Chapter Text
“Let’s go, Rush and Tango! You’re going down, Cut Man!”
“Meow!”
“Ruff!”
“For the love of God, stop!!!! Both of you!!!”
X ran across the street before the neighbor kid could throw the scissors he ripped off his head at his younger brother. He glared at the two boys, a hand on his hip while the other held the scissors. When ‘Cut Man’ tried to reach up for his weapon, the eldest Light brother raised it higher out of his reach.
“Damn it, I know you’re supposed to be Cut Man but can’t you get a safer attack? Why couldn’t you be Safety Cut Man?”
Rock ran over to speak with his brother, shrugging aside his worries. This only seemed to increase the intensity of X’s glare, making Rock laugh nervously.
“Aw, X, it would’ve been fine. He never aims it at me directly.”
“That’s not the point! What if the blade breaks off and one goes flying at your eye? You’re coming home, now! I bet you have plenty of homework to finish up.”
“...So mean. Bye Cut Man.”
The younger sibling waved at his friend, a clear expression of disheartenment on his face. Cut Man was disappointed they couldn’t finish their battle, too, waving him off while frowning.
“Bye Mega Man. Sorry X...”
The young boy let his older brother hold his hand, even though he knew he was too old to be letting himself get guided across the street. It was alright if it was X, if it was his father then he would be more hesitant. X was cool, he was wearing the blue leather jacket that Rock liked the most from his collection and he still had his helmet on, making him look like he was in his costume when he would play with them in his role of ‘Mega Man X’.
Rush followed them close behind, Tango was laying herself in the sun to doze off. It was a typical slow day after the boy had been released from his classes, X having just come home from his own university courses that seemed to be taking over his life. The only real ripple had been their father getting a new project to work on that was currently keeping him away from home for long hours, leaving the brunt of the house work up to his eldest children.
X had always been responsible, he didn’t complain or resent his father’s new busy schedule. He simply would say he was used to the intense workload of his college, although since he had recently started the upper division courses he was progressively becoming more stressed. He never vocalized his panic, but Rock had seen him some late nights with his hands on his face as he hung over a text book.
His brother was right, Rock hadn’t even started the homework he was assigned that day but he had to get the rolling cutter or he would never be strong enough to fight Dr. Wily. The creepy old man scared all of the neighbor kids, himself included. He was mean and old, someone had to stick up for everyone. So he needed to power up his alter ego, Mega Man, the fighting robot that could utilize the weapons from robot masters he fought against and become stronger.
That was the general universe that Rock would run away to, X looking over at the dreamy expression on his brother’s face. He sighed, it was difficult getting the boy to pay attention to the real world but at least it kept him from the bouts of panic he was more prone to in his younger days. His imagination was a force to be reckoned with, gaining him the friendship of most of the children his age because his play world was so expansive and his personality so endearing.
When they got home, X picked up after the mess left by his family members as he made his way to the kitchen. There were toys left behind by Rock and Roll, some clothes from Blues, and a couple of tools and books from their father. It didn’t take him long, Rock helping out without needing to ask. Once they were finished, X patted his brother’s head in gratitude.
“Thanks, Rocky. Now let’s see if we can make something to eat for tonight…”
“Fridge is empty, dad said he would order something for us.”
“We can’t eat out every night, I’ll head over to the store. Wanna help me out?”
“Yeah!”
“We should get vegetables...you like carrot sticks, yeah?”
“Yeah! I’ll eat the celery too, but Roll likes cauliflower.”
“I know, I know. Blues does too. If they have a good price on….”
X trails off, holding up his pen to his chin in thought. He could get chicken, maybe fish if the price was good and he had enough in their budget. Chick peas were a good source of protein and they could be ground down to make hummus for snacks. Money was tight right now, the funding for Dr. Light’s latest project hadn’t gone through yet so they were living on his meager salary and X’s own supplement. They were a big family, so feeding all of the kids took some creativity on X’s part.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Rock climbing up his back. He was on his shoulders, putting his hands over X’s eyes to blind him.
“If they have a good price on what?”
“If they have a good price on meat for the little terrors…”
“I don’t like meat...did you know chickens get force fed to make them fatter? And they’re smart, too! I feel bad eating them, how about mac and cheese?”
“That’s not very healthy…”
“Pasta?”
“That’s better, I can work with that. Pasta it is, but growing boys need to eat properly.”
“Mega Man doesn’t need to eat! I drink energy tanks!”
Rock accented his point by jumping off his brother’s shoulders to grab a lone soda can from the fridge. X added soda to the list, the Hansen ones without sugar. He winced thinking about how much he would need to spend, they really didn’t have anything for tonight...at least pasta was cheap. He prayed the produce would have sales.
“Alright, I think I know what to get now. Can Mega Man be a good boy for me and do his homework while I’m gone?”
“Yeah I can! I can handle that mission no problem, Commander X!”
Rock saluted his brother at that, X playing along and returning the gesture. He looked around for his helmet, Rock snickering.
“You never took it off, your helmet’s still on!”
X looked up at that remark, eyes widening.
“You’re right...it was a long day, ok.”
“I don’t know how you do it, I get annoyed explaining math to Cut Man every time.”
Rock was referring to X’s job as a tutor at a community college near his main university. It was a good place for people who had finished highschool to go instead of the straight path to a more intense school, X having multiple friends who attended it. He liked the campus, applying for the position when his friend Axl said he had a gift for helping people understand painful subjects like Math and Science.
“It feels good to help people, you know that. Besides, the pay’s good enough and I can study on the job when it’s slow.”
“You study at work, too? You do that all the time at home!”
“My school is harder than yours. You’ll miss these days once they’re gone.”
“Yeah, yeah, you always say that. I still don’t miss 3rd grade, that was boring…”
“I should get going before Dr. Light gets home, he’ll probably be dead tired and hungry. You still need to get to your homework.”
“Ok, ok, ok, I’m going.”
Rock ran off, Rush following him loyally to the boy’s room. X went out, mounting his motorcycle. He looked up at the sky, Blues should be walking home soon with Roll. He had made it his brother’s responsibility to accompany her back from her dance class so he wouldn’t wander off, that boy had a habit of disappearing that stressed the eldest sibling to no end. Dr. Light told him not to worry so much, they were in a safe town and Blues knew better than to get himself into trouble.
Still, he was glad the middle brother had the same protectiveness over their younger siblings as himself. He took his duty with pride, no doubt carrying Roll on his back as they walked down the sidewalk to their house.
Once sitting at his desk, Rock looked through his homework problems. He decided English would probably be the least painful to start with. They were given a creative writing assignment, some descriptive poem or something along those lines.
Poetry was boring, but creative writing he could work with. He was coming up with a story where Mega Man defeated Dr. Wily yet again, taking some loose inspiration from a cartoon he saw once where a battle had turned into a rock opera. His reasoning was rock operas were kind of like poems, least he hoped enough to where his teacher wouldn’t mark him down. That led to the creation of a new villain for this story, a robot named Ballade that would be another threat to Mega Man’s constant fight for peace.
It took him what was most likely a fair amount of time, he still wasn’t finished writing down the whole story even when he heard the door being unlocked. He heard Roll’s voice yelling in happiness to greet Rush, the dog’s nails scratching against the floor as he ran around.
Blues was whistling, looking around the house and feeling slightly guilty to find it was cleaned up. He knew it was X’s doing, he had meant to beat his older brother home so he could take care of it beforehand but it had taken longer than he expected to get Roll to leave her dance class. She just had to go and say goodbye to all of her friends, one at a time, making conversation with each one…
The younger siblings were textbook examples of extroverts, the polar opposite to himself. He wanted nothing more than to leave right then and there to quiet comfort of the Star Droid cafe, but he knew better than to leave Rock and Roll alone in the house. He would wait until X returned, walking over to sit at the dining table while he pulled out his homework. Before he began proper, he remembered that he hadn’t gone to check in with Rock yet and decided it would be a good idea to make sure his younger brother was being responsible with his own studies.
He knocked on his door gently even though it was open, more as a sign of respect to his privacy than anything. Rock looked up, smiling at his brother.
“Hi Blues! Wanna hear about the new story I came up with? You’re in it, Break Man rescued Mega Man again, then they took down Dr. Wily together!”
Blues smirked at that, ‘Break Man’ being the name he came up with for his character in his brother’s playtime. It was meant to refer to break dancing since he was fairly skilled in that regard, his brother loving the name instantly. He forgot how many years they had spent perfecting his role in the story, Break Man seemed to always appear at just the right time to rescue the hero.
Even heroes need heroes, that’s what Blues told Rock when the boy first scrunched his nose up at the idea of Mega Man needing to be rescued. He relented when he saw the costume his brother had come up with, the idea of a robot wearing sun glasses making him way too happy.
Blues sat down at his brother’s bed to listen as he read his homework assignment out loud, making minor corrections along the way when something sounded awkward or Blues gave him a tip on how to make it flow better. At some point Roll walked in, sitting on the floor so she could listen in.
“Hey, how come I never get to go on the adventures…”
Rock rolled his eyes at that, his sister had asked that question many times before. He gave the usual answer, his voice tired as he recited it.
“Because you’ve never made an alter ego up! You have to be somebody, how about Ballet Woman? Or Aria Woman? It’d be nice to have the extra hero to help beat up Ballade before we have to face Dr. Wily.”
Roll stuck out her tongue in disgust, not liking the sound of any of her brother’s options. At least they sounded better than some of his previous ideas.
“No thanks...I like being myself too much.”
Rock giggled at that, his sister just didn’t appreciate the idea of getting to be a stronger version of herself. As Rock, he was stuck with being his powerless, boring self. Rock couldn’t handle rooms with too many people or loud noises, he got scared of too many things. But Mega Man could do so much more… Like take down the new addition to the Mega Man Killers he came up with in this story.
“And that’s why you don’t get to fight Dr. Wily.”
“Hmph”
She made a raspberry at him to accent her point, Blues laughing at his siblings immaturity. They all looked up when they heard the door opening, X’s voice echoing in the halls.
“I’m home! Who wants to help me cook?!”
Blues and Roll came running out, Rush barking excitedly to greet X. This time the eldest sibling took off his helmet, once his hands were free he patted the loyal dog and scratched behind his ear. Another hand ran through his hair, the mess of his spikes sticking to the sides of his face. He looked down at his sister, smiling warmly.
“Hey there, how was dance today?”
Roll looked up at him, her chest pushed out with pride. She was smirking.
“Mrs. Rafflesian says I’m a natural! Just ask Blues!”
Said middle child nodded his head, frowning slightly at the exhausted look he saw on X’s face. It was probably from yet another long day of school, work, and his studies. Blues was grateful that he was young enough not to have those kind of worries but old enough to appreciate how hard X had to work.
“Glad to hear it! Wanna give me a hand in the kitchen?”
“Yeah, you bet!”
She was running over to wash her hands in the sink in preparation, Roll always glad to help out around the house. She was the beloved youngest sibling for a reason, it was hard for any of them not to respond to her bubbly energy.
It didn’t take long for dinner to be made, the door opening when X was setting the table to reveal Dr. Light.
If X had looked tired, it was nothing compared to their father. The heavyset man seemed to drag his feet, not being able to bring out his usual energy when his youngest children and the dog were running circles around him in greeting.
“Dr. Light!!” The youngest brother and sister yelled out at the same time, not realizing how tired their elderly father was and dog piling on him. Rush jumped up as well, the old man dramatically pretending to fall to the ground from the joint weight.
“Oh no, not Rock and Roll!”
He wrapped his arms around the two children, they screamed in delight when the large man lifted them up, somehow finding the energy to embrace his family. He took his time carrying the pair to the dining room, smiling at his other sons who were waiting in their seats.
“Welcome home, Dr. Light.”
“Thank you for taking care of things, X. Blues, I’m happy to see you’re here too!”
He bellowed out his laughter, stumbling slightly from pushing himself beyond his limits while trying to hold Rock and Roll at the same time. He finally put them down, but not before kissing each of them on the forehead. Rock crinkled his nose, the feeling of the old man’s beard becoming comparable to a broom.
“You need a shave.” Rock laughed when he said this, Roll giggled too at the mental image of their father with a naked face.
“You need a shave.” Dr. Light responded. “Alright, let’s have dinner already. Who wants to hear about my project?”
Rock was practically jumping at the offer.
“Me, I do, I do!”
While the old robotics expert discussed the progress of his new study, robots that would be able to assist children with autism in varying degrees, his children hung onto every word. They all admired what Dr. Light did for a living, creating robots that were meant to help make life easier for people. It was difficult making it accessible to those who needed it the most, which was why Dr. Light didn’t make very much to begin with. His goal was making it so everyone could benefit from his studies and in that regard his funding was more humble than some of his colleagues.
Once he was finished discussing some of the more technical aspects to X, Rock was offering to tell his father about the story he was coming up with for Mega Man’s next adventure. Dr. Light told his youngest son it would be his pleasure, hearing the riveting tale of how Mega Man would have to defeat Ballade with the help of Break Man and Rush in order to get to Dr. Wily’s fortress.
All of his children made him proud, but they all knew that there was a special bond between Dr. Light and Rock. Perhaps it was because they shared that level of creativity, both had a habit of dreaming up ideas that would seem out there or bizarre to others. He saw much of himself in the boy, and though he would never play favorites he couldn’t deny there was a warm feeling at the way his son’s face would brighten then darken at the different twists and turns of his story.
They were happy together as a family. It wasn’t always easy, but they were comfortable and safe in their little home, watching as Rock finished the recent adventure for Mega Man.