"Daddy, Daddy!" Eddy put down the book he had been reading hastily, hiding it clumsily behind his back. He deciphered the voice as his daughter and gave a relieved sigh. He would be able to live it down if it were… "Daddy, can you help me write a letter to Winged Paladin?" Okay, okay, time to translate to normal person words. It was the twelfth of December and his daughter wanted to write a letter…
"The what?" Came Eddy's intelligent response.
The little girl furrowed her brow, and she gave him a very familiar scolding look. "Winged Paladin. A big killer dragon who fights zombies and on Christmas gives the little children presents if they've been good." That sounded a lot like Santa.
"Who told you about this guy?" Eddy had a hunch that he already knew who it had been.
"Uncle Ed. He also said that you'd probably never heard of him." Ed and his stupid old comic books. Suddenly a chiming of the bell above the door (get rich quick schemes do not earn enough money to buy a legitimate security system, they'd found out in their early years, but the bell was more a nostalgic presence than anything) distracted the two of them, giving Eddy a chance to figure out what to say about this Winged Paladin creature. "Father!" His daughter smiled and ran up to the incoming young man.
"Elizabeth!" he responded, wrapping the little girl in his arms." Eddy smiled, watching as little Liz helped her father hang his lab coat on the rack at the door, a full two feet above her head. But he caught a glimpse of his eyes. They gleamed with temptation. So today was a good day at work, hmm?
"Hey, sock head, where's my hug?" Liz giggled at her father's face when he heard the childhood nickname.
"Please, don't call me that. Whatever sort of hats I wear does not resemble even in the slightest a sock." There's that heated yelling he was prone to do whenever Eddy brought up such incidents. Eddy grinned at his predictability, and Edd gave him a loving hug just the same. This was their routine.
Their daughter pushed her way in between them and giggled, as long as they were hugging, it meant they were okay. "Hey, Liz, tell your father who you're writing a letter to."
Double Dee's eyes brightened at the idea of his daughter having a pen pal. "Winged Paladin! He's a zombie-killing dragon that brings kids presents on Christmas."
Eddy burst into obnoxious laughter upon seeing the fall of Double Dee's face. "Let me guess… Uncle Ed told you this." Elizabeth nodded swiftly and hummed an affirmative note. "What about Santa?"
Elizabeth pulled out a dusty comic book. "Uncle Ed says they tell kids about Santa because they don't want to scare them about having zombies alive. Santa is his alter ego." Again, Eddy could not contain his laughter. He hadn't wanted a kid until Double Dee pestered him with it, but now it was really paying off.
Double Dee looked at him pleadingly. "Alright, Pipsqueak, it's time for bed. Time for some adult time."
Liz gave a long 'aww' in response before Eddy grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder. Persistent in not wanting to go to bed she harrumphed. "But I'm not tired. And I still haven't written my letter. And–"
Double Dee chuckled softly as their daughter's endless list of excuses trailed up the stairs. He frowned slightly though when he glanced at the clock. It was almost nine-o-clock. Eddy wasn't just making up excuses to be alone with him; it was already past Elizabeth's bedtime. Faint memories of a young boy desperately trying to keep his eyes open, sitting on the couch, doing whatever he can to stay awake so he can greet his parents when they get home, each morning waking up in the same spot with a sticky note on the table in front of him, filled his mind. He was becoming his parents. Thank God for his dead-beat husband, Eddy. Elizabeth was most definitely a Daddy's girl.
A single tear rolled down his cheek. "Oh, Double Dee. Adult time starts now." Eddy's arrogant smile dropped when he saw Edd's face. "Hey, what's going on?"
Edd grimaced when he felt Eddy's hand in his because that felt good, but he felt so bad. "I'm becoming my parents." At his husband's blank expression, he continued, "I'm not there for her. Soon, it'll become habit, and her father will never be there for her. And she'll be alone with only you encouraging her. He doesn't mean to come in so late. He really loves you. I'm so glad she has you because having someone tell me that would have made it so much easier, but it still isn't the same as hearing it from the source."
Eddy looked up the stairs. "You know she doesn't think that."
"I didn't either." At that Eddy slapped him, not hard enough to hurt, just to shock. "What was that for?"
His face was red with rage. "You are not your parents. You know why? Because you try. I've seen the speeding tickets; you always speed home. I know you could be working right now, creating a cure for cancer or whatever. You're not though; you came home to see her. You came home so that she could see you before bed, and that makes you such a better parent than yours ever were… no offense." Double Dee smiled warmly, and that arrogant smirk resurfaced on Eddy's face. "Now, let's talk about how you can be a better husband."
Allowing himself to be swept into the arms of his lover, Double Dee purred, "Oh, Daddy…" and that was that. Eddy was good at that. Being a scientist at nature, Double Dee overanalyzed everything, but Eddy was good at putting things into perspective for him. He could count on him to keep calm in such situations even if he was upset himself (anger management works wonders.) "But one more thing…" Eddy groaned. "What do we do about this Winged Paladin figure?"
"We can discuss that later."
"Oh, okay."