Jacob was always mildly concerned if not majorly concerned about his second born son.

He was eccentric, truly identical to him. His son was just bursting with creativity and an imagination that could encompass the world itself. A sunshiney people person would describe him, too. Milo was magnetic and hilarious, the kid made all of the grown ups laugh constantly with his silly antics. Even though parenting him could be hard with his inability to take anything under the blue sky seriously, he was a good kid, he just was a little goofball.

Jacob and the boys were cuddling on the couch while the kids played in the basement. It was so nice to be in their arms again, it felt like it had been eons. He was touch starved for them, especially Adam of which his head was resting on the lap of.

He glanced up at him and Adam caught his eye instantly. "Hi."

Adam snorted and leaned down to kiss him, but was stopped by trampling up the stairs. Then he did it anyways for an extended amount of time until Jacob was blushing so hard he felt it against his lips.

Steven grinned against Hazel nipping at him and then directed it at Jacob's youngest son. "What's up, kiddo? Are you guys having fun?"

Milo shoved a crayon drawing towards the dads proudly. "Yep! Look what I drew!"

They gathered together to stare at... well, they weren't quite sure what it was, but they encouraged him anyways and he beamed as Jacob sat up. "What is it?"

"A ninja robot fighting a vampire tape recorder on Stonehenge," He replied animatedly, completely missing the drop of Adam's jaw.

Jacob exchanged a look with them and tried not to laugh. This child was sillier than he was and that was saying something. He looked over it more and raised an eyebrow. "Who's that in the background?"

Milo peeked at it. "That's my friend, Kyle."

His father cleared his throat and asked as tactfully as he could, "Why... is he like that?"

Hazel choked on a laugh as Milo shrugged. "He's albino."

"That question did not age well," Adam muttered.

Jacob scrubbed at his cheeks thoughtfully. "Okay... is he real or imaginary?"

Milo grinned. "He's real! He's an electro pop DJ!"

A sickening concern grew in Jacob just then as he went pale. "How old is he?"

"38."

The concern turned into a full fledged panic and Jacob pulled Milo close. "You cannot have a 38 year old friend, Milo!" He erupted passionately. His son's eyes went wide and he held him tighter as he tried to lower his voice. "Are you listening to me? Please, listen to me Milo: you cannot have adult friends, especially not men! You don't know what kind of people are out there!"

"But Kyle is my friend!" He protested, quickly growing frustrated, another trait the child had. When his fun had to stop he often got upset.

Jacob loosened his grip but scowled. "You. Don't. Know. That." Milo pouted and he felt his sadness tearing away at him but he had to protect his son from this person he was just hearing about. God, was it too late to file a report to the police? Did... did he need to check his little boy for anything? "You don't know what he wants from you."

Hazel pinched hard to get Jacob to quit acting like a crazy person. He let go suddenly shaken out of his episode. Oh stars, had he really told his kid that he didn't know what Kyle wanted from him? It sounded so dark and Milo was still so little and now he was just staring at Jacob like he was worried about him, or was that fear?

He had to bury his face in his hands, he had to at least try to hold back the panic before his kid could truly see how broken he was as Hazel stood animatedly. "Come on, Milo! You want popsicles to bring downstairs?"

Milo brightened immediately. Thank the stars he was easy to redirect and distract, especially with food. "Yeah!"

Hazel sent him down and returned to see Jacob sobbing. "J, it's gonna be okay."

"No it's not!" He cried. "Some man is grooming my son!"

Steven sent a sympathetic look to the others. They talked about how they were afraid to have moments like this, but Jacob claimed to have them all the time until he was crippled with anxiety but this kind of explosion was a first.

Jasmin raced up from downstairs and surged for Jacob half furiously, half in worry to grab his shoulders and shake him. "Why are you destroying our son's imagination?!"

Jacob froze and blinked at her. "What?"

She poked out her lip at the tears on his face and wiped them away before crouching to kneel in front of him. "Jacob..." He started to cry again and she rubbed under his ear. "Kyle is completely imaginary. Milo just set out a popsicle for him. He can't hurt him."

Jacob pulled her into him and laughed through his sobbing. "Oh my god, Jasmin. That kid is going to kill me."

She snorted and gave the boys a look. "Tell me about it. I'm not mad at you, just..." He pulled back to take the tongue lashing she was going to give him and she simpered. She just couldn't be mad at her husband too long for any reason after having kids, especially not for being so worried about a real thing that had happened to him. She just wished there didn't have to be such an emotional casualty nearly every time his son mentioned a man who'd been friendly and just that. "Do you want some tea?"

He groaned and flopped backwards into his boyfriends. "I can make it myself. I need to be acting like an adult and not a scared teenager."

Adam nodded at her to make some and rubbed his back. "Take a kip, love."

Jacob huffed. "That's not the answer to everything."

Steven kissed his cheek and Hazel followed right after. "It's the answer to this. We can tell you're tired." Jacob looked to him imploringly and Steven rolled his eyes. "What, you want me to scold you? I'm hardly the best person to do that when I just got doghoused for bubbling my own children when the gems came over."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Connie put you on the couch?"

His eyes darkened a bit. "Oh yeah, until I admitted it was blatantly mean, which it was. Lasted ten minutes or so before I started an argument to get things moving."

Hazel chuckled. "That's not so bad. I got doghoused by two angry partners when I politely suggested Asher couldn't be a princess because of his assigned gender at birth. The way Anna and Adam froze to turn and stare at me?" He made an uncomfortable glance at Adam, who though not angrily did give him a minorly chilly stare. "Yeah, like that but cold enough to drop room temperature? I knew I fucked up. I'm still learning."

Jacob turned to stare at him, too. "Luv, you've been calling Steven a princess for like, 12 years."

"I know, the way I was raised just slipped out," He sighed, rubbing at Jacob's cheek. "We get it, Jacob."

That wasn't the first time Milo had scared the living shit out of him and he'd overreacted, far from it really. But Jacob was a protective father to no end, he didn't want any suspicious parties near his daughters and sons, and none near his extended children either. He was a lion of a father.

But there was one incident that crippled the well rounded father before things got truly better, he'd had to nearly lose it completely in order to change.

*

Jacob did a headcount before he went into the grocery store like he did every time. He did one every ten minutes because he couldn't cram all four of them into a cart when they didn't have four seaters available in the form of little firetrucks.  "Daisy and Leo, please hold on to the trolley and don't let go," He begged with all his might. "Daddy needs to see where you are the whole time we're here."

Milo was four at the time, and his twin sister Phoebe requested to sit in the cart while he opted to walk beside his Daddy. Milo loved his father to death, he was a Daddy's Boy from day one and stayed that way. Jacob was Baby Milo's hero, and Jacob remembered when he'd once felt that way about his own sperm donor, so he made sure to never break that image.

But when he glanced beside him and found Milo not there not ten seconds after he'd checked earlier, he went into a full blown panic. "Milo?!" He whipped around and looked up and down the aisles.

His baby boy was gone.

"Milo!" He shouted louder. He didn't even care if he was being too loud with his already chattering away children in the store. One was missing and they weren't a family without him.

Jacob swung the cart around and set both of his eldest twins in the cart to hurry the pace. "Milo?"

Eventually he found him talking to a twenty something man in the cereal aisle. Milo loved cereal so while it was unsurprising, Jacob still hadn't considered he'd go there first.

He stormed up to the child and jutted out his hand. "It's time to go, Milo."

His bright eyed son turned and beamed at him with all the trust in the world displayed on his face. It nearly made him sick. "Hi, Daddy! I made a friend! He likes cinnamon toast crunch!"

Jacob glared at the man so hard he looked scared and backed away a little. "Milo, I am not going to ask you again."

Milo pouted and waved goodbye as Jacob dragged him out the door and took his children out of the cart. He just left the groceries, he was so upset and out of sorts that he couldn't bear to even fathom shopping anymore.

"Daddy?" Milo asked cautiously at a stoplight. Daisy tried to shake her head at him, which only made Jacob feel worse as he adjusted the rearview mirror to look at him. "Are you mad at me?"

Jacob let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and shook his head. "No, kiddo. I still love you so much. I'm just really disappointed. Daddy needs some time alone."

When they got home, Jacob sent the children inside and got out of the van to cry.

He hated being so terrified of a probably harmless man being too near his son. He felt that way about his daughters too but this was personal and painful. He hated how mean he got to his kids, he should never manipulate them with disappointment even if he was. This was his problem, and he was so afraid of ruining his children's childlike wonder.

A flashback occurred, the damn door to his bedroom was creaking open and he was trapped waiting like a trained animal for Oliver to do what he did and leave.

He could smell booze in the air, and sweat. I made him so nauseous but his hands moved on their own to turn himself around.

"Stop," He finally blurted, tugging at his hair as he sank to the gravel to hyperventilate. He didn't know who he was talking to: the panic attack or his late father. "Please don't, not again not again please!"

He sobbed until he gagged but nothing came up. It came to him after ten minutes of back to back flashbacks with no end in sight that he was having a severe PTSD attack, and he needed help. A pain in his chest made him cry out and grow dizzy. More panic rose inside of him, he was probably having a heart attack.

He called his wife and she didn't answer. It made him so mad he almost threw his phone but he dialed up his next favorited contact: Adam. He picked up on the first ring. "I was just about to call you. Jasmin's helping with a little accident."

Jacob whimpered, "I need you. I'm so scared."

"I'll be there in a second."

He tried to focus on the stars beginning to shine through the late evening sky but the only thing he could think about was how they probably weren't even stars, just satellites reflecting light. That made him angry too: he was so lost in his emotions he didn't even notice he'd screamed his rage until his throat felt raw.

Adam skidded to a stop in front of him slightly out of breath and cradled his face. "Jack, what's wrong? Can you talk to me?"

Jacob's eyes filled with fresh hot tears that Adam wiped away religiously as new ones took their place. "Milo nearly got kidnapped at the store today."

Adam's face darkened and he tipped his head. "What happened?"

The troubled father sniffled and tried to let the familiar touch soothe him further. "He ran off in the store but I had just looked at him, I was paying attention I swear, but he must have snuck off when I was grabbing milk. I t-turned and he was just gone and I got so scared." He broke down again but Adam waited patiently. "And when I found him... he was talking to some man about cereal and I dragged him away like a nutcase!"

Adam's lips curved into a compassionate smile. "You're an exceptional father, Jacob."

His eyes rose to his and he sniffled. "I think he's going to grow up afraid of everyone because of me."

He chuckled and shook his head, scanning the nature around them before speaking again. "Milo is fearless, I don't think that's going to happen. But, I do think it goes without saying that you might be projecting a little bit of trauma onto an impressionable child, yeah?" Adam leaned to catch his annoyed gaze tenderly. "I get it. I do it too, sometimes. Hazel and Anna do it. Steven and Connie do it. You're not alone, you just have to get it under control."

Jacob scooted closer and nuzzled into his chest. "You're such a good Daddy. I love you."

"I love you, too, baby," He whispered with an ache to his voice. "Daddy loves you so much. Do you need me?"

Jacob met eyes with him and nodded heavily. "Just for a little, I need you."

Adam beamed like the sun, he lit up the evening when his Little told him he needed him. "Anything my Jack wants. Did you get groceries?"

He shook his head. "N-no. I was scared." Jacob wrapped his arms around him and slowly his trembling lessened. "I don't want Jasmin to be disappointed with me."

Adam rubbed his head. "I'll call in and we can go together. No children to run off, just us."

He nodded. That felt manageable.

When he came home he felt exponentially better, especially after being babied a little. He couldn't remember why he'd been so against letting Adam be his caregiver, it released so much tension he felt ridiculous about it. His panic attacks weren't usually as bad as the one he'd just had anymore, and he was able to be so much more present without being mildly jealous of the children's childhoods seeming so simple. "Darling, I've brought home groceries."

Jasmin turned and shot up to hug him. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry I didn't answer my phone, Daisy had another accident and Alex was making dinner."

He sighed and held her hips. "Did she say she was scared again?"

She nodded miserably. "I think she has Anxiety so I set an appointment. She's just a six year old, these things happen but it's probably good to check." His wife pulled him down for a kiss and then another. "I love you. I'll help you talk to Milo about stranger danger."

Jacob's brows furrowed. "Again?"

"Yes, again." Jasmin looked thoughtful and then smiled. "Maybe this is an All Parent Thing. We should do a full poly-family meeting."

Jacob nodded and the tension in his shoulders lessened. "Are you disappointed with me? Be honest, I can change."

He swore Jasmin breached the laws of existence with her beauty as she took his left hand and kissed over his ring finger. "Of course not. I'm so lucky to have you."