Tea!
Cyril hugged her back happily, only letting go after a moment as Xav chuckled. Cheesecake? Now? That was a luxury that they couldn’t afford back home, so Xav didn’t even need Cyril’s pleading eyes to quickly agree. “Cheesecake would be great.”
“Uncle ‘Lex!” Cyril squealed, running over to Alex as soon as he saw the other as Xav rolled his eyes.
“Hey, c’mon, Alex isn’t short. He’s fun-sized.” Xav looked happy to see his brother, brother-in-law, and nephew, following his son at a slower pace. “Alex, Zee, Aeon…”
Asimov, it had been too long. He wasn’t even sure what to say.
“N-not short,” Alex huffed, setting Aeon down so he could hug Cyril. Aeon, meanwhile, peered around at the adults and squeaked, making a beeline for Xav at a toddler’s run.
“’Xaaaaa’y!”
The brunet chuckled as he watched Aeon line up for a tackle at Xav’s legs, calling out a “Gentle!” to keep the toddler from tackling at full force - Xav was made of sterner stuff than he looked, but Aeon wasn’t always careful, and his adopted brother looked so tired that Alex didn’t want to risk anything.
Fortunately, Aeon listened and slowed his pace from a breakneck run to a walk, stuttering the last few steps and ending up falling in Xav’s direction instead of tackling his shins.
Meanwhile, his shorter (but not SHORT) parent waved at their hostess and his brother, offering a shy smile. “H-hey, guys…”
Zee couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out, glad to see his odd little family together. He waved to Xav and Kaida, moving to find himself a seat where he’d be out of anything that still needed done. “How is everyone? No catastrophic life events while we were trying to get Aeon into a shirt?”
