Summary: "Boss called us his what?"

Set after 358.

Thanks to Hellse Bunny for inspiring the first part. :D

Inform and Celebrate

By Dark Ice Dragon

Tao woke up with a grimace, his skin tingling. It should be worse, like he'd been sliced apart by Shark's blades, but it wasn't.

That was good.

And he was in a bed. That was also good.

It wasn't his room - there was no constant hum of technology, and it was colder than usual. Which meant he was in the recovery room.

He opened one eye a slit and met M-21's gaze. Heh, as if he could slip past M-21's attention. Tao opened both eyes with a grin and he stretched, making sure everything moved as it should. It did, and once he was done, Tao looked over at M-21 again.

M-21 had gotten a chair between his and Takeo's bed and straddled it, his arms crossed on the backrest.

Takeo was just waking up and they waited for him, Tao taking M-21's offered glass of water with a smile.

"What happened?" Takeo asked, running a hand through his hair as he sat up.

M-21 exhaled, not looking at either of them. "After you collapsed, Raizel-nim appeared and...I don't know. He somehow stopped Dark Spear."

Tao rubbed his head as he sipped the water. "Yeah, I remember that..." Or at least a lot of red. He sighed, his shoulders slumping. Dammit. They had asked to be made stronger so they could protect those they loved, not continue to be saved by Boss' master. That was the exact opposite of what they wanted.

"Is he okay?" Takeo asked, not drinking from his own glass yet.

"Yeah." M-21 nodded. "He's fine."

"Good." Tao blew air through his teeth, puffing his hair away from his face. "But man, Boss must have been mad when he found out." There was no way he wouldn't have known what they'd did, one way or another.

When M-21 didn't say anything, didn't even snort, Tao glanced at him. He knew that look on M-21's face, a little unfocused with a small crease between his eyebrows. Something was bothering him. "Sooo, how did he react?" Boss was all right, wasn't he?

M-21 shook his head. "That's not what I'm thinking about."

Oh...? Tao didn't say anything, and neither did Takeo. Sometimes you had to prod M-21 to get him talk instead of bottling everything up; other times, you had to wait it out for him to collect his thoughts and let him take his time.

M-21 squared his shoulders and then looked between them. "He called us his kids."

"Boss called us his what?" Tao jerked, almost sloshing water all over his bed. "You can't leave us hanging like that, M!" Tao leaned forward. "What were his exact words?"

"'How could you send them away like that when they did this to my kids?'" M-21 changed his voice so it was a closer approximation of Boss' voice. "'I will...never let this go.'"

Tao grabbed M-21's shirt sleeve. "Please tell me you recorded that!" He needed that saved in a million different places so he could listen to it whenever he wanted, as well as sending it to the others. "Augh, I can't believe I missed it!"

M-21 didn't say anything.

"M-!" He hadn't recorded it?

"My phone was destroyed, Tao." M-21 glowered at him, but rolled his eyes at the end.

"Hmph, I need to build more robust phones," Tao grumbled, crossing his arms. Something that wouldn't crumple after a few blows.

"So...Boss thinks we're his kids, huh?" Tao mused, putting the idea aside for when he wasn't recovering, or when he had access to his laptop.

Takeo huffed, one corner of his mouth curling up. "It's not that hard, seeing how old he is."

Tao waved a hand at him, since he was too far away to nudge. "His kids. Not children in general." Even though that was true. "But do you know what that means?" Tao said, a grin growing on his face.

"...What," M-21 said, eyeing him from the corner of his eyes.

"He's our dad. Same with him."

"That...makes sense." Takeo and M-21's eyebrows were furrowed as they mulled the idea over.

"And that means we hafta do something!"

"...Like what."

Tao grinned. They didn't have much time, but with the others' help, they should be able to do it.

xOx

"Whew, it's been a rather busy day, hasn't it, Master?" Frankenstein asked as he opened the door to their home.

Master agreed and Frankenstein hummed, holding the door open for him. There had been no attacks to the school or city, but the amount of paperwork and meetings he had to attend had been tiring.

A quick glance around the entranceway revealed everyone was home.

There was a rustling sound. "Shh-!"

...? Frankenstein glanced at Master at the hushed sound. Master shook his head and Frankenstein didn't sense any killing intent. It was still very suspicious considering who was inside the house, even without the children.

Well, they would find out as soon as they entered.

Frankenstein changed into his slippers and then stepped into the house.

"Papa! Dad! Happy fathers' day!" Tao declared, his arms spread wide.

...What. There were streamers everywhere, a large banner taped across the wall proclaiming 'Happy Fathers' Day!' and a collection of snacks (a number of them Master's favourite) spread across the table. "I should have known they would do this," Frankenstein muttered. Tao would have jumped onto his choice of words but...he wouldn't take them back either. He had meant it when he'd said them.

The others were behind Tao and they didn't look like they'd been dragged into another one of Tao's schemes. In fact, they looked a little nervous. Worried. Not towards what Tao was doing, but towards himself and Master.

Master was amused at Tao's antics, but also curious about what he'd done.

"It's a celebration, Master," Frankenstein said, watching Master go further into the house, looking at had been done to the living room. "Families celebrate the fathers in their lives."

"Yup!" Tao said, his grin as wide as it could go. "And we're lucky to have two awesome dads!"

Master's cheeks went pink, surprise and shock flooding their connection. "Uuuhm..."

"Thank you, all of you," Frankenstein said, speaking for both of them, smiling.

Frankenstein caught Tao as the young man dived at him, wrapping him into a tight hug. Frankenstein hesitated and then returned the hug.

He smiled at the others, and after a few seconds, the rest of the household joined in. Rael stayed where he was, scowling at them, but as he hadn't stomped off or made any noise yet, he did want to stay there.

I will talk with him.

Frankenstein nodded to Master's comment. Rael wouldn't listen to a human, and it would drive him away further.

"Come on!" Tao said, wriggling away and punching the air. "Let the party begin!"

Frankenstein sighed, imagining the mess that would be left but for tonight, he wouldn't let that bother him.

Or try to, anyway.

SO WHAT ABOUT CHAPTER 358, HUH? LET ME SCREECH TO THE SKY ABOUT IT AHAHAHA.

The only thing that would have made it better is if Rai had also said it. :(