#why yes the state of kevin is a callback to another fic

[kariachi]

Until I can write worldbuilding, consider this fluffy Osmobeast centaur au fic my holiday gift to you all. Not seasonal, but it involves baby pictures and these two being adorable both together and individually, so-

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“Okay, here we go, oldest picture of me I still have.” It wasn’t a favorite, but after everything that had happened in his childhood, there were only so many things he had left from it all. A dozen or so pictures, some books, one of his dad’s watches. So even a picture he didn’t find particularly interesting was still worth showing off. Curled around him the way only somebody several hundred pounds larger than you could, arms draped around his shoulders and chin nestled between his antlers, Kevin cooed.

“You were so cute,” he said, “and it’s so weird seeing you not green.” Gar chuckled.

“Yeah, this was a ways before all of that.” He couldn’t have been more than a few months old, all spots and long legs and big eyes. It’d been taken in some lab or another, little fawn him settled in a taped off spot in a corner, dressed in bright purple underwear, a little see-through plastic lab blanket and coat, and fawn-sized safety goggles. He really had been adorable. “Don’t know why my parents went for see-through.”

“The spots are half the adorable of a fawn.”

“That answers that then.” Gar went to the next one- him a few years older, still pre-powers, still spotted, stood next to his dad and wearing a near exact replica of his outfit. Tall hoof boots, solid color leg wraps, a short blanket, long-sleeved button-up, and a vest with more pockets than someone his age would’ve ever known what to do with. Fuck, he was coming into his mid-twenties now and he still wouldn’t know what to do with them all. “These are all I’ve got of me before… everything. All the rest of them are just my parents or have me post-powers.” Kevin nodded, pressing a kiss to his hair as he moved on to one of his mom, stood laughing at the dinner table with a mug of coffee in her hand.

“They’re great pictures. Can see the start of how damn pretty you’d be in your parents.”

“Aww. Thanks, hun.” With a hum, Kevin shifted enough to get Gar to edge aside and let him stand up.

“One sec.” As he vanished off into the bedroom, Gar continued flipping through the pictures. With much purpose he slipped one into the ‘already shown’ section, hidden away. He was in the mood to share pictures, but not that one, of him in that brief period between knowing he wouldn’t die and getting the shapeshifter label. Not pretty nor pleasant to remember. The bang of Kevin pronking in the other room pulled him from bad memories- and wouldn’t the fact Kevin was over eight-hundred pounds and could pronk always amaze and delight him- turning to watch as he trotted over and settled back into place behind him.

“I have,” he said as they got back into position, voice quiet and soft, like he was sharing a secret, “one picture from when I was little. Was what I managed to grab when everything went... well.” Gar nodded his understanding, turning his head to rub an antler against Kevin’s cheek.

The presented image wasn’t- couldn’t have been- as old as Gar’s eldest had been, but it looked like it. Worn, folded, clearly exposed to the world and elements for years as Kevin had carried it with him through dimensions and across the galaxy. Still you could easily make out the focus. A mule deer doe, exhausted and exasperated, laid in a hospital room and robes. She had what was far too large to be anything but a moose calf- and Gar nearly flinched at the not-near-enough size differences of the people in the image- curled at her flank, with an array of spots in his russet fur and a blue band loose around one ankle. Worse for the poor mother, there was a second one- this one’s spotting much fainter- stood half on his sibling, a pink band around the ankle and pink bandaged wrapped firm around one wrist and hand.

“Guess the twin.” Kevin smile was clear in his tone and Gar couldn’t have stopped himself from matching it if he tried.

“Well,” he said, pointing at the first calf, “this one’s eyes look blue, so… Gonna guess you’re the one who already hurt himself.”

“Supposedly I managed twenty minutes before I found something to launch myself off in naïve excitement,” came the laughing response. “Eric was like you, he had those fawn genes where you could just put him somewhere and he’d stay put. I was the bad twin right out the womb.”

“None of that,” Gar said, elbowing him. “If you’re the bad twin none of us would’ve been able to meet the standards he’d have set.”

“If you say so, babe.”

“You were really cute though.” He had been, him and his brother both, with massive fluffy ears, miles of leg, and big bright eyes.  “Almost want it framed.”

“You can frame this one and put it up, but only if I get to frame you in those little goggles.” Hmm. It was a tough call. Could it even be framed, with the state of it? Gar had no idea, and the idea of his own baby pictures on display was mildly embarrassing. But then, having nicer memories, ones from when things hadn’t gone to hell, hanging up where they didn’t have to go dig them up- That might be nice.

A bit of his heart melted and panicked in turn as the words ‘family photos’ crossed his brain.

“Remind me later, we’ll look into getting them done all nice and proper. If we grab one of us we can tie it all together, too.” Kevin practically purred into his hair, grip tightening, and the melting portion of his heart won out.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

#fanfic #love how i keep swtiching between uaf-compliant and ov_compliant in these things #this one leans more ov-compliant #these morons: holy fuck he was so cute as a fawn/calf #why yes the state of kevin is a callback to another fic #tiny!gar was fucking *adorable* #'pronking' in the proper term for when small deer and antelope just go straight up into the air #note the 'small' #a fucking moose should not be able to do that #but kevin has super strength #gar can do it do but that doesn't stop the disaster being delighted whenever kevin does it