Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Marc, Layla, Jake, and Steven all eyed each other.

They looked at 8 month old Albus Severus Babe Ruth Hamilton Howard Carter, and then at Khonshu.

Back at Albus Severus Babe Ruth Hamilton Howard Carter, who they nicknamed, Indy….for reasons, and back to Khonshu.

Marc held the bridge of his nose, “This is a terrible idea, agreed?”

“Oh yes.”

“Definitely.”

“No shit.”

“But,” Steven chimed in, “Taweret is busy with International Women’s Day, and Hathor did ask us nicely for help.”

Marc looked to Jake and Layla for support in this.

Jake rolled his eyes, “The last time we got a ‘normal’ babysitter for the kid and the babysitter charged us for therapy. For three months.”

Layla grimaced, “We’re short on time, and it should only take three hours.” She sighed, “I am not trying to jinx us by saying this, but the worse thing Khonshu could honestly do to him is bore him with his boasting.”

Marc took a deep breath and let it out in reassurance to himself more than anything, “He really can’t hurt him. He just needs to make sure he is watched over, fed, and changed if necessary. That’s all.”

Jake snorted, “I almost wish we didn’t have to go to see bag of bones there change a diaper.”

Everyone chuckled, thinking of the prideful god having to do something…so domestic.

Layla’s phone went off. She checked it, “Okay that is Hathor, we need to go now.”

She Looked at Khonshu, “You will watch him. Feed him. Change him. That is all. Nothing else. If not,” she pauses, “you will answer to Us and Taweret. Understood?”

Khonshu nodded, “Yes, yes, now go you fools, do not waste my time with your worries. The….nestling is safe with me.”

With that last…reassurance, they all kissed Indy goodbye, who giggled at the attention, and quickly dashed out the door.

The door slammed.

Khonshu looked at the….nestling.

Indy giggled and started to play with his hippo plushie.

Khonshu shrugged his shoulders.

What is the worse that could happen?

1 hour later:

Khonshu was bored.

Nestling’s at this age….were not the dullest creatures, but they weren’t exactly conversationists.

He watched Indy, who was playing with a ball on the floor and noticed the child’s hair keep falling into his face.

His Avatar’s and the Avatar of Taweret really needed to take better care of their nestling.

It wasn’t like they were shorthanded or anything.

Surely one of them could cut an infant’s hair?

Then Khonshu Had an Idea.

He remembered how the nestling’s hair during his glory days looked.

He gazed speculatively over the child.

Yes, it could work.

1 hours later (2 hours passed since Khonshu was left unsupervised)

Putting the scissors down, Khonshu admired his handiwork.

Yes, the child looked much better this way.

1 hour later (3 hours passed)

Steven, Layla, Jake, and Marc stumbled in.

Steven sighed, “Well we did make it back in three hours.”

Marc groaned, “That was not an easy little task.”

Layla, eyes half closed, “I’m pretty sure the last time I was this exhausted was after giving birth.”

Jake fell to the ground and instantly fell asleep in the entryway.

The others left him there.

Steven rubbed his eyes, “I’ll go check on Indy, after that I’m sleeping for a week.”

Layla blearily muttered, “Comin with. Need to make sure Khonshu didn’t do anything.”

Marc yawned, “K, let me know if you two need anything. If not then I’m fainting.”

They split at the bedrooms, Marc heading to his/their shared room while Layla and Steven went to Indy’s.

Marc was about to keel over in bed when he heard Steven and Layla at the same time, “KHONSHU I AM GOING TO KILL YOU-YOU SCRAWNY ASS BLOODY PIGEON!”

Marc, now wide awake, ran straight to Indy’s room, thinking the worst. Please-please-please nononono---

And stopped when he burst into Indy’s room.

Steven was cradling Indy in his arms while both him and Layla were looking him over.

But that wasn’t what stopped Marc.

He’d admit that Indy’s hair probably needed a trim, but honestly it was pretty low on the list of priorities lately.

Except Indy didn’t need a trim now apparently.

Because his hair was gone.

As in none left.

Bald as an egg.

If Marc squinted, he denies the use of glasses that’s Steven’s thing thank you, he could see the barest of shave marks. Barely.

Marc gaped.

How in the world--?! Then he realized why Layla and Steven were yelling.

He bellowed, “KHONSHU GET YOUR BONEY ASS HERE, NOW!”

Marc isn’t sure if Khonshu was more scared to show his face to Layla and Steven or if it took three irate parents to finally convince him to show, but he finally appeared.

Layla fumed, “Explain Yourself. Now.”

Khonshu for once look…intimidated, “The nestling was hot.”

Steven growled, “And you thought the best idea was to Shave Him Bald?!”

Khonshu attempted to regain his pride, “It is what nestlings during the times of the pharaohs did. They went bald until they were old enough to self-regulate their temperature. It kept them from overheating.”

Marc suddenly had a headache, again, “So instead of cooling him down with a fan or taking his shirt off, you decided to shave him. Without asking us.”

Khonshu glared at them, “I do not need to explain myself any further. He is happy and cooled down. I do not see a problem.”

Steven had Enough, “DON’T SEE A---” He passed Indy to Layla and threw his hands in the air, too angry and exhausted to argue further.

Layla, now holding Indy, glowered at Khonshu, “If you Ever. EVER. Touch a hair on his head without our approval. I WILL FIND A WAY TO GRIND YOUR BEAK TO DUST! Do You Understand?”

Jake, who had seemingly woke up from his nap and silently come up the stairs, growled for effect, lip curled up, showing a nice set of canines.

Steven had his hands on his hips Glaring.

Marc Bared his Teeth, Snarling.

Khonshu seeing this, audibly gulped. While he hypothetically knew he was safe, he wasn’t quite so sure seeing the four Irate Avatars.

He nodded and bowed his head to Layla, “Indeed, I understand.”

He vanished before more could be said.

Thankfully taking the palpable anger out of the room with him.

Everyone relaxed.

Jake padded into the room and sniffed Indy, who yawned, waking up after his parents screamed at an ancient Egyptian deity.

Jake shifted back to human, and sighed, “Well it could be worse.”

The rest of them looked at him incredulously, Marc finally asked, “How?”

Jake shrugged, “At least his hair will grow back. Kind of worried that Khonshu made his hair vanish permanently, ya know? Besides, he did need a trim, now we don’t have to worry for a while.”

Steven rubbed his hand over his face, “Love, he is bald. How is he going to go out like this?”

Jake turned and grabbed something off a shelf, and put it on Indy’s head, it was a smaller version of Jake’s cap.

Jake nodded, “There, problem solved.”

Marc hated to admit it, but Indy looked utterly adorable in it.

Layla huffed a laugh while Steven spluttered, “That-that is not a solution! What if--?!”

Layla, now extremely tired, interrupts him, “Steven he’s safe, he’s healthy, and appears pretty happy with the hat. Let’s go to bed and then we’ll find him a bunch of cute hats for the meantime. Okay?”

Steven slumped, “Okay, okay.” He kissed Indy on the head, “Don’t worry love, we’ll fix this in the morning.” Steven then went and stumbled off to bed.

Jake was next, whispering something indiscernible in Spanish, then in English saying, “Knew you would look great in that.” Kissed him on the head, “See ya in the morning kid.”

Leaving Layla and Marc alone with Indy, an actual rarity these days.

Marc came up next and got a closer look. Indy giggled, babbling something, and reached out to him, Marc gave him his fingers.

He gripped onto Marc’s fingers and Marc melted. He chuckled and kissed Indy on the forehead, “You are supposed to give us heart attacks when you’re older. Not before you hit a year.”

Marc looked up at Layla, the love he felt in his eyes reciprocated in hers.

She tiredly smiled at him and leaned down, kissing Marc, “You are an amazing Dad Marc.”

He returned the kiss, “If I’m amazing then you are out of this world incredible.”

Layla smiled and sighed, gazing down at Indy, who appeared to be falling asleep. Marc hugged them both and they rested their heads together watching him slowly drift off.

Layla kissed him on the forehead, “Night habibi.” Then she whispered further, “I’ll make sure to reign in Papi and Papa from starting a hat war.”

Marc quietly laughed, clearly picturing the two starting one. When Layla shifted to move Indy to his crib, Marc paused her, “Here, I got him. You go get some sleep.” Layla, too tired to argue, nodded thankfully and gave him a peck on the lips before leaving.

Marc, gave Indy one more kiss and gently put him back in his crib.

He carefully removed the hat and placed it on the dresser.

He did not want to hear Steven squawk in the morning about how flat caps being a sleeping hazard.

With that he softly padded out of the room, turned off the light, and joined his loves in his bed.

Asleep at last.

Chapter Text

Khonshu perches in his Avatars’ backyard tree, observing the nestling, who is running around the yard with Bastet’s Guardian.

He has been called upon to ‘babysit’ today for a couple hours while his Avatars and Taweret's Avatar are off in different errands.

As Khonshu watched the nestling kick/push a ball around while the Guardian attempted to steal it away; he recently recalled a conversation he overheard.

It was between his and Taweret’s Avatars, reminiscing about getting revenge on a person called…Donna.

Apparently she was cruel to Steven, so two of Khonshu’s Avatars and Taweret’s Avatar decided to Get Revenge.

He even vaguely recalls Taweret glowing about how her and Layla resurrected the dead to pull it off.

Khonshu, while impressed at Taweret’s dedication to her Avatar and her Avatar’s mates, Khonshu knows he could do Better.

One of his main goals is after all vengeance against those who harm the travelers of the night, including his own Knights.

Though, admittingly, since his incident with Ishtar, he is not so bent on constantly seeking revenge.

It had been a while since he got proper revenge on someone.

He turned his head to the nestling.

And he now has the Perfect Accomplice.

Perhaps a little young, but Khonshu was not much older when he started having…mischievous adventures.

He would be doing the nestling a favor.

Teaching him the Right Way to get revenge.

But first the nestling would need a Suit.

An Avatar, no matter how young or temporary, still requires a Suit.

-----

Khonshu, focusing back on the nestling and his Guardian, is unsure how his Avatars and Taweret’s Avatar were so willing to accept such a….large feline into their home.

It could be due to the fact that the feline hid it’s true form from everyone, except himself and the nestling. Everyone else saw an…adorable house cat. Khonshu and the nestling were looking at something reminiscent of a lioness.

But he shrugged, to each their own.

As the feline stole the ball away from the nestling, the nestling decided to attempt a….’tackle’…Khonshu thinks it is called, but failed miserably.

The tackle instead turned into a gentle wrestling match.

The Guardian could easily beat the nestling, but the Guardian uses it as a teaching moment instead.

Every time the nestling makes an unsafe move, the Guardian gently nudges him.

Khonshu watches this and gets an Idea on top of his Idea of Getting Revenge on this Donna person.

If the Guardian is allowed to instruct the nestling in wrestling, Khonshu could easily teach the nestling skills as well with the Suit.

When the nestling and Guardian wrap up their session, Khonshu comes down from his perch and approaches the two.

The nestling, not quite in his school years yet, knew Khonshu as an uncle figure.

The nestling chirped, “Un Pan-choo! Wanna westle?!”

Khonshu did his best to not bristle as the misspeaking of his name.

He knows who to truly blame the nestling’s terminology,…and general linguistics.

Khonshu hmmmed, “No nestling, I have something else in mind.”

The nestling became exuberant, “Wha? What?!”

But before Khonshu can say anything further a rabbit darts between them.

------

The nestling, now distracted, chases after the rabbit.

Khonshu observes, thinking further how a suit would be perfect for his nestling.

His coordination is coming along nicely, especially since he recently started to run.

He runs to and from meals.

He runs to, during, and after playtime.

He runs to, after, and (away from during bedtime) his parents.

He runs to and after the Guardian.

He even runs to and after Taweret and Khonshu himself.

Yes, the Suit would help even further himself in his speed and coordination.

And protect him from the occasional injury during these runs.

----

Khonshu moves to a bench, watching as the nestling ran straight through a muddy puddle, chasing after a rabbit.

Khonshu isn’t sure if his Avatars and Taweret’s Avatars are aware of the apparent rabbit infestation, but the nestling seems to enjoy it.

The Guardian, for all she is a predator, actually dotes on the creatures.

She even carried one inside the house, alive.

And let it go.

Khonshu chuckled, thinking back on the chaos such a small creature caused in such a short span of time.

Then again, the same could be said of the nestling.

But at least the nestling isn’t a delicacy in other regions of the world.

Regardless, as the rabbit dove into the warren hidden in the bushes, another one popped out.

Khonshu narrowed his eyes, it almost seemed like they were tag-teaming who entertained the nestling.

But that wasn’t possible.

Rabbits aren’t that intelligent.

Are they?

Khonshu watched as the new rabbit waited for Indy to catch up and started the game of chase.

The Guardian picked an open spot in the garden. Khonshu isn’t sure which Avatar decided to pick up the hobby, but it gave the Guardian the best place to watch the nestling on the ground.

-----

Eventually the nestling wore himself out and fell into a muddier part of the yard. The rabbit hopped away into the warren.

Khonshu was not the most fastidious creature, but even he could tell the nestling was…filthy.

Completely covered head to toe in mud and muck.

Khonshu isn’t sure how is happened, the nestling was just running around after all, but somehow the nestling went from clean to filthy in seconds.

Khonshu knew that he needed to clean the nestling before one of the Avatars came home.

He sighed, it was becoming common occurrence that the nestling would need at least one bath when Khonshu watched him.

Sometimes though, it could be several baths, for the nestling would somehow end up requiring one, again.

And again.

And again.

Khonshu approached the nestling, thinking.

He has tried keeping the nestling inside.

It didn’t work.

He tried to keep him contained in a room.

Still didn’t work.

He even contained the dirt demon in the actual washroom.

And it still didn’t work.

How in the Void was Khonshu going to keep the nestling’s bathing down to a minimum?

Khonshu thought about what clothing options nestlings during his childhood did.

No, no he already attempted those options.

Then he thought back to the Suit.

Yes, Perfect.

Simple and brilliant.

Khonshu smiled as he looked down on the nestling.

The nestling cheered, “Pan-choo!”

Khonshu was too eager about his plan to even be bothered by the (parental deliberate) misspeaking of his name.

Khonshu picked up the nestling, resembling more like a rough rendition of Khnum’s early creations.

“Time for a cleaning nestling.”

The nestling cheered, “Clean!”

Khonshu did not remember enjoying bathing as much as the nestling, but he did appreciate not having to fight the child to the wash room.

He quickly took the nestling to the washroom and cleaned him….without too much of a mess.

Granted the walls were soaked and Khonshu’s not sure how the ceiling got wet, but still.

The nestling was clean and that is what mattered.

-----

Now, time for Khonshu’s plan.

He created the Suit, different from his Avatars’ as it would be a one piece.

It was still pearly off-white, and had inscriptions proclaiming who the nestling belonged to.

From there Khonshu took the mask idea from Steven’s suit, the wrappings from Marc’s, and the sleek yet comfortable fit from Jake’s.

He checked to make sure the mask did not affect the nestling’s breathing and decided to remove the lower half to prevent any…incidents.

Once he was done with adjustments, he held the nestling out.

Yes.

Perfect.

The nestling, not exactly understanding what happened, could tell from the sensation of magic on his skin that it was something good, giggled.

Khonshu nodded, this will work to keep the nestling clean, factor into Khonshu’s early stage plans for Donna, and further the nestling’s physical development.

Then when the nestling reaches schooling age, he will be the best amongst his nestmates.

Also, Khonshu can fan the flame of mischievousness in the nestling, that same spark Khonshu recognizes from himself in his own early years.

While not all of his pranks were successful….Khonshu was grateful for his magic to help keep him out of trouble.

The nestling’s Suit will work in that regard as well.

Khonshu just knows that the nestling’s parents will be beyond relieved for such a gift of protection for their young one.

--------

However, when the nestling’s parents arrived home, Khonshu decided to not say anything about the nestling’s Suit…yet.

Besides Khonshu was still working on teaching the nestling how to work said Suit.

It would be highly foolish to hand out such a gift and not teach the young one how to use it.

Also, Khonshu would deny this, but he was starting to wonder if his Avatars and Taweret’s Avatar would understand that the suit is not a comment on their protection abilities of their own child.....

Yes, he would wait.

He would have time.

At least he thought he had time until the nestling told them himself at breakfast a few days later.

When he toddled downstairs in his Suit and pulled out a skunk….from said Suit.

Not even Khonshu knows where the nestling found such an even tempered skunk to willingly be carried by someone so young in the Suit.

But the nestling did.

Much to the dismay of his parents.

And to Khonshu when they turned on Khonshu for making him a Suit.

And most likely being involved in the appropriation of a skunk.

That decided to be less even tempered and spray everyone in its vicinity.

(Including Khonshu)

Which was honestly more than enough for the nestling’s parents to yell at Khonshu in at least five different languages.

For three hours straight.

Khonshu was impressed, no one repeated themselves and the threats….were creative to say the least.

He was just grateful that neither Taweret nor Artemis showed up.

Afterwards, Khonshu would never admit it, but he was proud of the nestling.

It was something he would have done himself at the nestling’s age.

Clearly, the nestling had a bright future ahead of him.

And would be the perfect accomplice to get Revenge on Donna….just not in the near future.

Khonshu’s pretty sure when the nestling’s parents found out, Khonshu may be in more trouble than he bargained for.

But it would be worth it.

Chapter Text

An agreement was made.

Actually two agreements were made.

One-Once the skunk was vacated, Khonshu would…take care of the smell.

Two-The nestling could keep the Suit. The issue the Avatars’ had was not the suit itself, it was the implication of what an Avatar suit meant.

You know, the danger, violence, and potential visiting Duat implications.

However, there are caveats to the nestling keeping the suit.

No Weapons. At all.

No Missions. At all.

No Magic. Except…healing, keeping him (relatively) clean, and self-defense.

He could wear it in public since he is young enough to get away with costumes.

Khonshu agreed.

But no one defined weapons, missions, or magic outside of the caveats.

He blames their lack of foresight on the skunk.

It was very potent.

So here Khonshu was, another day, another observation of the nestling.

This time though, Khonshu had an Idea.

He was going to teach the nestling how to use some of the suit’s….additional features.

Apparently though the nestling was much smarter than Khonshu took him for.

It started when one of the Avatars left the news on the Entertainment Box.

And there was an incident involved a Human in Strange Colors with Spiderwebs coming Out of His Hands.

Khonshu did not think that Neith would want their Avatar dressed like that.

But to each their own.

What Khonshu did not realize was that the nestling was watching the news as well.

And seeing Neith’s Avatar, called Spiderman of all things, using spiderwebs to…swing around buildings.

Which led the nestling to call, “SUIT!”

Khonshu to turn his head, proudly see the suit appear for the first time….unlike some Avatars who need a six story drop, a metal pole, and a jackal.

For the nestling to change the suit to his Baba’s and use one of the mummy wraps to shoot out and attach to Khonshu’s beak.

The nestling yells, “GO!”

Then the suit pulls the nestling straight at Khonshu’s head.

Causing Khonshu to receive a face full of nestling come at him at full force.

Khonshu suddenly understands some of the Avatars’ concerns with giving someone so young a suit.

Any other concerns vanish as he deals with the nestling plastered to his face.

“PAN-CHOO!”

Khonshu cannot decide if Pa-choo or Pan-choo is worst.

Except now the nestling has sent one of the wrappings at a bookshelf and pulled himself towards the furniture, haphazardly swinging along the way.

And knocking down two lamps and a vase in his path.

Khonshu quickly tosses a pillow to land between the nestling and the bookcase to cushion his landing.

Khonshu is very grateful that there is no ceiling fan like in Egypt to keep the rooms cool.

It doesn’t stop the nestling from finding other tall places to pull, launch, and swing from.

Thankfully Khonshu is able to cushion the nestling’s landings.

Eventually the nestling is worn out from both using the suit and from the general mayhem known to his age.

Khonshu does not often feel exhaustion, he is a God after all.

But after this session with the nestling….may have done the trick.

Also, while he rarely admits he is wrong, he can admit that some…additional age appropriate features for the suit would not be amiss.

Which he’ll add to…later.

The nestling rests next to him on the sofa and Khonshu decides to close his eyes.

Just for a minute.

--

Steven, Layla, Marc, and Jake quietly walk in, cognizant of potentially waking up Indy.

Steven sees the duo on the couch first, “That is adorable.”

Layla whips out her phone and snaps a few pics, “Taweret is going to be so jealous.”

Marc snorts, “Indy’s going to need a schedule for deity cuddling time.”

Jake tilts his head, “Wasn’t his suit like a hybrid of ours?”

Marc turns to Jake, “Yeah, why?”

Layla catches on, “Because that looks a lot like your suit Marc.”

Marc’s eyes go wide and nearly causes himself whiplash from turning his head so quickly.

To see Indy in a near identical version of Marc’s suit.

Marc has come far enough along to admit he is crying.

He never thought in a million years when he agreed to having a kid that this would happen.

That his kid would want to be like him.

(What he doesn’t see behind him is Layla discreetly taking pictures or all three holding hands.)

He doesn’t move because even in his emotion compromised state, he knows better than to unexpectedly wake Indy.

It only took two black eyes to figure that one out.

One of the others gently nudges him forward and he stumbles, then rights himself, slowly walking toward the pair.

He kneels in front of Indy, taking in this, this moment.

He carefully kisses Indy on the forehead.

Getting a suited foot to the face.

“OY !” He sits back as Indy flops into a different position, not waking to injuring his Baba…again.

Jake and Steven snicker as Layla does her best to hide her wide grin having videoed the WHOLE incident.

--

It isn’t till a few days later that they realize the reason Indy was in Marc’s suit specifically.

When Indy yell’s “SUIT!” and goes flying face first into Steven.

“KHONSHU!”

“BLAME NEITH’S AVATAR!”

“WHO?!”

“THE ONE CALLED ‘SPIDERMAN’ !”

“HOW DID HE SEE SPIDERMAN?! DID YOU TAKE HIM TO NEW YORK?!?!”

“NO YOU FOOL! HE SAW IT ON YOUR ENTERTAINMENT BOX!”

“Shit, I forgot we left the international news on when we left.”

“Can someone help me catch OUR child?! NO INDY!”

“WEEE!”

----

A time zone away, Spiderman is swinging around a cloudy New York day when his Spidey-senses go haywire.

Like five very annoyed, very dangerous people are about to hurt him.

He stops, looks around, with nothing dangerous around for miles, he goes back to swinging.

Huh, weird.

Chapter Text

Yes, Khonshu did enjoy her mortal form.

However, it took much longer for Khonshu to figure out how to access his god powers in her mortal form without causing any lasting damage.

So far, Khonshu could access her mortal form at whim but the god abilities were attached to his skeletal bird form.

She decided one day to work on this while watching the nestling.

Unfortunately, as all of her nestling-sitting times go, something went…awry.

Even she knows that this is NOT GOOD.

While she is now mortal….the nestling is not.

The nestling looks like Khonshu did as an immortal child….mostly.

Khonshu did have a mortal based child form but his alternate form was more in line with the nestling’s current appearance.

A young, fluffy Ibis chick.

Except with ancient Egyptian robes and coloration on his feathers.

And a little staff of his own.

If it wasn’t such a dire situation, Khonshu would have cooed at the site.

He is much more adorable than any deity nestling Khonshu ever saw.

Which she thinks is completely unbiased.

The rest of the ancient Egyptian deities were pretty ugly.

Khonshu snapped out of her doting when the nestling swung his little staff around and turned the sofa into an ancient Egyptian style lounge seat.

Thankfully there was a cushion on it.

The nestling giggled, “Yahoo!”

Khonshu….would not panic.

That now a mortal…well immortal…toddler currently has a god powered staff.

And has no idea how to control it.

Khonshu quickly looked around for Tiresias’s staff, which she usually used in conjunction with her own. She would hopefully be able to turn back into her other self and it would undo this problem.

Except.

It was gone.

Vanished.

Vamoosed.

Khonshu was so screwed.

She turned back to the nestling.

Perhaps she could use his staff?

It was worth a shot.

One hour later:

It was not worth a shot.

It wasn’t worth anything actually.

It upset the nestling, who would not let the staff go, and when he did he threw a tantrum worthy of Khonshu.

It exhausted Khonshu trying to calm the nestling down, then attempting to use the staff to reverse the spell, only for nothing to work.

It also turned a majority of the furniture into something worthy of a pharaoh.

The Guardian had wisely disappeared.

Khonshu wishes she could do the same.

But first a bath, she is sweaty and the nestling is snotty and tearstained.

Wait….the nestling is dirty….could summoning the suit do the trick?

“Nestling?”

“Pan-cho?”

“Suit?”

“Suit? Suit! SUIT! SUIT!”

Except.

The nestling’s suit did not come.

“SUUUIITT!”

However.

Khonshu felt something…odd.

No.

That possible couldn’t happen too?

She tried, “Suit!”

And a much taller version of the nestling’s suit surrounded Khonshu.

What.

The.

Hell?!

The nestling seeing the suit on Khonshu tackled Khonshu, “SUIT!”

The suit took most of the impact.

Khonshu automatically hugged the nestling and tried to think if this could help in any way.

The suit has magic of its own.

It…should be enough.

Before Khonshu can attempt anything further, the front door opens.

Layla, Marc, Jake, and Steven walk in.

They all see mortal Khonshu in Indy’s suit, and Indy as a Mini-Bird God hugging Khonshu.

No one says anything.

Indy sees his parents and jumps up, “OMI, BABA, PAPI, PAPA!”

He runs full tilt at them for Jake to snap out of his shock and pick him up before he spears anyone.

Jake automatically hugs him as Indy chats a kilometer a minute while fiercely hugging back.

Which lasts for a few seconds for Indy to want, “DOWN!...Pwease.”

Jake carefully puts him down and Indy goes zooming off.

Hyde suddenly appears and follows Indy.

They all look at each other.

Marc is Speechless.

Steven is Thinking a Million Things at a moment and is unable to speak.

Jake decides to shift to wolf and follows Indy and Hyde.

Layla finds her voice first, “Khonshu?”

“Yes?”

“How?”

Khonshu figures out how to depower the suit and answers sheepishly, “I am…unsure. I know that I was working on my god powers being usable in my mortal form. Somehow this transferred my god-ness to the nestling while I still remain mortal.”

Layla swallowed, “Do you know how to fix this?”

Khonshu sighed, “What do you think I’ve been trying to do since this happened?”
Layla squared her shoulders, “Okay, I am calling Taweret.”

Khonshu slumped her shoulders, “That…may be for the best.”

Steven suddenly spoke, “Why were you in Indy’s suit?”

Khonshu shrugged, “I have no idea.”

Suddenly Indy, running back into the room with Hyde and Jake running after while swinging his new staff, shouted, “WAHOO! I’MA BIRDIE!”

A bright light flashed.

Marc knew when he saw his son look like a feathered version of Khonshu, that the day was going to get a lot weirder before it got calm again.

He admittingly did not expect this.

But he should have.

He really should.

“MARC?!”

For Marc was now a Bald Eagle.

A Very Grumpy Looking Bald Eagle.

Which is when Taweret appeared, “Hi! Oh…oh dear.”

Interlude of the Next 48 Hours:

“Just STAY there Indy. Don’t Move.”

“I’M MAGIC NOW!”

“Marc, watch out for Hyde!”

“YEOOOW”

“CREAAAW!”

“Why is Hyde now a lioness-ish?”

“Is that really the biggest concern right now?”

“That is her normal form, you mean you could not see that?”

“Wait, WHAT?!”

“JAKE NO! WAIT NO INDY!”

“Could everyone please hold still?”

“Steven- You, Me, Taweret, and the Spa.”

“Sounds heavenly love.”

“Next week?”

“Short of an apocalypse, I’ll be there.”

“Did Marc just lay an egg?”

“Maybe he looks grumpy because he-she’s trying to lay more? I remember Indy was hell to push out.”

“Does that mean when Marc turns back to human the eggs will turn into human babies?”

“Don’t. Say. Another. Word.”

“Wait, is that slobber on the egg? JAKE?!”

Interlude Over:

The eggs were chicken eggs.

Marc was male and human.

Indy was a mortal toddler.

Khonshu was currently in his God form.

Oh, and the furniture is back to normal. Mostly.

After a very long nap, they are all listening to Taweret as she divulged all of the times Khonshu’s magic went haywire when he was Indy’s age.

It made raising Indy look like a walk in the park.

Mostly.

Because during a story involving Osiris, Khonshu, and Anubis with the Nile turning colors, something ‘Cheeped!’ from the carton of eggs on the counter.

Everyone turned to Jake, whose eyes were Very Wide.

Two hours later they now owned a half dozen colorful chicks.

Who Imprinted on Jake.

Jake is now the Proud Papi of one toddler and half a dozen living Peeps.

Chapter Text

Khonshu is….not entirely sure how this one happened.

After the godhood-mortal switch up, Khonshu decided to leave the experimentation when…he/she was alone.

What Khonshu did not realize was that him and the nestling were now…connected.

Beyond the godparent responsibilities bestowed upon him and Taweret when the nestling was birthed.

No, apparently something…deeper happened.

Based on the fact that Khonshu decided to bring forth a different self to watch the nestling this time.

His young child self.

Why not enjoy the energy, form, and mentality of someone young once in a while?

There was no shame in it, and he would still retain all of his knowledge and memories.

So there was no danger of a child watching the nestling.

His aspect and outlook mentally would change is all.

Therefore, once Marc left the nestling with him, Khonshu shifted forms.

However, something much more dramatic happened.

He was fine.

The nestling was not…un fine.

Just not exactly the same.

The nestling was decidedly older.

Close to his parents’ age if Khonshu could guess correctly.

The nestling…no he would always be a nestling to Khonshu, eyes wide gaped at Khonshu, “Kh-Khonshu?! What the bloody hell is going on?!”

Khonshu cannot think of anything intelligent to say but, “What In The Fucking Duat Is Going Fucking On?!”

Admittingly Khonshu’s vocabulary….was in flux when he was in this specific form.

The older nestling threw his hands in the air, his speech ranging from British to American to Egyptian, “I have not a ruddy clue you idiota muppet! I was about to get ready for work when everything went white and now I’m home!” He gestured to Khonshu, “ And you’re in your child form.” He paused, comprehension dawning on him, “Oh wait….this is it innit? This is what you fucking warned me about. The time when you aged me by grabbing my future self while de-aging yourself!”

He slapped his hands back down on the ground, “Fuck!” He rubbed his hands over his face, “Well this is going to be fun to explain.”

It admittingly took a minute for Khonshu to process this.

And then he realized that this was going to take a lot more than a spell reversal.

As in incantations to reverse this take weeks to set up and perform.

How the hell was he going to explain this to the nestlings’ parents?

Or Taweret?

Khonshu groaned, “If it makes you feel any better. I’m pretty sure I’m never going to hear the end of it from Taweret or your parents.”

The older nestling grimaced in sympathy and chuckled, “Yeah, pretty sure this takes the cake for a while if I remember right.”

Khonshu tilted his head, “Does your younger self remember this?”

The older nestling shook his head, “No, but I remember a few months back when I was visiting, Ommi brought it up and everyone chimed in about it.”

Khonshu hmmmed, then suddenly felt dread, “By any chance…do you remember as a younger nestling what happened to you?”

The nestling took a second to think then shook his head, “Nope! I honestly remember nothing from it. From what you lot told me, my younger self most likely was sent to the future. Where my older parents with you and Taweret are probably there keeping an eye on me.”

Khonshu breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank the stars. That knowledge should keep me from being eviscerated…mostly.”

Before the older nestling could comment, the front door opened, “Indy! Khonshu! I’m home! I got all the groceries and I only had to look at the list once!”

Marc, arm full of groceries walked right past Khonshu and the older nestling, straight into the kitchen.

Khonshu sighed, his avatar really needs to work on his spatial awareness.

What made it worse was that this continued for several minutes as Marc put all the groceries away.

And didn’t notice a thing.

It wasn’t until Marc put everything away and came out of the kitchen with a glass of soy milk (they all liked it and it was better for them in the long run), that he finally saw them.

The glass dropped.

It shattered, spraying milk everywhere.

Marc immediately pulled out a gun from underneath a side table.

Pointing it at the older nestling.

Khonshu positioned his staff in front of the nestling.

However it was apparently pointless as the nestling summoned the Suit that Khonshu gave him.

It was larger and more designed for an adult’s taste.

But it was the same Suit.

Marc froze.

Khonshu froze.

The older nestling waved, “Hey Babba, please don’t shoot me.”

Marc swallowed and finally spoke, very slowly, “What. Is. Going. On?”

Khonshu sighed, this was not going to end well.

He didn’t need to be a god to know that.

Khonshu started, “I decided to become my young child self and somehow this change…caused the nestling to age….Except—“

The older nestling interrupted, “That wasn’t quite what happened. Instead, he summoned me from the future and sent my younger me, the one you know right now Babba, to the future.”

Marc blinked.

He very slowly lowered the gun, “And how do I know you’re telling the truth?”

The older nestling tilted his head, oddly just like Khonshu, “The nearly matching suit Khonshu made for me isn’t enough?”

Marc paused, admittingly the person was right.

But still.

This is a whole new level of weird, even for Marc.

He needed his spouses but they were all occupied.

Layla and Steven were discussing ancient history with Taweret for their once a year solving long lost secrets chat.

Jake was in conference with Artemis and the gang in Greece about a few new disciples of Artemis and how to support them.

So it was down to Marc.

And apparently Child Khonshu, who may be in different form but was unmistakable to Marc.

Maybe it was an avatar thing or just from knowing the god for so long.

Either way.

Marc had two options in front of him.

1-Someone somehow tricked Khonshu, kidnapped his son, and was pretending to be said son…..With the same magic suit.

2-Both Khonshu and this…person were telling the truth.

There are of course more options but Marc needs to make a decision now.

He takes another good look at the Suited person.

He nods to the Suited person, “Suit off and then we’ll talk.”

The Suit disappears.

The person underneath looks like…well like a much older version of Indy.

Curly black hair.

Caramel akin tone.

Layla’s beautiful eyes.

The boys jawline.

Not to mention the fact that his accent and speech pattern seem to keep changing from Steven’s British, to Layla’s Egyptian, to Marc and Jake’s American variations.

Well shit. Marc sighs and puts away the gun.

“Alright. Between the Suit and you,” he gestures to the clearly older Indy, “you’re both telling the truth.”

Khonshu huffed, “Of course we are!”

Indy looks at Khonshu, “Like you weren’t having trouble with this before Babba came in?”

Khonshu crossed his arms, “That’s different.”

Marc and Indy both asked incredulously, “How?”

Khonshu glared at the two, “Because I am a God and you two are related. Can you not tell when you meet your own kin?”

Marc and Indy looked at each other. Indy shrugged, “He’s got a point. Though I would have a hard time trusting this if the roles were reversed.”

Marc sighs and rubs his forehead, how does he always end up with the weirdest shit first?

“Okay, okay. So you,” he points to Khonshu, “are the child self of Khonshu, correct?”

Khonshu huffs and folds his arms, “This is ridiculous. Yes, I am Khonshu you fool!”

Marc nods, “Okay, and you,” he points to the…older Indy, “ are my son from the future who got accidentally sent back in time, while my current son is in the future being extremely spoiled by myself, Ommi, Papa, and Papi. Is that right?”

The older Indy shrugged, “Sounds ‘bout right.”

Marc takes a deep breath as he processes that his toddler son is in the future.

Safe, but in the future nonetheless.

And Marc had only been gone for half an hour at most.

That’s it. He doesn’t care if everyone else is busy. He can feel that he is about to spiral as he realizes the magnitude of what’s happened.

His Indy is not here.

He is somewhere else that Marc can’t reach.

Marc is Indy’s Babba, he’s supposed to be there to love and protect him.

How can he do that when his son is—-

Suddenly someone is supporting Marc upright, “Breathe Babba, I’m right here and younger me is safe, alright? He’s probably getting stuffed full of treats by Ommi as we speak.”

Marc slowly comes back and mentally feels Jake and Steven rushing to get to him. Steven lets him know that Layla is coming too.

Marc is grateful that his spouses are coming back.

Besides, he wouldn’t mind not being the only one freaked out by this.

He focuses his attention on older Indy, as the other sees Marc comes back he relaxes with Marc.

“Good. You’re back. I’m not always great at that, so glad that worked.” Old Indy slowly let go of Marc and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

“My partners tell me I can be thick as a brick sometimes with this stuff.”

Marc raises his brow, his panic fading away. He really shouldn’t ask but the parent in him wants to know, “Partners?”

Older Indy gives him an incredulous look, “You, Papi, Ommi, and Papa are the last ones to talk in that department.”

Marc snorts, “I wasn’t criticizing, I just want to know how soon Papi is going to need to buy his guns to keep the boys and girls off of you.”

Older Indy chokes, “Uhmmm….”

Marc gives him an amused look, “ What? Did something happen?”

When Older Indy gives Marc’s trademark, Something Wrong/Weird/Batshit Crazy Happened and I Don’t Want to Talk About It Since I Love You And I Want to Protect You.

Then Marc gets concerned, “ Papi didn’t actually have to use a gun… did he?”

Older Indy quickly shook his head, “No, no thank fucking god for that. It’s just…”

Marc is confused, is Indy…embarrassed?, what the hell could embarrass the son of four avatars and the god child of two Egyptian deities?

Marc pushes, “What? You must know something of our past. Pretty sure there isn’t too much relationship wise you could throw at us that would be a shocker.”

Older Indy groaned, “I know! But I can’t say anything or it will be Spoilers for the future!”

Then he grinned as something dawned on him, “Though it is fun that you have a couple decades of wondering before finding out.”

Now it’s Marc turn to groan, “Gee thanks.”

Indy threw him a smirk that looked near identical to Layla’s, “No problem Babba.”

Marc sighed, “Well are you at least happy? Because that is something I want to know as your Babba.”

Indy’s grin went almost borderline lovesick, Marc had to cover a snort to keep from interrupting.

“Yeah, yeah. Everything is going pretty freaking well actually. We’re having to make sure we communicate ‘cause that’s a real easy way of things going sour. But yeah…” Indy shook his head, “It is just so easy now that we’ve worked out most of our relationship kinks. I trust them and they trust me. I mean, I don’t have to worry about being someone else around them and they feel the same around me…There’s a whole host of other reasons but really it just comes down to….I love them Babba, and the fact that they love me back just makes my day every day, ya know?”

Marc nodded, it actually sounded like….

Like a potentially healthy relationship.

Something that took Marc years to achieve, through so much hardship and pain.

For Indy though, it sounds well…normal.

Like Indy didn’t get Marcs baggage or that maybe, perhaps maybe…Marc wasn’t a bad parent.

That Indy grew up relatively normal.

That he got what Marc always wanted for any child of his.

A happy, loving home.

Wild and crazy?

Yes.

But one filled with laughter.

No pain.

No abuse.

Just love.

As this incredible weight of constant personal parental concern lifted from Marc’s shoulders….is when Jake, Layla, and Steven burst in.