{Neo} Call me Dad

[michael]

This was proving to be harder than he had thought. When Michael had discovered the small child in his shop in the earlier months of the year he hadn't expected to have been in this kind of situation. It had turned out to be very interesting and much more complicated than he had thought in the beginning. He had known since the moment he saw the boy that he wasn't quite the most well cared for child, but he had never thought it was to the extent as he had found him in. The child's mother had been a muggle drug-addict, something that was horrible in both the muggle world and wizarding world. Michael had done what he could to help the child, but in the end he had done something he really hadn't hoped to do. He had always been gifted in charms to a point, but he had never wanted to use a memory charm on anyone. And, on that day, when he had taken Neo away from that pathetic excuse of a mother, he had cleared the woman's memory of the boy.

There had been many times where he had heard of stories of how abusive parents would come after their child even after they had been taken from them for their own safety. And, it was clear this mother would not care whether she knew she had forgotten of her child or not. He only wanted to protect the boy. It had taken time for him to even get the boy to trust him, but now he was trying to get the thought into the boy's head that he was to care for him. He wanted to be able to raise the boy and offer him the childhood Neo obviously never had a chance to have. As he stood quietly in the kitchen, preparing a small meal for the two of them, he paused in his cooking to look outside the window. Snow covered the roofs of the shopping alley below and the world around them. Christmas was almost here and he was determined to give this boy the best Christmas he ever had in his life.

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[neo]

Neo shifted around in the chair at the kitchen table sitting on his knees and pressing his face to the window, a hand on either side of his head- looking out on the bustling alley below. The activity was beginning to slow down for the day, but there were still a lot of people in funny clothes running about with bags of shopping and odd things that Neo didn't know what they were. Michael, or Dad, whichever he was supposed to call the nice man that had taken him in, had explained to him about magic. Neo thought it was cool, though he had seen a side of it he wasn't sure about.

The way his mummy's eyes had gone all glassy, and she seemed all confused, but he had learned not to question it. Michael, Daddy, was nice to him, he hadn't been hit once, even when he made a mess or wouldn't sit still. He didn't have to steal things. He had a bed to sleep in every night. He didn't have to wander around in the cold. It was nice. The only thing Neo didn't like was the man's owl, the bird didn't seem to like him very much, but that was okay, it kept its distance.

"It's busier down there today," said Neo, prying his face away from the chilly glass and instead putting his hands on either side of the chair, beginning to teeter back and forth on the legs. Lord knew the boy couldn't sit still to save his life, couldn't keep the same thought in his head for longer than ten seconds. It was difficult, he had never been able to concentrate for long stretches of time, couldn't sit still or stop fidgeting ever. Mummy had gotten angry, but Michael, Daddy, didn't seem to care.

Neo smelled the air as the man cooked, trying to figure out what it was. He didn't know a lot about different foods, wasn't allowed to be picky, he had simply eaten whatever he and his mummy could find. "Whatcha making?" asked Neo, he knew he had asked before, but he forgot. He just hoped that Michael, Daddy, wouldn't get mad, he was just curious.

[michael]

Michael was happy to have the small boy in his life, nothing could ever change that, though this hadn't exactly been how he had planned it. No, he had pictured finding an amazing man who would sweep him off his feet, become happily married then look for a child to adopt or even attempt one of those surrogate mothers. So, no, this hadn't quite gone as planned, but he was sure he wouldn't trade it for anything else. As the boy grew more comfortable with him he found out who he really was on a personal manner. Neo realy was a sweet boy and it disgusted and horrified him to think of how his mother had treated him. As the young boy spoke, Michael glanced back at him with a soft smile on his lips, craning his neck to look a bit better out the window before nodding his head. "I would think so. Everyone is trying to get their Christmas shopping done,"

[/color] he explained before the small timer on top of his oven gave a soft 'Ding'. Glancing back at the oven, he flicked his wand towards it, opening the oven door before levitating the pan out and onto the cooling rack he had on the counter.

"It's something my mother use to make me when I was little. It's a lemon and chicken roast,"[/color] he said with a smile for the third time that night. But, despite the repeated numbers the boy had asked, Michael simply repeated to answer him, seeing no harm in the child's forgetfulness. Michael's younger brother was similar in such a way, always asking the same question over and over again. It was simply something he was use to. But, even if he wasn't accustomed to such a thing the man would never dream of ever raising a threatening hand against the boy. No child should be hit unless it was truly called for such as doing something that was simply awful. His parents had been strict and had spanked him a number of times for even simple things and he was going to make sure he wasn't going to raise Neo in such a way. As he finished up the last of the meal's preparations, Michael finally gathered up their plates and set them down onto the table, smiling as he gently ruffled the boy's hair. "Hope you like it."[/color][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[neo]

Neo continued to rock back and forth on the legs of the chair, now watching Michael, Daddy, as he went about making them dinner. He was having a hard time making the transition between calling the nice man by his name, Michael, to a more paternal term. Neo didn't have any experience having a father, he had never known his own. All his mummy had told him was that he had been a man who had given her her special medicine. Neo had known better than to question it. The only parental influence he knew was that of his mother- the hitting, the screaming, the wandering the streets in shoes two sizes too small.

That was definitely a new experience, having clothes that fit properly and shoes that didn't constrict his feet. And even shoes that fit the situation- he had winter boots now, sandals for summer, and sneakers for everything in between. Before this, he had just had his sneakers. Neo almost didn't know what to do with himself. This was what normal was supposed to be, yet he didn't really understand it. He had never even had a Christmas before, he just remembered that the shelters they went to when his mother was sober had had decorations and served processed turkey when there was snow on the ground.

He'd never had a present before. Not for Christmas, not for his birthday, or any other occasion in which people were expected to exchange gifts. "Oh," said Neo, he had about a thousand and one other questions, but he kept them to himself for the time being. Perhaps he might be able to figure out some of them on his own. He stopped rocking back and forth on the chair, and instead exchanged the habit for another vice, chewing on his thumbnail which was already quite short.

Neo nodded when Michael again told him what they were going to eat for dinner. "Okay, sorry I keep forgetting," said Neo. He felt the need to be apologetic, he didn't want to make his new father angry. Neo returned to chewing on his thumbnail as Michael finished making dinner before setting it up at the table, he had never seen so much food in one place, he was used to scraps that left him hungry, if possible even more famished than before. Neo looked at the arrangement wide-eyed, he almost didn't know what to do with it.

[michael]

Michael was doing his best to help the boy transition to this new world. But, it was proving to be a bit difficult as he not only had to introduce him into the wizarding world, but he had to introduce him to simply normal life as well. The man was doing what he could to explain things to Neo and offered help whenever the boy would seem like he needed it. For the time being the thing he was focusing most on was the idea that the boy no longer had to look for some sort of food or care. Michael had told him that he could call him dad, daddy, or whatever the boy had wanted, but he didn't push him or scold him whenever he instead called him by his name. He was sure Neo had to get use to it as for one he didn't seem to have ever had a father to begin with and he was sure it was an odd thing to call someone who was not actually related to them.

As he set the food down, the man caught the boy lightly chewing on his nails again, something Michael made a note of. That was one habit he would be trying to break. He himself had been a nail bitter when he had been a small child and he had never seen the harm in such a thing until he ended up severely ripping his nail resulting with a rather large infection in his finger. It had been a painful thing to go through and Michael was going to be sure to make sure Neo didn't do something similar. "Neo,"

[/color] he began, his voice firm but still soft and quiet. "Remember what I told you about biting your nails?"[/color] He looked over calmly at the small boy, offering a small smile simply to make it clear to the boy that he was not necessarily mad at him. As he did this Michael began to place bits of food onto his plate, giving him something of a large serving for the boy's size.[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[neo]

Neo squirmed in his seat, he really was trying to be still like a good boy, but it was something that he was almost entirely incapable of doing. He just couldn't be still no matter how hard he tried. Whenever he wasn't moving he felt like he should be, like something bad would happen. Neo couldn't really explain it, he just knew that he couldn't stop moving. Or chewing on his fingernails for that matter. It, just like his ceaseless fidgeting, was a habit that he didn't really have much conscious control over, it was simply something that he did. Just like a lot of things, they just were.

Neo looked up at Michael when he said his name, gently reminding him of what he said about nail-biting. His eyes briefly widened and his posture suddenly stiffened, as if he were expecting to be struck. Mummy had always hit him when he did something that she didn't like, the reaction was involuntary, even if Michael, Daddy, had never been anything but kind and gentle with him. Neo hadn't gotten hit once since he was taken away from his Mummy. He was quick to pull his finger away from his mouth, and instead picked up his silverware to see if it might distract him from those tempting fingernails...

"Sorry," Neo said quickly, relaxing his posture once his subconscious caught up to the fact that he was not about to be hit. He watched as Michael, Daddy, dished out giant portions, he had never seen this much food in one place, was this what normal people were supposed to eat? It seemed like a real feast to him, granted he'd never had more than a couple of bites of any one thing. Neo started to eat, carefully, but quickly- he was used to needing to eat fast, or he otherwise risked not getting enough. It was the way one needed to eat on the streets.