so very dapper

[temporal_affairs]

The Joker is awfully domestic, in his way. He makes pretty clothes. Nathan's perfectly happy to be a clothes horse for his sartorially-inclined mate. Some of the clothes are distinctly feminine, and Nathan does not wear those, although the Joker could probably talk him into a kilt, even if that's not a Manx thing but only their neighbors.

Comments

[manofmyword]

The Joker hoists Kerron up and kisses his forehead again.

[temporal_affairs]

They are complimented six times on their baby by the time they finish their walk. (Nathan translates, on occasions when these compliments are not in English.)

[manofmyword]

"See? Cutest munchkin," he says, hugging Kerron. "And a buncha people you're never gonna see again think so too."

[temporal_affairs]

"Egaba lofta!"

[manofmyword]

He giggles.

[temporal_affairs]

Encouraged, Kerron babbles some more, although he is distracted by people every time they go by and waves at most of them. He gets waves back and finds this utterly hysterical.

Inside the capital compound again, they run into Alice and Jasper, who are sitting together looking out the window with Alice's head leaning on Jasper's shoulder. "Hallo, Alice, Jasper," Nathan says. "Look what we made!"

Alice looks and says "Awww!"

Jasper looks between the parents and says, "...Made?"

[manofmyword]

The Joker

[yourheartstrings]

nods.

[temporal_affairs]

Jasper does not know what to make of this.

Nathan hands Kerron over to Alice, and she laughs and tosses him into the air. "I haven't been able to see either of you for weeks, now, not that I was trying often before," Alice tells Nathan and the Joker. "Soon I'll have so many blind spots it'll make more sense to talk about where I can look."

"Maybe when there are enough hybrids and wolves getting in your way your power will say oh, for heaven's sake and let you observe them too," Nathan suggests.

[yourheartstrings]

"Wonder if you could magic the blind spots away," the Joker muses.

[temporal_affairs]

"Well, Bella gave me some of those triangles and squares, and I did try, but it didn't work," Alice says.

Kerron is now waving his arms between Jasper and Alice repeatedly, like he's tracing a line between them, and cooing.

[manofmyword]

He appears a spare hex and offers it to her.

[temporal_affairs]

"Oh, this is pretty," says Alice, handing Kerron to Nathan and taking the hex. She closes her eyes, and apparently takes a while to settle on a wish, but ultimately is left empty-handed. "Apparently the wolf gap and the hybrid gap aren't the same thing, but I fixed the second one," she reports. "Hi there, little Kerron, I can see youuuu!" And she throws her head back and laughs.

Japser is now looking somewhat less guardedly at the Joker.

[manofmyword]

"Want another one?" he asks cheerfully. "They're going begging today."

[temporal_affairs]

"Sure!" says Alice, grinning, holding out her hand.

"Aren't you a sweetie," says Nathan, kissing his mate's cheek.

[manofmyword]

"Sometimes!" he agrees, and drops a hex into Alice's hand, and hugs Nathan.

[temporal_affairs]

Alice makes another wish and then gets up and pirouettes. "Goodbye headaches!" she crows.

"Thank you," says Jasper in his Southern accent.

[manofmyword]

He grins.

"Hey, my pleasure," he says, snuggling Nathan.

[temporal_affairs]

Alice looks momentarily curious, and then she makes a face and sits back down. "No kidding," she snorts. "You're definitely Stella's boyfriend's alt. She came and consulted me about turning him, and my exact words were that he'd have a 'disturbing amount of fun'."

[manofmyword]

The Joker laughs.

"Yeah, that's me," he agrees. "Disturbing amounts of fun."

[temporal_affairs]

"I'm undisturbed," asserts Nathan.

"Your baby is going to remember everything you're saying when he grows up and put together the clues," Jasper points out.

"Elsie has it worse than that, and she's fine," Nathan says, waving a hand.

[manofmyword]

"I think most people eventually figure out that their parents have had sex," the Joker snorts.

[temporal_affairs]

"Yes, but I don't think all the detail he'd be able to figure out by the time he's five on the basis of this conversation is called for," says Jasper.

"Jazz, honey, Kerron's theirs, not ours," soothes Alice.

"Are you going to have one too?" asks Nathan brightly.

"We're still thinking about it," Alice says, "we weren't pining for a century like Rosalie was, but we might, as long as we can now."

[manofmyword]

"Ours was an accident," the Joker says cheerfully. "I wasn't sure I wanted to keep him at first, but I love my munchkin and I don't regret it for a second."

[temporal_affairs]

"And you're just going to say all that right in front of him when he has a perfect memory and he'll know the words inside of a month and the concepts in a year and all the implications in four or five," says Jasper, shaking his head.

"I believe Cody knows that he was an accident," Alice points out. "And he's fine."

"It'd be hard to miss in his case. Kerron could've missed the memo if they hadn't said it," Jasper says.