a/n: so,, this is my first story, based on a roleplay that i have been doing for a while. note that none of the abuse will actually happen in the story, there will be mentions however. also, please note that reader for this one will have anxiety/depression/even a developed eating disorder for this story. please do not read if you dont like/are sensitive to this material.
reader's guide
this fanfiction is in human!au,
meaning that the nordics(along with sealand and latvia) are not countries, neither is reader.
age for this story: reader is a young teen, around 13.
Y/N: your name
H/C: hair color
H/L: hair length
E/C: eye color
S/C(or S/T): skin color or skin tone
Y/N gave a shaky sigh as she glanced around the fairly small room in the orphanage that she had just recently returned to. The only reason that she was even in the orphanage was, her family was always fairly poor and couldn't quite afford to take care of her after a few years. Then, not much longer after she'd even made it to the shelter, she was adopted by a man who went by the name of Luciano and ended up being abused during her time with him. She'd very recently gotten back from a long stay in the hospital. Needless to say, from the experience, she was traumatized and beyond terrified of contact with people in general, which has resulted in her isolating herself from the world.
Tino was determined to adopt a child. Lukas, Emil and Matthias weren't so sure, to be honest. They already took care of Peter and Raivis. Well, for half of the time. It still really was quite a bit. As for Berwald, he was easy- he just wanted his 'wife' to be happy. So, he obviously agreed with Tino. The Finnish man was quite literally bouncing in his seat on their way to the orphanage. Every now and again, Berwald would glance over to Tino, a small and affectionate smile on his face. Meanwhile, Lukas, Emil and Matthias were back at home, as they agreed that just Tino and Berwald should go. Once the two made it to the shelter, Tino immediately got out as he was obviously excited. Berwald tried his best to keep up with the other.
Once they finally made it in, one of the caregivers there bombarded the men with questions. Once they finally managed to get the lady to calm down, Tino stated as calmly as he could that they were looking for a girl of any age. With that, the lady lead the two over to where the children were. Most of the children were playing, as it was usually younger children who were even in the shelter. Then, the two began to talk to the children. Well, mostly Tino as Berwald appeared to intimidate most of them. That is, until Tino could finally get the children settled down and told them that Berwald was in fact actually a softie- which ended up making him blush every time. It didn't change that they much preferred Tino.
Most of the children in the area that they were in seemed to be rude and obnoxious. So, they began to make their way upstairs, where the quieter and much shyer children appeared to be. The two began to slowly and gently approach the children up there, yet none of them seemed to stand out. Then they made it to the last door, and Tino was a little worried. This was the closest shelter around! What if he couldn't find a child? With a heavy sigh, he slowly opened the door, causing Y/N to jump slightly. The girl looked up to the men regardless, trembling violently.
Tino froze as he looked at the girl. He was surprised by her beauty- soft, H/L H/C hair, smooth-looking S/T skin(or at least of what was visible), but such dull and lifeless E/C eyes. It made him so sad, with knowing how sad and terrified that she looked... Berwald nudged him slightly, causing Tino to jump, and the girl to jump slightly as well. Then, Tino cleared his throat, and slowly began to approach the girl, Berwald trailing behind him just as slowly. "Uhm... H-Hi," the Finnish man stuttered out, "My name is Tino, and this is Berwald." He said, gesturing to himself at 'Tino', then to the tall and intimidating Swede, who was 'Berwald'. All that Berwald did was greet her with a small wave, causing the girl to flinch back. After a few moments without feeling any impact, she slowly removed her hands from her face. Tino spoke again, a bit more softly, "What's your name?"
Y/N only glanced up to the two men, her pulse racing. She could feel the heat rising to her face, as the situation was already overwhelming for her. The girl shifted a little bit on the bed, averting her gaze. Although she was very hesitant, she cleared her throat, "M-my name- my name is Y/N..." She mumbled.
It sounded as if she hadn't used her voice in a really long time- days perhaps. It just sounded so rough and pained... Not to mention the obvious fear; even her voice was shaking along with her body. Tino quickly snapped out of his thoughts and smiled very softly, "Y/N... What a beautiful name." He said warmly, only causing more heat to rise to Y/N's face.
All she could do was nod her thanks. The poor girl's mind was racing from thought to thought. Who were these people? Were they going to adopt her? Are these people potential abusers? She could only hope not. The girl definitely did not want to get adopted again, given her previous experience with it. The girl jumped a little bit as she snapped out of her thoughts, when Tino had spoken again, "So... Have you ever been adopted before?"
Yet again, all the girl could do was nod in response, not even looking up towards the two. Tino felt his heart break slightly at the sight. He'd just barely even met the girl yet he was already feeling so upset to even just look at her. He was determined to fix that. Then, Tino decided to speak again after sighing softly. "What sort of things do you like to do for fun?"
To no surprise, the girl jumped slightly as he spoke. To the man's question however, she didn't show any sign of response to him. All she did was sit there, shaking. It's been so long since she had last had her freedom... She began to think however. She grew up a quiet girl who was simply one who was more for reading. That didn't change that she tried to make friends. She definitely much preferred those days rather than having to live in fear all of the time...
She sighed slightly at the thought, only resulting in Tino becoming more concerned. "Y/N, are you alright...?" He asked slowly and quietly, gently bringing his hand up to place on the girl's shoulder. Berwald thought this was a bad idea, but he didn't say or do anything about it.
The contact only made Y/N tense up and squeak a bit in surprise and fear as she began to shrink back. This action made Tino immediately retreat his hand to himself, and he sighed, looking towards the girl in pity. Then, he slowly and quietly spoke up once more, "Well, it was very lovely to talk to you, Y/N." All Y/N could do was nod in response to what he had said as she was obviously terrified to speak. Then, Tino waved a small goodbye- causing the girl to flinch back -before exiting the room with Berwald and gently shutting the door behind him, the girl still shaken from what had just happened.
"I like her... I think that I want to see her a little more," Tino said, almost immediately as they were outside and the door was shut.
Berwald looked a little bit unsure at that. The poor girl seemed so scared to even speak... Although it didn't show, it truly hurt him, too. To see such a lovely young lady so damaged... The Swede nodded, truly agreeing with his 'wife'. "Alright," he mumbled, "We can visit her tomorrow."
The last sentence caused Tino's eyes to light up much like a child's on Christmas. He jumped to Berwald, embracing him in a tight hug, "Oh, thank you!" He squealed, only earning looks from some of the other kids in the orphanage. His face flushed a bright red in embarrassment, and he slowly got off of the Swede, who chuckled quietly as he loved to see his 'wife' so happy. With that, the two were out of the orphanage and on their way home.
