Despacito (Slowly)

They had never wanted to keep their true identity a secret from Layla. From the moment they had found out that Khonshu was their parent, they would’ve told her immediately if she wasn’t Tawaret’s avatar. But the fact that she was made it hard for them. Because as much as they loved Layla, and trusted Tawaret as their ally, the truth was that they knew that the hippopotamus goddess was not precisely discreet.

Not only that, Tawaret had reacted quite badly at the idea that Harrow could be half-Ennead. She had called that the worst crime someone could commit, an abomination… and Marc and Steven were quite afraid that she would change her opinion of them if she knew they were the actual abomination.

“No somos una abominación,” Jake muttered in their head. He was, as always, the first one to defend them, even from themselves. He always reminded Marc that they were not crazy, just different, and Steven that they were not broken, just adjusting. So of course he was the first one who managed to adapt his mind to their true nature. Well, that, and the fact that he had had a bit more time to experiment with what it meant to be half-Ennead, just thanks to the fact that they had accepted their nature closer to his moon phase.

His moon phase. Marc marveled at how easily that thought came to him now that they knew and accepted their nature. It was as if their own brain was opening up paths that, until now, had been kept closed for their own safety.

“Marc?” Layla asked, surprised at their sudden shift. “What is wrong? Tawaret can help us if you…”

“She can’t know, please,” Marc insisted. “At least… not for now.”

“Very well, I promise,” Layla said, nodding. “She’s not with me right now, because she’s still ferrying souls and after Giza… there are more believers so she’s got her hands full. Is Khonshu with you right now?”

“Yes,” Marc said, then used Steven’s drink to point to the roof of the coffee shop where the god… his Father, was perching, surrounded by curious pigeons. “He’s always near unless he needs to go to investigate away from us.”

“And you’re ok with that?” Layla sounded as if she didn’t believe him. Which was natural, given that he had spent five years prior badmouthing his father and claiming he was a slaver so Layla would naturally not like him overhearing them.

“Things have changed a lot from before, now that we remember our childhood better,” Marc explained. “But if you want us to, we can ask him to give us privacy for this conversation.”

“And he will give it to you?” Layla blinked, looking up to where Khonshu seemed to be in a deep conversation with the pigeons. “Really?”

“He’s not at all as I thought he was when I didn’t remember him,” Marc insisted. “He’s just a very good actor.”

Then, to calm Layla’s suspicious a little, he motioned with his head for their father to come down to the table. Khonshu did so, keeping his size in human proportions, as he bowed with respect to Layla.

Greetings, Layla El-Faouly, Khonshu said, calmly. He probably hadn’t heard that she and Tawaret had been talking about them. If he did, he’d probably be panicking harder than Marc. Do you need to ask me something?

“Uh…” Layla looked startled, as if she hadn’t expected Khonshu to be so kind and accepting. Again, Marc wanted to kick himself for all the bad things he had said about his father before. Then Jake for his great plan of reverse psychology… and his Father for listening to it. Perhaps if Khonshu had just told them the truth from the beginning, things would’ve been easier.

“No, because you would’ve insisted to keep me in the dark, luv,” Steven pointed out, being logical as always. “It would’ve been mostly the same. Except maybe Jake wouldn’t have been singing pornographic Spanish songs to us.”

“Despacito no es pornográfica…” Jake mumbled, waiting for Layla to answer Khonshu. “Es romántica.”

“Khonshu… can you give us a bit of privacy? I want to talk to them without you or Tawaret listening in… She’s out working in Anubis’ ship so… can you… go somewhere?” Layla finally said, her tone polite but firm.

Of course, Khonshu sounded pleased that Layla asked, Marc thought. Later, they would have to ask him about that. But before he could think more deeply on the subject, Khonshu turned to them. Is it ok if I go to your apartment, boys? I’d like to have a conversation with your fishes.

“Sure?” Marc replied, as Steven and Jake were arguing about themselves of what could their father want to talk about with three goldfishes, and if that meant that goldfishes had better memories than what mankind gave them credit for.

Thank you, Khonshu bowed his head as if saying goodbye, and then disappeared in a whirl of sand.

“He seriously is going to talk to your goldfish?” Layla asked, taking a sip of her tea. Marc waited to reply as the café waiter arrived with their order for Steven’s lunch, and once they were alone again, he nodded.

“Probably? I mean… he brought Gus the one finned wonder back for Steven, so… he may be able to…” Marc stopped as he realized Layla was staring at him. “What?”

“You sound so fond of him now… every time we meet again, it’s like I missed something because you went from barely tolerating him to pretty much wanting him around all the time in less than three days…” Layla said. “I know Jake said that he was there for you when you were children but…”

“It’s not just that,” Marc nodded. He understood where Layla was coming from. If the situation was reversed, he’d be suspicious too.  “It’s just… you have to promise us… No one can know what we will tell you.”

“Marc, you know I am a tomb,” Layla frowned, as he knew she was worried about them. “But if I think he’s hurting you all somehow…”

Marc shook his head, a bit amused at the idea, once again wondering how there had been a time in which he had believed Khonshu could in fact, try to hurt them.

“He’d never hurt us, Layla,” he took a deep breath, and decided to take the plunge with Jake and Steven’s agreement. They had to tell her the truth. “He’s our real father.”

*          *          *

Layla blinked, took a sip of her tea, and blinked again.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t entertained the possibility, because she had, right after Tawaret had told her that her boys’ souls were different from the norm. But to hear Marc, her husband Marc who had always tried to keep his life a secret, who had a strange obsession with being ‘Normal’, and had had to be forced by the almost end of the world to tell her that he wasn’t alone in his brain, just tell her that, easily and freely, was a surprise.

But he was still her husband, and she knew him well. She could see the guarded look in his eyes, as he waited for her answer.  She knew that he was nervous, that it would make her see them differently, inhuman… unworthy of love. And she was not going to let him feel that way.

“Well… I guess we’re lucky that you got your mom’s looks. Feathers would be hard to hide.” She joked and smiled, touching his hand with hers. She loved her husband, her boyfriend and liked their boyfriend, so she was going to be supportive of them. Nothing, not even knowing that their birth was considered an offense to the gods, would make her love and support them less.

Marc looked at her, as if he hadn’t expected that reaction, so she smiled again.

“It’s a joke, dear.”

“You…” Marc seemed at loss for words, and he got that lost look for a second that she knew meant she was talking to Steven and Jake. “You’re… ok with it? With us being…”

“I wonder why Khonshu decided to break one of the main rules of the Ennead but… other than that, I am happy that he did,” Layla said, truthfully. “Because I do love you, as you are. This is just a bit of new information.”

“He… didn’t break it willingly,” Marc whispered, surprising Layla. That was far more unexpected than knowing that her boys were half-Ennead. “He still doesn’t remember how it happened, but we know it was forced by a priest of his church…”

“But your mother?”

“The woman who raised us…” Marc said, with the usual venom in his voice that was present every time she talked about her. “She wasn’t our biological mother. We’re trying to find out who she was and if she knew… and why she gave us up.”

“Do you need my help with that?” Layla offered, squeezing Marc’s hand, trying to convey that she loved him and she wouldn’t leave him alone. She was also trying to figure out how to tell him that while she was not planning on sharing this conversation with Tawaret, not unless they gave her permission to… Tawaret suspected anyway.

“Jake has a friend in New York who is helping us with that,” Marc told her. “She only knows we want to find our birth mother… not everything else.”

“I figured you weren’t sending a newsletter that I missed,” Layla joked again. “Glad to know Jake also has friends.”

“Apparently, he’s a lot more social than we thought at first,” Marc finally cracked a short smile, before going serious again. “There’s… something else.”

“Something more shocking than the fact that your father is literally older than the pyramid of Giza?” Layla tried to keep her tone light, but she was quite afraid of whatever he was going to say. Surprisingly, that was what managed to make Marc laugh. It was then when he explained what had happened the night before, the reason why they had had to cancel their dinner due to the fact that he and Steven had been unable to wake up from what Khonshu called a ‘restorative sleep’, which was something normal for the Ennead and other otherworldly beings.

“So… if I want to have a solo date with Jake, I should schedule it on a New Moon?” Layla asked, teasing. “And what if I want my husband all for myself?”

Marc, to her unending enjoyment, blushed at that. “We… still don’t know. Jake says we’ll find out on the first night of the half moon, when either me or Steven stay awake.”

Layla considered that, remembering something that had called her attention during the fight in Giza.

“I bet you are the full moon,” She told Marc, who frowned, confused. “It’s because your eyes… they become very, very bright when you are wearing the suit. Almost completely white. Steven’s… they don’t do that.”

“We have the same pair of eyes, Layla,” Marc pointed out.

“And the same vocal cords, and yet, you three sound different. Even without taking in account that Jake speaks a completely different language from you and Steven,” She explained. “And… well… Tawaret told me that, from her point of view, your souls shine more.”

*          *          *

In the inner world within their mind, Steven and Jake froze at Layla’s words. Their old Bird had explained to them the spell that the Ancient One had placed on them when they were younger, to make sure that no one would see anything different in their souls no matter what.  But if Tawaret had seen something, then it meant that the spell was falling, and they could have to face the Ennead again without its protection.

“Pero… ella nos vio antes del juicio, no?” Jake said, trying to keep calm despite the news. “Y en el primer juicio… ninguno de los del Enead dijo nada de que fuéramos… diferentes.”

“That’s… right,” Steven breathed, despite the fact that, in the inner world, he had no actual body that needed to breathe. “Maybe… they haven’t seen enough human souls in a while so they don’t know how they’re supposed to look?”

“Eso suena lógico pero… ¿Y sus avatares? Deben poder ver las almas de sus avatares, ¿No?”

Steven looked up to Jake, then out of the window where the outside world lay. All they could see was Layla, of course, because Marc had their eyes focused on her. He wasn´t paying attention to what they were saying, but Steven could feel Marc´s anxiousness. He also realized the implications of the fact that Tawaret saw them differently from other human souls, even if she had only had a small look at Jake during Khonshu’s first trail.

“When did she tell you that?” Marc asked, echoing Steven and Jake’s fears.

“When we discussed the possibility of Harrow being half-Ennead,” Layla told him. “Of course… we have since then decided that he couldn’t be. Not only Tawaret didn’t see anything unusual on his soul, but I also found his parents. And no sign that he had been adopted or that there had been anything weird on his birth.”

“That’s a relief,” Steven said in their innerworld. “I’d really hate to have more in common with Harrow than what we already have.”

“No tenemos nada en común con ese imbécil,” Jake growled, and Steven hugged his soulmate to calm him.

“Sorry, Jake, but that’s not true,” Steven replied. “He was our old Bird’s avatar and so are we now… and well, I’m vegetarian, and so was Harrow. So… we did have some things in common with him.”

“No me gusta pensar en eso,” Jake pouted, and it reminded Steven a bit of when they were younger, of when he had to convince Jake that, unfortunately, running away from the Spectors was not a logical plan. “Ni en que tenemos cosas en común con el imbécil, ni en como engaño a papá por años. Debió quedarse desaparecido después del chasquido.”

“I’m not sure how that got undone, but I’m sure that it would’ve been difficult to just let him stay snapped and bring back everyone else,” Steven wondered right then if the old Bird would know more about that particular cosmic event, if they should even ask. Marc had told him that the reason why Khonshu had been able to ask them to be their avatar was because Harrow got snapped, but that was all he knew about the subject.  One more thing to talk about later, he guessed, as long as they had a later and didn’t all get thrown into an ushabti for being an abomination to Ma’at.

“Eso no puede pasar, ¿O sí?” Jake asked, suddenly afraid. It was then when Steven remembered that in their first trip to the Other Void, he and Marc had left Jake trapped in a mind sarcophagus and he felt guilty. Obviously, their soulmate still had scars from that, fears of being locked up. So he hugged Jake tighter, and waited for Marc to finish their lunch with Layla, hoping that later they could find a solution to the failing spell that protected them so long.

*          *          *

Khonshu didn’t go to his fledglings’ apartment immediately, although he planned to do so before they came back from work as he knew that Jake would again be alone for the second night of the New moon and he wanted to be there to support his little explorer. He knew that once his fledglings got used to their new reality, his presence wouldn’t be as necessary, and perhaps even would be at times unwelcomed, so he planned to be there as long as Jake, Marc and Steven needed him.

But first, he needed to check on the faithful follower they had met the night before.

If he was to be honest, after his kidnapping that resulted in the birth of his fledglings -even if he didn’t know it at the time- he had decided to ignore both his churches. In his mind, if one of his high priests could try and trap him, then the others could do the same. So he just let them continue in their way, without listening or answering to their prayers. Instead, he spent his time watching his fledglings grow, and once he took Harrow as his avatar, protecting all the travelers of the night instead of just the ones who prayed to him. Not only for his fear of being captured again, but also because he did not want to involve those who believed in him in his war against Ammit if he could help it. One thing was to ask for his avatar’s help, as they were his fist in the physical world, but to put all his followers in the line of danger, as Ammit had done? Was something he would never do.

So he had not know who this young Badr was, even if he was touched by the obvious care he put on his shrine.  And thus, while he gave his fledglings and their mate some privacy, he decided to check on him and see what he could learn from him before his little Scholar and the others met him properly.

When he appeared next to the statue Badr had in his practice, the young doctor was firmly asleep in his office couch. There was another person in the office, a woman with brown hair and green eyes, sitting at the reception desk. But it was very obvious to Khonshu that this woman was an nonbeliever, so he simply ignored her in favor of studying the shrine erected for him before moving on to see the doctor’s office.

The first thing that he had noticed already was that the statue was not a cheap reproduction. It was made of marble, and that alone must have cost a lot to the doctor. There were three white candles in front of it, each one for each of Khonshu’s aspects, and Khonshu realized that the statue itself had hieroglyphs carved which clearly read ‘Khonshu, the healer’.

That warmed Khonshu. It had been a long time since he had been called that. Not even Igraine, who liked to remind him that he was more than just the God of Justice, tended to call him the Pathfinder more often than any of his other titles -mostly because he had helped her to find her way to Kamar-taj. But here he had the tangible evidence that his gentler nature hadn’t been forgotten by all his followers. At least one of them still called him to help heal the sick.

Even if Khonshu had never answered his prayers.

Besides the candles, there were blue lotus kept in a vase, alive and thriving. While the Lotus was also connected to his father, and thus, it caused Khonshu some bad memories as he remembered how Ra had turned his back on him, the fact that it was his flower, his symbol of a protector of dreams, was the important part. And keeping lotus was not an easy task, so yes, he couldn’t deny that this Badr was a faithful follower, one that, in the past, would’ve been rewarded by a visit of Khonshu long, long before now.

Satisfied with what he saw at the shrine, Khonshu moved on to Badr’s office, where the doctor was asleep. The office was clean, almost empty, except for a few files on the man’s desk that looked like some patient files -not that Khonshu gave them more than a passing glance once he saw they weren’t about Steven and Jake’s friend. There was a smaller statue of him, about the size of the figure that Marc had gotten for him when he was eleven, sitting among the medical books in a bookshelf, and Khonshu was surprised to note that this one had his full moon and sun crown. This meant that Badr was a direct descendant of his old, old followers, from before his exile from the Ennead, before the Egyptians started chiseling that crown away in favor of giving it to Horus.

Khonshu, in his exile, couldn’t do anything to thank this young man’s faith. But he made a note to tell his children to keep an eye in the surrounding area of the clinic, to keep him safe and protected.

He also decided right then that he’d ride with Steven when his friend from work brought him here. Khonshu was really curious about what the man would say about his belief in the Moon god.

*          *          *

Conforme la tarde avanzaba, Jake podía ver como la energía de Marquitos y Estebancito disminuía, más ahora que sabía que iba a pasar. No eran sólo los bostezos, que empezaron aproximadamente a las 7:00 p.m., incluso en el mundo interno donde en teoría no necesitaban dormir mucho. Marc, de hecho, empezó a bostezar antes que Steven, que en esos momentos se encontraba enfrascado en una discusión con Terry sobre la importancia de traducir viejas cartas de soldados egipcios.

On the other hand, Marc could’ve been yawning because as passionate as Steven was about the subject, it was also really, really boring for his Cielito. Jake himself was on Steven’s side, but he didn’t want to say anything as he was a bit afraid that if he did, Steven would lose his train of thought.

But no, it was not just the yawning. It was also that Marc’s reflexes seemed to start to dull, and Steven was talking a bit slower as every minute passed. It got to the point that Terry, who was not usually kind to Steven -in fact, he was the only one of the new coworkers that reminded Jake of Donna and the people at the gift shop, which meant Terry was immediately in the shit list- noticed and offered to put a pin on the argument for after Steven had gotten a bit of sleep.

Solider also offered to make sure that Steven would get home safe, but Steven managed to keep his wits long enough to say that he’d have a friend to pick him up. And as soon as they were out of the museum, his Corazon just went to the Innerworld, kissing him softly on his cheek before letting Jake front, and joining an already asleep Marc in their bed.

The kiss made Jake pause. It was not that he doubted that his Corazón and his Cielo loved him, not anymore. But ever since their memories had returned -well, most of them, as Steven’s most intimate memories were still hidden within their Papá’s bones- Jake had felt their love in his soul with every small gesture they had to include him.

But they hadn’t kissed him, not yet.

Was Steven so tired that he forgot? Jake hoped it was so, because that meant that Estebancito had been wanting to kiss him for a while.

Did he remember that it wasn’t their first kiss? And here, Jake didn’t know if he wanted Estabancito to remember that first kiss or not. Because their first kiss had been also a goodbye kiss, when his Corazón realized that he was forgetting, that the electroshocks were taking him away from Jake and Marc, and didn’t want to forget them before telling both of them how he felt.

That day, Marc had been shocked still, not quite understanding what Steven was saying, as their Corazón kissed him first. Jake’s heart had been breaking, and after the kiss, when Steven disappeared before them for a moment, and the first real wall in their inner world started to be built, he cried for hours, until he realized that he was alone, and Marc was disappearing too.

So yeah, Jake didn’t want Steven to remember that. He’d prefer it much better if his Corazoncito thought this, half-asleep peck on the lips, was their first loving kiss.

He put those thoughts away as he reached their apartment. He figured their Papá would be there, chatting with the Guses as he said he’d be, and would ask him about their conversation with Layla.

Jake sighed, because he knew that conversation was going to be hard, and thanks to timing, he had to had it alone, since he didn’t think Khonshu would be patient enough to wait for Marc and Steven to wake again.

It wasn’t as if they had a mission to distract the Old Bird, as Steven called him. While there were always travelers in the night who needed protection, nothing was more important than making sure they found the truth about themselves, and how to keep the Ennead from using that information to hurt their Papá.

As he opened the door to the apartment, he was surprised by the way the light hit him, because there was an eerie, ghostly but warm glow covering the whole place.  Jake wanted to be on guard immediately, but his instincts told him that everything there? Was safe. The light was the moon light, even today in his phase where the light should be hidden, and the light of their Papá would never hurt them.

And yes, the light was coming from Khonshu, who was sitting calmly in front of the Guses’ tank just like Jake had suspected. The light was bright enough that made his Piolin look a bit blue as he sipped something from a cup.

That was not what made Jake smile, no. What made him smile was that, also bathing in his Papá’s light were the three Guses. Outside the tank, swimming in the blue light as if it was water. Gus, the one-finned wonder, swam contently near Papá’s tea cup, as if they had done this before.  On the other hand, Not Gus and Gus 2.0 (And yes, Jake figured that they needed to give them better names) were… Swimming in and out of Papá’s eyes sockets as if they were caves in their tank.

You need to get them a bigger tank, my little Explorer. Khonshu said, turning around sightly to greet Jake, using his tea cup to do so.  They like it so much when they get some space to explore and if anyone understands that feeling, it should be you.

“Sabes que si fuera por mí, convertiría el departamento de abajo en un tanque para ellos solos. Pero Steven dice que eso es usar el dinero de manera incorrecta, cuando hay gente que necesita ayuda,” Jake grinned, walking closer. Once he got to the actual blue area where the fish were swimming, Gus the One finned wonder waggled towards him, like a puppy wanting pets.

Está es mi vida, Jake smiled, as he put one gloved finger on top of Gus’s head. Le estoy rascando la cabeza a un pez dorado.

He paused at a strange sound coming from Gus and amended. Un pez dorado que ronronea.

Gus loves you all very much. Khonshu said, waiting for Jake to sit down. I take that the conversation with Layla went well?

“Algo así,” Jake said, shrugging. At least their papá was sitting down and it was a new moon so hopefully there would be no hurricanes out of panic. “Le dijimos que eres nuestro padre…”

I figured you would. You don´t like to keep secrets from your mate, Khonshu nodded as he took a sip from his tea. I trust she will keep it a secret from Tawaret.

Jake stopped breathing for a second. This was it, and he was alone. Time to bite the bullet.

“La cosa es, papá… La hipopótama ya sospecha. Le dijo a Layla que nuestras almas brillaban de manera diferente. Y pues, le pedimos a Layla que no confirmara nada pero… Si eso es cierto…”

Then the Ancient One’s glamour is failing… and you may be in danger. Jake blinked as he heard Khonshu speak, because he could sworn that he was seeing feathers getting puffed. You are not leaving the apartment today, Little Explorer. Stay and keep an eye on your sleeping soulmates. I will figure out a way to keep you safe until Wong can do a new spell for us.