Chapter 8

Monday morning Graves woke up at the same hour than usual, but when he tried to get up he discovered that something was restraining him heavily. He looked down to find someone else's legs tightly wrapped around his and when he shifted to try and disentangle their legs, he felt something hot dampening his lower back.

"Nnnhhg…" A soft moan crept to his ear from behind him.

"Credence...are you alright?" He whispered, turning around to hug him. The boy woke up at the sudden motion too and looked at him in utter confusion, becoming aware of the wet mess in his groin that still pressed, against Graves's waist.

"Oh...oh, I'm so sorry...I was just having the nicest of dreams...I didn't want to…" He flushed hard and backed away from him, avoiding his eyes in embarrassment.

Percival reached for his wand to clean them both in a flick, smiling amused at his reaction.

"It's okay, darling, I'm glad you were having nice dreams, those are the only kind of dreams you should have…" He held him by the hips, bringing him in for a sweet morning kiss, smelling the soft scent of his hair and neck. He just couldn't believe how fun it was having him in his life.

"I'm so embarrassed...why does this only happen to me…? Is something wrong with my…?" He stuttered with a worried look between small kisses, blushing harder than ever.

"No, of course not, my sweet boy...you're perfectly fine and healthy, and when I was your age I had the same problem, believe me… I love it when you enjoy yourself so much, don't worry over it."

Percival started unbuttoning the boy's silky pajamas, still dropping kisses all over his exposed skin, and, Merlin, he wished he could have licked his dick clean of cum. But he just had to push that kind of thought away before his hard on took control of him, they had important matters to attend that day and the sex could very well wait some hours.

He stripped him from his pajama bottoms aswell, loving the way Credence stared at him innocently, allowing him to groom him as if he was a kid, and both men enjoyed the gentle touch of each other in the process.

Percival summoned very formal and dark suits for both of them, with matching ties, and with a paternal gesture he even tucked one of his twin scorpion pins on Credence's tie knot, just like his own. The boy stared at himself in the mirror, marvelling at how similar they both looked now, dressed in the same smart way, and Mr Graves encouraged him to stand straight, making him look taller and almost as elegant as him. A glint of pride shimmered in Percival's eyes when he combed his black hair after having taken care of his own.

With his hand on the small of his boy's back he led him to the dining room to have a quick breakfast together. Credence was growing tense and anxious by the minute, and when the bell of the entrance rang he jumped in his chair, spilling his remaining tea all over the table.

"Shhhh, calm down, Credence... There's nothing to worry about, remember what I told you the other day, you can always have the last word of the deal, we will discuss it with my attorney now, okay?"

The man rubbed gently on his shoulders before strolling to the door to welcome the old attorney of the Graves's family.

When Credence went to the entrance hall too, he found Graves greeting the oldest man he'd ever seen, standing as straight and stiff as he could with his own black and smart suit, talking with Graves in a familiar yet serious tone.

"Well, Percival, I must admit your letter stunned me at first...an heir all of a sudden and adopted nonetheless, if your father was still alive he would certainly not approve of this, I'm afraid…"

Credence felt a stab of pain at hearing this and Graves turned just in time to see him lowering his gaze ashamed.

"Then it's a blessing the dead cannot interfere with matters of the living." He replied with a smirk. Of course he knew the old man would not entirely approve of the deal but it wasn't for him to word his opinions, he was just the family attorney and was going to be well paid for his services and discretion. "Credence, let me introduce you to Mr Grahams, our family attorney and old friend." The last word was said with a rather mocking tone that suggested that they were not really on friendly terms.

Credence walked unsure towards them and bowed his head slightly before the old man, Percival held him by the shoulders proudly.

"This is Credence, raised by no-majs due to very unfortunate circumstances, but with a brilliant prospect as a wizard by my side. Let's go to the study to discuss the arrangements more comfortably."

Old Graham seemed unimpressed by Credence's presence and led the way towards the study clutching tightly to his leather briefcase.

"Relax, when we sign those papers no one will doubt you anymore, Credence...you'll be a Graves now." He whispered in his ear massaging his neck. With a gentle rub down the boy's ass he pushed him to walk too, and soon the three of them were sharing the desk at the further window in the study were Graves and Credence had spent so many hours together.

At the desk Mr Graham proceeded to read the adoption papers, from which Credence understood nothing, and fortunately Mr Graves explained the interesting parts to him.

"That means you'll become my only heir if I were to die." He supplied after a very long and complex paragraph.

"Heir?" Gasped Credence, astonished.

"Do you decline this statement, Mr Barebone?" Inquired the old attorney, arching an eyebrow.

"Of course not, he's just not used to the idea yet." Cut Percival, grabbing Credence's right knee reassuringly under the desk.

"Then I shall resume reading."

Credence looked furtively at Graves, still surprised by that part of the deal, he wished he could refuse, feeling a heavy weight overwhelming him, knowing that the man was still on time to have a real son to be the heir.

The attorney went on reading for almost an hour, while Graves kept explaining him about the bank accounts, entitled rights and obligations, the name changing clause, and so on. At the end they had to sign here and there on several pages and finally the old man tucked the contracts back into his briefcase.

"Well then, I'll take these to the no-maj and magical registries to formalize the procedure now"

The three of them stood up at last and shook hands.

"Thank you for arranging everything in such short notice, now Credence won't have to go back to the system." Said Percival sincerely, patting the old man in the shoulder.

"Not a problem, Percival...I know your intentions are good, I didn't pretend to judge you." He replied with a less severe tone, and turning towards Credence he shook his hand too. "You, boy, have no idea how fortunate you will be from now on, and I do hope you can stand to the Graves standards, honoring your new name."

Credence bowed his head before him again and followed Graves while he led Grahams to the main door. When he was gone Graves turned around to find the boy wiping his tears off silently.

"What's wrong, Credence? Everything went perfectly fine, you're my son now…"

Graves came to hug him tenderly, taking out his handkerchief to help wipe his face, holding his chin up to kiss him in the softest way he could.

"I know...I'm just so grateful...I don't know how to thank you for this…it's almost like a dream." He said between sobs, leaning on the embrace with shaking knees.

"Sshhh, now, sweetheart, you have nothing to fear, remember you're a Graves now. We'll celebrate our union together later, okay? and I'll make you feel how real all of this is, baby...you're mine now…"

Credence felt his heart race at hearing those words, and easily opened his lips for him, giving him his mouth to devour as he wished. He could almost pass out of sheer ecstasy in his arms, no one had ever treated him with such care and love, but the man had to let go of him all too soon.

"I'm sorry to bring you down, but we have to go now, Credence…" He said, slowly breaking apart from his body.

Percival held his waist all the way down to the street, as if not wanting to stop touching him, and during the car ride he caressed his knee several times, driving silently towards st. Louis chapel. He parked in front of the graveyard, where several people dressed in black were attending the funeral, with a furtive look he saw Credence visibly nervous, and holding his trembling fingers in his hand he kissed him discretely.

"I'll be waiting for you here, so take your time, Credence, I'll be here for you, okay?"

Credence just assented, unable to mutter a single word, but convincing himself that the sooner he went there, the sooner he would be back to his arms.

Graves watched him join the very few assistants to the burial ceremony, but just couldn't bring himself to go with him, instead waited outside his car, watching his boy from afar. After some minutes he felt someone approaching him.

"Hello, Graves."

"Hello, Goldstein, thanks for your note yesterday, Credence felt relieved to know that he'd be able to see his sister here." He said with his usual office tone.

"Yeah, I thought he may want to, and I just knew you were with him seeing that you filled his wand permit form at Howard's." Tina leant onto his car just at an arm's length from him.

"And I'm glad to hear you're comfortable at your new post in MACUSA." He offered with a smirk.

"Now you're just being cruel… but I'm glad to hear you went to such lengths for him…"

Tina was about to say something else but Graves cut her straight and looking her in the eyes at last, he put on his boss tone.

"You want to know if he's living with me? Yes, he is. Why? None of your business. Should you be glad that woman got what she deserved? Yes. Want to know what happened to her? That's confidential. Got any more questions, Goldstein?"

She smiled and looked away at the burial ceremony, where Credence stood taller than everyone else.

"Will you let me talk to him, at least?" She asked, looking him in the eyes again.

"Of course, Tina, he's just living with me...he's free to talk to anyone he wants" Percival dropped the harsh tones, but both waited in silence until the boy's return.

Credence prayed and offered his respects during the ceremony, feeling truly sorry for Chastity, who had done nothing to hurt him during their years as siblings, but not shedding a single tear for Mary Lou. After the burial he approached Modesty, who was being led away by her new adoptive parents, he introduced himself as his brother before them, the girl at seeing him went straight to embrace him. He held her in his arms and wiped the tears from her face, just the way he did when Ma hit her too. He was glad to find that apparently her memory had been erased, probably under command of Mr Graves, and he felt grateful for it.

She promised him to write him everyday, and still think of him as her brother despite not living together anymore. Credence kissed her goodbye and let her go with her new family, while he turned around to go back to his.

At the car Mr Graves was waiting for him with a woman whose face he remembered from the fireplace, Tina Goldstein. Percival introduced her to him and turned to go inside the car again.

"Mr Graves told me what you did for me, Ms Goldstein…" Said Credence in a low voice, feeling responsible for her demotion. "I'm really sorry for that, I didn't want to cause you any trouble…"

"Nonsense, Credence, I knew perfectly well what I was doing and I just really hated watching you from afar, unable to do anything to help you. But I'm glad everything turned out well for you, Graves might not be a fatherly man, but he will surely take good care of you." She patted him in the arm.

"Yes, Mr Graves told me it was thanks to you that he came to know me, that you insisted he watched after us when...well...I just wanted to thank you for caring so much." Credence felt tears prickling in his eyes, and did not back away when she pulled him in for a hug.

"It's okay, Credence… we can be friends now that you're a wizard, right? You can write to me whenever you want, and maybe come over to meet my sister too if you feel like it, okay? Now don't keep Graves waiting or he'll get grumpy."

Credence laughed at this, and waved at her before getting in the car too. Thankfully Mr Graves was not grumpy and did not ask what was he laughing about. Instead he offered him to go shopping together before lunch and Credence pecked him on the cheek feeling so much better already. They drove back downtown, parking in a street full of movement and busy shops and cafés. Credence walked very close to Mr Graves, but without daring to hold hands with him because they were still in no-maj public streets, but all around them he started to recognize magical shops, with windows full of all sorts of whimsical stuff, with moving letters and pictures of witches and wizards.

"How come the no-majs can't see any of this?" He asked incredulous looking all around him, noticing that most of the people in the street were wizards too, wearing long robes and hats and the strangest of clothes.

"There are all sort of enchantments to disguise things and make them safe for no-maj view...for example disillusioning a hat would not be hard and you could wear it whenever you want, but trying to hide a thirty feet, fire breathing dragon might be a bit trickier…"

"Did you just say DRAGON…?!" Credence had to stop walking and clutching to Graves's arm forced him to stop too, looking at him in utter disbelief. The man laughed at his reaction.

"Of course there are, not in New York though, so don't panic, Credence, you're safe…"

Percival held his hand and pulled him softly to the nearest shop, Credence was still so shocked that he didn't even see where they were going, until the man held him by the shoulders and brought him to stand right in front of a wooden pedestal. The boy forgot immediately about the dragon the moment his eyes lay on the beautiful dark racing broom in front of him. He could feel his heart stopping, his breath catching in his chest at seeing a broom from that close for the first time in his life, admiring the polished handle, the length of it, the carefully cut twigs, the shiny iron treadles…

"That will be the first of my many gifts to you, Credence, for being the new heir to the Graves name, and my beautiful and perfect boy…" He whispered in his ear, massaging softly his shoulders, enjoying the state of total daze of the young man.

"Mr Graves...I...I can't...this is too much...I can't…" He felt his heart starting to race, his face burning and his vision blurred from the tears welling in his eyes, and fortunately for him there was so much people in the shop that no one seemed to take notice of his state. He turned around shaking. "Please don't...I don't deserve it…"

"Shhh...none of that, Credence, you do deserve it and we're not leaving here without it so just calm down, okay? we can practice some at home later, what do you say to that?" He wiped his tears and held his face trying to soothe him, offering a warm smile to reassure him.

Credence said nothing else, still not entirely convinced and thinking hard about different jobs he could get to repay him for all the money he'd spent on him.

When they got out of the shop Graves handed him the brand new broom, holding his shoulders with an arm all the way back to the car. Credence held the broom with utmost care during the ride, still incredulous, breathing hard and observing it intensely. He just couldn't meet Graves's eyes or he would end up crying like always, and he hated crying in front of him more than anything in the world. But when Mr Graves parked again Credence saw that they were not back to the apartment as he thought. Instead, the man led him into the most fancy restaurant he'd ever seen in his life, and together went to sit to a far corner under a beautiful window with garden views and soft sunlight.

They were served and Credence blushed every time the waiter called him "sir", but he still avoided looking at Mr Graves.

"Are you okay, Credence? You seem distant, I thought the broom would excite you...Is the food wrong? We can ask them to change it if you want." Said Percival at last, breaking the silence.

"No, no, everything is perfect…" Credence bit his lip and tried to calm himself to say what he had been thinking about, but when he looked up at him his eyes started filling with tears again. "I… well... it's too perfect for me… all these things you bought me, I… I want to pay you for them...I'll get a job and…"

The last part came out in a sob and his tears rolled down his cheeks, so he avoided his stare again, feeling utterly embarrassed and miserable for ruining the lunch.

"I'm… I'm truly...s-sorry...I don't know why I'm...c-crying...I just can't help it…"

Percival wished they could be at home, to hug him on his lap like always, instead he just held his trembling hand under the table.

"That's because you're a very sensitive boy, Credence, and you still need to learn to control your emotions... It's okay, if you need to cry you may go to the restroom and wash your face. We can talk about that job matter at home later." Percival tried to use a soft tone so as not to seem angry, and letting go of his hand he motioned him to go.

"T-thank you…" Credence wiped his eyes and walked slouching to the restroom to do as he was told. When he came back they ate in silence again, but before the meal was over Graves poured him a glass of wine and offered him a toast.

"For our new future together, Credence, as a family."

Credence raised his cup and attempted a feeble smile before drinking his glass down, the alcohol helped ease the knot in his throat and he could look up at him again.

"Thank you for the broom, Mr Graves… And for everything else…"

Percival smiled at him and poured them some more wine.

"You're welcome, Credence."

AN:I just love Credence, he's so sensitive and cute... When I write these kind of scenes then I regret making him do all those naughty things with Mr Graves xd I'll probably post the next chapter sooner, the smutty ones are my favourites! please don't forget to leave a review!