SPECTRAL

Chapter 10

 It took months until the adoption was finalized. But Parker's insistence that he would only go with Noah really helped speed up the process.

When Noah had asked Parker if he would be okay with Noah adopting him, Parker looked like he just won a million dollars. His eyes twinkled with happiness and a wide grin grew on his face. Within seconds, Parker had clasped his hands with Noah's and was jumping with joy. It warmed Noah's heart.

The first time that Parker entered Noah's apartment, he started to cry. At first, Noah was concerned until Parker sniffled, "This will be my home. I never really had a home." With those words said, the small boy had flung himself into Noah's arms. They had stayed there for a couple of minutes, relishing in the comforting warmth the other emitted.

And when the adoption process had been finalized, the two boys were ecstatic. It was official. The family of seven grew to eight, and neither of them regretted it in the slightest.

Parker took to Joey and Josh right away, their personalities meshing into a chaotic mess of happiness. Anthony had joined them, and he too was slowly joining the family. The old man would help calm the trio of mischief makers with the help of Mildred. Parker had been right when he said that Anthony told rude jokes and had an affinity for animals. When Anthony saw Charley he wept. The next day he had confided in Noah that he hasn't been able to interact with an animal for over one thousand and three hundred years.

If you had asked Noah before he met Parker if he would have any kids, he would have scoffed and replied with a snarky, "As if." But with Parker now in his life, he couldn't imagine his life without a child living with him.

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"I hope you aren't wanting me to call you my father. That would be weird."

Mia guffawed, "Noah could never be seen as a father. He's just like the big brother you never wanted but got anyways!"

After a second Noah added, "I'm just your guardian. I think it would be weird for the both of us if I called you my son and you called me your father." Noah shivered at the thought, "I prefer to think of you as my little brother."

"Same," Parker responded. Quickly realizing something, he clarifies, "I don't think of you as my little brother. Oh god no, you are like seventy feet tall. I see you as my big brother."

Laughter filled the room as Parker flushed. Noah quickly responded, "I'm actually around six feet tall." He grinned as he added, "But it really depends on how you define feet. If we are talking about the feet of birds, your guess would be closer."

"Oooh!" Chirped Joey, "We should start measuring things in animal feet, but everyone gets a different animal. Noah obviously gets dogs, Honey gets bees," There was a shout of protest from the old man, "Mildred would get a cat or something, Parker can get sugar gliders, Mia gets birds, Josh gets bears, I get ostriches, and Claire gets camels."

Josh snorted, "Really? Ostriches, sugar gliders, bears, and camels? Why the f-" Quickly correcting himself after Mildred and Anthony glared at him, "I mean, why in the world would you choose those animals for us? I thought I would get a lion or something!" He puffed out his chest.

"Clearly I get to use ostrich feet because ostriches are cool. Especially their feet." A longing look grew on his face as he thought about the large birds, "And sugar gliders are so cute and fit Parker perfectly. You get bears because I don't really care what you get. And Camels for Claire because they have weird feet."

Parker seemed keen on the idea, "This is perfect! All we have to do is learn the average foot size of our assigned animal and we can confuse everyone!"