Prompt - Something Lost, Something Found

[infringe]

SONG OF THE SEA ( joshua, alecto ) A selkie far from home, searching for his coat. He meets a kind, lonely, young fisherman who tends the lighthouse near the sea.

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[infringe]

Thankfully, Percy nursed relatively well and Alecto could close his eyes for a little bit as his family ate the humble meal before them. He, himself, only had a bite or two, giving the rest of his bowl to Avery who was clearly hankering for seconds. It was no matter, Alecto thought, since he could go after some cod or other whitefish later tonight when he takes the kids out for a swim.

Well. Two of his kids at least.

He pauses to think on that, looking down at the infant in his arms. Percy looked so small and helpless. So bare. At this age, both Avery and Daphne had already learned how to at least tread water on their own if not playing about in the waves, snapping their jaws at prawns and seaweed in imitation of their elders hunting. But Percy...oh, he would never quite be able to do that, would he?

Alecto glances across the table at Joshua, unsure how to share what he's thinking, what he has been thinking this whole time, fearful of what the future holds for their new son. Their absolutely ordinary, painfully human son.

[singinthestorm]

He does his best to keep the children occupied with eating and talking with each other, succeeding with the ease of long practice, the conversation light and meandering and filled with childish glee and complaints and non-sequiturs, so Alecto can focus. He can't help the way his gaze drifts throughout - he always would be a little distracted, with Alecto in the vicinity - and he takes a few stolen moments to appreciate the lovely picture of Alecto nursing Percy, a sight that was both familiar and not, strange and beautiful in the connection it spoke of, the exquisite impossibility of his life for the past few years since he'd returned to this small town on the water and met the love of his life.

He's not sure what it is that Alecto is thinking of, the uncertainty of his gaze as he meets Joshua's eyes, and he automatically stands as the children finish their food, sorting out the breakable objects from the sturdier ones, and setting the two of them (reluctantly) to the task of washing and drying the utensils they had used, and the wooden bowls and plates, setting the more fragile dishes aside for later. They are easily placated by this sanctioned opportunity to play with the water and he leaves them to it, coming back over to Alecto to sit beside him, automatically wrapping an arm around his shoulder and kissing his temple.

"What is it you're thinking about, dearest?" He asks softly, curious and wondering. He gazes down at Percy, eyes closed, mouth working rhythmically as he nurses, and gently strokes back his downy hair, before he meets Alecto's eyes.

[infringe]

"I'm thinking about," he sighs, a look of guilt beginning to spill onto his brow, "how Percy is going to feel growing up so different from his siblings. I'm thinking about how he might come to...resent us somehow."

He shifts the infant in his arms, wincing slightly at the scrape of little baby teeth against his skin. He wonders, rather idly, when Percy would eventually ween and realizes he knows next to nothing about how a human child develops and what they need as they grow. Just that they need a lot more time and patience than a selkie pup ever would to do just about anything and everything.

Alecto turns into his husband's hold just a bit more (the tilt of the position makes Percy gurgle for some reason). "...I think maybe we could use some help from your sister. I remember you suggested that early on and I had been too...stubborn to consider it."

[singinthestorm]

He leans down again, accommodating the shift, presses a kiss into Alecto's dark hair, breathing him in, considering his response. After all, it was because of Joshua that Alecto was in this position, a selkie on land, married to a human and bearing him children; he has no doubt that Alecto loved Percy, even if he didn't yet know how to relate to him, but at the heart of the matter was the love they had for each other, that underlay everything about their life now, together.

"We'll just have to do our best," he replies, quiet and calm, with his usual patience and assurance. "There's only so much we can do, other than love all the children to the best of our ability, care for them, and make sure they have what they need."

He hums thoughtfully at Alecto's suggestion; it had been on his mind, but he didn't want to push. "I trust Kate absolutely, and I think she already suspects, after the commotion your family made at our wedding," he says, trying to inject some levity. "But if she comes here to help with the house and the baby, and to live with us..." There really would be no denying the truth of what Alecto and Avery and Daphne were.

[infringe]

Alecto huffs, ever anxious, prickly and stubborn in contrast to his husband’s calm, gentle perspective in times of duress. “I know. It’ll require some explaining. And she might need some time to adjust to it all. We’re not exactly a traditional family by any means - ah.” He frowns, looking down at Percy who was suddenly fussing and therefore gnawing and gnashing. Goodness, human babies were so mercurial.

“But,” he glances back up at Joshua, placing his trust in him (as he always had, for so many years now, in everything), “I think it’ll be worth it. And I think it’s about time for us to include more of your side of the family into…well, everything. It’ll be good for the children too.” For Percy’s sake especially, he thinks.

[singinthestorm]

He reaches down without looking, strokes the side of Percy's cheek to settle him down again and latch on to Alecto to finish nursing properly, maintaining the eye contact between them. "I'll write to her in the morning then," he says, by way of agreement. "But it'll take two weeks at the earliest for her to arrive. Do you want me to arrange for some help in the meantime? I could find someone from town, or change the shifts at the lighthouse. Or we could ask Pippa to watch Daphne and Avery for a little while, to give you some more time with Percy."