Archive of Our Own ^beta

“The first one’s really easy,” Seven commented as he reached for the strawberry sundae from the tray. “Taro is Aunt Marie’s favourite.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Of course we know that – anyone with half a brain could tell Taro is Marie’s favourite.”

Man nodded. “Youngest child syndrome,” he added, taking a sip of his Comet shake while staring at the sea of officers entering and leaving the cafeteria.

“Not to mention that he’s also my wife’s favourite nephew.”

Seven slammed the sundae onto the table. “Wait, I thought I was Aunt Reba’s favourite?!”

“Probably before Ace and Taro came into the picture,” Man casually commented, earning a good laugh from Jack.

“We’re going off topic,” Jack reminded, nodding at an officer who passed by.

“Ok, so Zoffy or Ace?” Seven asked. “Who do you think is Ken’s favourite?”

Jack scratched his chin and thought of an answer while Man crossed his arms. This was going to be a tough one.

“Why not both?” a voice said from behind.

The three Ultra Brothers turned around in their seats and saw Melos’ grinning face.

“When did you get here?” Seven inquired and scooted over to allow the Ultra to sit next to him.

Melos shrugged and set his chocolate pudding on the table. “Got here in the morning to deal with some stuff Zoff wanted me to deal with,” he explained and peeled off the protective wrap. “So, you guys were trying to figure out who’s whose favourite?”

“Taro is the easiest.”

“Anyone with half a brain knows that,” Melos remarked, taking a large scoop of chocolate pudding.

Jack nodded in agreement. “That’s what I said.”

“We’re not sure who Ken’s favourite is,” Man stated.

“I think it’s Zoffy,” Seven said. “He’s always allowed to do this, he’s in charge of that, he decides this, so on and so on.”

“I believe it’s Ace,” Jack countered. “Remember that one time he destroyed the gym and Ken didn’t say anything – he just told him to contact the relevant department.”

Man nodded. “And don’t forget that one time Ken literally ripped out his colour timer.”

Seven slammed his sundae on the table. “I forgot about that! That’s concrete proof.”

Melos smirked. “Oh, silly Ultra Brothers,” he murmured, catching their attention. “You have no idea how protective he was of Zoffy during the Ultimate Wars.”

“Like what?”

Melos set down his chocolate pudding and then cleared his throat. He took a deep breath, ready to reveal to all, but he paused. He could feel a pair of eyes on him, as if it wanted to burn him. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder and the smirk morphed into a grimace.

“Buddy,” he greeted. “How much of the convo did you hear?”

Zoffy almost rolled his eyes. “More than enough,” he stated, taking a sip of his coffee and shifting his gaze away from them.

Man, Seven and Jack instantly whirled around.

“Eavesdropper!”

Zoffy simply and calmly took another sip of his hot beverage, unbothered by the comment. If anything, they were the ones being nosy.

Melos grinned. “So, buddy, do you agree?”

“With what?”

“Taro being Commander Marie’s favourite.”

“It’s common for the youngest to have a closer relationship with the mother.”

Seven scoffed. “What about you and Ace?”

“Ask Father,” Zoffy replied without hesitation. It was true. This whole thing was silly. If they were so desperate to figure out if Ken favours him or Ace more, then they’re really not as bright as he thought.

Just because he was appointed as Second-in-Command, that doesn’t mean that Father sees him as the favourite. Besides-

“Supreme Commander Ken assigned Zoff to his unit as soon as he completed training, trained him personally, assigned the best medic to him, warned he-who-shall-not-be-named after he-who-shall-not-be-named caused Zoff to be hospitalised for three weeks and insisted that he wanted no one as Commander of IGDF if it wasn’t Zoff," Melos listed in one single breath.

Jack counted the evidence of favouritism with his fingers, paused and then said, “But did he ever rip off his colour timer?”

“Exactly!” Melos agreed. “Which is why my theory is the best – thank you for coming to TED Talk! I will now take my leave since a certain Commander looks as if he wants to zap me, so till next time, folks!”

Without another word, Melos dashed off in a flash of silver and red. He was reckless, but he wasn’t going to risk getting M87’ed.

There was now an awkward silence among the four Ultra Brothers. Man coughed.

“So, who would Ken save first if his three sons were drowning?”

Seven just couldn’t resist.

--

“It’s silly, Ken.”

“No, it’s a fact that Taro is your favourite.”

Marie lowered the datapad she held and shot her husband an amused look. “Need I remind you that you coddle Zoffy and Ace just as much?”

Ken shook his head. “Hardly – I simply help out when the situation calls for it.”

“I would do the same too.”

“I am not saying that you love one more than the others, but sometimes, we just tend to give more attention to one child.”

“I admit that I tended to assist Taro during his time on Earth, but that is no different than what you did with Ace, remember?” Marie put more emphasis on the last word, hoping that her husband would recall that one incident where he risked his life by stupidly giving his colour timer to Ace instead of just transferring the energy. “Or when you rushed to Zoffy’s aid as soon as we found out what Tyrant did to him?”

Ken settled down next to her. “I suppose you’re right,” he murmured. “Ok, suppose that they were drowning, who would you save first? On three? One, two, three.”

There was a brief silence as they thought of an answer.

“Taiga.”