I’ve seen some stuff about this before but I just wanna bring it back… yknow, that one time Taako accidentally calls Merle “dad”, and he’s not about to live that down, ever, so after a couple weeks of relentless teasing he decides to just make it a fucking thing. Merle? Merle who? That’s my dad right there dunno what you’re talking about, I’m respectful enough that I don’t call my dad by his first name c’mon. 

The thing is, it eventually catches on. First with Lup, because they’re twins so obviously they share a father, then Magnus because he thinks it’s funny as fuck. Barry says “well I guess you being Lup’s dad makes you my dad-in-law and I’m just gonna simplify it by calling you dad, too. Or maybe pops.” And Lucretia comes in with “if Merle is our dad what does that make Davenport?” and everyone instantly agrees he’s the Other Dad but he’s the Cool Dad who goes by his own damn name, actually. 

Angus starts to call him “Granddad”, much to Merle’s annoyance, though Taako finds it hilarious. Merle tries to deter it by pointing out the implication that one of them must be Ango’s parent to make him the grandfather, but both Magnus and Taako proudly claim the title as their own but insist that they, like Davenport, are cool dads who go by their first names (lbh Angus probably ‘accidentally’ calls one or both of them dad as well, just not in front of people usually). Merle complains a little more because his own actual kids are closer to Ango’s age than anything, but when it gets down to it he really doesn’t mind that much. 

It gets so pervasive that they even do it in public. One time at a bar Merle is drinking with Lucretia and picking on her, teasing good-naturedly of course, but before they know it, some young fella next to them asks Lucretia if everything is okay, if she’s being bothered or whatever, and she just looks at him and says “Um, no, I’m fine, he’s my dad.” and the guy looks between them, confused, but nods and walks away. 

Merle’s biological children think it’s kind of weird, at first. After the initial reaction, though, Mookie is actually more excited than anything to have all these cool older siblings around, and after a while Mavis learns to appreciate it too (she’s very partial to Lucretia and Barry, the tamer and nerdier of the bunch, but she eventually gets along well with all of them).

One time, someone eventually asks them if they mean it like Merle is a “father” because he’s a cleric, and they’re all stopped dead in their tracks because none of them had ever thought of it that way, but they agree that that could be one interpretation of it. More than anything, though, they just all know they’re family in some way, so why not make a sort-of joke out of what is basically true?