It was not that fun, but it allowed us to afford a real house. It was still in a bad neighborhood, but it was not in a cesspit like where the other apartment was. Our kids did not need to know what we were doing. Because Connor's gender made him a target for hatred and aggression, I always went with him when he had a fight. I did not need to be handheld like that. I was a beta. An added benefit was that Acer, Biff, Drexel and Nico were none the wiser of what we were doing. They were in school in the mornings and I made sure that our fights were around that time. Sometimes we could not fight when we wanted. Primetime fights were where the real money was. On those days, Connor and I had "date nights". That was when both of us, or just Connor had a big fight. Nights where it was just me, I went alone. Connor took care of the kids and waited for me to return. Acer, Biff, Drexel and Nico did not need to know what we were doing to get the money. When they asked, we just said we did labor jobs for money. The fact that we were the parents meant we did not need to elaborate on it.
Deadly combat was not something I wanted them to get into. They had their own problems to deal with. Absolutely disdainful of how society treated them, they were not going to listen to authority. They dyed their hair and fought with others in school. When called to the school, the teachers and administrators would hold all of them in the office. Connor and I wore respectable looking outfits. As parents, we had to present ourselves as respectable to the public. Because they were rebellious, we were called in often. Our policy was to call balls and strikes fairly. If they were in the wrong, we would punish them. If they were in the right, we stood up for them. If it was a situation that had more complexity, we let our own feelings be known on the matter. In practice, if they were fighting against bullies that were attacking others, we let it slide. If they were doing vandalism with their punk friends, we punished them. It was time to be parents and mediate conflict if they lashed out without violence at students, staff or faculty for disrespecting them, Connor or me. Using violence against words was wrong.
Ethics and morals were extremely important to impart to them. They would have to live in this world. At least as long as the world remained. I wanted them to treat all the omegas well whether they were able to present as an alpha, beta or omega. The last thing I would want is for them to grow up to be bigoted against omegas. Bigotry in any form would not be tolerated in our household. Luckily, my 4 children were all pretty smart. Even if they did not try as hard as I would like, they could pass most of the classes their school put them in. As long as that was followed, we let them express themselves as they liked. That was why they dyed their hair. Apparently, the 4 wanted blazing red hair. The manager of the hair salon did not actually like them, so it turned out cotton candy pink. They were pissed when they came to get us. Connor broke down laughing. In his defense, he thought that my hair being green was stupid. His hair was brown and he never thought about dying it. If he had been the one asked about going to the salon, he would have said no. I thought it was too cute and unique.
