#(and mav is an excellent grandfather)

[boasamishipper]

Please we need more of coyote and hangman and their son 😭

i am planning on writing a whole fic about hangman, coyote, and jack (and their feelings about jack's relationship with nickie), but i hope this will tide you over until then:

growing up, hangman always figured he'd get married and have kids someday (likely with a girl from another old money family; not that either of them would have much of a choice in the matter). it wasn't until he fell in love with coyote that he finally understood people could get married for love and not money or sex or political convenience - and it wasn't until he got roped into playing with nickie bradshaw (phoenix and rooster's daughter) or holding felix avalone (fritz and halo's son) at dagger squad reunions that he started to think having kids was something that he actually wanted too.

coyote always pictured himself having a big family, but once he married hangman - who he Knows had a terrible childhood and was just thought of as something to flaunt (at best) by his parents - and both of their careers took off (and kept them apart more often than not), he kind of figured that having kids was firmly behind him. which was fine by him!! mostly. he was happy with the life he had, and wasn't going to complain about the what-could-have-beens. then a couple years after both of them shift full-time to administrative work (likely when they're in their very early forties), hangman Very Casually brings up that he wouldn't Hate having kids (if that's something coyote would also be open to), and coyote Very Casually bluescreens about it.

they have several very long talks about the idea, establishing that yes, they both want kids, they're both ready to be parents, and they decide to become foster parents. and then coyote and hangman meet jack, and the rest, as they say, is history.

jack is six when coyote and hangman start fostering him, and seven and a half when he is finally, formally adopted. he's very quiet at first, keeping to himself, flinching at loud noises and avoiding eye contact. it takes him a long time to learn that this is for real, that hangman and coyote actually want him and want to get to know him, that he doesn't have to steal and hide his own toothbrush anymore and steal food from the pantry in the middle of the night and hide it in his dresser, just in case. (when coyote and hangman find out some of the things their son experienced in his other foster homes, they both come the closest they have ever gotten to committing murder. coyote especially.)

hangman is absolutely terrified of messing jack up the way his own father messed him (and his older brother) up, and does his utmost to be very careful and polite with jack, never raising his voice or teasing him, keeping his distance. as a result - though it's not hangman's intention - jack grows closest to coyote first: seeking coyote out when he's scared, telling him about his day, hanging around him like a shadow in the kitchen and the living room. hangman does not begrudge coyote this - of course jack likes him best, everybody likes him - but that doesn't stop him from being hurt that no matter what he tries, his son doesn't seem to like him.

you need to stop being so afraid of him, coyote tells him one night in bed, and hangman inwardly scoffs until coyote clarifies. you need to stop being so afraid of messing up. you're going to mess up with him. i am too. it's inevitable.

very optimistic, coyote, thank you, hangman says into his pillow, and coyote sighs.

all i'm saying is no parent is perfect. coyote's voice softens. you gotta relax around him, baby. he's not gonna open up until you do.

hangman tries. all these years together and he still has trouble being open and relaxed around coyote - part of him still convinced that this isn't real, that he'll wake up one day with everything he'd gained gone - but for his son, for their son, he tries. and slowly but surely, jack opens up around him too. the tipping point comes when hangman is called to jack's school (usually it's coyote, but coyote is away for the week for a conference) when jack allegedly gets into a fight with another student. luckily for jack - definitely unluckily for the teacher, whose kid was the other participant in the fight - hangman pretty much kills the kid's weak argument that jack was the one who started the fight with a smile, and verbally eviscerates the teacher for not interfering when jack was being bullied, telling the principal that he wants jack transferred to another classroom. it also comes up during this showdown that the teacher told jack his natural hair isn't appropriate for the classroom; the teacher immediately tries to backtrack. hangman stares her down, smiling, smiling, smiling. are you calling my son a liar? by the end of this conversation, the teacher wishes she were dead, the kid receives two days of in-school suspension, and jack gets transferred to a different classroom. hangman takes jack out for ice cream afterwards. after dinner, jack brings all his toys to the living room and lets hangman play with him. hangman Absolutely Does Not Cry.

after the adoption goes through, jack asks coyote and hangman what he should call them, 'cause i can't call you javy and jake if you're my dads now and all. coyote says that's up to him. eventually jack decides that coyote is 'dad' and hangman is 'papa', and starts calling them that without thinking twice about it. coyote actually does cry the first time jack calls him 'dad'. if jack hadn't called hangman 'pop' in the sentence right before, hangman probably would have teased him about it. as it stands, he's too busy Absolutely Definitely Not Crying to do so.

things jack machado likes, including but not limited to: toy cars, the color blue, planes, playing soccer and basketball, pasta shaped like wheels, ice cream sandwiches, chapter books, the fuzzy pajama pants he got for christmas, and the teddy bear the bradshaws got him for his eighth birthday.

things jack machado does not like, including but not limited to: thunderstorms, sleeping without a night light, squirrels, orange-flavored anything, pizza with too many vegetables, and math of any kind. it turns out jack has dyscalculia, and hangman takes it upon himself to help jack with his math homework, to look up math games and coping strategies that can help him. sometimes both of them get frustrated and tears and yelling ensue - at which point coyote intervenes and makes them take a break - but for the most part, it's an arrangement that works all the way through elementary and middle school (and in high school before big tests).

to everyone's surprise, coyote turns out to be more of a PTA Dad™️ than hangman - at least when it comes to fundraising and the like. hangman can and will brag about his son constantly. (especially to rooster.)

jack calls rooster for advice on how to talk to girls when he gets his first crush. coyote and hangman, both of whom have dated women in the past, are somewhat offended that they were not the first ones asked. hangman especially so. (hangman gets his 'revenge' when nickie calls them asking for advice on how to talk to boys when she gets her first crush. technically nickie asks coyote for advice, but hangman is married to coyote, so he counts that as a win.)

when nickie (going by robin at this point, her nickname from hangman) is seventeen, her boyfriend dumps her two days before junior prom. jack, after getting permission from hangman and coyote (and phoenix and rooster), flies across the country so he can take her to prom instead. jack and robin start dating not long afterwards. somehow, even after years of their kids dancing around each other, rooster and hangman manage not to see this - or robin and jack's eventual marriage - coming.