[zapdragon555]

[AU in which Cody and Zane adopted a child and are silly clueless dads.jpg]

"Papa, papa! Again, rewind!" Chai exclaimed from her booster seat in the back as the song ended, blue eyes bright with excitement. She was three now, and a bit too bright for her own good, already able to talk so much. Rewind was a new word, and definitely a favorite, given the effect it had on Zane, who usually was the one to control the radio when all three of them went driving. Cody preferred to watch the scenery, or read a book--he was blessed and cursed in that he never got carsick looking down, but rather got more carsick looking up--than fiddle with the buttons on the radio or drive himself. Cars still unsettled him, even after so many years, but he'd gotten to the point of relaxing as long as Zane was behind the wheel.

"We are almost there, Chai," Cody chuckled lightly from the front seat, and he winced and laughed as the back of his seat was kicked with a very small light-up tennis shoe. "Hey now, don't kick--remember?"

Chai stopped, then puffed out her lower lip and made a noise of protest. "Big Bird was singing, he isn't done!" she insisted, her small hands balled up into fists. It was a good thing Cody had a high tolerance for the ad nauseum repetition of Sesame Street songs, or his mood might be a little more dampened; then again, it was already somewhat, given the rain showers that had been pouring down for the past couple of days, and speak of the devil, it seemed another one was picking up. At least they'd brought umbrellas. Cody glanced up at the sky out the passenger side window, peering at the soft grey clouds and smiling a little. It was refreshing, he supposed, when summer was interrupted by showers like these. "Papa!" Chai's voice dragged Cody out of his thoughts, and he glanced over at Zane with a sheepish smile, trying to contain a chuckle and failing.

[Baconwizard]

Zane chuckled at the wheel, completely used to Chai's whining. He kept his eyes focused on the road, the windshield wipers going at it now that the rain had started in full. "Papa needs to concentrate on the road, Birdy," he replied in a light tone of voice, affectionately using the nickname they used for Chai. "And please don't kick Dada's seat. Little birds who kick their daddy's seat don't get gushers at the grocery store." Zane could hear Cody chuckling from the seat next to him, and Zane couldn't help but smile himself. He kept his eyes on the road as he turned their large pilot into the parking lot of the grocery store. It was a few more moments until Zane was parked, cutting off some muppet singing about sharing, and he turned in his seat to view his family. Cody, blue eyes hidden behind his glasses and mop of blonde hair, and Chai, their rambunctious little girl trying to squirm out of her booster seat. Zane laughed, running a hand through his mess of red curls. "Looks like it's raining pretty hard. We're gonna have to get the umbrellas out. Sit tight, Chai." Zane pulled the car keys out and put them in his pocket, then grabbed the reusable shopping bags. Zane blinked at Cody, gesturing towards him with a smile. "Dada, I do believe the umbrellas are under your feet."

[zapdragon555]

Cody looked up as they stopped, then blinked at Zane's use of Chai's name for him--Cody wasn't sure he'd ever get used to it, and he laughed sheepishly nodding his head and bending down to retrieve the two umbrellas underfoot. He handed the smaller one to Zane, smiling at him. "I'll carry her, if you grab the shopping cart," Cody chuckled, opening his door and sticking the umbrella out to open it with a pomf. Chai was in the middle of insisting that she did deserve fruit gushers, and would even share them with Cody and Zane, when Cody came around to open her door. "Alright, little Birdy, arms up," he murmured, holding the umbrella between his cheek and shoulder as she did so, and he unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her up with a soft grunt of effort. Cody yelped as the umbrella slipped slightly, and he caught it in one hand, holding Chai up with the other.

"Ah, Dada's clumsy!" Chai chirped in laughter, arms going tight around Cody's neck and nearly choking him as he righted himself. She seemed to notice his discomfort and lightened up a little bit, putting her chin on his shoulder as he balanced her on his hip and closed the door with a knee, only a little bit wet from the rain.

[Baconwizard]

Zane, holding the umbrella in one hand and pushing a shopping cart he found in the parking space next to him with the other, waited for Cody and Chai to close the door. Locking the car with a beep, he smiled at the two, then began moving towards the entrance. The rain was warm, if a little heavy, and puddles were already beginning to appear underfoot. It felt like a good day to sit on the couch and take a nap. But first, they would need to buy dinner. "Chai, do you want to sit in the cart?" He asked once they were inside, taking in the sight of his kid. Her dark hair was pulled back into ponytails––Cody was so much better at that than he was––and her socks were a mismatched purple and pink. Those colors were in these days with the three year old crowd, he assumed, as well as ponies and snow princesses. He closed the umbrella, shaking it out once before putting it in the cart to drip. The grocery store was pretty busy, as it always tended to be in the evenings, full of people and families getting their shopping done.

[zapdragon555]

Chai perked up at the mention of a cart ride, and she squealed and reached for it. "Cart! Dada is wet, put me down!" she giggled, pushing at Cody's face, and Cody winced and chuckled, carefully setting his umbrella in the cart as well and transferring Chai to the cart.

"Make sure not to step on the food once we start putting it in there," Cody reminded her, rubbing at his arms to  try to chase away the chill of the air conditioning on his damp clothes. He glanced up at Zane with a small smile, then reached into his pocket to pull out the list they'd written hastily on the back of an old receipt. "Okay, let's see... I think we decided on homemade pizza?" Cody mused, squinting at his own handwriting, which had smudged a bit; ink didn't bode too well with the slick paper receipts came on. "And... j-just the essentials, otherwise. White bread, more of Chai's grape juice... w-wait, did we need milk?" he asked Zane, glancing up at him with a puzzled expression as he tried to remember what was in their fridge.

[Baconwizard]

"Yeah, I think so," Zane said, leaning over Cody's shoulder to try to decipher Cody's smudged handwriting. "I think that says pasta. Tomorrow's Italian night, after all." Zane grinned, than began pushing the cart through the store. He watched the back of Chai's head as she sat in the front of the cart. Pitching his voice so the girl could hear, he added, "And we have to get gushers for Birdy, since she's being such a good girl." Zane chuckled, glancing over at Cody with a bright expression.

[zapdragon555]

"Mm, right, right... it'll be good to pick that up while we're here. Wait, isn't pizza Italian, too? So... d-double Italian night?" he laughed, shrugging sheepishly and thumbing the wrinkled receipt. He followed Zane along, keeping an eye out for the right aisles--he never was good at memorizing where things were.

"Gushers?!" Chai gasped with such excitement it was like she was being offered gold. And she might as well have been, given the lemon flavored ones were her favorite. She held on to the sides of the cart and stamped her feet against the metal grid that made up her floor, giggling. "Get those first!"

Cody glanced up at Zane with a sheepish smile, then chuckled and reached over to gently flick Chai with one of her ponytails. "Gushers are all the way on the other side of the store, Birdy. We'll get them, though, I promise." Chai looked up at Cody with an expression that boded several arguments, but seemed to decide against it and instead reached up to hold Cody's hand, effectively forcing Cody to walk rather close to the cart, a goofy smile on his face as he looked back at Zane with raised eyebrows.

[Baconwizard]

"No, no, there's Italian night, then pizza night," Zane assured Cody with a laugh, heading towards the produce section first. "Pizza's from Chicago, right?" Zane picked up a bunch of bananas, then put that into the cart, away from Chai's feet. He looked at a watermelon, then at Cody, a small frown on his face as he thought. "Think Birdy will eat watermelon? It's a good price."

[zapdragon555]

"What's watermelon?" Chai chirped from the cart, peering at the bananas in the section of the cart close to Zane's midriff. She poked the end of one, thumbing over the rough end of the fruit as Cody held her other hand.

"Mm..." Cody mused, hand a little sweaty in Chai's small grip as he thought. "Well, they're in season right now, anyway, so even if she doesn't, I wouldn't mind eating one ourselves," Cody chuckled, nodding and peering at the list again.

Chai had, by now, caught sight of these mysterious objects called watermelons, and her curiosity about the large green balls knew no bounds. "I wanna hold one! It looks like an egg," she observed gleefully, abandoning Cody's hand and edging towards the very end of the cart to reach for the large wooden bin of watermelons.

[Baconwizard]

Zane let out a laugh, reaching for the fruit and carefully putting it in the cart in front of Chai. "Here, sweetheart," he said, patting the watermelon with a hand. "Make sure it doesn't roll around, okay?" Zane straightened up, then moved through the rest of the produce section. After grabbing some salad and baby carrots, they moved deeper into the store. As they were picking out the sauce for spaghetti, Zane noticed an older woman staring at Cody, Zane and Chai as if she was trying to figure out a very distasteful puzzle. Letting out a short breath, Zane turned his attention back to his family, reaching over to ruffle Chai's hair absently as he stared fixedly at the rows of red sauce.

[zapdragon555]

Cody had noticed the woman before Zane had, but once Zane had, Cody felt a flush of self consciousness wash over him. He cleared his throat softly, more for himself than for the situation, and shifted from the side of the cart to the shelves, almost hiding behind Zane as he tried to fix the expression on his pink face.

Chai held the watermelon in her criss-crossed legs, arms around the large fruit as she peered curiously at Cody, then at Zane. She frowned slightly, looking around and not seeing anything particularly out of the ordinary. She reached up and tugged on Zane's sleeve, standing up in the cart and cupping a hand to Zane's ear. "Why does Dada look sad?" she whispered, and almost as soon as she did Cody's hand reached up and plucked one of the sauces from the shelf.

"A-ah, here we go," he said in a voice that was clearly making an effort to be at ease, but there was a slight tremor in it that said otherwise. No matter how many times he put down the thought in his head, he hated it when people stared like that. Like they were doing something wrong. But he didn't want Chai to feel like it was wrong--he smiled at her, holding out the red sauce. "W-would you hold this, too, Birdy? Ah, and please sit down; it's a little dangerous to stand in the cart, okay?"

[Baconwizard]

Zane's expression flickered as Chai whispered at him, a little at a loss of what to say to the girl. When Cody suddenly turned around with the sauce, Zane felt his chest constrict slightly. It was hard to pretend to be Chai's happy fathers sometimes, and Zane knew that it was especially hard for Cody. Taking a deep breath, Zane grinned, then took the sauce before Birdy could. "If she doesn't want to sit, Birdy can ride on Papa's shoulders!" He said, putting the sauce in the cart and sweeping the little girl up in his arms, making her squeal with delight. Zane grinned, then kissed Chai's head, helping her settle on top of his shoulders, her little hands gripping at his hair painfully tight. "Ah, do you mind getting the cart?" He asked Cody, a little sheepish.

[zapdragon555]

Cody's eyes lit up as Zane seemed to burst into life, and he laughed at Chai's laughter, tension sliding off of him. He swore to himself he wouldn't even look back at the woman; it didn't matter what she thought of them, anyway. "Hm? Ah, y-yeah..." Cody murmured, glancing up at Zane's smile, unable to help a small, real one of his own. He maneuvered over to the handle of the cart and took hold of it, carefully righting it in the aisle to walk towards the bread aisle with the rest of his family not far behind. Family... it was still a word that warmed Cody to the core, chased the cold nervousness out of his fingers as he rubbed a thumb over the store's logo embossed on the handle of the cart.

Chai held onto Zane's hair tight, wide blue eyes looking every which way and black ponytails bobbing as Zane walked. "Wooow, I can see over the juice!" she giggled as she pointed over the top shelf, and Cody stopped in his tracks with a soft noise of surprise, murmuring something about 'almost forgetting the juice' as he reached towards the tallest shelf for the grape juice. Even so, he seemed to be having a little trouble, and Chai reached out for one of the bottles, as if she could help.

[Baconwizard]

Zane followed close behind Cody, keeping a tight hold on Chai's legs. He made a small sound as Cody stopped, then chuckled, turning to look at the rows of juice. "Gotta get Birdy's grape juice," he said, voice a little singsongy for the three-year-old girl's benefit. As he saw Chai reach out, Zane made a warning noise, reaching out and catching her hand before she knocked anything to the ground. "Let Papa get that, okay, Birds?" Zane let out a short breath, giving Cody a look of mixed amusement and residual panic, then handed the shorter man the grape juice.

[zapdragon555]

Chai made a sound of protest as Zane took her hand away, but seemed to concede with the arrangement. She'd tried to lift those bottles at home by herself, and the one time she'd done it she'd made a pretty bad mess on the kitchen floor with it. Cody reached up to take the bottle with a grateful, embarrassed smile, setting it down in the cart with a soft grunt and returning his grip to the cart. In a short time they were moving into the bread aisle, and Cody glanced around, gaze darting around for the white bread and instead landing on bagels. "Since Birdy's getting a little tired of oatmeal, wanna see if she'd try bagels...? Warmed up with a little cream cheese on them, maybe," Cody contemplated, pulling down the bag of bagels and turning it over in his hands, like it would tell him the answer to his musing. "Don't they make strawberry cream cheese, though? We could try that..."

Chai, meanwhile, was fidgeting a little on Zane's shoulders, trying to braid the small chunks of hair in her fists with little result. For two reasons--one, it was far too short, and two, she didn't actually know how to braid; she'd only seen Cody braid her own hair, and he made it look terribly easy with how quickly he did it. She frowned and pulled at the hair, as if it would make it longer.