fandomhigh | Library, Sunday

Evan was completely not here, curled up somewhere in the back of the stacks with Ozzy, because it wasn't like he knew what was up with his room assignments right now - his first guess wouldn't even have been 'Fandom weirdness,' which was unfortunately the case - and so he really had nowhere else to put him.

Sholeh's voice did have him grudgingly looking up, though. And half-contemplating trying to make a break for it through Special Collections, though he was pretty sure Mr. Constantine wouldn't have appreciated that, though.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a chance to go for the grand escape, because there Ozzy went, tearing off through the shelves to say hello.

Traitor.

"Ozzy!"

The child at Sholeh's side knew how to behave in libraries, of course. No child of Mom and Dad's possibly wouldn't (even though Ma and Pop liked to try to convince them otherwise, just to tweak Dad's nose). But some exceptions needed to be made when a much littler Ozzy came dashing through the library to play.

And so Merry was squealing in delight and running off to meet him. "Hi, Ozzy! Hi! You're so tiny!"

Ozzy totally hadn't gotten the rule about libraries, so please pardon the excited barking and wiggling that was happening while Evan contemplated trying to squeeze himself under one of the shelving units. A little kid? Sholeh came in here with a little kid?

Didn't she understand that he was doomed? And going to take everyone close to him out in a blaze of fire and horror and and and...

Evan wasn't having a great weekend.

"Why don't you play with Ozzy for a little while while I go find your, umm...papa?" Sholeh suggested.

"No, Dad is Dad," Merry explained, Very Srs. "Pop used to be Papa, but only because we were little. Now he's Pop. And not Pa, cause he said that's a dumb name only backwoods hicks would use and what is this, the 30's?"

To Evan. Who had been advocating for Pa, obviously.

"Umm, okay. I'll remember that," Sholeh said, nodding. "Well, I should go find your dad, then. He needs to meet you. All."

And apologize to them. For reasons which would become apparent with the introduction.

"You'll be okay?" she checked. "I mean, we could go find him together, if you'd rather?" And then looked down to where Merry was flat on her back, giggling, as Ozzy licked her face. "...You won't even miss me."

And with that, she took off into the stacks to search for her boyfriend, who was also somehow the father of her future children.

Oooh, no. Nope. There was no way Evan was having kids, knowing just how horrible his futures always seemed to be. Sure, there was the one where he was a hero, the one they'd seen on the reunion weekend, but he hardly remembered enough of that to be able to cling to it. Not in the face of what he'd been told yesterday.

He hunkered down a little more, tried to focus on making himself too small to be noticed, and hoped people would just go away.

"Evan?" Sholeh called for him, softly. "Evan?"

She made a whole circuit of the library without finding him.

"Evan, I know you're here. It's Sunday and Ozzy's here. I--Are you really that mad at me for having to share the dance with my sisters?" Her shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry. I just--it's part of who we--never mind. I'll go."

Oh, Sholeh. Sholeh, that wasn't why Evan was hiding at all. But he didn't want her to think that she'd done anything wrong - she hadn't - and her assumption that he was somehow angry at her just made everything hurt more.

"I'm over here," he said, sitting up a little and pulling in a deep breath as he wiped at his cheeks with his hands. "It's... I'm not angry, I promise."

Just miserable and scared.

"Evan?" Sholeh followed the sound of his voice until she found him. "If you're not angry, then..."

She caught sight of his face. Even if he'd managed to scrub the teartracks off his cheeks, he still looked utterly woebegone. "Oh, no!" she cried, sinking down to her knees beside him and pulling him in for a hug. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Evan shuddered as he leaned against her, wanting to squirm out of her embrace, and not having it in him to do so.

"It's... no, I guess I'm not. I just..." He sighed and buried his face in her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her and clinging back. "It hasn't been a good weekend."

Hi, yeah, understatement.

"Umm..." Sholeh bit her lip. "Would this be a bad time to introduce you to someone?"

The childish giggle coming from the front of the library probably gave him an idea of exactly who he was going to be introduced to.

Not that he really had time to answer that, as the giggle gave way to the padding of little feet and happy barking. Merry and Ozzy didn't have the trouble locating Evan that Sholeh had, coming around a bookshelf and racing down the aisle.

"Hi Dad! Hi, Dad, hi!" Merry said, beaming at him. "Look how little Ozzy is! Just like you and Mom! Everyone's so tiny this weekend! We went looking for you yesterday, but Mom couldn't find you, but now here you are!"

...Anytime you wanted to bounce up and fling her up into a big hug was a-okay by her, Evan.

"... And now here I am," Evan echoed, blinking up at the little girl who actually seemed happy to see him. That was... really not something he'd expected. And shame on him for that, he supposed. "I..."

He swept the back of his arm across his face again, and then gave the little girl the best smile he could muster.

"Hi, it's good to see... you."

You? Who? Who you? Ozzy seemed to like her, at least.

"She's who I wanted you to meet. Well, they." Blushing, Sholeh stood up and slung one arm over the little girl. "This is Merry. Umm, well, this aspect. I guess that in the future we have kids together?"

The blushing was getting worse.

"May I introduce you to your children, Jacqueline Merrybeth a Wade?"

"Hi, Dad!" Merry said brightly, not willing to give up the body until she got a hug. "Are you pretending not to know us, too? Mom's doing the same thing!"

Silly grownups.

"Oh? Um... Yeah. It's a game we're playing," Evan replied, biting his lip and holding out his arms to her. "I'm going to need proper introductions, from all three of you."

Because of course there were three.

...

...

"a Wade?"

"That one is completely on you," Sholeh said, arms crossed. She had feelings about this name. "But, yes. This is the a Wade Tryad."

Dumbest. Name.

Merry was only too happy to give her dad a big, squishy, snugglesome hug. The kind of hug that was kind of like a homecoming. She threw herself into it, into that hug, with eyes wide and brimming with love.

"Dad, I missed you! We looked for you all yesterday but you weren't anywhere we could find you!"

"Oh... I'm sorry," Evan apologized, and he meant that. He was sorry about a lot, these days. "Yesterday was... weird."

Weird. Horrible. Heartbreaking. It was hard to put a finger on any one word for it that he felt okay telling to a small child, really.

"But I'm here, I'm right here, see?"

"Yay!" Merry said, snuggling closer. "Mom was getting worried, but we knew that you were probably just off with Pop somewhere."

Even if this wasn't the Jean Grey School, the a Wage Tryad knew their dad wouldn't let anything happen to it.

::Hey, no fair hogging! It's our turn to hug Dad now!::

Merry sighed. "The others want a turn now." And in seconds, another little girl was holding him tightly. "Hi, Dad! Hi, Dad! Didja miss us? You look different. I mean, all our mothers look littler, but you look different."

"I do?" Evan glanced up at Sholeh, over the girl's shoulder, blinking. "How different do I look?"

Do tell... little girl?

"You're all skinny and little!" Jackie said, giggling. "You look more like Pop, except for the coloring, of course. And not on fire."

Enjoy that crazy tidbit of information, Evan.

"Normally you're really, really big!"

Evan was now giving Sholeh a slightly lost 'who is Pop anyhow, and why is he on fire?' look.

"Really, really big? How many of me do you think it would take to make... me?"

He really had no idea what to think of his apparent future tendency to bulk himself up to look like that guy he was trying desperately not to become.

Sholeh was returning that look with one of blank confusion, honestly.

"Two sideways and another half of you up!" Jackie decided. "Which is why you always give the best piggyback rides! To a buncha us at once!"

*My turn! My turn!*

"Ugh." Jackie rolled her eyes. "Wade's turn. Love you, Dad!"

And once again, another child, another clingy hug. "Hey, Dad. Were you out bein' cool and catching bad guys yesterday?"

Library, Sunday

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