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“What the fuck do you mean you’re adopting Yuno? Did he even agree to this shit?”
Buddha stopped the car and stared at Luciano in bewilderment. His friend tilted his head back against the headrest of his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose while closing his eyes.
“I mean what I said. There was a whole shitshow and he was about to be adopted by Carlo – ”
“Who the fuck is Carlo!?” Lang cut in, frustration building quickly.
“Carlo is a piece of shit! He doesn’t got his life together and he’s always bringing drama wherever he goes!”
“Oh my fucking god. So why the fuck did Yuno want to be adopted by him? Isn’t he already adopted by Fiona?”
“Well if you’d let me talk, Lang, I could get to that!” Luciano snapped, giving him a glare as he continued. “Fiona and Carlo were dating, Carlo did the bare minimum to act like a good father to the kid, they break up, it gets ugly real quick for everyone involved in the family, there’s a whole other shitshow with a hit getting put on the kid – ”
“What!? Who the fuck is trying to kill Yuno!? I’m gonna clap these motherfuckers, who the fuck do they think they are – ”
“That part doesn’t matter as much, actually.”
“Excuse me? Out of everything you just told me, I think that’s the most important bit, you dumbass.”
“Relax, the kid can fend for himself. He already took care of it before it ever became a problem. That’s all over. What wasn’t over was the kid being down about losing his family, and Carlo swooping in to try to adopt him just to spite Fiona. He doesn’t give a shit about Yuno, he’s just fucking around, and I wasn’t about to watch the kid go through all that shit.”
“Right, right.” Buddha said, dragging the words out. “So your solution to someone wanting to adopt Yuno to keep him away from someone else, was to offer to adopt Yuno to keep him away from that guy.”
“It’s not like that!” Luciano threw his arms out in irritation as he spoke. “I actually give a shit about the kid! I’m not like Carlo, you fucking bitch! If you had been there, if you had the context I have on the whole thing, you would’ve done the same thing.”
Buddha froze at those words. His face went blank and he turned away from Luciano, pressing on the gas to keep driving.
Him. Adopt Yuno. Yeah fucking right.
Yuno was his hacker, his friend, one of his boys. He wasn’t Lang’s son.
It didn’t matter that he would hurt anyone who even gave the kid so much as a dirty look, or that he had a soft spot for him when it came to, well, anything – crew shit, money shit, patience bullshit. He’d always have time for Yuno, to make sure he was having fun with whatever he was doing.
He was just a good friend, that was it.
“Besides, like I said, there’s a bunch of people who said they’d adopt him. I might not even end up adopting him.”
Adopting Yuno.
Forget that bullshit.
But then, well. Buddha couldn’t forget it. In fact, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it.
Luciano shouldn’t be adopting Yuno. He was a great mentor, but he was a shit father. Buddha had seen how low Lottie was on his list of priorities, and Yuno didn’t deserve that bullshit. Especially since he didn’t even really want to adopt Yuno, he just wanted to fuck over Carlo. At least when he’d gotten adopted by Fiona, as much as he’d taken it as a joke at the start, she’d actually wanted to adopt him.
But, see. Buddha had been Yuno’s family too, once. Forget all the legal bullshit and labels, he’d been the kids first real family. In his eyes, they had never stopped being family, and he was sure the kid felt the same. It didn’t matter what they called themselves, that’s what they were.
He wasn’t the kid’s dad, had never wanted to be and he was sure the kid didn’t see him as a father, but he was still… An older male figure in the kid’s life. He was Mr. Lang.
Yuno used to look up to him – the little piece of shit found it more fun to poke fun at him and disrespect him now, but if he was honest with himself, he liked it better that way anyway. He’d given the kid opportunities; had looked out for him, always; had taught him everything he knew that the kid cared to learn about. He wasn’t his father or brother or uncle or any of that bullshit, but he was something.
And that protective something had him pissed off on Yuno’s behalf.
He was sure the kid was taking it well, probably thought it was flattering people were clambering over themselves to adopt him before anyone else could, but Buddha couldn’t help himself. He was pissed.
Yuno wasn’t a fucking piece of meat these idiots could fight over, in the same way he wasn’t just a tool to be used when people wanted to hack into a tough security system. He was a young man who seemed to have this craving for family, for a place he could call home, that could never be satiated. He was always looking for more people, more friends, making connections wherever he went that could last a lifetime. He trusted everyone and expected everyone to trust him because he didn’t want to hurt anyone, ever, even when he kind of did.
Buddha had never gotten the story Yuno’s past off him. He kept that shit close to his chest and deflected every question until you forgot what you even asked in the first place. But it was obvious to anyone that looked past it for more than a second that the kid had a lonely streak in him. He hoarded people’s friendships like a dragon hoarding gold.
He stared at his phone that lay on the table in front of him, Yuno’s name and phone number shining from the screen. He took another swig from his glass, the burn of alcohol relieving some of his stress.
What would he even say? ‘Hey Yuno, just calling to say don’t let any of these idiots adopt you, you deserve better. You deserve family that actually gives a shit about you. On that topic, let this idiot adopt you so we can officially be family in more than just words and feelings.’
Yeah fucking right.