Beyond Definition
Part 8 of my "Playing House" series
It's been 4 years, yikes, but I'm finally getting back into it. Be gentle
My stories, their characters, "Nuff said!
In that time it seemed as if the old dilapidated house with the weather faded paint was just a memory. If asked, the neighbors would say they couldn't remember it not looking like the nice, neat, well maintained home at the end of the street. The shrubs were always trimmed, the lawn was kept reasonably low but not too low, and the long dirt driveway always had those smiling happy poppies planted along it. Right?
In that time the neighbors had watched children come and go, grow and move on and, in some cases, move back. That was the case with Kyle.
He looked like much younger, skinnier version of Creed. His long arms were muscular and lean and his jeans always hung loose as if they didn't fit. His long stringy hair was the same color as Creeds only it hung straight and no matter how well he washed it, it always seemed to be dirty.
The biological offspring of Creed and Raven, it was Sinister that stole their DNA "just to see what would happen." A lot like he would steal the Summers' DNA to form his own twisted agenda, Kyle was the result of his experiments in mutation. Only his mutations never seemed to develop the way that Sinister wanted them too. He had heightened senses and a fast healing factor, but as a specimen he would never live up to the original.
No one remembered the night he showed up or how long he would stay. He just seemed to appear and integrate himself into the hectic day to day life of The Creed's.
As the sign on the mailbox said.
That was how Kyle had found them. That plain black mailbox.
These days, it was painted in bright hues as if a lot of different people had put their signature onto that one name. The "T" being an overzealous gothic print followed by smaller lettering with sometimes sloppy, child-like handwriting. Only to be followed by elaborate cursive writing of the formal name.
Like the house, it seemed to have always been that way.
And so the neighbors didn't mind when yet another "Creed" seemed to appear or move on. The house at the end of the street always seemed to have something going on. And, as long as it was quiet and didn't disturb the peace, the majority of the neighbors accepted it that way.
The "Mother", as the other houses saw her, was Vice Principal at Bayville High so having a lot of kids around was part and parcel of her profession. Each day the woman would load her six 'kids' into the long used HumVee with the "Father" always driving. They were all boys in their teenage years so a bit of racket and whining was to be expected but for the most part, a friendly wave hello in the morning and another in the evening after school was the most that they knew of them. As far as anyone knew, nothing illegal or suspicious was going on so it wasn't a concern of theirs.
The "Father", a tall, muscular blond man, was initially intimidating to be around. Until they saw him with the 'kids'. He kept order in a dominate but not mean way that the children respected. In return those kids were respectful. He appeared to be the one with the most discipline in the house and was also the one responsible for keeping the home running. Long after dropping off the family, he was the one seen bringing groceries or trimming the yard. In fact, if no one knew them, they would say he seemed out of place in his role but he seemed to enjoy it.
In fact, a few of the neighborhood housewives kept more than their fair share of their eyes on him. Although he seemed flattered, nothing ever came of the mild flirtations. He was lock, stock, and barrel with his wife.
"Hey Vic?" Kyle asked. He was at the end of the dirt drive way working on the HumVee. His face was gritty and his knuckles were full of grease
'Yeah?" Vic said. Like a super-sized version of Kyle, he sat on the porch drinking a beer and "supervising" the younger one.
"Why didn't you and Raven ever get married?"
On cue at least ten other eyes and ears seemed to appear from behind the patio screened door. Lined up as they were like a portrait in shape and size, from left to right was Todd, Remy, Piotr, and Peter followed by loveable Fred, the largest and most sensitive of them all.
Creed gave a backward glance.
'What does that have to do with fixin' a carburetor?" He snorted.
"Nothing. And it's fuel injected, Vic. Get out of the stone age." Kyle said. He took the time to sit up and wipe his hands on his already greasy shirt. The truth was, he could use a break and this was something that he had been thinking of for a long time.
"You know for a kid that was born in a test tube, Sinister sure did teach you how to stick your nose in other peoples' business."
Kyle shrugged and propped his long arm on one knee "I didn't ask to be born." He said "Besides, I'm not a kid. I'm twenty-five."
"Ooooh, you grow pubes yet, kiddo?" Creed grinned. As old as he was, twenty-five was just the beginning of a long century. The other ones laughed, taking it as their cue to come outside. It was a good day to listen and they were curious too.
"Yeah, so like, why didn't you and Raven get married, yo?" Todd asked.
"I guess we did. Sometimes. Or we are married. Or not married. I dunno." He took a drink "Never really thought about it. Don't remember getting divorced anyway." Creed answered.
"So, you are married but not married but you never got divorced?" Piotr asked "I don't see how that can make sense." He crossed his arms and waited.
"Yeah, how can that make sense?" Fred nodded. Now this was getting more and more curious.
Kyle stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants to join them on the patio. Even though technically the most biological offspring the big man had with her, he still felt a little left out sometimes. It was partly because of being raised by a raving scientific lunatic for the majority of his developmental years and partly because he was older than the others. He just tried to adjust as well as he could. He didn't have anywhere else to go.
Creed handed him a beer.
"Well, hmmmfff, memories are off a bit but that was I think in '63" He finally replied. "There was something with a ring and saying a bunch of stuff but Hell man, that was fifty years ago. Then, then she died. Or I thought she died. Destiny. Graydon. Just a whole shit sandwich of crap that happened in the mean time. So I really don't know. I don't think about it."
"Oh! Oh! We should have a wedding!" Peter clapped "Then you'll know!"
"Have a what? No way! I don't need to have no wedding to know that she's mine, I'm hers, we take care of you kids and stuff your faces with food. We do that every day. No overpriced party's gonna change that." His grin followed when he heard them groan and he took another swallow.
He pointed with his beer bottle at Kyle "I didn't ask for Kyle either but that doesn't mean he ain't mine. Can tell just by smell. He don't have no piece of paper that tells me so. I just know that he is and that's that."
Kyle gave a little lopsided smile. "Uh, gee, thanks, um, Vic." He mumbled. "Dad. Father. Pops. Pa. Papa." He twisted his mouth around the words "Yeah, no, that all sounds kinda weird." He said. "Vic suits you more."
"Daddy!" Peter yelled.
"No!" All other voices cringed with the word.
"Uh, yeah, that does sound weird." Peter frowned. No one could imagine calling Vic anything but Vic.
"What sounds weird?" It was Raven. She stood next to the open screen door holding it open with one palm.
"Calling Vic "Daddy"."
She blinked. Then she blinked again. Living in this house she had heard a lot of weird things. The most she brushed off as boys being boys and acting stupid. This was right up there with "can you grow a penis".
"What?" Vic smiled.
"Unless you know something I don't know, there's no chance of that happening. Again. Ever. Ever again." She said "Do you know how old I am? No way. That's not going to happen. No."
"OK, OK, I get your point Raven, geez."
Just for emphasis she added "I mean it." The screen door closed behind her "What were you all talking about anyway?" She asked. She took the beer out of Kyle's hand just giving a look and drank it part down. "I could hear you upstairs."
"They were asking why we didn't get married."
She paused with the beer at her lips and looked at the group. She had to drink in order to give her enough time to think about it. She shrugged and looked at her 'kids', her 'husband', and the house they were living in.
A mutant household headed by a sociopathic murderer, his lesbian shapeshifter lover with their mutant kids at once a mixture between a toad and blob, the heir to an asteroid, a genius that could turn to metal all sitting with a genetically modified rendition of themselves that they never knew about. Somehow they made it work through dedication and commitment to each other.
She sat down on Vic's lap as the kids waited, her hand at his cheek. Her eyes locked with his and she had to smile.
"Some things." She said 'Are beyond definition."