A pair of gold eyes peeked over the armrest of the sofa; Rick turned slightly so darkened green met that wide gold stare. He almost laughed in a proud kind of way because of how hard the little boy was trying to be sneaky. They had played ninjas or something earlier that month; it seemed the lessons about stealth stuck with the kid. Playing along, his gaze settled back on the TV where he was just flipping channels, not really looking for anything to watch, just occupying his time in a vegetative way. The corners of his mouth twitched upward for the first time that day. Goofing off with Neil was a surefire way to bring morale up. At the mental count of three, there were two small plump arms thrown around his neck with a giggling kind of growl.
"Gotcha!" Neil cried from behind the sofa cushions, arms thrown about his dad's neck in a tight, but gentle hold.
Before the little curly-headed boy could even squeal, Rick reached back and flipped him over the back of the couch and into the cushions with a muffled thump. Neil laughed as though he expected his capture plans to be thwarted.
"Hey there, squirt, didn't hear ya come in," Rick gave him a poke in the ribs for each word, talking over his son's shrieking laugher, "Gettin' better at that whole ninja bit."
Neil's small hands could barely circle one of Rick's big wrists in his attempt to stave off the prodding to his belly, "I've been practicing," he boasted once he could breathe without giggling again.
Rick let Neil up and let him bounce up and sit next to him on the couch. He slung an arm around the boy's shoulders and gave him a little squeeze, "How was school'n all?"
"Good," he replied automatically, "I don't have homework, can we go to the park?"
Oh just when Rick's mood was beginning to lift, now he'd have to go talk to Craig and talk him into going into the part, if he'd hear him at all. It wasn't likely he'd let the first words get out, much less give them permission. He grimaced slightly and squeezed Neil's shoulders again while trying to think of the best way to tell him no, even if it was such an innocent request. Hell, it would probably even improve his spirits further, but it was just…
"Sorry, kiddo, I dunno 'bout goin' today,"
The smile from Neil's face disappeared, hiding his bright and cheery gap-toothed expression. Ouch, Rich should've seen that coming. It wasn't like Neil to whine and complain, which… kind of made saying no worse. Now he just felt bad instead of firm.
"Why not?" his son asked, eyebrows knitting together.
"Ehh…, 'm not really feelin' up to it, I'll take ya another time, I promise," Rick said, making up an excuse, though he really did think Neil deserved a fair response.
"Are you okay?" Neil turned slightly, actually seeming concerned.
"Ain't no big thing, kiddo, s'jus' your Craig-dad and me aren't talkin' or anythin' right now," he shrugged, looking away so he didn't have to meet Neil's worried gaze. Goddamn, he picked up the most unnerving traits from Craig, "He's kinda pissed at me."
Sudden pressure to his side made Rick turn to see his little 6 year-old clinging around his broad chest as best he could, fisting the cloth of his dark green t-shirt. Rick couldn't see Neil's face, he'd buried it into his neck with a muffled sort of noise that sounded distressed. Was he all that upset about not going to the park? Rick knew there was a rocket ship pogo ride he really liked, but it was still gonna be there tomorrow! He gave his curly hair a soft pat with his free hand.
"Hey, buddy, wassa mater?" he said, trying to sound soothing.
Neil began to explain his distress while still muffled into the fabric of Rick's shirt, "…if you're mad and I don't want you to go away or anything or Craig-dad, and… and…," he babbled once he pulled away.
"Sloooowww down, slugger. One thing at a time, what's up?"
"If you guys are mad at each other, you're going to go away," he finally spat out, lower lip trembling and eyes watering.
It was Rick's turn for his eyebrows to meet and his shoulders to droop. He gathered up his kid into a big bear hug, rubbing his small back while Neil sniffled into his shoulder, "C'mon little guy, I'm not goin' anywhere and neither is Craig."
"But you're angry," came the slightly muffled, but still clear reply.
"So?"
"If you're angry, you don't like each other anymore."
Rick was quiet a moment, a little stunned by how adorably simplistic that mindset was, and finally pulled Neil away from him and set him on his knees, "S'not how all that works, trust me."
"How do you know?"
"'Cause me and your dad don't jus' like each other, there's a big difference between likin' and lovin' somebody, ya follow?" Rick explained, but Neil just shook his head with a more confused, but still upset expression.
Neil was a little kid, and though he was one smart as hell kid, it seemed like he was much better reading about constellations and black holes than he was at understanding how people worked. Another trait he picked up from Craig; damn, Rick was always surprised to see how similar he was to the both of them, as though they didn't adopt him and he really was their offspring. He watched the blond boy rub both his fists into his eyes to wipe away the gathering moisture. If Rick thought about it, it only made sense he was going to be upset about a potential split here—he'd just gotten comfortable living with them. Hell, they were fast approaching on the first year of Neil's official adoption; they had plans to celebrate.
"Well, lemme try to explain best I can here," Rick began, rubbing the back of his head in thought, "See, Craig and I've been together a long time, since way before we met'cha, right? Lemme tell ya, when we first met, it wasn't pretty. We fought all the time, got in each other's faces, all that kinda stuff. We hated each other, or at least that's what we said."
Now Neil looked as confused as he could be, with the added worry that perhaps his parents didn't actually like or love each other, but really hated each other. Rick noticed and gave him a little bounce on his knee.
"S'not what it looks like, squirt, promise. We got to a point where it was 'Craig 'n Rick; Rick 'n Craig.' All the damn time. It was really freakin' weird, we said we didn't like each other much, but we were pretty inseparable. It got to a point where it was pretty hard to imagine livin' without him, even if we fought a lot," he leaned back and rubbed his chin while he thought of the most kid-appropriate way to tell their story, "We got to a point where we made each other happier 'stead of fightin' so much. All that bickerin' got a lot more friendly 'n… next thing we knew we were livin' together an' soon after that I made sure I was his and he was mine."
"What… what does that mean?" Neil said, looking marginally more relaxed listening.
Rick held up his left hand where he wore a simple silver band, "See this? Know how Craig-dad wears a gold one? I gave it to him; he gave this to me. Means we don't wanna go find anybody else, means we love each other 'n when we got troubles, we're gonna try our hardest to go an' fix'em."
Immediately Neil took Rick's hand to inspect it curiously, reverently touching and looking at the band as though it were magic. Rick watched with an affectionate smile until his son's gold eyes peered back up at him with some doubt. The man could guess this all still sounded a lot like Greek to him.
"Still don't get it?"
The boy shook his head a little sadly. He was trying, Rick could see that.
"Okay! Lessee, uhh… oh I got it. Y'know how you were readin' up on moons yesterday?" that got him a much more excited nod, this was definitely the kid's field and not relationships, "Well, s'kinda like that. Y'know how they stay close to one another 'cause of…"
He trailed off with an expectant sort of look and Neil giggled, "Gravity," the blond boy supplied, "So you and Craig-dad have gravity?"
"Kinda. It's a little different, but it does the same thing."
There was some rustling in the kitchen that made Rick look up, seemed like someone finally unlocked themselves from the bedroom. He didn't think too much about it, he was sure Craig couldn't hear them over the sounds of whatever it was he was doing—far too early for dinner, Rick couldn't guess what he was doing in there. Neil, however, didn't seem to notice at all.
"So Craig-dad's stuck in your gravitational pull?" Neil clarified, pronouncing the big words on his small tongue without a problem.
At that, Rick laughed, "Oh no, you've got it a little wrong there, kiddo. I'm the one stuck in his gravitational pull. He don't know it, I bet, but I can't get away from him if I tried. Lemme tell ya, too; I really don't ever wanna. I'll be the moon to his planet, he's just about my everythin'. 'Cept one other little thing."
The little boy blinked a couple of times and finally released Rick's hand, curiously cocking his head to one side, "What?"
"You, goofball," Rick suddenly dug his fingers into Neil's ribs again, surprised laughter bubbling up from the child's lungs while he tried to bat away his dad's hands.
The merciless tickling only stopped when Rick spotted a face peeking out from behind the doorframe, watching them. The moment he spotted those pink eyes, they disappeared. Breathless, Neil turned to look at what his dad was staring after as well, and looked back at him with a worried look.
"Go on 'n tell'im you wanna go to the park," Rick urged with a nudge off of his lap.
He didn't need to be told twice; Neil climbed off of Rick and the couch and scurried off to the kitchen where he could hear a slightly surprised yelp and some hushed words. Rick pulled himself off of the couch and silently swung around the doorframe. He could see Craig bent just slightly to talk to their small son. The look on his face was mixed between a mild upset and partial confusion. Seemed Neil gave him a similar story he just gave Rick.
"I'm not planning on leaving, I assure you," he heard Craig say, leaning down slightly only because the boy had taken a hold of his sleeve.
"But you're mad at Rick-dad," Neil pouted, tugging on the fabric.
Craig was silent at that, mouth open and mind obviously searching for a response. Rick stepped into the kitchen further and cleared his throat, nearly making his partner jump right out of his skin. He ran a thin hand through his hair before even looking up at his dark-haired companion.
"You startled me."
"Sorry 'bout that, the kid really wanted to go to the park."
"So he told me. He… mentioned quite a bit, actually," Craig mumbled, looking down at the boy who'd long let go of Craig's sleeve in favor of hiding behind his knees as though Rick were going to be upset for breaking the secrecy of their conversation.
Rick shot a smile to his small son to try to ease any fear in that sense, but Craig was approaching, wrapping his hands around Rick's stubbled chin to face him instead of the child. That smile turned a little rueful when their eyes met, but at least Craig didn't look so damn angry like he had when they last spoke. Instead he looked somewhat touched, with a near apologetic look in his eye and the corners of his mouth threatening to turn up.
"Neil, run and get your coat, we can spend an hour or two at the park before dinner," the blond man announced without looking away from Rick's face.
Their son let out a whoop and raced off to get ready. When his bedroom door shut loudly behind him, the two men finally relaxed slightly, letting habit take over their actions. Rick's hands drifted toward Craig's thin waist and the blond dropped his hands to loop his arms around his partner's neck.
"I overheard your conversation with our son," Craig began quietly.
"Didn't make too much of an ass of myself, did I?" Rick smiled.
At that, the corners of Craig's mouth did lift into that endearing lopsided smile Rick had come to love, "I don't know, I heard something about the laws of gravity and perhaps something about my ownership to someone's moon?" he teased.
"Y'mean the same one I'm completely over for ya?"
"Now you're making an ass of yourself," Craig said, but the smile didn't leave his face.
The bigger man chuckled and squeezed Craig around the waist; he quickly sobered up, "Hey… 'm sorry 'bout all that mess we were talkin' earlier. I know 'm not much of a good listener or nothin', but I really outta try and be for ya."
Craig sighed and leaned his forehead against Rick's collarbone, "I can't remember exactly why we were arguing in the first place, if you'd like me to be perfectly honest."
"Guess it don't matter all too much. 'm still sorry."
"You're forgiven."
Rick lifted the smaller man's chin and pulled him closer to press a soft kiss to his mouth. The arms around his neck tightened, completely yanking him into a harder kiss and a possessive hug that took the bigger man a stunned moment to reciprocate. Looks like he said something right in that little talk with Neil so he gratefully took that little reward, squeezing Craig close to him; a tiny, disgusted noise interrupted them, breaking their kiss to see their son with his jacket on and his small hands clapped over his eyes.
"Is it safe yet?" he huffed, talking about their display of affection.
"Yeah, yeah, squirt, ready to go?" Rick chuckled, though neither of them moved away from each other.
Only when Neil came to pull on their clothes where he could reach did he manage to drag them both out the front door. Craig still clutched Rick's hand close to him and finally stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to the other man's jaw.
"I love you," he murmured while Neil was sprinting ahead of them in excitement.
Rick lifted their hands and pressed his lips to Craig's fingers, "Samewise."
They finally caught up to their energetic son, watching him as he ducked and jumped over the playground equipment to get to the rocket ship pogo ride he liked so much. Neil was honestly watching them right back; even if they were being gross and mushy, it was comforting. He liked his home and he liked his dads; seeing them doing icky adult things meant they loved each other and that meant his home was staying put where it ought.