Modern AU
Johnny was doing the dishes, humming quietly to himself, when his husband Ponyboy came running in. "H-hey Johnnycakes."
"Hey Pony." Johnny smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "What are you up to?"
Ponyboy nervously played with his hands. "Remember how we decided to adopt a child sometime next month?"
Johnny nodded with a worried expression and shut off the water, drying his hands. "What's wrong?
"Nothing bad."
Johnny sighed in relief. The two of them had worked so hard to be able to adopt a child.
Now they had finally been approved and had saved up enough money to buy furniture and essential supplies for a baby.
Pony wrapped his arms around Johnny's waist; something he always did when he wanted something. "I know that we talked about adopting a baby, but the agency just called and said that a four year old is in desperate need of a home. They can drop him off tomorrow...if that's okay with you."
Johnny smiled. "Of course babydoll. If they really need a good home, then I'd say that we can give it to..." he trailed off, hinting for a gender.
"Him. It's a boy named Noah." Pony smiled, thinking about their future son.
"Noah...that's an amazing name. How come it's so urgent that we adopt him tomorrow?" Johnny asked.
His husband bit his lip, not wanting to tell him. Fortunately for Pony, his phone rang again from the other room. "I'll be back, that's probably the agency." He dashed off.
Johnny chuckled and quickly finished up the dishes. Afterwards he walked into their bedroom and began getting undressed for bed. Pony walked in and jumped onto the bed. "They're dropping Noah off tomorrow at noon!"
Johnny grinned and kissed the other. "We're finally gonna be parents!"
"I can't wait to meet him. We'll be the best parents he's ever had." Pony smiled lightly. According to the agency, the child had been through tons of foster homes.
The most recent one, the foster parent was extremely abusive. So Noah was back in the system, and the adoption agency was thankful that he would finally be getting adopted into a good family.
The two laid down on the bed and Johnny snaked his arms around Pony's waist. "You know," he began. "having a kid might pull us apart a bit. I-I don't want that to happen."
"Awe honey..." pony turned over and buried his face in Johnny's chest. "We'll always love each other. I don't think much will change between us. I mean, we're always gonna love each other."
Johnny nodded and bit his lip. "You're right. We're always gonna love each other."
-
The next morning, both of them were rushing around the house trying to clean a few things last minute.
They very badly wanted their new son to arrive so that they could meet him. After cleaning every inch of the house and then some, there was finally a knock on the door.
Pony smoothed out his shirt, and opened up the door. Both of them gasped as they saw the little boy.
He had pale skin and red hair, with freckles covering his entire face. But that's not what Johnny was focused on.
What he saw were the dozens of bruises littering the four year olds skin. Almost immediately, tears collected in Johnny's eyes as he shot Pony an "why didn't you tell me?" look.
"You're in very good hands here Noah." The social worker rubbed the little boys back. "Ponyboy and Johnny are very nice people."
Noah nodded and took an uneasy step inside their house. The older boys bid farewell to the social worker and then turned to Noah.
"Hi," Pony smiled, kneeling down. "I'm Ponyboy. I'm like your dad now..."
Johnny couldn't stop staring at Noah's bruises. He swallowed hard and managed to smile. "And I'm Johnny, would you like to see your room?"
"I have a room?" Noah asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.
Johnny nodded and motioned for Noah to follow him into the other room.
The small boys eyes widened once he saw the rather large room. Pony walked over. "We figured that tomorrow we could take you out shopping for toys and stuff. Would you like that?"
Noah nodded quickly, his face breaking out into a grin. "How many toys?"
"All the ones that you want." Ponyboy chuckled.
Since they had planned on adopting an infant, they had set aside money for diapers, formula, playpens, carriers, and all the other necessities. Now they could spend that money on other stuff.
"How long do I get to stay here?" Noah asked, climbing on top of his bare bed.
"What do you mean?" Johnny asked, frowning lightly.
"How long until you guys give me away?"
Ponyboy's heart broke in half as he shook his head. "We would never give you away unless you wanted us to. This is your home now..."
Noah smiled again and began running around his room. "I get to stay!"
Johnny chuckled. "Would you like to go out to eat?"
"McDonalds!" Noah cried and ran to grab Johnny's hand dragging him towards the front door.
Pony smiled and almost felt like crying. Seeing Johnny and Noah like that had been extremely sweet. He walked to the front door with them. "What would you like from McDonalds?"
Noah stopped bouncing up and down for a second and stopped to think. "Uhh...lasagna?"
"How about a happy meal?" Johnny suggested and Noah nodded, making grabby hands.
Johnny's eyes widened lightly, but he picked up the child and carried him out to their car, where he promptly fell asleep.
"I think he likes you." Pony smiled and grabbed his husbands hand as they began driving.
"He wanted me to hold him..." he could hardly believe it. "When I was his age I wouldn't have wanted anyone to hold me because of..."
"Your parents?" Pony looked down. "Gosh I hate them...but you know, maybe that's why Noah likes you? Maybe he could...feel that you and him were alike..."
Johnny chuckled. "I doubt it, but..." he looked at a sleeping Noah in the backseat through the mirror. "He does seem to like me a lot."
"I like him a lot." Pony smiled. "I've known him for all of twenty minutes and I'm already in love."
"I know what you mean..." Johnny smiled.
From that day on, they knew things were gonna be different, and yet they could hardly wait for the adventures to come.
