The Pack and Sidemen Oneshots

Lachlan + Sidemen- Adopted Part 1

Simon's P.O.V.

The first time I heard about the blonde boy with bruises all over his arms was when Vikk came home one day from school and mentioned him in casual conversation. I was immediately intrigued, it wasn't often that Vikk found someone in the same situation as him; in between foster homes that is.

Vikk mentioned that Lachlan, who was barely a month younger than he was, was in and out of foster homes and temporary shelters because no one seemed to want him. The two had that in common but Vikk had fortunately ended up with us and had broken the cycle, Josh taking charge and adopting him when he turned 21. Vikk had only been 15 at the time and still needed a legal guardian.

Now two years on there was 7 of us living together, Vikk being the youngest at 16 and Harry the next closest at 22. Vikk went to school on weekdays and after school and on weekends he recorded with us, making YouTube his side job while it was full time for the rest of us.

When I mentioned to Vikk that I wanted to find out more about the boy Vikk explained to me that he was an Australian student who had been moved to London after he had run out of options. Apparently he was a "troubled student" and he been suspended quite a few times, moving from foster home to foster home and eventually out of the country.

I told Josh about the boy later that night and at 3am, because that was the only time everyone but Vikk was awake, I gathered them in the living room.

"Vikk told me about a kid he's friends with at school whose in the foster system at the moment and I'm really worried about him. Apparently he comes to school with bruises and I kinda want to look at adopting him if he fit with us."

The others looked at each other and at first there was some hesitancy, but then there were a few nods.

"Get Vikk to invite him around, we'll see because if he's as troubled as I think he is then I don't know if there's much we can do for him." Ethan said, fiddling with his wrist. "We've dealt with Vikk's anxiety but if it's much more than that... we probably can't help him."

I nodded. From what I had heard I knew his life hadn't been easy and because we had never been trained to foster children. We had been allowed to adopt Vikk after record checks and home checks and interviews and a million other things but we had never gone through courses to take on troubled kids because we had only planned on adopting Vikk, no one else.

"I know, but I want to try. If we can't take him then I at least want to help him break the cycle." Tobi nodded, leaning against me tiredly.

"Alright this is all well and good but can I go to bed please? I'm tired."

And that was the end of the discussion, for the time being at least.

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At took a few months before Vikk managed to convince Lachlan to come around for the afternoon. Whenever he did ask Lachlan had always given one excuse or another but had always refused, but after more than a week of planning Lachlan's foster parents finally gave in and let him come around after school on the condition that he was home by 6.

They even had to call us, we gave the call to Josh because he sounded the oldest, to tell us that he had a strict curfew and to call them if anything changed. The call actually got me worried because while it was the lady that was talking to us Josh told us that he had heard a man yelling in the background, probably at poor Lachlan.

He came around on a Friday afternoon, school had finished at 2 so the boys were home earlier than usual and Josh, Tobi and I were the only ones up. The two boys came in almost silently and I didn't even see that they were there until Vikk spoke.

"Hey Si, hey Josh, hey Tobi." The three of us turned and greeted Vikk and then Lachlan, who was a little shy and hesitant.

He wasn't quite what I had pictured him to be, for some reason I had imagined to be a bit smaller, but at just over 6 foot and lanky like me, he looked like a regular 17 year old. He ducked his head when I said hello to him, his hand playing with the sleeve of his hoodie and that was when I saw the blue and purple bruises painting his arms.

It made me so mad to think that someone was hurting him, especially as he was so shy that he didn't want to speak or even look up in the eyes. We didn't get a word out of him until the two were just about to leave, when he spoke in a tiny voice, thanking us for letting him come around. I gave him a smile and a nod, letting Vikk drag him up the stairs to his room with a bag of chips in hand.

We left them alone until quarter to 5, when I went upstairs to tell Lachlan that we would be dropping him home soon. I pushed open the door gently, hearing a movie playing, and then smiled at what I saw.

Both of them were on Vikk's bed and there was the empty bag of chips thrown carelessly on the floor, but what made me smile was the two of them. Vikk was leaning against the headboard with his phone in hand and Lachlan was fast asleep with his head on Vikk's lap. Vikk was absentmindedly running his hand through the blondes hair, humming.

It was such a cute scene that I had to take out my phone and snap a picture without Vikk noticing, and then I spoke up.

"Hey Vikk." I whispered. "I was gonna come and say that Lachlan has to go home in 15 but I'll get Josh to call his guardians and tell them he's sleeping over, we'll get him home in the morning. He's too tired to wake up."

Vikk smiled and nodded, mouthing a grateful thank you in my direction. I smiled and shut the door, leaving the two in peace.

I sprinted down the stairs to show Josh and Tobi the picture, who awed at the picture just like I did. Lachlan looked so young in it that my immediate reaction was to protect him, stop him from going back to the place where I knew he was being abused.

The conversation with Lachlan's "parents" went about as well as I expected it to.

In other words, everything went to shit.

The second Josh told them that Lachlan would be staying over because he fell asleep the man started screaming at him, demanding that we bring his "son" home at once because he had chores to do. Josh just kept calmly explaining that Lachlan was exhausted and he didn't want to wake him up, and he would be home by 10 the next morning.

After 10 minutes of going back and forwards they reluctantly agreed, although something told us that we would have to fight to get him back over to ours again. Josh slammed the phone on the bench once he was done, looking like he wanted to stab something.

"How can they do this to him!" He yelled, kicking the chair. "They're giving him no freedom, they're refusing to let him go out, he's a teenager for fuck's sake! It's a rite of passage to go out with friends and with what he's been through I should think it's a given!"

Josh was fuming and so was I, I took in a deep breath through my teeth.

"I swear to god I will get that boy out of there, no matter what it takes."