[It's not a new concept - he's wished he could have met Raven years earlier, that he hadn't had to wait until he was thirty to meet Erik, the person who was quite literally the other half of his soul, who'd spent so long being lonely and angry and scared.
And thanks to the Barge, he can remember what it was like to know each other as children, to stay up late at night and plot all the things they could do now that they knew they weren't alone, and that's without even mentioning the other lives they've led together. And then he can remember holding Alex in the hospital just after he'd been born, witnessing his first words, his first steps, being there to tell him that it was okay, there wasn't anything wrong with him for being different, reading him stories before bed and making him lunch. He can remember talking to Anya, telling her about how he was bad at knitting and how he'd met Erik, and listening to her - a normal, more or less happy kid who got to make pancakes with her dad who loved her, regardless of who or what she was.
It's not the first time he's wished that things could have been different, that they could have been there for Alex and Anya and each other from the start.
So, he gets it. He wouldn't trade the people he knows now for different versions, ones that got to live lives where they were all together from the beginning, but. It's hard not to wish that parts of it were real.]
spam
And thanks to the Barge, he can remember what it was like to know each other as children, to stay up late at night and plot all the things they could do now that they knew they weren't alone, and that's without even mentioning the other lives they've led together. And then he can remember holding Alex in the hospital just after he'd been born, witnessing his first words, his first steps, being there to tell him that it was okay, there wasn't anything wrong with him for being different, reading him stories before bed and making him lunch. He can remember talking to Anya, telling her about how he was bad at knitting and how he'd met Erik, and listening to her - a normal, more or less happy kid who got to make pancakes with her dad who loved her, regardless of who or what she was.
It's not the first time he's wished that things could have been different, that they could have been there for Alex and Anya and each other from the start.
So, he gets it. He wouldn't trade the people he knows now for different versions, ones that got to live lives where they were all together from the beginning, but. It's hard not to wish that parts of it were real.]
I do.