Disclaimer: Cho-cho-chookity pah! This means "I don't own Final Space". There we go.
Authoress' Note: First time writing a Final Space fic! And likely won't be the last. I'm sure this sort of theme had already been written about quite a few times, but I really wanted to write my own "Gary explains to Avocato Little Cato's "two dads" comment" scenario during the last episode of S2. And with the revelations during the first few episodes, I think it'd be interesting to reflect that as well. Hope you enjoy!
Explaining The Thing
"Can't believe that both of my dads are together! Right now! It is tight!"
"Dads?" "It's a thing. Go with it."
At the time, there wasn't much ability to explain the "thing", nor much time to think about it, Avocato privately admitted, but after being stuck on a dead-end planet in Final Space for nearly two weeks already, the thought was starting to come to his head. Sure, it's coming in between bouts of both boredom and worrying about how the entire crew was going to survive and leave Final Space, but it was a thought regardless.
Dads... it was odd hearing Little Cato say that, and with the excitement that he did. He could already tell that the relationship between his son and his best friend, Gary Goodspeed, was a rather strong one – as he had hoped for, given the final words he remembered saying to Gary in the seconds before his untimely death – but a familial one? Well, familial is practically what most everyone on the Crimson Light had, so that wasn't a surprise, but enough for Little Cato to call Gary "Dad"...? It was highly unexpected to hear.
He had wanted to bring up the subject a couple of times already, when they weren't stuck between hunting for food and trying to figure out a way off of the planet with what remained of the Crimson Light, but he didn't quite know how to broach the subject. Sure, he could just outright ask - "Hey, why is my son calling you Dad?" - but at the same time, he felt... he didn't know, like he needed to approach this with more tact? He didn't want to make Gary think that he was, at all, upset or pissed over the bond the two of them had. Because he wasn't. Not at all! His questions were coming from a place of curiosity. Trying to figure out more of what happened during the time he was gone. What caused this sort of change in his son. In Gary. For the three of them.
Eyes flickered over towards Little Cato, who was discussing something he managed to save from the wreckage of the Crimson Light with Gary. He couldn't hear the words being said, but he could see the expression on his face when Gary compliments his work, his hand patting his shoulder and Little Cato's natural smile becoming wide. He wasn't a master of lip reading, but he knew one word that was said. Son... That's what made the child smile. That word. Dad. Son. Those words.
Little Cato wandered off, hearing Quinn call for his assistance on something, and Gary's eyes remained on the boy for a moment, a soft grin upon his lips, before he turned his gaze away, surprised for a moment when he realized that he was being watched. The first word to come to Avocato's mind was "crap" upon learning that he's been caught, almost as though he felt guilty over staring at their interactions. But there was nothing to be guilty about with this. He had plenty of things to feel guilty about, things he wasn't ready to explain and likely never would be, but not this.
"Hey, Avocato! How did the scouting go?"
"About as well as it had been going for two weeks now. Coming up short and finding nothing but those weird ass worms."
It took all Gary had to laugh in order to keep from crying, shoulders slumping and shaking his head. "I hate this stupid planet. And those stupid, creepy worm things," he complained, and Avocato rolled his eyes, as if he hadn't heard the same complaint dozens of times already.
"Yeah, I know... Hey... got a minute?"
"I got plenty of minutes for you, buddy."
An anxious smile came upon the former bounty hunter's face, and the two men sat down a few yards away from one of the little base camps they had made. They were both as alert as they could be, given who knew when Invictus could make its next move, but let there was still a settled air about them that allowed for them to sit and talk with little worry. Well, there was a lot of worry for Avocato, but at least sitting down wasn't one of those worries.
"Soooo... What's up?" Gary broke the moments of silent ice between them, "You got something on your mind?"
"Lots of things, but we don't have a lot of time to get through it all."
"Okay, then... what's the most important one?"
"... Why is Little Cato calling you Dad?"
Well, so much for not asking outright and approaching the subject with more tact. The look on Gary's face was something he didn't like. There was surprise – understandable – and there was confusion – also understandable – at the sudden question, but there was also something else. He knew what it was. Guilt. Like what he felt a few minutes ago.
He needed to switch gears on this, before it got worse. "You said it was a thing and to just go with it. And I have been. And I'll keep going with it. But I'm... curious," he added onto his question, "I've been filled in on a lot that I've missed. Just not that. So... explain. Explain the thing to me."
"Y-yeah, I guess we should've talked about this with you a lot sooner, but with everything going on, it just kept being pushed to the back burner. Sorry about that," Gary replied sheepishly, one arm going behind and fingers scratching at the back of his head.
The action he always did whenever he was embarrassed or unsure. But which one this was for, Avocato wasn't sure. But he was ready to listen.
Arm fell and the human sighed. "After Invictus took you... after what happened... Little Cato left. He was so guilty over everything that happened, and he didn't want to be around us. Like he was nothing but bad luck, that he was going to get us all hurt or killed. Lots of negative feelings," he started his answer, and settled air became rather depressing fast.
"You didn't stop him?"
"I couldn't. Not in the state I was in. But if I was awake, I would've."
He knew that. But he still wanted to hear it. There was a few seconds of silence, giving Gary the ability to continue. "We traced him to a planet where he got himself involved some bounty hunters. Like father, like son, right? But before we found that out, Nightfall asked me... when I lost my dad, what was one thing I wanted more than anything."
"Obviously a cookie."
"She told me not to say that. But I was going to."
"Knew it."
Gary was too predictable when it came to cookies. Never had he met anyone obsessed with such crispy and dry circular pieces of food. And the human chuckled at being called out before the mood returned to its somber roots. "I said I wanted a normal life. She told me that I needed to step up a lot more than what I was. That I needed more reason than us chasing him down to bring him back. And when I said that I was already trying my best, she told me that I should just stop looking then."
There was obvious defeat on Gary's face, in how he hunched over bent knees, in how his hands buried themselves in the fabric of his dirt-covered jacket. "We got into a fire fight with the bounty hunters we found him with. And I tried my best to talk to him through all of it, trying to think about what Nightfall said. About what you said. About what Little Cato was feeling, and what he needed to understand. And... I asked if he'd want me to adopt him."
Brows raised as Avocato heard the word "adopt" escape Gary's lips. So... it was that. Flashes of painful memories went through his head. A bundle in red. Finger being grabbed. An ominous warning that was met with firm determination to right a wrong. The situation wasn't entirely the same, not by a long shot, but the result was the same. A tragic situation, followed by that saving word...
The look on his best friend's face had Gary's stomach doing somersaults. The entire subject did, in fact. He knew that it was going to come up eventually. It's not as though he wanted to keep it a secret – he meant it when he said that it should've been brought up already – but he also wished it didn't, at least not yet.
He was afraid to admit that he had liked that Little Cato called him Dad, liked it when he could say that Little Cato was his boy, his son. It took a little bit of getting used to – for both of them – but now there was all of these fluttery and happy feelings whenever he would say and hear those words, whenever he could see the kid's face light up upon hearing and saying those words as well.
But he didn't know how Avocato would react. After all, Little Cato was his son. And Gary was only a rental dad, a vice dad, someone to give him that family ground that the kid really needed. Would he get mad, tell him that he overstepped? Would he fight him, take Little Cato away from him and everyone else, tell him to stay away? He didn't like that thought. Didn't like the thought of losing both his kid and his best friend all in one swoop. He loves Little Cato. And he loves Avocato too.
"L-look, I'm not trying to take your place or anything in Little Cato's life! I was just trying to give him some idea of a normal life by keeping a dad in it. Like... what I didn't have," he tried to expand upon his answer, looking every bit more flustered than he did before, "I told him that I'll just be the vice dad until we got you back. So now that you're back, you're his only dad now."
That final line sent a spark of surprise up the Ventrexian's spine. "What?"
"We can sit down with him, and tell him that he doesn't need to call me Dad, and I don't need to call him Son. If it's really bothering you that we are-"
Avocato couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was no way in hell that Gary was saying crap like this. Not now. Not after all of this. Anger rose up in his chest, and fangs flashed, "Don't you freaking dare!"
Gary had seen Avocato mad before, and been on the receiving end of some of that anger before, but nowhere close to this. Before he could blink, a paw was grabbing tightly at the collar of his coat, tugging at the human's clothes in a blinding rage. "Don't you dare tell me that you're going to walk out on him like this!"
"H-huh!? I'm not walking out on him!"
"You're telling me that you're going to tell him that you're no longer his son!"
"That's because-"
"I don't care what the reason is!"
The claws were coming out, causing damage to the clothes, but thankfully not any damage to Gary himself. "You've seen that smile he has. When he hears you call him your son. When he can say that you're his dad. It's the same one he gives me. You gave him something that he thought he couldn't have again. And just because I'm back, you're going to take that away from him!? What kind of crap is that? Does he mean that little to you!?"
The human brought his hands up to Avocato's wrist, using his strength to remove it from his collar, yanking it away with his own bout of force. "That kid means the world to me! I'd give up my life for him! Just like you would!"
"Then why are you saying this!? Why are you telling me that you're taking back your word!?"
"Because look at the pain it's causing you! You're his dad!"
"So are you!"
They were both breathless from their screaming, the initial ardor of anger cooling now that the words had escaped. Gary straightened out his coat after he released Avocato's wrist.
"I'm sorry for that."
"I'm sorry too."
The faintest of meaningful smiles played their lips before Avocato looked away, down at the ground, defeated arms in his lap. "I have no pain over the relationship you two have. If anything, I'm happy that you took my words seriously. I told you to take care of my boy, and you did. You have. You are. What pain I have is over you wanting to take that back. I'm here, yeah. But you're here too."
"Avocato..." his name came from Gary's lips in a breathless whisper and the Ventrexian sighed heavily through a tired smirk.
"I'll keep going along with the thing. As long as you keep going along with it too."
Gary smiled, bringing up a hand towards his friend. Avocato chuckled, bringing up his paw as well, the two of them clasping as they always did, reaffirming their promise and trust. Just as their arms fell from one another, they heard footsteps approach, turning towards the sound to see Little Cato coming their way. The boy stopped a few inches short of where they were sitting, staring at them with a worried gaze.
"Dad- er, Dads? What's going on? I heard you two yelling. Is everything okay?"
The adults looked at one another, both feeling a bit sheepish in knowing that their argument was overheard, but they smiled after a few seconds of quiet, standing up and approaching the boy in a few steps, each placing a caring appendage upon his shoulders. "Everything's alright. Son," they spoke in unison, tones reassuring and soft.
At first, all Little Cato could do was blink, confused by their united front, before smiling brightly. That smile he only gave his dads. "... You're both weird," he said with a chuckle, shaking off their grasps on his shoulder with typical teenage embarrassment.
Neither man took offense, taking in their own private delight in over seeing that special smile.
"So... Tribore thinks they came up with a different way for us to eat those weird worm things that might taste better. They said it doesn't taste bad, but it definitely smells. But they also seem to be keen on serving it up to us for dinner, so... be prepared?"
The grimaced looks on their faces killed all of the good mood that was had. "We really need to get off of this stupid planet," Gary grumbled, "And get away from these disgusting, freaky worms."
"No argument here, baby."
- end -