A New Virus

Let Her Go

"Tommy's gross." A six-year-old Annalise stated, crossing her arms and puffing out her cheeks. "He likes spiders and spiders are gross."

"I thought you liked Tommy." Anti said as he adjusted the camera.

"That we before he tried to give me a spider." Annalise scrunched up her face in disgust.

"Boys are gross, aren't they?" Dark said from his chair, lowering the book he had been reading.

"Yeah! They're all gross!" Annalise declared.

"Now, not all boys are gross." Anti went over to Dark. "I'm not gross, am I?"

"You're not a boy, you're daddy." Annalise protested.

"Yeah, Anti. You're daddy." Dark winked.

"Actually, Ann, you're right. Boys are gross." Anti tapped Dark's nose. "And gross boys don't get any rewards from daddy."

"But daddy might get something from papa." Dark chuckled with a smirk.

"I thought we weren't supposed to make innuendos in front of the child?" Anti hummed.

"I am doing no such thing." Dark hummed back and gave Anti a kiss.

"You two are being gross!" Annalise squealed.

"I'll show you gross, come here, princess." Anti started going over to Annalise.

"No!" Annalise giggled and took off.

Dark watched as the recording of himself laughed and got up, going over to the camera and turning it off, leaving him to look at a black screen. He glanced at the clock and quickly stood, realizing that he was late.

"Annalise?" He called out, wondering where she was. Did Anti take her to school? Dark saw a piece of paper sitting on the coffee table.

'Got a ride from Tiana'

She was avoiding him. Great.

"Why do you look shocked?" Anti asked, stepping into the room and only wearing pajama bottoms.

"You should still be in bed." Dark said, dropping the paper and not facing his husband. Anti was called in for a last minute job last night and has only been home for two hours.

"I have all day to nap." Anti stated.

"Did you find-"

"We'll talk about that later." Anti crossed his arms. "You were an asshole last night."

"I know." Dark said.

"You said some dickish things."

"I know."

"You made Annalise cry."

"I know."

"And you're an idiot." Anti waited for a response but didn't get one. "You're supposed to say 'I know, dear'." Still no response. "Dark." Anti stepped over so he was in front of Dark now, but Dark's head was down. "How many times do I have to tell you that she is seventeen. Seventeen-year-olds get crushes and most of them only go as long as their father's tell them no. If this crush is really nothing and just her trying to get back at daddy, then you need to stop fighting." Anti cupped Dark's cheeks and tilted his head up so he would look at him. "She is going to make mistakes. She is going to get hurt. Our job is to be there for her and help her. We can't protect her from everything."

"Why not?" Dark asked, taking Anti's wrists and lowering them. "We've been protecting her for over thirteen years. We're her parents."

"And as parents, we need to let go. She can't rely on us for everything. You want her to go to college, right? How is she supposed to go out on her own if she thinks her dads will take care of everything? She's going to have to get up on her own and go to her classes. She's going to have to do her assignments. She's going to need to meet new people and form bonds with them." Anti shook his head. "Do you think that I want her to be grown? Do you really think that I don't want her to be that little girl we took in? I still miss the days she called me 'daddy', when she would run into our room Christmas morning and bounce on our bed, yelling about how Santa came and that she was a good girl that year." Anti found himself choking up. "I would love if she was still too short to reach the top cabinet. If she still wore that pink tutu I have hanging in our closet. If she...if she..." Anti began to cry. "Before she knew that she was a killer." Dark said nothing and hugged Anti. "We have to let go. It fucking sucks, but we have to let go."

"We do...don't we?" Dark sighed.

 x~x~x

"Annalise?" Dark said softly as he knocked on the open door, seeing Annalise sitting at her desk and typing away on her laptop.

"Here to insult me some more? Wasn't last night enough?" Annalise said without looking at Dark, the hurt very clear in her voice.

"I'm sorry, princess." Dark's apology made Annalise stop typing. "I..." Dark let out a deep sigh. "I was stupid last night."

"You were drunk." Annalise said, still not facing Dark.

"I shouldn't have said what I said."

"What was your first clue?" Annalise stood up and went over to her bed, packing up the school supplies she had laying out on it.

"I'll be honest in saying that I was being cruel because I love you." Dark walked over to the bed as well.

"Questioning my intelligence and implying that my future child would be a pop-up link is a great way to show that you love me." Annalise zipped her backpack shut and after a moment of silence she shook her head and sighed. "Although, I wasn't the nicest either." She admitted. "And I didn't even have any booze in me."

"Teenage years are something." Dark turned around and leaned against the bed.

"Like you know what it's like to be a teenager." Annalise huffed.

"I was around during the seventies." Dark chuckled. "Let's just say I've had my fair share of idiotic mistakes because of substances."

"You were a stoner!?" Annalise gasped.

"I will neither confirm nor deny that accusation." Dark said.

"Was Uncle Wil one?" Annalise asked.

"Your Uncle Wil was something." Dark laughed.

"Come on! I need details!" Annalise lightly slapped at Dark's arm. "I've heard rumors that he had an afro, please tell me that's true."

"Whatever could you mean?" Dark sang.

"No way! He had a 'fro!? How!?" Annalise started playing with her own hair. "Was his hair still pink? A pink afro? That would be so cool!"

"You should see what your father looked like during his punk phase." Anti said from the doorway, a large smile on his face and a book in his hands.

"You had a punk phase?" Annalise asked with a laugh.

"He had a tongue piercing and everything." Anti handed Annalise the book he was holding. "I wish you would have kept that, I would have loved to feel it against my-"

"Dad!" Annalise quickly cut Anti off.

"I wasn't going to say dick!" Anti protested.

"Why is it that I don't believe you?" Dark and Annalise said in unison.

"That was scary." Anti said before opening the book in Annalise's hands. "And there's Bubblegum's afro." He said as he pointed at a picture.

"You had long hair?" Annalise asked Dark. "And you wore it in a ponytail?"

"It was fashionable at the time." Dark stated. Annalise just laughed and continued looking through the book, not seeing the sad smiles on Anti's and Dark's lips when she reached the photos of herself when she was a lot younger.