"Morning, highschoolers" Ashton said with a proud smile on his face as his two kids made their way into the spacious kitchen. It had been over a week since they moved in to their new house, and almost everything was unpacked. A few boxes were still scattered around random places in the house, mostly in the garage and Leon's room, but Ashton was too exhausted to scold Luke and Leon for it.

It was now the first day of school; high school. Ashton and Luke had had a long conversation in bed last night, mumbling quietly about how fast their kids had grown up. Peach and Leon were starting high school today. They were grown up now, teenagers and everything, and Ashton didn't even care about the fact that he had shed a tear or two before falling asleep yesterday.

To his defense though; Luke had sobbed like a baby.

"Morning" both Leon and Peach answered, Peach a whole lot more excited than her brother. They both earner long suffocating hugs from Ashton, Leon staying in Ashton's hold just a bit longer than he had to, making the father feel the nervousness surrounding the young boy.

Leon acted like Ashton hadn't noticed a thing, and sat down by the marble kitchen island, nibbling on his bottom lip as his nerves were about to explode inside of him.

"Are you guys excited?" Ashton asked while placing a plate of pancakes on the table, joining the mass of plates with breakfast food on the table that his husband had done earlier. Luke always exaggerated with stuff like these when he was either nervous, happy, and/or excited.

"Nervous," Peach answered with a smile as she reached for a toasted bread. "But I'm excited too. Hopefully it will be fun"

"Yeah" Leon agreed in a low mumble, not saying anything else before nibbling on his perfectly golden pancake.

"It will be great, trust me. You guys have never complained about schoolwork so that won't be a problem. And you'll gain so many new friends, it will be fantastic" Ashton assured them, smiling warmly at his favorite two people in the whole wide world, before turning his head when watching another one of his favorite people in the whole wide world stumble in to the kitchen with wet hair and a hesitant look on his face.

Luke stopped by the other side of the kitchen island, looking back and forth at Peach and Leon before pouting childishly. "Stay home here with me please. We can play Mario Cart and watch The Lion King like we used to when you two were only, like, one foot tall. Stop growing up, please"

"Don't tempt them," Ashton said and slapped Luke's leg with the kitchen towel he was holding in his hand. "And how do you expect to have time to be home when we open the restaurant on Friday?"

"Yeah," Luke breathed out, a satisfied smile spreading on his lips. "Look at us, the family is growing up. Who would have thought?" he asked as he reached out to curl an arm around his husband's shoulders, bringing him close to his side. Ashton smiled, Peach mirrored his expression, and Leon carefully looked up from his plate of food to look at his fathers.

Leon thought he was stupid and quite frankly rude for being nervous about his first day of school because of how people would react to the family he came from. Leon still remembers the unthreatening teasing in preschool about how his fathers were weird for kissing each other. Leon didn't understand it at the time, but he did now.

He had just grown up to realize that the world hadn't changed a thing as years had gone by. People were still talking like if what Luke and Ashton did was wrong, and it was so hard for Leon out of all people to make people understand that it was not. Love is love, no matter what gender, and everyone loves love. Leon didn't understand how people didn't get that?

But that didn't mean he was ashamed of his parents, it was the complete opposite really. Leon wanted to stay by his fathers' sides forever, because that's where he felt the safest. Leon had barely left Luke's side in the 14 years he had been living, and when Ashton came along Leon had another hero by his side.

Leon was just worried that without them, he wouldn't be able to make it. Because high school is big- huge, actually- and going from being homeschooled to start high school all of a sudden was so frightening. Even more so when his sister seemed so confident and excited.

But at least Leon had Peach, and he knew that if there ever would be a time where he needed a guard, she would be there. She was freakishly strong for a 14 year old girl, and Leon thought she was as great as his fathers. Leon didn't need to fight anyone away from her, she would be able to keep the bad boys away all by herself.

"-what do you say, Leon?" Luke spoke, interrupting his son's thoughts and making the young blonde look up with a startled expression.

"Yeah, um, what?" Leon stumbled, causing Peach to snort at him. Luke smiled and released his hold on Ashton to lean forwards against the kitchen island, leveling down with his son.

"Would you like to come to the restaurant after school? You know, to check the place out and all now when it's basically finished?" Luke asked, the same proud tint in his voice always there when he talked about the restaurant. His own restaurant.

"Um, yeah. That sounds good" Leon said, smiling at his father's happy face before glancing down at his plate again. Worry still flooded his mind, but seeing both his fathers so happy made things easier for the young blonde.

"Great!" Ashton exclaimed, sometimes not realizing how loud he could get when he was happy. Peach flinched at the sound, giving her father a small glare which Ashton only returned with a wide grin. "Then you can tell us all about the your day and we'll have dinner in the restaurant. You can help your father cook up something from the menu"

"And when will you help cook something from the menu? Or something at all for that matter?" Peach asked and raised an eyebrow at her father, a content look on her face every time she knew she was a step ahead.

"I'm banned from the kitchen, I'm sticking to the office. I have a lot of job applications and interviews to go through, along with a ton of bills your father has no idea how to deal with. I don't have time to cook at the moment" Ashton made it sound like such an easy thing, but the kids chuckled at the way he always got himself out of his worst element.

Luke was about to argue with his husband, seeing as Ashton had had a lot of time during their lives together to at least learn how to cook something more complicated than ramen noodles, but was cut off by the front door opening and closing, causing Luke to frown. He counted the people in the kitchen, even the fat grumpy cat by Peach's feet, and knew his whole family was already home.

"Good morning, kidlets!" was heard from the hallway and Luke relaxed as he rolled his eyes at the familiar voice.

"You're supposed to knock. Next time the alarm will go off and you'll be suspected as a burglar" Luke said and turned to the big entrance of the kitchen, watching Calum walk in with his uniform still on. His tie was no longer hanging around his neck, and his light blue button up shirt was unbuttoned, showing off the white undershirt with Chicago's police department logo on his chest.

"I'm a cop," Calum answered as he stepped into the kitchen and shrugged, "I am the alarm system."

Leon chuckled at that, making Calum turn to look at him and Peach with one of those wide smiles only Calum could create. Those smiles who made the whole room light up, and Leon once again felt less worried for a second or two.

"Look at you! So grown up and ready to leave the nest" Calum spoke and shook his head in disbelief before walking over to hug them both in one go, his muscular arms keeping them in place until he was ready to let go. Which was a long time after.

Leon groaned for him to let go, having to act up on the fact that he was now a grumpy teenager, but really Leon wanted to stay in Calum's hold a whole lot longer. He wasn't ready to leave the nest.

"Are you off to work?" Ashton asked as he handed Calum a cup of coffee as the man had sat down. Ashton did the same to Luke, earning a sweet kiss on his lips as a thank you.

"No, I just got off. I worked a night shift tonight so I'm gonna go home and sleep soon enough. I have a day off tomorrow so there's no rush though. I just really wanted to see the teenagers before they left for school" Calum explained and sent Peach and Leon yet another smile.

"You let Michael be alone the whole night? What kind of mother are you?" Luke asked in a sarcastically dramatical voice, causing his kids to laugh and his heart to warm up. Calum rolled his eyes, still on the edge when it came to his and Michael's so called 'relationship'. ("For the last damn time; we are not together! I swear to god, if we were together we would have been married since the second grade!")

The teasing didn't stop though. Calum and Michael both already acted like an old married couple.

"He's not some baby, he can take care of himself," Calum mumbled and took a sip of the coffee, humming in delight. "And if not, he can come here. Seems to me you guys have place for another person in this humble domain. Or what do you say, Pimp Daddy?"

"Shut up" Luke mumbled against the brim of his coffee, once again rolling his eyes when his family laughed at him.

"I mean, two Mr. Big Shots and two high schoolers under the same ceiling, all in my knowledge. Never would I have believed this 9 years ago when you were both living in your dingy apartments and worked in slavery for the government" Calum said, glancing around the room as he breathed out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, and now it's only you who's slaving for the government" Ashton said and patted Calum on the shoulder before going back to his plate of breakfast. This time Calum rolled his eyes but didn't argue.

"So," he spoke up instead and looked at the teenagers across from him, "Do you want me to drive you to school?"

"In the police car?" Peach asked and grimaced. "No thank you, I'd rather not have people thinking I'm a criminal the first day of school"

"No one would think that," Calum said and huffed. "It would only make people understand you know a cop and then they wouldn't dare to cross your paths. Going in a police car is cool"

"Alright, I'll hold you to that the next time I'm in the back of a police car" Leon spoke and smirked small as he picked up his glass of juice, mentally laughing out loud when Ashton slapped his uncle on the arm.

"Calum!" Ashton scolded, making Peach and Leon look at each other and laugh. Luke snorted and shook his head, chuckling at the content looks on his kids' faces.

"No, they don't need a ride. We're all going there so Ash and I can have a talk with the principal, then we're going straight to the restaurant," Luke explained. "We thought about eating dinner there. You are welcome to tag along. You know, you and the wifey, that is"

Luke smirked at what he had said, a content grin spreading on his face as his family chuckled at his lame joke. Calum didn't laugh though. He rolled his eyes and took a gulp from his coffee before standing up.

"Funny. Michael being my wife, haven't heard that one before," he mumbled sarcastically and slapped the back of Luke's head before walking around the table to engulf the teenagers in a hug once again. "Love you guys, have a great day today. Make me proud"

"Love you too" Peach and Leon responded in one go, making Calum smile warmly.

Calum walked around the table again, ignoring Luke's open arms and walked over to Ashton instead, hugging the older boy closely, making Ashton chuckle. "I love you as well. Bummed you ended up with such an idiot, right?" Calum mumbled and glanced back at Luke and gave him a glare before tugging Ashton closer in a mocking way.

"Yeah, such a bummer" Ashton joked and wrapped his arms around Calum, making the simple hug look so much more intimate. The dramatic and common acting was enough to make the kids laugh, but Luke only rolled his eyes again. Sometimes his friends pissed him off. Most of the times, actually.

"Now you're funny. Trying to steal my husband because you can't get any of your own, haven't seen that one before" Luke shot at his friend, causing Calum to pull away from Ashton and laugh loudly before walking over and throwing his arms around Luke.

"Kind of love you too," Calum said and patted Luke's chest. It kind of took the breath out of Luke, the way Calum so effortlessly yet harshly patted his chest, but he acted like it didn't affect him at all. He was 30 goddamnit, he couldn't whine about being weak in front of his children.

"And I mean, if I'm 'dating' Michael, based on your false suspicions, I should be able to have a relationship with Ashton before I get married. It's only fair" Calum explained and looked at Luke with a teasing grin.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peach asked and furrowed her eyebrows as she looked between her fathers and her uncle. Ashton laughed and shook his head before turning around to place the empty coffee cups in the sink.

"Well, since your father dated Michael in high school-"

"Wait, what?" Peach asked, her eyes wide and her lips tugging at the corners, creating an amused smile. Leon looked the same, except his expression only looked unbelievably frightened at the news. He did not enjoy the images of his father and his uncle that were slowly showing in his mind.

"Ew" Leon managed to breathe out, making Ashton let out one of his infamous warm giggles.

"What, he didn't tell you?" Calum asked, obviously enjoying giving the kids these news. Luke rolled his eyes, again. "Yeah, Luke and Mikey dated for like two years in high school, had plans to get married and everything"

"This is gold" Peach laughed. Leon only grimaced. Luke shook his head and held his hands up to stop Calum from going any further.

"We did not date for two years, we barely dated for one. And we didn't date, we we're just.. together" Luke said, scrunching his face up when Ashton breathed out an amused 'oh my god' at Luke's lack of explanation.

"That's the same thing, dad" Peach pointed out. Calum smirked.

"No it's not. We weren't dating, we were friends who were just a little closer than normal. Friends who kissed from time to time-"

Leon cut his father off by making loud uncomfortable grunts, the grimace on his face telling Luke that he did not enjoy the way his father tried to go deeper into things. Peach's amused smile grew. Calum and Ashton chuckled.

"Alright, whatever. It wasn't anything serious anyway. It ended in like junior year, before I met your-" Luke started but stopped before he manage to word out the last of the sentence.

The room grew quiet, and there was absolutely no need for it. It was just that Leon's mother had become sort of a tabu in their family, where no one talked about her and no one dared to ask. Ever since Luke's last encounter with her he felt best to just push her out of his mind for good, and Ashton did not complain about his decision.

But the way Leon was now looking at his father with big soft blue eyes, millions of questions containing those colorful ocean irises, Luke had a hard time knowing if he did the right thing or not. He had told himself that when Leon was old enough, he'd tell him everything he wanted to know, and after that Leon would be able to decide what he wanted to do about all the newfound information. But for now, Luke just hoped Leon would stay by his side for good.

Leon smiled after a second of silence, silently telling his father that he understood, that things were alright, before going back to the food on his plate. Luke licked his lips and breathed out of his nose.

"Whatever, enough about my past. Let's focus on the future," he spoke, earning small smiles from his children and light sympathetic looks from his husband and best friend. "Let's get you to school"

It wasn't until Calum was helping Ashton tidying the kitchen and Peach had ran up to her room to finish getting ready that Luke found himself in the arms of his son, slim arms wrapped around him in the most loving way possible.

"It's okay, dad" Leon whispered and Luke smiled against the top of Leon's dirty blond hair.

"I know" Luke murmured and hugged back, feeling his heart sting lightly when Leon only tightened his hold on his father. Luke had seen the slight hesitation and nervousness in Leon's eyes for weeks now, about school and everything, and it was hard for Luke to let his son go, knowing fully fell he wasn't quite ready yet.

"You know it's okay too, bud. Nothing to be worried about" Luke whispered, hoping a few more of his soothing words would finally assure Leon that everything would be alright.

"Yeah," Leon mumbled and pulled away from his father's hold. He cleared his throat and showed off a sheepish smile. "I know"

Leon did know. It just didn't stop him from worrying. Leon's scared, but that's okay. Right?

•••

basically still the prologue lmao but first day of school is next up so that's when the story is on its go

also i have the whole story figured out now, so i hope you'll like it and that it will gain the same positive responses as fatherhood did:)

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