Chapter Text
Nathaniel stared down into his lap as he picked at his nails. Peeling at the skin till it stung then popping the finger into his mouth to sooth the pain. The taste of copper soothed him as his case worker blathered on to the man and woman in the room with them. He doesn’t remember what she said they’re names were, but Nathaniel made sure his chair was the farthest from the man. He was big, maybe bigger than his dad and he had black flame tattoos running up his arms. The lady next to him has long blonde hair and is smiling softly at him. He looks away from her quickly and goes back to picking at his nails.
“The trauma Nathaniel has faced from the past weeks has made him develop selective mutism, therapy can help with his mutism and helping him process this trauma,” the case worker tells the man and woman. She hands them a folder which he knows probably tells them all the things his dad has done. He wants to grab that folder, to rip it up and flush the shreds in the toilet. He doesn’t want them to read it, to know how bad of a kid he was to deserve the things his dad did in that basement. How he made him-
“You okay kiddo, you’re looking a little pale,” the man asks. He shrugs lightly not wanting to make eye contact. His case worker gets out of her seat and kneels in front of him.
“Do you want to go home with Mr. Wymack and Ms. Winfield today or wait till next week, either way I’ll be driving you there Nathaniel,” he tries, really tries not to flinch at his name but after only hearing it be spat at him for the past few months from his father its hard, he hopes Mr. Wymack and Ms. Winfield don’t notice. He shrugs again and his case worker sighs.
“How about we go today,” she tries, and he gives her a tiny nod.
The car ride there feels excruciatingly slow and extremely fast all at the same time. He clutches his bag to his chest ignoring the way his stitches stretch uncomfortably with the movement. He hates that he doesn’t know the rules of this house, if he fits comfortably in the closet if Mr. Wymack yells or gets mad like his dad. He doesn’t think they’ll make him hurt anything or anyone like his dad and Lola would make him. His case worker and old therapist made clear that wasn’t normal but he’s still nervous. His case worker interrupts his thoughts, “We’re here Nathaniel,” he bites his cheek hard to stop from flinching and exits the car. The house looks cozy from the outside, its much smaller than his old house but that’s okay. The garage is open and Mr. Wymack and Ms. Winfield and standing just outside the garage door. His case worker leads him up to them and every step makes the little pool of dread in his stomach grow larger and larger. Ms. Winfield offers to take his bag, but he shakes his head no frantically.
“Okay, Okay I won’t take it kiddo,” she gives him a look he can’t really place. His case worker leaves quickly after finalizing details with the two adults leaving Nathaneil standing in the thresh hold of the garage feeling out of place.
Nathaneil couldn’t help but notice the family photos around the house, some were of the adults and a boy with deep brown hair and someone photos even had a young black girl in them. Mr. Wymack must have caught him looking because he pointed to the photo.
“That’s my son Kevin and my old foster daughter Dan, she lives with her aunt now, just down the road,” he nods slowly to that. He hopes Kevin is nice, he hasn’t had any type of siblings before, so he isn’t sure what to expect. Mr. Wymack tells him that Kevin won’t be home till around dinner time because he has Little League Exy practice.
They guide him throughout the house. When they show him his room Ms. Winfield hands him a little notebook and smiles at him.
“If you ever want to talk or tell us anything you can write it down in here, we’ll get you an AAC soon as well,” he stares down at the notebook, it’s a deep blue with little stars and \constellations on it. He flips open the first page and writes:
“thank you ms winfeild”
She waits patiently as he writes and chuckles when he showers her the notebook, “You can just call me Abby, kiddo, you can call him David if you want but most the kids around here just call him Wymack”. He nods to that, he tries not to ponder on her calling him kiddo too much, Dad and Mom would just call him Nathaniel and Mom could call him Abram in secret.
Abby and Wymack leave the room to let him settle in as they start dinner. Nathaniel splays his hands over the duvet of his new bed and smiles softly as the soft feeling. He looks around the room, in the dressers, the closet under the bed and by the desk. The closet and bed seem like the best hiding places, but he can’t be sure just yet. He doesn’t pull his stitches hiding under bed and the closet seems a little dusty and he doesn’t want to track dust around the room.
He's doesn’t know how long he’s been in his new room when he hears the front door slam. Nathaniel jumps at first thinking his dad is home when he remembers where exactly he is. As Nathaniel creeps out to the kitchen he can hear excited chattering from the living room. He peeps around the corner to see the Wymack’s son talking his ear off. The boy stops mid-sentence and stares directly at Nathaniel with his mouth hanging open.
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me he was here you told me you would tell me,” Kevin whines. Wymack just sighs, “I was trying to kiddo but someone’s a chatter box” he says with a ruffle of Kevin’s hair.
The older boy bounds over to him with a toothy smile, “Hi, I’m Kevin dad told me you’re name is Nathaniel. Sorry I wasn’t here earlier, I was at Exy practice, do you like Exy, I love Exy, my favorite team is the USC Trojans because Dad said my favorite team can’t be the foxes just because he coaches the foxes-”
“Woah their buddy,” Wymack interrupts, “Don’t bombard him like that remember what Abby and I said about his notebook, he has to answer from there.” Kevin looks sheepish but waits patiently for him to write in his notebook.
“i know a little about exy, not much though” He writes. Kevin smiles and opens his mouth to speak again when Abby interrupts that dinner is ready.
“I’ll tell you more about Exy after dinner because Abby banned Exy talk at the dinner table.” Kevin pouts.