Lu—” Vihan released a surprised gasp as he was suddenly pulled into an embrace.

It wasn’t the first time that papa hugged him. But it was rare for papa to initiate a hug. Usually he and (mostly) Luan would be the first one to shower their papa with hugs and kisses. 

So it’s always a treat for the twins to receive a hug from papa!

Vihan raised his head from where it was tucked against the blunette’s chest. “Papa?”

“It’s fine.” Khun responded, keeping his arms around the boy. He wasn’t really the best person for this. Comforting others wasn’t his forte. But lately it seemed that he always landed in situations which required him to console others. If Vihan was just some stray kids looking for attention, he might be able to ignore him. But the boy was looking too much like a certain irregular with those forlorn eyes of his… “Just take a break now.”

Vihan, knowing better not to question his father at time like this, gave a slow nod. “Un.” He made a soft sigh as he buried his head back on the other’s chest. The brunette tried his best to wrap his small arm around Khun and only partially succeeded in his effort.  

“Better?” Khun’s voice was low, and Vihan let the rumbling from the older man’s chest and his familiar presence sooth him.

Another nod. “…mmm, warm, papa smells good.”

Khun was a bit surprised at what Vihan was saying, and his eyes started to soften ever so slightly. “Is that so?” 

This time the little brunette didn’t answer and simply snuggled closer to his dear papa.

“I don’t think they look weird.” The blue haired male stated after a long silence. His statement made Vihan immediately looked up in surprise. 

“Your eyes.” Khun repeated, “I don’t think they are weird.”  

Vihan bowed his head. He brought his hand to cover his left eye. The gold color, he never liked it. He preferred blue, blue like papa’s color. “…”

“You don’t need to say anything.” Khun continued after watching the older twins’ crestfallen expression. “If—no, when you are ready, you can tell me.”

“Papa not angry?”

Looking down at Vihan, he saw that the brunette actually seemed afraid of his reaction. Like he expected Khun to be angry and rejected him. “Why should I be angry?” he asked in response, “I may be your...parent figure but I won’t be your rule.”

“Rule?”

Khun just hummed and rummaged through his lighthouse in distracted manner. Upon finding what he was looking for, he set Vihan down and told the boy to stay still for a moment.

“Papa?”

“It won’t take long.” Khun parted the brown hair to one side, letting the fuller side flow and cover his left eye tastefully. He then pulled some stray strands back and pin it above the boy’s ear with a hairclip. “This way you should be able to see better. Is it too tight?”

Vihan shook his head.

“Good. Now let fix that hair of yours.” Khun pointed to his long hair. While he had taken care of the front, the back was still a bit too messy for his liking. At Vihan’s alarmed expression he explained, “I am not going to cut it, just tidying it a bit. What kind of hairstyle do you want?”

Vihan remained silent. He didn’t have any preferred hairstyle nor posses any knowledge of it. Papa always took care of his hair and made sure he brushed it every day.

“How about a ponytail?”

A slow nod. “Can I have braids like papa?” The brunette hesitantly asked. 

“The side braids?” Khun raised his eyebrow, “Sure. Your hair is pretty long anyway.”

The boy fidgeted nervously as Khun started to look for a spare hair band to tie his long hair. 

“What is it?”

Shyly, Vihan hugged him, relieved that Khun was not angry and even was going to help him with his hair. “Thank you, papa.”

Khun tensed at first, but then eased into the hug, bringing his arm to slowly pat the boy’s head. “It’s nothing.”

Vihan smiled contently, enjoyed how warm and safe he felt in the blunette’s arms. “Love papa…”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

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Chapter 11

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“There you are! We have been waiting for so lo—wait, is that Vihan?” 

Shibisu’s exclamation instantly drew others’ attention and they looked to the direction the scout was pointing only to see a familiar brown-haired boy timidly hiding behind Khun’s leg. 

Unlike before, the little brunette now had his hair put in a high ponytail with small braids on each side. His bangs was parted sideway, with the left side falling naturally and covering his eye whereas the right was held by a simple hairclip and showing a large cobalt eye. 

If there was anyone doubting the boy’s parentage before, they clearly wouldn’t be able to say anything now. The resemblance was almost too uncanny. Vihan looked like a certain Slayer candidate sans the blue eye and long hair. 

Needless to say the team momentarily froze at seeing the boy’s appearance. 

Then, like it’s not enough to have a mini Viole around, the next to enter were Bam himself who was carrying a babbling Luan in his arms.

The others immediately saw that the younger twin also supported a new haircut which was a reminisce of Bam’s previous short hair.

“Another one!?”

“Vi!” Luan yelled out his twin’s name in obvious glee. “You look nice! Did Papa do that too?” 

Everyone turned in unison to Khun at that, realizing that the twins' sudden change of appearance was his doing. 

The light bearer ignored them, leisurely walking to his usual seat. Behind him, the twins immediately jumped to follow their papa like adorable ducklings.

“Well, uh, now that’s everyone is here, let’s eat! We don’t want the food to get cold, do we?” Shibisu, ever the mood maker, said with a cheer. He pushed his ‘children’ to their seat as to avoid any conflicts before dinner, and as usual he received a lot of grumbles and even an elbow to the gut for his effort. 

“Shut up, tracksuit!”

“So cruel! How could you do that to Daddy?!”

“Get off! Don’t wipe your snot on me, gross—!"

“How noisy. I am still sleepy…”

“I still don’t know how you can be sleepy after doing nothing but sleep every day.”

Amidst the chaos that usually accompanied their meal time, Bam took a seat across from Vihan and smiled warmly as his eyes met the boy’s. “Hello. You look very nice today.”

Vihan offered a small nod in response, ponytail swinging with the motion, and quickly bowed his head as to avoid looking at the older brunette. 

“Vi looks pretty! Like papa!” Luan gushed out, bits of food flying out in his excitement.

Khun tsked as he pulled a napkin out of nowhere and proceeded to wipe Luan’s mouth with it. “What did I say about talking with your mouth full?”

Luan blinked at him, “Papa said not to?”

“If you know then stop doing that.” Khun said with a resigned sigh. “Eat and no talking until you’re done.”

“Okay papa!”

The moment Khun took his hand away, the previously noisy dining table suddenly turned silent. 

The blunette turned his head and glared as he felt everyone’s gaze on him. Shibisu in particular was grinning idiotically while the rest only stared at him in disbelief. “What is it?”

The less aggressive members of their team mumbled a quiet “nothing…” as they hurriedly turned back to their food. They didn’t really want to say anything that might anger the light bearer less they suffered the consequences. 

Some however had no qualms in voicing what’s on their mind.

“I must be hallucinating right now.”

A nod of agreement. “There is no way earrings would be acting like that.” 

“An imposter?”

“Or maybe some kind of spell.” A thoughtful silence, “Think it might be permanent?”

“Oh Khun, daddy always knows you would be an excellent father! You make daddy so proud, my teaching surely—"

“Keep talking,” the light bearer raised his fork threateningly, “and I will burn all your photo collection.” 

“You wouldn’t—!”

Rak, meanwhile, only glanced at them briefly before he went back to devour everything in front of him, muttering a variation of “stupid turtles” between each bite. 

“Where are the others? Didn’t they already arrive?” Bam asked while giving a bright eyed Luan some spaghetti and meatballs from his plate. The boy had finished his in record time and had been eyeing the food on other people’s plate since then. 

Luan immediately perked up at receiving more food from the older male. “Thank you Mr. Bam!”

“Not sure. But Endorsi hasn’t came back yet, something about a photoshoot.”

“I see.” Bam smiled as Luan started eating his second serving happily. The blunette was a messy eater, so Bam moved to clean the mess and wipe the sauce around Luan's mouth once he finished. “Do you want more?”

Luan shook his head and looked hopefully at Bam. “Apple pie?”

The brunette remembered the dessert the two of them bought this morning and nodded in understanding. “Of course. Do you want to have it with ice cream?”

“Yes!”

As Bam moved to get Luan his apple pie, he noticed that the table had fallen silent once again.

“Is something wrong?”

His question was met with helpless shrugs and understanding smiles from his team, causing the wave controller to blink in confusion.

“Ignore them, Bam.” Khun replied, ceasing his glaring in order to focus back on his dinner. “Nothing is wrong. They are just being weird as usual.”

“Ah. Do you want an apple pie too Khun? Vihan?”

A snort. “What are we, chopped liver?”

“I don’t know you like apple pie.”

“I don’t. But someone didn’t even try to offer us any.” 

Shibisu was grinning again, despite the threat to his beloved collection, then faking a faint, “How is a lonely man like me supposed to survive in a world filled with such tenderhearted displays?!”

“I am good, Bam. If you’re done, then let’s just go back to our room.” Ignoring the chatter, Khun pushed his half-eaten plate away and immediately stood up.

“But papa!” Luan protested, “my apple pie—”

“—and bring the pie with you. The kids can eat it here.” Khun continued without missing a beat. He picked up Vihan, who had finished his dinner silently among the commotion, and brought the boy into his arms. “I am going back first.”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

A pair of golden eyes opened to find himself in an unknown location. The brunette looked around in confusion. He remembered going to bed with Khun and the kids. Luan was asking for a bedtime story, but Khun had been in a rather strange mood so Bam offered to do it instead. He remembered reading to Luan and tucking him in after the boy fell asleep. Then he went to sleep beside the younger twin…

Only to wake up on an entirely different place.

But this place…the golden eyed male took into his surrounding, he seemed to be in a bedroom. There was a pile of clothes on one side, several blankets, another pile of diapers and baby formula on the other. Also a bed. There were two small bundles resting on the bed accompanied by a person with familiar long blue hair…

“Khun?” Bam called out the blunette’s name. 

He recognized the person to be Khun. Yes, it was Khun but…somehow he looked different? The blue haired male sleeping on the bed seemed to be older and taller than his Khun…

His observation was cut short by a sound of crying. Bam watched as a sleeping Khun suddenly jerked awake at the cry. He looked on as the other hurriedly picked up a certain brown haired baby while worriedly glancing at another baby, this one with fuzzy blue hair, who was starting to stir, disturbed by his crying twin and the commotion around him. 

This older Khun winced as Luan—yes, tuff of blue hair and golden eyes. Somehow Bam could recognize that he was staring at baby Luan—joined his older brother in crying their lungs out.

Bam watched, wincing slightly at the level of noise the twins made with their high pitched cries, as Khun tried to pick and rock the babies slowly in order to calm them down. 

Yet his effort was all for naught.

The blue haired male also tried to give them more blanket in case they were feeling cold but they still cried. 

He tried to take off all blankets and extra clothing in case the babies were feeling too hot and suffocated but they started crying even louder.

Khun even tried humming and even singing a few soothing lullaby that he remembered listening to but the babies still didn’t stop crying!

Bam’s heart ached as he witnessed how his dear friend looked like he was about to cry himself. It seemed no matter what Khun did the twins would not stop crying. Bam never saw Khun look so helpless and frustrated as the children’s cries reached a whole new level.

Unable to take this anymore, the irregular stepped forward, intending to somehow help Khun. He had never taken care of a baby before, but maybe there was something he could—

Bam stumbled as his hand passed through Khun and the crying twins when he tried to reach for them. “W—what?”

The brown haired male tried again, this time to pat Khun’s shoulder. But his hand and even his whole body just passed through like nothing. 

Bam quickly moved to touch other things around him only to meet similar result. He was like a phantom, only able to see but unable to touch and interfere in anything happening in front of him. Whenever he tried to touch Khun or anything else, he would just passed them like a wisp of smoke. 

So Bam could only watch, utterly helpless, as his light bearer struggled to take care of the twins on his own. “Khun….”

Please—

He asked, pleaded the two crying babies, his (their) sons—

—please please stop crying.

Then, after what felt like forever, the twins’ cries finally died down into little hiccups and whimpers of discomfort. Bam unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief at that. He (could only) continued watching how Luan fell asleep first and Khun slowly put him back on the bed.

Bam walked closer to the blunette, who was now focusing on Vihan and hummed comforting tones to soothe the still fussy baby. He admired their figure for a moment. He had never imagined that he’d get to see Khun holding a baby one day. But now, he could actually say that it’s a good look on him.

Curious on how Vihan looked like as a baby, the wave controller looked over Khun’s shoulder and saw brown hair — so so similar to his own — and not a pair of cobalt blue like he expected but different colored eyes of blue and gold…

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“Bam? Wake up Bam! Bam!”

Bam cracked his eyes open, blearily trying to orient himself as he struggled to wake from his deep sleep “Khun?”

“Yeah, it’s me. What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?”

“No, not a bad dream.” The irregular muttered. The remnants of the dream were sketchy, bits of images quickly receded to the back of his mind. “It’s more like a…memory?”

Khun pulled himself to his feet and began to approach Bam, tired, but too worried about the other to sleep. “Do you want to talk about it?”

The irregular shook his head. He wasn’t really sure what the dream was about; he would need more time to recall what happened before he could talk to Khun or anyone else. “What are you doing this late? Are you not sleeping?” he asked Khun instead.

“Vihan woke me because he needed to go to the bathroom. I just sent him to sleep when I heard you tousling in your sleep.” Khun replied without any hesitation. He then stopped to scrutinize the other male. “Are you okay?”

“Mmm...” Bam didn’t really answer but kept on staring at the light bearer silently.

“Bam?”

“I am fine.” The brunette responded after a moment. “Just…I don’t feel like moving right now.”

Khun hummed in understanding. He had his share of night terrors so he knew what the other was probably feeling right now. 

“Are you angry? Everyone felt a bit guilty when you suddenly left during dinner. They said they didn’t intend to make you angry.”

“Did they?” The ice user, although a bit surprised at the sudden change of topic, didn’t show any reactions and just rolled his eyes. “Let them be. They most likely will be back to normal by tomorrow. If you are feeling better you should go back to sleep, Bam. It’s not even morning yet.”

“Are you not going back to sleep?”

“Maybe later. Luan probably will need to use the bathroom after this. I am going to stay awake just in case.”

“I can do that for you.” In a whirl of fabric, Bam suddenly sat up. His gaze met Khun’s directly, causing the blunette to raise his eyebrow in question. 

“Go back to sleep, Khun.” Bam said, determined. “I will take care of the children.” 

“Nah it’s ok, Bam. I am used to staying up late anyway. You should get some sleep. You are going to that meeting tomorrow right?”

The wave controller stubbornly shook his head. “I want to do this, Khun. Don’t worry, I can get some sleep later. I know you haven’t get enough rest since the children come here.”

“Are you sure?” Khun asked. After knowing Bam for so long, he could recognize the determined glow in the other’s eyes and understand there’s no way to change his mind once he decided on something.

“Yes.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, Bam. Just wake me up if they start to get fussy okay?” 

The brunette nodded. “I understand.”

His companion gave a slight wave, sliding easily underneath the blanket, settling down into the thick mattress. Vihan, apparently recognizing his presence, immediately scooted closer to the blue-eyed male. Khun only sighed and covered the boy’s with his blanket. “Good night Bam.”

“Good night Khun.”

The room was quiet all but for their breathing for a moment before Bam rose to his feet uncertainly and padded to the blunette’s side. There was a brief hesitation as he contemplated his questions. He really didn’t want to disturb Khun after telling him to get some sleep, but the lingering feeling from his dream wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Hey Khun…”

“Hmm?” The other responded, already halfway to sleep.

“In the future, if…” the wave controller paused, “if I ever make a grave mistake, you are going to tell me aren’t you?”

A few breaths of silence and a slow murmur, “…yes.”

“Promise?”

“Mmm…”

“Then do you promise—

—that you won’t suddenly leave without telling me?”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 12

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“Good morning boys! Uncle Isu is here to bring you cookies~” 

“Good morning, uncle Isu!” Luan, as usual, was the only one to return the greeting. The youngest waved enthusiastically at the approaching male, more so once he saw the bags of sweets Shibisu was carrying.

“Morning Luan! I have chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Which one do you want?”

“Both!”

Shibisu laughed, pulling out a bag of cookies and giving it to the blue haired twin. “There you go! Uncle Isu’s special cookies delivery!” He then moved to Vihan, noticing that the boy’s long hair was styled into side loose braid instead of a high ponytail for the day.

“Morning Vihan! Did Khun do your hair again today?” 

The young brunette blinked and nodded hesitantly at him. “…yes.”

“That’s good! You look real nice!”

Vihan ducked his head shyly, muttering a small “thank you” as he accepted the cookies from the older male. 

“You’re welcome! Try the peanut butter first! It’s my favorite!”

“Wash your hands first.” Khun said without looking up from his lighthouse. “And tell your brother to do the same.”

“Yes papa!”

Luan, who already opened his bag and was going to eat one of the cookies, pouted when Vihan proceeded to grab his hand and dragged him to the bathroom. They could hear him complaining as the twins washed their hands together.

Shibisu silently observed the exchange with a particular thoughtful look on his face. It was still a bit strange to see Khun acting like that. Even now he still could not believe that the lightbearer would be the first one to have children — and a pair of twins at that! — among their group. 

Also, come to think of it, they never found out when the twins were born, didn’t they? While he was sure that Khun would make a good father someday, he needed to make sure that the children weren’t due to be born anytime soon…

“Hey Luan.” Shibisu decided to approach the more sociable twin. “Do you know how old your papa is?”

Luan titled his head to the side, fluffy blue hair bouncing with the motion. “Old?” 

 
“Yes. Do you know anything about it?” 

“Mmm....” the boy munched on his cookies, “…papa is taller? Papa’s hair is long too—like Vi’s!” Luan explained, using his hands to show the length of his father’s hair. “But don’t worry papa you look pretty with short hair too!” He added with a grin to Khun who had paused to watch them silently from his lighthouse.

“No, I mean you said you are four right?” Shibisu raised four of his fingers and showed them to Luan. “So, do you know old Khun is?”

Luan’s face scrunched up in concentration as he raised his fingers and tried to remember the numbers papa taught him before. He counted to five two times before calling out for Vihan to come and help him. He couldn’t continue counting if he didn’t have enough fingers! So he asked his brother to hold up his fingers as he began counting again one by one.

Shibisu cooed at the adorable sight him in front of him, acting almost like a teenage girl as he hold back a delighted squeal when the two began counting together from one to five before stopping and repeating the same process again and again. Really, he didn’t even expect that asking about the future Khun’s age would end with such cuteness! It didn’t matter if they didn’t manage to learn any useful info from the kids. They could tried to search for it themselves. These kids are simply too cute to belong to Khun!

“Uncle Isu can I borrow your hand?” Luan asked all of sudden. The boy seemed to have finished counting both his and Vihan’s fingers and needed more help in order to accomplish their mission.

“Sure!” The scout answered enthusiastically. He let the boy’s borrow his hand and internally squealed as Luan moved his fingers in time with his counting. 

“One…two…three…four…five.” Luan stopped and raised Shibisu’s other hand, “then one…two....”

Really, if he has his hands free, Shibisu might be dancing in glee watching how cute the twins were. Luan was already cute enough on his own but when he and Vihan together trying to count with their fingers? Double the cuteness!

“Finished?” Shibisu asked after a long while. 

Luan looked hesitant. He glanced at Vihan, but the other seemed to be as lost as he was. “Papa may be this old?” He asked his twin to raise his hands while the blunette also raised Isu’s. Luan then sat down and brought both his hands and feet up, showing all his fingers to Shibisu. “I don’t know….” the small blunette frowned. “Maybe we can ask papa?”

The younger twin waited for the other to reply and quickly got worried when Isu started shaking in barely contained excitement. “Uncle Isu?”

“I cannot hold it any more! You are just too cute!!!” With an ecstatic cry, the scout threw his arms around a surprised Luan and immediately drew the boy into a tight hug. Vihan, who had been fortunate enough to escape from Shibisu’s clutch, was slowly backing away when he saw the older male rubbing his cheek against a protesting Luan. “Man this feels so good. Your cheeks are pretty soft like meat bun!”  

“Uncle...no...no, that tickles!!! Uncleeeeeee...” 

“Now now don’t be like that. Just let uncle Isu—ouch!” Releasing a sudden yelp of pain, Shibisu took his hands off of Luan and moved to protect his head from further assault. He turned to the blue-haired culprit behind him and protested loudly. “That hurts, Khun!”

“Let him go.”

The gaze Khun sent him was pure ice. 

“Perverted pedophile.”  

Shibisu yelped in surprise, jumping away from the dangerous-looking blunette who was now calling his lighthouse to come to him. “What?! Wait—I only want to hug him because he is just too cute! Why are you bringing your knife like that? Now don’t do that, Khun!!! I am seriously not trying to molest Luan or any—NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Khun might refuse to openly admit the children was his and still kept them at arm’s length, but there was no denying how protective the light bearer was getting over Luan and Vihan.

Shibisu, unfortunately, learned this fact the hard away, which ended up with the scout pitifully crying over the many cuts littering his favorite purple tracksuit and some new bumps on his person. The former leader dragged himself to his emo corner and started on his routine of muttering complains about his ‘children’. As of late, the topic seemed to center on an ungrateful son who didn’t respect their elder and enjoy traumatizing others for life. Also on how Shibisu was hoping that his adorable grandchildren wouldn’t share their papa’s horrible traits. 

Khun, who heard all of this, only rolled his eyes, far too used to the other’s antics by now. “Ignore him.” He told the twins. 

Vihan nodded at his instruction while Luan casted worried glances at the scout. 

“Is Uncle Isu okay?”

Khun just shrugged, walking back to the couch in order to resume his work. “Don’t worry about him. He will be back to normal soon enough.” And without waiting for more response, the regular returned to his lighthouse and focused back on his previously discarded files.

It was around ten minutes later when a bored Luan began to fidget and look at the door impatiently. It looked like he was expecting someone to show up and open the door at any minute. “Where is Mister Bam?” the boy finally asked. He hadn’t seen Bam since he woke up this morning so he had been waiting for the brunette all day.

“Bam has a meeting today.” Since Khun was too immersed in his work, it was Shibisu who finally finished his moping and stepped up to answer Luan. 

Luan blinked, titling his head in confusion. “Meeting?” He looked at his older brother for explanation, but Vihan only shook his head, also not knowing what the adults were talking about. 

Shibisu, apparently recognizing their confusion, tried to explain it in the way that can be understood easily by children. “Exactly! A meeting means that you have to meet some people because of work.”

“Work?” Luan blinked. He frowned deeply as he tried to think about the word Uncle Isu was using. It seemed familiar, like papa had already explained about it before… “Ah! Mister Bam is on a mission? Like daddy?”

Shibisu melted. He really wanted to tell them that Bam was most likely their daddy. But he understood that it wasn’t his secret to share. That, and the chilling glare Khun was sending him had managed to discourage the scout from divulging anything to the twins.

“Err…yes. Bam is on a mission like your daddy.”

Luan whined in disappointment. If Bam wasn’t here then it meant that he wouldn’t be able to play with the brunette.  “Are Mister Bam going to be back soon?”

“You are supposed to use ‘is Bam’ not ‘are Bam’.” Khun automatically corrected without looking from his typing.

“Is Mister Bam going to be back soon?” Luan repeated his question without missing a beat, already used to papa’s reminding him from time to time.

Shibisu strached his head, unsure how to respond to the boy’s question. Really, there should be a limit on how cute the children can be. How could anyone expect him to deny Luan and those impossibly huge golden eyes of his?!

“Ah about that…” Now Shibisu wasn’t really how he supposed to explain to Luan that Bam’s meeting could take forever to finish. His gaze flew to a certain light bearer who was busy typing on his lighthouse and partially ignoring them. “You should ask Khun! He knows better about Bam than anyone else.”

After hearing what his uncle said, Luan quickly ran to Khun and hurriedly tugged at his pants. “Papa?”

Icy blue eyes narrowed slightly, already thinking of ways to make Shibisu pay for his endless babbling. With a sigh, the older blunette pushed his lighthouse away and looked down at the insistent koala on his leg, “Bam will be back tonight.”

“But but Mister Bam promised we are going to fly today!”

“No. Bam is busy today. You can go with Gator if you want. He probably is still around somewhere.”

“But—”

“Or you can stay with your brother.” Khun continued smoothly as if Luan hadn’t interrupted him at all. “I brought some more books and crayons for you two.”

“I want to play outside!” The golden eyed child insisted, stomping his feet stubbornly.

Sigh. “Then go. None is stopping you. Just remember to bring Isu or Gator with you.”

“No work papa play!”

“No.” Khun refused, deadpan. “I am busy. Find someone else.”

Shibisu turned from one blunette to another. Luan was getting quite red in the face, an indication that the boy was going to cry at any moment. Khun meanwhile was still as stone faced as ever, like he wasn’t bothered by Luan and his little tantrum. What a pair. Both were equally stubborn in their own way. The scout wondered if Vihan was as hot headed as these two. Or maybe the older twin actually inherited Bam’s temper and character? 

“Say, Luan, you were training with Bam yesterday weren’t you?” the tracksuit-wearing male finally decide to cut in. He directed the question to Luan, hoping to distract the boy from his staring contest with Khun. 

Luan bobbed his head enthusiastically in response to his question. “Un! Mister Bam showed me how to make pretty water balls!”

For the nth time that day, Shibisu had to hold himself not to hug the boy and pinch that peach-like cheeks. Luan was simply too cute for his own good! But the scout shuddered as he remembered again what the light bearer had done to remind him about his look-but-don’t-touch policy. His poor, poor tracksuit! May its soul rest in peace!

“Then do you want to go with me today? I am going to check on your uncles and aunties.”

Luan visibly brightened. Already forgetting about the other's refusal to accompany him for the day, he quickly turned to ask Khun for permisson, “Can I papa?”

Khun just hummed in affirmation, content he could go back to work without any more interruption. “Make sure to come back before lunch.”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 13

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“I am back! Papa can I train with Auntie Si and Uncle Hat?” Luan called out loudly as he ran inside the house. A pair of amber eyes darted around the living room, finding it empty and continued his search deeper inside the house. “Papa? Vi?”

He opened the door one by one before finally finding his target on his third attempt. A blue-haired male was sitting on a large couch, surrounded by lighthouses and scattered paper. Beside him, a small brown haired child was holding a picture book while watching his father work quietly.  

“Papa papa papaaaaa!”

Khun sighed. He had tried to get the boy to stop yelling like that. But it was like asking Bam to change his mind once he decided on something—which was hard. The twins were as (if not more) stubborn as Bam. “What did I say about yelling, Luan?”  

“That it can annoy people?” the younger blunette hurriedly put his hands over his mouth and gave a small ‘oops’. He smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, papa!”

“Try to remember not to yell like that next time.” The gaze Khun gave the boy was resigned. He didn’t really think that he will be cut for this parenting stuff. His mother only care about his sister and the glory she was going to bring to their household. And he essentially grew up without a father figure, so he didn’t really know how to be a good parent for the twins. 

 “Can I go with Auntie Si and Uncle Hat? I promise I will be good!” 

The light bearer paused momentarily at the names the boy mentioned before smoothly resuming his work. He glanced at the time on his pocket. It was only around 3 in the afternoon. It was still sunny outside but the sun would not be too harsh now.

“Mm…Just make sure to bring Isu or Gator with you. They will make a good shield if anything happen.” Khun replied, turning back to his lighthouse. After a few moments, he looked at his left where a brown haired boy was sitting silently beside him all this time, small hand clutching onto his white shirt, “Do you want to go with your brother?”

Luan nodded eagerly, “Let’s go, Vi! Auntie Si has this bouncy bong bong that can bring us to many places! It looks pretty too! Like peaches!”

The little brunette predictably just shook his head, “…no. Wanna stay with papa.”

Luan didn’t seem disheartened by his twin’s refusal. He only nodded and grinned at the other. “Okay! Then I will tell you lots of stories when I get back!” He gave his brother and father a quick hug before running back outside, “I am off bye bye!” 

Khun’s gaze followed Luan as the boy disappeared out of the door. His short, fluffy blue hair bounced as the child ran away at the high speed. Appearance wise, Luan would make a good Khun. He has the silvery blue hair and pale complexion that was the trademark of the Khuns. Though his eyes has the color of molten gold rather than the iconic blue. 

Furthermore his attitude was also a great contrast to the Khuns’ cold and indifferent nature. Luan always seemed to be so cheerful and possessed boundless energy. From the short time the boy had been staying with them, Khun observed that the boy was the type who could not stay silent, always moving and doing some things.

Then, there was Vihan—or rather ‘Vi’ as he would be called sometimes. At a glance, people wouldn’t be able to tell that both of them were twins. Unlike Luan, Vihan had long, slightly wavy brown hair and an unique combination of blue and gold eyes. His heterochromia seemed to have caused the boy to hide his eyes behind his long bangs most of time. Also, unlike his twin, Vihan was a pretty quiet child. He was shy and reserved around strangers, choosing to stick close to Khun all the time. 

Feeling a gentle tug on his shirt, Khun looked down to see his other ‘son’ staring curiously at him. “Papa?”

“It’s nothing. Since your brother is going to train with the others, do you want to learn how to use a lighthouse?” 

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“I am back.” Bam called out quietly as he made his way inside the room. Exhausted after being in the meeting all day, it took him some time to realize that none had returned his greeting. He looked inside and found messy brown hair and single blue eye peeked at him from behind large white pillow that he recognized to be Khun’s. “Vihan?” Golden eyes darted around the room, finding it empty save for the small brunette. “Why are you alone? Where is Khun?”

“Luan tummy hurts. Papa, doctor.”

“Khun is taking Luan to doctor because he has a stomach ache?”

Nod.

“So they left you alone?” Bam asked with a frown. Was Khun in such a hurry that he forgot about Vihan?

“No alone. With Uncle Rak.”

The other male sighed in relief at hearing the boy’s answer. “Rak is keeping you company then. Where is he?”

Vihan pointed to the door and presumably to the direction where Rak was. “Find food.”

“I see. Have you eaten yet?”

Another nod. “With papa...”

“That’s good. I just need to take a quick shower. Will you be fine by yourself?”

“…yes.”

Bam rushed through his shower and got dressed as quickly as possible. Just like with Luan, it didn’t sit well with him to leave Vihan alone. The brunette returned to the room in record time and smiled when he saw Vihan was exactly in the same position he left him.

“Did Rak come back yet?”

Bam must have surprised the boy with his question because Vihan abruptly turned to look at him and clutched Khun’s pillow closer to himself. 

To be honest the boy reminded Bam of the small animals he hunted during his time with FUG. They always tried to hide and putting something to shield themselves from any potential danger. In this kind of situation, it would be better not to suddenly approach them as not to startle the target. 

So Bam stayed where he was, only raising his hand to wave at Vihan who was still watching him quietly behind the pillow.

The next step would be showing that he meant no harm, and after that, start approaching the target slowly. 

“Are you sleepy?”

Vihan stared at the approaching irregular wearily and eventually offered a brief nod when Bam finally stopped a few feet away from him. 

“Want me to read you a story?” the older brunette asked with a kind smile. 

Vihan looked hesitant for a moment before he gave another nod. The boy jumped from the bed and hurriedly walked to the lighthouse that Khun had prepared to host all the twins’ things. He picked out one story book and quickly made his way to Bam. 

The irregular smiled. He quietly gathered the child into his arms and deposit him gently on the bed. “Do you want me to read this?”

Nod.

“Does Khun usually do this with you?”

This time Vihan had a bright smile on his face when he responded, “Papa voice soft, nice.”

Bam hesitated before reaching towards Vihan’s head. Vihan eyed the approaching hand, only relaxing a bit when Bam’s fingers stiffly pat his head. “Luan told me a lot about himself. Now can I get to know you too, Vihan?”

The younger brunette stared at Bam and turned his head away without offering any answers.

"Vihan?"

"..."

“Are you...Do you hate me?” Bam asked softly. He was actually afraid to know the answer. To hear someone precious to you saying they hate you hurt. He didn’t want to experience the same thing again. He really didn’t want to hear his future son said that he hated him too!

But Vihan only stayed silent. He clutched Khun’s pillow tighter as he buried his face into the pillow, completely hiding it from view.

“Maybe I…” He waited until Vihan lifted his head before asking again. “Did I do something wrong before? Is that why you don’t like me?”

“……”

“You can tell me if you want. I promise I won’t get angry.”

“……”

“I really…” his voice faltering a bit. “I really just want to know you better.”

Vihan looked down, avoiding Bam's gaze as his bangs cast a shadow on his face.

Bam closed the distance between them and held out his hand. Vihan looked up at him, confused. What did he want? Was he offering his help? The boy didn’t grab the offered hand and ended up only staring at it until Bam finally withdrew his hand with a crestfallen look on his face. 

“That’s okay. If you don’t want to, then I won’t force you.” Bam whispered. He ignored the squeezing of his heart. Maybe it’s too fast, he’s asking too fast. The children didn’t know him very well yet, so he should have expected this kind of response. “Do you still want me to read you a bedtime story? Or do you want to wait for Khun?”

Vihan opened his mouth to speak, but only a small noise came out. “…story.”

“Alright.” Bam reached out once more and slowly ruffled the boy’s hair. He rested his hand on the chestnut strands, so so similar to his own, and let his hand linger for a moment. It was the first time Vihan allowed him to get this close; he just wanted to savor the moment. However, he felt Vihan suddenly stiffen when his fingertips scrape across the younger brunette's scalp. Reluctantly, Bam took his hand away.  

He tried to be supportive, just like what his master had done to him, but he ended up nearly startling his supposed ‘son’ out of his skin. Now, he was starting to understand what his master must have gone through when the man was trying to take care of him back then. 

The wave controller sighed. He already knew he couldn’t rush with this. If he really wanted to get closer to the twins, he must take things slowly. One step at a time.

He got Vihan to lay down and tucked the boy in. After making sure his future son was comfortable, he opened the story book and began to read.

“A long time ago there were thirteen….”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Bam sat there for a few seconds in silence, smiling gently as he watched Vihan who had finally fallen asleep just moments ago. Eventually, he reached over, his fingertips brushing Vihan’s bangs and running his hand through the soft brown locks. He wondered if the boy’s other eye was the color of warm amber like in his dream. He didn’t get the chance to see it before.

“Bam?”

The brunette titled his head just so, seeing the familiar figure of his light bearer by the door. “Hello Khun.”

“I thought you wouldn’t be back till later.” Khun stepped inside the room, taking off his coat as he did so. He was currently holding a sleeping Luan in his arms, but the blunette waved Bam away when the other tried to help him. 

“The meeting ended up earlier than expected.” Bam said, watching silently as Khun put Luan on bed, taking off the boy’s shoes and jacket without causing the boy to stir even once. 

Finished with his task, the blunette was surprised to find Bam staring at him. “Is something wrong, Bam?”

“Sorry. It just… you are good at taking care of children, Khun.” 

“Really? Maybe because I am used to deal with our teammates on daily basis.” The blue eyed regular replied with a smirk. His gaze then landed on the half opened story book lying on the other’s lap. “Are you reading that?” Khun recognized the book to be one of the children’s stories that he brought for Vihan and Luan. He didn’t really think it was something Bam would be interested in.

“Vihan wanted me to a read a bedtime story for him. I hope you won’t mind. He said that you’re usually the one to do that.”

“That’s fine. I thought I told Gator to take care of him when I was gone.” The last part was said with little frown. Khun had made Rak promise to take care ‘baby turtle’ before he left. But the spear bearer was no where to be seen. 

“I asked Rak to switch with me. I don’t have anything to do anyway.” Bam explained. “Although Vihan... I don't think he likes me.”

Khun raised his eyebrow, finding it odd for the brown haired boy to hate Bam. People usually warmed up to the brunette pretty quickly, just like Luan for example. Almost everyone seems to favor the irregular to him. So it was a surprise to hear what the brunette was saying.

“You probably just caught him in a bad time. Children can be quite moody sometimes. You should try to talk with him again in the morning.” Khun told the downcast irregular. He placed the sleeping Luan beside his older brother and covered them both with a blanket. “You should get some rest too, Bam. You must be tired from being in a meeting all day.”

He didn’t think Bam would end up taking care of Vihan. He left Vihan as to avoid getting unnecessary attention. At least if people saw him and Luan, they wouldn’t bat an eyelid and simply believed them to be another pair of siblings from Khun family. On the worse scenario, they might see him as a young father taking care of his child. But with Vihan, it’d be an entirely different story. 

“I am fine Khun. What’s wrong with Luan? Vihan told me he was sick.”

Khun huffed. “Just a stomach bug. Kids often gets that from time to time. He just ate too many sweets lately.” 

Bam scratched his head in embarrassment. He might be the one to be blamed for that. He always bought whatever the boy asked and never stopped him from eating sweets all the time. “Sorry Khun.”

Khun waved him off. “Like I said, it’s nothing. So how was the meeting?”

“Just the usual.” Bam answered, shrugging. “They lectured me about my responsibility and what they expect me to do.”

“Did anyone mention anything about the twins?”

“No, I don’t think they already know about Vihan and Luan yet.” 

Khun just hummed as he mulled over the new information. Initially he had planned to keep Luan and Vihan’s presence a secret from people outside their team. But Bam had opposed the idea and even flew around carrying Luan in broad daylight. Now surely anyone with specks of intelligence would notice them. Hence it’s unlikely for FUG, especially with their vast network, not to learn about the twins’ existence by now. If they were still saying silent on this matter, then it meant that they may have different agenda in mind. 

“Any news from Hwaryun?” Although Khun didn’t really want to admit it, the guide might have some explanation behind the twins' sudden appearance and what they were supposed to do. But alas…

Bam shook his head. “She hasn’t contacted me since we passed the test on the 63rd floor.”

Khun bit back a string of curses. Trust Hwaryun to disappear when they actually needed her. “That red witch.”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“I didn’t think it would be this easy to find you…”

“You’re finally here.”

“Where are they?”

“Your reflex has gotten faster than before. And the ice spear too.”

The blue haired male just gave him a blank look in return. He had long accepted that the other would always be another annoying redhead who knew too many things, including how his mind worked. Well, the older male had helped him come this far and Khun would be grateful to him. As long as he didn’t do anything to interfere with his business.

Like right now.

“Where?”

“They are safe.”

“Don’t mess with me.” He pointed the spear closer to the man’s throat. He didn’t care that the other male was one of the strongest beings in the tower and he’d be no match for him no matter how much stronger he had gotten over the years. He just passed the point of caring about his own life long time ago. “Tell me where are my sons!?”

“Som ewhere they need to be.”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Text

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter 14

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

“And that’s how you create a baang. Is there any questions?”

Bam blinked when he saw Luan sitting with hands crossed, head turned away, and obvious pout on his face. Usually the boy would be staring at him and clapping his hands in amazement whenever Bam showed him any of his shinsu manipulation skills. But today the blue haired child had been strangely silent, even refused to talk let alone look at Bam. 

“Luan? Are you okay?” The wave controller asked in concern. Maybe he was still feeling unwell? Was that way the little blunette had been quiet since this morning?

“If you don’t feel good we can stop here for today. You can stay inside with Khun and Vihan.” Bam stated, approaching the boy worriedly. “Do you want me to carry you inside?”

“I am not sick!” came a loud exclamation. Luan had stood up and was now looking at Bam petulantly. “I don’t want to talk with Mister Bam! You lied!” 

The boy’s word stopped the irregular on his track. He stared at the indignant child and responded in confusion, “I never lied to you.” He was sure that he didn’t lie to Luan before. And he just recently got to know the boy too.

“No! Mister Bam lying! You promise we gonna fly but you don’t come!”

“Ah.” Now Bam realized what the problem was. He did promise the boy that they were going to train and fly again yesterday. But since he had a meeting and only came back at night, Luan must have gotten angry at him for breaking the said promise.  

“I’m sorry. I must have forgotten to tell you that I needed to go to a meeting yesterday.” Bam crouched down before Luan, extending his hand in apology. “Please forgive me?”

Luan turned his head away once more, harrumphing brattily. “No. Mister Bam lying. Don’t like.”

“How about I take you to fly again today? We can go wherever you want.”

“Don’t wanna! I already fly lots with Auntie Si yesterday.”

The older male blinked. Auntie Si was most likely...Endorsi? She was the only female in their team who fit the description.

“Then how about we eat lunch together? We can get some ice cream that you like last time.” 

Luan looked tempted but he then shook his head. “Papa said no ice cream or my tummy will hurt again.” 

“What if I cook something for you?” the brunette finally offered with a smile. Home cooked meals should be good for children. This way he could make sure that Luan would not eat anything that caused him to get stomachache. “Is there anything you want for lunch? Maybe some soup or porridges?”

It seemed to be the perfect response because Luan instantly brightened at the offer. “Mister Bam can cook? Like Papa?”

“I am not very good at it. But I will try my best to cook whatever dishes you want.”

Luan looked positively ecstatic at the prospect of eating home cooked meals. It had been so long since he had any! Papa hadn’t cooked anything too even though he had already promised him before. “I want hamburger with egg!” the young blunette exclaimed, hopping up and down cheerily. “And parfait! Can you make that Mister Bam?”

“I never made them before but I can search for the recipes if you want to eat them.”

“Yay! Can we have caramel pudding too?”

Bam nodded indulgently. That was something he had made before, so he was sure that he could make some for Luan and Vihan. “Sure. But let’s wait until your stomach is all better okay? Khun said you cannot eat anything too sweet and heavy for now.”

Luan whined but nodded in agreement since he didn’t want to make Khun angry at him. “Okay!” The boy raised his little finger. “Pinky promise?”

The answer drew a chuckle from the irregular. Bam raised his pinky finger and locked it together with Luan’s. “Pinky promise. Does it mean that I am forgiven now?”

The golden eyed child nodded enthusiastically, lifting his hands in obvious gesture of wanting to be picked up. Bam obligated and moved to carry Luan into his arms. “You are! But Mister Bam no lying again! Or I will tell papa!”

“Of course. I promise not to lie again. Then let’s go back inside? We can probably finish by lunch if we start cooking now.”

“Okay!” Luan grinned, bouncing in Bam's arms and kicking his legs as if riding a horse. “Go go go!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Khun tsked as his search on the twins' sudden arrival hit another dead end. He closed all the windows he just went through and opened a new one displaying his list of contacts. He already contacted some people who might have a clue about the twins' appearance. But the responses he received were rather unsatisfactory, most only offered some mediocre information whereas others hadn’t replied at all. He checked the new messages he received again and was disappointed to find nothing worthy of note. 

Sighing, the blue haired regular decided to contact Ran and asked him if his team would be able to join them soon. They might need Ran’s team to even up the number for this floor’s test. While he waited for the younger blunette to respond, Khun decided to search for more information about the upcoming test. It was rare for him to get some time alone since the twins arrived. Before, Rak mostly would be the one to bother him whenever he was working in lighthouse. But nowadays he would be lucky to be able to check on new messages without Luan or Vihan popping up every few minutes.

Currently, with Luan training with Bam and Vihan downstairs to get some lunch, Khun was able to get some time for himself and quickly went through the things he had missed these past few days.

Hey.

The regular looked up from his lighthouse, annoyed at being interrupted from his search. Yet the sharp retort died in his throat when he discovered there was none in the room but him. Khun frowned, he was sure that someone called him just now.

Did he just start hearing things? Or was the fire fish acting up again?

“Papa?” A quiet voice called out. Khun turned in surprise, seeing Vihan enter the room with a tray of sandwiches balanced carefully on his arms. Beside the food, a bottle of apple juice was wobbling a bit as the small brunette struggled to carry everything by himself. Khun dismissed the voice he heard as nothing and moved to take took the tray once Vihan was close enough. 

“Thank you papa.” Vihan sighed in relief as he managed to complete his mission to carry lunch for his beloved papa. He then looked up expectantly at Khun and beamed brightly when the light bearer offered him a smile and ruffled his hair. 

“Good job. Did anyone help you with this?” Khun had noticed the plate and everything the boy carried were made of plastic. Thus it would be safe even if Vihan ended up dropping anything along the way. Well, the food probably get spoiled but at least there was no danger of broken glass or the sort to hurt the child. 

“Mister Bam gave me the plate.” Vihan answered slowly, “Lu put the juice papa likes.”

“Bam and Luan? Did they come back already?” Lifting one of the sandwiches, the blunette slowly unwrapped the wrapping and gave it to Vihan. 

“Un.” Vihan nodded, accepting the food Khun gave him with a smile and started eating it in delight. “Lu wants hamburger. Mister Bam cooks.”

The answer made Khun raised his eyebrow. The duo had said they were going to do some shinsu training today, so how did it end up with Bam cooking hamburger all of sudden? 

Shrugging, Khun decided that Bam was probably following one if Luan’s whims as usual and left it at that. He turned back to Vihan. “We are going back to your lighthouse training after lunch. Be prepared.”

“Yes, papa!”

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Khun raised his eyebrow at the sight that greeted him once he came out of his light house with Vihan. It seemed that Bam and Luan had arrived some time when they were gone, and both were currently waiting for them. “What are you doing? Aren’t you two supposed to be training?”

“Luan said he wanted to eat hamburger. I tried to make it since we have some ingredients left.” Bam raised a tray full of food he was carrying with a sheepish smile. “I made too many so Luan suggested we ate them together.”

“Put it here.” Khun instructed with a sigh, pointing to one of his compressed light houses. Thankfully, he didn’t eat a lot during breakfast today. And only had a piece of sandwich for lunch, so he might be able to take some bites of Bam’s cooking. “And get some chairs.” He turned to Luan and managed to snag the boy by his collar. “Where are you going? We are not eating it on bed. I don’t want to clean up the food crumbles like last time.”

“But the chair is hard! The bed is soft and bouncy!”

“No. Sit down or no food for you.”

Pouting, Luan sat down beside his brother and immediately told his twin about what happened during the few hours they had been separated. 

“Does it taste good?” Bam asked as soon as he saw Khun had taken a bite of his cooking. “I never made hamburger before so I am not sure how it is supposed to be. I just followed some recipes I found.”

“It’s good, Bam. I think—"

Hey.

“Khun?” Bam called to his light bearer, who had just stopped talking all of sudden. 

Khun scanned his surrounding one more time, found nothing amiss, and turned back to the irregular with a reassuring smile. 

“It’s nothing. I thought I just heard something.” Khun replied, dismissing Bam’s questioning look with a wave of his hand. There was no need to alarm the brunette with something so insignificant. He's probably just hearing things. Or maybe it’s just Rak or one of their friends being noisy as usual.

“Are you sure? If there is anything wrong—”

“It’s fine, Bam. Don’t worry. The food tastes delicious. You should finish it and get some rest.” 

From the corner of his eyes, the blunette caught Luan sneaking something from his plate to Vihan’s and frowned. “Luan, eat your vegetables and stop putting them on your brother’s plate.” he reprimanded the younger twin, “And Vihan, don’t eat them for him. Give the carrot back to Luan.”

Luan whined, “But papa I don’t like carrots! They taste yucky!” the boy closed his mouth when Khun tried to feed him some vegetables. “No! Vi likes them, give them to Vi!”

Hey.

“Vihan already ate his. Now open your mouth!”

“Don’t wanna!”

“Luan…”

“NO!”

Hey.

“Bam, close the door and stand there. Don’t move until I call for you.”

“Wh-but Khun!?” Bam stood up in surprise. He wanted to help Luan, but a glance from Khun shut him up pretty quickly. 

“And take Vihan with you.” Khun continued without missing a beat, “Now, Luan, you can eat them yourself or we can do it the hard way.”

“NO! Papa bad! No carrots yucky!”

Hey.

“Lu-an…”

“No, no carrots! NO! Don’t want!! Papa bad!!!”

Can you hear me?

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Ends

-♤-♡-♢-♧-☆-

Chapter Text

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Chapter 15

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“..ve.”

Luan paused in the middle of washing his hands and raised his head.

“Lu?”

The blunet turned to his twin, “Vi! Did you hear Papa just now?”

Vihan gave him a confused look and shook his head. “No papa.”

Luan’s face scrunched up in little frown. “But I hear Papa!”

His twin turned around, seeing none but the two of them inside the small bathroom. “Papa not here.”

“But I really really hear Papa!”

Not wanting to see his brother's downcast expression, Vihan softly patted the other’s head. “Maybe Papa is talking with Mr. Bam?”

Luan tilted his head to the side, brows furrowed. “You think so?”

“Yes. Papa is talking with Mr. Bam. That’s why you hear his voice.” Vihan reassured him.

Seeing no other choices but to believe in his older brother, Luan nodded. Vihan was usually better at deducing things like this anyway. “…’kay. Do you think Papa is still angry?”

Vihan stared at him in confusion.

“About the carrot!”

“…”

“I am serious! What if Papa gets angry and tells Mr. Bam not to play with me again?”

“…”

“Vi? Say something!?”

“Let’s go back. I can hear Papa’s calling us.”

“But you said you cannot hear Papa before!” Luan protested.

“That was before.”

And without another word, the brown-haired boy pulled Luan’s hand and dragged his protesting twin back to their room.

-4-6-4-6-4-6-

“We are back, papa.” Vihan announced his arrival with a still squirming Luan behind him. He released his twin’s hand and slowly approached Khun who was currently taking out familiar looking books and sets of crayons from his decompressed lighthouse.

“Sit down. You two will be spending the rest of the afternoon here.” Khun explained. He then saw Luan looking around as if looking for someone and immediately stated. “Bam left to take care of the dishes.”

He already expected the boy would be searching for Bam once he came back. But Bam had said that needed to clean the kitchen after his cooking session with Luan. Because cooking and children never ended up pretty. Khun offered to help him. However the brunet just shook his head and told him to take care of the twins. Apparently the other wanted to try some new recipes, so it would be better if he went alone.

From the corner of his eyes, he spotted Vihan had sat down and waited obediently for him. While Luan was still standing with a disappointed frown on his face.

“Luan, sit.”

“Yes, papa.” Dejectedly, the small brunet sat down beside his twin. Vihan patted his shoulder and offered him one of his favorite books. Luan accepted the offer with a sulk and began to fuss over his new book.

Seeing the kids finally settling down, Khun breathed a sigh of relief. So many things have been happening lately and it seemed that he never got a moment for himself. There were always a lot of things that demanded his attention. And the voice just now? He hadn’t heard it again once they finished lunch. But it wouldn’t hurt to investigate about it later on. Hearing a voice in one’s head was never a good sign…

“Papa I want to learn about position!” Luan suddenly exclaimed.

Khun paused in the middle of his musing. He looked down at the starry-eyed child for a moment before checking the time displayed on his pocket. Not even five minutes has passed since the boy began his sulking, yet he’s now grinning very brightly. Do all children always have this abrupt case of mood swings? Or maybe Luan is just a special case? Khun clearly remembered that he had a good control over his emotions even as a child.

He stared at the smaller blunet blankly. “What position?”

“Position like in Papa’s team of course!” Luan answered with a ‘duh’.

“Uncle Isu said that there are lots of different positions.” The boy continued with the speed of bullet train. “Uncle Isu and Has are scout. And papa is a rit—rite, righe, right, rit—”

“Light bearer.” Vihan supplied helpfully.

Luan beamed at his brother and nodded his head quickly. “Yes, what Vi said!”

Khun pinched the bridge of his nose, making note to make Luan work on his pronunciation later. It was not the first time the younger twin had failed to remember and pronounce a number of words. He did remember the children mentioning something about their future papa teaching them. Seems like someone ought to pick up the slack…

Unaware of the long list of lesson Khun planned for him, Luan chattered, “So teach us Papa!”

The light bearer spent a few seconds to look at Luan’s enthusiastic grin before calmly responded. “No. If Isu and Harakiri were the ones to tell you about it, then just ask them to explain. I am sure Isu at least will be happy to explain everything to you.”

“Don’t wanna! Want Papa!”

“Isu can explain it just fine. Wait here, I will go and—”

“No!” The twins said together in the same, perfect harmony. It was almost scary to see them being in such sync. Both moved to grab his arms, Luan on his left and Vihan on his right, and would not budge no matter what he do.

“No! Papa cannot go!” Luan shook his head furiously, clutching onto Khun’s arm almost desperately, “Stay! Don’t leave again!”

“I am not going anywhere. I am just going to call Isu. You want to know about team position, don’t you?” Khun tried to explain the distraught blunet. But Luan didn’t answer and simply tighten his grip, face buried onto the fabric of Khun’s white shirt.

He turned to Vihan, hoping the older twin would be more reasonable than his younger brother. “Vihan?”

Surprisingly, the little brunet mirrored his twin action and also tighten his hold on Khun.

The light bearer winced as he felt Luan’s head digging uncomfortably into his torso. He didn’t understand what might have caused the two to behave like this. If only Bam was here, the brunet probably had a better idea on what’s going on. “At least tell me why you don’t want me to go.” He eventually said after seeing that none of the twins would let go of him anytime soon. Khun turned once again to the small brown haired boy on his right. “Vihan?”

“…last time, papa told us to wait you didn’t come back.” Vihan responded quietly. If Khun wasn’t paying attention to the boy he would miss his speaking. Unlike Luan, Vihan tended to speak in a very soft voice. “We wait and wait but Papa not come.”

As the seconds passed, the room maintained a gloomy quiet for longer than even Khun felt comfortable with. It took him several more beats of the odd silence before he pondered over what Vihan just said.

Last time…Did something happen before they came here?

A string of questions and placations struggled to leave his throat, only to abort by the time they reach his tongue, and he couldn’t pluck them out quick enough before they disappear entirely.

Khun pressed his lips together, brow furrowing over his forehead. He raked over his brain for the most appropriate thing to say in this situation—something that was not particularly hurtful and might send them to another fit.

The light bearer breathed out a troubled exhale, glancing at twins, who hadn’t released his arms the entire time. They were tense, muscles subtly trembling beneath the layers of their clothes.

“I am here now, am I not?” Khun finally said. “Next time, you two can come and get me if I don’t come back.”

“Papa not come back?” Vihan asked, teary eyed.

“I said ‘if’. I am not going to leave anytime soon, so you can let go now.”

Vihan looked reluctant as he slowly released his hold on Khun. However the boy didn’t let go of Khun’s completely as he watched his little brother hadn’t either.

“Really, you two…” Khun was a bit lost about what he should say this time. Luan’s arms had tighten again, lips pressing thinly against one another as he curled up defensively around his father’s form. The boy was supporting the look of someone who did not want to listen. He remained stubbornly silent as the sound of the crickets fill the empty space of their conversation.

His behavior strikes Khun as a similar one he’d had with Ran years ago; the familiar and childish refusal of authority that he’d struggled to overcome as he’d grown older.

Biting his cheek, Khun instead took a deep breath and hesitantly raised his arms to wrap them around the twins.

“I will not be able to do anything if you keep on holding me like this.” The light bearer said slowly; two pairs of gold and blue eyes looked up at him in reluctance.

“Stay?” this time the question came from Luan. The boy had not lessen his hold from the beginning.

“I am not going anywhere.” Khun replied, careful not to aggravate the children in his arms. “See? I am still here.”

“Papa promise? Not leaving again?”

Khun really had to say no. He had to refuse the boy somehow. The blue-eyed male didn’t like giving such empty promises. But then…

“Papa?”

It’s difficult to say anything when the twins stared at him with those impossibly large and tearful eyes.

Those impossibly large and tearful golden eyes…

“Fine, fine, I am staying here.” Khun finally gave in. Not that he had much choice to begin with anyway. Nevertheless, no matter what Shibisu might say, he was not getting soft. “I will explain about team positions like you wanted. In exchange, you are going to study with Vihan tomorrow.” He directed the last part to a certain golden eyed boy.

Luan froze. “Study?” He backed away from Khun in shock and quickly turned to Vihan, hoping his twin would support him and ask Papa to do something else. Anything but studying! “Vi?

Vihan, who had also let go of Khun the second the older male promised to stay, smiled brightly at him. “Study with papa, fun!”

His response only made Luan only frowned harder. It was no secret that Luan disliked studying, hence he didn’t think studying was fun like what Vihan just said. It was always boring to stay inside when he could go outside and play. But Papa wouldn’t answer him if he said no!

“…okay.” Luan reluctantly agreed, pouting. “But no studying today! Papa answer! Then play!”

Accompanying them to play was not in their original bargain, however might as well as let it be. He didn’t want to trigger another episode with the twins today. Once was already bad enough.

“Then sit down. I am going to explain this only once. If there is anything you don’t understand, just ask Isu next time you see him.”

There was an almost identical chorus of “Yes, papa!” as the children sat down and made themselves comfortable before Khun began his explanation. There was no trace that these two had been on the verge of crying and begging him not to leave just a few minutes ago…

“As you may already know, position is about the role an individual play in a team. Commonly there are five primary positions in a team: light bearer, wave controller, fisherman, scout, and spear bearer—"

“What’s daddy position, papa?”

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Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

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Chapter 16

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Shibisu did a double take when he saw that Bam was already cooking in the kitchen instead of training like he usually did. Honestly, the sight of someone who was probably one of the strongest regulars — not to mention a Slayer candidate — wearing an apron and cooking their daily meals never ceased to amaze him. 

“Bam!” he greeted the other with a huge grin. “It’s rare to see you back this early! Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened. Luan just wanted us to cook lunch together. So we ended the training a bit early today.”

Ah, so the little blue-haired boy was the cause for this. Bam has indeed been getting pretty close to Luan lately. Even he could see that the twins had a special place in the brunet’s heart. Well, no surprise actually, since they were supposed to be his sons in the future…  “I see. Are you in the middle of making something?” he decided to ask, peeking over to see closely what Bam was doing. He might not be the best cook around, but he surely knew a thing or two about cooking. 

Bam hummed, taking out some salt and oil from the cupboard above him as he thought about the next recipe he want to practice on. 

The track suit wearing male looked over the array of ingredients Bam was preparing and raised an eyebrow. “What’s with the sudden cooking spree?”

“Luan doesn’t like vegetables so I plan to cook some of his favorite foods using vegetables.”

“That sounds good.” Shibisu gave the other a thumb up. Bam was one of the best cooks he knew, so he was sure that whatever the brunet made would taste amazing as always. “Hey, is that the health shake I heard before.” Without further ado, the scout brought a glass of green colored liquid to his lips and took a large gulp— 

—only to spit it a moment later.

“That tastes horrible!” Shibisu cried out, trying to desperately get rid of the terrible aftertaste from his mouth. “What did you put in here?!”

The irregular scratched his cheek in embarrassment. He hadn’t had the chance to try it yet, so he didn’t know that the drink would not taste good. Good thing Shibisu decided to give it a try. If Luan was the one to drink it, the boy most likely would hate vegetables even more. “A little of bit every vegetable we have in the fridge. I think there are carrot, spinach, broccoli, egg plant, cucumber, and lotus root?”

Shibisu paled considerably. “Lotus?”

“Yes, I heard it’s supposed to be delicious and healthy.”

“Isn’t it poisonous?” the scout asked weakly, praying his iron stomach would protect him this time. He only got a tiny sip of the drink, so he should be safe even though it was poisonous right? 

Bam titled his head in confusion. “Is it? I don’t have any problems eating it though.”

There was so many things that Shibisu wanted to say to that. Just because Bam was fine eating some unfamiliar plants, it didn’t mean that the rest of them would be too. They were not an irregular or descendant of ten great families who were practically immune to most basic food poisoning!

Maybe he should stay and help the wave controller just in case? He could make sure that the other wouldn’t add anything out of the norm this way. 

“Do you need any help, Bam? I feel bad staying silent when you are working so hard.” Shibisu offered, hoping the other wouldn’t notice his attempt to keep watch on his cooking. 

“Thank you Mr. Shibisu.” the brunet agreed easily, always so trusting. Shibisu felt kind of bad having suspected him in the first place. But it’s better to be safe than sorry right? 

“Can you help me get some milk and cheese from the fridge?” Bam asked, busy with preparing some kind of batter. He had two mixing bowls ready, one for the dry ingredients and another for the wet ones. He checked all of his ingredients once more. “Also, applesauce and brown sugar if we have any.”

“Sure.” Shibisu made a quick work of getting the requested items and giving them to the taller male. “What are you going to make anyway?” 

“I was thinking maybe…carrot cake?” Bam placed a few more pecans on a baking sheet before putting it into the oven. 10 minutes should be good, the baked pecans would created a nice nutty flavor. He was sure that the twins would love this kind of flavor. “Luan didn’t eat his carrot during lunch. But he always like to eat cakes for dessert.” 

“That’s a good idea! Anything I can help?”

“Would you mind shredding the carrots? I need about 4 large ones for the cake.”

 
“I think we have packaged pre-shredded carrots somewhere in here.” Shibisu responded, rummaging through the mountains of items inside their shared fridge. Since everyone had their own preference for food and snacks, there wasn’t any moment when the fridge was empty. They were pretty well-stocked all the time, and the scout was sure that there was a package of shredded carrots inside! “Our dear princess always uses it for her salad.” He continued going through different kinds frozen vegetables in order to find the said carrot.

Bam only shook his head. “The pre-shredded carrots are usually hard and dry, so it’s better not to use them. While the freshly shredded carrots have plenty of moisture and give the crunchy texture.”

Shibisu just grinned, amused. “Whatever you want my boy! You’re the chef!” he carried four large carrots in his arms and dumped them into the closest bowl. “Do you want me to grate or shred them?”

“Shredded please.”

“Alright! Just leave them to me!” With a war cry, the track suit wearing male attacked the biggest carrot and began shredding it into bits. Bam could not help but smile at the other’s antics. It was always fun to cook together with someone. He sincerely hoped that, with Shibisu’s help, the carrot cake would turned okay and the twins especially Luan would like it.

It took him about one hour to finish the cake. Bam decided to keep the decorations pretty simple—just some banana icing which main ingredient probably belong to Rak. He cut it carefully and put four pieces onto a separate plate. The rest would be divided between the team with Shibisu having the biggest piece.

“You really don’t have to help me carrying all of this Mr Shibisu. You should enjoy your cake!” Bam said to the other male. Shibisu had insisted on accompanying him to his room where Khun and the children currently were. The scout was currently carrying a tray of carrot lemonade while Bam was bringing the carrot cake they just baked.

“Nah, I don’t mind. I wanna see the small guys anyway. Bet they would love your cake! It’s super delicious!”

Both could starting to hear Luan's excited chatter followed by Khun’s voice. It seemed like the light bearer was in the middle of explaining something to the children. Bam distantly remembered Khun saying something about teaching the twins basic math or some sort. Maybe that’s what they were doing right now? Hopefully he wouldn’t disturb them then. They probably would be hungry and want some snacks soon.

The duo stopped short just before entering the room and was about to announce their arrival when Luan asked a question that stopped them in their track.

“What’s daddy position, papa?”

-4-6-4-6-4-6-

Moments before Bam and Shibisu’s arrival…

“That’s it about team position. Like I said before, if you don’t understand then just find Isu and asks him.”

“Papa papa papa!” Luan raised his hand enthusiastically, “What is Mr. Bam position? And Uncle Rak?”

Khun had half a mind to ignore the boy. Yet knowing how persistent Luan was, he would be throwing a huge fuss if Khun ever ignored him. Better humor him than suffer the consequences later on. “Bam is a wave controller and that crocodile is a spear bearer.”

 
“Wave?” Luan repeated in puzzlement. “Mr. Bam likes playing water?”

Khun could only sigh in exasperation. Either the boy didn’t pay attention to his explanation, or everything he just said simply flew over his head.

“No water.” Vihan answered, seemingly aware of his father growing irritation. “Papa said before a wave controller is someone who can control the flow of shinsu.”

Luan eyes literally sparkled. “That’s so cool! I want to be a wave like Mr. Bam too!!!”

“It’s wave controller not wave.” Khun finally decided to cut in, flicking the younger blunet on his forehead. “Pay attention. You were the one who wanted to learn about positions first.”

Luan hold his forehead and pouted. The flick didn’t really hurt. He just didn’t like it when Papa did that. “But what about daddy?!”

The question caught Khun off guard. “What?”

From the corner of his eyes, the light bearer saw the familiar silhouettes of Bam and who he presumed to be Shibisu nearing their room. What a bad timing. He could only hope that the two hadn’t misheard Luan’s question. 

“Papa is rite—right, ritebi..”

“Light bearer.” Vihan corrected not for the first time.

“Yes, the bear position.” Luan waved his hand carelessly. “And uncle Isu and has are a scout! Auntie Si and Ana are something about fishing?”

“They are fisherman…” Vihan whispered, trying to fruitfully help his twin.

“Fishing and fisherman are different?” Luan shrugged. “Oh well so what’s daddy position?”

There was a long silence where anyone could hear a pin drop.

Luan, unable to understand the change of atmosphere/mood, poked his suddenly silent parent impatiently. “What’s daddy position, papa?”

But Khun didn’t answer him.

“Papa?”

Khun still showed no signs of answering, which caused Luan to begin pouting in annoyance. “Pa-pa! What is daddy—"

“…wave controller.” 

“Huh?” Luan stopped in the middle of his tirade. He was not sure if he really heard his papa’s speaking or just imagining it. The voice was so soft! It was like the time when he was trying to speak with Vi but didn’t want Papa to know. He remembered his brother called it ‘whispering’? Why did Papa need to whisper anyway?

“Your daddy…” Khun started. He could feel several pairs of suddenly focused on him and realized that the children were not the only ones in the room now. He swiftly made up his mind. “He is a wave controller.” The light bearer finally stated, voice louder and firmer than before. 

Gold and blue met as he uttered the last part. Bam actually looked shocked, like he didn’t expect Khun to answer or divulge any information about the twins’ other parent. 

Luan, apparently realizing the new arrivals, immediately lighten up upon seeing one of his most favorite people again. He quickly ran to the brunet and exclaimed gleefully. “Mr. Bam you have the same position as daddy!”

Bam looked pained as he answered, crunching down to Luan’s eye level. “Yes… I do.”

“Mr. Bam?” Luan looked at the other long and hard. Apparently recognizing something on the older brunet downcast expression, the boy quickly grabbed Bam’s hand with one hand and Vihan’s with the other. Vihan squeaked in surprise but did nothing to stop his brother. The youngest dragged both away, loudly exclaiming that he wanted to eat ice cream with the slayer candidate. 

“Bye papa bye uncle Isu! I will bring you ice cream too! Bye bye!”

After making sure the trio were finally gone and away from earshot, Shibisu quickly turned to Khun and gave the blue-haired light bearer a disappointed look.

“What?”

“You haven’t told them about Bam?!”

“It’s not my secret to tell.” Either his future self be the one who explained to the twins about their other parent, or Bam can be the one who explained it. He was the victim after all. Khun had no right to divulge such information when it was not his in the first place. “If you have nothing else to say then leave. I have things to do now that we have some peace and quiet.”

Shibisu felt like tearing his hair in frustration. That guy was just as stubborn as always! 

“You know, Khun, you cannot keep hiding forever. The twins deserve to know about their other parent. It’s unfair to Bam if you keep them to yourself.” 

-4-6-4-6-4-6-

The trio stopped at the nearest ice cream shop they could find.  Thanks to Luan’s persistence on having Bam fly them there — “because Vi has never flied with Mr. Bam before!” — it only took mere minutes for them to arrive at the shop. 

After entering the store, Bam quickly located an empty seat for the twins. He asked them to wait as he went to buy some ice cream. 

“Sorry the line was a bit long.” He apologized. “Here is your ice cream. For Luan, Mint Chocolate Chip. And for Vihan, Buttered Pecan right?”

Vihan accepted his with a nod and soft thank you, while Luan only shook his head.

“What’s wrong? Did I get the wrong flavor?” The older brunette questioned, holding the ice cream in confusion. He surely remembered Luan saying he wanted the Mint Chocolate Chip flavor. Did he forget anything? Maybe the boy wanted additional toppings? 

Luan didn’t answer. He just beckoned Bam down to him, so the older male crouched down to meet the boy’s eye level. Slowly, the small blunet leaned in and patted the other’s head just like how he remembered Papa’s doing to him. “It’s for Mister Bam so you won’t be sad anymore.” He then gave Bam a brief hug and pulled back with a big grin. “Do you feel better? Papa always does that when I feel sad. And we will always go for ice cream too!”

“I…” Bam didn’t know what to say.

He stared down at Luan’s eyes and felt an odd sense of warmness swell inside his chest. It felt nice, similar to how he felt when Khun hugged him. The brown haired male swallowed and smiled at the youngest twin, gold eyes gave a warm glow. 

“Thank you, Luan.”

Luan beamed in return. “Of course! If Mr. Bam is still sad then we can go get more ice cream!”

Bam chuckled. He didn’t think that getting more ice cream would make him happier than he currently was. But he would humor the boy. It felt refreshing to hear such an innocent remark after so long. 

Vihan looked at the half-eaten ice cream in his hands then back at the older brunet and his twin. Hesitantly, he tugged at Bam’s sleeve and avoided the man’s gaze once Bam turned to look at him.

“What is it Vihan? Do you need anything?” the wave controller asked gently as not to startle the younger brunet. 

“…my ice cream.”

“Yes, do you also want more ice cream? Or maybe something less sweet?”

Vihan shook his head furiously. “No. My ice cream…” he paused, unsure. Bam waited patiently for the boy to continue. Based on his experience, Vihan would shy away if he came too strong. So the best thing to do when dealing with him was to wait for Vihan to make the first move. True enough. After a few minutes of silence, the boy finally spoke again, “You…can have my ice cream too.” he raised his hand and showed his Buttered Pecan to Bam, who accepted the proffered item with a soft smile. “No sad.”

“Yes! Ice cream always makes us happy so Mr. Bam won’t be sad again!” Luan cheered happily. “Can we get more ice cream Mr. Bam? I want to try the ice cream tower!”

“No ice cream. Want waffles.”

“No! More ice cream!”

“Papa say Lu no ice cream. Tummy hurts.”

“My tummy is not hurt! See? I am fine!”

“No ice cream.”

“Vi meanie!”

Bam, now holding two cones of melted ice cream in his hands, could only look at the bickering children with a fond gaze. Those two…they probably would be his children someday. It was really a nice feeling to have them care about him, even though they didn’t know him as one of their parents yet.

But…

He should not be greedy.

For now it’s enough to have them being close like this.

Maybe with time he would be able to get closer to the twins.

Just maybe… 

…he could hear them call him ‘Daddy’ someday?

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Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

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Chapter 17

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Khun sat at his desk, poring over his lighthouse, trying to gather as much information about the upcoming test as he could. He knew that many teams had successfully passed the test, but he didn't know exactly how or why. He needed more information.

As he worked, Luan lied on his stomach beside him, quietly drawing in his sketchbook. Khun glanced over at the boy from time to time, curious about what he was drawing, but he didn't say anything.

It actually felt a bit weird to have Luan accompany him instead of Vihan. And the boy has been pretty quiet too. Which is on another level of weirdness. As long as he remembered about the small blunet, he never knew Luan to be so silent. Even when the boy was sleeping.

After a while, Luan looked up from his drawing and smiled at Khun. “What are you doing, Papa?” he asked, his golden eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Khun met Luan’s gaze calmly. He didn’t say anything for a moment, unsure of how to explain his work to a four-year-old.

“I’m trying to find out about the next test,” he finally said, hoping that the boy would understand.

Luan’s face lit up. “Oh! Can I help you?” he exclaimed, bouncing from his seat.

Khun raised an eyebrow. “How can you help me with that?” Unless the boy has some kind of information from the future about the test, he didn’t think that Luan would be able to help.

Luan shrugged. “I don’t know. But I can try help Papa!” The boy said, grinning.

Khun couldn’t help but sighed at the boy’s enthusiasm. “Okay. Why don’t we start with you telling me why you didn’t go with Bam today?” The lightbearer asked, a bit curios about the reason himself.

Luan thought for a moment, tapping his chin with his pencil and blinking, “Uh-huh. Mr. Bam is busy with Vi! So I don’t want to disturb them.” he said, nodding his head.

“Bam is with…Vihan?”

“Un!” Luan nodded his head quickly, “Mr. Bam said he wants to teach Vi something!”

Khun raised an eyebrow at that but he didn’t say anything. He only listened as Luan continued his chatter.

“Vi never go with Mr. Bam, so he didn’t know. Mr. Bam’s wings are so pretty! And making water bubbles are fun too!” Luan explained enthusiastically. Khun raised his eyebrow at the ‘water bubbles’ comment and deduced that the boy might have been talking about one of Bam’s shinsu manipulation skills. “I can always play with Mr. Bam later so it’s okay!”

Luan skipped over to Khun’s lighthouse and looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes. “Can we play now, Papa?” he said, bouncing up and down with excitement.

Khun was going to say no when he came to a great idea.

“Alright,” Khun said easily, holding out a cookie in his hand. “I have a game for you. Every time you answer one of my questions correctly, you get one of Bam’s special cookies.”

The cookies Bam made had quickly become the boy’s favorite. None has told Luan yet that his new favorite cookies are made from the carrot he hated so much. Not that anyone was planning to after seeing how much effort Bam made on making Luan eat vegetables-based dishes.

Luan’s eyes lit up at the mention of cookies, and he hold up his tiny hands in a gesture of excitement. “Okay, Papa!”

Khun took a deep breath, trying to decide on a question that would test Luan’s knowledge of the future without giving too much away. “How does your papa look like?” he asked, his eyes fixed on Luan’s face.

Luan blinked in confusion. “Papa is Papa!”

“No, what I mean is your Papa…” he paused, “How do I look like before you and Vihan came here.”

“Papa looks so pretty! You always have your hair up like Vi’s when we go out. And and you always let us braid your hair!” Luan looked up at Khun with his big, innocent eyes.

Khun raised an eyebrow, surprised by the boy's enthusiasm. "Is that so? What else can you tell me about him—me?"

“Papa has really blue hair, like me, and papa is tall! You like to wear cool clothes like magician and prince. And Papa always carries around this really cool lighthouse that can do lots of things!” Luan exclaimed, his hands gesturing wildly.

Khun couldn’t help but blink at Luan’s enthusiasm. He was a bit speechless hearing the way Luan described him. “…I see. And what kind of things do I can do with my lighthouse?”

"Papa can make anything appear like magic! And you can also talk to people from far away, like with Uncle Ling ! Oh, and sometimes you use it to play games with me and Vi," Luan replied, his eyes shining with excitement.

Khun decided to put a stop on asking more about his other self. The things Luan had told him has been quite…embarrassing to say the least. He chose to change his next question.

“Do you remember what floor we live in?”

Luan blinked, confused. “But we live in a house not a floor papa.”

Khun sighed, silently crossing out yet another question out of his list.

“Can you tell me anyone who visit our house?”

“Uncle Ling!”

“And how does this uncle Ling look like?”

“He has blue hair just like papa but it’s shorter.” Luan did a little twirl to show Khun his now short hair. “Just like me! Then then he always brings this box with him. He called it game…console?”

Hachuling.

There was no mistaking the older blunet.

For a moment, Khun was lost in thought, but then he realized that Luan was still waiting for his cookie. With a sigh, he reached for the jar of Bam’s cookies and handed two to the younger twin.

“And? Anyone else?”

Luan munched on his cookies, his chubby cheeks puffed out as he answered, “Uncle Ran!”

There was only one Ran that Khun knew about. But it couldn’t hurt to make sure.

“And how how does Ran look like?”

“Uncle Ran is big! But not as big as Papa. And he has fluffy hair that is like cotton candy! Can I have cotton candy papa?”

There the boy goes again with his random request. “No, you cannot eat anything too sweet until your stomach recovers.” The older male stated firmly. Bam’s cookies was one only exception to sweets he allowed the smaller blunet to have.

As predicted, Luan pouted. “Mou…”

“Stop sulking. I know you ate ice cream with Bam again yesterday. “

Luan looked surprised, he didn’t think that Papa know about it! He already wipe his mouth and even brush his teeth before he met Papa yesterday.

Seeing Luan’s panicked look, Khun sighed. “Stop it. I will let it slide this time. Now tell me, is there anyone else who frequently came to the house?”

“Grand—Mr. En!” Luan answered quickly, hoping to get on his Papa’s good side again

“And?”

“Mr. En is big, bigger than Papa! And he always looks different when he visits us!”

Khun racked his memory about anyone named ‘En’ who might be close enough to visit him in the future. He came up blank. This Mr. En or whoever his real name was must be a new acquaintance of his, someone he hadn’t meet in the current timeline.

“…Do you think you will be able to recognize him if you see him one day?

Luan face scrunched up in concentration. “Maybe? Mister En—” Luan faltered, unsure how to answer Papa’s question. “I don’t…Vi maybe know. Vi always said I forget things lots. But Vi always remembers!”

Khun leaned back in his chair, calculating on the information he had so far. "Is there anyone else?" he asked, wondering if there were more people he should keep track on.

Luan was silent for a moment before he shook his head. Khun was about to send the boy away with his promised cookies when Luan suddenly said in hesitation, “Papa has a photo of this person who looks like Vi….”

Khun turned sharply at the boy’s direction, his gaze zeroed on Luan, who began to fidget under his stare.

“Do you know who that person is?”

Luan quickly shook his head, "Papa never say! Papa always look sad when see the photo. But but Vi say that person eyes looks like his and mine!" he supplied, trying to be helpful.

Khun frowned. There is no need to guess who the person in the picture must be. Eyes that looked like Luan and Vihan. It could only mean one person—Bam. Even though Vihan only passed half of the color, there was no mistaking that golden gaze anywhere. "Heterochromia," he muttered to himself, jotting down a note in his lighthouse.

Luan titled his head in confusion. "What's that, Papa?"

Khun hesitated, unsure of how to explain it to the boy. "It means that Vihan has different colored eyes. Blue and gold," he said, hoping that Luan would understand.

Luan nodded, his eyes wide with wonder. "That's really cool! Can I have different colored eyes too?" he asked, looking up at Khun with a hopeful expression.

"I don't think you can choose your eye color, Luan. It's just something you're born with," Khun explained, a small smile unknowingly began to form on his lips.

Luan pouted. “That’s okay. I like my eyes. Papa say my eyes are pretty!” the younger twin said with a grin.

Khun wanted to ask more about his future companion when the door to the room opened, and Bam and Vihan walked in. Luan’s face lit up with excitement as he saw his twin brother, and he offered him one of his precious cookies.

“Hello, what are you doing, Luan?” Bam asked, leaning over to look at Luan’s drawing.

Luan looked up at Bam and beamed, showing him his colorful drawing. “Look Mister Bam, I draw a big turtle! It has blue and brown shell!” he exclaimed, pointing at the turtle on the paper. The drawing was a bit messy, with uneven lines and colors, but it was so similar to a certain wave controller with his fluffy brown hair and gold eyes. There was no mistaking that Rak must have influenced the boy with his attachment to turtles.

Bam smiled. “That’s great! You’re a really good artist, Luan.”

Khun rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but smile at the interaction between Bam and Luan. He had to admit that Bam was great with kids, and many people had been envious of that.

Meanwhile, Vihan had silently crawled into Khun’s lap, and was looking up at him with his mismatched blue and gold eyes. “Papa play?” he asked, tugging on Khun’s sleeve.

Khun looked down at the older twin, and felt a wave of warmth spread through him. Vihan looked so much like Bam, with his long brown hair and those striking eyes. "…what game do you want to play?" he finally asked, giving up on getting any work done now that both twins were around with Bam.

Vihan thought for a moment, then tentatively asked. "Hide and seek?” he knew Papa didn’t like to be disturbed when he was working. But it had been so long since he last played with Papa.

Luan bounced up and down excitedly. “I’m gonna hide in the closet!” he declared, running over to the open closet door.

Bam chuckled. “Okay, I’ll help you count, Vihan. You go hide too, Khun.”

Khun stood up with Vihan still in his lap, and made his way over to the couch. “We’ll hide here,” he said to Vihan, settling down behind the couch with the small brunet nestled against him.

Bam covered his eyes with his hands. “One… two… three…” he began counting, while Luan giggled and darted inside the closet.

As Bam counted, Khun felt Vihan’s small hand reach up to tug on his sleeve. “Papa,” Vihan whispered. “Fun play?”

”Yes, it will be fun to play,” Khun said, turning his head to look at Vihan.

Vihan nodded, as if satisfied, then snuggled closer to Khun. “Okay,” he said. “Love Papa.”

Khun felt a lump form in his throat, and he awkwardly patted the boy’s head. “That’s good to hear,” he said softly, could not bring himself to return the sentiment.

Just then, Bam’s voice rang out. “Ready or not, here I come!” Khun and Vihan both peeked out from their hiding place aka the couch as they heard Luan shriek with delight from the closet.

“No, Mister Bam, you found me!”

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As the game came to an end, Bam watched the twins as they chattered on excitedly about their next playtime with Papa Khun and Mister Bam. He couldn’t help but smile at their innocent enthusiasm.

“I can’t wait to play tag again!” Luan exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the couch.

Vihan nodded in agreement, “And hide-and-seek. Papa is good, find us.”

Bam chuckled at their antics, “Please invite me to join in on the fun next time.”

Luan’s eyes widened in excitement, “Really, Mister Bam? You’ll play with us?”

“Of course,” Bam replied, ruffling Luan’s blue hair affectionately.

Vihan nodded, “Fun, Papa and Mister Bam play together.”

Bam’s smile widened, “Then let’s make sure to plan a big playdate soon.”

As the twins continued to chatter on about their favorite games, Bam couldn’t help but feel grateful for the family he had found in Khun and the twins.

But, seeing them together like that, Bam couldn’t help but feel a pang of loneliness. He had grown up alone in a cave, with only himself to rely on. The thought of having a family of his own was daunting.

Can a monster have a family?

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Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

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Luan’s heart raced as he tiptoed through the hallway, trying his best not to make any noise. He clutched a small backpack tightly in his hands, feeling excited and nervous all at once. He had wanted to give something for Papa and Mister Bam for so long, and today he would go out and find them!

As he made his way towards the door, he suddenly heard a small voice behind him. “Lu? Where are you going?”

Luan froze, turning around to see Vihan standing behind him with a worried expression on his face. “I’m going to search for gifts for Papa and Mister Bam. It’s a secret, so don’t tell anyone,” he whispered, holding a finger to his lips.

Vihan frowned, shaking his head furiously. “No, Papa said no going alone! It’s not safe,” the older boy exclaimed, wringing his hands nervously.

Luan tugged on Vihan’s hand, urging him to follow. “Come on, Vi. Let's go together! You can help me choose the gift. Papa said the flower you gave him last time was nice right?”

Vihan hesitated, still unsure if they should be doing this. “…we should tell Uncle Isu or Mister Bam where we go.”

Luan shook his head stubbornly. “No way. It’s a surprise. None should know.”

Vihan’s eyes widened, “But what if we get in trouble?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be with you. We’ll be careful.”

When he saw his brother still looked hesitant, Luan pressed on. “Come on, Vi, it’ll be an adventure! We can go quickly together, and we’ll be back before anyone even notices we’re gone.” Without waiting for an answer, the younger twin quickly took Vihan’s hand and leading him towards the door.

Luan had planned this for days. Every time Bam had brought him out to the city, he had memorized the ways carefully. He knew they couldn’t just walk out of the front door, or they’d be caught by one of the adults in the house. So, he decided to sneak out through the back door, which was usually left unlocked during the day.

The two waited until everyone was distracted or busy with their own tasks, then quickly and quietly slipped out of the house. Luan, being the more confident of the two, led the way, while Vihan followed closely behind, his small hand tightly gripping his twin’s shirt.

The backyard was empty, except for the occasional rustling of leaves from the trees swaying in the wind. They walked past the vast garden, careful not to make any noise. As they approached the gate, Luan peeked through the fence to make sure no one was watching.

“All clear,” he whispered to Vihan. “Let’s go.”

The gate creaked as they opened it, but they quickly shut it behind them and continued on their way. They walked along the street, trying to blend in with the crowd. Luan kept looking around, trying to find something that might be a perfect gift for Mister Bam and Papa.

Vihan, on the other hand, kept looking back, worried that they would get caught. He wanted to go back home, but he couldn’t just leave his brother alone. So, he stayed close, holding Luan’s hand tightly and hoping they wouldn’t get into any trouble.

“Lu, this is bad. Papa will get angry,” he whispered, tugging on his brother’s shirt. Maybe his brother would change his mind before they went too far away from the house.

Luan smiled reassuringly, holding up his backpack and the lunchbox Bam has prepared for them before the older male has left for his training. He was well prepared for the trip and was confident they could do it without any problems. “It’s okay. We’ll be quick, and then we can go home before Papa is back,” he said, trying to calm his brother’s nerves.

“But...”

"Don't worry, Vi," Luan whispered reassuringly. "I know the way. We won’t be lost."

Vihan still looked uncertain, but he trusted his brother. With a hesitant nod, the two began their adventure to the city.

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Meanwhile, back at the house, Shibisu paced nervously. He had frantically searched the entire house and surrounding area with his observer, but the twins were nowhere to be found. “Where could they have gone?” he muttered to himself. “I swear, those kids are going to be the death of me.”

Khun had entrusted the twins to him before the other left to meet one of his contacts in order to find out more about the floor test. If anything was to happen to the twins during his watch, he was sure that Khun wouldn’t let him off easily! The scout shuddered thinking what kind of punishment the blue haired male are going to make him suffer through.

He knew he had to act fast, and his first thought was to find—

Bam had just returned from training when he saw Shibisu’s panicked expression. “What’s going on?”

"Bam!” Shibisu couldn’t look happier as the person he was going to look for appear before him. Bam was the only person who could stop Khun! Also, the wave controller was one of the twins’ parents, surely Bam would know how to find them. "The twins are missing! I've looked everywhere and I can't find them!”

“What do you mean they’re missing?!” Bam exclaimed, his heart pounding in his chest.

“I don’t know, Bam. I’ve looked everywhere,” Shibisu replied, his voice shaking in worry.

Bam’s mind raced as he tried to think of where the boys could be. He knew how curious and adventurous they were, but he never expected them to sneak out without telling anyone.

“Did you check the backyard? They love playing there,” Bam suggested, trying to stay calm.

Shibisu nodded and quickly ran to the backyard to check, but there was no sign of the boys. Bam felt a lump in his throat and his palms were sweaty. He couldn’t lose his sons.

“We need to find them,” Bam said firmly, his voice filled with determination. “Start searching the neighborhood and ask everyone if they’ve seen them.”

With a quick nod, both rushed out of the house to start their search. They split up and went in different directions, calling out the twins’ names and asking anyone they met if they had seen them.

As they walked down the street, Bam couldn’t help but feel guilty for not paying closer attention to his sons. He had been so focused on training and preparing for the upcoming floor test that he had neglected his duties as a father. If only Khun was here. The lightbearer might be able to find the twins quickly. But Khun wasn't there to help. He had gone to meet with his contact and would usually be unreachable until he was back.

Suddenly, Shibisu’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Bam, I think I found something.”

Bam ran over to him, his heart pounding in his chest. Shibisu pointed to a small note he found lying on the ground.

“I think this is Luan's,” Shibisu said, picking up the note and handing it to Bam. “He is writing a list of items with your and Khun’s name beside it. My guess is that he is planning to give a gift to you.”

Bam’s heart sank at the realization that the twins most likely had gone to the city without anyone knowing . He quickly read the note and recognized the list of the items as something Luan had mentioned when both of them were out last time. The boy had also asked Bam what his favorite thing was, but the brunet had waved its off a curiosity of a kid. He didn’t think that Luan was trying to find gifts for him. The city was dangerous for two young children to be wandering around there alone.

“We have to find them,” Bam said firmly, his voice trembling. He couldn’t lose his sons, not when he just found them. “Let’s go.”

Shibisu nodded, and the two quickly ran out of the house and into the bustling city.

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Chapter Ends

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Chapter Text

The marketplace was bustling with activity, but Luan and Vihan were on a mission. Hand in hand, the twins navigated the crowded streets, their eyes wide with wonder at the myriad of stalls and shops.

“We need to find the perfect gifts for Papa and Mister Bam,” Luan declared, his golden eyes sparkling with determination.

Vihan nodded, his mismatched blue and gold eyes scanning the stalls. He was quieter and more reserved than his brother, but his determination was just as strong. The boys finally stopped in front of a small shop filled with a variety of unique items.

“This looks like a good place,” Luan said, quickly pulling his twin inside.

The shopkeeper, a kindly woman with silver hair and a warm smile, couldn’t help but squeal internally at the sight of the adorable boys. Their fluffy hair and earnest expressions were simply too precious.

“Hello there, boys. How can I help you today?” she asked, leaning over the counter to get a better look at them.

Luan beamed up at her. “We’re looking for gifts for our papa and Mister Bam. They have to be really special.”

The shopkeeper smiled, charmed by their enthusiasm. “Well, you’ve come to the right place. We have all sorts of wonderful things here. What kind of gifts are you thinking about?”

Luan glanced around the shop, his eyes landing on a display of star-themed items. “What about something with stars?” he suggested. “Papa likes stars.”

Vihan tugged on his brother’s sleeve, his expression hesitant. “...Papa... doesn't like stars,” he said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. “...They’re too far...”

The small blunette frowned, crossing his arms. “But stars are pretty! And Papa likes pretty things.”

His brother shook his head, his brow furrowing. “...No... something close... lighthouse.”

The shopkeeper watched the exchange with an amused smile, her heart melting at their earnest discussion. “It sounds like you both have good ideas. Maybe we can find something that combines both?”

The boys looked up at her, their eyes wide with curiosity. “How?” Luan asked, tilting his head.

The shopkeeper thought for a moment, then led them to a section of the shop filled with unique, handcrafted items. She picked up a small, intricately designed lighthouse keychain with tiny star-shaped lights embedded in it.

“How about this?” she suggested, holding it out to them. “It’s a little lighthouse with stars. It’s both close and beautiful.”

Luan’s eyes lit up. “It’s perfect!”

Vihan studied the lighthouse carefully, then nodded. “...Yes... Papa like it.”

The shopkeeper couldn’t help but smile at their approval. “Wonderful! And what about Mister Bam? Do you have an idea for his gift?”

The twins exchanged glances, their faces scrunching up in thought. After a moment, Luan’s eyes brightened again. “Mister Bam likes cooking and training. Maybe something with those?”

Vihan just stayed silent. He didn't really know the wave-controller that well to suggest a gift which suited him. 

The shopkeeper led them to another section of the shop, where they found a small, beautifully crafted crystal ball with tiny turtle figurines. Luan’s faces lit up with excitement.

“This is it!” The blue-haired boy exclaimed, carefully picking up the ball. “Mister Bam will love it.”

Vihan just nodded silently, agreeing with his brother.

The shopkeeper wrapped their chosen items with care, unable to stop herself from smiling at the twins’ infectious enthusiasm. She handed the gifts to them and watched as they paid with their carefully saved money.

“Thank you so much,” Luan said, his voice full of gratitude.

The shopkeeper smiled warmly. “You’re very welcome. I’m sure your Papa and Mister Bam will love their gifts.”

As the twins left the shop, their hearts full of excitement, the shopkeeper couldn’t help but think how lucky their family was to have such thoughtful and loving children.

The two children wandered through the city, holding their precious gifts tightly. They were so absorbed in their mission that they didn’t notice the pair of shady figures watching them.

“We did it, Vi!” Luan said, grinning. “Papa and Mister Bam will be so happy.”

Vihan nodded, a small smile on his face. “...Yes, good.”

But their joy was short-lived. As they turned a corner, the group of menacing figures stepped out from the alleyways, blocking their path.

The leader of the group, a burly man with a wicked grin, leaned in closer to the two, his intentions clear. "Well, well, what do we have here?" he sneered. "Looks like we stumbled upon a couple of lost little lambs, eh, boys?"

Luan's heart raced, and Vihan's grip on his brother tightened. Fear coursed through them as the thugs closed in, encircling the twins. They were trapped, and the sinister smiles on the faces of the men were anything but reassuring.

One of the men, a tall figure with a scar across his face, grabbed Luan’s arm.

“Hey, let go!” Luan cried, trying to pull away.

Vihan, panicking, tried to help his brother. “Leave us alone!”

The other man, shorter but stockier, grabbed Vihan. “Quiet, both of you!” he hissed, his grip tightening.

The twins struggled, their hearts pounding with fear. Just as things seemed hopeless, a powerful voice cut through the chaos.

“Let them go.”

The twins looked up to see a tall, imposing figure of dark-haired man, a cigarette dangling from his lips, appeared out of nowhere. His presence exuded power and danger as he swiftly incapacitated the would-be kidnappers.

All too soon the thugs were left sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain, as the dark-haired man turned his attention towards Luan and Vihan. His eyes, despite his serious demeanor, softened a bit as he saw their frightened expressions.

"Are you two alright?" he asked, his voice although gruff carrying a surprisingly touch of gentleness.

Luan, always the more outgoing of the two, managed to find his voice first. With a bright, toothy grin, he replied, "We are now! Thanks to you, mister!"

Their savior's lips twitched into a small smile at Luan's gratitude. He couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance the twins bore to someone he knew, but the thought remained elusive.

The older male knelt down to their level, his eyes narrowing as he studied them. "You two... you seem familiar. What's your names?"

"My name is Luan," the blue-haired twin said, pointing to himself. "And this is my brother, Vihan."

"Luan and Vihan, huh? You remind me of someone I know...." He paused, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Actually, you look like my student. And the brat from the Khun family that's always with him."

“Papa!” Luan exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. “You know Papa too, Mister?”

The man shook his head. From his coloring, he expected one of the boys to belong to the Khuns. So the little ones probably thought he was referring to their parents when he mentioned the Khun-brat. 

Vihan, apparently still a bit shaken from the whole ordeal, whispered a timid, "Thank you," as he watched the older male from behind his brother.

The man nodded, his gaze shifting between the twins. "You're welcome," he said with a nod. "What were you two doing out here alone?"

Luan piped up again, eager to explain. "We wanted to get gifts for our Papa and Mister Bam, so we snuck out. It was a secret!"

The man chuckled softly at their innocence. "Gifts, huh? That's very thoughtful of you." He paused, a bit of the conversation suddenly hit him. "Wait, do you actually know Viole?"

A pair of familiar golden eyes looked at him questioningly, "Who?"

"Vio, no, this Mister Bam you just mentioned. Does he have long brown hair and gold eyes?"

"Un." Luan nodded, beamed brightly at the strange man who have saved them. "Do you know Mister Bam too?"

Jinsung chuckled softly, shaking his head in amazement. "Well, I'll be damned. What a small world." He reached for his pocket and contacted Viole, informing him that he had found two children who claimed to know him.

Somewhere in the bustling city, Bam's pocket beeped urgently, startling him from his worried thoughts. He quickly answered, not bothering to check the caller ID, his heart pounding with concern. 

"Yes? Hello?" Bam's voice was edged with anxiety.

"Viole," Jinsung's gruff voice cut through the connection. "I've got two brats here who say they know you. Luan and Vihan, right?"

Bam's heart skipped a beat in simultaneous fear and relief. "Yes, yes, that's them!" he exclaimed, his voice trembling with emotion. "Where are you? Are they safe?"

"We're at the ice cream stand near the toy shop," Jinsung replied. "They're safe. Come quickly."

Bam's heart soared with gratitude and worry mingling together. "On my way," he said before hanging up and quickly turning to Shibisu. "They're with my master. They're safe."

The scout visibly relaxed. "Thank goodness. Let's go!"

As they rushed through the crowded streets, Bam's mind raced with thoughts of Luan and Vihan. He prayed silently that they were truly safe. Soon, they arrived at the ice cream stand, and Bam's eyes scanned the area anxiously until he spotted his master standing with the twins beside him, happily licking their ice cream cones. Jinsung was carrying a couple of shopping bags, looking every bit the stern guardian.

"Mister Bam!" Luan and Vihan exclaimed simultaneously upon seeing him, abandoning their treats to run into Bam's open arms.

Bam knelt down swiftly, pulling them into a tight embrace. "Thank goodness you're safe," he murmured, his voice thick with relief and worry.

Jinsung observed the reunion quietly, his sharp eyes studying the interaction between his student and the two children. Vihan, especially, caught his attention — that long brown hair and innocent eyes. He was not wrong. The small brunette did look like a mini replica of Viole, minus the different colored eyes and longer hair. Curiosity tugged at him, wanting to ask who these boys truly were to the slayer candidate, but he held his tongue for now.

Bam sensed his teacher's unspoken question and gently introduced him to the twins. "Luan, Vihan, this is my master, Ha Jinsung. He taught me everything I know."

The twins looked up at the older male with wide eyes, their expressions a mix of renewed awe and curiosity. "Hello, Mister Jinsung!" Luan said cheerfully, while Vihan simply nodded, still clinging to Bam's leg.

Jinsung nodded curtly, acknowledging them. "You two caused quite a stir," he commented dryly, his gaze lingering on them thoughtfully. "Running off like that was dangerous."

The younger twin looked a bit sheepish but managed a small smile. "We're sorry, Mister Jinsung. We just wanted to get gifts for Papa and Mister Bam."

Jinsung's stern expression softened slightly. "I see. It's good to care about your family, but you need to be careful."

Vihan looked up, his mismatched eyes filled with sincerity. "...Thank you for saving us."

The high ranker nodded, his expression more thoughtful now. "It's what anyone would have done." He glanced at Bam, his eyes conveying a silent message.

The slayer candidate nodded in understanding, knowing there would be more to discuss later. "Thank you, Master," he said sincerely, standing up with Luan and Vihan still clinging to him. "I can't thank you enough."

The older male waved a hand dismissively. "Just doing my job. Make sure they get home safely."

The twins looked up at Bam, their eyes wide with gratitude and respect for the man who had saved them. "Mister Jinsung saved us," Luan said to the wave-controller, his voice full of admiration.

Bam ruffled the boy's hair, turning to the other with a warm smile. "Thank you again, Master."

Jinsung gave a brief nod, signaling to Bam that they would talk later. "Take care of those brats, Viole," he said before turning to leave.

Bam watched as his master walked away, feeling a deep sense of gratitude and respect. He then turned his attention back to the twins, his heart swelling with love and relief.

"We should get home," Bam said softly to the twins, his voice gentle yet firm. "Khun must be worried."

Luan and Vihan nodded vigorously, understanding the seriousness in Bam's tone. They took his hands eagerly, walking alongside him as they made their way through the bustling streets back home.

As they walked, Bam's relief began to give way to a mix of emotions. He knew he had to address their sudden disappearance. He stopped and knelt down to their level, his expression both stern and loving.

"Luan, Vihan," the irregular began, his voice steady but firm. "What you did today was very dangerous. You can't just leave without telling anyone. Do you understand how worried we were?"

Luan looked down, his earlier enthusiasm now replaced with guilt. "We just wanted to surprise you and Papa," he murmured.

The older twin clung to Bam's leg, his mismatched eyes filled with regret. "...Sorry."

Bam's expression softened, but he remained serious. "I know you wanted to do something nice, but your safety is the most important thing. You scared us."

The twins nodded, their heads hanging low. Bam pulled them into a gentle hug, his voice softening further. "I'm just glad you're safe. That's what matters most."

The boys hugged him tightly, their small bodies trembling slightly with the remnants of fear and relief. After a moment, Bam stood up, taking their hands once more.

"Next time," the brunette started gently as they resumed walking, "let us know before you go on an adventure, alright?"

"We promise, Mister Bam," Luan said earnestly, his eyes wide with sincerity.

Vihan nodded in agreement, his expression serious. "...Promise."

The wave-controller smiled warmly at them, squeezing their hands gently. "Let's go home."

Chapter Text

Khun pushed open the door to their temporary lodging, his icy blue eyes scanning the familiar space. It was quiet—almost too quiet. He had been away for only two days, yet something felt off the moment he stepped inside. His sharp senses immediately went on alert.

He scanned the room. Everything seemed normal at first glance. Bam was still at the kitchen, washing the last of the dinner dishes, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The twins, Luan and Vihan, were playing quietly at the small table, crayons scattered across the surface as they colored in their new books.

Luan was the first to notice his return. The younger twin’s golden eyes lit up as he leaped from his seat, abandoning his crayons. “Papa!” he called out, his voice full of excitement.

Vihan looked up, a small smile tugging at his lips as he watched his brother race over to the lightbearer. But he didn’t say anything, simply observing quietly from his seat.

“Welcome back,” Bam’s voice carried over with a cheerful note. The brunette glanced over his shoulder, a soft smile on his lips as he wiped his hands dry. “You’re just in time. I saved you some dinner.”

Khun nodded in acknowledgment, patting Luan’s head as the boy reached up to hug him around the leg. “I’ll eat in a bit,” he replied, his tone casual. But his eyes were sharp, taking in the scene with the practiced caution he’d honed over the years.

“Are you playing with your brother?” Khun asked, his gaze shifting to the table where Vihan sat, still silently watching them.

“Yes papa!” Luan chirped, his earlier excitement returning full force. He grabbed Khun’s hand and tugged him toward the table. “We colored today! And Uncle Isu took us to see the kitties! And—”

“Slow down,” Khun said with a deep sigh, letting the boy drag him along. He glanced at Vihan, who had turned back to his drawing, his brow furrowed in concentration as he carefully shaded in the wings of a dragon. “What about you, Vihan? Did you have a good day?”

Vihan nodded slowly, his eyes flickering up to meet Khun’s for a brief moment before returning to his drawing. “…Yes Papa. Today nice.” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

Khun hummed in acknowledgment, not pressing further. He could tell something was on the boy’s mind, but Vihan was always more reserved than his brother. If he wanted to talk, he would. Eventually.

“I’m going to take a quick shower and change,” Khun stated, wincing slightly at his sticky, dirty clothes.

Luan’s face fell slightly, and he immediately grabbed for Khun’s coat. “No, Papa, don’t go yet!” he whined, lower lip jutted out in a pout. “We want to come with you!”

Vihan, though quieter, looked up with wide, hopeful eyes, still clutching his crayon.

“Fine, come along. But remember, no fussing. I’ll be quick.”

Luan beamed and grabbed Vihan’s hand tightly, practically dragging him as they followed their papa with excited chatter.

After a quick shower and changing into fresh clothes, Khun stepped into their eat-in kitchen. The twins walking close on either side of him, their small hands brushing against his as they made their way to the dining table. Luan’s boundless energy seemed to pulse in the air, while Vihan remained his quiet shadow, clinging to Khun’s presence like a lifeline. They all settled at the table, the twins immediately taking their usual spots beside their papa.

Moments later, a certain brunette appeared, carrying a plate of food. He placed it in front of Khun with a small smile. “I saved some for you. Thought you’d be hungry after you go back.”

“Thanks, Bam,” Khun said, his voice softening slightly as he glanced up.

The other waved off the gratitude with an easy smile. “It’s nothing,” he replied, turning back to the sink to resume washing the dishes.

Khun watched him for a moment, the clinking of plates and running water blending with the twins’ enthusiastic chatter. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he observed Bam’s fluid movements, each task done with practiced ease.

He silently wondered what their enemies would think if they saw this now—FUG’s Slayer Candidate, feared and revered across the Tower, calmly cooking meals and doing dishes for his team. The thought was almost amusing in its absurdity.

“Did you have a good trip, Papa?” Luan asked, bouncing enthusiastically in his seat. The boy couldn’t seem to stay still for more than a few seconds, constantly shifting as if any moment he’d leap into Khun’s lap.

“It was productive,” the ice user replied curtly, setting down his glass on the table. He glanced at the plate of food that had been left for him and began to eat, his attention split between the meal and the twins’ excited chatter.

“We played outside with Uncle Isu and Hats today!” Luan continued, his voice bubbling with excitement. “And Mister Bam made water balls for us again! They were even bigger this time!”

Khun hummed, listening to their stories with half an ear as he observed Bam. The brunette was drying the dishes now, his movements smooth and unhurried. He would occasionally glance over at them, chuckling softly at the twins’ antics.

But there was something… off about the way Bam’s eyes lingered on the twins, a hint of guilt flickering across his features when he thought Khun wasn’t looking. Luan and Vihan, too, seemed a little too eager to keep Khun’s attention on their stories, as if trying to distract him from something.

His eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained silent, choosing to observe instead.

The short-haired male kept his expression neutral, offering the occasional comment or question to keep the conversation flowing. But his mind was working overtime, trying to piece together what they were hiding.

“…And then Uncle Isu got mad because I said his food smelled weird,” Luan was saying, his face scrunched up in exaggerated disgust. “But it did, papa! It smelled like old socks!”

Bam chuckled softly, reaching over to tap Luan’s nose. “Maybe that’s because he likes the food spicy,” he suggested. “Not everyone has the same taste, Luan.”

The younger twin giggled, nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah, but I like sweet things better! Like cookies! Oh and chocolate, ice cream too!”

“I’m sure you do,” Khun replied, his tone half resigned half fond. He remembered all too well the boy's repeated requests (and tantrums) for chocolate cake—a request he still hadn’t fulfilled.

The blunette then glanced over at Bam, who had finished with the dishes and was now leaning against the counter, watching them with a soft smile. But there was still that flicker of guilt in his eyes, so quick that Khun might have missed it if he wasn’t looking for it.

“Papa, do you know what else we did today?” Luan asked, leaning closer with an eager expression.

Raising an eyebrow, the taller blunette noticed how both boys seemed to hesitate before speaking. "What else?" he prompted, his tone calm but edged with curiosity.

"Umm... we… we read stories with Mister Bam!" Luan finally said, his voice a little too high-pitched. "Right, Vi?"

Vihan nodded almost too quickly, which made Khun turned his focus on the twins, his suspicions growing. “Did anything else happen when I was gone?” he asked casually, picking up his chopsticks to resume his meal. “You all seem unusually chatty tonight.”

Luan opened his mouth to respond but hesitated, casting a nervous glance at Vihan. The older twin remained silent, his gaze focused downward, though Khun could see the slight tension in his shoulders.

Bam chuckled, stepping forward to ruffle Luan’s hair affectionately. “They’ve been good today, haven’t you?” he said, his tone light. But there was an undercurrent of something in his voice that made Khun’s eyes narrow slightly.

“Very good,” Luan agreed quickly, nodding vigorously. He smiled up at Bam, but there was a hint of nervousness in his golden eyes that hadn’t been there before.

"Sounds like you had a busy day," the lightbearer finally commented, his gaze shifting between the twins and Bam. "Anything else I should know about?"

The twins exchanged a quick glance, their earlier excitement now replaced by a more subdued, anxious demeanor. “N-no, Papa. That’s it,” Luan mumbled, suddenly very interested in the crumbs on the table.

Khun chose not to press further, sensing that whatever had happened, the twins were not ready to share it with him yet. Instead, he decided to bide his time, allowing them to think they were in the clear while he continued to watch closely.

As he finished his meal, the twins stayed by his side, their earlier chatter replaced by a strained silence. Bam joined them at the table, taking a seat opposite Khun and offering a warm, reassuring smile to the boys. “You two did a great job today. I’m proud of you.”

Luan beamed at the praise, but Vihan only nodded, his gaze flicking to Khun and then back to his lap. The lightbearer caught the brief exchange and noted the way Vihan seemed even more quiet than usual.

"Thank you for taking care of them, Bam," Khun finally said, his voice smooth as he pushed his empty plate away. "I'm sure it wasn't easy.”

“It was no trouble at all,” Bam replied, shaking his head. “They missed you a lot, though.”

The twins’ faces lit up at Bam’s words. Luan quickly chimed in, “We did! We missed you so much, Papa!”

Khun allowed a small smile to grace his lips, though it didn't reach his eyes. "You did, huh?" he said, his gaze lingering on the trio. “But it seems like there’s something you’re not telling me.”

An uneasy silence fell over the room, broken only by the steady ticking of the clock. The twins, along with a certain irregular, began to shift uncomfortably, their earlier cheer replaced by visible nervousness. Khun’s gaze remained fixed on them, his expression calm but unwavering.

He didn’t press further, letting the weight of his words hang in the air. For now, he chose to watch and wait, allowing the silence to deepen as they wrestled with their own thoughts.

The blue-haired male continued to observe quietly, noting the small, furtive glances exchanged between Bam and the twins whenever they thought he wasn’t looking. Whatever they were keeping from him, he was determined to uncover. But for the moment, he would let them think they had succeeded in hiding their secret.

After all, knowing his history, Khun was nothing if not patient.

Khun watched as the wave-controller carefully tucked the twins into bed, their tiny forms curled up under the blankets. Luan had already drifted off to sleep, his soft snores filling the room, while Vihan lay quietly, his eyes closed but his breathing still a little too fast.

Bam leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to each of their foreheads before turning off the light. He lingered for a moment at the doorway, his gaze soft as he looked back at the twins. Khun stood beside him, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind them, Khun's demeanor shifted. He stepped closer to Bam, his eyes narrowing slightly as he caught the other’s gaze.

"So, Bam," Khun began, his voice low but laced with intent. "Mind telling me what's wrong?"

Bam stiffened, a flicker of surprise crossing his features before he quickly masked it. "What do you mean?" he asked, feigning innocence.

Khun's gaze didn't waver. "You've been acting strange since I got back. And the twins… they're not exactly subtle. So, what's going on?"

Bam hesitated, glancing away as if searching for the right words. But Khun wasn’t going to let this go easily. He took another step closer, his presence almost imposing despite his calm tone.

"Bam," Khun said, softer this time but no less firm. "Talk to me."

The brunette sighed, knowing he couldn’t avoid this any longer. He looked up at Khun, guilt flickering in his eyes.

"I didn't want to worry you… but something happened while you were away."

Chapter Text

Bam tapped the call button, waiting patiently as the screen connected. He’d been up for hours, thinking about how to break the news. Trying to calm his racing thoughts, the brown-haired male took a deep breath. Talking to his master always had this effect on him. He wasn’t sure why, maybe it was the respect he held for Jinsung or the way the older man had always been a steady presence in his life. The screen flickered, showing that the call was about to connect, but before Jinsung’s face appeared, two small heads—one with bright blue hair, the other a darker brown—suddenly popped up beside Bam, crowding into the frame.

“I can’t see anything!” a child’s voice whined, the blue-haired boy pushing closer to the screen, his small hand reaching out as if trying to go through the side of the monitor.

“Just wait a second, Luan. It takes a moment to connect,” Bam said, a gentle smile playing on his lips as he placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder to steady him.

“Why is it so looooooong?” Luan complained, stretching out the last word as if it would make the screen load faster.

The connection finally solidified, and Jinsung’s face appeared, though his expression was one of confusion as he double-checked the contact he was currently connected to. The name on the screen was that of his youngest student. “Viole?” he started, but the sight of two little boys practically glued to the screen made him pause. He blinked, then squinted, leaning closer as if that would help him make sense of what he was seeing.

Before he could say anything, Luan’s face lit up as he finally spotted the older man. “Oh, it’s working! See, Mister Bam!” he chirped, his wide golden eyes sparkling with excitement. The boy waved enthusiastically at the screen, his small hand nearly covering the lens. “Hi, Grandpa Ji!”

Beside him, Vihan gave a shy nod, recognizing the older man on the screen. “Hello, Grandpa,” he echoed softly, his small hand giving a tentative wave.

Jinsung’s cigarette fell from his lips, landing on the floor with a soft thud. He stared, completely dumbfounded. “Viole…?” The name slipped out more as a question, his voice full of disbelief. He had expected a brief, maybe awkward conversation with his student. But here he was, suddenly thrust into the role of a ‘grandfather’ to two boys who had appeared out of nowhere. It wasn’t uncommon for people to joke about how he treated the young irregular like a son, but this? This was something else entirely.

Bam shifted slightly, offering his master an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Master. They asked who you were, and when I explained, they just… started calling you that,” he said, shrugging helplessly. It was still a bit odd to him too, how the twins had insisted on calling him ‘Mister Bam’ while everyone else on his team was an ‘uncle’ or ‘auntie.’ And now, with Jinsung—who was like a father figure to him—being called ‘Grandpa,’ it left him wondering if the twins somehow recognized the deeper bonds between them.

“Are they really your…?” Jinsung trailed off, his voice carrying a weight of concern and curiosity.

Bam hesitated, his gaze dropping to the two boys who had now settled comfortably against him, their small bodies warm and trusting. “We—we’re not entirely sure yet,” he admitted, his tone soft and uncertain. “We haven’t had any tests done, but…” He glanced at Luan and Vihan, their distinct features—blue hair, golden eyes—making it hard to deny the possibility of their parentage. “Khun mentioned there are ways to find out for sure, but we’re just… taking it slow for now.”

Jinsung took a long drag from his cigarette, savoring the familiar burn in his throat. He felt like he needed it to process everything. Honestly, he hadn’t planned on dealing with something this heavy today. “Viole, you can’t keep this under wraps forever. FUG may be quiet now, but they won’t let something like this slide once they find out.”

“I know, Master,” Bam responded, his hand instinctively moving to ruffle Luan’s hair as the boy nuzzled closer to him. Vihan, meanwhile, had taken to playing with the hem of Bam’s shirt, his tiny fingers tracing the fabric absentmindedly. “I just don’t know what to do yet.”

Jinsung sighed, the weight of the situation settling heavily on his shoulders. “I’ll keep an eye on things, see if there’s any chatter. But you need to be careful. Don’t let them wander off alone, especially if something feels off.”

Bam’s eyes brightened with gratitude. It meant a lot if someone of Jinsung’s position was to offer his help. “Thank you, Master.”

“Grandpa, look what Vi and I made!” Luan suddenly exclaimed, holding up a crayon drawing that was a mess of colors and shapes. “Do you like it?”

“Ah…” Jinsung Ha, a high-ranker feared by many, was momentarily speechless. He squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of the picture. It seemed to be a chaotic mix of lines and blobs, with some shapes that might have been people. He could make out a few stick figures with what appeared to be sharp objects protruding from them. The shapes were crude, but there was a certain charm in the way the twins had captured their imagination.

“That looks…” He shot a pleading look at his student, silently asking for help in interpreting the artwork. But the other just shook his head, equally perplexed. “…pretty interesting?”

Luan beamed at the praise, dragging Vihan closer as he chattered excitedly about the drawing. “This is the bad people, I drew this one!” he explained, pointing to the sharp shapes. “Then this is you, Grandpa! Vi helped me with that one.” His finger moved to a larger figure and two smaller ones. “And this is me and Vi. I have blue hair, see? And Vi has long hair. Then there’s Mister Bam and Uncle Isu. Papa’s not here because he’s working.”

Jinsung was at a loss for words, the corners of his mouth twitching as he struggled to respond. “…I see,” he managed, casting another pleading look at his student, silently asking for assistance.

“That’s a great drawing, Luan,” Bam said, stepping in to save his master. “How about we save it and show it to Khun later? I’m sure he’ll love it too.”

Luan’s eyes brightened, and he nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Papa will love it!”

Vihan followed with a nod, but he suddenly remembered something and ran off to fetch another drawing. The older twin tugged at Bam’s sleeve upon his return, shyly asking for help to show his own drawing. This one was more recognizable—a simple but earnest depiction of Jinsung, with his distinctive features rendered in a child’s unsteady hand.

Luan eyes brightened as he looked at what his brother was carrying.

“Look, Grandpa! Vi made this one! He asked Papa for help too. Papa is really pretty! Have you seen Papa before? You should come visit, and we can eat together. Mister Bam makes delicious hamburgers, and then we can have ice cream!”

Jinsung could only nod along to Luan’s enthusiasm, the older man’s usually composed demeanor completely unraveled by the child’s boundless energy. He had faced armies and battled high-rankers without breaking a sweat, but a four-year-old’s invitation for hamburgers and ice cream was enough to leave him speechless.

The one-sided chatter continued, with Luan happily filling the silence while Vihan quietly observed, occasionally nodding or adding a soft comment. Bam watched the interaction fondly, a warmth spreading in his chest as he saw the usually stern Jinsung soften under the twins’ innocent attention.

On the other hand, Jinsung was also quietly following along with what the boys were saying. He wasn’t used to being around children, much less being called ‘Grandpa,’ but there was something endearing about how they clung to Bam and looked up to him.

“Anyway, Viole,” Jinsung finally said, his tone shifting to something more serious, “it’s rare for you not to be training at this time of day.”

Bam’s expression turned sheepish, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. “Actually, I was…”

“He’s grounded,” a new voice interrupted, calm and matter-of-fact.

Khun leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed as he surveyed the scene. His gaze flicked to Jinsung, giving him a nod of acknowledgment. “Bam and those two aren’t allowed to leave the house after what happened.”

“Grounded?” Jinsung repeated, raising an eyebrow. It was almost unheard of for someone who was destined to overthrow Jahad to be grounded. The ancient ranker watched in silence as Khun beckoned the twins to him.

“Come here, you two. It’s nap time.”

“But Papa, we want to play with Mister Bam and Grandpa Ji!” Luan protested, his lower lip jutting out in a pout.

The lightbearer raised an eyebrow at the title, giving Bam and Jinsung a long, questioning look. “Grandpa, huh?” The student-master pair shrugged helplessly in response.

 “It’s time to sleep,” Khun turned his attention back to the twins, his tone firm but not unkind. “You can play again later.”

Luan crossed his arms, his cheeks puffing out in a childish display of defiance. “No! Wanna play!”

Khun pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. Of all the times for the boy to throw a tantrum. “Bam needs to talk about something important…” Luan’s pout deepened, but before he could argue further, the lightbearer added, “If you don’t go now, Gator’s going to eat your chocolate pudding.”

“No!!! My pudding!!!!” the blue-haired boy shrieked, all thoughts of protest vanishing as he bolted toward the kitchen to save his precious sweets. "Uncle Raaaaaaakkk~"

Vihan followed more slowly, his small hand tugging at Khun’s pants to get his attention. When the blunette looked down, Vihan silently raised his arms, a clear request to be picked up. Khun sighed, but he couldn’t resist the boy’s silent plea. He bent down, scooping the boy up into his arms.

“Come on, let’s go before Luan and Gator eat everything,” the strategist said, his voice softer now.

The small brunette nodded, turning to wave at Bam and Jinsung before burying his face in the crook of Khun’s neck, seeking comfort in his father’s warmth. “Bye, Mister Bam. Bye, Grandpa.”

Khun gave Bam a final look, his expression softening slightly. “I put your share in the fridge. Don’t forget to eat it.”

Bam smiled, a soft, appreciative look in his eyes. “Thanks, Khun.”

With another wave, Khun left the room, Vihan resting quietly on his shoulder. The door clicked shut behind them, leaving the master and student in a comfortable silence.

Jinsung hummed thoughtfully as he watched them go, noting the expression on Bam’s face. “You’ve got it bad, Viole,” he murmured, more to himself than to his student.

“Huh? Did you say something, Master?” Bam asked, distracted as he watched the door where Khun had just left.

“Not really,” Jinsung replied, waving it off. “But what’s this about you being grounded?”

“Ah, that…” the brunette chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head once again. “Khun wasn’t happy that I didn’t tell him about what happened last time. He gave us the silent treatment until the kids spilled everything. So, as a punishment…” Bam made air quotes, “we’re grounded for the next three days. Although…” His smile turned soft and fond. “It’s not much of a punishment. I’ve been spending all my time playing with the kids and taking care of them. I think Khun just wanted to make sure I take a break.”

Jinsung sighed inwardly. There was no mistaking it—the irregular was well and truly in deep.

“Training isn’t just about pushing yourself to the limit, Viole. Rest is important. Even warriors need time to recover. Use this chance to gather your strength.”

The slayer candidate looked up, meeting Jinsung’s eyes with a renewed determination. “You’re right, Master. I’ll use this time wisely.”

“Good,” Jinsung responded with a satisfied nod. “But I meant what I said earlier. You can’t avoid this forever. You need to be prepared for what’s coming.”

“I know,” Bam said quietly, his smile fading as the weight of Jinsung’s words settled in. “But for now, I just want to protect them. I don’t want them to be dragged into the Tower’s politics.”

Jinsung studied his student for a moment, noticing the weight in Bam’s eyes. It wasn’t just the burden of responsibility, but a deeper, quieter resolve. He’d seen that look before in countless warriors, and it never failed to make him worry.

“Viole,” he began, his tone softer now, “I know you want to protect them, but you need to remember that you’re part of this world too. You can’t isolate yourself from everything just to shield them.”

The slayer candidate nodded slowly, understanding the wisdom in his master’s words, even if it was hard to accept. “I know, Master. It’s just… they’re so young. They don’t deserve to be caught up in all of this.”

“That’s why you need to prepare,” Jinsung replied firmly. “You have to be ready for whatever comes. Because when the time comes, you won’t just be fighting for yourself—you’ll be fighting for them.”

Bam looked down at his hands, clenching them into fists as he absorbed his master’s advice. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe.”

“I know you will,” The high ranker stated, all too familiar with his student’s nature. “But don’t forget you have people around you who can help. Don’t try to shoulder everything alone.”

Bam’s eyes softened at the reminder. “Thank you, Master.”

The older nodded, satisfied that his words had gotten through. The conversation lapsed into a comfortable silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

After a few moments, Jinsung cleared his throat, his expression shifting to something more mischievous. “So, Viole… have you told the kids about Karaka yet?”

Bam blinked, caught off guard by the sudden change in topic. “Huh?” He frowned in confusion, trying to piece together what his master was getting at. Then it clicked. “No, I haven’t.”

The man’s lips curled into a small grin, a rare expression for the usually stern man. “That’s good. You might want to hold off on that for a while. But when you do… make sure to tell me. I’d love to see the look on his face when the kids call him ‘Uncle.’”

Bam stared at his master, momentarily speechless. The idea of Karaka, the cold and ruthless slayer, being called ‘Uncle’ by two bubbly children was almost too absurd to imagine. But he could see the humor in it, too. “I don’t even know if Khun would let the kids meet other people, especially Karaka…”

Jinsung’s grin widened, the thought clearly entertaining him. “Well, if it ever happens, make sure to record it. I wouldn’t want to miss that moment.”

The irregular shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips despite his reservations. “I’ll… keep that in mind, Master.”

 “Good. It’s rare to find moments of humor in this life. We might as well enjoy them when they come.”

Bam nodded in agreement, feeling a bit lighter after their conversation. “Thank you, Master. For everything.”

Jinsung waved him off, though his expression was gentler than usual. “Just keep your head on straight, Viole. You’ve got a lot ahead of you.”

Golden eyes flickered with a mix of determination and uncertainty as he responded. “I will, Master,” he said, his voice steady, though his mind was already racing with the implications of what lay ahead. The promise wasn’t just a reassurance to Jinsung; it was a vow to himself. He couldn’t afford to falter, not with the lives of everyone he cared about intertwined with his own.

But beneath that determination was a gnawing doubt. Could he really keep them safe? The Tower was a relentless force, always testing, always pushing. It had already taken so much from him, and now, with the twins and Khun, he had more to lose than ever before. Yet, despite the looming uncertainty, he knew he couldn’t let fear dictate his actions. “I have to. For them.”

The ranker studied him for a moment, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Good. Never forget that.”

The conversation drifted to a close after that, with Jinsung offering a few more words of advice before saying his goodbyes. Bam watched as the screen faded to black, leaving him alone with his thoughts. The weight of the Tower’s dangers loomed over him, but for now, he had a small, precious piece of peace.

And he would hold onto it for as long as he could.

Chapter Text