airawyn | Cuocuo Has Four Dads (working title)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Heaven Official's Blessing FengQing fic. Previous parts linked above. Rated T (all parts).

Unfinished, unedited, totally as-is. Critique welcome. If completed, it will go up on my AO3 account.

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The student teacher who met them at the door wore black jeans, a long-sleeved black t-shirt, and an ivory necklace shaped like a fish skeleton. He looked familiar.

"Aren't you Hua Cheng's friend?" Feng Xin asked.

"No," the man said flatly. "I'm He Xuan. You're new."

"Yeah," Feng Xin said. This guy worked with kids?

"I'm Professor Mu," Mu Qing said. "We submitted an application last week."

He Xuan picked up a tablet, swiped through a few things, and nodded."Do you and your husband both want to be authorized to pick up your son?"

"No!" Feng Xin blurted out, eyes wide.

"You don't trust me to pick up Cuocuo?" Mu Qing demanded, folding his arms over his chest.

"No," Feng Xin said quickly, then held up his hand. "No, no, of course I do. Put us both down. And Xie Lian, if we can do that. But we're not married!" The teacher and Mu Qing both stared at him. Belatedly, Feng Xin remembered that the preschool was for family of faculty. "Unless we need to be?"

He Xuan shrugged. "Married, engaged, living in sin, whatever, that's between you and your god." He produced some paperwork. "Fill these out. I'll need to photocopy your IDs." While Feng Xin and Mu Qing filled out the forms, He Xuan crouched down to see Cuocuo eye-to-eye. "Hello," he said in a solemn voice. "Are you Jian Hao?"

Cuocuo leaned against Mu Qing's leg and eyed the teacher suspiciously. "I'm Cuocuo," he said, then added, "Bite me."

Feng Xin groaned. "Cuocuo, that's rude."

He Xuan's expression didn't change. "Cuocuo," he said. "When your dads have finished their paperwork, do you want to see our fish?"

Feng Xin didn't have to make the correction this time. "Mu shushu," Cuocuo corrected, tugging on Mu Qing's pantsleg.

He Xuan nodded. "Mu shushu," he said.

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The fish were honestly pretty amazing. The walls of the preschool's main room were painted with a colorful collection of large tropical fish. With the blue background and blue carpet, it gave the sense of being underwater. Mu Qing grunted and nodded at a mark on the lower wall, and Feng Xin saw it was the artist's signature - the simultaneously illegible and familiar scrawl of Hua Cheung.

Cuocuo looked around, wide-eyed.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to a round and cheerfully yellow fish.

"It's a Yellow Tang," He Xuan said.

"What's that?" Cuocuo asked, pointing to the next one, a long green fish with orange-pink stripes.

"That's a Melanurus Wrasse," He Xuan said.

"What's-" Cuocuo began, but he was interrupted by a small voice.

"Feng shushu! Mu shushu!" A boy in a green superhero t-shirt ran over to see them. "Hi hi!"

Xie Lian's cousin Qi Rong had showed up with a baby one day and declined to say where the child had come from. Qi Rong had been the most horrible child Feng Xin had ever known, but Guzi was, against all odds, a sweet and well-behaved boy.

"Guzi! Hello." Mu Qing knelt to greet the boy.

But before Feng Xin could do the same, Cuocuo yelled, "Cuocuo's shushu!" and clamped his teeth on Guzi's arm.

Guzi shrieked in pain and fear. Feng Xin and Mu Qing both grabbed Cuocuo and tried to pull him off Guzi, but Cuocuo's teeth gripped Cuocuo tight. Another student teacher ran over and picked up Guzi in her arms, while He Xuan pinched Cuocuo's jaw in a quick move that made Cuocuo open his mouth. The other student teacher swept Guzi away, saying soothing things as she headed to the first aid kit.

Cuocuo wriggled frantically and Feng Xin just barely managed to hold onto him. It helped that Mu Qing had one of Cuocuo's arms in his grip. Feng Xin felt terrible about Guzi, poor kid. And the preschool certainly wouldn't take Cuocuo now. What would he do?

"Cuocuo, you need to go sit in the quiet room," He Xuan said sternly. He gestured to Feng Xin and Mu Qing to follow him. He led the three of them to a small room to the side. The walls here were painted midnight blue and a playful skeleton dragon adorned one wall. It had big bean bags in the center of the room. "Sit down," He Xuan said The quiet sound of waves played from unseen speakers.

Cuocuo plopped down and crossed his arms over his chest. "Cuocuo's shushu," he said sullenly.

Mu Qing sat down next to him. "I can be your shushu and Guzi's shushu at the same time," he said.

"No," Cuocuo said. "Cuocuo's shushu."

To Feng Xin's shock, Mu Qing took Cuocuo into his arms - and Cuocuo allowed it! "Shushu's Cuocuo," he said, hugging Cuocuo gently. "No matter what."

Cuocuo rested his head against Mu Qing's shoulder. "Cuocuo's shushu," he mumbled in agreement.

"I'll leave you alone," He Xuan said quietly. Feng Xin nodded, and He Xuan left the room.

Mu Qing held Cuocuo. There was something about the lighting in this room, Feng Xin thought, because Mu Qing looked incredibly attractive with Feng Xin's son in his arms. He was always handsome, of course, but now there was something more.

Mu Qing said to Cuocuo, "You need to do time out, okay? And then you have to say you're sorry to Guzi."

Cuocuo scowled. "Don't want to say sorry."

"There are lots of things we don't want to do," Mu Qing said. "You hurt Guzi and hurting people is bad. You need to say you're sorry, or-" He looked to Feng Xin.

"Or you don't get to see all the pretty fish," Feng Xin said, taking a gamble.

"I wanna see the fish," Cuocuo protested.

"Good," Mu Qing said. He released Cuocuo and gently steered him towards Feng Xin. "Do time out with your baba, first."

Feng Xin sat cross-legged, and Cuocuo reluctantly imitated him. They went through the breathing exercise that Xie Lian had taught them. When the time out was over, the three of them got to their feet.

The female student teacher poked her head in the room. "Hi!" she said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"

"How is Guzi?" Feng Xin asked.

"A little bruised, but he'll be okay," she said. "I'm Shi Qingxuan," she added. She wore a green dress and a bright smile.

"I'm Feng Xin," Feng Xin said. "This is Mu Qing and Cuocuo."

"Cuocuo!" she exclaimed. "Like 'Ghost City Hooligans'?"

Cuocuo's face lit up. "I'm Cuocuo!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, you are!" She Qingxuan said, smiling down at him.

"What's 'Ghost City Hooligans'?" Feng Xin asked.

"A cartoon," Shi Qingxuan said. "You're not familiar with it?"

Feng Xin shook his head. "I had no idea where he got 'Cuocuo' from."

"The US release was pretty limited, but I'll see if I can find you a copy," Shi Qingxuan said. She held out her hand to Cuocuo. "Come on. Guzi's ready to for you to say you're sorry."

"Don't want to say I'm sorry," Cuocuo scowled.

"Cuocuo," Mu Qing said warningly.

Cuocuo continued to scowl, but he took Shi Qingxuan's hand in his and she led him back to the main room.

"You're really great with him," Feng Xin said quietly to Mu Qing, as they followed.

Mu Qing frowned. "I hope I'm not overstepping," he said.

"You're not," Feng Xin fervently. "I have no idea what I'm doing. I'd be totally screwed without you."

"You'll learn," Mu Qing said.

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Cuocuo Has Four Dads (working title) - Part 6

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