Notes: no thiS IS NOT FIRST PERSON. I just really love mayden (if you couldn't tell from my main blog bc babies) and I'm a sucker for family fics (see: domestic neopollo bc trucy)
Shaun's still not quite sure how it happened.
He never even spoke to the man before that day - when Ethan rescued Shaun.
It's not that he minds; they're both incredibly happy - happier than he'd ever expected they could be, after, well, everything.
It all happened so fast, really.
It still felt like yesterday - not the two and a half years it'd actually been.
"He's there - all you have to do is open that grate." And while Shaun wasn't able to watch it - obviously - he'd heard about what happened next. And he owed it to the agent. If it wasn't for him, Ethan would've been shot, and Shaun would've drowned.
But Ethan got him out - he was fine.
It was a while before Shaun went back to school - and no one really expected him to want to go immediately, anyway.
And in that time that he stayed at home, he started to see the agent every so often.
"I'm not staying long. I'm just gonna stay here until we've wrapped up the case," he'd insist. "I'm leavin' as soon as all th' paperwork's done."
Whatever, Shaun didn't care. As long as him being there didn't take away time that he could spend with his dad, the agent could stay as long as he wanted to.
After a while, Shaun actually found himself feeling jealous. Ethan had started to spend a lot more time with the agent - of course, Shaun was, and always would be his first priority, but Jayden had managed to work his way up to second uncomfortably fast.
Shaun forced himself to get over it - Ethan looked happy now, now that they were both safe and sound, and he looked even better when Jayden was around.
Then, they started dating.
"Nothing serious," Ethan had claimed. "It wouldn't do me good to get too attatched if he's leaving in a month or so… won't be taking that much longer to finish the papers."
And so, Shaun had to start getting used to having Jayden around.
"Y'know, ya can call me Norman, if ya want. I don't mind." Right. He had to start getting used to having Norman around.
It wasn't as weird as he thought - knowing his dad was dating the agent. He'd adapted quickly enough, he thought.
No matter how well adapted he was, however, it didn't stop the shock when Shaun found Norman coming to pick him up from school one day - he knew his father was sick, but too sick to come pick him up?
Ah, well. It made for a fun conversation in the car ride home, at least.
"Ethan, I can't - I can't stay, I have to go back to DC soon."
Shaun couldn't tell if that was just Norman's way of admitting his faults - he really was supposed to leave soon; he was just filling out his paperwork as slowly as possible, to extend his time with the Mars' - or if Ethan just didn't care. Either way, the large, empty room that Ethan called his own would slowly become a little more furnished, thanks to the "protesting" agent moving in.
Shaun didn't mind anymore. Norman was there for everything else important that had happened to him in the past year - his 11th birthday, his 5th grade graduation, his starting middle school. Norman was family to Shaun now, it would be strange not having him around every weekday.
He still went to Grace's every Saturday and Sunday. And just like he'd call to wish his mom goodnight (nearly) every Monday-Friday, he'd call to wish Ethan and Norman goodnight on the weekends.
Around two months after Shaun's 12th birthday, he'd come back to Ethan's house one Monday to find that Ethan hadn't come home yet, and Norman seemed to be glowing.
Huh. For the two and a half years he'd known him, Shaun couldn't really say he'd ever seen him that happy, ever.
And then he'd spotted it.
Just like in those stupid movies the girls in his class'd watch, Norman sported the one thing that seemed to make all women in romance movies ecstatic.
"When'd you get the ring?"
"... Didn't know you had the eye for these kind'a things." That stupid smirk. The one Ethan loved, and Shaun came to be wary of.
"Still didn't answer me."
"Yesterday. He asked yesterday."
"So you're gonna be my stepdad?"
"Guess so."
"... Guess that means you're not leavin' to DC anymore."
Cue the mock offence.
"Ya really wanted to get rid of me?"
"Obviously. Never wanted you here in the first place." Two could play this game.
"Huh. Maybe I will go back ta' DC. I'm takin' Ethan with me then."
"Uh-huh. Sure you will." And they smiled, both of them - It was time something really good happened.
And here they were, four months later, in DC. A court wedding - the smaller, the better, that was certain - and since Pennsylvania still did not recognize same-sex marriages, DC was the only place to do it.
They were married by the clerk, with two witnesses: one Madison Paige, and of course, one Shaun Mars.
Aside from the scrunched up look of disgust Shaun gave his father at the kiss making it "official", he was happy for his father, he really was.
Ethan looked - well, he looked happy. Both of them did.
And that made Shaun feel content. Made him feel like everything was going great right again.
And things did go great for them, Shaun would realize as he grew up.
There weren't many arguments rising between them. And those that did - they smoothed over pretty fast.
He really did get attached to the Agent - after all, Norman and Ethan were the ones that were there to see him off to college. (Grace had said her goodbyes the day before - tearfully.)
Norman and Ethan were the ones that his girlfriend seemed to take a liking to more. "I dunno, your dads seem a lot more relaxed than your mom and other stepdad. Not that I don't-" Yeah, yeah, he got it. It's pretty hard not to love 'em.
When deciding the godparents for their children, Norman and Ethan were the godfathers of his first son - Shaun's wife's sister and brother in law being the godparents to their daughter.
And the day Shaun realized that Norman was the one leaving the hyacinths on Jason's grave - Shaun'd been wondering that for years; he, Ethan, and Grace always put the same type of flower, and when the purple ones started popping up, he couldn't figure out who it was - was the day that he had the utmost respect for his stepfather. To know that he'd seen how much it'd mattered to the Mars family, it was incredible.
(It wasn't like he ever saw his mom's husband leave flowers or anything.)
And Norman was always cordial, if not friendly, to Grace; the complete opposite of what Shaun'd expected.
In the end, Shaun just had to admit to Norman.
I'm glad you didn't leave.