A Reverse Parent Trap

Ch. 1 - The Kids Are Up To No Good

"Dad?"

"Hmhhhmmm?" Lord Boxman replied, sleepily. He wasn't really listening, though. His eyes were closed. His hands and head rested on a very nice pillow. It was soft, but firm, and warm… so warm. He felt all around very warm. The voice calling out to him could wait. Just for five… more… minutes...

"Daddy?" That voice asked, again, louder this time. "Daddy?"

Oh, blast it. Lord Boxman's eyes fluttered open, just a bit, as the blurry and way-too-bright world came into view.

What did they want? Couldn't they see that Lord Boxman was busy sleeping? Couldn't they see how comfortable he was all curled up on top of his pillow? His very firm, very warm, very purple pillow?

Wait. Purple?

Lord Boxman's eyes opened again, a bit wider this time. He glanced down at the pillow beneath him. Soft, lavender skin covered by navy blue fabric leading up towards a head… a face, that same lavender shade. With black stubble, and soft lips, and long ebony hair…

His pillow wasn't a pillow. He was resting on top of a man. A very handsome man. With purple skin. Professor Venomous.

Ah, Lord Boxman thought, smiling sleepily and closing his eyes again. That explains it. Mystery solved.

Wait. Why was he using Professor Venomous as a pillow?

"Daddy?" Shannon's voice called, again.

Lord Boxman's eyes opened again, full-blown wide in shock, as he sat up, panic overtaking him. Last night-

Last night, Venomous came over. He had come, Boxman realized, to work on their plans to finally get rid of those Plaza pests. They had been working on their evil master-plan, brainstorming what they could do with Venomous's biochip.

Boxman's eyes scanned the room around him, from the couch he and Venomous had fallen asleep on. Papers were scattered all around the couch and floor and desk. On the coffee table before him, along with some tools and loose screws and scraps of metal were strewn haphazardly, his laptop, a couple wine glasses, and some Chinese take-out boxes sat, forgotten. Before the coffee table was a whiteboard-on-wheels, with some crude blueprints and calculations and taped pieces of paper and post-it notes covering its surface. From the window behind him, early morning sunlight poured in from the spaces behind the blinds, alerting him that it now daytime.

They had stayed up all night discussing their plan, and fallen asleep on top of each other. And now he'd-

"Dad?" Shannon asked, blinking innocently beside him. The expression on her metallic face was hesitant and confused. In her hands, she carried a tray with his usual breakfast perched prettily on top- eggs, bacon, buttered toast, and a mug of black coffee.

He'd have to explain himself to his nosy robot children. He groaned, loudly, but forced himself to put on a positive face.

"Shannon-" He responded, giving her a nervous grin. "Good morning!"

"Um…" Shannon blinked, again, clearly trying not to look at the sleeping man underneath her father. "Good morning, Daddy. I brought you.. your breakfast. The usual. I didn't know… we'd still have a guest. If not, I would've brought him some breakfast, too."

"A guest?" He asked, nervously, following her gaze to Venomous, who was snoring softly beside him. "Ah, yes! Professor Venomous! Our guest! Err.. don't worry about it, pumpkin! You cater to my needs. Not his. If I wanted you to bring him breakfast, don't you think I would've asked you to?"

Shannon blinked again, nodding eagerly. "O-of course, Father. I just thought that maybe you had forgotten to-"

"Bah!" Boxman scoffed. "Forgotten? I am Lord Boxman! I remember everything! I'm always thinking ahead!"

His robotic daughter nodded again. "Of course, Daddy. Of course. I just meant to say that I didn't know that Professor Venomous was still here. Err… why is he still here?"

"Oh, err- Well. You see. Professor Venomous and I simply had a long night."

Shannon raised both her eyebrows, her eyes widening.

"Planning some evil! We had a long night planning to do some evil!"

Shannon shifted, uncomfortably. "Ah. I see. Well, if you say so, Dad. Where should I leave your breakfast?"

"Uhm- err.. Right on the desk is fine, dear."

"O-okay. Can I… get you anything else?" She asked, as she placed the tray on his messy desk.

"N-no." Boxman responded, trying to avoid her eyes. "Just run along. Why don't you go play with Fink? She's still here from last night, isn't she? She must be asleep in the guest room. Go wake her."

"Okay. See you later, then, Dad."

"Yes… you too, Pumpkin."

Boxman watched as Shannon awkwardly walked out and closed his laboratory door. Once she was gone, he let out a huge sigh, dreading the inevitable awkward conversations he'd probably have later with his other children, due to their big imaginations. Lord knows that that Jethro is a tough cookie.

They had such a difficult time accepting that Daddy and Professor Venomous were just work friends! That's all!

Beside him, Venomous stirred, having been disturbed by the slam of the door and Boxman's admittedly loud speaking. Venomous groaned and sighed, sitting up, rubbing his eyes tiredly, his hair sticking up in the back of his head. It should've been funny, but Lord Boxman's guts clearly didn't think so, judging by the way they fluttered inside of him.

"What time is it?" Venomous asked, in a husky, sleepy voice that bothered Boxman, for some reason.

"Err. Morning."

"Ah. I see. I suppose we tired ourselves out what with all that fun we had last night… planning, that is." Venomous laughed, awkwardly, his words reminding Boxman of the way they had laughed and talked about the future last night.

"Er, yes. Fun planning." He laughed, nervously, not meeting Venomous's eyes.

"Well. I guess I should go get freshened up. And then I'll help you clean up this mess." Venomous said, after a moment, standing and stretching, grabbing the white labcoat folded over the arm of the sofa they had slept on.

"No!" Boxman responded, looking up at him, his eyes wide. "You don't have to help clean up. I'll just have my children do it."

"Nonsense. I helped make this mess. We'll clean it together." Venomous smiled at him, genuinely, bringing back that accursed fluttering feeling in his stomach.

"Y-yes. Together. We'll do it together, then." Boxman replied, suddenly very nervous as Venomous walked away to freshen up in the restroom.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Lord Boxman, Raymond, Shannon, Darrell, and Fink all watched from a small crack in the doorway.

"See?" Shannon whisper-shouted. "I told you guys something weird was going on with Professor Venomous and Dad!"

Raymond nodded, whispering back to his sister. "You're right, Shannon. I've never seen Father so flustered, before."

"What's wrong with Daddy?" Darrell asked, confused.

Raymond and Shannon shrugged.

"I don't know, Buddy." Shannon told him, worriedly.

"Don't you dumb robots know anything?" Fink asked, frustrated. "My Boss and your Dad like each other!"

"Well, of course they like each other. They're friends!" Darrell told the mousy girl, as if that was obvious.

"No, Dummy." Fink rolled her eyes. "I mean they like like each other. Like, in a romantic way. Like, they wanna kiss and stuff."

"Oh." Darrell, Raymond, and Shannon all replied, in unison, thinking about that for a moment.

"OH." They repeated, in horror, realization washing over their faces.

"Ew." Darrell said.

"That is… so gross." Shannon said, shivering.

"For once, I agree." Fink grimaced. "Which is why we've gotta do something."

"Well… what did you have in mind?" Raymond asked.

"I've got a plan." Fink replied, grinning evilly.

#LetBoxmanCallShannonPumpkin2K18.

This is a fic I got commissioned to write by imaherooo on tumblr! If you like it or any of my other fics, you can commission me too at .com. Just click the link in my description (which should also work on mobile) and you can read more about my commissions and payment rates.

This fic in particular is my second Voxman fic (my first was a oneshot thatwasalsoadenialficndjgjkjsshootme that was also a commission that you can also read here by checking out my other works) and will probably be about five chapters? Give or take? The next one should be up in a week or two!

For now, I hope you enjoyed chapter one!

Thanks for reading!

Mady 3

(P.S: if you're wondering why I haven't updated any of my other fics, know that I've pretty much only been doing commission-related stuff lately because of school. This next, upcoming week is finals week, though, and I'm only taking one class this summer semester so I should be updating all my other fics over the next few weeks!)