Chapter Text
It had been a fortnite since the procedure. The days blurred together in a string of quiet routines. Korvo spent a lot of time in the lab, not really working, just standing at consoles, pretending to study data, sometimes just watching the swirling patterns of solar flares on the monitor like they might offer answers. They didn’t. He knew they wouldn't. He hadn’t told the rest of the family unit about the procedure. Yumyulack and Jesse didn’t need to know, but he knew they had a way of obtaining information they weren't supposed to have.
Terry gave him space, but not too much. Just enough for Korvo to breathe, but not enough to feel like he’d floated off into emotional orbit. He’d appear in the doorway with a smoothie, or flick on Korvo’s favorite human reality show and sit on the couch until Korvo gave in and joined him, or he’d make stupid jokes - half of which Korvo didn’t even understand, but they always pulled a reluctant smile.
“You don’t have to do anything,” Terry had said one night, lying next to him in bed. “You don’t have to explain or justify or prove anything to me. You just get to be, okay?”
Korvo nodded. “I know. It’s just I thought I’d feel relieved, and I do in a way, but I also feel like I keep waiting for someone to tell me I did the wrong thing.”
“No one gets to say that, not even you.”
The words stuck with Korvo longer than he expected.
Somewhere deep down, he’d been afraid Terry would see him differently. But Terry hadn’t changed at all. If anything, he was more attentive. Not out of pity (Korvo could feel the difference) but out of care and love.
One evening, Korvo found himself sitting next to Terry on the rooftop of their suburban house, legs dangling off the edge, watching the night roll in. Their solar panels buzzed quietly behind them. The human world below lit up one streetlamp at a time.
“I didn’t know how much it was affecting me until it was over,” Korvo murmured. “I kept telling myself I was fine, but I wasn’t.”
Terry offered his hand. Korvo took it.
“That’s normal,” Terry said. “You don’t have to bounce back fast. You just bounce back however you can.”
Korvo looked down as their fingers intertwined.
“I thought you’d want the baby.”
Terry shrugged. “Maybe someday, but only if we both wanted it. Not like this. Not from fear. Not from surprise.”
Korvo chuckled faintly. “We’ve been through so much weird human nonsense, and somehow this was the thing that broke me.”
“Because it’s real,” Terry said. “And it’s yours.”
Korvo didn’t reply, but the warmth in his chest said enough. They stayed there until the sky turned fully dark, until the quiet didn’t feel heavy anymore, just peaceful. He wasn’t fully okay, but he was getting there, and he didn’t have to do it alone.