author's note: Ryan and Cade have been living together for about two years, on and off. Freddie is seven years old. His mother died recently and his father kind of dropped him off at the boys' doorstep.

[….] 
Ryan glanced at the boy in front of him with a nervous smile. “So, Freddie,” he stated, “You hungry ?”

The boy shook his head. “Thirsty ?” 

The boy shrugged. 

“Well then, come along.” Ryan reached for the boy who backed away. “Hey, Tiger, I won’t hurt you.” 

The boy looked at him with big brown eyes. 
Ryan squatted down. “I won’t hurt you, I promise. Okay ?” 

Again, the boy shrugged. Ryan sighed. He felt desperate and caught himself wishing Cade was there. Right. Cade. What would he say if he found Ryan’s little nephew living here ? It wasn’t that Cade hated kids, but Ryan doubted he was a big fan of them. Well, this had to be dealt with later. Right now, he had a confused, hurting seven-year-old in his living room. 

Ryan got up again. “Let’s go and see what you’d like to drink, all right ?” 

No reaction. Wondering what would make the kid speak, Ryan walked over into the kitchen, hoping Freddie would follow. 

His hope was rewarded when he heard light footsteps behind him, he smiled to himself. 

“We’ve got, uhm, water, grape juice, orange juice and vanilla or chocolate milk,” he announced examining the fridge. 
He turned to Freddie “What would you like ?” 

Freddie shrugged.

Suppressing another sigh, Ryan stepped back “Take what you like yourself then.” 

The boy hesitated, but finally walked over and took out the bottle of vanilla milk. 

Ryan smiled again and handed him a glass. After he had poured himself some grape juice and closed the fridge he turned to find Freddie still standing there with the bottle and the glass in his hands. 

“You may sit where you like,” he gestured towards the table and watched as the boy carefully placed the bottle and the glass on the table, 
climbed a chair and poured some milk into the glass. 

In return, Freddie watched Ryan sit down opposite him as he sipped his vanilla milk. Ryan attempted yet another smile, but he feared it was cracked. Freddie looked down. 

Even more silence filled the room and Ryan, too, stared into his glass. He didn’t have the slightest idea how he should handle this. 

When he looked up, he noticed Freddie was staring at him. 

“I like them,” the boy’s soft voice suddenly broke the silence. 

“What…,” Ryan frowned and, looking behind himself, tried to follow the boy’s gaze. When he faced Freddie again, his heart leapt at the small smile that tugged on the kid’s lips. 

“Your earrings,” Freddie explained. Ryan involuntarily reached up and fingered the silver studs in his left ear, then blushed “Thanks.” 

Freddie’s smile got a bit more visible, then his face darkened again. “Dad said I shouldn’t get any,” he murmured. 

“I’m sure he has his reasons,” Ryan commented. 

“Yeah,” Freddie pushed his glass to and fro with his fingers, “Said it’d get me into trouble.” 

Ryan couldn’t think of anything to say. 

“Did it get you into trouble ?” 

Ryan hesitated. “Not so far,” he finally shrugged. 

“See ?” 

“Freddie, your father only wants to protect you.”

“What from…?”, Freddie murmured, “What from…And why ?” 

“He loves you,” Ryan stated firmly. 

“Yeah, right,” Freddie snorted, “That’s why I am here.” 

Ryan’s chest tightened. He could perfectly understand that Freddie wasn’t delighted about this situation. Still, as scared as he was, a part of him was thrilled to have a member of his family with him. It hurt to know this feeling wasn’t mutual. Well, Ryan told himself, you really can’t expect that right now. 

“Yes,” he nodded, “that is why you are here.” 

Freddie shot him a weird glance. 

“Your father wanted you to be somewhere he knew you would be treated well,” Ryan explained. ‘And where you’d be loved’, he added in his mind.

“He never mentioned you,” Freddie pointed out. 

Ryan winced. 

“If he loved me, I could have stayed with him,” Freddie insisted. 

“Believe me, taking you with him, he would have ended up hurting you. And that’s the last thing he wanted. You’re here because he wants to protect you, because he loves you. Do you understand that ?” 

After some very long moments, Freddie gave a nod. Ryan slowly let his breath out. He wasn’t good at telling lies, especially when he was so ambivalent about them. Somewhere in his heart, Ryan was sure, his brother cared about his little son. On the other hand, what father would give his son to a person he pretended not to know ? To be honest, Ryan was in a state of shock. He never expected to see anyone of his family again. They had made perfectly clear that he didn’t belong to them any longer the moment he announced he was gay. Now here was his seven-year-old nephew sitting opposite him across the kitchen table and he didn’t know for how long he would stay. Judging by his brother’s behaviour, Freddie would celebrate his 18th birthday here. 

“When will he be back ?” 

Ryan cringed and lost some colour at Freddie’s question. Could this kid read minds ? He fumbled for something to say when the doorbell saved him. For the second time in only a couple of minutes, Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Soon, Freddie. He’ll be back soon,” he said and continued, “That’s Cade, my, uhm, partner. Wait a sec, okay ?” 

Freddie nodded and watched Ryan leave. 
 
 

Ryan let Cade in and dragged him into the bedroom. 

“Why did I have to ring ? What the hell is going on ?!” Cade asked exasperatedly as he waved with the note Ryan had attached to the door. 
He was obviously tired and, as a result, in a foul mood. 

“Shh…We have a visitor,” Ryan said. 

“So ?!” 

“Listen,” Ryan laid his hands on Cade’s shoulders and started massaging them, “About two hours ago, my brother showed up and brought his little son with him.” Cade’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Short version, the boy’s mother died after a long illness three days ago and his job requires him to travel a lot. So, either he’d have to give him to strangers-“ 

“Or give him to the brother he denied to have,” Cade interrupted him. He reached up and took Ryan’s hands in his “Let me guess- As long as he’s busy with his wonderful career, we have his son, am I right ?”

Ryan shrugged apologetically and looked away “What could I have done…he’s just a small boy…” 

Cade frowned “What about his mother’s family ?” 

“He said he couldn’t find anyone.” 

After come moments, Cade sighed “Where is he now ?” 

“Kitchen.” 

Cade caressed the back of Ryan’s hands with his thumbs “Look at me, Ryan.”

Slowly, Ryan moved to meet his gaze and Cade leaned down and kissed him gently, “I love you very much.” 

Ryan gave a faint smile. The discussion wasn’t over, that much was clear. For now, however, Cade followed Ryan into the kitchen. 
 
 

Freddie looked up as they entered the room and gave Cade the same suspicious scan he had given Ryan.

Before Ryan could introduce them, Freddie spoke up “So, you’re the boyfriend ?” Ryan choked. 

Cade simply raised an eyebrow and held his hand out “I’m Caden Bailey.” 

Freddie hopped off his chair, took the hand offered to him, muttered a “Hey” and climbed back onto the chair again. 

To say Ryan was surprised was an understatement. Where did this cocky behaviour suddenly come from ? Cade couldn’t possibly represent a threat to the kid, could he ? He looked over at his partner. Tall, fairly muscular, stern features, a voice like a razorblade and a grip like a lion if he wanted to, but of which Ryan was sure Cade hadn’t used on Freddie. No threat, right ? Okay, Ryan sighed, it would get better. 

Unfortunately, at least for the rest of the evening, it didn’t. To Ryan’s great relief, Cade was trying to be real nice to the boy even though the responses were mostly snappy. When they moved to the living room for a late dinner and watching some TV, Freddie chose to sit as far away from Cade as possible while never really letting him out of his sight. Ryan could tell Cade’s patience was wearing out. 

He got up, announced he was going to get the bed ready and asked Cade to help him. Cade’s frown was met with a raised eyebrow and he quickly joined Ryan.

“Can we leave him alone ?” Cade asked as he followed the smaller man.

“He’s not a baby !” 

“Yeah, but…” Cade didn’t really now what the ‘but’ was, so he let the sentence hang and himself plop down on the bed while Ryan leaned against the small cupboard opposite him. 

“So….,” Cade started. 

“So ?” Both Ryan’s eyebrows were raised now. Men with eyebrows like that shouldn’t be able to do so, Cade thought. How could you be turned on by eyebrows anyway…? His gaze settled on Ryan’s amber eyes. Expectant. He needed to say something. 

“This isn’t going well,” he stated. 

“It could be worse.”

“You think so ? Come on, Ryan, that kid hates me. How are we supposed to get along for days, weeks, months- God knows how long ?!” 

“Give him time.” 

“You really want to keep him, right ?” 

Ryan pushed himself off the cupboard “You’re making it sound like he was some stray kitten I had brought home.” 

“I’m better with kittens than with kids,” Cade grabbed a pillow and hugged it to his body, “they don’t like me.” 

Ryan gave him a wry smile “Practically nobody likes you when he first meets you, Cade.”

“Well, if you think so highly of me, what are you doing here ?” Cade asked half-heartedly, he knew Ryan was right. 

“I’m only staying for the great sex,” Ryan grinned and stuck out his tongue. 

“Fuck you,” Cade chuckled. 

“Not tonight, lover boy.”

Cade stared “He’s sleeping with us ?!”

“Sure, what did you think ?”

“We have a couch.”

“Well, you may sleep on it. Freddie certainly isn’t.”

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Ryan. It might get us into trouble. Big trouble.”

“We’re letting him sleep in our bed, we aren’t molesting him.”

“Don’t explain that to me ,” Cade shot back.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Ryan decided, grabbed the pillow and threw it back at Cade, “Go and get Freddie ready for bed.”

“Ryan…,” Cade whined, “Don’t do this…” 

“You’ll have to get used to each other.” With that, the conversation was, once more, over. 

Slowly, Cade dragged himself into the living room. 

Freddie was sitting where they had left him, seemingly studying some silly commercials. Cade sat down beside him, but kept a distance. No reaction, Freddie didn’t even look up. With a sigh, Cade leaned back, ran a hand through his hair and held it out of his face. He was tired, so tired and here he was trying to be sociable with -he had little doubt about that- his future son. Cade suppressed the insane laughter that was bubbling up inside him. The situation was so absurd, he wondered if it all wasn’t a really bad dream. 

The feeling of being watched brought him out of his reverie. He disentangled his fingers from his hair and glanced over at Freddie. The boy blushed. Cade blinked as realization hit him. “They scared me too,” he said quietly. 

At first, it didn’t seem like Freddie would answer, but then he muttered “What did ?”

Cade gave him a faint smile “The scars. I hated them so much I even started to scare myself.” 

“How did you get them ?” 

Cade hesitated. “I got beaten up by a couple of guys one night,” he explained. 

“Why ?” 

Cade shrugged “Suppose I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and they were bored.” That was only partly true, but a small boy wouldn’t understand anyway. 

“Does it still hurt ?” Freddie wanted to know and moved a little closer. 

Cade blinked in surprise wondering whether he was referring to the incident itself or the visible reminders. He decided on the latter. “No,” he smiled, “they’ve stopped hurting a long time ago. Sometimes I don’t even see them any more.” 

Freddie nodded solemnly. 

“May I suggest something ?” Cade tilted his head. 

Freddie shrugged.

“Try a new start ?”  Getting no real reaction, Cade stuck his hand out “My name is Caden Bailey. Call me Cade.” 

Realizing what Cade was doing, Freddie smiled a little and shook Cade’s hand “Frederick Adenvishay. Call me Freddie.” 

Cade smiled back, then released his grip on Freddie and got up. “Your uncle announced bedtime. If you would follow me to the bathroom ?” 
 

Half an hour later Cade climbed into bed beside Ryan and Freddie who had surprisingly quickly snuggled up against his uncle and was already asleep. The picture of his partner with this little boy in his arms made Cade feel uneasy, but as he met Ryan’s smiling face he couldn’t help smiling back. 

“You know he even looks like you,” Cade stated. 

“I know,” Ryan grinned, tightened his grip on Freddie and closed his eyes. 

As tired as he was, Cade couldn’t sleep right away. Whereas Cade’s world had suddenly done a turn of 180 degrees, he was aware of the fact that Ryan’s world had become perfect. They had never really talked about adopting, but Cade had known it would come up eventually. Ryan loved kids, which was probably what helped him to cope with this situation quite well. One thing was clear, there would be no way to separate those two stubborn Adenvishays ever again. But Cade also had no intention of trying to do so.

When Cade awoke, it took him some moments to realize that the dark hair in front of him didn’t belong to Ryan and it took him even some more moments to notice that a pair of dark brown eyes was watching him. “Good morning,” he murmured. 

“Where’s Ryan ?” 

Nice, Cade thought, this just keeps getting better and better. And Mr. Family obviously couldn’t resist his morning run at least one damn time. 

“Running,” Cade replied, “Does it almost every morning.” He watched how Freddie pulled the blanket tighter around his small frame. 

“You cold ?” he asked. Freddie nodded. 

“C’mere,” Cade lifted his blanket a little. 

Freddie hesitated. He still didn’t know what to think of the blonde one. It wasn’t that he was especially impolite, but he was always a bit gruff. Unlike Ryan. Freddie really liked the freakish-looking young man. And Ryan obviously liked Cade. So, he couldn’t be so bad, could he ? Freddie made up his mind and crawled over. 

Cade wrapped his arm around him and closed his eyes again hoping to get some more sleep. 

“Dad never did that,” Freddie was still shivering slightly. “

No…?” “

Said I had to be tough.” 

“He was wrong,” Cade decided and went back to sleep.
[…..] 
 
 

[ return ]
 

Prior: I'm not ... distracted, I'm doing research. Harper: On Mormons ? Prior: On ... Angels. I'm a ... an Angelologist. Harper: I never met an angelologist before. Prior: It's an obscure discipline.