Chapter Text
"You get the yearly summons from Mom and Dad?" Ivohn chuckled.
Jeb rolled his eyes. "Yeah. At least they're not actually forcibly summoning us anymore, it's just the scroll." He tossed it over to Ivohn. "Did yours have the footnote about bringing your current romantic partner too?"
"Yeep. Fortunately, they still don't know I'm dating, so we're keeping it that way. Lillian's staying home." Ivohn shrugged. "They just copy out the one letter for all of us. I'm not even sure they know Kro's dating."
Alex tilted her head. "Why wouldn't they know Kro's dating?" She asked curiously. "He seems like he's the closest to your parents of the three of you."
"Yeah, but he never talks about his partners. Like, ever." Ivohn said.
Jeb nodded. "Yeah, to be fair, he really doesn't date that much, and he's never brought anyone home that I know of."
"Speak of the devil, is he coming?" Ivohn asked.
"Yeah, I asked him to see if he can bring Callias too. I want to get the whole gang back together." Jeb flopped back on the couch, flaring his wings across the back, as Todd emerged from his room, still toweling his hair dry from a shower. Rivune followed him with her hair still steaming from a flame-dry.
"Nice." Ivohn dropped his human disguise with a poof of smoke and stretched his wings too, perching on the back of the couch. Alex took a spot under Jeb's wing, both of them a little flushed about it even as his wing folded a little bit around her.
Right on cue, one of their walls - drawn with a rune that allowed certain casters to portal in unannounced - glowed green and Kro stalked out of it in full gargoyle form. A sparkling golden glow followed him through the portal, glittering feathers ruffled, and Callias accused, "You're being stubborn."
Kro's wings arched upwards in obvious irritation and he glared over his shoulder at his boyfriend. "Can we not talk about this in front of my brothers?" He hissed pointedly.
"Why? This concerns them as much as it does you," Callias retorted. "You don't think they'll notice if you just don't show up?"
Both of the younger Wards sat up a little, brows furrowing. Alex frowned and Todd froze, staring awkwardly at the pair. Rivune arched an eyebrow. Kro gave an irritated sigh. "It's not their problem, Callias."
"What's not their problem?" Alex asked, sitting up too as Jeb's wing left her shoulders. "And why are you two fighting about it?"
"We're not fighting," Kro said firmly, and passed a weary hand over his face. "We're having a disagreement about whether I'm going to our family dinner next week, that's all."
Alex's frown deepened as Jeb, Rivune, and Ivohn exchanged glances and Todd finished toweling his hair dry. She turned her eyes pointedly to Callias and snapped, "You can't stop him from going home to visit his family, Callias, that's not fair."
Callias showed his palms to the group. "Oh, that's not the side I'm on," He huffed. "I told him to go. He doesn't want to."
That brought the rest of them up short, and Alex blinked over at her boyfriend for an explanation as Kro groaned. Jeb was just blinking, as if he couldn't process that information, and when she glanced to the other Ward brother, Ivohn was tilting his head in complete bafflement.
"But . . . you always go," Rivune said slowly, arms folded from where she stood near Todd. "Why would you stop? Jeb's the one who just burned their whole relationship and had to start over." She ignored Jeb's indignant yelp and Todd's wince, staring at her friend.
Kro looked over them all and gave a heavy sigh, his shoulders dropping in resignation. "Because." He said as if the words were dragged out of him, and Callias took a half-step closer and put a hand on his lower back. It seemed to ease his struggle despite his frustration, and he reached across his front to rub the join of his neck and shoulder, reluctantly answering, "If I go this year it will just be a repeat of my hundredth birthday, worse this time, and I really don't want to deal with it, that's all."
Jeb frowned. "What happened on your hundredth birthday?" He asked blankly.
"Dude." Todd winced, and then froze, eyes widening as he visibly did some calculating.
"We weren't born yet on your hundredth," Ivohn reminded their oldest brother, reclining back on the couch again and looking at him searchingly. "What blew up so bad you're refusing to deal with it again?"
Todd sputtered. "You're over a hundred?" He didn't wait for an answer before whirling on Jeb. "I knew your brothers were older but I didn't know you meant that much older - wait, was that wenty-four just an equivalency thing? Are you also like -"
"I'm twenty-four," Jeb said flatly. "Ivohn's not that much older, either, I told you, he, Rivune and I all grew up together. Ivohn's twenty-six."
Todd turned back to the oldest Ward brother, hands still gesturing. "So you're - ? How old?" He blurted out incredulously.
Kro rolled his eyes. "One-hundred and forty-nine." He huffed. "One-hundred and fifty next week."
Todd looked from him to Callias. "And you're dating - ?"
"Oh, I'm a hundred and seventy-nine, had my birthday already," Callias said brightly. "This is a much bigger problem for me than for him. But honestly, after you top that first century, as long as you're in the same century . . ." He shrugged both sets of shoulders, feathers chiming faintly.
"So?" Rivune prompted, still looking intently at Kro. "What did happen on your hundredth that you're so eager not to repeat?"
Kro sighed wearily and passed both hands over his face, groaning into them before he answered. "I was an only child for one hundred and twenty-four years." He said flatly. "I was, and am, the heir to the household name. At the end of my first century, when I still wasn't married, Mom and Dad had to have a talk with me about the future of the family name." He was flushing faintly as he talked about it and he wouldn't quite look anyone in the eye.
Callias had softened a little as Kro submitted to explaining, and he spread one of his golden wings around Kro's back, flared around the gargoyle's stone wings as he hooked his fingers in his partner's belt loop. Kro maneuvered the wing closer to him between Callias' wing and arm to partially embrace him back without saying anything about it. Witnessing it, Jeb subconsciously flared his wing around Alex again, tucking her closer against his side with the stone wall it formed. Rivune, in contrast, was completely aware of how she folded hers around Todd's back, flushing, hoping he read into the gesture.
"It wasn't like I hadn't tried," Kro admitted into the quiet room. "Courting. I did. I had figured out by then that I just wasn't interested in women, but even beyond that - there's artifacts and spells to get around that, for heirs -" He waved a hand dismissively - "Even beyond that, I just never clicked with anyone. And I didn't have any intention of settling with someone I didn't want.
"They were disappointed. They told me I was being . . . spoiled. And selfish. But thanked me for being honest, at least, because it meant they had time to try again. Which is why they did, and why they had you, Ivohn, and then Jeb, just in case."
Callias cleared his throat, crimson eyes darkening. "I still think it's fucked up that they told you that, even if that's really why they wanted more children. And it's definitely fucked up to call you spoiled and selfish for wanting love."
Kro sighed. "That part, maybe. But the reason they wanted more . . ." He shrugged one shoulder. "That's the way it is. I failed to provide them with a viable heir, so they needed someone who could."
"You need to stop defending your parents' shitty parenting." Callias grumbled.
As Kro made a noise of protest, Ivohn cut him off. "So what does that have to do with this reunion?" He wanted to know. "I mean, that's messed up, but why would any of that come up again now? Jeb's even dating and they know about it now."
Kro narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You both are," he said pleasantly. "We're all dating, and not one of us picked another gargoyle. Which means once again, our parents are out of suitable heirs. They've given up on Jeb ever producing one, with how much he prefers the company of any creature other than gargoyles. They don't know you're dating at all. And it's been fifty years, and they know I must have been staying with someone. So, it's going to come up again. You're still young enough it'll be polite questions. Another half-century, though, means they'll be grilling me, and I do not want to deal with it. Especially since I've gone and started dating a harpy." He grimaced.
Callias made a sympathetic noise. "The only thing worse than Kro dating a harpy would be Kro dating a harpy that can't have children with him," He said for Todd's benefit.
Todd, Alex, Jeb, and Ivohn all looked at him blankly for a minute. Rivune cleared her throat awkwardly. "He's trans." She hissed at Todd, loudly enough for the others to hear, and they all blinked and there was a chorus of mock-inconspicuous noises as they tried and failed to play it off.
Callias just blinked at them and sighed. "I wasn't exactly hiding it." He said blandly, and turned his attention back to his boyfriend. "But that brings us back to the issue of next week's dinner. Kro, honey, they're going to grill you eventually, unless you plan on never speaking to them again. You should go."
Kro sighed, folding his arms in front of him, shoulders drawing up a little. "I know they will. But the last time I talked to them I yelled and then gave them a lecture. This isn't going to go well, and I'd rather not have that blowup in front of . . ." He trailed off, glowing green eyes searching out his younger brothers guiltily.
Ivohn and Jeb exchanged glances. "I mean, I stole from Dad, yelled at them, defied them, got their windows broken, broke out of the house, and didn't speak to them for weeks," Jeb rattled off, counting them off on his fingers. "Oh, plus lying to them, constantly, a lot."
Clearing his throat, Ivohn raised one finger. "I don't usually get caught lying but I also did absolutely help Jeb with about half of those things. Even when you told us not to. I also invited them to the vampire party and may have been the one who brought up the human going, even before I knew he knew the secret. Plus, I have a vampire girlfriend. My point is, if they find out anything about how my life is actually going I'm in way more trouble than you."
Kro made an irritated noise in his throat and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, you're not," He said slowly. "Because again, I'm the oldest. So the responsibility falls on me. You two were the backups, but the pressure is still on me. And that little footnote in Mom's letter means she's realized at least one of us is dating, Ivohn, and we're going to get a snitfit from them both if neither of us brings anyone."
Ivohn looked at him for another minute, eyes flickering to Callias and back before sighing. His wings tightened to his back in grumpiness but he sat back on the couch and folded his arms. "I'll talk Lillian into coming." he said flatly. "They won't be happy about it, but they'll be polite to her face. Callias they wouldn't even let in the door."
"No," Kro said firmly. "You two do what you were planning otherwise. I'll handle this."
Callias' feathers ruffled again and he frowned at his boyfriend's profile. "Kro . . ."
Ivohn was slumping on the couch, looking a bit uncertain. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Kro insisted. "This isn't your problem, either of you. I see that face, Jeb. Don't even think about it."
Callias grasped his partner's shirt firmly. "Jeb, can I borrow your room to get a moment with your brother?"
"This is why we shouldn't have had this conversation in front of them." Kro said pointedly.
"Yeah, sure." Jeb said awkwardly, and Callias tugged Kro into the dorm room and shut the door. Staring after them, Jeb frowned as deep as Alex had ever seen and looked back over at Ivohn. "Did Kro seem . . . Off to you too?"
Ivohn shrugged awkwardly. "I mean, it's Kro. He was definitely upset, but I can't tell who he's most upset at."
"Maybe he's not upset at anyone," Rivune huffed. "Maybe he's upset because this is a lot of pressure that's being put almost entirely on him, and he's so used to taking care of you two that he wasn't even going to tell you he was going through something." She shuffled her wings, folding her arms tighter, and her voice dropped a little. "He really didn't think he could tell any of us he was struggling."
That put a heavy damper on everyone's moods, and Jeb and Ivohn both shrank in their seats. Ivohn looked distinctly uncomfortable and almost defensive about it, while Jeb just looked close to tears.