Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Something’s changed around here, I don’t know what it is but something is different. It’s not because Floss and Jay have left, or because we gained Dita and Izzy. Everything has seemed fine, but I know over the last few days, something is different. Looking around at everyone at the breakfast table, I can’t tell what it is, everyone seems so normal. Even Doreen and Ben are just as boring as usual, I check and Ben seems just the same as always whilst he rushes around behind us.

“Kyle!” He calls out, “your toast is going to be bread again by the time you’re eating it.”

“I’ll have it,” Sid’s face lights up, and he looks at Ben with actual hope.

“Ha ha, Sid,” he points at his eyes and then to Sid, if it was Doreen it would have been threatening, but it’s Ben… So it looks kind of stupid.

Kyle finally walks into the kitchen, who does he think he is coming down so late? If the rest of us can get to breakfast on time, why can’t he? And what’s he smiling for? Cold toast is nothing to be happy about.

“That’s it,” I don’t mean for the words to leave my lips and now everyone else is staring at me like I’ve got food all over my face.

“What?” Taz turns to me, she cocks her head to the side, “what’s it?”

“What? Oh, nothing, nothing,” please don’t bother to question me further, I need to do some investigating before I make assumptions… But for now I know what’s changed, Kyle Lawton has a smile on his face way more than usual, it’s almost scary.

Kyle is the change in The Dumping Ground, what could be making him smile this often? I’m watching you Kyle, I’m going to find out what’s changed to make you so weird.

Chapter Text

Sabrina thinks she can get past me? Absolutely not, as someone who lived with The Floss Guppy the longest out of anybody else here, I know when somebody is up to something. And with Sabrina, I’m sure it can’t be something very good. She’s hunched over in the hallway, peeking around the corner of the wall, I could scare her but that would foil whatever she’s doing, and maybe I’d prefer to find out what it is and if it’s something I can be involved in.

Even just tapping her shoulder lightly, she jumps, but she’s silent so I suppose nothing is given away, “Taz! Don’t do that, I’m on a mission.”

“Right… What’s your mission?”

Sabrina huffs and looks back around the wall, so I follow her lead. At the end of the hallway, Kyle is leaning against his doorframe smiling down at his phone.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Sabrina whispers.

“What’s weird?” Have I missed something, I look around, wondering if there’s more than just Kyle in sight.

“Him. He’s all… Smiley.”

“Oh,” she’s right, Kyle is smiling down at his phone a lot, “he’s got to have exceeded screentime by now, surely.”

Ben suddenly comes around the corner holding a basket of clothes, we duck back behind the wall, because a lecture from Ben would be imminent if he saw us lurking, Sabrina holds her finger to her lips to make sure I’m quiet as if I wasn’t already going along with it, and we listen close.

“Any dirty clothes?”

“Nah.”

“Alright, hey don’t spend too much time on that phone, you know what Doreen will say.”

“Square eyes, right,” Kyle laughs, and I think it actually makes Sabrina shiver. As Ben’s foosteps come closer, she nudges me and we quickly run down the stairs together, we jump onto the sofa in the living room.

Sabrina turns to me, “I’m telling you, something’s up… I don’t think that’s Kyle, I mean think about it! All smiles and laughter? And he has no dirty clothes? Kyle always has dirty clothes. Kyle has been replaced!”

“Replaced?” A voice makes the both of us jump, and Sid’s looking down at us from behind the sofa, “why would Kyle have been replaced?”

“Sabrina’s just watches one too many monster films,” I can’t help but roll my eyes, and I know that doesn’t impress Sabrina, “it’s way more obvious than that Sabrina.”

“What is it?”

“Smiles, laughter, clean clothes…” I look between Sid and Sabrina, waiting for them to catch on, but apparently, I’m the only one here with an idea of romance, “Kyle has a girlfriend!”

Chapter Text

Kyle must have a girlfriend, Taz is right. That makes so much more sense than the monster plot I had in my head. Watching him even more with that thought in my head, it’s definitely true.

He’s sitting by himself in the kitchen, smiling at his phone and picking at a bowl of crisps that Doreen probably set out for us to eat throughout the day. I jump into the seat opposite him and grin as he looks up at me.

“What do you want?” His positive tone shifts, so he’s protective of his secret.

“Why are you on your phone all the time?”

“I’m texting friends, what’s it matter to you?”

“You have friends?” I like to tease Kyle, but his reaction is different to how it usually would be, I’d expect him to slam his phone down and leave the room, then I could look at his phone and find the truth… But instead, he laughs. Taz is definitely right. “Is it your girlfriend?”

That’s the Kyle reaction I expect, he puts his phone into his pocket and glares at me for a moment, “what are you on about?”

“You do have a girlfriend! It’s true!”

“No, it’s not!”

“What’s her name?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Come on, Kyle, I’m not stupid. Taz and I figured it out. So, what’s her name?”

There’s a moment of silence, Kyle looks around and then finally gives in, “Sam.”

Kyle doesn’t even have a chance to stop me before I run out to the back garden where I know Taz and Sid are, “you were right Taz! Kyle has a girlfriend, her name is Sam!”

Taz is staring at me in what some people might call horror, and Sid is looking around… Then I notice that pretty much everyone else is outside as well, including Doreen who was sitting in one of the chairs with a book. She puts the book down and looks at me, then to Taz and Sid who still look mortified, and back to me again, “I’m not sure if this is something you should be gossiping about.”

“It’s not gossip Doreen, he told me himself!”

“But he didn’t tell everyone else, did he?” She looks disappointed in me as she stands up, “I’ll go talk to him.”

I run across the garden to Taz and Sid, I can hear everyone else whispering questions about Kyle already, “well done,” Sid comments, “now everybody knows, Kyle’s going to hate you.”

“He’s going to hate me after Doreen talks to him about it.”

“Don’t get us involved whatever you do,” Taz turns away, “this was all your doing.”

“I already told him you were involved.”

“Sabrina!”

Chapter Text

Doreen is looking at me like she means business, what have I done wrong now?

“Sabrina said you have a girlfriend?”

“She what?” God forbid anyone say anything to Sabrina, she’ll tell everyone anything apparently, “do I have to fill out a form to be in a relationship? Is that part of your new rules?”

“So, you do have a girlfriend? That’s fine, and no you don’t have to fill anything out,” Doreen laughs, like she’s trying to make me feel comfortable – the truth is I’m not comfortable about any of this, “you should invite her over for dinner.”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll think about it. If it’s okay with Sam… Is Ben going to be around today?”

“Yes, he’ll be here a bit later. I get it, you’d feel more comfortable talking to a man about this, hm? Though I’m not sure if Ben-”

I shake my head quickly, I just need Doreen to stop talking, “I need to talk to him about something else, something I know he can help with.”

“Right,” she points at me phone, “well send Sam a message, let her know she’s welcome to come to dinner tonight.”

“Tonight? Sam might have plans…”

“Tomorrow then, it would be nice to meet her.”

“What if I’m not ready to introduce Sam to…” I look out the window at the others who are all running around outside, playing some silly game that Fraser has probably invented again, “them?”

“Just think about it.”

Kyle: My careworker wants you to come to the DG for dinner…

Sam: Omg did you tell them?

Kyle: Not exactly…

Chapter Text

As soon as Ben got here Kyle had to be the first one to talk to him and they’ve been in the office for like an hour at least… Alright maybe more like twenty minutes, but I can’t lipread and when they saw me watching they turned away anyway so even if I could read lips now I just saw the back of their stupid heads!

When the door finally unlocks, I can’t help but stay silent and listen.

“I look forward to meeting Sam.”

“Yeah,” Kyle’s voice sounds almost nervous, he walks into the living room and looks straight at me, “you listening in?”

“I was trying to.”

“Yeah well don’t, you’ve snooped around in my business enough as it is,” he huffs and stuffs his hands in his pockets, “just mind your own business in the future Sabrina, don’t go around prying into others.”

He walks away, I think it’s a little bit dramatic, it’s only a girlfriend. I decide to follow him to the kitchen, and at the table, everyone’s waiting their turn to ask him a question.

First Clem, “is she pretty?”

Then Fraser, “is she cool?”

Then Wes, “does she like tea?”

Then Bonnie, “is she funny?”

Kyle ignores all of them, turns back to glare at me and then just walks straight past everyone out into the garden.

“I don’t get it,” I say as Taz and Sid join me, “aren’t people supposed to brag about their girlfriends? Not just get mad when people want to know more?”

“Maybe she’s ugly,” Clem shrugs, “that’s why he’s not saying anything, he’s ashamed.”

“Why would he date someone he doesn’t think is pretty?” Fraser shakes his head, “no, maybe she’s just weird, you know? Like he gets her and we don’t.”

“Maybe it’s someone we know,” Bonnie gasps.

“Or maybe we’re all just getting too involved,” Taz suggests, “let Kyle talk about her whenever he wants to, it’s not like we have to know every detail of his life.”

Chapter Text

“How did you manage to get him to invite her over? He didn’t want to when I suggested it,” Doreen questions as the two of us stand watching a pacing Kyle.

“Kyle was worried, that’s all, I gave him a bit of a pep talk, some advice about Sam.”

“Really? I didn’t exactly think you’re the type to help with that kind of problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“Girlfriends.”

She has no clue, I laugh quietly and keep an eye on Kyle to make sure he’d not going to be too overwhelmed, I realise it’s hard when the other kids are not so secretly watching from the living room, “it’s important that Kyle is comfortable enough to introduce us all to Sam.”

“Right, of course.”

The knock at the door looks as though it frightens the life out of Kyle, even I’m starting to feel nervous. The other children have all gathered at the living room door, there’s no room for secrecy here. Kyle walks over to the door and glances back at me, I promised him no matter what, I’ll be here for him. I give him a nod, and he turns the handle.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Kyle steps aside and welcomes Sam inside. I can’t lie, it brings me a little bit of joy seeing Doreen’s face and hearing only silence from the other kids, he looks around, finally clearing his throat and saying, “everyone, this is Sam,” Kyle’s expression starts to faulter at the sign of silence but he manages to force out the final two words, “my boyfriend.”

I look to Doreen, her mouth is slightly open from shock but she’s still managing a smile somehow, “so… What kind of problem were you on about?”

“I just assumed that… Oh nevermind,” Doreen waves a hand at me and then moves forward, “good afternoon, Sam, it’s a pleasure to finally meet the person behind the name.”

“You’re not a girl,” Sabrina comments abruptly, Kyle doesn’t seem to upset by her words he just looks at her and shrugs.

“You’re right, he’s not.”

“So, I was wrong, you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you let me think that? You could have just told me! Hi Sam, I’m Sabrina.”

The children suddenly gather around Kyle and Sam, asking Sam many questions that he can’t answer all at once, but he does his best to talk to all of them. It’s heartwarming to see.

“Well, it’s nice to see they’re all taking it well.”

“Better than my family did,” my words are almost a whisper, I don’t want any of the kids to hear, “this place, these kids, this is a real family.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Doreen pats my back, “let’s leave them all to it, get the dinner ready.”

“Right.”

Chapter Text

Sam isn’t too overwhelmed by everyone’s questions, as annoying as they all are, I think he actually kind of enjoys the attention from them all. Sabrina, of course, is the most interested of all of them.

“How did you two meet?” She asks as she squeezes herself next to Sam on the sofa.

“We met in school,” Sam answers quite easily, “we’ve been friends for a little while but then kind of realised we like each other more than that.”

“That’s so sweet,” Taz comments, she’s perched herself on the coffee table in front of us. Everyone seems to be interested since they’re all gathered in here, except Hugo. I stand up, since the crowd of the other kids is a bit too much.

“Sam, I’m going to go find Hugo quickly, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll stay here, I think Sabrina has a hundred questions.”

“More like two hundred! Did you ask Kyle out or did he ask you?”

I leave Sam to answer the question and make my way upstairs, I can hear Hugo’s voice, only his, he’s definitely talking to Little Hug. I knock on his door and wait, eventually his door opens and he looks up at me from the gap, “oh, hello.”

I crouch down to be at his level, it’s always been easier talking to him like this, “why aren’t you downstairs? Don’t you like Sam?”

“I like Sam, I always have, he’s super cool and he makes you happy,” he pouts slightly, “but now everybody knows. I thought it was just me that got to know.”

“You were the first one to know, Hugo, but I couldn’t hide it from everyone forever.”

“It’s not a super special secret if everyone knows it.”

“No, but you’re super special because you were the first one. You can go and tell everyone how special you are because you got to talk to Sam before everyone else.”

I don’t know if I’ve won him over at first, but then he starts to smile and holds Little Hug close to him, “okay then,” he accepts my reasoning and grabs my hand so we can walk back downstairs together, in the living room Sabrina is still questioning Sam.

“Do you like movies?”

“I love them, I’ve made short films for some art projects.”

“You make films too! I want to be a filmmaker when I’m older, we should make a film together!”

Sam doesn’t respond to Sabrina as I enter the room with Hugo, instead he stands up from the sofa and holds out his arms, “hello Hugo!” As Hugo runs over to Sam and is lifted up into a hug, everyone is a little bit taken aback, “you’re even more adorable than you are through a phone screen.”

“Sorry what?” Sabrina looks at me, “did Hugo know?”

I nod, “he’s the only one who knew before you started prying into my life.”

“Well why wouldn’t you tell the rest of us? Can’t trust us?”

“It’s not that, you don’t understand how hard it is to tell people this kind of stuff, like… If I lived with my dad and told him something like this, well I’d be right back here again I suppose.”

“We’re not your dad though, I thought we were all friends here,” Sabrina huffs and suddenly leaves the room, I glance at Sam who’s still holding Hugo, he give me a small smile that I can tell it supportive, it’s tiring living with the other kids, there has to be drama one way or another.

Chapter Text

As if Kyle doesn’t trust the rest of us to tell us the truth about his boyfriend but he trusts Hugo out of all of us? That’s favourtism at it’s finest. I’m more than happy to stay out of the way now, it was fair when none of us knew, but if he could tell Hugo why couldn’t he tell the rest of us?

There’s a knock on the door and it slowly opens, Ben pokes his head in, “Sabrina? Taz said you ran off, I thought you wanted to meet Sam the most,” he laughs quietly, like he’s trying to cheer me up, well it’s not working. He takes my silence as a sign and enters the room, “what’s wrong?”

“Kyle didn’t trust us, he didn’t want to tell us about Sam.”

“Right.”

“But he told Hugo, Hugo and Sam pretty much knew each other! They may as well have been best friends, but none of us got to know Sam even existed before today!”

“Sabrina, it’s not as easy as just telling people.”

“Why not? It’s just words, isn’t it? ‘I have a boyfriend’.”

Ben sighs, he rubs his hands together and goes quiet for a moment before speaking again, “being a boy and telling people that, some people can be horrible about it. Kyle’s lucky, all of you are his family and you’re all amazing kids. Suppose that there was someone here who wasn’t as nice though, it’s scary, because you never really know who could be against you.”

“But he knows we’re all nice people.”

“I thought my parents were nice people, I thought they were the best, but when I told them I liked a boy… It’s the whole reason I got involved in care, I wanted to make sure children who may be abandoned by their parents for something like that have a safe space and can talk to someone who understands and cares. I wanted to make sure they got a chance to have a parental figure that would accept them.”

“I don’t get it, what’s so wrong about it?”

“There’s nothing wrong about it, there’s just something wrong with some people in the world. Some people can be so horrible just because you don’t love who they want you to love. Right now, Sabrina, the last thing Kyle needs is you being upset he didn’t tell you sooner. He was scared to introduce you all to Sam, that’s why I was talking to him in the office earlier. Now, I think it would be best if you go back down there and join them again, apologise to Kyle and just make Sam feel welcome, okay?”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

“Save your apologies for Kyle,” Ben laughs and then leaves my room. I take a moment before following him out of the room. I didn’t think about how difficult it was for Kyle, I didn’t understand why it would be so difficult for him. Maybe that was selfish of me to think like that, but Ben seems to know better. The living room is empty, and only. Doreen is in the kitchen.

“Where is everyone?”

“They’re out in the garden,” she smiles, “go join them, we’ll call you all when dinner’s ready.”

Chapter Text

Sam is doing his best to let the others win, but maybe his skills at football are a little bit more advanced than theirs are. Hugo’s sitting next to me, both him and Little Hug cheering for Sam. As I look around, I can see Sabrina coming towards us, and Ben’s watching her from where he’s just placed himself to do some gardening. Sabrina sits on the bench next to me and smiles, which is odd to see.

“I’m sorry that I acted like that.”

“It’s so difficult making sure you’re all happy,” I laugh, glancing to Hugo on the otherside, “Hugo was upset that everyone else found out but then you were upset that Hugo knew first.”

“Ben explained why it was difficult for you to tell us, I shouldn’t have got so upset.”

“Let’s not drag it out too much, hey? You know now, and you all reacted so much better than I thought you would.”

The ball rolls over to us, stopping at Sabrina’s feet, we look up at everyone else, Sam is closest, smiling at Sabrina, “are you going to join in or what?” Sabrina jumps up and kicks the ball back to the game, I’m filled with pride watching them all playing football together, everyone enjoys Sam’s company. This was a much better reaction than I thought would happen. Sam glances over to me at some points, it seems he’s just as happy with the reaction as I am, I think he really feels welcome and comfortable here. I’m glad to have everyone here, perhaps it’s the most supportive family I could have asked for, I’m in the right place here.