Human AU btw, with child!Emile, and Virgil mentioned as Deceit's brother

Warnings: Implied parental death from past, mentions of fire and being burned, this is a h/c but the warnings are all in the past, lmk if I need to include anything else!

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Dee looked at himself in the mirror again, his gaze flitting over all the scars that the dress revealed on him. He truly loved the dress, though. A black, knee-length dress with a tighter top and a more flowy skirt. It was short-sleeved, and the skirt had golden hearts down at the bottom which crept up and faded into nothingness.

As amazing as it was, though, the scars...

Dee bit his lip. He doesn't remember much from the day he had actually gotten the scars. Hell, he doesn't remember most of his recovery. Dee really only had what his brother and parents had told him to go off. A fire, them getting trapped, Dee shielding Virgil from the flames... And ever since then, Dee's entire left side was left to permanently showcase the tragic event. After all, he couldn't save their parents-

Dee shook his head. None of that, he thinks. But then other thoughts start to crawl into his mind and he's worrying all over again.

Remus and Dee were going to a parent-teacher conference that day. Their son was in kindergarten, and the district made it mandatory for these conferences... Remus was initially gonna be the only one to go, but Emile had given them both the puppy dog eyes, practically begging for Dee to come as well and meet his ultra-sweet teacher, Ms. Hope.

Which meant that there would be lots of little kids in the area. And Dee worried that maybe them seeing his scars would somehow scare them.

He jumped when arms wrapped around him but relaxed into Remus's tight embrace almost immediately. Remus nuzzled Dee's shoulder.

"What's on your mind, my warrior. Usually, you notice me come in before I'm even a foot in the room." Remus said as he pressed gentle, distracting kisses to Dee's exposed neck. Right over the slightly rough skin of the scars.

Dee ran his fingers over Remus's own clasped hands on Dee's stomach. He closed his eyes, not wanting to look in the mirror anymore.

"What if I scare them?"

His voice was barely above a whisper, and it took a moment for Remus to process Dee's words. He looked up, tilting Dee's head towards him.

"What?" His touch was gentle as he turned Dee, one arm still looped around his waist. "Darling, why would they be scared of you?"

Dee kept his eyes closed, and just shook his head, leaning into Remus and burying his face in Remus's chest. Remus held Dee close, pressing soft kisses into Dee's hair.

"You think your scars will scare them?"

Dee nodded.

Remus pulled him closer, moving one of his hands to trail over the scars lightly. He started from Dee's left ear, tracing his face and down his neck, to his exposed shoulder and then his arm. Once he reached Dee's hand, Remus ran his hand up Dee's side slowly until his hand came back to rest at Dee's shoulder.

"They won't scare the kids, Dee. Well, maybe a few will be afraid. But that's because they've probably never seen someone with so many scars-"

"You're not exactly helping," Dee cut in, glaring half-heartedly up at his husband. Remus grinned down at him in return, pressing a kiss to Dee's nose.

"Then let me finish," Remus said, laughing gently as Dee rolled his eyes. Remus caressed Dee's cheek softly though, holding Dee's gaze and hoping Dee saw just how sure Remus was. "But it's only because they've never seen someone with scars. They're kids, Dee. If anything, they won't be scared but more so curious."

Remus brushed Dee's bangs out of his face before pressing a kiss to Dee's forehead.

Remus seemed like he was going to say more, but was suddenly interrupted as someone hugged Dee's waist. Dee laughed at the 5-year-old gripping onto him, reaching down to ruffle Emile's hair.

Emile pressed closer, though. "No one will be scared, Papa, I promise!" He looked up, smiling at Dee brightly. "My friends really want to meet you, too!"

Remus leaned down, detaching Emile from Dee just so he could scoop the child up. Emile laughed as he was placed on Remus's hip.

"Hey Em, don't your Papa look amazing?"

Emile nodded, making grabby hands at Dee. Dee gladly took the child from Remus's arms, holding Emile close as Emile kissed Dee's cheek happily.

Dee was still a bit worried about the scars, but as Emile nuzzled into his neck babbling about how excited he was that people could finally meet his awesome dads, Dee felt most of his anxiety slip away a bit. Remus was probably right, that the kids would be more curious than frightened.

Dee hugged Emile closer as the three of them left the house.