Chapter Text
“Hey Will?” Nico starts, waiting for his husband to get into bed.
“Yes, Sunshine?” Will lies down next to Nico.
“I was thinking… how would you feel about signing up to be foster parents?” Nico asks, holding his breath. Will takes a second to process the information then notices that Nico looks worried.
“I think that’s a great idea. Have you already started looking into it? What made you want to do it?” Will questions.
“I don’t know… I mean I was homeless for a good year and a half and it sucked but I was too scared to ask anyone for help. There was this really nice old lady that told me she could help me get into foster care so that I could be placed in a good home and I believed her. I ran into some kid in an alleyway right before I was gonna go meet her. I asked him why he ran away and he told me his foster family was abusive. He didn’t want to go back. That scared me. I ran and shadow traveled until I knew I wasn’t in New York anymore. I think I ended up in South Dakota but I’m not sure.
“The point is, I thought all foster homes were bad after that. I thought they were all abusive so I was too scared to go to one. I only knew there were good ones when I was talking to Leo about this. That’s not right. Kids shouldn’t be terrified of homes that are supposed to be safe. If you’re on board, I want us to be the people and the home that kids feel safe and comfortable in. Leo said it was an amazing idea and to let him know if we need help if we do do it.” Nico explains. “I want to and I’ve looked into it, but I want you to want it too.”
“I want that too. Every kid deserves a place to feel safe. I think we should do it.” Will supports.
“You do? Are you sure?” Nico asks, not wanting to push him into something he doesn’t want to do.
“Absolutely. How do we sign up?” Will asks.
— — —
After meeting all requirements and getting a home study done, Will and Nico had finished the eight week foster parent training course that they needed to take before they were eligible.
“So, are you looking to foster a young child like a baby or a toddler, or someone older like a pre-teen or a teenager?” Miss Lacy, one of the caseworkers asked.
“We honestly don’t have a preference, we just want kids to feel safe.” Will replies.
“Then I assume gender doesn’t matter either then?” She asks, looking at her clipboard.
“No.” Nico responds. They run through her list of questions and information she has for them. They walk out of the building with a folder full of papers and documents and the knowledge that they could get a call anytime letting them know that they’re getting a kid to foster.
“Are we really doing this?” Nico asks in disbelief.
“We’re really doing this.” Will confirms, the same dazed look in his eyes to mirror Nico’s.
— — —
“Will! Will! William Andrew Solace-di Angelo answer the damn phone!” Nico yells, frustrated as he dials again and scrambles to get everything ready.
“Nico?” Will answers on the fourth ring, sounding exhausted.
“Will! Thank gods you answered! Miss Lacy called, she said we’re getting a thirteen year old boy… tomorrow. I’ve been trying to call you for an hour because I’m freaking out!” Nico vents.
“Tomorrow?! We just got the ‘go’ from Miss Lacy like 3 days ago! That’s really fast! Do we get any other information or just that?” Will starts to wake up a little.
“She told me his name is Henry and he’s going to be an eighth grader, that’s all I got.” Nico says. “I’m trying to get everything ready in the guest room right now. She said we can pick him up at the agency tomorrow. I was wondering when you’d be out of surgery and when you’d be home.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I got pulled into an emergency appendectomy for a six year old. That was my last surgery though, so I’ll be home in about 15 minutes.” Will says.
“Okay, see you then. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
— — —
“Henry, this is Will and Nico Solace-di Angelo. They’re going to be your foster parents for right now.” Miss Lacy introduces the teenager to the couple in front of him. He’s skinny with dark brown, almost black, hair and blue eyes like Will.
“Hi.” He looks up briefly.
“Hello.” Will greets for both of them.
“Any of you can contact me if you have any questions or need anything. Other than that, that’s all I have for you, you are free to go whenever.” Miss Lacy shakes all three of their hands and walks back into the agency.
“Ready to go?” Will asks, looking at Nico and moving to Henry.
“Yeah.” Henry says, staring at his shoes which are a beat up pair of converse worn to the point of holes every couple of stitches.
“Let’s go then.” Will walks around to the driver’s side of the car and Henry picks up his duffle bag and slips into the back seat with it and his backpack always touching him in some way even though he has the whole backseat.
“So Henry, is there anything you would like to know about us?” Will asks on the drive home.
“Um, I don’t know.” He mumbles.
“Okay, then would you like us to just tell you some things that would be helpful or interesting?” Will continues.
“Yes.”
“Okay, well we can start with our jobs then: I’m a pediatric general surgeon at a hospital here in Manhattan. I’m 29.” Henry visibly tenses at the mention of the words ‘surgeon’ and ‘hospital’.
“I’m a foreign languages teacher at Goode High School. And I’m 28.” Nico says.
“We’ve been married for eight years and we had been dating for five years before that. We live about 10 minutes from the hospital and 7ish minutes from the school in a 3 bedroom house.” Will tells Henry.
“Where are you going to school this fall? It starts in a couple of weeks.” Nico asks.
“I don’t know. Wherever you guys decide you want me to go.” Henry says, quietly.
“Oh okay, is there anywhere you want to go?” Will asks.
“I don’t know, it’s never really been my choice, it’s yours.” Henry replies.
“How about Nico and I look into some schools we can enroll you in and then you can tell us which, one out of all of them, you want to go to. Sound good?” Will suggests.
“Sure.” Henry lets out a small breath but not enough to relax at all.
“Well good, because we’re here.” Nico declares as they pull into the driveway and into the garage. The son of Hades gets out to meet Will on the driver’s side with Henry not too far behind but not too close either.
“Leo said choices were good, right?” Will asks, half question, half pointed.
“Yeah, yeah he did. Let’s go get Henry settled shall we?” Nico leads the other two into the house.