Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

~

For twenty squad, days off are a must, there are many reasons why but the main being the big family they make up. Deacon and Hondo are two caregivers that are parents to three littles, there's Tan who stays around six or seven, Chris who can range from a toddler to a teenager and Luca who is almost always around fourteen besides the occasional slip into the eight or nine range. 

Their family is perfect. Well, almost, they've yet to have their newest member join them at the large house Hondo and Deac own with themed room for each child. Lucas being sharks, Tans reptiles and Chris has a very serious theme of dogs going on. Each representing the pure innocence of the pairs children, every little detail has been hand picked, from the light switches Tan almost screamed about how excited he was, to the stuffed dogs that take up Chris's top bunk of her bunk beds and then the shark mural David hand painted on Lucas wall. It's all perfectly them. 

The only thing that could make the house feel any more full is Street, they've yet to figure out if he's a little or caregiver, either way they're all desperate to have him around. Tan can think for hours about explaining the different types of lizards to Street in detail, Lucas dying to take him swimming in the pool they have, Chris is just itching to see if Street would play with her or maybe he'd be the person watching her as she played, Hondo has a sneaking suspicion the kids a little so he's mostly hoping to see Street small and Deacon is honestly just trying to get Street to even come over for dinner.

David can't figure out why Street is so reluctant about even coming to the house. He thinks Street might be overwhelmed by see the team small or maybe just by the pure chaos always happening in that house. Whatever it is, it's causing some push and pull between the team. Street putting up a distance between himself and the rest of the  team while the others cling onto Street. 

~

Hondo and Deacon are seriously considering just asking Street if he's a little at this point, it's been six months and they've gotten nothing, but, they get their answer- just not in the way they want. 

"Street you can't just go out and do whatever, you need to call us! It's important that we are there and there to help you if something was to go wrong, you need to trust us! You can't-." Hondo stops his pacing rant in the kitchen when Street lets out a small whimper that has everyone spinning on their heels to look at Street. 

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Deacon steps in when he takes note of the few tears dripping out of Streets eyes as he shifts where he's standing. 

"Please stop yelling at me, I don't like it." Streets voice is much too mumbled and pitchy for it to be anywhere close to his normal tone. Everyone on the team must hear it as they crowd around with looks of worry.

"I'm sorry kid, I didn't mean to make you upset, you just have to count on us more." Street nods jerkily to Hondos soft voice. There's a pause between everyone before Deacon clears his throat a moment and goes to ask the question everyone's dying to know. 

"Street, are you feeling little? It's okay if you are but you need to tell us so we can help." More tears spill down Streets cheeks which is enough of an answer for everyone but they still give Street time to answer. 

"I'm sorry!" Street all but wails as he hides his face into his hands and his back heaves longly into the stuttered breathing he's getting in. Hondo and Deacons caregiver instincts take over as they both rush to comfort the boy. 

"No, no, it's okay, it's alright, shhh. How about this, Hondo will go talk to Hicks about getting the rest of the day off, then we can go home, okay?" Hondo nods to David before leaving the room and Street nods hesitantly. 

"You can come play with us! We'll have the best time!" Lucas already bouncing on his feet, his headspace assumingely starting to come out from what Deacon can tell. 

"I can show you all my stuffies!" Chris quickly chimes in when Street doesn't look up from his hands. David's not too sure what to make of Street being regressed, he's not even sure what age range Street falls into or what needs he has to have met to be safe. 

"I have lizard books I can read to you if you want." Tans always been more on the shy side as he fidgets small with the hem of his shirt. 

"We don't have to do anything you don't want to honey, but I'm sure your friends are just giving you options they think you'd enjoy." Deacon puts a hand tentatively on Streets back as he keeps crying into himself. 

"I don't know how to be small." Street admits with a wet blink up at Deacons concerned expression. 

"What do you mean baby?" David rubs his hand up and down Streets back that has Street leaning into the touch. 

"I'm not good at it, I don't go small, I usually just go to bed when I feel like this then pretend it doesn't happen." Deacon guesses that James headspace has decreased his filter as normally he's almost positive Street would never tell any of them that.

"But aren't you use to headspace as a little?" Street shakes his head quickly. 

"M'not a little, neutral." Oh. Shit. Well that adds a whole new perspective to Street, a neutral, a mix between the two headspace's, able to act as a caregiver and as a little. Deacon has never met anyone with this headspace but he's not about to turn Street away just because of that. 

He knows a bit about neutrals, not enough to feel fully prepared but not totally in the dark. People describe neutrals as having a much more complex headspace and a harder time being cared for. Deacon can't be sure what makes the internet so against neutrals or why they get so looked down on, thinking about Street as a neutral, he can't think of a single reason why anyone would ever say some of the things he's read about neutrals about Street. Sure the kid can be a bit impulsive and has a hard time following directions but anyone can be like that. 

Deacon takes a moment to sigh to himself, he knows this must be a lot for Street, a lot of stress for one but also a lot of people around. There's really no time to try and think of a plan or even just ask the basic questions Hondo and Deacon had asked Chris and Luca before they regressed in front of the pair, Tan was a different story all together. 

Deacon has a small bit of regret of not just asking Street if he was a little before today. Maybe back when he first started or maybe even last week when Luca begged Deacon to call Street over to the house on their day off but David refused to not push Street too hard. Now he just wishes he had some more answers to the unasked questions. 

"I don't go little, I stay big and good." Good? Deacon can't help but question where Street picked that type of language up when talking about himself. 

"You are good either way Street, nothing changes how good you are." Streets cheeks blush small under the praise even as a few tears track down. 

"Is 'Ondo still mad at me?" David sees all of his kids share an 'awe' moment at the lisp Street picks up.

"Not at all, he was never mad, just worried. Nobody is mad at you." He assures and that seems to work well as the tears stop against Streets face. Easy to calm down, that's a good sign. 

"Promise?" He holds out his pinky very seriously and Deacon gains a grin as he latches his finger onto Streets.

"Promise. Wanna go home now?" A quick nod in response. 

~

Through the car ride home Deacon and Hondo have learned a bit more about what Streets like in headspace, he's quiet but will talk if prompted, there's a lisp or mumble to his words, very fidgety as he taps his fingers against one another, he rocks a bit in his seat and is perfectly happy to listen to any of the other kids talk about whatever they please. 

Street also has a hand held in someone else's when walking from place to place, he had latched onto Deacons when they left HQ, then Hondos when walking into the house even with it only being a two foot walk from driveway to the front door. 

"Alright guys you know the drill, wash your hands, change and then you can play." The three littles run off upstairs towards their rooms while Street stands in front of Hondo and Deacon, although he's not acknowledging them, he's too busy glancing around the house. They guess that should be expected as the kid has never been here before. 

"You can borrow some of Tans clothes, I'm sure they'll fit just fine." Hondo takes Streets attention back to the caregivers as Street shifts on his feet. 

"Can I wear shorts?" Hondo and Deacon quirk a brow but nod.

"Anything you want, those pants not comfortable?" Street shakes his head no, furthering the confusion of the caregivers. 

"Pants are dumb." What an opinion to sound so concrete about. 

"Alright, pants are dumb, got it." Hondo and Deacon share a grin before they all make their way upstairs and over to Tans room.

It's a green and brown room, a mural of the rainforest painted on the wall across from his bed, there's a massive toy box up against the end of his bed, an iguana rug over the beige carpet and Victor laid out on said rug with around five different books open in front of him. 

"Hey Vic, do you think Street can borrow some clothes?" Tan shoots up with a quick nod before scrambling to get to his dresser. It's an old four drawer cherry wood wardrobe that's gotten a lot of love throughout the years, seen in the small chips of wood, old stains, and even wobbly handle on the third drawer. 

"You can wear my green shirt and black shorts!" Tan is throughly enjoying digging around to find the clothes he has in mind. A green t shirt with a picture of a skink lizard on the chest, the shorts being normal champion brand gym shorts. 

"Can I wear a hoodie?" Street tugs on the hand still held in Hondos and Hondo nods with a ruffle of Streets hair. 

"You can use my gecko one!" Tan beams as he grabs the hoodie from the bottom drawer, it's pine green, a small embroidered gecko by the cuff, the hood has soft strings coming down to reach the middle pocket and there's already a small toy lizard stuffed into it. 

"Do you need help getting dressed?" Street shakes his head as Deacon and Hondo point him in the direction of the bathroom. 

Everyone's still in their uniforms from shift, Hicks was basically pushing Hondo out the door when he heard someone had regressed at work, he's always very nervous of them seeing something they shouldn't and hearing it was Street only made Hicks more adamant about the group leaving. Mumfords team could take over the remainder of the case that in all realness would only take an hour more to finish if that. 

~

Tan assures Hondo that he's going to wait very patiently for Street to be done changing while the adults make their way to check on the other children in the house. 

They can already hear the signature laughs of Luca as they approach Chris's room. The doors shut which is usually code for 'we're teenagers and don't wanna deal with little kids' and everyone in the house respects that. Tan has no problem going to one of his caregivers for a playmate or just occupying himself. 

"Guys? Can we come in?" Deacons a little relieved that the two are on the older side of things as they are in very new waters with Street. So far he seems happy, around the younger side if Deacon had to guess, he's still yet to give a specific age and while that's fine, David still wishes he had something to go off of. 

"Come in!" Chris calls before Hondo and Deacon can slip inside then close the door behind themselves. 

Luca and Chris are sat on the bottom bunk of Chris's bunk beds, she has her own room, her top bunk is basically unusable as it's filled to the brim with dog stuffed animals, but she insisted on having bunk beds from day one. 

"We just wanna talk to you guys." The caregivers have to duck their way onto Chris's bed but the teenagers must have expected this as they nod seriously.

"I know we are all very excited Street is joining us today but we have never seen him small, of course we will all be doing everything we can to make him comfortable, if there's ever a problem please come get one of us, but we don't know his needs so we are asking you to tread lightly. Streets a closed off book and it makes it a bit harder to get a read on him, you know this all." Hondos about to continue but Chris is cutting him off.

"We know how this works dad, we were here when Tan came to the house the first time." That was also the result of an unexpected drop at work. They're all hoping it goes smoother this time around, Tan was all but sobbing for hours on end, unable to communicate what would help him, clinging onto Deacon like his life depended on it and not calming down no matter what. It was an eventful day, to say the least. 

"Okay. We just want to make sure you guys know Street might not be willing to do some things you normally do and that we don't know his age range yet so please be gentle. We're thinking he's on the younger side, he seems to be favoring Tan." Luca and Chris nod.

"So another baby brother." Chris more states than asks but Deacon shrugs partly. 

"Maybe." There's a knock at the door that interrupts them.

"Come in." Chris rolls her eyes, as much as Tan respects privacy rules, he never fails to make his into their rooms at one point or another. 

Victor and Street enter hand in hand which has everyone on the bed grinning. Streets busy scanning Chris's room over to notice any of them looking at him but Tans dragging both of them more into the room. 

"I was showin' him everyones rooms." Tan explains with a hum of acknowledgment from the other four. 

"Do you like this one more than Lucas?" Street nods even with how offended Luca looks at the implication. 

"S'pretty." Tan beams a smile quickly. 

"My room wasn't pretty?" Street shakes his head, Chris chuckles small at the bluntness. 

"Didn't like da paintin' it's scary." There's a shark mural on Lucas wall, the main one has its mouth open to show all its teeth. It's a bit more on the realism side so Deacon can see how it can be off putting to someone so little.

"Sharks aren't scary!" Luca protests but it falls on deaf ears.

"They are, they eat people, that's scary." Chris is in a full fit of giggles about this whole conversation already and Tans grinning at Street.

"They don't eat people!" Street furrows his brows.

"Yes they do, a great white ate a high school teacher in twenty fourteen." Lucas mouth falls open as everyone else smirk. Why in the world Street would know this seems to be overlooked by everyone in the room.

"Yeah Luca, sharks do eat people." Chris teases before Lucas pushing her away playfully.

"Okay well that doesn't make them scary! You're just a baby!" Deacons and Hondos heads both snap to Luca as his eyes go wide with instant regret. 

"Luca!" Deacon scolds as Streets face drops faster than anyone has ever seen.

"I'm sorry, I'm am so sorry Street, it just slipped out, I didn't mean it I swear." Luca rushes to assure when tears build up in Streets eyes and his mouth parts a small amount.

"Don't cry, please don't cry, I'm sorry. You aren't a baby, it's okay to be scared of sharks, it's normal even! They are scary and do eat people!" Luca grasping at straws for what to do to help the already sniffling boy in front of him. 

"Don't cry, just don't cry, I'm so sorry." Lucas panicking but Street nods and takes a deep breath with all the tears seeming to disappear. 

"M'not crying." The five pause at how sure Street sounds, able to turn off his emotions, listening to Lucas order easily. 

"Woah, baby no, if you need to cry you can. You shouldn't just stop yourself from feeling." Hondo chimes in with a slight worried look to Deacon.

"Honey you can cry if you feel like crying." Deacon tries to explain more but Street looks confused by the words. 

"Wanna go back to my room? I can tell you more about the lizards in my book." The caregivers almost want to protest and get Street to at least talk about how he's feeling upset but Victors pulling Street away before anyone can go to interrupt. 

"Luca you made him upset!" Chris slaps a hand at Lucas arm, it's not hard by any means, but Luca still swats her hand away with a grumble under his breath about how it hurt.

"I'm sorry! Dads, I'm sorry." Luca turns to look at Deacon and Hondo. Usually Hondo will be referred to as papa or dad while Deacon gets a mix between dada or dad.

"Luca please be more careful about what you say, we don't know what Street will take as teasing or not." Hondo sighs, at least there's been no sobbing, for now. 

"I will, promise."

~

A few hours go by, Luca and Chris both come out of headspace to have a glass of wine with Deacon and Hondo in the backyard, Tan and Street are busy goofing off in Tans room, last time Deacom checked they were in a very serious conversation about frogs. All is well. 

"Hey boys, you need something?" Tan and Street appear with a head shake and them both stumbling to get up onto the patio furniture with Street next to Chris and Tan next to Luca. 

"Whens dinner?" And there's the real reason Victor came downstairs.

"Oh shoot I completely forgot- uh- we can just order something, what does everyone want?" Hondo makes a mental note to ask Street what foods he likes and dislikes when he's not in headspace. 

"Burgers!" Luca is ever the most predictable out of them all. 

"No we should get tacos." Chris counters. 

"I want pizza!" Tan cuts in and Hondo and Deacon sigh, this happens every single time they try to order anything. 

"Street, what would you like?" Hondo tilts his head small at the boy who has a slant in his eyebrows like this is the most important question he's ever had to make a decision about. 

"Pho." Taking them all off guard.

"Yeah pho!" Tan jumps at the idea while Chris and Luca look a little more reluctant.

"It's like eighty out, you sure you want soup?" Street nods firmly to Chris. Deacon and Hondo are fine with any option, as long as they don't have to cook anything, it's golden. 

"Alright pho it is, I'll go order it." Lucas climbing off the couch to go inside and leave the other five sitting peacefully out on the patio furniture.

"Hey Street?" Chris asks after a moment and Deacon can tell where this is going, he knows Chris has been wanting to ask this all day.

"Hm?" He tilts his head up at her.

"Are you gonna stay here with us now? Y'know get your own room and come home with us." There's a pause where Streets looks like a deer caught in headlights. 

"You don't have to like- decide- right now but I just wanted to ask. It's okay if you aren't." She says in a calm tone that seems to help a bit of the boys anxiety. 

"But that's bad...." Street uses such a whisper that David and Dan both lean closer to make sure they're hearing him. 

"What's bad?" Chris furrows her brows.

"Me being little, can't do that after today. Today was- wrong- for me." Streets hands slide the hoodie strings back and forth as he avoids all eye contact with everyone. 

"It's not wrong, it's part of you-." Chris goes to put a hand on Streets shoulder but he's jerking away with a huff of annoyed air.

"It is wrong! S'okay for you and- and other people but not me. I promised him I wouldn't." Street looks over at Hondo and Hondo thinks Street must assume he knows what he's talking about when really- Hondos just as lost as everyone else.

"Baby why would you force yourself to block out that part of you?" Streets face scrunches up at Hondos words, almost confusion on his face, maybe more annoyance. 

"I have to! I promised to be a caregiver all the time! It has to be like that!" He sounds more upset that Hondo isn't understanding than actually having to push his headspace away. Dan still can't figure out what information he's supposed to know and that only seems to further Streets frustration. 

"No it doesn't, Street, you can be whoever you want to be, if you want a room here and you want to regress than you should. I know you know how dangerous it can be for littles to not regress." Chris tries her best to make this make more sense to Street but he's shaking his head quickly. 

"I'm not a little! That's the problem!" He shouts but Streets expression changes to horror quickly. 

"I didn't mean to yell at you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." His body slumps down to in front of the outside couch as his hands cover his ears and face tucks into the tops of his knees with labored breathing. 

"Street, look at me, it's okay. You're just upset and that's okay, you don't have to be sorry." Chris isn't at all phased by the yelling as it's not even the loudest she's heard Streets voice go. 

Deacon and Hondo have a split second of them looking at each other in loss before Hondos nodding for Tan to go inside with Luca. Deacons moving the table out of the way so there's nothing blocking Street and Chris form Hondo and Deacon. Then they sit in the grass in front of their children- no matter how hard Streets fighting- that's their kid now. 

"Can you look at me? Street I know it's difficult but I need you to look at me so we can help you." Hondo urges though it does nothing to make Street even shift a small bit. In all honesty, they aren't even sure he can hear them, his hands shield his ears in a way so tightly it's bound to block sound out. 'Probably a habit from his childhood' Deacons brain provides him and the thought makes his heart snap more open. 

"Street please just look at me. Talk to us, how can we help you?" The only response that comes is these loud hums Streets pushing through his lips, more forcing, they sound pained, raw, louder the more anyone tries to talk to him. 

"Guy's I don't think we can do anything." Chris says over the hums and while the caregivers know she's right, it doesn't hurt any less.

"okay honey, we're just gonna sit here and wait until you're ready to talk." Deacon says as he plops more into the grass with Hond right next to him.

"I'm gonna go check on Tan." Chris excuses herself so the pair sit, silently, heartbroken, watching in almost physical pain as their newest baby blocks out the world in a way that can only be described as - painful -. 

~

It's a long while before Streets hums cease to exist and his hands slowly drop off his ears. Hondo and Deacon don't move, they'll wait for him to come to them. 

"I don't want to be broken." Deacon can feel his heart clench as Hondo grabs a hold of his hand.

"You aren't, sweetheart whoever told you that was wrong." Street peaks his head up with tears just now starting to roll down his cheeks, the pair had assumed he had been crying the whole time, it seems to have just began though. 

"If I go little and I stay here then I lose everything- I want to- I want to stay so bad but I don't want everything to be ruined!" Street sobs brokenly to the couple.

"It won't, Street we will always be here and nothing will get ruined. Talk to us, why would you think that?" 

"My job-." Hondo shakes his head as fast as he can.

"Your job nothing, it'll still be there and you going small won't change that." Streets bottom lip trembles a moment. 

"You promise?" His pinky goes out similarly to how he did in the kitchen earlier, Hondo latches on quickly. 

"I promise." 

Eventually the three go inside to find the others already eating their soup, definitely all regressed basing off how sloppy Lucas being and how fast Chris is eating then the happy feet swaying Tans doing. Deacon herds Street over to sit at the table next to Tan then slides a bowl of soup in front of him, Street eats slower than Deacons ever seen, usually the kid sucks down anything he can get his hands on while at HQ or even when they go out to eat, right now it's slow paced out bites. 

"Dad?" Tan speaks after a few minutes of the couple sitting to listen to how Luca and Chris are debating the best way to eat soup. Both are downright insane. 

"Yeah bud?" Tan just nods his head to Street who's head is tipped against the wall behind him and mouth hung partly open. Everyone stops to stare a moment. 

"I guess humming make people tired." Luca huffs a chuckle.

"I bet it doesn't." Chris starts quickly.

"I bet it does!" That sets Luca and Chris into a loud humming match before Deacon is shushing them.

"Would you two stop, you'll wake him. Hondo wanna take him up to bed and I'll clear the table?" Hondo doesn't even need to be asked as he's shuffling his way to the other side of the table and moving to scoop Street up as carefully as he can.

"Jeez you're lighter than I thought." Hondo gives a laugh as he secures Street against his hip and Streets arms wrap around Hondos shoulders.

"Alright come on, we have a guest room you can use." Street just tucks his face into Hondos neck as he starts the walk up the stairs and down the hall. They'll obviously be doing this room over when Street chooses decor and a theme, assuming he takes the offer to stay.

~

The next morning is twenty squads already scheduled day off so they are all up for breakfast, or almost everyone, it's nine am and Streets still passed out upstairs. Luca and Chris are bugging their dads about waking him up as 'it's already so late' when they both know full well this is just a house filled with early risers. 

"Good morning sleepy head." Deacon grins as Street kind of stumbles half asleep to the dining room table where the kids are busy shoveling cereal into their mouths. 

"So yesterday wasn't just a messed up dream?" Street slumps beside Deacon and Tan with a rub of his hand down his face.

"Afraid not. So, do you want to talk about things?" Hondo slides a cup of coffee over as it seems Street isn't in headspace. 

"I want to apologize for how I acted yesterday, it was out of line and I shouldn't have gotten upset with you guys." Deacon and Hondos faces fall with a head shake.

"Kids why don't you go get dressed for the day so the adults can talk." All three take the hint and scramble away from the table quickly. 

"Street you don't have to apologize, yesterday must have been extremely stressful for you. You dropped at work and we had no plan or even idea of how to help you, it couldn't have been easy." Street ducks his head down a moment.

"I've just never really had people around when I've regressed, or not people who took care of me. Being a neutral can make it hard to find a caregiver in general but I've always been a more difficult little I guess." The couple share a brief look, Street isn't what they'd call difficult.

"Why do you say difficult?" Hondo questions softly. 

"When I'm in headspace I don't stay a single age. It's always a mix of them, like yesterday that whole fact about sharks is something I would know at maybe thirteen but then I was holding onto Tan like I would at three. It makes it more complicated to meet my needs, to help me when I need it." Deacon and Hondo nod, that makes sense, not that someone would call Street difficult but that he's not one certain age. 

"You said yesterday that you don't regress, that it's bad, that others can but you can't. Did someone tell you that?" Street opens his mouth in an act to talk but it closes a few seconds later.

"I thought you'd know..." He's looking at Hondo instead of Deacon.

"Know what?" Hondo stresses as he can't think of a single thing that Street could be talking about. 

"I made a deal when I joined Swat, that I had to be a caregiver in order to keep my job, that I couldn't regress. It was going great until yesterday where I could feel myself slipping but thought I'd wait it out til I got home, obviously that backfired." Street moves his eyes away from anything around the room but the table, his heads ducked down, talking more to the table, picking at the small chip in it and shifting uncomfortably in his seat. 

"Kid I would never sign off on that! Who did you make that deal with? Hicks?" Hondo can't even begin to wrap his mind around whatever monster of a person would offer that to Street. It's so detrimental to not regress when you're a little, it can cause an abundance of problems, anxiety, stress, being more un-focused, more irritable, isolating themselves off and even dark thoughts that Hondo can't bring himself to think about Street dealing with. 

"No, not Hicks, I think he'd actually lose it if I told him that. I'm not supposed to tell you who." Street mumbles the last part and glances up to Hondo but drops his eyes back down. 

"We need to know. Please tell us." Deacon puts a hand on top of Streets worryingly. 

"He's going to be mad at me if I do." Street shuffles partly closer to Deacon. 

"Nobody's going to let him hurt you, just say his name and then we can talk about something else." Hondo promises easily, all he needs is a name, a name and a drive to whoever's house this is, maybe ten minutes alone and they'll never come near any of Hondos kids again. 

"Buck." Deacon and Dan both stop to stare as their brains seem to malfunction, Buck, as in the old captain of twenty squad? He knew and seemed supportive of the family Deacon and Hondo have, he never was a part of it but was never against it either. 

"Why would he ever do that?" Deacon says in a gasp.

"You said we can talk about something else now." Right, this obviously isn't something Streets keen on sharing and they need to respect that, they'll get their answers eventually.

"Of course honey, can we talk about you maybe staying here? It doesn't have to be full time like the others but you could come over, regress somewhere safe, even just stay big and be around us on our days off. You seem hesitant to even come in the house." Before yesterday Street had excuse after excuse on why he couldn't make it to anything the couple or kids invited him over for. He'd also willingly go out to eat or out shopping so obviously the problem is the house. 

"What if I'm not a good enough kid for you guys, you have kids, and they're amazing- I don't want to mess your family up." It sounds like Street could start to cry as Hondo moves to be on the other side of Street. Both partners put their arms around Streets shoulders with murmurs of reassurances.

"You could never mess our family up, you're a part of it and we all want you here. I will tell you every time you walk into this house if that's what it takes for you to know that you are no less because you regress and there's nothing you could do to change that." Hondos hands cradle Streets face carefully, there's tears built in his eyes but he's not letting them fall. 

"And being a "good enough" kid isn't a thing, you're perfect how you are. We are your parents, or we want to be, and that means we will try our very best to meet every need you have. You just have to talk to us." Street nods at Deacon with a small smile played on his lips. 

So that's how the three of them spend their morning, making sure Hondo and Deacon know everything they can about Streets headspace, learning what works on comforting him, what triggers him, all the good and bad they can. 

In summary, he's honestly on the easier side of things. The only things that really raise's a red flag is when Street had admitted that he has nightmares frequently, bad ones, even when not regressed they just always seem to be there and he's tried to get rid of them but it's failed. That concerns the pair, not that they think they can't handle it, just that they know Street already has bad insomnia so that can't be helping him in anyway. 

Then he briefly went into how he grew up and how the system treated him more than unfair because of his classification. Apparently even as a child people will look down on neutrals, hurt them, not take into account that they are human beings just like everyone else. It makes Deacon and Hondo grow sick. Not even mentioning how bad Streets father and mother acted when they got his classification back, both parents were angry that night, it's one of the only time Street says he ever saw his mother be so aggressive. It's also why they don't talk anymore. 

Street doesn't tell them anything more about Buck but the couple could've guessed that would happen. They still have a million unanswered questions about it, Hondos tempted to go down to Bucks house and ask himself, Deacon reasons that it'll only cause more problems for Street and they should wait for Street to say something, Hondo reluctantly agrees. 

Streets room theme gets picked out which to nobody's surprise involves motorcycles, although what was a shock was the fact that Streets mural was made to have "a penguin riding a motorcycle running away from other penguins on motorcycles" which was exclaimed very excitedly when the kids had returned and Street freely slipped into headspace. Penguins seem to be Streets favorite animal, Deacon had promised to do his best on painting the mural to Streets liking. 

David honestly doesn't have much artistic abilities but he tries and has been trying since Chris originally asked for a German shepherd painted across her wall. That lead to Lucas sharks, Tans rainforest and even the bathroom has sea animals around some of the walls. Hondo and Deacons room stays untouched, for now. 

~

"Hey Deac where's your ring?" Chris raises a brow at Deacons left hand being bare with only the line of pale where his wedding ring usually sits. 

"What?- shit, have you guys seen it?" Deacon sits up in a slight panic before he hears Tan and Street giggling across from where him, Hondo, Luca, and Chris are sat outside. 

"What are you two laughing about?" That only makes the boys, who have quickly become joined at the hip, laugh louder. 

"How did you-?" Deacon furrows his brow as Street produces the gold band from his pocket and holds it out for all to see.

"Just did." Street grins widely with Tan in a full fit of giggles beside him. 

"I got papa's too!" He pulls Hondos ring out quickly, making all of the adults mouths fall open. 

"Can we please have those back baby?" Street squints a moment but shakes his head and drops the rings down into his palms. 

"And why not?" Chris tries to hide her smile with little to no effect. 

"They're shiny and I's likes them." Street says with a proud little smile on his face.

"Oh and Tan wants dadas." He hands Tan Hondos wedding band that he quickly slides onto his finger, no matter how big it is and how it hangs off Tans pinky. 

"We need those back guys, we don't want you to lose them as they're very expensive." Deacon leans his elbows onto his knees with a soft but firm tone. 

"Can we give them back later?" Street counters.

"How about now?" Tan and Street both shake their heads.

"Later. Negotiation over, c'mon Tan!" Streets jumping off the couch with Tans hand in his and them rushing inside before anyone can try to stop them. 

"Did he just close a deal with us? Like a drug deal." Luca gaps between laughs. 

"We're raising a criminal." Hondo sighs and rubs a hand down his face.

"Two of them, he's recruited his brother." 

That's how the family learns, quickly, that Street is a master at taking things discreetly. Rings, car keys, wallets, phones- he basically pick pockets his family when regressed. He always returns the items unharmed and never keeps them for an extended period of time, the caregivers are pretty sure it's just fun for him.

It also gets used in the field when they need to slip something into a room or out of a room, Streets gotten it done each time. 

~

Something is so so wrong and Deacon and Hondo only know that as Chris had rushed into the kitchen at HQ with a yell for them to come quick. Their hearts pound before they're halting with a screeching stop at the sight in front of them.

Luca and Tan are screaming at Rocker with every bone in their body's but what really gets them is Street- he's sat against the wall, his face buried into his knees, hands over his ears, body rocking slightly, small hums producing from his mouth, and his body tucked into a tight ball. 

Both caregivers don't know what to do first but Hicks is appearing in no time at all.

"What is going on?!" He booms over the three yelling in front of Street.

"Rocker slapped Street!" Tan snaps and Hicks eyes go extremely wide as do Deacons and Hondos.

"All three of you in my office now! Guys, get him home." Hicks is ushering Luca, Tan and Rocker away before giving Deacon and Hondo a worried look then glancing at Street. The four of them can be heard yelling down the hall but it's thankfully numbed out quite a bit when Hondo and Deacon sit themselves in front of Street. 

"Baby can you hear us? If you can hear us can you let us know somehow." Hondo and Deacon have now dealt with a fair amount of panic attacks between all four kids, it just happens that Streets are the worst, one, to get him out of and two, to navigate what he needs. At times he's gone non-verbal and that always puts the parents at some what of a loss. 

"Chris go get the car started and grab anything anyone might need from the locker room, we have a weekend off after this but we're going home now." Deacon hands Chris the keys quietly before she's scurrying away with a nod. 

"That's good honey, just try to breathe baby." Deacon draws his attention back to see Hondos hand rubbing on Streets back who's stopped his rocking to lean into Hondos space a bit more. 

"Chris is going to get the car and then we'll go home okay? Hicks is talking to your brothers about what happened right now so don't worry about that." Deacon assures even as he hears the fighting match down the hall behind Hicks closed door. He still has no idea what happened but Rocker laying a hand on Street is enough to make his blood boil over, his partner seems to feel the same as Hondo gives David a short look of anger. 

"I have the car and everything else, Tan and Luca are still in Hicks office but Tans car is here if you guys wanna leave now." Chris appears a little out of breath, obviously having just ran inside from the parking lot. 

"Do you wanna go home?" Street doesn't give a verbal response but he reaches his arms out for Hondo and sobs into the man's neck lowly. Hondo takes no time to get Streets legs wrapped around his waist then his arms over his shoulders. 

There are concerned looks being passed around HQ when they leave, twenty squad is kind of known for having the most amount of littles in the station, it makes the others take a protective order over them and that's showing as people clear out of the way and open doors for the four. 

Hondo stays in the back of the van with Street in his lap while Deacon drives and Chris turns herself to stare worriedly in the passenger seat. Thankfully there's absolutely no traffic, rare for a two pm on a Friday, Deacon will just count what little good is happening right now. They're at the house in less than twenty minutes.

"Baby that's icky, why doesn't Chris go grab you something else?" Hondo goes to pull the thumb out of Streets mouth once they're all on the couch but Streets jerks away with a whine. Chris still moves to go upstairs and to Streets room, they've found he likes things to chew or suck on, even to just have casually in his mouth, that's resulted in an abundance of pacifiers making their way into the house along with other acceptable things to be chewed on. 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Chris hasn't said what happened and that leaves the caregivers to wonder with a million question. 

"You don't have to, it's okay." Hondo assures when Streets eyes fill with tears and he whines small, he's still tucked into Hondo, now laying down but his head against the man's arm and body shuffled to curl into Hondos lap. 

"I didn't know what to grab so I just got one of everything." Chris has an arm full of different fidgets. Some chewlery necklaces, a few pacifiers, a small stuffed frog Street refuses to not have in his mouth when it's around and even the very old plastic block Street had originally started to chew on which set the caregivers on a shopping spree. Hondo just plucks a blue pacifier out of the collection that Street takes to easily. 

"Thank you for helping Chris." Deacon praises small as he can tell Chris is sliding into her own headspace, no doubt the stress, personal stress never fails to have her slipping more quickly than normal. 

"Dad is he gonna be okay?" Chris questions quietly to Deacon, Hondo can definitely hear it anyways but Streets half asleep so David's not too worried. Deacon takes a second to look at the red handprint on Streets cheek and then how his hands bawl fists of Hondos shirt tightly even in his half asleep sate. 

"He'll be okay, you think you can go get yourself changed into some more comfy clothes and maybe grab some for James?" Chris nods quickly and rushes back up the stairs, taking the untouched fidgets with her.

"Have you heard anything from the boys?" Deacon leans his shoulder into Hondos as he looks down at Street sleeping peacefully.

"They said they were on their way home but didn't give me any details about what happened. I'm worried Dave, look at that mark, only a hard slap could leave a red print like that. I can't imagine Street did anything to even come close to deserving that." Streets been a fair amount less reckless and impulsive since starting to stay at the Harrelson-Kay household instead of at his own apartment. They assume he was pretty bottled up from not regressing and it's just now starting to simmer down. 

"I agree with you and there's nothing that Street could have done to deserve being hit but- I'm just not sure he'll see it that way." There's been multiple conversations after one of Streets nightmares about how no matter what he did "wrong" as a child, he didn't deserve getting put through what he was, Street still struggles to believe it at times. 

"We'll just have to do everything we can to make sure he knows he didn't do anything." Not like they were planning on doing anything else but now it's spoken out. 

"I didn't know what he'd want so I just got what I would want if I was upset! Alright uh, a pair of shorts, a soft t shirt and the gecko hoodie he stole from Tan." Chris returns in a pair of jogger sweatpants and a hoodie, holding the stack of clothes for her brother out to Deacon. 

"Thank you Chris, your brothers are on their way home now if you wanted to get anything done before they got home." No doubt Chris is about to go write in the journal she keeps by her bed, actually all the kids keep one, it just started with Chris and then soon enough all four had a similar one. What they actually write down is a mystery to the caregivers but a mystery they are happy to keep. 

"Do you wanna change sweetheart?" Hondo brushes his hand through Streets hair til he's blinking awake. He wasn't in a deep sleep but enough to grunt a little at being woken up. 

"You can go back to bed once you've changed out of uniform, do you need help getting dressed?" He thinks it over a moment before nodding to Hondo. Deacon gives Hondo the stack of clothes before watching as his partner pulls Street up to his hip and starts to walk upstairs. 

~

Deacon was thinking of maybe trying to cook something comforting for the family even if Streets not awake to eat it. They can always save him a plate. Going over his options gets interrupted by the front door swinging open and Tan and Luca storming inside, apparently not cooled down yet.

"Guys can you try to be quieter, your brothers sleeping." Hondo comes back down the stairs as Tan and Luca talk at a raised tone while toeing their boots off by the door. 

"Sorry, is he okay?" Lucas trying to ease some of his anger and that much is obvious but his tone is one of forced calm.

"We can't really tell, he's sleeping and hasn't really cried but he's not talking." The boys faces fall at the words, not talking usually is after the worse side of things. 

"Will you tell us what happened? Chris hasn't explained anything and Hicks has yet to call." It's not even an 'if Hicks calls' he for sure will.

"Rocker fucking slapped him that's what happened! They were arguing- more Rocker just yelling at Street- and he slapped him! Hard as fuck! So we went over there and started to yell at Rocker while Street kind of slid himself to the floor, then you showed up and Hicks!" Tan explains in a flurry of angry words that completely ignore the quietness Hondo requested. 

"What were they arguing about?" Deacon sighs as he leans his hands onto the side of the counter in the kitchen with Hondo coming to stand next to him. Tan and Luca have made their way over already but they pace around instead of staying in one spot. 

"He knocked over Rockers water bottle, that's it! That's why Rocker decided to slap our brother!" Luca fumes. Deacon and Hondo both quirk a protective brow, a water bottle, that's all it was? Oh Hicks must be having a fucking field day right now. 

"You have got to be shitting me." Hondo growls lowly and Deacon knows that tone all too well, it's usually a tell tale sign he's about to snap at any moment. 

"Right! It's so stupid! Hicks is busy reading the riot act to Rocker but he said he's gonna call you when he's done." Hondos head shoots up.

"So they're still at HQ?" Luca nods before Hondos snatching his keys off the counter and rushing to get his shoes on by the door.

"Is this a good idea?" Deacon has to ask, Dan can be over protective on a normal basis but especially when it comes to Street. 

"I'll be back in a bit, call if you need anything, love you." Hondo stands to press a brief kiss to Deacons cheek then is out the door without a second glance back. Leaving Deacon home with all the kids and really no idea what to do. 

Tan and Luca are still mad, it doesn't seem like Chris even knows what happened considering she's not down here with them on a long rant, Streets hopefully still asleep and Deacon needs a damn drink. 

Today was hard enough with how stressful the case was but they had finally finished and were about to pack up to go home anyways, they haven't been at home since yesterday morning at five am when Hicks called them in, they spent the night in the bunk room and have all desperately needed the at home time. Now it's had a wrench thrown into it all because Rocker can't control his damn emotions. 

David sighs and leans more heavily onto the counter before deciding that they will treat today like any other time something stressful happens on shift, the most amount of comfort he can give, it's different for every kid but he's equipped for them all, he thinks. Usually Hondos here to balance them out more. He's mostly the one who deals with the smaller boys, Street and Tan happily climb Hondo like a damn tree for comfort, while Deacon can handle the teens and their need to talk and rant about everything. 

However right now Tan seems older than usual and Street seems littler than normal, that causes a slight bump in things. Luca and Chris are about the same as they usually are so that shouldn't be hard to deal with, maybe Chris leaning towards the younger side, nothing Deacon can't handle. 

"Dad where's Dad?" Deacon can't help but chuckle, it's a frequent question that never fails to bring a smile to his face. That smile lessens when he sees Chris standing there with Streets hand held in hers.

"I'm sorry guys, he just went to talk to Hicks." Both the kids faces fall. 

"But your brothers are back." He tries to fix the issue, Tan and Luca both wave, getting nothing but a look from Chris and Street. 

"We want dad." Not an unheard of request but Chris tends to favor Deacon to Hondo, more so favoring Luca over anyone. 

"I'm sorry sweetie, he'll be back later. Would you like a snack or maybe to play a game?" Chris looks at Street who doesn't move so she shakes her head. 

"We could go swimming." Luca suggests with an encouraging smile from Tan, both the brothers noting the loss their dads at, also seeing that Chris and Street are smaller than they ordinarily are.

"Or we could play hide and seek, you guys always like that." Tan proposes with nothing but a more upset look on Chris's face and Streets hand squeezing hers a few times. 

It's system the kids have set up, Deacon can't begin to understand as it's different for each kid, if Street squeezes on Chris's hand twice it could mean no for her then if he did it to Tan it could mean he was hungry, they all have their own rules of sort. Deacons not even sure when the non-verbal communication started or when the kids sat down to form the system they have but David's at least thankful someone is able to translate for Street in times like this. 

While Street has never specifically mentioned what or why he stops speaking at time, he does try to make it the least confusing for the caregivers and other kids. He'll point to things, write stuff down, shake his head, do the hand squeeze thing with the others and even used one of those text to speech apps once. Nobody questions it or brings it up, it's just part of the family dynamic now, not that it's an everyday occurrence, but they can handle it when it happens. 

"Can we watch a movie?" Deacon nods happily, that's something that'll entertain all of them and will be easy to keep track of all four. 

Everyone makes their way to the living room, Luca and Victor breaking off to go change, it takes maybe two minutes and David will always question how they change so quickly. Chris and Street are squished up into the corner of the couch where Streets normally is. Chris has her back leaned onto the armrest while Streets head leans onto her side with their hands still held together. 

"What do we wanna watch?" Deacon sits between where Chris and Street are and where Tan and Luca are. 

"We should watch Air Buddies!" Of course Chris would suggest that for the millionth time. Luca and Tan both groan loudly, they've seen every version of that movie at least five times. 

"No we should watch Jaws!" David really needs to get them to watch some newer movies. 

"Ugh we watch that every time! Can we watch the Jungle Book!" Chris and Luca whine in protest. Deacon also groans, only not out loud, choosing anything in this house is always a struggle but he's not up for the fighting right now. 

"What about you baby? What do you wanna watch?" He turns to Street who's the only one that hasn't expressed any dislike to the suggestions or put in his own. 

"Here type it out." He hands Street his phone open to the notes app when the boy blinks a moment at Deacon. 

'Penguins of Madagascar' perfect something they haven't seen all together yet. Hondo and Deacon sat through it with Street after a rough nightmare but none of the other kids have seen it. 

"We're going with Streets choice, he's had the worse day out of all of us so no arguing." Deacon ques up the movie with little to no protest when the three other catch on that they aren't familiar with this film.

~

The movie ends and Deacons pretty sure he nodded off at one point as he has no idea where Luca and Tan are or when Chris and Street cuddled into either of his sides. He can't move much as the kids are stuffed under each arm with their hands locked on top of Deacons legs like a safety strap. He smiles to himself at how adorable they are but also freaks out a little internally as he can't hear Tan or Luca at all. 

He knows they know the rules that come with going off on their own, no pool without a caregiver, don't leave the house without telling a caregiver, if you're in adult headspace at least leave a note somewhere easy to find and some others that are more situational. Deacon can't see a note and has no texts from either boy, definitely not helping his anxiety. 

"Guys can I get up? I gotta find your brothers." Chris and James groan half awake and nuzzle themselves more into David. He figured this wouldn't be easy.

"I can carry you while I look for them." It's not his favorite activity as it's more of a workout then he'd like to admit but both kids nod. 

Getting Chris situated on his back for a piggy back ride takes no time at all, she wraps around him like cling wrap, getting Street held to his side takes a bit more effort as Chris's legs get in the way a moment. They get it figured out and both kids drift back to sleep easily. 

"Luca? Tan? I really can't yell, your siblings are sleeping." Deacon makes his way to the backyard first, they technically aren't supposed to be out here without supervision but Luca never was the best at listening to that rule. The fence gate is closed and everything looks untouched so David moves back inside and up the stairs as carefully as he can. 

"Boys? Where are you?" He feels Chris shift slightly and Deacon takes that as a sign to drop his voice. He's trying to be quiet while also effective at getting Luca and Tans attention. 

"Guys are you-." Deacon squeaks the door of Lucas room open to find Tan and Luca sprawled out on the floor with Hondo between them. Deacon wasn't sure if he was home yet or not but the pirate hat on his head tells David that his partner has been home a while. 

"What do we have going on here?" Hondo shakes his head silently while Tan and Luca turn to grin widely at David.

"Papa came home and you guys were sleepin!" Tans definitely dropped age in headspace and it seems Luca has too. 

"We're playin pirates!" Luca holds up a foam sword to Deacon who hums a smile on his face at how over it his husband looks. Tan and Luca rarely play together without one of the other siblings, but when they do it's usually very strategic, many rules put in place, very specific plot lines that are hard to follow if you aren't either boy. 

"I can see that. Very nice." Deacon hauls Street more into his hold when the boy whines small at all the noise. 

"Do you want me to take him?" David's fully aware this is just a way for Dan to get out of sitting on the floor for the next three hours but he'll take the offer anyways. Chris is enough weight on his back. 

"Papas back, go to him." It's an easy trade off as Street clings himself to Hondos chest and promptly starts to pull on Hondos shirt to be closer.

"I wanna go with Papa too." Deacon can't hold back his grin, he's being abandoned and he's never been happier about it. 

"You don't wanna stay with Dada?" Dan can easily support the weight of both kids but Deacon can guess he's still a little tense from whatever happened with Hicks. 

"No, wan' Papa!" Chris huffs before Hondos coming to scoop her onto his other hip and try to balance out the weight of the two. At least it's the two lighter kids. 

"Okay let's go hang out in Chris's room." Luca and Tan both stop Hondo before he can walk away, they have big eyes that stare into Dans soul it seems.

"You're leaving us!" Hondo looks up at Deacon who can only stifle his grin, it's his turn to be in charge of all the kids. 

"Guys your siblings are sleeping, we wouldn't wanna wake them, would we?" Luca and Tan grunt and cross their arms.

"You were playin with us first!" Luca defends. 

"Do you want to come take a nap with us? I'm sure we can all squeeze on Chris's bed." Wishful thinking and Dan knows it. 

"No we want to play! You can't leave in the middle of a game!" It's not really a rule Hondo can fight, the caregivers always try to divide their time equally to the kids, that includes playing a game to the end. 

"Can we play the game after your siblings wake up?" Even more wishful thinking. 

"But dad!" The sound pierces through Hondos ears and has Street and Chris both whining into his chest. 

"Boys please, we don't want your brother or sister to wake up. How about this, Papa can go take a nap with them while me and you go make dinner? You can help get all the ingredients." Deacon steps in with the hope this won't escalate into anything other than a few grumbles. 

"We don't wanna make dinner! We wanna spend time with dad!" Yikes, worse than either caregiver thought as Luca and Tan both look close to tears. Deacons not too sure what about today has made all the kids flock to Hondo but he wishes he had a bit more headway into what to do to fix this. 

"Can we make a compromise? Your brother and sister are very tired and waking them up wouldn't be nice for anyone, so what do you boys want to do?" Deacon crouches in front of Tan and Luca to question them. He's found this usually works well in his favor. 

"What if we play really quietly while Street and Chris sleep? Papa can be in the room with both of us." This sounds like a horrible idea but Deacon doesn't have a better one and it seem Hondo doesn't either. 

"Okay let's go to Chris's room so I can put your siblings down." Chris has the easiest bed to put any of the kids down on and Hondos not too sure she'd want to wake up to the mountain of penguin stuffed animals James insists on sleeping with every night. 

"Yay!" Luca and Tan both start to cheer before closing their mouths at Deacons raised brow. It'll be a game to see how long this lasts. 

~

"Okay all the kids are asleep in Chris's room besides James, he refused to let go." Hondo appears downstairs while Deacons cooking dinner, it's been a little over two hours so it's no wonder the kids are worn out. 

However Streets still clung onto Hondos hip with his face buried in the man's shoulder and legs wrapped as tight as they can be. It's not an unusual sight for David to see Street cuddled into Hondo after a tough day but most of the time it'll wear off in a few hours and he'll go toddle around with his siblings. 

"What happened with Hicks?" It's been itching at David's brain that he has no idea what Hondo talked about or what punishment Rockers going to receive.

"Well Rockers suspended til Hicks figures out what he wants to do. God Dave you should've heard some of the stuff he was saying- it was breaking my heart." Deacon turns the burner off to reach his hand and hold his husbands steadily. There's hurt tone around Hondos words and it has Deacons chest tight. 

"I never thought Rocker had an issue with anything." He always seemed normal and nice enough. 

"I didn't either." Hondo pauses a moment to press his free hand over Streets ears before continuing, the boys asleep but Dans doing it for his own comfort. 

"He said Street shouldn't be an officer because he's a neutral. Then went on about how none of our kids should be on Swat as littles." Deacon gasps small, he's heard people talk about his family before, he's just never heard Hondo sound so torn up about it. It gives Deacon the idea that he's not getting the real words Rocker used. 

"Hicks doesn't believe any of that though." He knows the answer is that Hicks would never, he loves twenty squad, hell they're his favorite in the station and it's blatantly obvious to anyone who talks to him for more than five minutes.

"No, no, he was about to rip Rockers head off. I just- some of the stuff, it made my stomach turn and to think of Street- or any of our kids- working with him so frequently. It just gets to me." Deacon hums while crossing the room to stand beside the island stool Hondos sitting at with Street in his lap.

"Hopefully Hicks figures out a way to keep Rocker away from our kids, he'd never let anything happen to them." Deacon assures with an arm going over Hondos shoulders so he can press a kiss to his lovers cheek. 

"I know, he already said if twenty squad has to work with Rocker, it'll be me or you and not the kids. I'm just worried about the kids seeing him at all, Tan and Luca were ready to kill him." Hondos head leans back into David's middle as he shifts Street closer to his chest.

"I don't even think Chris knows what happened, she wasn't angry at all and hasn't said anything about it. The boys should be fine as long as we keep some distance from Rockers team for a little." David's hand squeezes on Dans shoulder with a sigh. 

"Yeah but what about Street? Look at him, he still has a mark on his cheek and almost started sobbing when I went to put him down, he was in my arms the whole time I played with Tan and Luca." Deacon winces at the words, Street is the clingiest out of the children but never to this extent. 

"We'll try to talk to him when he wakes up. We have tomorrow off so we can spend all day together as a family." Hondos about to reply but the three other kids appear beside them with tired looks on their faces.

"Well good morning, you all just get up?" The three nod and Chris reaches a hand to rub her eyes clumsily. 

"James wasn't with us anymore." Hondo and Deacon share an "awe" look at the pure love in the kids words. 

"He wouldn't let go of Papa so they came down here so me and Papa could talk." The kids nod in understanding before Lucas clambering up to the stool next to Hondo then Tan next to Luca. Chris takes to tugging on David's shirt til he's pulling her onto his hip. 

"Luca and Tan told me what Rocker did, is he in trouble?" Hondo nods to Chris who huffs air out of her nose.

"I'm mad at him." Deacon tries to keep a serious look on his face as his daughter is being very serious but the look on her face paired with her pitchy voice has him smiling small. She's precious. 

"We all are, and Hicks is handling it, you guys won't have to work with him anymore." Hondo assures to the three kids who nod. 

"What about you? Will you have to work with him?" Lucas head tips to the side at Dan.

"We will but not very often and we will never let him hurt any of you again." Streets grunting awake before Hondo can continue and all the siblings pause to stare with giddy smiles. Why they're so happy about James being awake is beyond the caregivers but it's nice to see them all getting along. 

"Morning bud." Hondo greets with a hand brushing through Streets hair as he leans back to rub the sleep out of his eyes. 

"Bleh-." The pacifier falls out of Streets mouth and into Hondos hand as he catches it with a sigh.

"You could've just taken it out." Street shakes his head as if they haven't had this conversation a million times, stepping and finding pacifiers around the house is something the caregivers try to stop but fail at. 

"Did you beat up Rocker?" And what a question to ask right after waking up. 

"Uh- no, no I didn't. Did you think I would?" A hum before Streets reaching to take Hondo hand and examine his knuckles.

"Thought he'd be in the hospital." The siblings stifle some chuckles back as Deacons eyes go extremely wide to Hondos who are equally as wide. 

"We don't put people in the hospital honey." Street rolls his eyes.

"Liar, you shoot people all the time." Dan chokes on some air a moment at Streets deadpan tone. 

"Okay- um- you're right but- but that's different, those are bad guys." Hondo rushes to correct but Streets brows screw together.

"You told me people hitting me was bad, Rocker hit me, is he not bad?" An immediate head shake even as David joins in on the slight laughing the siblings are trying to keep quiet about. 

"No, no, he is bad, that was a bad thing to do and he's going to get punished but we don't shoot people who do bad things." James reads as unimpressed.

"You just said you shoot bad guys, isn't the whole idea of bad guys that they do bad things?" Hondo curses his smart kid being so damn smart sometimes. 

"Okay let me rephrase, yes what Rocker did was bad but that doesn't mean we fight or shoot him. The people we do shoot are different because they're criminals and are putting our or other peoples lives in danger." Street hums and Dan breathes a sigh of relief. 

"Is Rocker going to jail?" 

"What?! No. No he's not."

"But hitting a little is a crime, it's abuse and classification discrimination in the work place, that's another crime." 

"James- I- he-." 

~

Rocker is suspended and might be moving departments or losing his job all together as Hicks takes classification discrimination very seriously. He also knows he can't just replace Rocker so it leaves him in a tight spot, Hondo and Deacon are looking for solutions.

On the other hand, the kids are doing great, other than the nightmares Rocker triggered for Street, but a week later and they're starting to die down. The caregivers are more than thankful for that, not only for Streets benefit, but Hondos back screams in protest of sleeping in that queen bed with Street crushing him. 

Today Deacon and Hondo decided to throw a small barbecue with all his kids, Hondos father, Hicks, and Hicks daughter Molly who loves to play with Chris. They make quite the pair when they have free range of what they do. It's a day to decompress and take some time to bask in the warmth of having family around. 

"What's Buck doing here?" Hondo immediately sneers the words out as Buck makes his way into the backyard, they couple still haven't talked more to Street about what really happened with Buck, they also haven't talked to Buck.

"Shoot, I think I still have him on my invite list." Deacon curses that he didn't check over everyone he was inviting. 

Both caregivers eyes immediately shift to Street who's sat talking to Molly, they're going on about some doll Molly has in her hands and definitely don't realize Bucks presence. 

"Hey Deac, glad to see your invite, I feel like I haven't seen you guys in forever." Deacon gives a hesitant half hug with a nervous laugh, he doesn't see today going well for anyone.

"Yeah, just been so busy." He sends a glance over to Street who still hasn't noticed anything. Deacon almost wants to go rush his baby boy inside and tell him to stay upstairs til they can convince Buck to leave but he knows it wouldn't work. 

"Where's Jim? I haven't heard from him in a while and I was starting to get worried." Hondo cringe's internally at the use of Streets formal name, he's always talked about how much he hates it. 

"He's just talking to Molly." Right Hicks has no idea about anything. Bucks eyes land on Molly and Street, his face scrunches up a moment, Hondo and Deacon hold their breath and even more so when Buck makes his way over to the pair before David can even try to stop him. 

"Hey Street, it's been a while." Hondo watches in almost horror as Street looks up with a smile that's dropped instantly to be replaced by a fake one and his eyes do that blinking thing the caregivers have come to hate.

They never knew what it was before, always just thought it was a little tic Street had, they were wrong. It's a tell tale sign that he's pushing away his headspace and forcing himself to be big. They figured that out at a restaurant one night when Chris had asked if he was okay, James explained it like it was nothing, like it was normal behavior and even after the talk the caregivers gave him, he still does it. Not as frequently but they see it every now and then. 

"Yeah, sorry been caught up in work." The lie flows too easily out of Streets mouth for Hondos liking. Molly gives him a confused look at how much more formal his voice is. 

"Hey Molly why don't you go show Chris your doll, I think she went upstairs with Luca." David hates how Street almost looks sad to push the girl away but Molly listens with a confused nod. 

"Wanna get a beer? Catch up?" The caregivers hands clutch together as they watch their son walk inside toward the kitchen with Buck by his side. Deacon is almost sure Hondo has a plan of running in there and throwing Buck out by the shirt but he has to withhold, nothing has happened yet, at least not today. 

"Hondo what's wrong? You look ready to kill Buck." The older Harrelson questions with a hand on his sons bicep. 

"I'll explain by the grill, away from the kids." Hondo leads both Hicks and his father over away from where Tan is sitting on the couch with a reptile book in hand. Deacon slips inside with the hope to ease drop instead. 

~

"So how's the team? A lot right." Deacon might be obvious to Street but he hopes Buck doesn't realize that it doesn't take this long to put dishes away. 

"They're great, I really like the team." Street says calmly but Buck scoffs.

"You can't mean that, half of them act like children." David's blood boils and he gives up on even trying to be discreet, he leans his back against the counter and crosses his arms, Buck can't see him as his backs to Deacon but Street sure can. 

Deacon obviously isn't mad at his son but he is worried, Street looks so tense as he sits there, his back is tight, smile fake as ever, hands holding onto the beer bottle with white knuckles and eyes glancing to David then back to Buck. 

"They're still a good team and work good in the field." Buck hums with a swig of his drink.

"I'll give them that, they are good workers. I just wish they could all be like you y'know, a caregiver like a cop should be." Street gives a forced chuckle and nods with his head ducked down. 

"Neutral technically." He mutters but Bucks face falls to annoyed quickly. 

"You don't need any of that little bullshit, it'll do you no good to be act like a child." Buck waves a dismissive hand and David can see how clenched James's jaw is. 

"Yeah, I know, it just- they're still cops and they regress, I don't see why-." Streets cut off by Bucks beer bottle being placed down onto the table with a slight slam that has Streets head snapping up. 

"Jim you don't need to regress, you want to be on Swat then you keep up your end of the deal. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you got classified wrong, you're a caregiver not a neutral. They aren't real, they're just caregivers pretending to be a little for their own gain." Deacon almost walks over and slaps Buck but Hondos appearing next to him stops him, his hand takes David's with a squeeze as they stand watching. 

"It just gets hard sometimes." Streets voice is much more hesitant than either caregiver have ever heard. 

"If you think you need to regress, not that you do, just take a nap and you'll be fine. It's just your brain messing with you."  Street nods then looks over at Hondo and Deacon with big eyes only to look away after a second. 

"You still at the same apartment? I drove by the other day and didn't see your bike." Street hasn't lived there in months and actually had about three things to actually move in when he came to stay at the Harrelson-Kay household permanently. 

"Oh I don't like there anymore, I have a room here." Street says with a small smile that the caregivers ease at as it looks genuine but their anxiety spikes back up when it's replaced by a slightly scared look. 

"Here? You're not one of their "kids" are you?" Buck snaps with air quotes around the word kids.

"No, no, of course not, I'd- I'd never! I help take care of the kids and they let me stay here so I don't have to pay so much for rent a-and we can all be together when we get called in for cases so there's no waiting around-." Street looks like he's about to continue the frantic ramble that falls out of his mouth but he stops himself short. 

"Christ kid I get it, I know you wouldn't do that." Hondo and Deacon look at each other with matched pissed off faces, Buck needs to leave, soon. 

"I know I just- I don't want you thinking I'd do that." Street swallows and drops his head a bit. 

"I can't even picture you like that Jim, I mean- come on, what you gonna go suck on a bottle and watch some stupid kid movie? I seriously don't get the appeal." James's eyes lock with Hondos a moment, he almost looks close to crying and Dans heart shatters. 

"It's just in some people genes." It really is, as all of Hondos family are caregivers, all of his sisters included. 

"And those people shouldn't work high stress jobs, it's unsafe." Bucks tongue clicks. 

"The kids have never put any of us in danger." Street defends with a shift in his seat. 

"Yet. What happens when one of them slips at work? It's reckless and Hicks should really understand that." Hondos hand tightens around David's as he grits his teeth to not shout in Bucks face for ever talking to his kid like that. 

"If one of the kids slipped at work I'm sure they wouldn't have meant to." Street speaks more to the table than to Bucks face, Buck doesn't notice as he's busy leaning back in his chair.

"That's why it's so dangerous, they can't control it. They should go work somewhere that can accommodate to them, like a book store or something." Street face winces at the suggestion but he's quick to cover it. 

"I wouldn't want anyone else working with me." Hondo and Deacon share a brief smile at how sure of himself James sounds. 

"If Hondo and Deacon weren't there, that team would fall apart faster than you can imagine. You'd be the only one able to function properly." Bucks bottle top points in Streets direction a moment. 

"Chris, Tan and Luca are amazing at work, they all have my full trust." Buck sighs loudly before leaning closer to Streets side of the table. 

"I know you really like them Jim but you'll learn how much of a bad influence they are." Street furrows his brow and looks to Hondo then back to Buck. 

"Bad influence?" He questions as Buck nods firmly. 

"They always talk about being little and how it's great, that's a bad environment for you to be in. I wish I could've gotten you onto Mumfords team, they're all caregivers over there and would've helped you get over the neutral bullshit." Street repositions himself a bit to hide his discomfort but the caregivers pick up on it instantly. 

"I wouldn't want to work with Rocker." He says avoiding Bucks eye contact.

"Why not? He's a great officer." Hondo almost laughs.

"He might be losing his job." They can hear Bucks mouth fall open as he shuffles closer to the table.

"Why? What happened?" Streets hands fidget under the table with a pause before he talks. 

"He uh- he slapped me and Hicks is really pissed." Street admits hesitantly. 

"Why’d he slap you? You do something to him?" Street shakes his head quickly. 

"No- no- I didn't do anything." Buck hums with a sip of his drink.

"Did you deserve it?" Hondo and Deacon both take a step forward but Street sends them a look to stop. As much as the couple doesn't want to, they still in place. 

"I just knocked over his water bottle." Street informs which has Buck twirling his bottle in small circles. 

"Did you hit him back?" A head shake. 

"What'd you do?" Hondo feels gutted as he watches his own son sit there and squeeze his hands onto each other on his lap. Dans seen it too many times for his liking, mostly when there's fighting in the house, even if it's just Chris and Luca teasing each other a little too harshly. They make it a point to keep that to a minimum. 

"I- I um- I didn't do anything. I just-." Street stops himself and Buck tips his head to the side as he places his elbows on the table.

"Tell me." He deadpans. 

"I kinda um- I had a panic attack and just let Hicks deal with Rocker. He's suspended for now." Buck leans back in his chair with a slight head shake and his arms over his chest tightly. 

"A panic attack? Really. I think you mean a tantrum, you're way too old to have those Jim, especially where you work. You're lucky Hicks didn't fire you." Streets glossy eyes gleam in the light as he drops his head down. Deacon and Hondo both feel very ready to end this conversation but know they can't just appear and let on that they were ease dropping. 

"And over a measly little slap, you get trained to take down hard criminals and can't handle a slap? See this is why the teams a bad influence, they're turning you soft." Street looks back up and there's a slight annoyed expression on his face, one that has the couple grinning. 

"I'm not turning soft. He slapped me for no reason." Street snaps which has Buck sitting up straight. 

"Oh now you wanna get smart with me? Listen to me very closely, that team is unreliable and will ruin you, try to transfer to Mumfords team. And talk to Hicks about un-suspending Rocker, he didn't do anything." Street puffs air out his nose with a lip twitch. Something that usually comes with his older headspace, a teenager activity, James isn't often around that age range but he's pretty pissed off when he is and very argumentative. 

"Says you. You're not even an officer anymore." The grin splitting onto Hondos face hurts a bit. 

"Excuse you? I was an officer long before you and I know more than you do, I was captain if you forgot." Street scoffs at Bucks proud sounding words.

"A bad one. Hondo has been better than you ever could've been, he actually cares about the team and takes into account their personal lives." Street quips and points his eyes like daggers to Buck. 

"You're obviously a little drunk, sober up and come talk to me." Bucks up and gone, leaving Street sitting there dumbfounded.

~

"Oh I'm gonna kill him!" Hondos arms are wrapped around Streets waist as fast as he can.

"No, no you are not, even if all of us really want to. We're going to go upstairs and visit your siblings to cool off." Hondo soothes but Streets thrashing out the hold to cross his arms over his chest. 

"Or I go scream in his face then go get a monster." Definitely teenager headspace. 

"You can scream into a pillow? Listen kid, as much as Buck sucks, we can't go hitting him." As that is teenager Streets default, apparently foster kids liked to just take things from one another so Street grew up around a lot of slapping and hitting even after his father. 

"M'not a kid." He turns his head to the side with a look out the window at Buck. He's talking to Hondos dad, Daniel looks just as mad as Street. 

"Okay. You still can't hit anyone." Hondos not about to argue with Street about the remark, it's never ended well in the past. 

"I can be discreet about it, the kids wouldn't see." Deacon has to laugh as he knows how serious James is being right now. 

"I'm serious." Oh they know. 

"And so are we, you can't go beat up Buck." Street mutters something under his breath that neither can hear, no doubt a smart mouthed remark. 

"He deserves it." Hondo sighs.

"But violence isn't the answer, not right now." Street quirks a brow with a smirk.

"So I can hit him later?" The caregivers hold back groans.

"No, you can't hit him at all." Street rolls his eyes in true teenager fashion but nods nonetheless. 

"I'm going upstairs and I'm not gonna drink that beer so dump it out or whatever. It's gross." Deacon laughs, he says that every time and yet still tries to drink them. 

~

The caregivers are convinced that they'll be able to make it through this barbecue with only that one bump, there's only supposed to be an hour left and Streets been upstairs with the other kids, avoiding Buck. 

Well until all five of them come outside to eat and Street promptly climbs up to sit between the two caregivers. He's not giving the same annoyed energy he was before, he seems more reserved now which wouldn't be a shock as Deacon thinks he was up in Tans room. They tend to bring out the smaller sides of one another. 

"You gonna eat?" Hondo wraps an arm around Streets shoulders without a second thought, he does it all the time. 

"Not hungry." Dans face falls a bit, James always wants the Mac and cheese Deacon only makes for special occasions. It's only the caregivers and Street over in this corner, Hicks was sitting with them but dashed off to help Molly and Chris eat without getting food all over themselves. 

"You feel okay?" David leans a hand onto the back of Streets forehead but doesn't  feel a temperature that would cause concern. 

"I feels really small." Street blinks over to Hondo and Dan brushes his hand up and down the boys arm with a small smile.

"Okay honey, do you need anything?" Street shakes his head to then shift more into Hondos hold. 

"I don't wanna be small, not when he's here." They know exactly who James is talking about without him needing to say the name, the parents hold a second of eye contact at the mutual anger towards Buck. 

"Sweetheart if you need to slip then you can slip." David's hand cards down the side of Streets face which has the boy showing a minor smile. 

"What if he gets mad?" Hondo gives half a chuckle as he pulls Street in closer.

"If he gets mad then he'll have to come through me to get to you." David squishes himself over to the pair with a hum of agreement.

"He'll have to go through both your dads and all your siblings." It makes Streets cheeks blush a pink color as he nods with a smile. 

"Mm." Street stifles a yawn and Hondo grins at Deacon, it's around four pm, perfect time for a nap and they should probably put Tan down too when they glance up at how he's half asleep in his burger. 

"Is it nap time?" James grunts against Hondos chest. 

"Is it baby's nap time?" David teases grinning widely at Street half attempts at swatting him away.

"M'not a baby." Both caregivers give an exaggerated 'oh' with nods.

"Of course not, how could we be so wrong? Babies would never be this cute." Street giggles at Hondo tickling his side.

"Okay love bug, let's go get your brother and head upstairs." Street allows Hondo to maneuver him to his feet before leaning most of his weight into Hondos side as they make their way to Tan.

"Come on bud, nap time." Tan makes no protests and takes the hand Hondos offering. 

~

They're about to make it through the slider, Dan really holding up each kids weight, through the corner of his eye he can see the other siblings giggling about the state of their brothers before Bucks stopping everything. Sufficiently making Hondos neck strain from his clenched jaw.

"Where you guys going?" They turn to face Buck no matter how much Hondo would rather keep walking.

"Goin' to take a nap." Tan informs with a clumsy rub of his eyes. 

"Whys Jim going with you?" Tans brows furrow, the siblings have all been told what happened with Buck and the caregivers even think Street has told them more, but Tans headspace might be interfering with that information. 

"Cause we're gonna nap?" Victors head tips to the side but Bucks eyes file over to Street instantly. 

"Jim, have you been lying to me?" Hondos never heard that tone on Bucks voice before but Streets briskly standing up straighter with wide eyes. 

"I-." He looks over to Hondo and closes his mouth. 

"Buck, what our team does in our free time really doesn't concern you anymore." Not that it ever has. 

"It does when you're corrupting an officer I hand picked for you! Jim is not going to be turned into some kind of immature kid just because you people want him to be!" Everyone else is over surrounding them in a beat.

It looks like Chris and Lucas headspace's have quickly gone away as they stare heatedly to Buck. Deacon and Hicks have worry prominently on their faces while the older Harrelson holds Molly into his side in protection. Streets hand holds the back of Hondos shirt tightly, he looks close to tears while glancing between Buck and everybody else. Tans no better as he hides himself halfway behind Hondos leg. 

"We are not forcing Street to do anything. He is a valuable member to our team and our family, little or not." Hondos voice stays on a lower level then Bucks but still firm enough to get his point across. 

"Oh please! It's always been your agenda to get Street to pretend to be a little, well you need to stop, he's not and never will be!" Buck scoffs and Hondo almost goes to swing if it wasn't for his family surrounding him.

"I think it's time you left." David steps in with a calmer tone than Hondo or Buck, it does nothing.

"No. Jim you need to talk to me like a man and admit you've been lying to me and to yourself, you are not a little." Streets hand drops Hondos shirt as he clenches his jaw with pursed lips. 

"You're right, I'm not, I'm a neutral and that means I regress but I am also a caregiver. I have repressed my little space for so long because of you and now, having a real family, it makes me see how wrong you've always been. I don't respect you and I won't talk to you like a man because you don't deserve me pushing away my headspace again. Get out and leave my family alone." Bucks face is bright red at Streets steady words that he states with a proud chest. 

"You are a disgrace to the LAPD! I don't know how many times I need to say it but you aren't a neutral they aren't real! You'll never keep your job being so defective and flipping between the two, it's unnatural Jim!" Street just swallows and stares harder at Buck. 

"They are real and I am plenty proof of that! I have hated you for so long, but I can't just let you stand there and act like you're a good person! The shit I went through because of you down in Long Beach and when I was a teenager should haunt your fucking memories!" Hondos pretty sure that teenager headspace is back as Street smacks his teeth. 

"All I ever did was help you! I've never don't anything wrong!" Dan sucks in a sharp breath at how Streets fist forms by his side.

"Never did anything to me? Are fucking kidding me?! You shoved me into foster houses you knew were abusive toward neutral and you yourself have been fucking abusive towards me! You're a disgusting man!" David looks into Hondos eyes at the confession, Buck definitely needs to get out of here. 

"Oh please, I hit you maybe once!" Street sends a glance to Tan before the other boy is moving fully behind Hondo and Dan goes wide eyed at what that probably means.

"Dads I'm asking you to forgive me for what I'm about to do." Street says before throwing a harsh left hook at Bucks jaw then jumping directly on top of the man to start beating his face in.

The blood splatters off Bucks face and into the grass while Hicks and the older Harrelson run to get Molly, Tan, Luca and Chris away from this all as it seems Streets not letting up. Deacon and Hondo really don’t know what to do, they know what they should do but- this is a little entertaining and probably therapeutic for Street.  

“One fucking hit?! One hit?! Really Buck, that’s what you call a broken arm and bruised ribs! I’ll show you one hit you mother fucker!” David’s stomach drop at the raw tone in Streets voice. 

He’s not sure he’s ever considered the possibility of Buck being physically abusive towards Street when he was a kid but hearing Street admit it, say what happened, sound so torn up about it, it has Deacons eyes watering. 

“Street, kid, you gotta stop.” They can’t have him giving permanent damage. 

“You asshole! I hate you so much! I could fucking kill you and feel nothing! You ruined me for so long and I’m not going to let you take my family away! I have worked on getting away from you and all your beliefs for you to come crashing it all down. You- you abused me and hurt me and lied to me and made me hate myself and- and I can’t forget about that.” Streets fists pause with a clutch on Bucks t shirt as his voice cracks and the caregivers watch in agony at their son breaking apart at the seams. 

“Honey come here, Shh, come here.” Hondo crouches down next to where Streets still hovered over Bucks bloody body. He’s put up no fight and is just staring at Hondo as if he’s about to help him. 

“He hurt me so bad dad.” Hondo can feel the devastation in his chest as he takes Street into a hug and Deacon can drag Buck out front. 

“I know baby, shhh, I know he did, but he can’t anymore and you have us. You have your family now.” James chokes a sob into Hondos neck but he nods jerkily. 

“I never want to see him again.” Hondo strengthens his hold with a nod.

“You never will. It’s just us now, it’s just your dads and siblings now. Nobody can hurt you.” Hondo shushes softly while Street cried himself out loudly. 

~

Eventually Hondo just accepts his fate of staying in the grass for as long as Street wants so he slumps against the patio furniture, trusting his partner to handle everything else going on. Buck has to be long gone by now and Dan thinks Molly and Hicks probably left not too soon afterwards.

“He asleep?” David kneels beside the pair with a hand going to rub against his sons back. 

“Not asleep.” Street answers with a shift to look at Deacon. David swears those held back tears almost start to fall at Streets blotchy cheeks and glassy eyes. 

“Do you wanna come inside? Your siblings have a movie qued up. Everyone else went home so it’s just us now.” Street nods then climbs to his feet with Hondo following in suit. 

“James! Dads letting us watch Fast and Furious!” Luca immediately exclaims once the three get into the living room, a small smile plays on Streets face as he crosses over to where his siblings are piled onto the bigger couch. 

“Come on you’ll miss the beginning!” Chris opens her arms for Street to climb up between her and Tan. A blanket and stuffed animal instantly getting thrown on top of him while Victor cuddles into his left then Chris his right and Luca reaching behind Chris to brush his fingers against Streets shoulder. 

David and Dan smile to themselves, their family will be alright, it’s all together now.