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Winter was cold, that was one thing Shylock was pretty sure of. While usually comfortable in as few clothes as possible, both he and Zane had had to start wearing body suits and sometimes more than that to keep warm. The suit was nice enough, black and skintight but super warm. This kept him from freezing while outside without making the boy feel like he was wearing a giant mass of clothes. Which, wearing most things generally made him feel like.

He was also sure that it was busy. Cirque de la Lune was a buzz with activity. People arranging for large shows, planning events for children and everything being decorated like crazy. To top this all off, the mint haired boy had a lot of responsibility – he had to keep Nero from finding out that there was no Santa and keep him out of their parents' hair. Their Dad – Zane – was to be in a few of these shows and as such had to do a lot of work to practice and get ready. Their Papa, on the other hand, had to do as little work as possible since he was pregnant. Because of this, the rest of the family had to do more stuff to keep Merrill off his feet, which especially meant more chores for Shy when his Daddy was working.

The spawn found himself increasingly spending him fetching juice, picking up after Nero and chasing the toddler around the room. Well, when the fish boy wasn't curled up on Merrill's bulgy stomach. The toddler and the man tended to take lots of naps these days. During that time, if he was done his chores, Shy tended to play on the Xbox or DS. The two things were borrowed from Miss Lam, a dear friend of his father's, but the games were all his own. The boy wasn't really a hugely social creature, particularly with random people on the internet, but playing games against his best friend was fun. So whenever there was a lull in activity, Shy would go pick up a game and see if Taylor was on. Generally, the other boy was, and they'd compete for a however long people napped for.

Sometimes, Shylock would trade pokemon with Talorian. He was an angel like Shy's Papa but much older and smarter. He'd been a teacher of philosophy and liked to study cultures, so the mint haired child always found him fascinating to talk to. Plus, Tal liked to play pokemon too, so they'd discuss breedings or raisings of them and sometimes trade. The boy had a knack for finding and breeding good pokemon and so he tended to give the other man some of his better eggs.

Cirque de la Lune was an interesting place to grow up. It had so many different things to do and yet he never grew tired of it. Even just going down to the gym area with Nero and watching the adults practice for shows on trapezes or on dancing mats. Sometimes they'd try things out – when the dancers weren't too busy or concentrating, the boys would go over and ask for lessons or to be shown how to do some moves. Occasionally, the pride boy would have to heft his baby brother up to let the other see things or to do some moves.

There were all sorts of places to eat too. There was a shelter with soup kitchens on the Cirque grounds and the two boys would sometimes just wander up and see what their special of the day was. The food was free, even for those who had money, but if you did, you were encouraged to donate. Shy'd always bring a bit of his pocket money up there to donate for what he and Nero had. The fish boy liked this cause it meant he got to see things and people without being out in surprising or scary places that made him flare up. And the people were super nice and gave the boys treats since they were cute.

Winter was cold, and very very busy. Cirque de la Lune was cold and busy a lot of the time too. But the place was wonderful and Shy would always it. No matter how weird or cold it was.

It was late at night when Shy was woken up by the pounding footsteps in the main apartment. Nero was snuggled up, fast asleep by his big brother. He'd curled up there for warmth since the fish boy was used to snuggling these days as he kept snoozing on their Papa's belly but Papa'd been kind of sick that night and Nero couldn't stay. But the footsteps and voices he heard were enough to concern the boy so careful not to nudge his brother, Shy crawled out of bed and went to look and see what was happening.

Out in the main hall, the boy saw his father frantically calling someone – asking them to send an ambulance? Was someone hurt? Going to check on his Papa, the boy realized the problem. Merrill was sweating and breathing heavy, in strange whistles, holding his belly nervously. Zane kept kneeling by him and rubbing him assuredly when he wasn't on the phone with Kyin or the hospital. This could only mean one thing – it was time for the baby.

Slipping back to his room, the dark skinned boy carefully shook Nero awake. “Nero, Nero get up.” he whispered, voice a bit urgent. “We gotta get dressed.”

The Hiccup was reluctant to do so but eventually was persuaded to sit up and let Shy dress him. “Where we goin?” he inquired, being wrapped in a thick scarf.

“Papa's gonna go to the hospital. Gonna have the baby.” the elder child assured him.

“We're gonna see the baby?” Nero asked, excited.

“Yes but we have to wait. They've gotta take special care of Papa and do stuff to get her out. Delivery's scary.” Shy explained, holding his brother's hand as they walked out to wait for the ambulance with their parents. “Gotta wait and be brave.”

A little “kay” was all the response he got as the big ambulance pulled up to take Merrill away to the hospital. Zane rode along with him, trying to keep the man cool, while their grandparents came to take the boys. Grandpapa Azeer was super nervous and scared, nervously sitting in the car with the kids when Kyin came to pick them up. The pink haired man was their Dad's adoptive father and had fallen in love with their Papa's Dad when he came to stay there. It was a funny story but still one of the ones that made their family great.

In the car, Shy and Nero crawled in beside their grandparents' kids. Oliver was the eldest – just about Shy's age – and the protective big brother of the two. Sometimes it almost seemed like they were in competition for who was the better older sibling but Shy didn't care enough to keep track of the competition. Then there was Des, curled up in his carseat – a little baby angel who Oli was very protective of. In the very back were Leo and Ryker. Leo was a moth baby that Kyin and Oliver had found by accident, but he had a few issues – he wasn't quite the right size and his wings were too big, but most of all, he had a few problems that made him a little hard to talk to sometimes. Shy liked Leo, though, the other boy tended to be very nice and helpful, even if he wasn't the best at stuff. Ryker, who sat beside him, was a CDL stray child – some sort of feathery critter that usually had a nest in the nearby woods. He'd taken up residence with Kyin and co. during the winter since it was so cold outside and Leo was his best friend, sort of.

Shy was nervous, being around all of the others like this and with Nero clinging to him – sometimes falling asleep as he did. The older boy knew this was very important and scary. If something went wrong, their sister could end up hurt or sick, or worse, they could lose her or lose Papa or both. The green haired boy's nerves weren't eased by how worried his Grandfather looked, or how confused or unconcerned the other kids were. It wasn't their Papa on the line, and they didn't all understand what was going on. But to keep Nero from getting scared, the brown skinned boy bit his lip and tried to keep himself from shaking too much.

The hospital was cold and oppressive at this time of night. The special night managers were working instead of the friendly cheery ladies that worked in the daytime. Many of the rooms were dark too, all of their occupants fast asleep for the evening. And as Shy walked down that hall, holding Nero's hand and following their grandparents to where they were supposed to wait, he couldn't help feeling numb. It was cold in here, despite the heat being on, and it just felt too clean. The place had never bothered Shylock before but tonight, tonight it was different. As his red eyes darted around, it seemed every shadow on the wall was out to get them. Every person walking down the hall was going to steal his family away and he'd never see them again.

All night, Shylock sat up, clutching Nero to him protectively, eyes wide as he looked around the building. His brother was too little to see the terror hiding behind Shylock's calm face, the toddler just sleepy and wanting to see the baby. This worried Shy so much. How would he take it, if the nurse came out and said that Papa was gone? That there wouldn't be any baby? Nero'd be so confused. As he thought this, Shy squeezed the other boy a bit more and glanced around at his other relatives. His aunty Blaice was praying and trying to not be nervous, her own children playing with Kyin and Azeer's. The older man was being comforted by his husband, Kyin trying very hard to keep the man from breaking down. The only one trying to be happy was Cy – Papa's little brother. The blonde came over now and then to sit by Shylock and Nero and pet their hair, tell them everything would be fine. Shy liked Cy, since Cy was friendly and nice, and tended to be super happy. He wasn't always the boy's favorite relative but right now, he was very important to have.

All night, he was serious and quiet, just hugging Nero and keeping watch on the door. The door where the nurse would come out and decide their fate. He barely even registered it the moment that door but his eyes widened hopefully and the nurse smiled gently at him. “Everything's all right now. They're sleeping.” With those words, a collective sigh of relief filled the room. Shy felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. And yet, he still felt stiff.

The next day was spent in the hospital, as the two boys tensely waited to be allowed in. When they were finally able, Shy and Nero got to go in and see the baby, waving at her a few times. She was a cute little thing, with their Daddy's dark skin and their Papa's blue hair and wings. She'd held Shy's finger for a few moments, so very tiny compared to him. It was almost hard to imagine how this little one had been in their Papa's tummy till the night before and she could have been the death of both of them if the doctors had messed up. But he smiled a bit, patting her hair and helping to hold Nero up so he could see her.

When Maion had been taken back to her little bed, and his Dad was going to take them out to breakfast so their Papa could nap again, Shylock hung back. Carefully, the boy waited till the others were out of sight before dashing back to crawl into bed and hug Merrill. His Papa was surprised as the usually very mellow child clutched him so suddenly, soft tears running down Shy's face as he sniffled and held onto him. “Papa, oh Papa, I was so scared for you,” he admitted, voice a squeak as he all but defied his own nature to say it. “Love you Papa.” he whimpered.

Merrill cuddled and comforted his son for a few moments while Shy got out all the pent up emotion from the night before. Zane lingered out the door, distracting Nero from going back inside so his older son could get in a few more moments with Merrill before they left. He himself had been going through similar fears and knew the child just needed a little time to be happy he still had Merrill.

When Shy finally sat up again, he dried his tears and smiled, hugging his Papa once more before following his Daddy out of the room. Finally, the waiting and the fear was all over and gone for now. They could finally go back home.

Friends – they're something special that everyone has. Christmas is a big deal when you have a lot of friends to buy things for. And when you happened to do your main Christmas shopping with your best friend, you had to wait to get him things. Especially when his birthday was a few weeks before Christmas.

Taylor was unquestionably Shy's best friend. Europa, Mimosa, and his other friends were all nice, but the other pride spawn was by far his best friend. They got along well, they played tons of games together, and everything about them just clicked. So, since Taylor and his twins' birthday were right near Christmas, the spawn had a lot of shopping to do by himself, without his friend there.

This left Shy out on his own again. Papa and Daddy needed to be home and couldn't take him, so, as it seemed to be getting more frequent, the pride spawn just hopped a bus to the mall. It was jam packed with all sorts of holiday shoppers, bustling from here to there, all talking loudly and fighting over toys. Luckily, the boy didn't have to go to just any stores in the mall and was small enough to slip through most crowds.

He found himself in some of the downstairs shops – the darker and grittier stores that most people didn't venture into. Places like hot topic and the motocycle store. Shy'd come down here to find something Taylor'd think was cool. There was a hardware store with a biiiiiiig set of tools in the window, super shiny and nice, but they were too much to afford. There were also things like bike equipment and such that he looked at, but every time, the boy was brought back to looking at the huge set of tools. They had a price tag on them and he could see it was too much, and yet...

Finally, after much debating, the boy went up to inquire with the clerk. The man looked at the tools sadly. “They're on sale. We've had them on display for a few weeks and no takers so we had to add them to our holiday clearance set.” he explained. Shy smiled brightly. On sale? He could afford them and still get Taylor something for Christmas then!

Quickly he pulled his wallet out of his pocket, pulling out the money he'd been saving up for this. Odd jobs and his allowance had made him enough for some really nice presents, not that the child fully understood this. But as he walked upstairs clutching that tool set, he felt so proud. He was even more proud when he found a store that only sold things like jellies and jams and even had a holiday box set of it and a 'jam of the month' club. Shy readily signed Taylor up for that when he bought the box. The other boy'd love it!

So with much accomplished, it was time to head home. Wrapping would be difficult, but at least he had what he needed.