What's a Smosh?(A Smosh Games Fanfiction)

Fourty-Two: Adoption

"Home sweet home," I say rolling in the door in the wheelchair the hospital gave me. Matt is pushing me and Collin walks behind us.
"Nice place," Collin comments walking into the living room. He sets his backpack down next to the couch and turns to me and Matt.
"Thanks," Matt says.
"There's a room down the hall you can stay in. It's the first door on your left," I say.
"Okay," he nods grabbing his backpack off the floor and heads down the hall.
"What do you want for dinner?" Matt asks. I shrug.
"Collin, what do you want for dinner?" I ask wheeling myself down the hall. He peeks his head out the door and looks at me.
"Oh, uh, I don't... I don't know," he says. He must not eat that much. I mean, he's super skinny.
"Well, what are you hungry for?" I ask.
"Spaghetti?" he asks rather than says. I nod.
"Matt and I can do that," I state. I wheel myself back into the kitchen. "Spaghetti."
"Okay. I can do this. You just relax," Matt says wheeling me into the living room and handing me the T.V. remote. I sigh. I hate not being able to do anything. Well, not until I get my boot so I can walk around with a broken ankle.
I watch Adventure Time until the spaghetti is done. I call for Collin and we all sit at the table. Matt puts the spaghetti on all of our plates and we all begin eating. Collin eats like he hasn't eaten in days. He probably hasn't.
"So, Collin, tell us more about yourself," I say. He looks at me like a deer in headlights.
"You want to know about me?" He asks like he's surprised I asked about him.
"Well, yeah. I'm curious about you. Like what's your favorite color? What do you do for fun? What are some of your hobbies?" I ask.
"Blue. I skateboard and play guitar. I really like to play video games, but I haven't played any in a while. I haven't really had the money," he says. I nod.
"We could play some tonight," I suggest. He smiles as wide as he can and nods excitedly.
"Hey, Collin?" Matt pipes up.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you decide to get a fake ID? Why'd you need a job so bad?" Matt asks. I kick him in the shin under the table. "Ow!"
"No, Aeryn, it's okay," he says. "I had to get a job because we weren't provided with food at the orphanage. Ms. Halos couldn't care less about us. The older kids that were sixteen or that could pull off looking sixteen decided to get jobs to support the younger kids," he explains. I nod my head for him to continue. "We took care of them and made sure they had everything they needed and we always made sure that they got to school. We are a giant family."
"How many of you work?" I ask.
"Four," he replies simply.
"And how many littler kids are there?"
"Eleven."
"Four of you were providing for eleven kids?" Matt asks surprised. Collin just nods.
"We have to. Ms. Halos just cares about the money she gets for "harboring us kids"," he says in a raspy, grandma voice. I nod my head again. I want to ask how he ended up there, but I feel like it too soon.
"You can ask," He says.
"What?" I look up at him from my now empty plate.
"You can ask how I got there," He says.
"How did you-"
"I'm really intuitive," he says. "And everyone asks."
"Well, uh, how'd you end up there?" I ask awkwardly.
"My dad died when I was seven and my mom went practically insane after he passed. Child Protective Services came and got me, but they couldn't track down any of my other relatives so they decided to save time and effort and put me into an orphanage," he says.
"That's awful," Matt says. I nod in agreement.

Once dinner is finished, Matt does the dishes and Collin and I play video games in the living room. It's kind of hard to hold the controller with a cast, but I get the hang of it after a while. Collin and I play games until we're both really tired. I wheel myself down the hall and Collin walks into the room we're letting him stay in.
I crawl into bed next to Matt. He puts an arm around me and I snuggle into his chest, as always. I fall asleep in an instant.

"Aeryn," someone whispers. "Aeryn, wake up."
My eyes open and Collin is standing next to my bed.
"What?" I ask.
"I got a call from another boy from my orphanage, he needs me to come home," He says. I nod.
"Alright, let me get dressed and stuff," I say. He nods and walks out closing the door behind him. I struggle getting dressed, but eventually do. I wheel myself into the living room.
"Okay, let's go," I say.

I pull up to the orphanage. Good thing I didn't break both legs and I can still use my other leg to drive. I put the car in park and look at Collin.
"Give me your phone," I say. He looks at me confused, but obliges. I put my number in his phone and put his in mine. "Don't be afraid to call if you need help or just, you know, feel like talking," I say to him. He hugs me.
"I will," he says. He pulls away from the hug and opens the car door. He starts walking toward the run down building. I decide something as he walks toward the orphanage. I roll down the passenger window.
"Wait! Collin!" I shout. He turns around.
"What?"
"I'm coming to get you tomorrow. Matt and I are going to adopt you," I say.
"You sure?"
"Positive," I say. He smiles and walks into the building.

"Matt, I want to adopt Collin," I say later then night when Matt gets home from work.
"You do?" He asks.
"Yeah. I do," I say.
"Good because so do I," he says. I smile and motion for him to hug me. He leans down and gives me a hug.
"I told him we'd be there tomorrow to get him," I say. Matt nods and smiles at me.

I wheel into the rundown orphanage the next day. A middle aged woman sits in an office chair at a desk looking at her computer screen. She looks at me and Matt.
"What can I help you with?" she asks fake sweetly.
"We're here to adopt Collin Zardari," Matt says before I can.
"Mhm," she says. "He's already been adopted."
"What?" I ask shocked. "I just dropped him off here yesterday."
"Yeah. Sorry," she says unsympathetically.
"Aeryn! Matt!" I hear a call. "In here!"
I look over at a door in the hallway. There's pounding on it.
"Ignore that," the woman says to us. Matt walks over to the door and unlocks it. He opens it and Collin jumps out.
"She put me in there so you couldn't adopt me!" he shouts.
"W-what? No I didn't," she denies.
"She wants to keep the older kids here so we'll provide for the kids and she can pocket the other money!"
I glare at the woman. I take out my phone and dial 911.
"Don't do that!" she shrieks trying to snatch the phone from me. I just wheel away from her. I explain the situation to the cops and they're on there way.
The cops arrive, arrest the woman, and bring the other children into custody for questioning. They say that they'll just bring the kids to another orphanage across California.
"No," I say when Officer Brievy grabs Collin's wrist. "We want to adopt him."
"Alright," he says. He hands me the papers off the desk. "Fill these out, put them on the desk, and you're free to take him. Someone will be by tomorrow to take the paperwork."
"How would you know about-"
"I adopted both my kids," he states. "Alright boys roll out!" He walks away and I fill out the paperwork and set it neatly on the desk.
"Let me grab the rest of my stuff," Collin says running down the hall off the the side of the main room.
He returns a few minutes later with the backpack he's been carrying around, a guitar case, and a skateboard.
"Ready," he says. We walk out of the orphanage and Collin stops. I stop and look at him. He flips the building off. I laugh. He just turns around and sets his stuff in the car. He gets in and Matt drives us home.
We walk, I wheel, inside and Collin excitedly runs to his room.

I sit in the doorway to his room later that night. He looks up from his guitar.
"You settling in okay?" I ask. He nods.
"Thank you," he says.
"What for?"
"Adopting me, saving the other kids, and just basically being a good person. Aeryn, you're the best," he says setting his guitar down on his bed. He gets up and hugs me.
"Thank you," He says. I stroke his hair.
"It's nothing, Collin," I say with a smile. He just hugs me tighter. "You should get to bed. It's late, and we're enrolling you in school here tomorrow."
"What?" he asks pulling away from me.
"Yeah. I'll introduce you to my friends fifteen year old brother. You'll get along," I say. "So, you won't be so lonely on your first day."
"Alright," he says.