This is dedicated to a real girl from my school. She'd been adopted by a pair of gay parents and when we were in high school they broke up and she was utterly devastated. But all of her friends and most of the other people in school (including some teachers) would act sorry that they were breaking up then talk loudly about how two men together was a horrible thing. That or they would make the "ewwww" face when finding out for the first time that "Daddy" and "Pappy" were going different ways. We even had kids in the same class talking loudly about how gross they felt just visiting her house because of her dads, and the fact that two men being together was against the bible and everyone in the house must be going to hell. I didn't really like her but no one needs that sort of thing.
So here is to her and the other children of parents who just don't fit in with what people consider the norm.
Josh really didn't want to know how his oldest child's day had been. Juan was sitting with his lips pouted out and arms folded, not happily chattering away about what game he'd played in PE or what new strange thing one of his classmates had done. Josh wondered if he should bribe his son into happiness with ice cream or a new skateboard and face the wrath of the other two parents when Juan refused to eat dinner or broke his arm. Finally he gave in to his gut and parked the car by the side of the road and asked Juan if anything interesting had happened that day.
And of course Juan had refused to say anything for what seemed like hours, leaving Josh to guess anything from being bullied to having someone force Juan to eat something from a test tube. Finally after Josh wondering horrible and scarring events taking place to his oldest child, Juan finally admitted that in class he had drawn a picture of the family during art. And the teacher, who apparently hadn't thought it really strange to have a very light skinned and tow headed kid named Juan or batted an eyebrow when Berto had showed up a couple of times to pick him up, kept Juan after class and asked his questions. Most of them about his dads, and if they'd ever touched him in any strange ways then had sent to some "strange lady in purple" who had asked him even more questions and written the answers down with a frown.
Josh was enraged at the treatment of his son, he'd known deep down inside that people weren't going to accept the family but Juan was young; just starting school and already he was paying for something his parents had chosen before he'd even been born. His next thought was panicked, what if the school decide to call child services on them? He wasn't sure what would happen but he didn't want to lose his family yet again, once had almost broken him. He didn't let any of the worry show to his oldest child; Juan had already gone though enough that day and besides Josh wasn't that sure that the school would do anything other then watch Juan carefully. Besides, Josh knew for a fact that nothing in the house was going to traumatize the kids, at least not until they'd grown a little and were embarrassed by their parents like all teens.
At least he hadn't let his worry show until a week later Josh stepped into the house to find Juan in tears and Berto muttering in Spanish. Finding Juan home was a surprise, it was at least an hour before his school was let out and Juan didn't look sick, just tearful and a bit mad. Kat wasn't in sight, which worried Josh about as much as the oldest child being home. She was a bit unreasonable when it came to their kids and Josh hoped that she wasn't yelling at some kid who had stolen Juan's lunch. But before Josh could ask were she was and what was going on Kat was back, teeth bared in a snarl and eyes flashing in a way Josh hadn't seen from her for years.
"We're going to put Juan in another school," she told them once Juan was safely lucked away in the living room watching TV. He'd gotten in a fight at the school; Josh didn't see why the school punishing their son for doing something wrong meant that they needed to transfer him in the middle of the school year. Kat told him not to be silly; Juan wouldn't have gotten into a fight unless pushed into it, and besides none of the other kids had been forced to go home early. Josh admitted that Juan wasn't really the fighting type, but boys would be boys, and besides it wasn't as if two of his parents weren't always getting into fights themselves. But Kat kept insisting that Juan couldn't have been to blame and rounded onto Berto, demanding to know what Juan had told him when the other two hadn't been around.
"He says that he was the one to throw the first punch but hasn't said why," Berto replied a bit tensely. The other two stared in disbelief, Berto's skills at getting children to open up and tell him everything seemed magical to them. In fact, up until this point whenever Juan had been moping and didn't want to tell daddy or mommy anything all they had to do was wait for papa to show up. So they did the next best thing and called an expert.
Well, Josh called Grandpa Jeffy and asked him to take Juan out for a treat, and if he somehow managed to figure out what had caused Juan to punch another kid Josh wasn't going to complain.
When that didn't work Berto suggested (after making sure that Kat wasn't near anything sharp) that taking Juan to see someone might be a good idea. But they never quite got around to it, mostly because the whole question was resolved that week after church. Berto always took the kids to church while Josh and Kat managed to somehow weasel their way out of it and sleep in. But this time Berto had managed to bribe the other two into coming along, and Josh hadn't fallen asleep during the service.
"Are we going to be in hell together?" Juan asked as the exited the church yard. All three parents looked down at their son trailing along behind them with a worried look on his face.
"Why would you think that we're going to hell?" Berto asked as Kat mumbled something about churches scaring small children into behaving.
"Everyone says that you're going to hell and that I'm probably going to be there with you. You'll allow me to go with you, right?" Tears were starting to appear in Juan's green eyes, "I don't wanna go without you!"
"We're not going to hell." Josh snapped a bit harshly. He wondered how you could tell you kids that the world was filled with people looting and killing everyday and that God probably wouldn't care about three people who'd somehow found a way to love each other. That every day they were saving the world so that ungrateful people could live in it and teach their children to stay away from people like Team Steel. "Besides, if god doesn't let us into heaven then I guess mommy and me will just have to storm the gates."
Juan gave Josh a weird look, "I don't think god will be happy about that."
"Well god's just gonna have to learn to deal," Kat swung their son over her shoulder and tickled him until Juan's giggles filled the air. Josh realized that she was right.