Warning: This is an a/b/o fic, focusing solely on the societal implications of it. There is no sex or smut in this fic. There will be a minor OC in the first few chapters, but only for getting the plot set off.
Dedede prided himself on being someone who was not easily fazed. After all, weird things occurred all the time in Dreamland, ranging from attacks by entities of darkness, invasions by aliens, curses by wizards, and nearly anything else one could think of. This though, this was something entirely unexpected. He had heard of such occurrences before, but never had he thought something like this would reach their part of the galaxy. Someone had arrived to disrupt the peace on Popstar, sure enough, but brought news that was quite strange for lack of better words.
It had all started just a week before. Dedede had been attending to some monetary issues with his kingdom (the Halberd needed to be fixed again, god forbid), when he had been interrupted by a lone waddle dee hurrying its way into the kitchens. The king set down the sandwich he had been eating while looking over the documents Meta Knight had sent him, turning his attention to the distressed waddle dee.
"Your highness, there's an important call for you from Planet Iceberg!" he squeaked, hopping in place.
Planet Iceberg? That was a place Dedede hadn't heard of in many, many years. Curiosity and a bit of anxiousness welled up within him. He had personally never been to the planet, but it was where his parents had come from. They had never told him their reasoning for moving to Popstar and severing all ties from Iceberg, having passed on while he was still quite young. He always figured that they meant to tell him later, when he could better understand, but circumstances did not allow for such a thing.
While he tried to play it cool for the sake of his own image, he knew he was failing. Who from Planet Iceberg had called, and why? Dedede had always made it a point of ignoring the planet's existence all together, figuring that there must have been a good reason for his parents to leave. Did this person know about Dedede?
Shaking his head, he shooed the waddle dee off and left to answer the call. He didn't know what to expect, or if answering this would be a good or bad decision. There were none of his species on Popstar, and he suspected there were likely none in their galaxy at all. From some text books he had skimmed over once, he did know that Iceberg was home for the majority of his pengu species, so leaving the planet was probably unheard of.
A minute amount of fear filled him, thinking about the possibilities of how this call might go. Would he be forced back to Iceberg? Would the planet's forces try to attack Popstar? If something were to happen, Dedede was sure they could deal with it, but still, he couldn't help but worry. His parents' origins were something he had wondered about for most of his childhood, before he had shoved all of that to the back of his mind. Now everything was suddenly crashing down on him.
Reaching the throne room, Dedede braced himself. There were likely a good handful of waddle dees in there, and he needed to keep calm for their sake. Their king was perfect and unstoppable as far as they were concerned. A mere phone call wouldn't be enough to get him down.
An antsy group of waddle dees moved aside as Dedede approached, making his way over to the receiver. He gulped discretely, hoping none of the waddle dees noticed how nervous he actually was.
"This is King Dedede. What do you want?" he accidentally snapped. His own tone of voice caused him to inwardly flinch. He hadn't intended to sound so rough.
"Ah, King Dedede," the person on the other end began, sounding unfazed. "I'm glad I was able to reach you! I've been trying to locate you for years now. I had almost lost hope of you even still being alive!" the man chuckled good-naturedly.
Dedede tried to suppress his chills, but merely succeeded in making himself angry. Who was this guy? If there was one thing Dedede hated, it was being uncertain of himself, and yet here this guy was, talking to him as though they were old friends. Needless to say, Dedede was not amused.
"Listen bud, who the heck are you? I have a lot of work I need to get done today, and you're really wasting my time here," he ground out tactlessly. There was a reason Bandana Dee was the one who usually dealt with people. Dedede wasn't exactly known for being all that pleasant when his (admittedly) short temper went off.
The person on the other end simply chuckled once more, much to Dedede's aggravation. "Well, you certainly have quite the temper on you!" Some more chuckles. "Sorry. I'm Darrin, your father's younger brother. I presume he told you about me."
"Nope."
The person—Darrin—paused momentarily at Dedede's blunt answer, and he couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction. Who cared if this guy was supposedly his uncle? Dedede's parents had put their past on Iceberg long behind them before they died, so he should want nothing to do with this guy either, right? He frowned ever so slightly, a feeling of uncertainty welling up within him once more.
"Ah, well I'm sure they had their reasons," Darrin tried to recover. "Listen, ever since Samson and Delilah left Iceberg, I'd been trying to locate you all. After I heard of the deaths of your parents, I was so distressed I could barely function. After the tragedy that befell our family, Samson and your mother were all I had left, and I felt as though I was truly alone after their deaths. I knew though, that you must've still been alive! So, I continued my search, hoping against hope that I could find you, and yet here you are! I never expected your parents to have made it so far!"
Dedede didn't know what to say. This man knew about his parents' deaths? There was a tragedy that occurred before his parents left Iceberg? Maybe this guy could tell him everything he'd always wanted to know— He shook himself of these thoughts. All of that nonsense was behind him! He didn't care anymore! Popstar was the only home he ever knew; he had firmly established himself as Dreamland's king, and had close friends that he fully considered to be his true family. Who was this guy, claiming to be his uncle who had spent Dedede's whole life looking for him? Dedede was a full-grown adult by this point. This guy had nothing to do with him; hadn't had any involvement in his life, and yet he couldn't stop that one nagging thought.
What happened that drove his parents from Iceberg? What did this guy know, and what were his intentions now?
"Lad? Are you still there?" came the voice from the receiver.
Dedede jumped, upset that he had zoned out for so long. He wasn't supposed to let this get to him! He was better than this, and needed this guy to know it.
"So what? You've been lookin' for me all these years. You found me, so now what do you want?"
"Yes, about that. I was wondering if I would be allowed to visit you? I've lived a long, fruitless life, and all I want now is to see my older brother's son, all grown up. I want to see that you've been well and grown into a fine young man. Maybe then I can finally live the rest of my life in peace."
What a sap. That's what he wanted to say, but he couldn't bring himself to just blurt it out. He didn't want to care, he really didn't, but something compelled him. This was someone who could possibly be related to him, who might know everything that had happened with his parents on Iceberg. It didn't even seem as though he wanted Dedede to come back. He just wanted to see his nephew.
No, no, no! This was stupid. He couldn't let this random guy come into his life. There was no need to know what happened to his parents on Iceberg. All he had to do was tell this guy to forget it and leave him alone. This never happened. He would forget about this guy in due time, and all of this would again be behind him.
They set up a time to meet up. With Iceberg's current state of technology and magic, Darrin would likely make it within a week. Needless to say, Dedede was horribly disappointed in himself. He had tried so hard to tell the guy to go away, but he couldn't do it. He had to know about his parents, as much as he hated himself for it. So, his supposed uncle was to arrive in about five days, and Dedede couldn't be more anxious about it.
Due to said anxiety, his temper was naturally off the charts, going off on random waddle dees for the slightest of mistakes. Bandana Dee was currently off visiting his own family at their tribe just north of Jam Jungle, so he unfortunately was not around to act as damage control for his distressed and moody king. After only a day, Dedede had banned Kirby from even approaching his castle, as there was no way he could deal with the little menace at the moment. As much as he hated to admit it, he really liked Kirby, but his high energy and cheerfulness was not what Dedede needed.
Shockingly enough, Kirby had listened to him, and after two more days he still hadn't shown up at Castle Dedede. Waddle dees skittered around their king nervously, knowing the volatile mood he was still in. Why had Dedede agreed to letting this Darrin guy visit him again? The stress, anger, and anxiety were not worth whatever uncertainties he still had about his parents. Still, there was no turning back now, as at this point the guy was already on his way (likely halfway to Popstar), and Dedede knew he would only continue to worry about the issue if he sent the guy back without learning anything.
So one more day went by, and only one remained before his fellow pengu would arrive to see him. Despite his still horrible mood, he could feel an ever-so-slight amount of giddiness within him. He'd finally get to know the answers to the questions he'd had his entire life. He'd know the deal between his parents and Iceberg. It almost felt refreshing.
"Pardon the interruption, but would you mind telling me why Kirby's been banned from the castle this time?"
The slight smile Dedede had immediately dropped in annoyance. He slowly turned to face Meta Knight with a look he was sure very clearly said seriously?
"It's been four days. Why are you coming to me about this now?"
The puffball gave him a bored look, unfazed by Dedede's temper. "You know my crew and I have been trying to repair the Halberd. I've had no time to see you about the issue, though I've heard your mood's been quite volatile as of late."
"Maybe if you'd stop blowing the damn thing up, you'd actually have time to do your job!"
"I have no control over battle damage the Halberd receives. Excuse me for trying to stop the crazy super computer from destroying all organic life in the universe."
"My castle was repaired a long time ago from Haltmann's attack. Why haven't you finished the ship yet?"
"We were aiding you and the waddle dees in rebuilding the castle. By the time we were finished, the kingdom's budget was too low to repair the Halberd and keep Dreamland's economic prosperity in order. So my crew and I have been doing what we can to repair it with our own money. Now what's been bothering you so bad that you've banned Kirby from the castle yet again?"
He merely groaned. Meta Knight was annoying at best when Dedede was trying to be angry at everything, seeing as he was too calm and logical about his king's issues. He tried to scare him off, but Meta Knight could be stupidly stubborn when he thought Dedede was being unreasonable. Of course, Dedede knew he was being unreasonable, but he'd never admit it. He was just as stubborn as the puffball was and would often continue their "arguments" out of spite, but he just didn't have it in him that day.
"Fine, whatever," Dedede muttered, glancing around at a few waddle dees nearby. "Let's talk about it in my room."
They made it to Dedede's room, sitting side-by-side on his bed, and he told Meta Knight everything about what was going on. There was no need to hold anything back after all, considering Meta Knight's status as Dedede's close childhood friend. Meta Knight had even met both of Dedede's parents a few times before their untimely deaths. Naturally, he understood Dedede's turmoil, as there had been a good portion of their childhood where they had both done their best to figure out what the heck was up with Planet Iceberg together.
"So, this person is arriving tomorrow? How do we know we can tru—" Meta Knight cut himself off, looking away.
Dedede merely sighed. Meta Knight had always been reluctant to talk about his obvious trust issues, since Dedede had made it clear in the past that the whole thing bothered him. Despite his relatively horrid mood, he let it slide. Now wasn't the time.
"I don't know if we can trust him or not, honestly," Dedede admitted. "Hell, he might not even be related to me at all! It's just, I really want to know! There's a chance that he's telling the truth, and I just decided to take it. We can handle the guy if he's some evil prick, can't we? I mean, we've dealt with worse."
"True," Meta Knight hummed. He pulled his cape tighter around himself and cuddled into Dedede's side.
Dedede instinctively put his hand down to pet him, though it was always a bit difficult when the puffball was still in full armor.
"We should be careful though. There's no need to get taken off-guard if this guy does have ill intentions," Meta Knight reminded, leaning further into Dedede's touch.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Do you and the others want to be there tomorrow when this guy gets here?"
"It would be best. I know you can handle yourself, but I'm sure having someone around to guard you will help deter any possible attacks."
They were quiet for some time, Dedede absently petting Meta Knight who was very obviously falling asleep against his side. The residents of Dreamland had a bad habit of napping whenever possible, and Meta Knight was not exempt from this. Dedede would have joined him in taking a nap—his bed was certainly feeling comfy enough—but he couldn't calm himself enough. Sure, his temper had lessened—talking with someone about his issues had done wonders to fix that, but still his mind would not stop racing with worry. How would tomorrow go?
Sighing, he laid on his back, pulling Meta Knight down with him. The slumbering puffball attempted to cuddle further into his side, though his armor dug uncomfortably into Dedede. Feeling his annoyance begin to return, he momentarily woke Meta Knight back up long enough to get the armor off of him, the puffball promptly passing back out afterwards.
Dedede gave a valiant effort at falling asleep, but his thoughts just wouldn't stop. A few hours passed before Meta Knight eventually woke back up, the two deciding to have dinner before making preparations for the next day. The puffball eventually left to inform the other knights about the day's tasks, and Dedede was left to his own devices for the night. In an attempt to avoid his temper returning, he locked himself within his room, doing his best to slow his racing thoughts and get some actual sleep for the night. His attempts were somewhat successful, though there was a good chance he wasn't going to wake up the next day well rested.
A/N: I made a lot of notes and apologies for this fic over on ao3 already, so I'll keep it brief here. I'll just point out some of this chapter's references instead! Dedede's parents are named after a play I used to watch all the time when I was younger ("Samson and Delilah"), and his species name is a play on Pingu of all things. If I'm going to write an a/b/o drama, I mine as well let myself get goofy with it!