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He was halfway down the stairs when Darius came into view, searching his bag for something.
"Is everything alright, Darius?"
"Everything's fine; I've just misplaced my keys, is all. Would you mind checking the desk in my room for me?"
"Of course not, I'll be right back" running back upstairs and made his way to Darius's room at the end of the hall. Looking over the desk, he quickly found the keys on some papers.
Adoption forms.
He had to stop himself from reading them; he shouldn't have even looked. He grabbed the keys, ran out of the room, and returned downstairs. Darius was still there waiting for him, passing the keys to the man, and the two headed out for the day, Hunter having to do his best not to mention what he saw. It left him trying to avoid Darius any chance he got, hating how awful he was acting, but he knew he'd eventually break and ask the man about the papers if Hunter spent too much time with him. He kept telling himself it wasn't his place to ask.
He managed a week without saying anything, avoiding Darius; it was starting to get to him. Left wondering about the papers, why couldn't he stop thinking about them? It was none of his business. His mind shouldn't be clouded by the idea of him having to leave; after all, if Darius was going to be adopting, he wouldn't want to be in the way.
Darius would ask him if everything was alright with him each time they passed each other in the house, and every time, Hunter would tell him that there was nothing to worry about before running off again. It was pathetic, and he knew that, but he couldn't think of a better way to get around Darius, not yet, anyway.
He'd stay up late at night, desperately trying to figure out where he was going to live; he's lost track of how many times he's fallen asleep at his desk from pure exhaustion. As a result, he noticed how much slower he was; it was becoming harder to run and hide from Darius.
Darius, however, had also noticed his declining energy.
They had rerun into each other in the upstairs hallway; they had the same old conversation. Darius asked him if it was ok, him telling Darius he was fine, but as he went running past Darius like normal, he felt an arm wrap around his waist.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"My room"
"Look, Hunter, I get that you would want your space, but you've been spending an awful amount of time in there."
"I've just been busy, ok" he couldn't even bring himself to look at Darius, staring at the ground instead.
"And just what could take up so much of your time?" he didn't have time to answer, Darius had already started walking to his room, and before he knew it, he was running to the bedroom door. He wanted nothing more than to stop Darius, but the man had already let himself into the room.
Boxes were scattered across the floor; poorly written notes covered the desk, and all he could do was stand at the doorframe and watch as Darius walked around; the look of shock on his face was nearly enough to make Hunter start crying. Wouldn't he have to pack eventually, though? If that was the case, then what was with Darius?
"What's the reason for all this, little prince?" why was he asking like he didn't already know? It didn't make any sense. Guess there was no point hiding what he knew then.
"I saw the adoption forms, Darius, so I thought that if someone else was going to be moving in... I should get ready to leave."
"I'm guessing you didn't read them then."
"Why would I read them? I already invaded your privacy enough by seeing them."
"Come sit" Reluctantly, Hunter made his way over to the bed, Darius doing the same. Once the two were seated, he watched as he raised a hand to the air, drawing a small circle in the air. Abomination matter floated in the air before disappearing, leaving only the adoption forms behind.
"To tell you the truth, Hunter, I was waiting for a better time to bring this, but after all this, it would probably be better to ask you now."
"What are you talking about?"
"Just read them" Taking the papers from Darius, Hunter read through them, feeling worse about how he had acted by the minute.
"These are for me... I'm the kid," he couldn't believe it; Darius cared about him enough to adopt him.
"You don't have to sign them, not yet, not ever... I just wanted you to have to option; nothing will change either way; you can still live here regardless, move out when you're ready to, ok.
"How could I say no to something like this? You said all I needed to do was sign it, right?"
"That's right" getting up from the bed he made his way over to the desk, clearing the notes from it and picking up the pen that he'd left there. He signed the forms, he couldn't believe it was that easy, that it was done. He handed the papers back to Darius as the man started walking to the door.
"Since that's all sorted, is there anything that needs to be done that I can help with?"
"Not really, but you could always unpack", he could, Darius laughed as the man walked down the hall to his room. However, he was right about the unpacking.
After all, the room was going to be his for a while.