CHAPTER FOUR. *ೃ༄
❝ THE FUTURE CAPULET.  ❞

☂

"Our son?"

Both Diego and Poet stared at the child with shock, glancing at each other to make sure he looked like both of them.

"Diego, Poet," Lila started, hands still gripping onto a briefcase while glancing to her left to the child, "meet Stan." The child stared at them, as if he wasn't thrilled to see them, and Lila pushed him. "Say hello, Stanley!"

"Hello, Stanley."

"Wait," Poet furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"Hey," both Diego and Poet immediately walked towards the woman, Poet glancing at the child. As she did so, Diego stood in front of Lila. "Hey, this is a... It's a joke, right?"

"That your boys can swim fast?" Lila joked, winking at Poet who stared at her, awaiting for an answer. "I haven't had him long but, I found him when I traveled to the future. Why did I bring him here? Well, you two died. It's time for you two to do your part. Have fun bonding."

"Oh, my God," Poet shook her head.

"Be good for your auntie," Lila told Stanley who simply stared after her. He looked back to the two people now in front of him, clearly just as unamused.

"So..." the kid spoke. "You got any food?"

"Um, yeah," Poet slowly nodded, still processing the unexpected news. "Um, we were just eating Chinese food. You want some...?"

"That can wait," Diego went in between as if protecting Poet from him. Diego looked down at her. "We need to be cautious in case this isn't our son. We don't have evidence if he even is."

"I know that you were, and still are, wearing one of Mom's ring when you two traveled to the past and you ended up at a mental hospital," Stanley recited, clearly making the two slowly turn their heads to look at him. "What?"

"Did Lila know you were wearing the ring...?" Poet mumbled to the man, who tried to remember but wasn't too sure. His silence was her answer and his loud thoughts of constantly telling him to remember was also her answer. "Look, we'll just take care of him. Lila wouldn't be too messed up to just drop off a random child."

"I doubt that," Diego breathed out. Poet comfortingly smiled at him as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Let's just... go to our room," she requested. "He can meet Paris and Lorna, who I'm sure are already there." Diego simply nodded and walked off, leaving Poet with Stanley. "You're a lot smaller."

"I am not that short."

"Hmm," Poet smiled, "I beg to disagree." Stanley chuckled as they walked off. "How old are you?"

"I'm 12," he responded and Poet hummed, tilting her head. "And no, I can't tell you how both died. And no, I didn't get your powers."

"Weird..." Poet voiced. "But, you should take a nap while we figure something out. We need to upgrade our parenting skills... Well, Diego does."

Throughout the rest of the night, Stanley had gone to sleep after he chased after Paris, and yes, he met Paris and Lorna who obviously were just as shocked and skeptical.

"What do you mean he's your future child?" Lorna questioned as the two eyed Paris speeding around the kid. He stopped, though, midway, to poke Stanley as if trying to make sure he was actually a living person.

"Lila dropped him off," Poet said but Lorna, not knowing who Lila was, gave her a confused look. Poet spent the entire night explaining to Lorna on the issues that had occurred since the beginning.

When it was morning, Poet checked up on Stanley, who was already buzzing with energy. She wasn't very happy about it, but at least she had more patience compared to Diego.

Diego and Poet were eating, Poet requesting Stanley to buy some food near their table while giving him money. Stanley clearly obliged, just happy to not be around them both, and walked off from the couple.

"Christ," Stanley commented as he grabbed the plate of food, heading to a table Poet instructed him to sit by so she can still keep a close eye on him, "this place is a dump."

"That little delinquent is your guys' son?" Klaus asked the two as they stared at the child.

"Allegedly our son," Diego muttered with such an annoyed tone, not wanting to believe Lila.

Now, don't get him wrong. He would love to have a child with Poet, she's amazing. But, he would've been more happier if the kid wasn't accompanied by Lila and didn't give off such a weird vibe.

"That's so funny!" Klaus laughed as Five popped up.

"Wait... who dropped him off?" He asked, looking at Stanley as he ate.

"Lila."

"Excuse me?" Klaus looked at the couple, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked at Poet while placing his hand on top of hers. "I'm so sorry, babes. I'm sorry you had to see her after what she tried to pull but couldn't."

Poet chuckled, shaking her head. She moved her plate aside as she felt a gush of wind, alerting her that Paris was now sitting next to her as well as Lorna who was now staying at the hotel.

"Woah," Five said, paying full attention to his older brother, "Lila's here?"

"She was," Poet answered, ignoring the awkward tension forming between Five and Paris. She slightly puffed her cheeks while she glanced at Lorna who looked at her as she drank.

"She dropped him off in our laps last night then bolted," Diego continued.

"I don't much care for that one," Klaus commented.

"Don't."

"I guess she's technically family if she helped with the child who is family," Five said which received glared from the Capulets and Diego. Klaus looked at his brother with a look.

"She was trying to murder us, like, yesterday," he said, stealing the fries Lorna had received because of Paris.

"Yeah, like I said, "family"," Five turned to look at the couple who kept looking at Stanley. "Is she coming back?"

"Well, she goddamn better be," Diego grabbed Poet's hand, "because we got more important things to be dealing with right now!"

"Diego," Poet looked at him, slapping his arm while turning to look at Stanley. "Continue eating your food Stanley."

"Calm down," Klaus told his brother. He turned to look at Poet. "Have you tried hearing their minds? You know, do the whole witchy powers thing?"

"I tried," Poet shrugged. "I can't hear anything. It's almost as if they blocked their minds so I won't be able to read them, which is already a red flag."

They stayed quiet, but Paris left to go sit with Stanley.

"Hi," Paris greeted. "You want something to eat?"

Poet smiled a little at the interaction, feeling a presence beside her. She glanced at Vanya, though, she was taken aback by the new haircut she now wore.

"Where's Luther?" She asked.

"Who cares?" Diego questioned. "Probably out for... a run."

"Mmm!" Klaus made a sound as he looked at the haircut. "Love the haircut."

"It suits you," Poet smiled at her and Vanya smiled back before she continued to talk. Poet turned to look at her sister. "Are you going to be staying here?"

"I'm leaving to Europe soon," Lorna said. "You know how much I've been wanting to travel so, I'll stay here for, like, two days or so and then I'll leave."

"Wow, our sister is so grown up," Julian commented from behind her as he appeared. "Will you come back to visit?"

"You know I will."

"Wait, what?" They snapped out of it at hearing Diego's voice. "You talked with the enemy?" Poet looked to Klaus for explanation and he simply mumbled "Sparrows" as if forgetting he can say it in his head and she'll be able to hear it. "By yourself?"

"Somebody had to do something," Vanya defended herself.

"Who elected you, Vanya?" Diego asked.

Vanya stayed quiet before looking down and back up to everyone. "It's, um, Viktor."

"Who's Viktor?" Diego questioned again and Poet smiled as she shook her head a little at Diego's slowness.

"I am," Viktor now answered. "It's who I've always been." Everyone stayed quiet and Viktor was beginning to get nervous. "Uh, is that an issue for anyone?"

"Nah, I'm good with it," Diego said.

"Yeah, me too," Klaus piped in. "Cool."

Viktor looked at Poet, who still hadn't said anything. Poet was simply quiet because she was waiting for the siblings to say something. "You look amazing, Viktor."

Viktor smiled before glancing at Five who spoke, "Truly happy for you, Viktor. But last time I checked, you don't speak for this family."

"Okay, well," Viktor moved to sit on a chair beside Poet, "it's fine, okay? Marcus totally gets it. He doesn't want a war any more than we do."

"What are you talking about?" Diego questioned, giving Viktor a look. "He tried to homicide us!"

"So did Lila, and she saved your child," Klaus retorted. Both Diego and Lorna turned to glare at him while Poet minded her own business. She was just grateful that Lila did save their child, if he was in fact their child.

"That's not the point!" Diego argued.

"We made a deal," Viktor continued. "He's gonna give back Five's briefcase, then we're gonna get out of the timeline. We're gonna meet later today for the, uh, the handover."

"Oh, thank God!"

"That's a rookie move," Diego tightened his hold around Poet's hand. "Dude is playing you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah," Diego nodded, "but maybe we can use this. And we turn it back on them, and then we wipe them the bell out."

"Diego, I love you," Poet spoke, turning to look at him the same time Viktor groaned at his brother's words, "but let's see if Marcus follows through it."

"And," Viktor emphasized, "you're not gonna, like, do anything today."

"Except bond with your spawn," Klaus looked at Diego who kept his gaze down at the table, clearly opposed to the idea of dealing with the child they weren't even sure was theirs.

"Alleged spawn."

"I will get the briefcase," Vikto said, "and then we will all go back and fix the timeline."

"Hey," Five now spoke, disagreeing with Viktor's words, "we're not going anywhere! This is a perfectly acceptable timeline."

"Yeah, why don't you tell that to Allison, who's upstairs grieving her daughter, who doesn't even exist here!" Viktor argued back with Five and Poet stopped eating the food she had been craving. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Not to mention, we've been replaced by a bunch of blobs and cubes and birds and shit!" Diego argued next, sitting back in his chair."

"News flash, geniuses!" Five looked at his siblings one by one. "It's not about us! Take a look around. If you hadn't notice, there's no doomsday. There's no apocalypse. The sun is shining. Birds are doing whatever the hell birds do. That's all that matters. We're done messing with time. And I'm officially retired."

As Five left, Klaus sniffed him, looking back at everyone with a concerned expression. "Is he wearing aftershave? I'm concerned."

Five looked at Paris and sighed, calling out to him. Said boy looked at him and Five tilted his head. "Let's talk."

Poet, on the other hand, recited Viktor's words in her head. As Lorna snorted at Klaus's comment about Five, all Poet could do was look off. "I'll be back. I'm going to check up on Allison. Diego, keep a close eye on Stanley."

She stood and Diego sighed. "I'll try."

"Keep a close eye on him."

"Fine, fine. I will."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This totally isn't up to 2k
words... totally not...

This is why chapters take long
because I have to look at the episode,
pause to catch the dialogue and type
it down, then I have to write my oc's
own dialogue so please bear with me 🥲
i have to look at almost 1 hour episode while
constantly pausing to write down what
the characters are saying.