Title: Parent Life
(Fic Series): A Life Worth Living
Fandom: Free!
Pairings: Sousuke/Rin
Rating: T
Word Count: ~29k over all
Warnings: N/A
Summary: Post-Free! Eternal Summer Fic
A series of chronological glimpses into Sousuke and Rin's lives as parents.
A/N:
This was so long! I didn't expect it to turn out like this, but I had so much fun writing it… honestly there's so much I wanted to write I'm not sure how much people will actually want to read it. The over all thing I wanted to cover was just all the little fun family moments, though I do have some not so fun family moments. I really just love the idea of Rin and Sousuke becoming parents and I think they'd be surprisingly good at it.
Please forgive inconsistencies in any mentions pertaining to the adoption process… I tried my best to research as much as I could (without having to actually go through it myself) but it's also very hard since it's difference based on places and people.
Please tell me if there are any glaring errors I might have left that I should fix, it is a really long piece to edit so I'm sure I'm going to miss a lot whether I want to or not… I'm going to take it chapter by chapter and hope I catch most of it!
I hope everyone enjoys!
Parent Life
Chapter 1: Hannah (Age 7)
He had never been so nervous in his entire life, Rin was sure of it. More than going to Australia for the first time, or the second time. More than initiating a romantic relationship with his best friend. More than both Olympics he had been in, he was nervous now.
Sousuke had willingly brought up the idea of having children a few times in the past few years, saying that he wouldn't mind being a father. Rin wasn't so convinced, but after many long repeated conversations about whether or not he was just doing it to make Rin happy, he accepted it. Rin brought up that he had been dying to have a kid and felt ready for it more frequently after he hit twenty-eight, and here they were. Two thirty year olds meeting the third child they were allowed to meet.
The process was already long and difficult, especially since this wasn't even their first try in meeting a child. It was bitter, not being chosen to be a child's parents even after you formed a bond. It's what had Rin holding back a bit in meeting another. This time they were meeting a girl, Hannah, who was seven years old.
She was already much older than the two kids they had met before, but he wasn't going to let that stand in his way. Relationships can't be measured by time, and hopefully the three of them would like each other. Rin was praying she'd be the one. Praying because he could tell in the crease of his brow and the amount of headaches occurring that Sousuke was reaching his limit with this adoption process.
He was nervous. He wanted it to work, but the worker dealing with them had explained Hannah's situation and it didn't look to well. Unlike the other two she had been in foster care for the past two years. Her only living relatives had refused to take care of her after learning of her new disability, and she'd been bouncing from foster house to foster house since.
In all honesty he was more worried about the mental traumas she had developed from the ordeal more than her physical incapability. Would she even be able to accept them as her parents if they were to follow through? Would things work out well or just leave her with another painful memory?
"You're thinking too much again," Sousuke sighed. "You'll scare her if you meet her with that look."
"I'm," Rin stopped and he slouched against the chair. "I'm just worried."
"Well stop, it ruins your pretty face." Sousuke grinned when Rin snorted in response, a bit of tension releasing from his forehead. Leave it to Sousuke to know just what stupid thing he should say to help him relax.
Rin grabbed Sousuke's hand and gave it a squeeze when the door opened.
"She doesn't like us," Rin sulked, staring out the train window into the dark. Sousuke rolled his eyes and elbowed him in the side, a grunt coming out in response.
"She's just met us," he reminded him, "and there was a lot going on. We'll have a better chance getting her to like us when we can talk to her more without the social worker directing everything."
"You're oddly optimistic this evening," Rin sighed, leaning into his shoulder. Sousuke's shoulder twitched, a sign that he wanted to shrug, but didn't want to shake Rin off. Instead he hummed and started drumming a beat against his legs.
"You're oddly pessimistic this evening," he countered after a second. Rin huffed, trying to stop the chuckle that was coming out of his mouth, or the snide comment waiting on his tongue. Sousuke wasn't always good with comebacks, especially when he was embarrassed. Sometimes he could come up with a witty quip in a few seconds flat and other times he'd need a three week notice.
Either way he knew he was trying to calm him, so he'd try and allow himself to be calmed.
Rin watched the two of them sitting in silence at the table, drawing with crayons on colored paper. It was surreal watching it, and his heart quivered at the thought that this wouldn't work. He heard his name called one more time and looked back at Ms. Williams, focusing on all the information she was dumping on him. Sousuke had resigned to sitting with Hannah, since he wouldn't be able to keep up anyways.
Laurel, Hannah's designated social worker, had given tips and suggestions before they met her again today, but this time she didn't make a move to stay with Hannah. Instead she waited with Rin and Ms. Williams and talked about a thousand and one things, and even Rin had a hard time keeping up. They didn't even pause to breathe before they heard giggling coming from the table.
All three pairs of eyes snapped to Hannah, who was laughing at something, Sousuke was just sitting there smiling at her. Hannah drew something on the paper and then it was Sousuke who was laughing. Laurel started walking over and Rin followed close behind. Both of them were glancing at each other when Hannah flipped over her paper and folder her arms over it, Sousuke mimicking her with his own.
"What are you two laughing about?" Laurel smiled, amused by Hannah's antics. Hannah started giggling more and glanced at Sousuke who just shrugged.
"Nothing."
"Nothing!" She chimed and Rin felt his heart stop.
"Oh really?"
"Really! It's nothing, go away!" She shooed them, laughing more at the face Laurel made. Laurel crossed her arms and in a surprisingly intimidating way with a very stern look on her face.
"Hannah, show me what you're hiding."
Hannah's smile dropped and she looked at Sousuke for help. Rin saw Sousuke flip over his paper and push it to where they could see. Rin nearly spit when he saw a very awful rendition of him done in crayon, with an awful smile of big pointy teeth. Hannah then flipped hers over and on it was a rather detailed depiction of Laurel, with her high ponytail and a huge frown on her face, and her arms crossed.
Laurel's mouth dropped and Hannah and Sousuke started giggling more but stopped to apologize. Sousuke apologized for drawing him and Hannah apologized to Laurel. Rin felt a sudden fear that maybe they wouldn't let them have her if they thought Sousuke would be a bad influence. He turned back to look at Ms. Williams to see her reaction and relaxed when he saw that she was covering a grin of her own.
"They feel like mine," Hannah explained holding out her arm for him to touch. Sousuke hummed when he saw it but didn't reach out.
"They look the same right?"
Hannah nodded and put her arm down, focusing back on Sousuke's scar.
"Are you showing Mr. Matsuoka your surgery scars Hannah?" Laurel asked and Sousuke and Hannah turned to her. Hannah shrugged and Sousuke focused his attention back to Hannah who had flipped over his arm and was looking at another puffy scar running across his forearm.
"Is this also from the doctor?"
"No, that time I burned myself on a stove," Sousuke explained with a small chuckle. Hannah hummed again before pushing his shirt's sleeve back up to look at the scar on his shoulder again.
"Were you in a car accident?"
"No, I made a mistake and tore a muscle when I was swimming." Hannah dropped the shirt and frowned.
"I can't swim. Is it fun?" She asked as she went back to drawing on her piece of paper.
"It's fun. We could teach you if you want." Sousuke kicked Rin under the table and he nearly yelped, glaring at the other. "Rin's an Olympic swimmer so he's better at it than I am."
Rin's hold body froze up when she looked up at him. Her eyes were full of genuine surprise and Rin's cheeks went hot pink, a nervous frown on his face. Sousuke kicked him again and Rin kicked back, suddenly smiling at Hannah. Laurel seemed a bit distracted by the scene.
"He's won a gold medal before too."
"Can I see it?" Hannah asked, eyes brighter than before.
"I'll show you it next time," Rin finally answered.
"Look! Look! I can write in Japanese!"
Hannah shoved a paper forcefully into Laurel's hands and she laughed at how excited she was. "That says water," she said pointing at the one character.
"That's wonderful Hannah," Laurel giggled and Hannah ran back over to Sousuke to ask how to write more. "As I was saying, I'm really surprised at how much Hannah is opening up."
Ms. Williams crossed her arms with a smile and Rin grinned back. Hannah ran back with Sousuke's hand in hers, pulling him along with her. She handed a paper to Rin and he laughed when he saw in her shaky writing "Rin Matsuoka and Sousuke Matsuoka."
"That looks amazing Hannah, you're a natural," Rin said as he handed her back the paper.
"When you adopt me can I have a different name?" Hannah asked turning to look up at Sousuke and then back at Rin. The whole group of adults stopped, shocked by the exclamation and Sousuke was the first to react, squatting down to be more eye level with her.
"What kind of name do you want?" he asked, folding his arms over his knees. She pointed at Rin's first name.
"I want a pretty name like that. I want to write my name like that too." Sousuke hummed, ignoring the looks the adults above them were exchanging.
"Well how about Hana? It's spelt similar to your name in English, but it's a Japanese name like ours. It's written as flower petal, want to see?" Hannah nodded furiously and Sousuke stood up and used Rin's back to write the name on the paper with the crayon she had had before handing it to her. Rin glanced at the Ms. Williams and Laurel, he wasn't sure if you were even allowed to change a kid's name.
"It's perfect! I want my name to be Hana!" she exclaimed. She and Sousuke looked at the others. "Can my name be Hana?"
"If that's what you want," Laurel offered, at a loss.
Hannah made to go back to the table again, pulling at Sousuke's shirt, urging him along before she stopped and turned back to them.
"When we live together will I learn Japanese?"
"If you want to," Rin answered, a smile exploding on his face. Hannah seemed satisfied with the answer and Rin grinned more when Hannah grabbed Sousuke's hand, dragging him back to the table. He followed, shooting a smile of his own back at Rin before focusing back to Hannah's endless questions. They sat there and he taught her how to write her new name.