Chapter Text
Serena wrapped his coat tighter around himself as he walked through Magnolia. The cold was biting, but the town in winter was so serene, which more than made up for the cold.
Everything was nice and quiet this morning because very few people wanted to be out thanks to the cold, so he took the time to enjoy some quiet for himself.
“Hey, stop him!”
And there goes the quiet.
Serena looked to the source of the yelling, watching someone dart around the corner and running as fast as his legs could take him. Behind him are a couple more people, both in some familiar looking uniform.
“Stop running!”
“Leave me alone!”
Serena stopped. The first guy, presumably a Little judging by the outfit he was wearing, was running directly towards him.
Right as he reached Serena, the man shot his arm out, grabbing the wayward Little and pulling him into his arms.
“Hey! No! Put me down! Let me go!” the redhead thrashed around. “Don’t let them catch me!”
“Kid, you are such a brat sometimes,” the workers finally caught up.
“I’m not going back! You can’t make me! I can’t go back!”
“Okay, how about we all settle down and try to explain?” Serena asked, placing the Little to the ground so he’d stop kicking. He kept his arms around him so he wouldn’t run off again, although it didn’t stop him from trying to pull away.
“I don’t wanna talk to you,” he huffed, looking away. “I wanna leave!”
Serena looked at the workers, giving them a look.
“Erik here has been… problematic,” one of them started slowly.
“He doesn’t like the adoption center, but everyone who adopts him finds a reason to bring him back,” the other explained, “The last time was just too much, so he started running off whenever he gets the chance.”
“I’m not going back again!” Erik snapped. “Why can’t you just let me leave?! You don’t want me there anymore than I want to be there!”
“Because you can’t care for yourself. You need a Caregiver.”
“Plenty of Littles live without Caregivers! I don’t need one! I don’t need another jerk who’ll just send me back again!”
“Your headspace can drop too young to be by yourself.”
Serena glanced aside, ignoring the argument going on to think. Erik obviously needed a proper family, if they were telling the truth. The poor thing probably had a multitude of issues due to being constantly thrown around from house to house.
“I have an idea,” Serena spoke up, silencing everyone else. “Why don’t I adopt this one?”
Erik scoffed, scowling.
“You’d.. do that?” one of the workers gave him a skeptical look.
“I’d need to discuss it with my family first, but all of us who’ve been classified so far have been Caregivers, so I’m sure they’d love to have Erik around.”
“Until you assholes send me back,” Erik snapped.
Serena ignored that comment, “I’ll talk to them tonight and give you our answer in the morning,” he explained. “But I can almost guarantee that we can give this one what he needs.”
“Well.. I suppose we can give it a try,” the first worker said. “As for you,” he grabbed Erik’s arm, “You’re coming back with us.”
“NO! I’m not going back!”
“Erik,” Serena placed his hands on Erik’s shoulders, “Think you can be patient for me? I know for a fact that my family will say yes, so I promise you that once we adopt you, you’ll never have to go back to that place again.”
“I don’t believe you! They all sent me back!”
“Can you give me a chance to prove it to you?” Serena asked.
“Fine, but I know you won't, so don't expect me to get my hopes up,” Erik scoffed at him.
“Well, until then, try not to run off again, okay? I promise I won't hurt you like all the others have,” Serena assured. Erik didn’t look convinced.
“Just wait for today, okay? First thing tomorrow, I'll come to adopt you.”
“Mhm…”
Once the three of them were out of sight, Serena sighed.
He really hoped the others would agree to this.
That night, Serena waited until dinner. He set up the table while Irene helped make the food.
“I have an important discussion I need to have with all of you,” Serena announced once everyone had sat down.
“This isn’t the same as the last time you had an important announcement, is it?” Gajeel asked, prompting a snort from Sting.
“No, this is far more important!”
“You said that last time,” Natsu said.
“Do you guys want to adopt a Little?” Serena stated bluntly before anybody else could make some snarky comment.
Everyone went silent, no longer finding the situation funny.
“Well, we've been talking about it for a while,” Irene said. “But can we?”
“Why not? We have this big house, plenty of room, a large yard, and most of us are Caregivers, so he'll be well cared for.”
“‘He’?” Gajeel asked.
“Did you find a Little without us?” Laxus asked.
“Well, it was an unconventional meeting, but yes. The adoption center has a Little who really needs a proper home, and I offered to adopt him.”
“Serena, dear..” Irene started.
“We've been wanting a Little for over a year now, and this is a perfect opportunity!” Serena stated. “He gets a proper home and a loving family and we get our Little! It's perfect for both of us.”
“What if Sting, Rogue, and Wendy classify as Littles?” Laxus asked.
“We can handle four Littles. We have five Caregivers!” Serena sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Look, I heard his story and.. he really needs a stable home, with Caregivers who won't give up on him.”
“Give up on him?” Laxus asked.
“The workers told me that he's constantly given back by Caregivers who don't care.”
“Are you sure about this, man?” Gajeel asked.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything before.”
“I see no problem with getting a Little!” Sting spoke up, “It'll be fun to have one around.”
“And we can care for him,” Irene said, thankfully growing convinced. “Very well. I see no problem with it.”
“I don't see a problem either,” Natsu said. “It does work out for both parties here.”
“Although, he sounds like he'll be a handful,” Laxus said. “I want to be there when you go talk with them. When are we going?”
“Same here,” Gajeel said.
“Tomorrow morning is when I promised to be there. I don’t want him to have to wait longer than that.”
“Alright. First thing tomorrow, we can go up there and meet this kid,” Natsu said.
“Think you three will be alright on your own for a couple hours?” Irene looked at the others.
Wendy nodded, “I'll keep the Twins out of trouble.”
“We'll keep Sting out of trouble,” Rogue corrected.
“Hey!” Sting huffed.
“We trust you guys,” Natsu said. “Now focus on your food.”
“Can we watch cartoons before bed?” Sting asked.
“There’s a new episode coming out today!” Rogue exclaimed. Sting nodded excitedly.
“Now those two are definitely Littles,” Gajeel leaned towards Natsu, who chuckled quietly. “I can guarantee it.”
“Yes, but when we say it's time for bed, you'll need to turn them off,” Irene said.
The Twins both cheered.
“Alright. Serena, can you tell us more about this Little?” Irene asked.
“Happily!”
Erik walked into his given room. He hated how it looked, with its colorful walls with cartoon figures in the windows, and their overall false friendliness. If any of it was alive, it’d probably all mock him for his inability to keep a family.
He glared down at the stupid teddy bear waiting for him on the bed. The stupid thing would probably mock him too, if given the chance. He knew that the other Littles did, especially when the Caregivers weren’t around to hear it.
And now he had another new Caregiver making him promises that he won’t keep. Erik isn’t going to hold him to it. He knew better than that.
He knew he was supposed to be in bed, but that didn’t stop him from moving to the door to eavesdrop on the Caregivers. He lightly leaned against the door, pressing an ear against it.
“You know, we found someone today during one of his escapes,” said a Caregiver as they hovered outside of Erik’s room. “Said he wanted to adopt this one. Apparently, his whole family is Caregivers.”
“That’s good. They’ll need all the help they can get with that one. What a troublemaker,” another commented. Erik tensed slightly.
A faint smack. “Don’t be like that. The kid isn’t a problem.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“How about you stop being a pain and go check on the others?”
Erik hurried away from the door, trying to make it look like he was just hovering by his bed and getting ready to climb in right as the door opened.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed, kid?” the Caregiver asked. Erik shrugged, “I was working on it,” he said as he climbed in, hugging the bear to his chest. He hated the thing, but he still craved the comfort it provided.
“Well, get some sleep,” the Caregiver said as he pulled the blanket up over Erik’s shoulders. “You’ve got an important meeting in the morning, so you need to be well-rested.”
“Hmph..” Erik buried his face into his pillow. He heard the Caregiver sigh, then move towards the door, “I’m sorry about everything, Kiddo. I’m hoping that this Caregiver will be a permanent one. You deserve it more than anything.. Goodnight.”
“‘Night..” And with that, Erik heard the door close. With the Caregiver gone, he didn’t bother trying to fight off the tears spilling out of his eyes. His grip on the bear tightened as he hiccuped and whimpered.
Another two-faced Caregiver with fake promises getting his hopes up, only to tear it away from him again. That was how this always went.
It felt like the whole world was mocking him now. He can already hear what the other Littles would say when he inevitably comes back in a month.
It wasn’t fair.
The next morning, Serena got up bright and early. He was always an early riser, and he had a reason to be today.
He quickly gathered anything he deemed important, such as identification like his license, and paperwork proving his Classification.
He then waited for the others to get ready, and once everything was set, they left the house.
“Let's try not to overwhelm him,” Irene said. “Since this was Serena's idea, he can take over for the most part.”
“I just wanted to meet the kid. See what he's like,” Laxus said. “I want to know what I'm signing up for. Not all Littles are the same.”
“I'm sure he's really sweet. He's just hurt, and hurt Littles tend to lash out,” Serena said. “And I don't care how much it'll take, I won't give up on him. No Little should ever have to go through what he did.”
“I commend your compassion, Serena,” Irene said, smiling. “This Little must be really special to you. I've never seen you so excited about a Little before.”
“I just want to give this one the life he deserves.”
“Yeah, and we believe you,” Natsu sped up so he was next to Serena, “You make for a great Caregiver.”
“This Little is lucky to have come across you,” Irene said.
“We're here!” Gajeel said, gesturing to the door, “Let's get this over with.”
“Try to be a little more excited than that,” Irene said as the five of them walked inside.
Serena went up to the front desk, “Hello, there!”
“Hello! Welcome to Magnolia Fields Adoption Center! Are you here to find your special forever Little?” the receptionist asked in practiced excitement.
“Yep. I'm here to ask about a Little named Erik.”
Her face soured slightly, “Ah.. I'm assuming you came across him yesterday when he ran out?”
“Yep. I heard his story and I wanted to help,” Serena said. “May we meet him?”
“He's probably still asleep, but I can ask someone to bring him out.”
“That'd be great, thank you,” he said.
She motioned for another Caregiver to come over, then gave him the order to go get Erik.
“I'm impressed, honestly. Most Caregivers see his antics and want nothing to do with him. It's… a sad sight.”
“Not me. I know he's only acting out because of what happened. No Little deserves to be constantly thrown around because nobody wants to deal with him.”
“Hey, you're back!” a familiar worker said. Different from the one sent to go get the Little, and it was one of the two from the day prior. Erik, who looked like he had just woken up, was standing next to him, with one hand holding a teddy bear with the same Magnolia Fields shirt he was wearing while the other hand was rubbing the sleep from his eye.
“I honestly didn't think you'd come back,” the Little said.
“I made a promise!” Serena smiled, “It's good to see you again, Erik!”
Erik blinked.
“These are the other Caregivers I told you about,” Serena explained, gesturing to the other four. “They all wanted to come meet you.”
He made a face.
“I know how you must feel about all of this, but I promise you, they're all just as excited as I am to have you with us,” Serena assured. “Is it possible for all of us to talk?”
“Sure thing,” the worker said, gently taking the bear from Erik. “Just call one of us when you've made your decision.”
Erik walked over to the chairs, sitting down with a quiet huff.
“Little of few words, are you?” Natsu asked, lightly teasing.
“What a handsome young lad you are,” Irene sat next to him. “Are you excited to head home with us?”
“Until you send me back..”
“Erik, it's like I said before. When we adopt you, it's permanent. You won’t be going anywhere,” Serena said. “I would never forgive myself if I did that to you.”
“Besides, nobody is going to do anything regarding you unless we all agree to it, and Serena isn't going to agree on bringing you back here,” Gajeel said.
“Do you have your stuff packed?” Serena asked. Erik hated how excited he looked about all of this.
“No. I didn’t bother because I didn’t think you'd come back..”
“Hey, I made a promise, didn't I?”
“Promises don't mean anything to me.”
“Well, they mean a lot to me. I don’t make promises lightly,” Serena said. “Want to go gather your things so we can head home together?”
“Let me save you the time wasted and say don’t bother. You’re just going to bring me back anyway,” Erik huffed, pulling his knees to his chest and looking away.
Serena’s face fell. This Little really didn’t believe him. Granted, he had every reason not to, but Serena couldn’t give up on him yet.
“At least give us the chance to prove ourselves?” Serena asked. “If you agree to come with us, then we can spend the day doing whatever you want. Sound good?”
“If I say yes, will you stop bugging me about it?” Erik huffed.
“If you say yes, then we’ll give you the care you deserve. We aren’t going to just send you back here. When we adopt a Little, it’s for life,” Serena promised.
“Even though I’m a handful?” Erik glanced up at Serena.
“I don’t think you’re a handful. I think you’re just hurting, and you’re acting in the only way you know how based on that hurt.”
“I run off all the time. I don’t know why they keep me here. I don’t want to be here. I want to just… live on my own, where I don’t have to depend on anyone who’ll just hurt me.”
“Living by yourself is difficult, especially for a Little. Do you have any way of getting or keeping a job? Or what about getting a house to start with? Why take the gamble on whether or not you’ll have a warm bed for the night or healthy food, when being with a Caregiver can at least give you the guarantee of having all that?”
Erik huffed, turning his head away again.
“It’s entirely up to you at the end of the day, but I would feel honored if you said yes,” Serena said, holding his hand out to Erik.
Erik stared at it for a long moment, hesitating. He then glanced up at Serena’s face, seeing a glimmer in the Caregiver’s eyes. Finally, after a long few moments, Erik slowly reached out and placed his hand in Serena’s.
“Fine.. but I’m not going to get my hopes up or anything. I also won’t be expecting this to last..”
“Then you’re going to be pleasantly surprised,” Serena smiled, “Go gather your things, and we’ll get the paperwork done.”
“Fine.”
If one were to ask Erik what he thought when he spotted the Caregiver from the day prior showing up with four others, he’d have to say he was terrified. So many Caregivers meant a higher chance of one of them deciding they didn’t want him around.
But at the same time, he almost felt… relieved?
Relieved that there were so many, which meant that if he ever acted out too much for any of them to handle, another one could take over for him.
He still didn’t have high hopes, however.
At least now that he was… ‘home’.. he could get out of that scratchy adoption center clothing. The clothing he had saved in his bag was so much more comfortable.
“And we’re home! You’re going to love it,” Serena said, opening the door and gesturing inside. Erik slowly walked in, while the Caregivers followed behind.
“We’re home!” Natsu called. Erik was unsure why he announced that to an empty house, only to be surprised when three more people came downstairs.
Erik tensed slightly.
“Is this the new Little?” Wendy asked, staying behind. Sting and Rogue, however, got up closer to look at Erik.
“Wow, he doesn’t look at all like I expected him to!” Sting exclaimed. “He’s really muscle-y for a Little!”
“How old is your headspace?” Rogue asked. “Is it really young?”
“Do you like games? We have lots of games! Movies, too!”
Erik blinked, unsure of how to respond to being bombarded with question after question.
“Boys,” Irene stepped in, gently pushing the two back, “Try not to overwhelm him. He just got home.”
“Oh, sorry,” Rogue said.
“I’ll take him up to the guest room- Well, I guess it can’t be called the guest room anymore. Let’s give him the chance to settle in before you two start bombarding him with questions,” Serena said, then led Erik up the stairs.
“Here you go! It isn’t much, but that’s okay. A clean slate for you to decorate!” Serena winked, “Have fun! I’ll come in to check on you soon!”
Erik slowly nodded, then walked inside, listening as Serena closed the door behind him.
He glanced at the room. Sure enough, it was simple, having gone unused for a while. He sighed. He could see where he could put certain decorations, but…
He shook his head. Falling into such mindsets was dangerous. The less he put up meant the less he’d have to take down later.
He placed his bag down, then kicked off his shoes, changed out of that awful scratchy clothing, and climbed into the bed. It was soft and comfortable, not like the stiff bed back at the adoption center. He sighed, burying his face into the pillow. He was woken up early, so he might as well try to go back to sleep to catch up on the sleep he lost.
He yawned, drifting off not long after he got comfortable.
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