Sanders Sides Parenting/Kids One-Shots

(185) Nerdy, Nervous Twins - ThomasxNico and Sibling Analogical

Summary: Thomas and Nico are ready to extend their family, expecting that they'll get a hyper little life to try to contain. They're pleasantly surprised to instead meet two nervous boys excited for a home.

Words: 1457

It was 5pm on a lazy Wednesday afternoon in the Sanders household. Joan and Talyn had just visited and had left a great looking apple pie as an early Thanksgiving present for their best friend and his boyfriend. Thanksgiving this year was going to be chaotic so the couple would take any pre-made food they could get. Thomas was editing a new video, lying on the sofa covered in blankets with a hot chocolate beside him while Nico was searching through internet recipes to try and create something fun for dinner.

"Music on?" Nico called into the living room, receiving a grumble that was assumed to be 'no' as a response. The house was too quiet now that the couple knew what would be coming in the next year - or at least what they hoped would come. Nico Flores and Thomas Sanders, boyfriends of almost three wondrous years, were planning on adopting a child together. People were asking why so soon, but both men knew they were getting older and were unsure how much longer they would be able to chase after toddlers. "I feel like we need a screaming child already." Nico laughed, coming into the living room to cuddle against his boyfriend. Thomas just gave him a kiss on the head and continued editing, so Nico decided now was a time to check the couple's shared email in case a new sponsorship deal came through.

What came through though was much more important than a sponsorship deal. "The social worker emailed!" Nico cheered, opening the email as soon as Thomas raised his head. The email was labelled 'new file' so it must be a new possibility for adoption. "Oh..."

"Two kids?" Thomas mumbled as he read the beginning of the email where the social worker was asking whether the Flores-Sanders couple would be open to adopting a sibling group of two. Nico had his eyes on that too, and then looked at his boyfriend with a raised eyebrow. "I think it matters the energy levels."

Nico opened the file and was immediately greeted with a picture of two smiling little faces, one with glasses and one without. The one with glasses was looking directly at the camera and showing all his baby teeth in a wide smile, his eyes clasped shut. The other had a small smile that was covered by a thumb, and seemed to be looking beside the camera instead of at it.

The second page showed the child with glasses alone, this time a picture of him in a star raincoat in the rain holding a plastic bucket and smiling a little less chaotically. At the top it said 'Logan'. "Four and a half years old; loves reading, adventuring and exploring... Medical history of a lazy eye and suspected dyspraxia, although diagnosis cannot be given until four or five. Doesn't seem too bad Tom."

"Looks just like the character." Thomas laughed, looking at the boy with pale skin, curly brown hair and brown eyes and seeing if he could visualise that boy being his son. He could - he could imagine any child being his as long as he had Nico by his side.

The third page showed the second child, whose picture was inside of a house. The boy was looking away from the camera and holding a purple blanket to his mouth, he had all his dolls in a row in front of him. "Oh sweetie this one's called Virgil!" Nico giggled, knowing how rare that name was it seemed like it was destined for him and his boyfriend to have these kids. "He's also four and a half, must be twins then. And he loves dolls, his favourite blanket, and pasta. He's undergoing an autism diagnosis and needs to see a speech therapist... But just look at how sweet he is Tom!"

Thomas just laughed and kept his eyes on the picture of Virgil that was supplied. He seemed the opposite of a hyper four year old in every picture, and that was also evident when Nico found the video the social worker supplied too from that rainy day Logan's picture was from. It was only a ten second clip where Logan was shouting about acorns and rainwater as they were walking, and he was tripping every few steps but didn't seem to mind it. Virgil was following behind his brother and the camera slowly and keeping his blanket held tight. He didn't speak the entire video, only mumbled a 'yeah!' when the person behind the camera asked Virgil if the rain made the leaves pretty.

So even though two kids wasn't in the cards for Thomas and Nico, they knew they had to meet these boys. They were just too cute to resist.

*****

"The boys have been really excited to meet you, they don't get many visitors." The boys' foster mother whispered as she welcomed the boyfriends into her living room with a nice cup of tea. "Do you have any other kiddos at home?"

Nico shook his head, watching Thomas nervously fiddle with his sleeves and look around the room. "Nope, this is our first time going through the adoption process, we were thinking of getting a few fur babies but Thomas is allergic to cat fur." Thomas' face only lit up when he spotted a small boy walking down the stairs slowly, grabbing into the bannister. He was silent as he was watching, not wanting to introduce himself and cause distress to the focus of the little boy. It was the boy with glasses - so it was Logan.

Luckily it seemed as though Logan's foster father was behind him and helped him with a couple of steps. "Good job Logan! You're doing well on those stairs now!"

Logan looked up from his feet and immediately met eyes with Thomas and Nico. "Who's that?" He chirped, curious but cautious at the same time. His foster parents just smiled and turned to the boyfriends to introduce themselves. 

"Hi buddy, I'm Thomas and this is my boyfriend Nico." Thomas spoke gently and almost in a whisper. He wasn't used to talking to kids as young as Logan, being a YouTuber meant he mainly spoke to teens or older. Nico was different - he did writing classes at the local elementary school so absolutely adored little kids.

"We're here to meet you and your brother! Do you know where Virgil is?" Nico looked so cute as he leant forward to speak to the pre-schooler, a smile on his face as he was beginning this step into parenthood. As long as Virgil and Logan liked Nico and Thomas they were going to be adopted - Thomas was sure of it by now. Logan looked up at his foster father and then around the room, then finally towards the stairs. But before going up the stairs the foster father offered to get Virgil for the four year old, and he gratefully nodded.

"Why don't you show Nico and Thomas your favourite book Logan?" The child's foster mother cheered, and both men's faces became a smile when they saw the happy grin on Logan's face.

Logan ran off in a direction the boyfriends were unfamiliar with but he was shouting and happy. "Yeah! It's a book on space and-OW!"

There was a crash followed by loud tears and the foster mother disappeared into the room Logan ran off to, reappearing eventually and comforting the boy in her arms. Thomas and Nico wanted to run to Logan's side as soon as they saw him but he seemed satisfied in the arms of his foster mother. 

"Logan's a little clumsy when he's excited, and he's super excited to show you his book." It seemed as though Logan and Virgil's foster mother was a beacon of positivity, it only took a few minutes to calm Logan down and place him on the sofa between the two men with his favourite book. Soon it would be Thomas and Nico's turn to be a support for Logan's falls - but right now there was another important child in view.

He was completely silent, watching his brother and these strange men anxiously, a finger in his mouth. "Do you want to listen to the story buddy?" Nico whispered as Thomas opened the precious book about stars to read and calm Logan's remaining tears. Virgil didn't respond but sat crosslegged opposite the men, still watching. The men assumed that meant the toddler was joining in his own way and opened the book to begin reading.

It took a while for the boys to settle in a new environment, and for Thomas and Nico to become parents, but they eventually made it and became their own happy little family.