Time Warp: When a Man-Child Raises Children (Nick)

[Trevor Cunningham]

September 2023 

It had been a little over a year since Trevor and Nick had adopted Reese and Dakota. The boys had celebrated their 4th birthday just a month after the adoption had become official. And now they were in kindergarten. Trevor had always heard how fast the time flies with kids and how fast they grow up. And while he had experienced some of that with his students, seeing them grow into themselves and their powers over their years at Hammel, it was different with his own boys. Sometimes he swore they grew over night. And they were constantly surprising him with their intelligence. It was getting harder to trick them with white lies and protect them from the world.

It was Trevor's day to pick up the boys from school. And as he pull up, he could spot them straight away. Not only because he knew their smiling faces so well, but because Reese was wearing a pirate costume complete with eye patch, while Dakota was dressed as a superhero with a bright blue cape and mask.

"Nick..." Trevor muttered to himself, smiling. Since Trevor had had an early training session this morning, it had been up to Nick to get the boys ready for school.

As he pulled up and the two costumed tykes piled into the car, one of the teachers came over to Trevor's window. "While we encourage our students to express themselves freely. Costumes tend to be a little distracting when it's not on a day when other students are also dressing up," she told Trevor before walking back to supervising the other children.

Trevor managed to keep a straight face while she was talking, but it left his face once she walked away and the two boys started telling him about their day. They talked non-stop on the way back to the house. Both of the boys loved school, though Reese had better luck paying attention in class and remembering to do his homework. Dakota was a good student, as long as you could get him to sit still.

"Run on in and tell your Daddy about your day too," Trevor said as he pulled into the driveway. He picked up the boys' bookbags and followed them in.

"Oh Niiiick..." Trevor yelled out.

"Daddy!" "Daddy!" the boys' called echoed.

Trevor still wasn't sure if he should be laughing or scolding Nick.

[Nicholas Ward]

Nick hadn’t ever thought he’d get as far as he had in life so far. He was married, he had his journeyman’s ticket for electrical, and he had kids. Anyone that knew him had probably not thought it possible, but here he was. Married, kids, totally and completely domestic.

Not that that meant he was completely mature.

Case and point, that morning. Getting the kids ready for school, when they’d pulled out Halloween costumes, Nick hadn’t batted an eye. If they wanted to dress themselves in costumes for school, he wasn’t going to stop them. It probably didn’t help that he was still a walking zombie first thing in the morning. Reese and Dakota probably could have told him they were planning on robbing a bank and he wouldn’t have thought it odd.

Maybe it was better when Trevor got them ready in the morning.

After dropping them off at school, he’d headed to work and accomplished in not killing (or cutting, shocking, or generally maiming) himself before driving back home. He’d decided to attempt getting dinner ready, which was going to consist of spaghetti if everything went according to plan. He was just finishing putting the pasta into a pot when he heard the door open and his family pile into the house.

Grinning, he turned from the stove and crouched down to pull both boys into a hug. “Hey guys! How’d school go?” Once the boys’ chatter died down, he stood up and hugged Trevor too. “And you. How’d training go today? Scare anyone into working? Oh! I’m makin’ spaghetti!”

No, he wasn’t going to mention the costumes, because seriously. They were just clothes. At least he hadn’t sent them naked or anything.