"Yes, we just got into our hotel room...No, we did not need a translator, Abigail*! We're not completely inept, mind you, and a good amount of the people here in the city can speak passing English," Arthur huffed into his phone, wearily placing his bags and other luggage on the bed to be sorted out later.
Francis gave his stressed partner a sympathetic smile, kissing him on the cheek and squeezing his shoulder reassuringly. He had received a similar check-up call from his own family, though he would consider it to have been more of a good luck call than anything else. He knew that Arthur's family was much more protective than Francis' own, and he had learned to tell the difference between when they were being serious and when they were being guardedly encouraging. Though he couldn't hear all of the conversation, he figured that now was one of those strange, Kirkland family style forms of encouragement - Arthur clearly wasn't agitated enough for it to be otherwise.
Both families had been very active in helping Arthur and Francis when the couple announced their plans to adopt, doing whatever they could to help ease the stress of the adoption process. They helped look into adoption laws, different orphanages and websites, and were always there for moral support. It was actually more than the two had expected from their families, seeing as how they had shocked everyone by revealing their relationship together. But it seemed that their families had moved on and accepted their life choices, embracing them for who they were as individuals and as a part of the family.
"Of course we packed for the weather! It's bloody Russia, for goodness sake, who doesn't take the blasted weather into consideration?!" Arthur burst out indignantly, stomping into the bathroom and slamming the door shut.
Francis sighed and shook his head, shuffling over to the bed as he shrugged off his heavy winter jacket. He folded up the puffy, blue jacket and started to unpack their luggage. Doing chores such as cooking, cleaning, or folding the laundry always helped Francis calm down from a stressful situation. He knew that Arthur was feeling a bit nervous right now - his temper was a clear indicator of his feelings and stress levels - and Francis didn't want Arthur to see how anxious he was starting to get himself.
When Arthur had first come to him with the suggestion of having children, Francis had been absolutely ecstatic about the idea. He had looked into all of the ways that they could have biological children of their own, but Arthur had stopped him and brought up adoption instead.
Francis would admit to some disappointment at not having children that were related to either of them, but he understood that this was important to his partner. Arthur's sister had adopted two boys from America and Canada three years ago, and he loved Alfred and Matthew as if they were his own flesh and blood.
Francis had eventually caved in to Arthur's stalwart stance on adopting a child, despite his own desires. He had this gnawing fear that he wouldn't be able to connect with an adopted child as opposed to a biological one, but he couldn't bring himself to share his anxiousness with Arthur, just in case it made him second-guess their decision to do this.
The wavy haired blonde glanced up from unpacking when he heard the bathroom door creak open, Arthur stepping back into the main part of the hotel room.
Arthur cleared his throat, and said in a tired voice, "Sorry about that...You know how Abigail can get."
"It's no trouble, mon amour*; I have long since become accustomed to your family and its strange ways," Francis chuckled, patting the now cleared space on the bed next to him.
"Like your family is so easy to get used to," Arthur huffed, collapsing onto the bed.
"At least they are not as repressed as the majority of yours," Francis scoffed, laying down so that he was side-by-side with the other blonde. He ignored the fact that he was lying on top of some of their clothes, several buttons and zippers making it just a bit uncomfortable. "How are you doing?" he murmured, turning onto his side so that he could face the Brit.
"What? Why?" Arthur asked in return, sounding a bit defensive.
Francis blinked, surprised by the other's tone of voice. "I was just asking how you are, no need to get all up in arms," he said, giving a confused look at the Englishman, hoping for an explanation for his behavior. Feeling slightly miffed, Francis got up and continued to sort out their clothes and put them away.
Ten minutes passed before Arthur finally spoke up again, just as Francis had out away the last article of clothing. "What if...What if they don't like me?" Arthur asked in a soft voice.
The Frenchman froze at hearing his own fears repeated back to him, shocked that Arthur was talking like this.
Arthur had been so set on adopting, so sure that it was the right decision, that Francis had been amazed by his stoic resolve in doing so. The Brit had been nothing but confident throughout this whole pre-adoption process, had Francis really been so absorbed in his own problems that he couldn't even notice his partner's anxiety?
"W-What do you mean, cher*?" Francis asked, gulping as he turned around to face the golden blonde.
Arthur scowled as he sat up, muttering out, "You know what I mean, Francis."
Francis let out a shaky sigh, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt cuffs. "Any child we adopt will love you, Arthur; you are always so good with children! Honestly, I'm more concerned about how they will react to me...I don't have much experience with children at all, how do I know I won't screw up and make them hate me?" he asked in a low tone.
"What? Francis, Alfred and Matthew love it when you can play with them! Why wouldn't any child we adopt feel the same way? You're amazing with kids, you'll be a great father. I'm not fun like you are, Francis," Arthur replied, giving his partner a small smile.
The two laughed a bit once they had voiced their worries to each other, both reassuring the other that everything would work out in the end.
"Well, it appears that we were both worrying rather needlessly, hm? It seems that, if we work together, we'll be able to bumble our way through parenthood just fine," Arthur chuckled, his face brightening considerably.
Francis slipped back onto the bed next to his lover, cuddling close to the Englishman. "Oui*, it seems almost silly now. We could see the fine-points of each other, but not in ourselves," he murmured, wrapping his arms around Arthur's lean waist and resting his stubbled chin in the crook of the other man's left arm.
Arthur let out a relieved breath, raising his unoccupied arm up to check his watch. "We should get to bed, Foxtail*, otherwise we'll sleep right through our appointment at the orphanage tomorrow," he sighed, feeling loathe to end this comfortable moment.
Francis pouted, dragging the other man down next to him and nuzzling into his neck. "Mm...Let's stay like this for a little while longer," he hummed, kissing the other's cheek.
Arthur didn't put up any resistance, allowing himself to be pulled down and cuddled. As he closed his tired eyes and relaxed into the soft mattress, the sounds of nighttime city traffic making its way to his ears in the quiet of the room, he couldn't help but feel excited and optimistic for the day to come.
"Alright, this is the place," Arthur said, nervous excitement tinting his voice.
The two got out of their rented car, walking up to the slightly imposing building through the snow. The orphanage was housed in a blank, blocky, Soviet-era building; it had large steps before the door, and a rusted, iron gate out front. The neighborhood was rather dreary, everything seeming to be dull and gray.
"Well...are you ready, mon amour?" Francis hummed in the Englishman's ear, his hand resting on the gate's latch.
"Yes, absolutely," Arthur answered with confidence, reaching out to take Francis' other hand in his own.
Francis smiled at the contact, and opened the metal gate. He led them up the steps and to the heavy, wooden door, making sure to be careful of the slushy snow that remained on the steps. Both men sighed a bit as they entered the warm building, the heat feeling exquisite against their chilled faces.
"Oh, hello!" a cheery, but heavily accented, voice greeted them as they came through the door, a woman coming over to them from behind a desk. "How may I help you?" she asked, helping them with their heavy coats.
"We had a meeting with one of the adoption counselors today, at one-thirty?" Arthur said, glancing at his watch to make sure they were on time.
The young woman blinked several times, going back over to her large desk and fiddling around with the computer for a brief moment. "Ah, yes! You are Mr. Kirkland and Mr. Bonnefoy?" she asked, smiling at the two.
"Oui, that is us," Francis confirmed, taking off his light brown gloves and stuffing them into one of his coat pockets before hanging it up on the coat rack.
"Ah, I am sorry for not remembering your appointment right away...I have not been working here for very long, and I'm still getting used to everything," the woman explained in a somewhat sheepish tone, motioning for the two men to follow her into another room.
The sounds of other adult voices drifted to their ears as they walked down a happily painted hallway, but those were barely heard over the various noises of children. Cries for attention in both English and Russian, happy little squeals, and peals of childish laughter burst out loudly as they entered a large playroom filled with children and other possible adoptive parents.
"You may interact with the children, while I go inform Mr. Kalikoff of your arrival," the secretary woman said cheerfully, heading back the way they had just come.
Arthur and Francis glanced at each other for a moment, both a little unsure about how to proceed. This was actually the first orphanage that they had physically visited, having only explored others through their websites or over the phone.
"Ahem...Well, I suppose we should...start interacting?" Arthur said in a questioning tone, his green eyes drifting about the colorful playroom as he watched the children run about from thing to thing.
"Oui," Francis replied in a soft voice, his blue eyes sparkling. "They are all so adorable, non*?"
"Mm, yes," Arthur murmured absent-mindedly, his gaze moving to a corner of the room that was mostly devoid of child activity - except for one boy playing by himself with an old teddy bear in a pile of cozy-looking blankets. He was about to suggest that they go over and talk with the boy in the corner, since something about the boy just drew Arthur in, but Francis had already gone off to braid the hair of a couple of young girls.
Arthur felt a small smile work its way onto his face as he watched his partner play with the group of little girls, finding the scene to be something that looked so natural for the Frenchman. Instead of going over and interrupting Francis' moment with the children, he decided to approach the lone boy by himself.
"Uh...Hello, there," Arthur greeted, clearing his throat and adjusting his checkered necktie out of nervous habit.
The boy let out a surprised squeak, and twisted around in his sitting position on the floor to glance at Arthur over his shoulder. He clutched the stuffed bear closer to himself, a bit of white stuffing showing through at a tear near the toy's right leg.
Arthur's eyes widened a fraction as he met the boy's gaze, and he stifled a gasp when he saw that his eyes were a dark shade of purple. "I, uh, sorry to startle you...Erm, is that your teddy bear?" he asked, gesturing toward the worn toy, trying to gloss over the somewhat awkward meeting.
The boy watched with curious eyes as the shaggy haired Brit got down on the carpeted floor, sitting next to the nest of pillows and blankets that he had made for himself. He dropped his gaze to the worn-out stuffed animal in his arms, loosening his protective hold on the toy just a bit.
Arthur glanced around the playroom, idly picking up a toy knight that had been left on the ground; he took note of the bright paint, and the cute cartoon characters from popular Russian kids' shows that were plastered onto the walls. Despite its dreary outside, the orphanage was actually a very nice environment on the inside.
Arthur's attention was once again drawn to the young boy sitting next to him when he felt the child rest his small hand on his leg, purple eyes shifting slowly across green in a shy manner of contact.
"What's your name, lad?" Arthur asked, gasping in surprise when the young child crawled into his lap. When he received no answer, the boy reaching out a pudgy hand to inspect the toy knight Arthur held, he repeated his question in halting Russian.
The boy glanced up from the toy to stare at Arthur suspiciously, remaining silent.
"Mr. Kirkland?" a faintly accented voice coughed from behind the Englishman, a middle-aged man with graying hair shuffling over.
"Ah, yes? I presume that you are Mr. Kalikoff, the adoption counselor I spoke with over the phone?" Arthur said in a faintly questioning tone.
"Indeed, I am," the older man replied, clasping his hands behind his back. His blue-green eyes softened when he took notice of the boy sitting in Arthur's lap. "I see you've met Ivan," he chuckled.
"So that's his name...He wouldn't tell me when I asked him myself," Arthur commented, watching as the young boy clambered out of his lap and back over to his nest of blankets.
"Don't feel too bad about that, he hasn't spoken a word to anyone since he's been here. We were starting to think he was mute, when he first arrived here, but he can speak; he just chooses not to. The only people I've ever witnessed him talking to were his sisters, but they were both adopted not too long after they arrived here," Mr. Kalikoff said in a sad tone, offering his hand to Arthur as he got up from the floor.
"But come, come! There are many other children here to see! They are all very smart, and we teach them English as best we can. Most of our potential adopters do not speak Russian at all, but they know English, so that has always been a focal-point in their education. We have many different ages...," the adoption counselor continued to prattle on about the orphanage and the other children that were available for adoption as he led the Englishman away from the corner.
But, Arthur couldn't focus on what he was being told, his mind wandering back to the purple-eyed boy in the corner.
"Well, what do you think? Did anyone catch your eye, Lapin*?" Francis asked in an excited tone, leaning in close to his partner.
"Yes, actually...How about you?" Arthur asked in return.
"Ah, they were all so sweet and polite, but I can't really say that I felt any sort of...special connection with any of them," Francis replied, his voice tinged with a bit of disappointment. "But, who is the lucky one of the bunch that caught my Arthur's discerning eye? I'm quite curious."
"Well...His name is Ivan, but that's really all I know about him. The adoption counselor was more keen on flaunting the children he thought were smarter, more well-behaved, or just better in some way. But, Francis, that's not what I want! I don't want some perfect little child that listens to everything I say, gets perfect grades in school, and doesn't act like a child! I want to parent, and parenting a child can't be planned out - and it's certainly not perfect," Arthur burst out, his brow furrowing.
The Englishman sighed, rubbing at his right temple. "I know that didn't make much sense-"
"Non, non! I understand what you're saying, mon amour!" Francis interrupted, smiling lovingly at his partner. "This little one must be very special for you to be feeling so strongly after just one meeting, Arthur...I can't wait to meet him myself," he murmured, pressing a kiss to the back of Arthur's hand.
Arthur felt a small smile tug at his lips, and he shifted in his seat so that he could nuzzle appreciatively against Francis' neck. "Just wait until you see him, Francis, you'll love him," he said in a soft voice, glancing up when Mr. Kalikoff came back into the room with a handful of papers.
"So, were there any of the children that you wished to meet with again?" the adoption counselor asked, shuffling the papers before setting them down on his desk.
"Yes, actually, there is. Arthur and I were interested in a young boy named Ivan, but I have yet to meet the child," Francis answered in a sunny tone, his excitement palpable.
Mr. Kalikoff looked surprised, blinking rapidly behind his thick reading glasses. "Ivan? Really?" he asked in disbelief. "Are you sure? We have many other children-"
"No, thank you. We've come to our decision on this, and if he's alright with it, we'd very much like to welcome him into our family," Arthur interrupted firmly, glowering at the older man.
"Alright, if that is what you have decided...," Mr. Kalikoff said, opening a drawer in his mahogany desk and searching through it for a while before retrieving a thin file. "This is all the information that we have for Ivan; it isn't much, as you can see. He and his sisters just showed up on our doorstep one day, all three of them covered in cuts, filth, and were under-fed. The eldest of them was only nine at the time, and she could only give us limited information, such as names and ages," he explained, handing over the tan folder. "While you look through that, I'll go fetch Ivan."
The two men nodded in understanding as Mr. Kalikoff left the room, both taking a look at the file they had been given.
"He certainly wasn't lying when he said that there wasn't much in here...," Arthur muttered, quickly scanning over the scant amount of information.
"Born here in Moscow...Six years of age...Has been with the orphanage for three years...So he was only three when he first came here; so young," Francis murmured, his eyes moving on to the picture of the young boy. "Oh, what beautiful eyes! And just look at that sweet face! Are his eyes really such a beautiful shade of royal purple?" he asked in amazement, gushing over the picture.
"Yes, they are. I think it may be caused by ocular albinism," Arthur mused, taping his index finger against his upper lip.
"Sort of like Gilbert, then?" Francis hummed, a fond smile coming to his face at the thought of his old friend.
"Almost. Gilbert is fully albino, whereas I believe this boy's eyes are the only thing affected by the discoloration, not his skin or hair," Arthur replied.
A bout of silence filled the small office as they finished looking over the file, and continued to wait for Kalikoff to return with Ivan.
"Are you excited for this, Francis?" Arthur asked in a hushed voice, his anxious excitement coming through and showing on his face.
"Yes, more than I can even describe...Are you ready for this, Lapin? We're going to be parents," Francis breathed out excitedly, his blue eyes twinkling.
Arthur took in a steadying breath before answering," I've been ready for so long...I almost can't believe that it's happening now!"
The couple jumped when the door opened, both having been very involved with each other at the moment.
"Sorry for the wait, Mr. Bonnefoy and Mr. Kirkland. It seems that someone didn't want to share his toy, and got into a fight with some of the other children," Mr. Kalikoff said in a weary, yet very disappointed, tone of voice.
Ivan didn't look up from his feet as he was ushered into the room, his ratty old teddy bear held protectively against his chest. Arthur noticed that the bear's leg - the one that had a tear in it before - was just barely hanging onto the rest of the fuzzy body, more of its cotton innards poking out of the tear.
"We've tried taking that horrid little bear away from him, or replacing it with another one that isn't so worn-out and torn up, but he throws a tantrum and starts crying whenever someone else touches the disgusting little thing. So, we've just allowed him to keep it until he finally outgrows it - which, clearly, hasn't happened yet. He's very possessive of things that he views as his," Kalikoff explained in a slightly frustrated tone.
Of course he would react like that when you try to force him into giving it up, you imbecile! It's obviously very special to him, Arthur mentally criticized the other man, barely reigning in his anger before he said what was going through his head out loud.
"Well, it doesn't bother me if he likes it so much; it is his special teddy bear. Besides, Arthur is very handy with a thread and needle, I'm sure he can fix it up in no time," Francis stated in a friendly but firm tone, speaking his mind clearly when he saw his partner bite back his own thoughts on the matter.
Turning his attention to Ivan, who had clambered up onto a vacant chair at a gesture from the adoption counselor, Francis put on his most disarming smile. "Hello, Ivan, my name is Francis. I'm very happy to finally meet you," he said in a slow, almost sweet-talking sort of way; letting his gaze brush across Ivan's purple eyes - which were done little justice by the photo, in Francis' opinion - for a brief moment of contact, not wanting to spook the boy by trying to hold his gaze for too long.
Ivan glanced between the two blonde men for a short moment, then to Kalikoff as he translated what Francis had just said, giving them both a shy wave when he recognized Arthur from earlier in the playroom. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards into a small, shy smile that revealed dimples in his round, rosy-colored cheeks.
Mr. Kalikoff appeared somewhat surprised at this, but a smile came to his weathered face all the same. "I've never seen that boy smile in all the time that he's been here...Most people don't ever give Ivan a second glance, and he does the same in return. I'll admit to being rather taken aback by him acting like this, but that must mean that he truly likes you two," he chuckled softly, searching through the papers on his desk for the forms that they would need to finalize the adoption.
"Wait, before we sign anything...I would like to actually ask the boy if this adoption is something he will be okay with," Arthur interjected, glancing almost coyly at the young Russian child.
Ivan mimicked the expression, shyly burying his chubby face into the faded scarf around his neck and hiding behind his stuffed bear.
Clearing his throat and fussing with his tie again, Arthur asked, "Ivan...How would you like to come live with us in England? It's not terribly far from Russia, and we could even come back for visits...if you'd like."
"Ah, and do not forget about the summers we spend in France with my family! Home-cooked meals every day, gorgeous weather for the beach, and lots of other children your age to play with. My family would love to spoil you when we visited them, and I'm positive they'll love you on sight," Francis added in a cheerful voice.
"Yes, you would have family in both France and England, as well as in Scotland and Ireland. You'll have your own room and toys, anything you could ever need or want," Arthur continued, watching the boy carefully. "After all, you'd be adopting us just as much as we'd be adopting you, and we would never push you into anything you're not ready for yet."
"Do you...understand, Ivan?" Mr. Kalikoff asked, after translating for Arthur and Francis again, leaning forward in his seat to scrutinize the young boy.
The boy looked at the adoption counselor from the corner of his eye, blinking thoughtfully. "Da*...," Ivan replied in a soft voice, hesitating a bit when he spoke.
"Well, then...This is wonderful! It is our goal to see every child into a loving home. Now, we'll need you both to sign some forms, but after that, you can all head home later this afternoon," Kalikoff explained in an exceedingly happy tone, stroking his clipped beard with a hand.
"Of course, let's get on with it," Francis said in an agreeing tone, nodding his head as he shifted forward in his seat to get a better look at the papers.
Arthur felt like he should be paying more attention to what was happening, but he couldn't keep his mind from something more immediate. I'm going to be a parent! We're going to be parents! he thought, not sure if he was feeling excited or nervous - perhaps it was both.
Let me just start this off by saying that I know absolutely nothing about adopting or the adoption process. I don't even know what it's like where I live, let alone internationally, so take this vague, probably incorrect depiction of adoption with a grain of salt, alright?
As for the actual story, I saw this set-up somewhere on...LiveJournal, I want to say? I thought it sounded cute, so I decided to start writing it out using a year-long prompt book. The book has a different prompt for each day of the month, and I've planned to write it out so that each month corresponds to a year passing in the story. So, by the end of it, I'll have gone through twelve years of Arthur, Francis, and Ivan as an adoptive family.
Abigail: This is Fem!England, and I have her as Arthur's sister in this story. She adopted Alfred and Matthew, as mentioned earlier on in the chapter, and they'll all come into it soon.
Foxtail: I just really liked this as Arthur's pet name for Francis. I like the thought of Arthur being very interested in different types of plants, and using the Foxtail plant's name for Francis in reference to how he sort of got under Arthur's skin when they first met. Also, Francis is quite fox-like, in my opinion; he's sly, suave, and gracefully cunning.
If you see any errors or you want to give your opinion, I'm always open to hearing your thoughts and comments!
Translations for this chapter:
Mon amour: "My love" in French
Cher: "Dear" in French
Oui: "Yes" in French
Non: "No" in French
Lapin: "Bunny" in French
Da: "Yes" in Russian