The cookout had been a success so far. Their kids came and played outside though Daisy, Lucky, Leo and Asher had already congregated and were on their phones talking about some kind of young adult thing their parents were "too old" to understand.

Comet walked up to the men and his father manning the grill and they paused their play fighting to stare. "Hi, Dad. Fellow Dads." He then shoved his hands in his pockets and prepared for the fallout.

Steven tried to speak intelligently as he experienced a super nova of emotions but he could do nothing but say, "I love it," more heartbroken than he meant to.

Comet cringed and glanced around to find Connie. "Mom, I did something without asking and Dad's gonna cry!"

Adam wanted to say something so, so badly. But he said nothing. Hazel nudged him and without looking up he nodded very slowly.

Jacob motioned for Connie as she walked up. "Looks like Steven is having a moment."

Connie watched Steven's face cycle between pride at his 13 year old, pain, and half joy, half sadness. He looked upset when it all came together, and with her eyes landing on Comet she had her own moment. "Oh my stars, you cut your hair..."

He had in fact cut his hair. As a child and toddler, he'd gotten Greg's genes for long beautiful hair. He'd loved it for so long, but recently he'd been tying it up in annoyance. And speaking of lately, since he'd turned 10 there was so much black to his outfit if it didn't entirely encompass it. Juniper liked to help pick out his outfits when they went clothes shopping, they shared a love for fashion. He'd often motion for Steven or Connie to come closer so he could fix their hair or flatten their collars. No one to Stevens knowledge saw it coming: the day when his son cut all of it short and then buzzed the sides.

Steven smiled. "I love it." His voice broke and he started glowing, to which Comet raised an eyebrow.

"Dad, you're gonna have to be cool about this cause I'm not done." He glanced behind him and then at the others. "Please don't be embarrassing, Dad."

Adam put the last hotdog on the plate and marveled at the domestic life he was living for the hundredth time that day. Comet looked to him and he held up his hands. "We can leave for this part."

"It's cool, I don't really care." Comet scanned the grass boredly. "It's probably important you don't."

"Steven," Connie cooed as Steven started to choke up harder, pulling him into a hug. "He loves it, he's just surprised you cut all of it off," She assured Comet. "You look very handsome, kiddo."

Comet scratched at his face and swatted at the stray hand of his mother trying to ruffle his head like she used to when he was five. "So I've been told."

Comet, Asher and Azalea were what Jasmin liked to call The Alternative Bunch. Asher was even more quiet, laidback and observational now. His 16th birthday had passed this school year and he'd barely noticed. His teachers had been worried about his lack of participation in class and with other students, but like his father he truly only opened up at home or with his pack.

Azalea had come out as non binary. They'd discovered it by a massive meltdown when Steven asked them to wear a dress for their birthday party since his parents (Karla and Greg) would be coming. They exploded and started sobbing that they hated dresses, they hated girly things and they HATED being called a freaking girl. Connie had rushed in right at that part and both parents exchanged a surprised but confirmatory gaze that they'd heard it right. From then on, Azalea didn't like being called a stupid boy either, so they settled with they/them pronouns. Azalea wore a nice button up and jeans and the crisis was handled. Then they'd shaved half of their hair with a friend at school during lunch and dyed their hair in the school bathroom sink. Their hair came out as blonde as Anna's, with pink roots. Steven just handed the school a check for clean up/replacement and brought his child home to touch everything up with a reminder that they could've just asked him or their mother. The school called Azalea "troubled" but their grades were near perfect, so all three groups of parents had showed up to the meeting and that shut the school up permanently.

But Comet... Comet had sharp wit, he was genuinely funny. He liked to hang out with the adults until they told him to go be a kid because trust them, he would regret it if he didn't. But he, like Azalea, had high grades. He had a massive imagination, he could draw. However above anything else they could be proud of, there was one magic power that couldn't be ignored.

Comet could sing. He was extremely talented, just like his father. When he sang, everything seemed to freeze as soon as you were in ear shot. His voice held feeling, and whatever feeling he felt when he sang, everyone felt it. When he'd turned 10 the songs started to make everyone feel antsy and sad. Steven and Connie had to rewatch Frozen (for the six millionth time) to confirm Steven's knowledge on how bad parents handled a kid with too much extraordinary power. Steven chuckled and got up to explain to Comet the effect of his music, and then praised him relentlessly. The singing didn't stop, he'd made Comet promise to keep singing. So on weekends he'd teach Comet the guitar and Jacob would teach piano classes to Lucky, Phoebe, and (unsurprisingly) Jack.

Steven scrubbed at his eyes and composed himself with deep breathing. "Okay, I'm so so sorry I was just very surprised."

Comet coughed, but it came out as, "Overdramatic," and then rest started to laugh. Comet paid them no mind and sighed impatiently as his mom and dad's partners goaded and teased his father. They all flirted all the time, it was so gross. He loved his parents and their boyfriends and girlfriends, which he was only now really noticing was different from other kids. He really didn't mind, he often found himself taking the role Asher had taken at school. That consisted mostly of protecting the others from bullies and being the all around leader.

And that's when he'd found out more things, like how Moms and Dads like he had used to be super normal (At least on the surface, don't even get him started on Stevonnie). It still was, but less people opened their mouths about relationship stuff. He watched what his parents had and he was a little envious, they had best friends and he sometimes felt like he didn't have any. He was close with all of the other kids, but he felt like he didn't have the same level of cognition than they did. That wasn't to say he thought he was smarter than the other kids, but he felt more grown up sometimes. Being 13 was hard.

However, having two parents and six caregivers made it a little easier in some ways too. There was never a time when everyone was too busy to play with someone. They all had gotten to hear stories, they'd gotten to be praised and scolded at perfect intervals, and they all got their parents at their back too. There was so much safety in the big four house nightmare he lived in with the other kids. He hoped one day he'd find love like that too.

So, he wanted to have all the parents present for this and tried to communicate that as best he could without sounding desperate. "Could we get the other moms, too?"

Connie raised an eyebrow. "Deja Vu. Aright, Comet, I'll grab the other moms."

He grinned. "Thank you, Mommy."

"No!" She called after her with a laugh. "Flattery won't get you anywhere, ask your father."

Comet chuckled and called over Celine. "Hi Celine, you wanna come with big brother on an adventure?"

Celine giggled. "Okay, but only if I can have a snack."

Steven shook himself out of his daze. "No worries, I can grab it. Will you bring one to Seraphine without eating it this time?"

She shrugged, pink eyes meeting his. "I dunno, maybe."

They gathered around the outside dining area that they could finally admit was a luxury. As young adults they'd insisted it was necessary: there were a lot of them, and having giant windows to show outside was good for you. Then the kids started having friends over and they really "took the piss" as Jacob had mumbled when Daisy's friend said her dollhouse was almost big enough to live in. They'd gone overboard on everything for their kids.

Comet sat down with cheese crackers he wasn't interested in and clasped his hands. "I'm gay."

There was a very long silence, the only sound being Celine chewing on her crackers happily. When she swallowed, she exclaimed, "Well, duh!"

Connie crossed her legs. "Okay. Cool."

Steven pumped a fist. "We support you."

"All of us," Anna added with a smile.

Comet blinked and smoothed a hand over his now very short hair. He hadn't expected it to be hard necessarily... but he was expecting a bit more fallout than this. "Okay... is that it? No panicked screaming or hyperventilating or throwing me out?"

Adam snorted. "No. We don't do that. Welcome to being queer."

Comet frowned. "Being what?"

"Queer: denoting or relating to a sexual or gender identity that does not correspond to established ideas of sexuality and gender, especially heterosexual norms."

All eyes turned to six year old Jack to stare and he flashed a thumbs up. He loved to learn and his current favorite thing was to read the freaking dictionary. Even Jacob made a face at that. "I think everyone's cool." He grabbed six juice boxes. "The Big Kids want juice too," He explained, strolling out the door and shouting for everyone to come and get their juice because he was not their servant.

Adam and Hazel looked between Connie and Anna. Hazel sighed heavily and smiled. "Jack got that from you guys."

Comet shrugged. "He probably learned it from Jasmin too."

Jasmin scoffed and playfully chucked a pillow at him. "Nope, I liked the first version better. But besides all that, I'm so happy that you felt comfortable enough to tell us that."

Comet grinned at his parents. "Well, I've got really good parents and stuff. AlsoIwannachangemyname?"

Steven practically had a stroke but nodded in pain. "What do you wanna change it to?"

Comet didn't even hesitate. "Cosmo."

They went quiet again but it was sharp with meaning.

Steven and Connie had suffered an infant death their third try. They'd had premie twins, one of which had just died with no way to save them. Jacob had done his very best to encourage Connie afterwards, he'd been her rock in that moment and it had strengthened their bond. The Original Cosmo and Comet had suffered, but Comet was the only one who'd pulled through.

Steven had awoken when the screaming got worse, thanks to Hazel, and had been holding Cosmo when he died in his arms. "I'm so sorry I can't save you," He'd sobbed. "You'd be a baby forever."

He flashed back to that moment less now, but he was doing it over and over as the silence got heavy. He sank more into the couch as his weight increased.

Connie breathed her last fully living breath but Steven had brought her back just before the ambulance came. He still struggled somedays looking at her hair, when it grew out it was so pink against her skin.

The stress had burdened everyone. The kids had sensed the stress too and for a while, everyone was quiet. Steven and Connie had both stewed in misery over it for a long time, and the pain was still present to this day.

But they hadn't told them when it happened. No one but the Big Kids knew about it.

Steven swallowed the lump in his throat as best he could. "H-how do you know about Cosmo?"

Comet tensed and glanced at all of their faces. "Celine, go play outside."

Her eyes were locked on Hazels phone he'd handed to her when things started to get boring for her. She handed it back and gave Hazel a big hug, then her Mom and Dad a kiss.

As soon as the door shut, Comets face turned red with anger. "I was a twin, wasn't I?!"

Steven glowed and broke down, nodding. "We miscarried your brother. You were the twin that survived."

Comet sat back down and glowing pink eyes turned into a full body frustrated glow. "Well you would've named us the wrong names anyways. I'm going outside." He slammed the door and that was that.

"Well that sucked," Connie sighed sarcastically, tugging at her hair. "It had so much potential."

Steven scrubbed at his face and cleared his throat. "Would you guys have told him?"

Adam, Jasmin and Anna nodded heartily, while Jacob and Hazel declined. They were split on it, and after Steven and Connie let him cool down enough to genuinely apologize to him, things got a bit better.

Cosmo (soon made officially Cosmo) stayed mad about it for a very long time, but as he grew up it turned to understanding.

He was also pleased to realize Adam and Alex were gay or gay leaning, and they'd all as a family made sure his queer nature was treasured and respected.