Work Text:
December 18, 2019
Vasquez Residence
Billy sat at the desk he shared with Freddie in their room. He was trying to read through a book he had to read for his English class. But being in a house with seven other people had made that difficult. Billy loved his new family and was the happiest he's ever been, but living with seven other people was abnormal for him and made him uncomfortable. And with still being the new addition to the family, he felt as if he was the center of attention a lot of the time. He was shaken out of his thoughts by a soft knock on the door, "Come in," Billy answered, not turning his head from his book.
"Hey, are done with that yet?" Billy heard from a voice he recognized instantly that always came with the clanging of a crutch hitting the floor."No, not even close," Billy answered, staying glued to the book.
"Well, you think you can take a break, dinner's ready, and Victor has tried calling you three times," Freddie joked. "Sorry, I've just been focused," Billy apologized, closing the book and looking up at his best friend. "It's cool just hurry on down before all the food is gone," Freddie said before exiting the room.
When Billy got downstairs, everyone was already sitting ready to eat, and Victor was first to greet him. "There you are evreything, okay? I called you three times."
"Yeah sorry just reading," Billy said awkwardly before taking his seat.
Once Billy was seated, Victor began his prayer "All hands on deck!" Everyone put their hands in including Billy. "Thank you for this food. Thank you for this family, and thankfully we have a real turkey." Victor said jokingly, but still sincere. Everyone laughed or smirked at the joke except for Darla who drew daggers at Victor.
Soon everyone began filling their plates with turkey, corn, and pieces of bread. Billy had grown to appreciate the effort that Rosa and Victor put into meals making sure they were quality. Most foster homes Billy had been in made frozen food or got takeout for almost every meal. This was a nice change of pace.
"So how was everyone's day at school?" Rosa asked as everyone began eating. Darla spoke up first, "I made a new friend; his name is Lucas."
"That's a nice name when can we meet him?" Rosa asked. "I don't know he said he's really busy with football," Darla explained taking a bite of turkey.
"That's too bad-" Rosa began to say. "Yeah he's really nice plus I wanted to make him a poster with tons of glitter and pretty colors mainly pink and purple..." Darla said, cutting off Rosa and beginning to ramble.
Rosa moved on and turned her attention to Pedro, "How was your day Pedro did you get that math test back?" Pedro nodded as he chewed some turkey, "Got a B-," Pedro said nonchalantly. Pedro wasn't always the most exceptional student, so a B was a big deal.
"Oh Mi Amor, that's great," Rosa congratulated.
Victor joined in, "Eugene, how did the science project go? You were working on that fan-,"
"Turbine," Eugene pointed out.
"Turbine," Victor corrected. "But how did it go?"
"Good, but I only got 105 points I should have gotten at least 110," Eugene bragged.
"105 is still really good," Victor pointed out. "And remember what I always say,"
"Don't focus on the negative," Everybody droned out except for Billy and Rosa. Rosa smiled at the kid's reaction while Billy felt awkward since he hadn't been here long enough to know Victor said that expression often.
"Freddie, Mary?" Rosa said, asking the question silently. "Good," Mary answered before sipping her glass. "I finished that one scholarship essay I've been working on for the last week."
"Which one?" Victor asked. "The one where I talk about how excited I am to go to college, I made sure to mention that I was a foster kid like you said."
"Good girl." Victor praised. "What about you, Freddie?" Rosa asked.
"Alright, finished reading a new Superman study," Freddie said passively.
"What about?" Eugene piped in. "About how he pees," Freddie said nonchalantly.
"Oh..." Mary and Rosa said together. Freddie smirked as he always did when he weirded one of his family members out, he got a strange joy from it.
Finally, it was Billy's turn, "Billy, how was your day?" Rosa asked softly.
"Good," Billy said quickly with a small smile.
Billy was still adjusting to Rosa and Victor asking about how he was doing no one's done that in so long it would take time for him to open up and Rosa and Victor were okay with waiting, but they still made an effort so Billy knew they cared and that he could talk to them.
"That's good, anything interesting?" Rosa asked, pressing. "Nope," Billy said quickly. Dealing with foster kids who often came with issues Rosa and Victor knew when to stop pressing and right now was one of those times.
The rest of the meal's conversation went into a variety of subjects with Victor, Rosa, and Darla leading the discussion. Freddie and Mary piped in here and there while Pedro and Billy kept quiet and ate their food. Billy was enjoying dinner and listening to the rest of the family talk about different things, but he wasn't ready for what happened next.
"Hey, Billy, I've meant to ask you? Did you find your Mom?" Eugene asked. The whole table got quiet as the air turned cautiously tense.
Billy acted as if he didn't hear Eugene and continued eating. "Wait what's this about Billys Mom?" Freddie asked with interest.
"Eugene found her," Mary said, turning to Freddie. "I found her, right?" Eugene asked Billy.
Billy stopped chewing and cautiously looked up. "Yeah...it was her."
"How'd it go?" Mary asked. "It wasn't a good time," Billy said quickly and straightly. "Oh..." Mary said as an awkward silence fell over the room.
Billy felt a wave of anger and frustration boil in him. He hated it. "Will you go back?" Darla quickly asked oblivious to the tension of the room. Rosa and Mary shot her warning glances.
"No, she didn't want me," Billy said, keeping his tone neutral. She never did.
"Oh, Billy, I'm so sorry you don't deserve that-" Mary began to say. "It's fine," Billy said, cutting her off.
"Billy, that's not fine she can't just do that-" Freddie began raising his voice. Billy put his fork down, wiped his mouth with his napkin, and got up angrily shoving in his chair harshly.
"Billy!" Freddie yelled. "Don't!" Billy said, turning his head, storming upstairs.
Billy wanted to scream and cry and maybe even punch the wall. How could one person who was supposed to love him take so much from him and cause him this much pain? He hated it; it wasn't fair and, it wasn't right.
Billy slammed the door to his room and threw himself onto Freddie's bed, putting his face into his hands. He felt guilty for storming upstairs like he just did and taking his anger out on everyone they didn't deserve that, especially after everything they've done for him. They gave him a home and opened their arms more than once even after running away not once but twice, and despite all the stupid decisions he's made over the last two weeks they took him back in. No one else has done that before.
Billy still longed for his Mother's love even though he knew that getting love from her was a fantasy. As he thought of this, his vision began to blur as he fought with his tears.
The door slowly creaked open. Billy hid his face in his knees, "I don't want to talk."
There was no response; instead, whoever came in, walked over, and sat down next to Billy. He looked up and saw it was Mary. "Hey," Mary said softly, "You, okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine, and I'm sorry for what I did downstairs," Billy said, raising his head from his knees.
"Billy, you have nothing to be sorry for," Mary explained with a soft smile and a caring voice. "Yes, I do. I shouldn't be angry with you guys...you don't deserve that."
"Oh, Billy," Mary said, wiping away Billy's tears. "It's okay to be angry after everything that happened with your Mom, we understand."
"Still I shouldn't be angry or yell at anyone especially Freddie," Billy said choking up a bit. "You guys were so nice to me at first, and I was a real dick only because I was angry that I couldn't find my Mom. And then I finally find her, and it's the exact opposite of what I expected," Billy rambled with his voice sounding angrier as he went on.
Mary opened her mouth to say something, but Billy continued his rant. "It's the 21st century if she really wanted to find me she could of I should have realized sooner; instead, I wasted ten years of my life looking for her."
"But you didn't," Mary said softly turning Billy's face towards hers."Billy if you hadn't kept looking you would have never found us and despite how badly you think you wasted your time trust me you didn't. We all want someone to love us and protect us, and you thought if you looked hard enough, you would find the person who could give you that."
The truth hit Billy hard, and he realized Mary was right. If he hadn't kept looking for his Mom, he wouldn't be where he is now. He wouldn't be with his family he'd be all alone probably living on the streets with just his fake memory of his Mother.
"Thanks, Mary," Billy said, embracing into a hug. "Your welcome, just remember you can talk to us. Any of us," Mary said, embracing the hug and squeezing as hard as she could letting Billy know she was there, and she always would be.
"Thanks, and I know that now."