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It’d been a year and a half since you saw your kid, and just as expected it was the shittiest and saddest thing that’d happened to you.
You’d been doing literally everything you could to provide for him and all the things he needed, having an autistic son wasn’t exactly easy but you were more than happy to devote your entire life to getting him a good childhood. Jobs hadn’t been easy to land and actually keep for long enough. So you took pretty much whatever job you could, even if you had to take two and hardly get any sleep. It was for Mituna, and it reminded you of the Simpson’s episode where Homer covered the poster with pictures of his kid that said “do it for her.”
Apparently that wasn’t enough. Your best wasn’t enough to keep him with you. Someone, you still didn’t know who, had called CPS to check up on the two of you. A week's notice wasn’t enough, no matter how many times you tried to convince yourself and Mituna that everything was going to be okay, neither of you could believe it one hundred percent. The visit with the CPS worker didn’t go too well and the woman had talked to both of you for a while, then said that there was a very nice foster family ready to take Mituna in now.
Your entire world was falling through your fingertips. None of this had gone over well with Mituna. Things that were spontaneous like that tended to set him off and upset him more than anyone wanted. You knew how to calm him down, you were the only one who’d spend eight years with him and knew his quirks and what to expect and you couldn’t imagine your life without him. He was your kid, someone couldn’t just take him away when you were doing everything in your power to provide for him. It pissed you off more than anything and after the woman had left and you put Mituna to bed, you went out to the backyard to smoke. It took the anger away for a little while, Mituna didn’t know, the CPS worker didn’t know, no one had to know but you. It really wasn't a big deal but you was sure that the CPS worker would throw a fit over it.
Most of Mituna’s things had been left at your house since he would be coming back. They said that he was going to be with a foster family and once you were deemed to be a parent again, then he’d be flown back out here to be with you. It might be months or years, he wasn’t up for adoption though. You were planning to make this as short as possible because you couldn’t even imagine how awful this was for Mituna. He didn’t handle change well, even when everyone assured that they would make this as easy for him as possible. Keeping him with you would be the easiest option but they weren’t going to let you do that, no matter how long you practically begged. Not your most prideful moment but it was for your kid.
Thankfully, you got to call him a lot and talk to the foster family, he was doing okay, the beginning was slightly rough but that was expected. School wasn’t that great since he was starting in the middle of the year in a completely new state. The highlight of your month was when you got to hear his voice on the phone. He’d never been a very verbally expressive kid unless he got overworked about something or got excited. Phone calls had always made him anxious, but he must have been happy to hear from you, right? He willingly talked about certain things with you, whether it be complaining about the teacher or the kid he had to sit next to. Summer break was much better since he got to play video games and watch TV or play with his toys as long as he wanted. It made you a bit more relaxed to know that he was okay. Maybe not completely happy or upset enough to have meltdowns all the time, he was okay and with a family that cared. Not as much as you, but that was something you couldn’t be beat at.
The permanent job hunt hadn’t been going as well as you hoped, these lame places offered part time jobs or internships and that wouldn’t get you enough money. Until a call disrupted you from browsing the internet. Some unknown number, probably a job you’d applied for that was offering an internship that was “a stepping stone to a real job in the company.” Yeah okay. With a sigh, you picked it up, listening to the person on the other side ask your name and tell you about a job. Not some shitty one that would drop you the instant someone slightly better came along. A government job, a huge government job that was exactly what you needed. It was programming and coding and basically the only stuff you could do. They’d contacted you because they heard how good you were. After biting your lip and keeping your calm, they hung up after you accepted the job immediately. Once the phone was definitely turned off, you shot up and practically hollered, being as loud as you damn wished. You scrambled for the phone again which had landed on the floor and dialed the number of the CPS office, immediately going off about how you got a job, a real job and that you weren’t going to get fired any time soon and it’d get you money. You were getting Mituna back.
That brought you to now. In the JFK airport, waiting in the chairs by the gate that Mituna was supposed to be arriving at. You’d checked the board at least twenty times since he was flying out here by himself and you didn’t want to mess up and let your kid -who would immediately have a sensory issue in one of the busiest airports in America- have an anxiety attack. You hadn’t seen him in a year and a half which was way too fucking long in your opinion. He was a little bit older than eight when they’d sent him to live with the foster family, so he was going to be ten now. It still made you pissed off that you’d missed the entirety of his nine year old life minus those phone calls, and that you weren’t there for one of his birthdays too, but you’d called and made sure to mail something over there for him. That didn’t make up for everything though.
The plane finally landed and you saw part of it in the giant window in front of you. You were going to be sick, something just made you feel awful and it was probably the fact that things were going back to normal finally. For a minute or two, you put your face in the palms of your hands, this day couldn’t have come soon enough but it also terrified you, not that you were scared for a bad reason. This was probably the second happiest day in your life, the first being when Mituna was born. Finally, people started filing out of the gate, meeting loved ones or heading off alone to get their luggage. Mituna was a kid all by himself so he’d be the last one out, probably with a stewardess behind him.
A slightly taller Mituna walked out of the door, clutching a round stuffed bee that you’d gotten him when he was born, they’d been your favorite animals so you tried to pass it down to him and it worked. He looked distressed when he looked around the airport, the volume of everyone probably not doing a whole lot of good. You stood up, holding a present that you decided to buy a little while ago, it was a soft blanket that had a yellow and black plaid pattern on it, he’d like it. As much as you wanted to call out to him, something was stopping you. He walked slowly, looking up at the sign as if it’d show him where you were and he accidentally bumped into someone, immediately stepping back.
This was it, you had to say something. “Mituna.” You called out to him, waving a bit once he looked over, his dirty blond hair covering his eyes a little like it always had. His eyes got wide and he was immediately sprinting for you, not slowing down to hug you, wrapping his arms around your middle, pressing his face into the hoodie you were wearing. He usually wasn’t okay with people touching him, you were typically an exception, but you always made sure, except for now. Your arms were around him in an instant, trying your hardest to hold back tears. An airport was the worst place to cry since there were so many people, you rubbed away any tears before anyone could notice. Eventually, you pulled him away just a little to take his hand and hold it as you sat in one of the chairs. This wasn’t where you’d catch up on everything, you just wanted to give him the blanket and offer to carry his stuff.
“I got you this blanket since I know you love the colors and it’s super soft.” Even though he was being extra accepting of touch right now, you didn’t want to mess anything up and you handed it to him while he studied it before wrapping it around his shoulders like a cape. “It’s soft.” That was his only response and it made you smile, to actually get to hear his voice in person and not through the phone. “You want me to take your backpack?” He shook his head a bit and took a hold of his bee again, that was his safety blanket and you’d been allowed to touch it very few times so you didn’t even try. Everything from here on out was about getting him back in the swing of things and making him happy. “C’mon, let’s go home, yeah? I can’t imagine how exhausted you are and how much you must want to get back to your old room, which I didn’t touch by the way.” That elicited a small smile from him, and you knew that meant more than it seemed.