“Astral takes his boyfriend to meet his Daddy” is all I got out of this because I’m a loser and like stuff like that. xD;; I am gomen for the lame fic reply and like I didn’t know how to end it so it doesn’t really have an ending. Also, there’s a mention of Shark’s parents in this and basically this is supposed to be set after the series or something??? I have a headcanon that when Astral used the Numeron Code to revive everyone, he gave Shark and Rio their parents back, too, and their parents just kind of adopted all the Barians (yes even Vector) and treat them like their own children.

uhm anyway…I hope you like this dumb thing I wrote. It was fun! I’d love to do another, if you ever want to request something again!

Eliphas didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all.

Yuma he expected.

Yuma he could have tolerated.

Yuma he could have begrudgingly approved of.

Not this mockery of a union that was standing before him. This unholy relationship that had somehow crossed the boundaries of mere friendship and entered the most taboo of territories. One half of it was eyeing him with a twinge of hope that he wouldn’t outright condemn them while the other continued to stand there in silence, stance defensive, gaze defiant, and an air of overall disorder rolling off him in waves.

Eliphas made a sound of disapproval and opened his mouth to perhaps let his true thoughts spill out, but Astral seemed to sense the approaching danger and floated between the two.

“He is not evil.” Astral offered, breaking up the tense silence that had settled over them at long last. He hovered a little more closely to Ryoga, right hand twitching as it brushed against Ryoga’s left. A clear sign of misplaced trust, so Eliphas thought. “I know he may not show it often because it’s not in his nature to be very open to those he is not close to, but…he’s very kind and loyal to his loved ones. He’s been a good friend to Yuma…and me.”

Ryoga shifted his weight onto his left foot and bumped into Astral. The hovering blue entity shifted a little and his aura glowed a little brighter when Ryoga wrapped his hand around Astral’s. He entwined their fingers together to keep a physical link between them and even dared to rub his thumb against Astral’s hand in what Eliphas supposed was some kind of soothing gesture. It put a little smile on Astral’s face (one of those soft, endearing kinds he only ever seemed to give Yuma) and despite Eliphas’s misgivings and ever-growing irritation, he found he couldn’t say anything against this disgustingly cute display.

“Do as you wish.” Eliphas grumbled at last, neither blessing nor openly condemning the union. Honestly, he didn’t know why Astral felt the need to do this. The only thing it had done was make Eliphas angry at having an ex-Barian in their world and at Astral’s apparent infatuation with this very same creature. Yuma’s chaotic influence was forever causing problems… “Just…nn.”

He turned away, finding he had nothing more civil to say. He shook his head to himself once and then stalked off before the murky atmosphere morphed into something more sinister and he did something Ena would later chastise him for. He heard Astral trying to call out to him, but he ignored it with a noncommittal grunt and continued to walk away.

“I apologize…” he heard Astral say, sounding disappointed at the outcome.

“Hey, don’t worry about, alright?” came Ryoga’s response. “If it makes you feel any better, my parents like you. Dad doesn’t even mind the naked thing anymore.”

Guilt wasn’t something Eliphas felt very often (or at all, really), but something about the way Ryoga voiced that made him stop and his frown deepened. Astral’s little entourage all seemed to consider Eliphas as some kind of parental figure of Astral’s. Surely Astral didn’t think the same?

“Mm…I know.” Eliphas didn’t like how Astral’s tone made him feel. “I suppose this was the best reaction, given the circumstances.”

There was a moment of silence and he heard a bit of shuffling followed by the odd huff of a giggle and accompanying protest from Astral. Eliphas almost whirled back around at that, but Ryoga’s voice stopped him.

“Then don’t make that face again.” There was a hint of amusement and something else Eliphas wasn’t sure about in the man’s voice. “Look, let’s just go back home. I’ll kick everyone out of the house and then we can watch that dumb sparrow movie you like so much.”

“ESPer Robin.” Astral corrected, almost sounding offended on behalf of this Robin creature.

“Ugh…yeah. That. Whatever.”

Astral chuckled a little, somehow amused with the ex-Barian’s reply.

“I’d like that.”