#mothsflame

You watch Constantine for a moment, as he bounces from one foot to the other. You haven't seen him this excited in a while. A chuckle leaves your lips. He stops and turns his gaze to you, a small smile tugging at his lips. "What are you chuckling about?"

"Oh, nothing," you tell him. "You're just adorable when you're like this?"

He scoffs playfully. "Adorable? Save that phrase for our kid." Despite the fact that you stand in front of the orphanage, his words stun you for a moment. And he takes full advantage by grabbing your hand and leading you into the building.

You spend the next few hours talking to many of the children, even playing some games, or reading to some of them. At some point, you've gotten separated from Constantine so you search for him.

And you find him with a six-year-old boy. He's using toy swords to teach him defensive techniques. You shake your head, laughing quietly to yourself. After a few minutes, you clear your throat. They both look over at you before stopping. As you walk over, the boy glances at you nervously and then back to Constantine.

Constantine crouches down and offers a soothing smile to the child. 'Why don't you head inside and play with some of the other kids?" The boy nods and gives you both a polite goodbye, looking over his shoulder with hopeful eyes before ducking down and hurrying inside.

You sigh. "I thought you wanted a baby."

Constantine rubs the back of his neck. "Well," he begins, eyes darting around the little garden. "I mean, babies are a lot of work! A child who talks? And walks? That seems like a good idea to me."

You snort. "Be honest. Those sad eyes and that sweet voice won you over."

His blue eyes turn to you. "I'm a goner."

You can't help but smile as you sling your arm around him and steer him toward the door. "Let's go adopt your adorable protégé, then."

Constantine smiles softly and kisses your wrist. "Ours."

"What?" you ask.

"He's our protégé, my love."

Felix

You study Felix carefully, watching him try to control his breathing. When he realizes you're watching, he sends you a smirk. "Can't keep your eyes off me, huh?"

But you can hear the nervousness in his voice. He's trying to pretend that he's not freaking out. You reach out and squeeze his hand. "Are you sure you want to do this? I understand if not."

His hazel eyes soften as he pulls you closer. "I'd walk through fire for you. Adopting a child with you? Walk in the park."

You roll your eyes but grin. "Famous last words, Mr. Faramund."

"Well, I am hot enough to be famous." He winks at you. "Come on, let's go find a cute little ray of sunshine to adopt." You laugh as you walk into the orphanage by his side.

Almost immediately, Felix zeroes in on an older kid alone in the corner of the room. You nudge him and he finally glances away. "Why don't we start with them?" His only response is a nod, but his feet don't move. You sigh.

And then you give him a push, and he looks over his shoulder, glaring at you with a mischievous look in his eyes. "Already setting a bad example for children," he tells you.

"Stop procrastinating and move it!" His eyes widen at your tone and he speed walks to the child with you hot on his heels.

You both come to a stop. Felix and the child stare at each other, neither willing to speak first. "Felix," you hiss under your breath.

He clears his throat. "Hi."

They raise an eyebrow. "Uh, hey?"

You resist the urge to groan. Instead, you ask, "How old are you?"

The kid looks away, out at the other children who are seemingly younger. "Thirteen," they say quietly.

"And how long have you been here?" Felix inquires, seeming to find his voice with your help.

The kid turns to Felix and looks him dead in the eye. "I don't know. Eight years I think."

Felix frowns. "Be back in a minute," he tells them, grabbing your arm and leading you far away.

You raise an eyebrow and cross your arms. "You're acting weird."

He looks at you, his face as serious as you've ever seen it. "I want to adopt them."

You give him a confused look. "We barely know their age, let alone anything else about them. Besides, they're already thirteen."

He nods. "Exactly. The older they get, the less chance of someone adopting them. But older kids deserve love, too!" Then his face turns desperate. "Please, MC!"

"And what if they turn out to be troublesome?" you ask him.

"Then they'll be our troublesome kid that we love."

You smile and let out a dramatic sigh. "Beg a little more first," you tell him. He rolls his eyes but grins at you in a way that makes your heart pound so quickly that you can feel your racing pulse through your body.

Margaret

"Remember what we said," you tell Margaret, looking over at her as you both walk into the building. "We're only adopting one for now."

Margaret sighs and gives you a pointed look. "Yes, yes, darling, I know." When you arrive in the room where many children are playing and running around, Margaret stops and scans the room, her eyes widening in wonder. She looks at you and asks, "But we can come back soon, right? There's so many that need a home."

"Stay focused," you tell her, laughing a little at the pout on her face. At some point in the day, you both end up in the room with the youngest children. Your eyes find a young child, no more than three years old.

They tilt their head and stare at you before turning away. As you walk closer, they turn back, a small teddy bear in their hands. You glance at Margaret and see softness in her eyes.

"Hi, there, little one," Margaret says as she sits beside the child.

They give her a toothy grin. "Hello!"

You both grin back and then you point at their stuffed animal. "Who's that?"

They look down at the bear for a moment and then back up, tears in their eyes. "My friend Teddy." The child tries to push the bear into Margaret's hands.

"Oh!" she says, startled. "You want me to hold Teddy for a minute?"

The child shakes their head and looks down. "No. Take him away from here when you leave. It's too sad for him to be here."

You're pretty sure you see Margaret turn away with a few tears in her eyes. When she turns back to the child, she says, "Here, you hold Teddy for now. We'll be back."

She watches the child from afar. You put a hand on her arm. "Hey, tell me what you're thinking."

Her brown eyes turn to you. "I'm thinking about how sweet that child is. And trying to figure out how to convince you that we should adopt them." She studies you carefully, waiting for your reaction.

"They are very sweet," you muse. "Maybe too sweet for some of your lessons."

Margaret scoffs. "Your wrong, darling. That little one is perfect. It's always better if people don't know how deadly you can be."

"Alright, well, we're adopting two like you wanted, then. I mean, we can't leave Teddy behind."

She giggles. "Of course not!"

F

Sweat rolls down the back of F's neck as they walk into the orphanage. You've had a long talk. Several of them. And although they're nervous, they also believe that the two of you can raise a lovely child together. When you first brought it up, they asked for some time to consider. And now, a year later, here you are.

You grab F's hand and give it a gentle squeeze. They smile at you before looking around. "Where do we start?" they ask, feeling overwhelmed by the chaos and noise all around.

"Let's go someplace quieter. I bet the babies are sleeping this time of day."

F laughs to themself. "Never heard of a baby being quiet, but I'll follow your lead."

The room you enter has dozens of babies. "So many," you say quietly.

F nods. "The aftermath of a long war."

Before you can respond, they bend over the crib of a baby girl and scoop her up. You can see their green eyes light up as they look at the child.

You run your fingers across the tag on the crib. "It says she's six months old," you note.

"Isn't she lovely?" their quiet voice asks.

The baby girl opens her eyes and looks at you, her tiny hand wraps around one of your fingers. You meet F's gaze and smile.

A while later, the baby now asleep in F's arms, they turn to you. "What do you think? Should we adopt her?"

You watch the baby sleep for a moment. "I don't know. Babies are a lot of work."

"But we'll be doing it together." They come to stand beside you at the window and lean their head on your shoulder. "Besides, you're my moon, and she can be our little sun."