Chapter Text
one hour earlier.
The sound of a massive explosion echoed through the laboratory corridor. Documents, shards of glass—whatever there was—were scattered everywhere.
The steam and smoke made visibility impossible. The scientist coughed, sweeping the smoke aside with his hand. His clothes were covered in soot.
He narrowed his eyes and looked around.
Within the slowly dispersing smoke, he saw two figures. At first, he thought they were his coworkers. Then he realized the figures were much smaller.
Maintaining his balance, he took one or two steps forward.
When the smoke in front of him completely vanished, his eyes widened. He stood frozen in place.
Himself.
And Stan at the age of eleven… were standing there.
For several seconds, he blinked at them.
The children, trying to comprehend what was happening, stood close to one another, attempting to see through the smoke.
He saw blond hair swaying, young Stan trying to disperse the smoke with his arm.
The child behind him was shifting his large irises left and right, gathering pieces instinctively.
“You…”
Both children suddenly turned toward the sound. Stan’s shoulders tensed, and he moved his arm to block Xeno.
The scientist slowly raised his hands.
“I’m here.”
“I won’t come any closer.”
The moment he saw the owner of the voice, young Xeno’s eyes widened as if struck by light. His mind stopped for a moment.
The other boy frowned and stepped backward a few steps.
“Who are you?! Did you bring us here?!”
The doctor didn’t blame them. He looked at them with the calmest expression he could manage.
“I am Doctor Xeno Houston Wingfield…”
At that exact moment, multiple fast footsteps approaching the laboratory were heard.
This was not a moment for explanations. He moved closer to the children; without touching them, he guided them quickly.
They stepped out onto the terrace. While trying to lead them toward an open, secluded area, the blond child suddenly pulled his arm away from the man and, in one sharp motion, pulled Xeno to his side.
His breathing was fast. And somewhat… irregular.
“Don’t lie to us! Who are you really, and what do you want from us?!”
Just as he was about to answer, he saw his younger self slowly, faintly trembling as he took Stan’s hand.
They were afraid.
He gave the children a few seconds, allowing their breathing to slow.
He himself took a calming breath and gathered his focus. Taking one step forward, he approached them.
“My name is Doctor Xeno Houston Wingfield.”
He repeated it, his voice much sharper this time.
“I work at NASA as a rocket engineer. The laboratory we were just in was my work area.”
He slowly took out his employee ID from his pocket and raised it at chest level, showing it to the children.
“Your fear and suspicion are understandable. Examine this, then we’ll talk.”
The children shifted their gaze to the ID. As their heart rates slowed, they examined it silently.
He knew that distraction helped calm people. He didn’t want their bodies to release more fear, so he gave them enough time to inspect it.
———
The next ten minutes passed with adult Xeno explaining the situation to the children, supporting it with evidence.
Young Xeno could understand it to a certain extent, but until he fully accepted it, young Stanley continued to listen with a skeptical expression on his face.
His younger self placed one hand on his chin and lowered his gaze to the floor.
“So… you conducted an experiment based on timing patterns from different planets, and as a result, by bending different timelines… you brought us here?”
Even as a child, he always believed that truth was what made sense logically.
The man nodded.
“At least, that is my hypothesis. However, if there is no alternative timeline and you came from a single parallel, then this is a much bigger problem than I anticipated.”
“So we’re staying here until you fix it, old man?”
Young Stanley was truly grumpy. And impatient.
One of his eyebrows twitched. It seemed the child didn’t grasp how serious this problem was, but he couldn’t blame him. He took a deep breath.
“Yes.”
He looked at the child.
“And since my laboratory is destroyed, I can’t send you back until it’s fixed. However, anyone learning of your existence could lead to risks you couldn’t even imagine.”
“…Therefore, during this process, you will stay with me.”
He hesitated and looked down at the two human children at his feet. When no sound came from them, he frowned.
“Understood?”
It was obvious that young Xeno’s suspicious eyes were full of questions — he knew himself very well.
“Let’s say different timelines exist… Won’t this cause changes in our time? Our absence will be noticed.”
“We’ll learn that together, kid.”
He wondered the same thing, but he merely shrugged lightly.
“It was my first experiment. There are still tons of things we need to work on. We’ll see what happens.”
Young Xeno’s eyes lit up.
We’ll see.
Together.
For the first time since arriving here, he smiled.
“Of course! I’ll do everything I can.”
Xeno returned a gentle smile to his younger version’s excitement. Seeing how passionate he once was about science spread warmth through him.
Still, they had no time to lose. At least here, at NASA.
“I’m going to make a phone call and come back. Then we’ll go to my house. Stay here.”
After receiving a nod from young Xeno, and seeing young Stan force himself to repeat the same motion, he felt satisfied. He moved away from them and headed toward a more visible part of the terrace.
It would be good if some coworkers saw him and knew he was okay. He couldn’t deal with any questioning right now and would speak with his superiors about the explosion later.
He approached a table and leaned against the railing beside it. Then he took his phone from his pocket and dialed the number of the only person he trusted.
God, how was he going to explain this to him?
He hadn’t spoken to him at all about this project he’d been working on for months.
———
present time.
“So. That’s the situation.”
Xeno explained everything to Stan while looking at the children he had placed on the couch like plush toys.
“I can’t see how this problem concerns me, doctor,” Stan said, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette.
Xeno stopped him and lowered his hand.
“No smoking when there are children around.”
He frowned.
Stan frowned as well. He had no interest in babysitting, nor in the rules that came with it.
He took a deep breath.
No matter the situation, he would support his lover.
He looked at the little ones staring at them with wide eyes.
“You. Short-legged idiot.” He was referring to young Stanley.
“While Xeno and Xeno are trying to solve this problem…”
He paused, his face scrunching.
“Xeno and Xeno?”
“While your Xeno and my Xeno are solving this problem, we probably won’t be doing much. So you’ll help me with the remaining tasks.”
The child frowned.
“I don’t want to. I’m staying with Xeno.”
His hand tensely reached for the other.
“We’re not going to eat him.”
Adult Stan pulled his younger version up from the couch.
“I’m your future self. Can you understand that?”
He bent down to meet his eyes.
“I care about Xeno just as much as you do.”
He let his gaze move over the other two.
“No matter the age, Xeno is our friend.”
He turned his eyes back to the grumpy child.
“Do you understand? So trust me and do what I say.”
Young Stanley narrowed his eyes slightly, assessed the situation briefly, then nodded reluctantly.
“Fine.”
Adult Xeno smiled in satisfaction.
“While we take care of the laboratory, can you handle things here?”
The blond boy nodded quickly, filled with a sense of duty.
“I can.”
“If Stan says he can do it, he definitely will~!”
Young Xeno giggled. His own heart was pounding.
“Let’s go then.”
Xeno took the smaller boy’s hand and led him toward the stairs to the level he used as a laboratory in storage.
“See you, Stan!”
“See you.”
When both Xenos disappeared from sight, the adult blond turned his eyes to the smaller one.
“I haven’t visited Xeno’s house in a long time. There’s a lot of paperwork around, and the kitchen is messy. We’re going to clean.”
Young Stan rolled his eyes.
“Ughh… Fine…”
Before starting, he took a pack of lollipops from his pocket and put one in his mouth.
The adult watched him, itching to have something in his own mouth as well.
He narrowed his eyes, looked away, and reached out his hand.
“Give me one too.”
———
The next few hours were quiet. Xeno and the younger one were busy downstairs preparing hypotheses about the situation. Stan and the other were tidying up the house.
However, evening was approaching, and everyone was hungry. When the small blond’s stomach growled during cleaning, Stanley smiled.
“Let’s take a break. We’re almost done anyway.”
So the two of them collapsed onto the couch.
“I wish we had a burrito with lots of sauce.”
They both reacted to having said the same sentence at the same time, looked at each other, and then laughter filled the room.
Since childhood, his favorite food had never changed.
A burrito was a simple food accessible to anyone. Rice, beans, meat—whatever you had—wrapped in a wheat tortilla, a kind of sandwich.
Stanley took out his phone and browsed through a few apps he usually used to order food.
“Alright, young man. One burrito each for us. And for Xeno's…”
“A hamburger with a big patty.”
The smaller one completed the sentence.
“Xeno loves hamburgers with thick patties.”
He leaned toward the phone.
“Oh, but tell them not to put tomato sauce inside. He really doesn’t like it.”
Stanley paused at the child’s words.
Tomato sauce?
Inside a hamburger?
Ah. Hm.
When he realized, he exhaled uncomfortably.
“…Alright. A double mac cheeseburger without tomato sauce for little Xeno, a fully loaded Big Mac for big Xeno, and one burrito with sauce for each of us.”
While Stanley placed the order, the small boy watched silently. His eyes were slightly narrowed—he was looking, but not seeing.
After placing the order, Stanley put the phone aside. He stretched and took a cigarette from his pocket. He felt the silence in the air.
“Is something wrong?”
As he lit the lighter, the child’s eyes shifted toward it. After blinking a few times, he pulled himself out of his thoughts.
“Ah, hm…”
He pulled his legs toward himself, leaned forward slightly on the couch, and sat cross-legged.
“I’m just surprised.”
“That we can order food so easily.”
After a brief pause, he turned his gaze toward his adult self.
“Xeno and I save our school allowances to buy his equipment and my weapons. We usually eat whatever is available. Sometimes our grandma cooks us good things.”
A soft smile appeared on his face.
“I’m glad money isn’t a problem anymore. Xeno always feels like a burden on his family because the materials he wants are expensive. When I share my food with him, he accepts it awkwardly.”
He looked at himself.
“Even if I don’t eat, I want him to eat properly. Even if I can’t provide my own weapons… I want him to get what he needs for his projects.”
“And sometimes he makes weapons for me anyway. So it makes more sense for the budget to go to him.”
The adult blond saw the bittersweet smile on his younger self’s face.
He was only eleven.
He slowly lifted his hand and patted his head.
“Yes,” he said with a soft, kind smile.
“Money isn’t a problem anymore. Xeno can buy whatever he wants.”
His hand moved gently through the child’s hair.
“And we can too. Whatever we want.”
He took a deep breath.
“No one has to go hungry anymore.”
———
The two lab rats in the storage level hadn’t noticed how much time had passed. They had retreated into the dark, damp space.
When adult Xeno’s stomach growled as he reached for a beaker, they paused.
“I think we should eat something.”
Xeno smiled, set the beaker down, and began removing his gloves and reached for his ring.
Young Xeno’s eyebrows rose. Was that it? A break just because he was hungry? In the middle of work?
“Let’s finish this first.”
He reached out and stopped the man from removing his gloves.
Adult Xeno looked up at him.
“There’s no urgent task. And your well-being is our priority. We can continue after eating.”
Young Xeno frowned.
“Food isn’t important. At least let’s finish this.”
The man sighed, set the gloves aside, and reached for his ring to put them back on.
“Eating properly is very important for a child your age.”
When the boy continued to protest, his expression hardened, and he lifted him down from the stool.
“Food first.”
“Let go of me..! I’m not hungry!”
“It’s been at least four or five hours since we got here. How could you not be hungry?”
“Hnghh, I’m used to not eating!”
The scientist froze for a moment. The child took advantage of the hesitation and slipped free.
His eyes widened as memories resurfaced.
Right.
He looked at the child continuing his work as if nothing had happened.
Yes. Of course he was used to it.
How could he have forgotten his childhood eating habits?
He lifted his head and looked around at the laboratory.
A laboratory. In his house.
A sour taste formed in his mouth.
When he was little… to obtain the things he wanted, he and Stan would go to the city center and check prices.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at the child in front of him. The memories he was recalling now were things the child was still living.
He lifted his hand to place it on the boy’s shoulder, but hesitated. Then his hand fell back to his side.
While struggling with his internal monologue, he heard a knock on the door.
“Hey, doc. You still going?”
He turned toward the door. Stan and his younger version were standing there.
“Ah, mhm…”
He pulled himself out of his thoughts and turned to them.
“The little one still wants to continue, but I think it’s time for a break.”
“He still wants to continue?”
Stan raised an eyebrow as he walked inside.
“We ordered food.”
He placed his hands on his hips.
“Take a break at least until it arrives, and eat with us.”
Young Xeno let out an annoyed grunt as young Stanley approached him.
“Xeno. What are you doing?”
“I’m testing the mixtures on the whiteboard. There are a lot.”
Young Stan grabbed a beaker without caring that he wasn’t wearing gloves and shook it slightly.
“Mhm… This pink liquid? Doesn’t look impressive at all.”
Xeno frowned at him.
“It is impressive! You don’t—”
He stopped, eyebrows lifting.
“Stan, you’re filthy.”
The small boy stepped closer and handed him a cloth taken from his lab coat.
“You’re dirty.”
He leaned toward his clothes.
“And you smell like sweat. Ew. Not elegant at all.”
His tone was lightly mocking.
“Because we cleaned!”
The other replied proudly.
“Do you want to see? The old man’s house is much more livable now.”
The small one giggled.
“Alright then. Show me.”
So the blond boy took his hand, and the two of them left the laboratory together.
“Stan, do I look old?”
Xeno turned to the other in horror.
“Eh, they’re kids.”
The soldier shrugged.
“They’re our childhood selves! God, am I really aging?”
He turned to a mirror in the lab to inspect himself.
Stanley chuckled and stepped closer, wrapping his arms around him from behind and burying his head against his shoulder.
“He wasn’t serious. Trust me."
“… ”
He took a deep breath and inhaled the man’s scent, allowing himself time to physically feel his presence.
Xeno eventually returned the embrace, though part of his thoughts were elsewhere.
“…There are kids in the house, you know.”
“In our first relationship, we were kids too.”
“We weren’t that young.”
Though Xeno sounded like he was objecting, he didn’t mind. From the explosion in the lab to all the chaos that followed, the day had been stressful.
He slowly turned toward Stan and slipped into his arms.
“After dinner, they’ll sleep… They’re tired anyway.”
He murmured.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Not tired enough to sleep at six.”
He moved closer to Stan and accepted the kisses placed on his face.