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Shanks groaned as loud voices in the hallway woke him up. If there was one thing that he didn’t like about a household with six children in it, it was the honestly chaotic Christmas Mornings that came with it.
Don’t get him wrong, he loved all of them, loving his husband even more. But at times like this it was a bit much at times.
Rolling onto his back, looking to the side and seeing Mihawk still fast asleep, Shanks tried to hear Uta again. She had been the one who called out not too long ago, no doubt at Luffy when he came to wake her up.
Running a hand through his hair, he couldn’t help but think back at how this all came to be. How he and Mihawk went from a relatively new couple to a set of parents to six children.
Shanks, as a teen, had been adopted by a lovely couple named Roger and Rouge who despite him being a teen at the time, welcomed him into their hearts and into their home.
While he was there, they went on to get a set of twins, as well as adopt their nephew who had been taken away from his birth parents after Rouge’s brother got in trouble with the law.
Anyway, he had grown up with three younger siblings who he adored to the moon and back.
Especially him and the youngest, Luffy, who got along really well. Which made it so great to go back home even after he had started his own life.
Nothing had prepared either of them for the fact that Roger and Rouge had gotten into a car accident coming back from a date for Roger’s birthday, meaning the boys were at Shanks’ anyway as he offered to watch them.
Seeing a police car pull up to state that their parents hadn’t made it was… It was one of the worst moments of Shanks’ life. He didn’t know what to say, only that as soon as CVS was mentioned he’d put himself forward as their guardian, being their older brother, and wouldn’t hear the end of it.
Reaching out to an old friend of Roger’s, Newgate, as the man was known to adopt strays he met in his cases as a Child’s attorney. To help him make sure the boys wouldn’t be taken away from him. After everything they had gone through, he didn’t want them to be separated. So while he had recently gotten into a relationship, he had promised himself that it wasn’t worth it to give the boys up just for someone he’d been dating three months at the time.
Rolling over to look at Mihawk again, a soft smile came over his face at the knowledge that despite them being together for not that long, the other man hadn’t even needed time to think before he was mentioning that seeing as Shanks lived in a small apartment maybe it would be better if he moved into his house. The gothic style mansion offered a lot more room for three pre-teen boys than the two bedroom apartment Shanks lived in.
“What’s with that look on your face?”
Startled, Shanks looked to see Mihawk still had his eyes closed, but seemed to know he was looking at him.
“You can look through your eyelids now?”
Mihawk opened one eye, levelling Shanks with a deadpan stare, before shaking his head, “I just know you, Red, and I can feel the weight of your gaze on me.”
Pouting, Shanks sighed soon after before looking ahead, “I’m thinking back on how the boys ended up at our place. Or well, how you offered to let me and them move in, all those years ago.”
Humming, Mihawk moved so he was able to wrap his arm around Shanks’ waist, “That date is coming up again, isn’t it?”
Nodding, Shanks sighed again, “In about a week, so I hope we can all keep busy enough as to now overdo it. It’s never a fun time, in between Christmas and Ace’s birthday, I know he has enough trouble with it as it is. I don’t want to add to that.”
Tracing doodles on Shanks’ arm, Mihawk chuckled, “I know that a lot of my acquaintances, even Buggy, called me nuts for doing this. But I can’t say I ever regretted it. It’s been a lot, especially as after the boys I was the one getting custody of my sister’s children.”
Humming, Shanks recalled when they had gotten that particular call. He knew that Mihawk hadn’t seen his sister in years. Her being older and moving away to be with the love of her life had made that happen. Yet, neither of them expected to be called just past midnight by social services after a domestic case turned sour and the mother wasn’t expected to wake up from the coma she was in. However, her two children still needed a place to be and it seemed Newgate gave them their name once he recognized the mother’s maiden name.
“Yeah, I never expected to find out Mallory moved back here, that the love of her life wasn’t so great, only to have her fall into a coma from what he did to her and her never waking up again. Perona and Zoro were twelve and nine at the time, they had been through so much and I didn’t want them to end up in the system either.”
Shaking his head, Shanks pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Given everything you did for me, there was no way I was going to let them be given to the system. We had the place, and luckily, Luffy and Zoro got along really well.”
Snorting, Mihawk shook his head, “A little too well at times. I’m glad they bonded instantly, but I’m also certain that Perona, Ace and Sabo wished they could tear them apart at times. The amount of chaos Luffy gets into with Zoro enabling him is insane.”
It had Shanks laughing, Zoro and Luffy were indeed a pair that needed to be watched 24/7 as he feared they might cause a global catastrophe at any time.
“Then we had a quiet time for a while, until Uta.”
Laughing at that, Mihawk nodded, “I still think that the only reason Perona was so happy there was someone else coming to live with us was that Uta was a girl and she missed that in between all of us men.”
Getting lost in the memories, it was another loud yell from Uta that had Shanks groaning and getting out of bed.
“I love them, really I do, but couldn’t they wait for a little longer before starting the chaos that comes with Christmas Morning.”
Opening their bedroom door, he sees Uta standing there with tears in her eyes. Her half red hair, like his own, and white entangled.
“Luffy offered to do my hair and ruined it.”
Sighing, he just opened the door wider and let her come inside so Mihawk could take a look. He was often better at it then Shanks was. Looking at Uta, Shanks was lost in the memories of how he had a half-sister who had been taken away from his mother when the woman hadn’t changed her child rearing ways and they had been contacted to take her in. It was weird that none of these were their own children, or even their children in all. But they loved them all the same.
Finding Luffy in the room Ace and Sabo shared, he just looked at the youngest who looked away with a pout on his face.
“I wanted to help her look pretty, Shanks!”
Sighing, Shanks came to sit on the bed, “I know that, Anchor, but if you notice you’re messing up her hair you stop. Ask Perona to come and take a look or find Mihawk or me. Uta was crying about it being all messed up now.”
This only had Luffy pouting harder while Ace mentioned that he had said the same thing. Ruffling their hairs, he got a promise out of Luffy not to do something like that again. Maybe a good thing too, as Shanks didn’t think he’d like to see Uta in tears again. He didn’t like it when she cried, in part because she had been crying when he went to pick her up at CVS. Those big tears as she tried to make peace with her new normal all of the sudden.
Leaving the boys in the room, he went downstairs to start preparing breakfast. Soon they would be storming down and want to eat something before they started on the presents.
Once the coffee pot was running and some eggs were baking, arms wrapped around his waist and a kiss was pressed to his cheek. Turning, they had a soft kiss, before Shanks leaned back onto Mihawk’s chest.
“It’s been five years now, time has flown past and I don’t know how to deal with it.”
Mihawk shook his head, “I know, Perona is sixteen, the twins are fifteen, Zoro is fourteen, Uta thirteen and Luffy is twelve. Gone are those children we took into our home.”
Grinning as he hears them muttering just outside of the door, Shanks couldn’t help but add some drama, fake crying that he missed it when they were so much younger.
Luffy and Uta, always the ones to fall for it, came storming in, telling Shanks that they were still kids. That not a lot of things were going to change that. He knew that, pulling them close and hugging them, enjoying the feeling that evolved into a family hug soon after. A lovely little family, all of them.
Years from that point, Shanks would think back on that moment. Think about how far the children they raised had come. They might not be theirs, as in they weren’t their biological parents, but they sure as hell raised them.
He was so proud of all of them, of how far they had come!
Perona was an alternative fashion designer who would soon have her first big runway project. They were all looking forward to that and rooting for a good show.
Ace and Sabo were an amazing pair, Ace was a social worker where Sabo was an attorney specialising in Child cases. The both of them worked under Newgate (even if the man was officially retired) making sure that other children had as amazing foster parents as they had.
Zoro and Luffy were policemen together and often knew just who to call for help. They were, despite being young, one of the bests on the field.
Uta on the other hand had been discovered as a great singer and was preparing for her first world tour, all of them already had tickets for the one closest to their hometown. Not willing to miss such a large event.
“Where have the kids gone, love, I can’t believe our house is so quiet now.”
Mihawk chuckled, “We did an amazing job raising them, sweetheart, just look at where they’re all standing right now. We can enjoy our own life and make sure that those dreams we willingly put on hold to take care of all of them can come to pass.”
Humming, Shanks leaned up to press their lips together, they had indeed put quite a lot of things on hold to take care of others. It felt weird to be able to do this now, but he was certain he’d get it through his head. For now though, he would enjoy some peace and quiet with his husband.