Acceptance

Disclaimed again!

"I'll be back just before midnight, alright?" Marluxia said with a smile as he watched his daughters play on the nursery floor in his brother's house, their 18 month old cousin joining in under the watchful eye of Scarlet. It was amazing just how fast all three of them were growing…

Al-Cid placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "Well, if you don't go now, you'll have less time to spend with your new beau. So hurry! Hurry! And try to be late this time, okay Pansy Bottom? It's always so boring when you come home early from your dates because you missed your babies!"

Marluxia rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Alright Lady Face. I'll try and break my curfew then. Just please, don't let anything happen to my girls."

"Do you have no faith at all in me?" Al-Cid said with one hand pressed against his chest.

"Al-Cid, Axel isn't even six months old yet and he already has an unhealthy fascination with fire, and Reno barely can walk and he still managed to blow up your lawnmower this summer," Marluxia said with a straight face, a smile playing in his eyes as he retrieved his suit jacket from the hall closet.

"In my defense, Scarlet is one smoking hot flame and seems to have passed it on to Axel, and there is a reason why I hire you to do all of my gardening," Al-Cid responded, giving his brother a smile worthy of any of the magazine covers he graced regularly.

The younger man just shook his head, hoping that this was a good idea, leaving his daughters in the care of his brother. Why did Lenna have to have a theatre class tonight and his parents were out of town. He would have felt so much more at ease knowing that Lightning, Serah and Vanille were with their aunt or grandparents and not in the care of the uncle that took nothing in life seriously. With a final fleeting look at the house, praying to see his daughters alive and unscathed again, Marluxia got into his car and headed off down the road towards Vexen's neighbourhood.

Whistling alone with the catchy tune playing on the radio, the pink haired man almost missed the sound of his cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" he asked, not checking the caller id.

"Marluxia, it's Vexen." The sound of Vexen's voice brought a wide smile to Marluxia's face. The past six months he had been dating the older man had been absolutely amazing. He had never felt this way about anyone before, and certainly never anything this strong. In fact, Marluxia was sure that he had found the single man he was supposed to be with. But in fear of scaring the blond man off, the younger man was just going to wait until Vexen realized how intense things had gotten between them himself.

"Hi! I'm just driving over to your place now. I'll be there in about 10 minutes, alright?"

"Actually, I'm phoning to cancel. Vaan has come down with a dreadful flu. I don't think it would be wise to leave him home by himself, and Quistis is already on her way out the door." Though Vexen's voice was almost monotonous, Marluxia was still able to hear the concern and compassion the older man held for his son.

"That's awful! Poor Vaan, I hope he'll feel better soon. I'll tell you what. I just dropped the girls off at my brother's, so I'll come over and keep you company," Marluxia said, already formulating a plan in his head. "Besides, if it is anything like the flu that Lightning had last week, a second pair of hands will probably be welcome."

"Marluxia, don't feel you need to do this…"

"Nonsense, I'll be there in just a few minutes." Without waiting for a response, the pink haired man hung up the phone, pulling an abrupt u turn in the street.

…

Walking up the walkway to Vexen's house, Marluxia was slightly surprise to see Vexen's daughter rushing out the doorway.

"Oh Marluxia, I'm so sorry that Dad had to cancel on you tonight," the blonde teen said, giving her father's boyfriend a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "I'd stay home with Vaan, but I've got midterms this week. Xu's waiting for me at the library and I'm running really late as it is." With that said, Quistis waved a quick goodbye before getting into her father's black sedan and driving off into the twilight.

Smiling at the girl he had gotten to know over the past couple of months, Marluxia truly admired Quistis' desire to pursue her education and graduating early from high school so she could start her university courses sooner. One of Marluxia's greatest desires was that his daughters would one day look up to someone like her.

"Vexen?" Marluxia called as he pushed open the front door.

"In the washroom, Marluxia," A voice called from that direction.

Smiling at the tone of Vexen's voice, the pink haired man headed over to where his boyfriend's voice had come from. Pushing open the door, Marluxia had to hide a compassionate smile at the sight of the blond man hunched over, still in his work clothes, mopping up vomit from the bathroom floor.

"Poor Vaan," Marluxia said, causing Vexen to look up at him.

"He's been throwing up constantly since he got home from school. I'm surprised he has anything left in him," Vexen sighed, tossing the soiled towel into the hamper and moving to get another.

"Hold on a second there, mister." Marluxia had a smile on his face as he spoke, causing Vexen to raise an eyebrow in question. "I'll finish cleaning up in here, you go and get changed, check on Vaan, then heat this up for the both of you," he continued, placing a large red thermos on the bathroom counter.

"You don't need to," Vexen began as he went to grab the towel again. A hand on his wrist stopped him however, causing him to look back at the younger man.

Marluxia just offered a soft smile. "I know I don't. I want to though. That's some of my summer soup. It was the only thing that Lightning was able to keep down when she was sick. Try giving some to Vaan, and then you have some yourself. We don't need you getting sick too."

Vexen just looked into the pale eyes, finding himself lost in them as he always was. How had he stumbled upon this man? In even his wildest dreams, the older man had never once thought he'd be able to find someone who complimented him so well, especially after losing Elina. But here Marluxia was, and though he wasn't quite ready to say it out loud, Vexen knew he would never be able to live without this pink haired man in his life.

"Alright," the blond said in a quiet voice.

Marluxia just smiled, leaning in and giving Vexen a soft kiss, chuckling at the blush that predictable exploded onto pale cheeks. This man was so honest and transparent! It was adorable. "I'll be out in a little bit. Go get comfortable and have some soup."

Vexen just nodded and washed his hands before grabbing the tall container and exiting the bathroom.

…

"I really hope that Vaan gets over this quickly," Marluxia said as he curled up at one end of the couch, watching as Vexen finally began to relax in the recliner next to him. "He was looking so forward to taking the girls around for Halloween. It would break his heart if he is still sick in bed."

The blond man nodded as he began to look through the newspaper. Just having Marluxia here was a soothing presence and spending any time with the pink haired man was always a pleasure. "Vaan has always been susceptible to any type of illness due to his allergies. It's only when it's a really bad bug that it knocks him down and out like this. Give him a few days and he'll be up to his old antics again like before."

Marluxia chuckled, leaning his elbow on the arm of the couch and propping his chin up using it. "So he's a stubborn one? I wonder where he gets that from, hmm."

The pink haired man could have sworn he saw the corner of thin lips twitch in some semblance of a smirk. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

To this, Marluxia laughed out loud, debating on crawling into the large recliner with the blond. Though they were choosing to take things slowly in their relationship, especially verbally, it didn't mean that they both didn't crave the physical contact of the other.

Just as the younger man made to stand up, a sound in the doorway caused both men to look over to see Vaan standing there in just his black and light purple pyjama pants, holding onto a blanket. The sight gave him the appearance of a child so much younger than his 13 years.

"Do you need something, son?" Vexen asked as he made to get up.

Vaan didn't verbally reply, just shook his head as he came further into the sitting room and over to the couch. Marluxia seemed to be frozen in place as he watched the teenager lay down, pulling the blanket over him and placing his head right on Marluxia's lap. The pink haired man did the only thing that felt natural and began to gently stroke the damp blond hair on the top of Vaan's head. Even through his jeans, Marluxia could feel the fever that burned on the teen's forehead.

"Vaan?" he whispered, curious as to why the boy had come to lay on him. Not that he minded.

"Did you make that soup?" Vaan questioned as he cuddled up against Marluxia's lap, his voice muffled from his stuffed up nose.

"I did," the pink haired man whispered, pushing some of Vaan's hair out of his eyes, "and I grew all the herbs and vegetables in my garden."

"It was good. Thanks PaMa."

Marluxia was completely taken aback by the term, looking wide eyed down at Vaan, then over at Vexen who had an equally dumbfounded expression on his features, "PaMa?"

Vaan just hummed slightly. "Yeah, I know that Vanille calls Dad," he paused to yawn, "Papa, so I decided that I want to call you something too. I didn't want to call you Papa too because it might…confuse…her…" Words broke off into soft snores as Vaan fell asleep with his head still cuddled in Marluxia's lap.

Neither Vexen nor Marluxia said anything for several long minutes as Marluxia continued to stroke Vaan's hair.

"I…I…" Marluxia stuttered after nearly 10 minutes, at a complete loss of what to say or how to react to this.

"You know," Vexen began, taking in a deep breath, "Since Elina and Kain both passed, Vaan has had a very hard time letting new people into his life and opening up. He also had developed some personal space issues. Seeing Vaan like this with you makes me think that he has come to see you as a second father," he said softly, trying to hide the shock he felt at this entire situation. At most, he would have hoped that his children would have at least acknowledged his relationship with Marluxia and possibly grow to like him over time, but for them to accept him as a second parent so soon was more than Vexen could have ever asked for.

The feelings that Marluxia was probably experiencing right now were most likely the same emotions that Vexen had felt only last month when Vanille's baby babbles had started to become words. When Vexen had come into the room, she had reached for him out of Marluxia's arms, calling Papa. It had made him feel like a father all over again, this time to three little girls. Now there was no denying it. In such a short time, their lives had become fully entwined. They were a family; all of them.

"A second father?" Marluxia whispered with a strong shake to his voice as if he was on the brink of tears. He continued to look between the man who had stolen his heart in such a short period of time and the boy who he had come to regard as his own. "I've never had a son before."

This family is just far too perfect together and absosmurfly adorable!

If you like this story please check out some of our other stories from our Family Tree Universe in our archives :) And as always, if you would like to see where the pairings and family lines came from please go view our deviant art page, http :/ crymsonpahoyhoy . deviantart . com /, minus all of the spaces ;) The deviations are called FF KH Family Tree.

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