Work Text:
It was dark. Dear god, it was so dark.
"Liam, babe? Open your eyes and get out of the car. We're going to be late."
Liam sighed, but chuckled softly when he blinked up and saw his husband, Harry, smiling goofily from the other side of the car door.
Exiting the car, he took Harry's hand and kissed his forehead. "I'm fine, I'm ready. Let's go, love, you're making us late." Liam laughed as Harry rolled his eyes and pulled him into the building.
*
“This is it. Are you ready?" Liam looked at Harry and swallowed thickly.
'We're really going through with this,' Liam thought to himself. To be quite honest, he felt a bit faint.
He shook off his worry and squeezed Harry's hand. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” he answered as Harry smiled at him.
“Right this way gentlemen.” One of the social workers they'd been working with ushered them into a room full of children, all within a certain age range.
Blocks were being thrown about and dolls were being dressed. The room smelt of powder and baby.
Harry loved it.
He inhaled deeply and started to bounce on the heels of his feet. One of these kids would come home with them today and he couldn’t be happier.
He and the love of his life we're finally getting a child of their own!
While Harry went around to wave and smile at any toddler in every direction, Liam focused on a kid sitting in the corner, who looked slightly familiar.
The boys face was stuffed into his folded arms and his knees were pressed to his chest. He looked so out of place and lonely compared to the smiling children and Liam’s heart went out to the poor lad.
The kid must have felt eyes on him because when he finally looked up, his gaze landed on Liam.
With widened eyes, the boy ran to Liam and latched onto the man's leg. Liam’s eyes met watery blue ones and the recognition hit Liam like a freight train.
"Shit," Liam cursed as the burning house came into view. Just as the truck pulled up, a window from the once beautiful home exploded.
“Hey, Jack! Is anyone still in there?” Liam had to yell to the police captain. The noisy chaos was only getting louder. Liam was hoping whoever owned the place wasn’t home.
"One of the neighbors called the fire in. Apparently it's a couple and their 3 year old son, they were having a night in. No one's come out of the house."
“Damnit,” Liam swore again. He was counting on this not being a rescue. Quickly, Liam readied a few teams and started to prepare for the worst. He was going in, and it was now or never.
Liam told his partner, Martin, to be on stand by incase he needed backup. He kicked in the front door and was instantly hit with an intense heat.
Seeing how big the house was on the inside, Liam signaled for Martin to scout out the bottom floor and he'd take the top. Heading upstairs, he heard a loud wailing.
Kicking in a bedroom door, Liam saw a child in a crib completely red from screaming and the heat. He hurried to grab the boy and quiet him so he wouldn’t inhale anymore smoke.
The tiny boy clutched onto him tightly as Liam cradled his head and led him out the house.
Walking outside, he signaled for the teams to hose the place down.
Liam met up with Martin at an ambulance, but the man just shook his head when he saw the young boy whimpering and clutching Liam.
"The couple was practically burnt to a crisp in the kitchen," Martin reported as he watched the boy refuse to let go of Liam.
Liam sighed and looked down at the boy. "Crap. Well this one needs to get treated and it doesn't look like he's going to let me go anywhere else anytime soon, so I'll catch up later."
After that night, Liam hadn't seen the small boy again.
Liam smiled sadly and lifted the boy into his arms. He held on to the man just as tightly as he did when Liam saved him from the fire well over a month ago.
“His name's-"
"Louis." Liam finished, not taking his eyes off the boy.
The social worker smiled. "He doesn't speak, as far as we know. But would you like to head into a room for a private session with him?” Liam turned to see her and Harry standing behind him.
Liam's heart started to swell as he saw the fond look Harry was giving Louis.
The little boy nodded eagerly with unshed tears in his eyes. In the past few weeks, he'd seen enough kids with big people go for a 'private session' to get an idea of what it was. Those kids left the building with big smiles on their faces. Louis wanted to leave like that too.
Liam felt horrible seeing Louis cry. With red cheeks, wet eyes and a pout, the boy looked so sad. He never wanted to see that look again on the adorably small child. Liam wanted to make him smile.
“I don't think we'll need that,” Harry told the social worker, his eyes never leaving Louis', who in return tilted his head curiously. Harry then turned to Liam. He was looking at him with big greens eyes full of love. Liam knew right then Harry loved this kid.
“Harry's right, we don't need the session. He's ours, no doubt about it,” Liam grinned. He wiped a tear from Louis cheek and kissed the boys forehead.
Louis hugged Liam with small arms and returned his gesture with a smile, a small one, but a smile nonetheless.
And the boy being shy was okay. Liam knew that he and Harry had lots of love and plenty of time to work on it.