Water Valkies

Kinly bundled the baby in his arms. His young son Rip toddled over and yanked back the blankets.
"What's that?" he squinted.
"It's a baby Rip. Do you want a little brother?" asked Kinly tenderly.
"Noooo!" sang Rip in horror.
"Send it back! I don't want a brother!"
Kinly chuckled lightly.
"I can't Rip. He's family now."
. . . . . .
The soft patter of a child's feet approached Kinly who sat hunched over with tears falling from behind his hands.
"What's wrong daddy?" asked Rip, stroking his arm comfortingly.
Kinly lifted Rip onto his lap and enveloped him in a hug.
"Poseidon had to go back honey."
Rip wailed loudly and clung to Kinly.
"But why? We just got him daddy! Why did you send him back? Sei was a nice one he didn't cry!" sobbed Rip.
Kinly held him close and rubbed his back. He hushed him gently and kissed his black hair and tried to hold in his own tears.
. . . . . .
Kinly went to answer the urgent knocks that came from the front door. His son Rip was smoking out back, something he didn't approve of, but couldn't change as Rip was now eighteen and a legal adult. When he threw open the door, a blonde haired, dirty looking boy attached himself to his waist. He couldn't have been much younger than Rip. Kinly opened his mouth in shock then felt dizzy when he spotted a small piece of tattered blanket in the boy's hand. It had purple lions on it, like the one Rip used to own until Kinly gave it to that abandoned baby.
It couldn't be.
"Sei?" he croaked.
"Kinly!" the boy cried into his chest. Rip followed the noise to the door and was confused at what he found. The dirty boy looked up and met Rip's eyes with his own shining blue ones.
"Rip." he smiled widely.
* * *
Kinly sat on the sofa and recalled these memories and so many more. He loved his boys more than anything.
Could they really feel this way?
At first he thought it was wrong, but then he thought about them being anything else. They were definitely not brothers, in any sense of the word.
'Friends' didn't seem to justify the bond they had and the lengths they would go to for each other.
Boyfriends.
The word felt so strange to Kinly. So foreign. He changed it to 'Together. A couple.' and thought of Sei and Rip. They seemed happy together. He remembered them holding hands and the way they gravitated around each other. He remembered the simultaneous look of joy they shared after Rip revealed their secret. "They fit well." he admitted to himself.

Sighing, he got up and returned to the kitchen where he found Rip cuddling Sei comfortingly. They looked up and Sei had tear tracks on his cheeks and Rip had a look of confidence, ready to defend them both if necessary.
"Boys-"
"You can't make us break up Dad." snapped Rip.
Sei sobbed harder into Rip's shoulder.
"I'm not." said Kinly.
Sei's head whipped around and his crying halted. Rip's eyes widened and they both began to smile.
"You boys were never meant to be brothers, I should have known that. Now this will take a long time to get used to, but, I give you my approval. You both look so happy I can't deny you it."
The boys started jumping and grinning at each other.
"But!" Kinly warned, cutting short their celebrations.
"If you," he said, pointing to Sei.
"Ever cause my son heartbreak, then you are in trouble. And if you," he continued, now training his finger on Rip.
"Ever hurt my son, you'll pay greatly."
The boys laughed and Kinly hugged them closely.
"You may not be brothers but I'm still a father to you both."
When he stepped back, Kinly watched them lace their fingers together gently, their faces glowing with expressions of content and sheer happiness, and he felt a spark of parental pride in his chest as he stared at his two boys who had come so far and grown so much since the night they met.