Tin Man Fic: Jeb Has One To Two-And-A-Half Daddies (Depending On Their Moods And Mental Stability)
Tin-Fic. I have decided that this fandom is dangerous and you will become it's crack whore if you get into it.
(Also, wish me and my liver luck. cat-scan today, woo.)
Title: Jeb Has One To Two-And-A-Half Daddies (Depending On Their Moods And Mental Stability)
Fandom: Tin Man!
Warnings/Rating: Technically PG but I'm going PG-13 because then I don't feel like I'm corrupting the youth of the nation! Also, spoilers for the entire series.
Jeb Has One To Two-And-A-Half Daddies (Depending On Their Moods And Mental Stability)
When Glitch got his brain back, he still had only half a brain. Ambrose had the other half. Sure, in most ways they were the same - same senses, same fascination with knowing (remembering or inventing, either worked so long as it was knowing), same morals, and the same body. But they were very different too.
Even with the brain in and the zipper gone for good (something that they both found they missed, really, since Ambrose was obsessed with the sense of touch after being stuck in a vat for so long and Glitch had always felt reassured by the fact that what was in his noggin would stay there as long as the thing stayed zipped), they were different. Ambrose was obsessed with inventing things. Glitch was obsessed with making sure his friends stayed his and Ambrose's friends if the geek would give them the time of day.
Azkadellia was the biggest trouble for them. Only Glitch could talk to Az, who Ambrose had thought of like a cousin, because Ambrose wanted to either strangle her or kick her or go cry in a corner when she was around. Glitch just really liked to see how ridiculous of things she would let him do to her massive amount of hair before smacking him playfully and shooing him out the door.
Even doors were another thing. Ambrose was obsessed with being in a body again, so he would walk through doors, opening and closing them and opening them again, staring at the doorknob in awe at the fact it was cold and stare at the hinges because they creaked and stare at the door because of the smell of wood. Glitch walked into doorframes occasionally, but other than that they didn’t matter much to him.
(Both of them had a high physical pain tolerance, it turned out. The Queen had said something about childhood helping him with that. It turned out neither of them could really remember anything about childhood. Or at least Glitch knew he didn't. Maybe Ambrose was just holding out on him.)
Glitch still really had only half a brain. Ambrose had a fully functioning brain in his half of their brain though. Glitch figured that made them half again as smart as anyone else in the world could ever hope to be.
There were a few things they agreed on. It made a sort of creed they went by, since they were both aware of the weird circumstances having a brain and a half caused.
The first was that the OZ and its royal family would always be protected. (Ambrose was mostly in charge of the Queen and that whole tactical advisor business; Glitch would give his life and anything else he had to if it meant protecting the princess sisters, especially DG, but he wasn’t cruel enough to say that aloud.)
The second was that knowing things was great. Really, really great. In that one there were no differences on either side. Dancing, memories, names, theories, adventures…it was all really great.
The third was a bit more complicated, since Cain himself was complicated, but that whole "We really like Cain almost as much as we like knowing things, maybe more" bit stuck with the both of them too. Ambrose tried to figure out how to best approach the Tin Man as anything more than a friend in a method with minimal potential fallout. Glitch tried to figure out why Ambrose was busy doing that and not understanding the guy still needed time to grieve for a dead wife and get to know his son again, and that when he was at peace with himself they could jumble his brain up for once and just jump him or something.
Ambrose met Cain when he and Glitch decided that Ambrose needed some time to realize he was in a body and not a jar. They'd still had the zipper, and Ambrose was so stunned at the sound and the feeling and the temperature and just breathing while he zipped and unzipped his head that it had taken Cain pulling Ambrose's hand away, zipping their head up, and sticking his own hat on top of it.
Ambrose really hadn't believed all that gibberish Glitch had been thinking about Cain being a great guy and his caring about him/them and how Cain was the best friend he'd ever had although DG was a really great friend too but that whole princess thing got in the way of a 'best friend' title.
But when Cain had put that hat on Ambrose's head and winked, actually winked, Ambrose got it 'like he got metalloid magical conductants'. Which was a whole lot, according to Ambrose, but Glitch had to wonder about that really, with that whole witch disaster sun-seeder thing.
Ambrose had actually gone all the way up Azkadellia's tower to where the old witch had gone goopy just so he could stare and then, to the horror of the Queen and her princess-heir DG, who had been gracious enough to escort him for moral support, spit on what was left of the tar-like mess they still had yet to fully scrape off the glass. After that whole spitting thing, Ambrose had gone back in and Glitch had come back out, shaking his head and pulling off yet another one of Ambrose's hats. "He’s kind of angry," he'd explained after Ambrose had suddenly seized control again and bashed through the central pane of glass with the heel of their boot.
The Queen and DG had given him that 'you really are always going to be a zipperhead' look. He was getting used to that, really. After all, Ambrose got the 'you really are a socially inept geek' look, and Glitch much preferred the zipperhead one. Of course, Ambrose preferred the geek one. Hey, one and a half brains. What can you do.
Raw had suggested that they try to become one or something like that. They had actually agreed it'd be far more boring to be Glimbrose or Ambrich or whatever than being Ambrose-and-Glitch. If Glitch needed information, he could just get a quick answer from Ambrose, and if Ambrose needed to know how to politely run away from an overachieving underling, Glitch was there to just ignore tact, take over, and run.
It wasn't a picnic or anything, by any means. Neither of them were particularly comfortable being around Jeb Cain. Sure, he was a great kid and they both loved his company. He was calculating and smart, much to Ambrose's glee, and had a real sense of rhythm, to Glitch's pride, even though the look of impending doom Cain had given him when he saw Jeb and Glitch twirling across the dance floor made them both think that maybe dancing with their imminent-boyfriend-whether-he-wanted-to-be-or-not (since they had at least a half brain more than Cain’s single one and therefore could find some way to make him love them) was a no-no. And after that even Jeb seemed a bit hesitant to even shake their hand, which led to the awkwardness.
That had made Ambrose wish he knew more psychology and had them spending most of their nights with huge, heavy books (yay, weight, Ambrose's thoughts would always go at that, and Glitch would roll his imaginary eyes at that. Sometimes Ambrose was more immature that even he was).
Glitch just started writing Jeb letters instead, usually half of one in his thin lines and messy twists, and then Ambrose filling in the other half with his almost calligraphy-perfect handwriting. Jeb was a good kid, and since Glitch had a bit of experience with people who'd been iron-suited and they both cared about him for both his father's sake and his own, they tried to help. If Jeb needed a way to tranquilize people with no adverse affects for the resistance's longcoat hunt, or a self-propelling and easily maneuverable vehicle (which DG had gotten all excited over and told them about 'motorcycles'), and Ambrose invented, and Glitch delivered with a smile. It was just another way to help the OZ. And another way to help Cain.
Ambrose, it turned out, was a very impatient kind of guy. When he would get aggravated with "those repetitive fools that call themselves experts on psychology" in their Understand-Cain-Quest, he would pace and mutter to himself and Glitch.
It was probably weird that nobody ever called them crazy. Or it was because he was one of the highest-ranking people in the OZ and either one of them could roundhouse anyone into oblivion. They'd get looks sometimes, when the switching went faster or they got into more passionate arguments than usual.
Luckily, Ambrose was too thought-absorbed to notice, and Glitch was so used to being stared at with those 'is the zipperhead on fumes?' looks that neither really cared.
Most of those early arguments were Cain-related. Ambrose and Cain were good friends, but Glitch and Cain were best friends, and Ambrose-and-Glitch had trouble with the differences that made sometimes. Ambrose could get a wink or a smile, but Glitch got grins and half-hugs and 'Sweethearts'.
It was in one of those big ugly psychology books that Ambrose was always reading that they realized that, honestly, how could you be jealous of yourself? Ambrose was Glitch and Glitch was Ambrose. And plus Glitch never got those winks of Cain's, so that had to count as something that Ambrose got that Glitch didn’t anyway.
It was also in one of those big ugly psychology books that Ambrose had to admit that Glitch had been right about the grieving/reaffirming thing. Glitch didn't gloat though. He just wondered why the smarter part of them hadn't understood that before reading the big ugly book.
Time passed, and eventually nobody got their names wrong anymore. Ambrose would forever be nervous about his brain and keep their head covered in a hat and was constantly making sure he had a body by wearing as many layers of clothing that could be considered socially acceptable. Glitch hated hats and tended to unbutton as many layers of clothing Ambrose had put them in since it was always so stuffy.
Ambrose got up the nerve to talk to Azkadellia and ended up with a bear hug and an apology out of her big heartfelt sobs. Glitch got up the nerve to try and invent something and ended up with a successful color-changing toy horse.
It was strange to be proud of each other. Probably as strange as that whole jealousy thing had been, but the books never said self-esteem was a bad thing and it felt a lot better to the both of them, so they decided that while the jealousy thing was stupid, the pride could stick around as long as the other deserved it.
Longcoats went back to what they'd done before Az (yes, she was Az to the both of them now) had gone kooky, and those that hadn't were more or less rounded up by Jeb's band of ex-rebels, so it wasn't particulary surprising when Jeb showed back up to see his dad.
What was surprising was when Cain wouldn't even look at Glitch OR Ambrose before he'd taken his son up to somewhere or another for a 'man-to-man' talk, as DG had put it. But she had that twisted up smirky type of look in her eyes so during the talk Ambrose tried to strategically coerce more information from her, and when that didn’t work Glitch tried asking outright, which also didn't work (although she did laugh, and the both of them always liked making her laugh).
After pacing and muttering to themselves, the 'man-to-man' talk ended and Jeb walked out of the doors and…stared at them. For a good long time. And then he actually grinned and slapped a hand on their shoulder and said "You’ve got my blessing because I know you're going to need it."
Neither of them really understood what that meant, but they liked that the whole being awkward around Jeb thing was over, apparently. They liked him. But when he practically shoved them through the door he’d just gone through, and neither of them were very fond of being shoved around ("another childhood thing," the Queen had said a few weeks ago, and why she always sounded so...strange about the topic neither of them knew), so they decided to like Jeb a little less if he kept shoving them around.
But he had thanked them for the motorcycles and that had made DG all excited and challenge him to a race that would probably send Az and the Queen into fits, but she was excited, so they decided that sure, the shoving would be okay if he kept with the same creed-type-thing that Glitch and Ambrose did.
Cain was in the room. Pacing. Cain never paced unless he was about to go on a suicide mission or something (except he always lived through those, so they should have probably classified them as almost-suicide), so immediately Glitch was babbling at him and hoping he was okay because they always wanted Cain to be okay, even better than okay, because Cain was great and should feel that way too.
But then he looked at them (and he'd always been able to do that, not look at Glitch or Ambrose but THEM) and pointed to one of the comfortably appointed sitting room chairs and said "Sit."
They sat.
Cain sat in front of them, still with that almost-suicide mission look on his face, and said "I’ve been thinking a lot."
"Always a good thing to do," Ambrose grinned at him, but Cain’s frown shut them up.
Glitch decided that this was apparently a very important bit of thinking and that it might take him a little while to get through it, so he clamped their mouth shut and watched their friend.
"Adora’s dead, and I’ve...come to terms with that. Jeb and you helped me out, more than you probably know."
Both of them wanted to say that they'd been trying very hard to help him and always would, but again decided to stay quiet and let him talk more.
He rubbed at his forehead, that 'this is uncomfortable or unpleasant and I do not like it' motion. "So I've been thinking a lot and feeling a lot and even Jeb agreed that she wouldn't want me to be a widower forever when...when there was someone who could make me happier than I've been in a very, very long time." He paused, and that cute little smile of shy happiness was on his lips, hat over his eyes. "Plus Jeb already thinks the world of you. Says your letters helped him have heart-"
That was probably the wrong sentence to kiss him through, but Ambrose had been arguing for waiting the talk out even after they'd figured out what it would be about and Glitch had been arguing that they interrupt and tell him they loved him too and skip all the explanations, and they'd compromised with Glitch's original plan of 'just jump him' and for once Ambrose hadn't taken that whole 'strategic timing' thing into account.
But the kissing him, oh yeah, that was definitely agreed on as a good idea. A very good idea. Especially when the hat tipped off his head as his head tilted back and he kissed back and wrapped his arms around their waist and pulled them close, and they knew it was THEM, not just Glitch or just Ambrose but THEM that he was kissing and holding and pulling further into the kiss.
The pulling back, though, they didn't like when Cain did that. He seemed a bit stunned and happy and flustered though, which they did like.
"We got impatient," they grinned, and didn't give him any more time to think or be flustered or wonder if this was the right thing to do (Cain always brooded too much; they needed to fix that) and kissed him senseless. Senseless and panting and pliable like liquid metals or spring snow dripping off from itself or...something very nice and best of all something that they wanted and was theirs now.
And while a pliable, panting Cain was definitely one of the most tempting sights ever known to the OZ, they were, again, in agreement that they needed to back off and let him think a little more, or more specifically feel a little more. So they stood up and grinned at how disheveled he looked because yep, THEY had done that to THEIR Cain, and it was great. Like Cain.
"I...I thought you might need some time to…to come to a decision," he said, voice delightfully rough. Oh, they liked that.
"No, that was you," they said, still grinning. "Although," Ambrose added, "we had about thirty-seven plans for making you fall in love with us." Glitch grinned. "You have no idea how impatient we can get when it comes to you."
And Cain just grinned and pulled them up with a "Ditto, Sweetheart," and it seemed like there was no better place in the universe to be other than there, or anywhere, with him.
---
Jeb got used to having two and a half dads pretty quickly, especially since he admitted to egging his father on about it. Plus apparently having the Queen's Advisor as his second-and-a-half (or however Glitch and Ambrose worked out; it confused even them sometimes) dad gave him plenty of bragging rights. On one slow workday they painted lightning bolts on his motorcycle, and he called them his dads when he thanked them. It was like being squished in a big warm blanket, and they decided that Cains in general were great..although definitely not in the same way. Very much not in the same way.
Like any couple, Cain and Ambrose and Glitch had definite ups (like when they found Zero trapped by the munchkins and decided to leave him there for the time being after pointing and laughing at him for a good bit of time) and definite downs (like when Cain would decide that another near-suicide mission was important and wouldn't let them tag along because "he couldn’t lose them too" even though they fought better than him anyway and were 'the OZ's version of MacGuyver', as DG had put it, which was apparently quite the compliment but wouldn't stop Tin-Up-His-Ass-Man from treating them like a helpless little aristocrat, which they WEREN'T). They'd break up and hate each other and get into physical fights sometimes, but after a while nobody even seemed to be surprised by finding them trying to beat each other unconscious, since the record time for a Cain-Glitch-Ambrose break-up was around two days. Nobody was particularly surprised to see one or the other suddenly pull each other into an empty room or onto a nearby wall after a month or so, either.
"Just the way they are," Raw had said simply after a fist-fight suddenly turned into making out on the marble floor of a corridor right in front of him and DG. "Then I’ll just assume that's how they like it and turn around and go away," DG had responded, and they’d done just that.
Cain and Ambrose and Glitch learned that love was both more stupid and wise than all two and a half brains of their relationship, and they went along with the beat it chose for their hearts. Being smarter than anyone else in the world didn't mean Ambrose and Glitch understood emotions. But Cain only needed to touch them and they'd remember that, after all, you didn't need to understand something to feel it.
---
A PSYCHOLOGICAL NOTE: I had a cracktastic theory that Glitch was always Ambrose even with half a brain, and that Glitch was more or less a safety persona even when Ambrose was full-brained Ambrose. Hence, split-personality-ness when you stick 'em back together. The theory comes from even more theories about the infamously vague Winter Palace scenes and, more specifically, how after Raw brain-reads him or something hurts him he goes back into 'Doesn't Know You' Glitch SO FAST.
...Plus I like the phrase two-and-a-half daddies so hooray for that!
(Also, wish me and my liver luck. cat-scan today, woo.)
Title: Jeb Has One To Two-And-A-Half Daddies (Depending On Their Moods And Mental Stability)
Fandom: Tin Man!
Warnings/Rating: Technically PG but I'm going PG-13 because then I don't feel like I'm corrupting the youth of the nation! Also, spoilers for the entire series.
Jeb Has One To Two-And-A-Half Daddies (Depending On Their Moods And Mental Stability)
When Glitch got his brain back, he still had only half a brain. Ambrose had the other half. Sure, in most ways they were the same - same senses, same fascination with knowing (remembering or inventing, either worked so long as it was knowing), same morals, and the same body. But they were very different too.
Even with the brain in and the zipper gone for good (something that they both found they missed, really, since Ambrose was obsessed with the sense of touch after being stuck in a vat for so long and Glitch had always felt reassured by the fact that what was in his noggin would stay there as long as the thing stayed zipped), they were different. Ambrose was obsessed with inventing things. Glitch was obsessed with making sure his friends stayed his and Ambrose's friends if the geek would give them the time of day.
Azkadellia was the biggest trouble for them. Only Glitch could talk to Az, who Ambrose had thought of like a cousin, because Ambrose wanted to either strangle her or kick her or go cry in a corner when she was around. Glitch just really liked to see how ridiculous of things she would let him do to her massive amount of hair before smacking him playfully and shooing him out the door.
Even doors were another thing. Ambrose was obsessed with being in a body again, so he would walk through doors, opening and closing them and opening them again, staring at the doorknob in awe at the fact it was cold and stare at the hinges because they creaked and stare at the door because of the smell of wood. Glitch walked into doorframes occasionally, but other than that they didn’t matter much to him.
(Both of them had a high physical pain tolerance, it turned out. The Queen had said something about childhood helping him with that. It turned out neither of them could really remember anything about childhood. Or at least Glitch knew he didn't. Maybe Ambrose was just holding out on him.)
Glitch still really had only half a brain. Ambrose had a fully functioning brain in his half of their brain though. Glitch figured that made them half again as smart as anyone else in the world could ever hope to be.
There were a few things they agreed on. It made a sort of creed they went by, since they were both aware of the weird circumstances having a brain and a half caused.
The first was that the OZ and its royal family would always be protected. (Ambrose was mostly in charge of the Queen and that whole tactical advisor business; Glitch would give his life and anything else he had to if it meant protecting the princess sisters, especially DG, but he wasn’t cruel enough to say that aloud.)
The second was that knowing things was great. Really, really great. In that one there were no differences on either side. Dancing, memories, names, theories, adventures…it was all really great.
The third was a bit more complicated, since Cain himself was complicated, but that whole "We really like Cain almost as much as we like knowing things, maybe more" bit stuck with the both of them too. Ambrose tried to figure out how to best approach the Tin Man as anything more than a friend in a method with minimal potential fallout. Glitch tried to figure out why Ambrose was busy doing that and not understanding the guy still needed time to grieve for a dead wife and get to know his son again, and that when he was at peace with himself they could jumble his brain up for once and just jump him or something.
Ambrose met Cain when he and Glitch decided that Ambrose needed some time to realize he was in a body and not a jar. They'd still had the zipper, and Ambrose was so stunned at the sound and the feeling and the temperature and just breathing while he zipped and unzipped his head that it had taken Cain pulling Ambrose's hand away, zipping their head up, and sticking his own hat on top of it.
Ambrose really hadn't believed all that gibberish Glitch had been thinking about Cain being a great guy and his caring about him/them and how Cain was the best friend he'd ever had although DG was a really great friend too but that whole princess thing got in the way of a 'best friend' title.
But when Cain had put that hat on Ambrose's head and winked, actually winked, Ambrose got it 'like he got metalloid magical conductants'. Which was a whole lot, according to Ambrose, but Glitch had to wonder about that really, with that whole witch disaster sun-seeder thing.
Ambrose had actually gone all the way up Azkadellia's tower to where the old witch had gone goopy just so he could stare and then, to the horror of the Queen and her princess-heir DG, who had been gracious enough to escort him for moral support, spit on what was left of the tar-like mess they still had yet to fully scrape off the glass. After that whole spitting thing, Ambrose had gone back in and Glitch had come back out, shaking his head and pulling off yet another one of Ambrose's hats. "He’s kind of angry," he'd explained after Ambrose had suddenly seized control again and bashed through the central pane of glass with the heel of their boot.
The Queen and DG had given him that 'you really are always going to be a zipperhead' look. He was getting used to that, really. After all, Ambrose got the 'you really are a socially inept geek' look, and Glitch much preferred the zipperhead one. Of course, Ambrose preferred the geek one. Hey, one and a half brains. What can you do.
Raw had suggested that they try to become one or something like that. They had actually agreed it'd be far more boring to be Glimbrose or Ambrich or whatever than being Ambrose-and-Glitch. If Glitch needed information, he could just get a quick answer from Ambrose, and if Ambrose needed to know how to politely run away from an overachieving underling, Glitch was there to just ignore tact, take over, and run.
It wasn't a picnic or anything, by any means. Neither of them were particularly comfortable being around Jeb Cain. Sure, he was a great kid and they both loved his company. He was calculating and smart, much to Ambrose's glee, and had a real sense of rhythm, to Glitch's pride, even though the look of impending doom Cain had given him when he saw Jeb and Glitch twirling across the dance floor made them both think that maybe dancing with their imminent-boyfriend-whether-he-wanted-to-be-or-not (since they had at least a half brain more than Cain’s single one and therefore could find some way to make him love them) was a no-no. And after that even Jeb seemed a bit hesitant to even shake their hand, which led to the awkwardness.
That had made Ambrose wish he knew more psychology and had them spending most of their nights with huge, heavy books (yay, weight, Ambrose's thoughts would always go at that, and Glitch would roll his imaginary eyes at that. Sometimes Ambrose was more immature that even he was).
Glitch just started writing Jeb letters instead, usually half of one in his thin lines and messy twists, and then Ambrose filling in the other half with his almost calligraphy-perfect handwriting. Jeb was a good kid, and since Glitch had a bit of experience with people who'd been iron-suited and they both cared about him for both his father's sake and his own, they tried to help. If Jeb needed a way to tranquilize people with no adverse affects for the resistance's longcoat hunt, or a self-propelling and easily maneuverable vehicle (which DG had gotten all excited over and told them about 'motorcycles'), and Ambrose invented, and Glitch delivered with a smile. It was just another way to help the OZ. And another way to help Cain.
Ambrose, it turned out, was a very impatient kind of guy. When he would get aggravated with "those repetitive fools that call themselves experts on psychology" in their Understand-Cain-Quest, he would pace and mutter to himself and Glitch.
It was probably weird that nobody ever called them crazy. Or it was because he was one of the highest-ranking people in the OZ and either one of them could roundhouse anyone into oblivion. They'd get looks sometimes, when the switching went faster or they got into more passionate arguments than usual.
Luckily, Ambrose was too thought-absorbed to notice, and Glitch was so used to being stared at with those 'is the zipperhead on fumes?' looks that neither really cared.
Most of those early arguments were Cain-related. Ambrose and Cain were good friends, but Glitch and Cain were best friends, and Ambrose-and-Glitch had trouble with the differences that made sometimes. Ambrose could get a wink or a smile, but Glitch got grins and half-hugs and 'Sweethearts'.
It was in one of those big ugly psychology books that Ambrose was always reading that they realized that, honestly, how could you be jealous of yourself? Ambrose was Glitch and Glitch was Ambrose. And plus Glitch never got those winks of Cain's, so that had to count as something that Ambrose got that Glitch didn’t anyway.
It was also in one of those big ugly psychology books that Ambrose had to admit that Glitch had been right about the grieving/reaffirming thing. Glitch didn't gloat though. He just wondered why the smarter part of them hadn't understood that before reading the big ugly book.
Time passed, and eventually nobody got their names wrong anymore. Ambrose would forever be nervous about his brain and keep their head covered in a hat and was constantly making sure he had a body by wearing as many layers of clothing that could be considered socially acceptable. Glitch hated hats and tended to unbutton as many layers of clothing Ambrose had put them in since it was always so stuffy.
Ambrose got up the nerve to talk to Azkadellia and ended up with a bear hug and an apology out of her big heartfelt sobs. Glitch got up the nerve to try and invent something and ended up with a successful color-changing toy horse.
It was strange to be proud of each other. Probably as strange as that whole jealousy thing had been, but the books never said self-esteem was a bad thing and it felt a lot better to the both of them, so they decided that while the jealousy thing was stupid, the pride could stick around as long as the other deserved it.
Longcoats went back to what they'd done before Az (yes, she was Az to the both of them now) had gone kooky, and those that hadn't were more or less rounded up by Jeb's band of ex-rebels, so it wasn't particulary surprising when Jeb showed back up to see his dad.
What was surprising was when Cain wouldn't even look at Glitch OR Ambrose before he'd taken his son up to somewhere or another for a 'man-to-man' talk, as DG had put it. But she had that twisted up smirky type of look in her eyes so during the talk Ambrose tried to strategically coerce more information from her, and when that didn’t work Glitch tried asking outright, which also didn't work (although she did laugh, and the both of them always liked making her laugh).
After pacing and muttering to themselves, the 'man-to-man' talk ended and Jeb walked out of the doors and…stared at them. For a good long time. And then he actually grinned and slapped a hand on their shoulder and said "You’ve got my blessing because I know you're going to need it."
Neither of them really understood what that meant, but they liked that the whole being awkward around Jeb thing was over, apparently. They liked him. But when he practically shoved them through the door he’d just gone through, and neither of them were very fond of being shoved around ("another childhood thing," the Queen had said a few weeks ago, and why she always sounded so...strange about the topic neither of them knew), so they decided to like Jeb a little less if he kept shoving them around.
But he had thanked them for the motorcycles and that had made DG all excited and challenge him to a race that would probably send Az and the Queen into fits, but she was excited, so they decided that sure, the shoving would be okay if he kept with the same creed-type-thing that Glitch and Ambrose did.
Cain was in the room. Pacing. Cain never paced unless he was about to go on a suicide mission or something (except he always lived through those, so they should have probably classified them as almost-suicide), so immediately Glitch was babbling at him and hoping he was okay because they always wanted Cain to be okay, even better than okay, because Cain was great and should feel that way too.
But then he looked at them (and he'd always been able to do that, not look at Glitch or Ambrose but THEM) and pointed to one of the comfortably appointed sitting room chairs and said "Sit."
They sat.
Cain sat in front of them, still with that almost-suicide mission look on his face, and said "I’ve been thinking a lot."
"Always a good thing to do," Ambrose grinned at him, but Cain’s frown shut them up.
Glitch decided that this was apparently a very important bit of thinking and that it might take him a little while to get through it, so he clamped their mouth shut and watched their friend.
"Adora’s dead, and I’ve...come to terms with that. Jeb and you helped me out, more than you probably know."
Both of them wanted to say that they'd been trying very hard to help him and always would, but again decided to stay quiet and let him talk more.
He rubbed at his forehead, that 'this is uncomfortable or unpleasant and I do not like it' motion. "So I've been thinking a lot and feeling a lot and even Jeb agreed that she wouldn't want me to be a widower forever when...when there was someone who could make me happier than I've been in a very, very long time." He paused, and that cute little smile of shy happiness was on his lips, hat over his eyes. "Plus Jeb already thinks the world of you. Says your letters helped him have heart-"
That was probably the wrong sentence to kiss him through, but Ambrose had been arguing for waiting the talk out even after they'd figured out what it would be about and Glitch had been arguing that they interrupt and tell him they loved him too and skip all the explanations, and they'd compromised with Glitch's original plan of 'just jump him' and for once Ambrose hadn't taken that whole 'strategic timing' thing into account.
But the kissing him, oh yeah, that was definitely agreed on as a good idea. A very good idea. Especially when the hat tipped off his head as his head tilted back and he kissed back and wrapped his arms around their waist and pulled them close, and they knew it was THEM, not just Glitch or just Ambrose but THEM that he was kissing and holding and pulling further into the kiss.
The pulling back, though, they didn't like when Cain did that. He seemed a bit stunned and happy and flustered though, which they did like.
"We got impatient," they grinned, and didn't give him any more time to think or be flustered or wonder if this was the right thing to do (Cain always brooded too much; they needed to fix that) and kissed him senseless. Senseless and panting and pliable like liquid metals or spring snow dripping off from itself or...something very nice and best of all something that they wanted and was theirs now.
And while a pliable, panting Cain was definitely one of the most tempting sights ever known to the OZ, they were, again, in agreement that they needed to back off and let him think a little more, or more specifically feel a little more. So they stood up and grinned at how disheveled he looked because yep, THEY had done that to THEIR Cain, and it was great. Like Cain.
"I...I thought you might need some time to…to come to a decision," he said, voice delightfully rough. Oh, they liked that.
"No, that was you," they said, still grinning. "Although," Ambrose added, "we had about thirty-seven plans for making you fall in love with us." Glitch grinned. "You have no idea how impatient we can get when it comes to you."
And Cain just grinned and pulled them up with a "Ditto, Sweetheart," and it seemed like there was no better place in the universe to be other than there, or anywhere, with him.
---
Jeb got used to having two and a half dads pretty quickly, especially since he admitted to egging his father on about it. Plus apparently having the Queen's Advisor as his second-and-a-half (or however Glitch and Ambrose worked out; it confused even them sometimes) dad gave him plenty of bragging rights. On one slow workday they painted lightning bolts on his motorcycle, and he called them his dads when he thanked them. It was like being squished in a big warm blanket, and they decided that Cains in general were great..although definitely not in the same way. Very much not in the same way.
Like any couple, Cain and Ambrose and Glitch had definite ups (like when they found Zero trapped by the munchkins and decided to leave him there for the time being after pointing and laughing at him for a good bit of time) and definite downs (like when Cain would decide that another near-suicide mission was important and wouldn't let them tag along because "he couldn’t lose them too" even though they fought better than him anyway and were 'the OZ's version of MacGuyver', as DG had put it, which was apparently quite the compliment but wouldn't stop Tin-Up-His-Ass-Man from treating them like a helpless little aristocrat, which they WEREN'T). They'd break up and hate each other and get into physical fights sometimes, but after a while nobody even seemed to be surprised by finding them trying to beat each other unconscious, since the record time for a Cain-Glitch-Ambrose break-up was around two days. Nobody was particularly surprised to see one or the other suddenly pull each other into an empty room or onto a nearby wall after a month or so, either.
"Just the way they are," Raw had said simply after a fist-fight suddenly turned into making out on the marble floor of a corridor right in front of him and DG. "Then I’ll just assume that's how they like it and turn around and go away," DG had responded, and they’d done just that.
Cain and Ambrose and Glitch learned that love was both more stupid and wise than all two and a half brains of their relationship, and they went along with the beat it chose for their hearts. Being smarter than anyone else in the world didn't mean Ambrose and Glitch understood emotions. But Cain only needed to touch them and they'd remember that, after all, you didn't need to understand something to feel it.
---
A PSYCHOLOGICAL NOTE: I had a cracktastic theory that Glitch was always Ambrose even with half a brain, and that Glitch was more or less a safety persona even when Ambrose was full-brained Ambrose. Hence, split-personality-ness when you stick 'em back together. The theory comes from even more theories about the infamously vague Winter Palace scenes and, more specifically, how after Raw brain-reads him or something hurts him he goes back into 'Doesn't Know You' Glitch SO FAST.
...Plus I like the phrase two-and-a-half daddies so hooray for that!