Flowers In The Walls

October Therapy

Summary: Seven years later, and Dark no longer feels he will break...

October thirty-first comes quickly for them after the initial adoption. Anthony - the blond boy they had adopted a few months ago by now - had settled in nicely with both Wilford and Dark. Though he still called Wilford 'Sir', and Dark 'Mister', the young seven year old seemed to be getting used to going to the local school and coming home to see the two men. His twin, Marley however, is much slower to accustom himself to the new environment.

He stays as close to his brother as possible, and will not let either of the men come close to him, nor speak above a quiet mumble. He hides behind his hair and picks and gnaws at any skin he can find to do so to.

Dark has tried to bring up the topic of taking the poor thing to therapy with Wilford, but he cannot manage to find the right time to bring it up in conversation.

The being is too scared to, as he does not know how the other will react considering what was told to them back at the orphanage. And he doesn't want to cause the young child to not trust in him either. Beyond the fear and waiting he can see within his eyes, he can feel a brightness to him that he adores though he has not seen it in action yet.

But then Marley has his first panic attack while with them.

It was ugly and terrifying for both men. Wilford panicked, pacing back and forth and reaching out to try and comfort the child, only to pull himself back in fear of making things worse. Dark knows how to handle it however, as he has dealt with many back at HQ with both clients and employees alike.

He sits himself in front of the child and waits it out, his knees brought up to mimic him without stuffing his face into them and trying to pull his hair out. When he can feel him slowly coming down on his own, he gently takes his tiny wrists into his big, calloused hands and brings his hands away from his face and hair. Darks' voice is soft and gentle as he asks him to tell him what happened, how he and Wilford can attempt to make it better for him so he doesn't get so frightened in the future.

That's when the truth comes out.

He is terrified and overwhelmed by everything. The big empty house, the deep unsettling silence that comes with night, the sudden distance from his brother, and the dysphoria he feels though he does not yet know that is what it is he feels.

The way he and Wilford go about fixing it is instant. The next day they allow the twins to skip school in favor of helping them decorate the house to help make it feel more like the family home it is. They have Anthony move from down the hall to the room directly across from where Marleys' is.

To fix the silence at night they buy a small music box to put in his room, and they turn the AC down so that there is noise for the full hour and a half it takes him to fall asleep at night, and then some. Both Dark and Wilford do extensive research, teaching themselves how best to raise a transgender child, and they ask Marley what he would like to be called from now on.

It takes a few moments before the small, long haired boy blurts out the name Markus.

Dark decides then and there that Markus is a much better fit for the child than Marley ever was. It's not easy to switch from she/her pronouns and his name from before, but the two men make do. They know not to make a big issue when they fumble in their speech when addressing Markus and they take him to a therapist who specializes in dealing with trans youth in the next city over.

Slowly, Markus opens up, just as his brother had.

He still has panic attacks in the next few months - though the next few times Wilford is better prepared. They set up a whole section of the couch in Darks office just for him, full of pillows and stuffed animals he can hug and squeeze in place of hurting himself.

Wilford recruits Anthony in helping him make a soothing playlist for his brother, and Dark keeps his favorite ice cream and juice in the small fridge underneath his desk for when Markus finally begins to calm down.

It's a bumpy road over the next two years, full of doctors and surgeries and reassuring their children that they are there to support them. The twins are nine, turning ten, when Leeanna joins their family at the age of fifteen, and twelve when Sharron joins too at fourteen. Within that time frame Dark asks Wilford out, and the two begin dating.

Together they make the best of what they have together, taking special care in regards to their four children. Dark is the happiest he's ever been in the countless decades he's been alive. He takes time off from work at HQ to stay home with his kids whenever one of them gets sick, even into their teen years because he loves and cares for them that much.

It may have taken seven years, but Dark, upon coming home one October thirty-first to see his family dressed up and waiting for him in costumes, but he finally feels that once empty hole somewhere deep in his chest fill to the brim and then pour out into the rest of his body.