Finding Home || bxb

36

Third Person POV

When Carrie and Mike decided to start fostering kids, it had been the best decision they'd ever made. Every teenager that had ever stayed with them, even for as short as a day, had been worth it and they hoped they had made the kids' lives just that little bit better for it.

When Alden came into their lives they had been thrilled. They knew about his past and what had happened to his parents, and most of all him, and they knew they had to take him in. It wasn't his fault any of the terrible events that had occurred.

Harrison, their last foster had been gone for a few months having found a place of his own at last after turning 18 and ageing out of the foster system, so they had a room for another. And ageing out was such a terrible thing. Carrie and Mike hated the thought of a child never having had parents long enough to help them into adulthood, so they wanted to be the ones that helped even if it was only for a short period. They would have loved to adopt some, in fact all of the kids', they'd had stay with them, but they simply didn't have the space or the finances for it if they wanted to help more kids out. So, they fostered to help in what ways they could, and it was a good thing actually because it meant they could help so many more kids than they ever dreamed of.

It started as Mike's dream before it became Carrie's too. Mike, whose best friend as a teen had been in foster care and told him all the horror tales that came from it. Of course, objectively, he knew not every kid in care had a terrible experience, but he couldn't help but think that they did, and he had wanted to do for others what he hadn't been able to do for his friend. It was when he shared this dream with Carrie a few months into their relationship that Carrie knew she loved this man and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him and make this dream come true together.

It hurt though. It hurt so much to see their kids hurting. And even if they didn't adopt them, every kid they fostered, particularly for a long period of time like they were doing with Alden, felt like their own. So, when they hurt as Alden was hurting now, it broke Carrie and Mike's hearts, especially as they didn't know how to help him. They were too scared to say or do anything that might make Alden feel like they were trying to replace his real parents as that would only upset him more. They did what they could though. They brought him food to his room where luckily, he managed to eat at least a little bit by the time they came to collect his plates again.

He'd been in his room for almost a week now. Towards the end he did start going to college again but as soon as he got back, he would get back in bed and snuggle under the covers where no one could hurt him. His bed was all he felt like he needed, which hurt Roman because he didn't know what to do for his boyfriend either.

Roman tried to visit and keep constant contact so Alden knew he wasn't alone. Roman always sent him funny videos and texted him everything he thought of, but Alden wasn't always in the mood to reply and often gave very short and blunt responses. Roman wasn't mad at him for this though. He just didn't know what to do. How do you help someone whose grief has returned out of the abyss and is trying so hard to drag them in whole?

Roman couldn't let Alden get dragged in again. He couldn't lose him like this. He couldn't lose him at all in fact.

Roman hadn't been lying when he said he'd loved every girl he'd ever dated, but with Alden he was starting to realise what the difference between loving and being in love meant. Not that he was in love with Alden exactly, but he'd already jumped off the cliff and was falling hard and fast and he only hoped Alden would be at the bottom to catch him or at least falling by his side. But Alden was too grief stricken for anything right now and while Roman was falling he felt like his heart was also breaking for the one he was falling for.