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vaskianwarrior · 6 years

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The Foster Brother AU | Pt. 1

Egeria had always wanted a large family. She didn’t want to hear the pitter patter of feet, she wanted to hear a stampede. To trip over the centipede of footwear lined at the door. To need an industrial washing machine that she and Theomedes would take turns packing. Every child, she’d told her husband, longed for a sibling. Someone to play with, to fight with. Someone to have their back in times of need. Someone to teach. Someone to love and protect. Perhaps this opinion stemmed from her own lack of siblings. Egeria couldn’t fault her parents for anything else, except their inability to give her sibling. She understood that it was a choice they had made, for economic reasons, or whatever the spiel had been when she’d demand a brother or sister of them. It was wrong, she thought, to deny a child a permanent playmate.

That was, of course, until she tried to carry out the same wish for her own son. Conceiving and birthing Damen had been difficult to begin with. Weening off birth control, her body stabilizing, hormones returning to normal. That, she knew, would take time, and she was happy to wait it out. The next problem to deal with, was her husband. He already had a child, and took to reminding her of this every time she questioned why they couldn’t conceive.

“Clearly the problem isn’t me. Can’t you just be happy with Kastor?” Theomedes would whine, eyes glued to the television instead of his lingerie clad wife.

The suggestion didn’t sting any less every time he made it. Egeria loved Kastor as though he were her own child. She wasn’t just his stepmother, but his best friend. When Hypermenestra made Kastor call his father every week with personal updates, he always demanded to speak with Egeria. They understood each other, in the way that children and adults could. And Kastor understood that it was Egeria who made his father’s house a home. She attended his sporting matches, decorated his room, and introduced him to new foods. When the adults were talking, she would play games with him, help him colour in. He told her his secrets, and she kept them safe. If he wanted to visit whilst his father was away on business (which he often did), Egeria would pick him up and bring him home. Feed him, bathe him, read him to sleep, and love him.

But something was wrong, and Kastor knew this. The house wasn’t complete. There was a part missing. And it wasn’t until he was in kindergarten that he picked up on what it was.

“Dad, why don’t I have a brother? Or a sister? Adrastus has both!” His curious eyes held his fathers. It was a genuine question, and it terrified Theomedes that it was coming from the mouth of his six year old son. That Egeria had been right when she had told him that all children want a sibling, at one stage or another.

So they started trying again, earnestly. Vigorously. Insatiably. And when that failed, they turned to science.

In Egeria’s eyes, Damen would always be her little miracle. Her extraordinary baby boy. The first round of IVF took, much to the astonishment of Egeria, the nurses, the doctors. Even her husband. They had been prepared for failure, had been told by the doctors to not get their hopes up. And yet, Damen persisted. His mother had wished him into being, and he was not going to disappoint her. Morning sickness. Aches. Pains. Absurd cravings. Bedrest. Every indication that he was ready and kicking (literally, day and night), he gave. I’m here momma, I’m coming.

Kastor, now nine years old, was excited at the prospect of finally, finally, having a sibling. Though too old, he still crawled into bed with Egeria, bringing her tea and a new book to read. It was more comfort than his own father was providing, who had decided that a work trip was more important than his bedridden wife in her final trimester. Kastor placed his hand on her swollen stomach, and felt a kick. He recoiled in disgust.

“What’s wrong?” Egeria pulled him closer, smoothing his hair with one hand, and using the other to place his hand back on her stomach.

“The baby hit me. I don’t want to touch it.” Kastor withdrew his arm again, his brow furrowed, eyes not meeting Egeria’s.

“The baby didn’t hit you,” disbelieving eyes fell on her. Kastor knew what he felt. “They were giving you a high-five, saying hello brother!”

A small smile came over Kastor and he again looked towards the bump beside him. “Hello,” he whispered, his hand creeping out to touch Egeria’s stomach. Again his hand was met with a kick. Kastor squealed with laughter. Egeria smiled. What beautiful friends her husband’s children would make. Kastor, with his caring soul, and her sweet baby, too young to know anything but goodness. She couldn’t wait for that day to come. To watch them grow together and love each other. Welcome a new sibling. And another.

Though fate, it would appear, had different plans. Birthing Damen was an ordeal. The doctor already feared that he would be too big for Egeria to safely birth in a natural way. People who saw her in the waiting room assumed she was carrying twins, not a single child. Then, when Damen did decide it was time to enter the world, he decided (like he would for the rest of his life) to try and enter feet first. The doctor, unable to coax the baby to twist, decided to circumvent Damen’s plans and remove him via caesarean section. Egeria would later tell him that he entered this world feet first, her miraculous and steadfast boy.

There would be no more children after Damen. Theomedes wouldn’t allowed it. If a child could not be conceived naturally, then they wouldn’t be conceived at all. She had Damen, she had Kastor. Why would she ever need more? But as Damen grew older, her husband grew colder. Kastor was cast aside, sent from one boarding school to another until he eventually stopped contacting his father, and subsequently, Egeria. Theomedes found comfort in one secretary after another. He didn’t notice when Egeria changed the locks on the house. And when he eventually did, he never returned. Damen heard from him every year on his birthday. Egeria only heard from him twice. The first was the serving of divorce papers. The second was to announce that he had late stage testicular cancer and that it was spreading. He doubted he would survive.

He didn’t.

Damen took the loss hard. Despite being a shit husband and father to Kastor, Egeria had to acknowledge how good he had been with her son. Not a single birthday was missed. School trips were paid for, as was tuition for a decent school. He attended every football match, where possible, and let him know that he loved him. What Damen needed, what they both needed, Egeria decided, was a companion.

Fostering had always been locked away in the back of Egeria’s mind. It had been her back-up option if conceiving her own child hadn’t come to fruition. There were so many displaced children in the world who needed not only shelter, but an adult to love and care for them. In the early days of their marriage, Egeria had suggested the idea to Theomedes. They would be the perfect candidates. A married couple, a large house and a disposable income. They could mould the life of not one child, but many, and they wouldn’t have to face the pressure of conceiving naturally. One could easily guess what his response was.

But now that her household belonged to only herself and Damen, there were no restrictions. It would be harder for her to gain approval, sure. She was a single mother to a teenage boy. But she lived in a decent part of town and already worked with children day in and day out. Damen was a straight A student who, without doubt, would later find himself with a sporting scholarship to the college of his choosing. The positives outweighed the risk, and soon the pair found themselves with another young boy living under their roof. Then another, and another. They came and went. Moving on, moving out, moving up in the world. Eventually Laurent found himself in their care, and he stayed, now sat in the kitchen awaiting the first new arrival in his two years of living there. The engine of Egeria’s car rumbled in the drive, and Laurent lowered his book.

He stood at five-foot-five, his voice barely broken and skin baring not a single blemish. The driveway dwarfed him, and Laurent had to practically lean out the window to get a decent look at the new arrival. No older than thirteen, he thought, watching the boy stride towards the house, no sign of fear or nerves. Unusual for a child in his predicament. More often than not, the boys who entered the same doorway held themselves a little tighter, eyes avoiding, voices absent. But not this boy.

No, this boy burst through the door as though he had lived here his whole life. Dressed in floral cut-offs, heart-shaped sunglasses, and a shirt that read my eyes are up here tied at the back and cropped above the navel, he made himself at home.

Already in the pantry, he spoke. “Do you guys have any suckers?”

“Huh?” Laurent watched in astonishment. The audacity of this boy. This child. Even cats had more manners than him.

“Lollipops – candy – anything sweet?” His head was still buried amongst boxes and cans.

“If you can’t see it, we don’t have it.” Laurent rolled his eyes and turned back to his tattered copy of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil.

“No…” the words were soft, contemplative. Then, “you seem more of the sour sort.”

Before Laurent could open his mouth with a retort the boy had taken off, sauntering down the hallway and opening every door he passed. Assessing each room. Making faces. Closing doors.

“I take it you’ve met Nicaise?” Egeria laughed from the doorway, a small, fluorescent suitcase tucked under one arm, her handbag in the other.

“I guess I have,” Laurent sighed.

Nicaise. Even the name sounded troublesome.

#laurent and nicaise centric #there will be some damen later on #i just had this idea and thought why not?#captive prince #capri fic #laurent of vere #nicaise #egeria #the foster au #writing #mine #also i didn't mean to make theomedes a dick it just happened??

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