Sanders Sides Parenting/Kids One-Shots

(5) Results of Play Therapy - Remile

Summary: Emile is a counsellor that every so often is assigned to lead play therapy for troubled kids not enjoying the foster system. His husband, Remy, knows that results in one thing.

TW - Mention of seizures, allergies, being blind and being deaf. And this surrounds foster care as a main theme.

Words: 1199

Days were always peaceful for Remy Dolce. He spent most days at home as he worked at home, managing all the Starbucks in the state. It was his dream job as a child and he worked hard to get it. He also worked hard to get his husband. Emile was the cutest thing Remy had ever seen - always dressed in pink and bringing a bag of candy floss to every class in high school. Just thinking of him made him want to cup his husband's cheeks and give him a kiss that lasted eternity.

Emile did have a very bad habit though - he was too soft around kids. He worked as a counsellor so didn't encounter small children that much but when he did it was game over for the couple's spare bedrooms. A lot of the kids he worked with were in foster care - and Remy and Emile were trained to be foster parents purely because they wanted to foster 'at some point'. The day after they finished their course came the concentual kidnapping of foster care kids to take care of them for as long as needed. Over 6 years the couple had taken around 14 kids in and out their house and they loved each and every one of them.

When the door burst open Remy already expected Emile had been assigned to play therapy that day. "My universe! I have a huge favour!"

"One child or two?" Remy shouted back, sipping his coffee and staring at his laptop. He could hear the chatter of a young voice/voices behind his husband so knew that at least they weren't taking care of infants. There were two or three times they took care of babies - Remy had no idea what to do with them without Emile around. There was an unusual silence before Emile appeared, holding a child maybe around 3 or 4 years old.

"Three..." Emile mumbled with a sheepish smile, making the coffee loving partner double take. They once had to take care of two kids - twins named Roman and Remus that had infinite energy  and also developed an addiction to coffee - but mostly took care of one at a time. Three was an entirely new territory.

"What you doing?" A young child with big black glasses and dark brown hair appeared beside Remy's shoulder, staring at the laptop that was open on the dining room table. The child was maybe around 8 or 9 years old, cute with his features. "Is it maths? I like maths! I learnt my 15 times tables yesterday - 15, 30, 45, 60, 75..."

"Wow that's really smart kid, how good are you at addition?" Remy laughed, trying to stop the child from reciting the entirety of the 15 times table as he obviously wanted to. Then another child appeared, looking about the same but with curlier hair. He raised his hand enthusiastically as if in class.

"I am, I am! I can add 100 to any number - it just makes there be a 1 at the beginning!" The second child cheered, then tried to sit on Remy's lap. The brother - Remy assumed they were related - was just watching in cautious silence as if scared to move. Emile placed the smallest child he was carrying on the floor, showing him the direction of the many toys the couple had bought over the years and years of having foster children. 

The next thing Remy noticed was that all three of the kids were dressed the same. They all had dark blue jeans on, too long for their little legs, and all wore glasses. The only distinguishing feature unique to each of them was the colour of t-shirt. The first child wore dark blue, the second wore light blue and the last wore purple. Emile seemed more concentrated on the purple one, as if guiding him towards the toys. Then he realised he was also speaking ASL to the young child - a language both adults spoke as they met in an ASL high school class and decided to become fluent as their special bonding activity.

"So what's your names?" Remy turned towards the first child, who looked scared when Remy suddenly spoke again but answered quickly.

"I'm Logan... There's Patton..." Logan pointed to the child on Remy's lap. "And Virgil." He finally pointed towards the youngest child. Emile heard Logan speaking and invited the rest of his family over. "Virgil's deaf and half blind... He needs a lot of help." Logan mumbled as he walked towards Emile, still speaking to Remy. "I have seizures too and Patton has allergies to pollen and bug stings. People think we're too much work to keep us." 

The small child was unloading all this information without a care, he was desensitised to never finding a home. The sadness of it made Remy want to clutch all the kids and keep them safe. Emile seemed to realise his husband's thoughts, giving him a sympathetic glance - although it was begging as Emile always wanted to adopt the kids they fostered. Sometimes they could have, sometimes they didn't have the ability to. But they never did, they never felt the real desire to.

That had all changed in this small moment though. Logan and Patton seemed to naturally help Virgil and each other, but the husbands learnt how to help too. The idea of adopting the three of them stayed in the couple's mind. They used the foster time as a trial period, Logan had seizures almost every day but they slowly practiced understanding them. Remy brushed up on his ASL and got lots of equipment to help their smallest boy, and with Patton they learnt to avoid bug bites and bought every medicine or treatment for allergies they could find.

It took 9 months to reach their final court date, all three boys dressed in suits with their ties being their favourite colour. After the judges approval Remy and Emile got their boys.

"I can't believe we have babies now." Emile cheered, kissing Remy's cheek as the two husbands lay in bed after the chaotic bedtime of three kids. Emile had always wanted a family, and now Remy was proud to have one. It took a while to persuade him but now he was happy.

"They aren't babies babe, Logan's almost 11." Remy chuckled, staring up at the ceiling but stroking Emile's waist. He was surprised when he saw Logan's birth certificate, showing he was in fact a few weeks off 11 years old - turns out he had stunted growth to add to the list. Patton was only just 8, and Virgil was a few months off 5. They had been in foster care ever since Virgil's birth, but now they were going to have parents again.

Emile gave his husband a large kiss and lay on top of him, extremely happy and extremely excited for what was to come. It was a kiss of good luck for everything - every graduation, every possible coming out, every partner or break up, every bully that Remy will want to punch with an iron fist. They were ready.