stykera | MHA #4, Saturday Morning

Last night had been a good night. Stark's suit had suffered a little once they made their way from the party back to Summer's apartment but that was to be expected. The suit, along with Summer's dress, was on the floor of the bedroom while Stark and Summer were quite cozy and comfortable in her bed.

It was a good day for a nice, quiet lie-in. Neither of them had any plans or anywhere to be and they had a vague plan for a trip to discuss. Sure, they might need food or coffee at some point but until then they could just enjoy a peaceful morning, together.

"I said I would show you the hotels I looked at," Stark said. "Here." It had taken a minute to locate his phone but he was now back in the bed where he belonged, snuggling back up to his favorite person, and holding out the phone for her approval. "The restaurant in this one I think you'll like." Because it was pink.

[For the scandalously modded owner of the apartment and obviously nobody else who else would be there? Honestly. Although, like, I guess people could knock.]

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"They're fighting again," said Calli, with a roll of her eyes, as she led herself be lead back over to the table by Cass and Bixby, half-wondering if this most recent fight had anything to do with her dad's secret Oops-All-Redheads family here. Cass and Bixby were far more interested in the promise of cupcakes, having an eager look into the box to see what was available.

"Oooh!" said Cass, darting a hand in. "Claiming the pink one before Mom does!"

"Or Dad," Bixby pointed out, as he took a much longer time deciding, because he wanted to try and make sure that he didn't pick one that someone else would want.

"And already had mine," Calli said, "so don't worry about me."

"Oh, don't worry," said Cass, already with frosting on her nose as she peeled away the wrapper, "we weren't going to."

And while all this was happening, Summer was just shaking her head and trying not to laugh now. "Yeah," she told Stark, "I'll call him. But seriously, dude? Ignis? Also, like, how do you end up having a kid with a chocobro before I do when I've known them for practically ever? I mean, I guess I could have one running around. Maybe I should check the gym...."

But her phone was already out and she was pulling up Ignis' number, and she was making the call and waiting for him to pick up, so she just left a message.

"Heeeeey, Igggggy, it's Suuuuuuummmer. I'm sure you're already drowning in fake kids from your hot goth girlfriend, but Stark picked up a stray that's apparently yours and his. Anyway, her name is Calli, she seems very smart and judgmental and has a coffee cupcake that she's saving for you, so, quite honestly, I'd believe it. Call me back when you get the chance, we'll keep an eye on her until then! Oh, hey, and if you hear anything from Gladio, by like, any chance, let me know? I'm just curious. Okay, talk to you soon, byeeeee-eeeee."

And then she ended the call and looked at Stark. "Well. Guess we'll see where that gets us."

Watching the three of them looking over the cupcakes was, at least, a solid indication they were all his. Or belonged to some version of him at least.

"That will go much better coming from you than from me," Stark said to Summer. "I think."

Why couldn't he have had a nice shirtless child with Gladio, instead? ~~or better yet, Prompto!~~

"Come have a cupcake with us," he continued, reaching for her hand.

"Yeah, Mom!" the gingers chorused around mouthfuls of cake.

"They aren't even gross," Cass said, grinning.

"Of course they're not gross," said Calli, immediately offended at the implication. "Why would I pick out gross cupcakes?"

But the frown of consternation that wrinkled her brow was growing deeper by the moment, not at all helped when Stark held out his hand for Summer's and she took it. She looked at Summer for a moment, before her eyes went back to her dad.

"So do you...both...have...girlfriends here?"

"Oh, no," Summer interjected quickly, "I'm not--"

"Everybody," Cass interrupted her mother's interruption, "has all sorts of weird mom and dad combos for this week. You went through the portal, right? This is where all our parents met--"

"Not all," Bixby reminded her, "Ziya's mom was from before, remember?"

"Oh, yeah! Okay, so it's where some parents met. You'll see when we leave the apartment, there's gonna be kids like us everywhere, and parents like our Dad who are all confused about all of it. It's pretty fun. I'm glad we came back again this year."

"I'm glad you enjoy the confusion," Stark said, giving Cass some serious side-eye. "Someone ought to."

"It's an odd weekend," he said, turning his attention back to Calli. "For everyone. You're familiar with the island but not with...this? You knew where my apartment was. And the bakery. And the house in the woods."

He wasn't going to address the 'girlfriend' question. Best just to let that go.

Calli shrugged a little, pulling out a phone from her pocket and holding it up to demonstrate. "I ran some logistics," she said, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "And I think....some of it was just some kind of...intuition, I guess? When I showed up, all I really knew was that I should find you two."

A beat.

"After getting cupcakes."

"Where do you live then?" Stark asked. "If not on the island?"

Had Ignis moved him somewhere in this very strange version of reality? That was odd enough in and of itself.

"You did very well, tracking down the cupcakes and me."

"Insomnia," Calli said, a little slowly, with a sort of uncertainty that came from the bizarre feeling of one of your fathers asking you questions they should already know. Her eyes also darted to Bixby and Cass to see if there was any recognition about it from them. "That's where I took the portal from. And it really wasn't that difficult, all I had to do was run a locator that told me where I was, and then I just searched for your names and a residential directory popped up listing where you're both apparently staying. Pretty straightforward, honestly."

"I didn't know we had a directory," Stark said. "But this island is always a surprise. You should tell your fathers you want to visit, the other version of them, sometime."

What could possibly go wrong there?

"And...Insomnia is where Ignis is from, originally, isn't it? I've never been. Yet?"

Alternate universes were weird, okay?

MHA #4, Saturday Morning

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