fic: you come beating like moth's wings (part four)
you come beating like moth's wings (part four)
ryan lochte/michael phelps
pg13, 25183 words
just general warnings for curse words and one use of the word 'faggot'
The next thirteen days go by too quickly. Debbie stops by to say goodbye to Conor and Conor cries into her shoulder when she leaves. The night before the visit as they’re putting Conor to bed, Conor asks, “If I’m bad tomorrow do you think my parents won’t want me?”
It fucking breaks Michael’s heart. “Nah,” he says and pets Sydney’s head. “It’s impossible not to want you.”
Conor doesn’t have to leave the moment the visit is over. When Jane comes to collect him she explains that he’ll be with them for a few more days and then he’ll rejoins his parents and his brother. Conor almost throws a tantrum when he and Jane have to leave but he holds himself together like a big boy.
Michael doesn’t feel like doing anything except for sulking around the house and Ryan agrees with him. They try to watch the football game and take their minds off the fact that Conor’s only going to be with them for a couple more days but Michael ends up losing it when he goes into the kitchen to grab a beer and sees all of Conor’s drawings taped to the fridge.
He sits on the kitchen floor and cuddles with Herman until Ryan wanders in and finds them. He kind of does this frustrated pathetic sort of sigh before he collapses on the floor with Michael. Eventually Carter comes into the kitchen and sits down next to his owner, all of them feeling depressed.
Eventually they move back to the living room and Michael collapses against Ryan’s back on the couch, trying to force himself to watch the Steelers beat the Ravens. He should be cheering and hollering for his team to come back and beat Pittsburgh’s ass but he doesn’t have the will to do it.
They must doze off at some point because Michael’s awakened by his phone blaring Lil Wayne. It’s dark inside the living room, the only light coming from the TV that’s playing the late night noise.
“‘Ello?” Michael mumbles into the phone, not fully awake. Next to him Ryan begins to stir and mumbles into his shoulder, “What is it?”
“Michael?” Jane’s voice is shrill. “Michael is Conor with you?!”
Michael jolts away. “No,” he says and looks at the clock above the TV. The green letters blare 10:30. “I thought he was with his parents.”
Ryan is leaning over Michael now, trying to press his ear to the phone and hear the conversation.
“Fuck!” Jane curses into the receiver. “Fuck, fuck,” she says again. “You and Ryan need to come down to the police station as soon as you can and by soon as you can I mean right now.” And then she hangs up.
Michael and Ryan hesitate for only a few seconds before they’re both pulling on their shoes and racing into the garage.
It’s raining hard by the time they get on the highway and they take the wrong exit before they finally end up at the Baltimore County police station. Inside Jane is pacing back and forth, talking to someone on the phone in a high, excited voice. When she spots them she abruptly hangs up.
She looks at them like she’s expecting to see someone else and then flops down in a chair. Her hair is rumpled and her fine white shirt crinkled.
“What’s going on?” Ryan demands and she pats the seats next to her. They both know not to argue with her and sit down, the social worker between them.
“The Dwyer’s have taken Conor,” she says simply. Ryan opens his mouth to ask a question and Jane cuts him off. “They’ve taken him across state lines.”
“We’ve taken him to Florida before,” Ryan says and looks to Michael for some sort of explanation. Jane rolls her eyes and then rubs at her forehead. “No,” she says, “not like that. You asked permission to do it. You were allowed to do it. They’re not.”
“So they’ve kidnapped him,” Michael says and then feels panic well up in the back of his throat. “They’ve kidnapped him. How the fuck did they do that?!”
“Unsupervised visit, remember?” Jane says, her usual perky exterior giving way to something much fiercer. “They’re last fucking visit and they decide to take him to Pennsylvania!”
Michael stands up and starts to pace. “How do you know they’re in Pennsylvania?”
“State troopers stopped their car after the alert was put out that he’d been taken as soon as they got into the state.” Jane stands up and picks lint off her jacket. Her phones starts to ring and she picks it up with a brisk, “what?” and then steps away from them.
Ryan is chewing nervously on his bottom lip, leg jittering. “Fuck,” he says, “fuck MP do you think he’s okay?”
“Yeah,” Michael says even though he has no fucking clue. He continues to pace. “Jane said the state troopers stopped them. He’s probably with the troopers right now.”
Ryan continues to chew on his lip. He reaches out and grabs Michael by his belt loop. “Mike,” he says, “Mike stop you’re making me nervous.”
Michael sits in the chair that Jane left vacant. Ryan laces their fingers together and curls himself up in his chair.
Jane comes back over to them, her phone clutched tight in her hand. “He’s fine. He’s safe. They’re bringing Conor back here right now.”
“And his parents?” Ryan asks. Jane sighs and rubs the toe of her shoe into the tile like she’s putting out an imaginary cigarette bud. “Going to jail, probably.”
“Probably?” Michael repeats.
“Most definitely,” Jane says.
“And his brother? What happens to Conor and his brother?” Ryan questions.
Jane sighs and sigs her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “For now Conor’s staying with you two. We’ll have to figure something out later.”
Michael leans back in his chair and tries to keep from smiling because it’s no smiling matter that Conor’s been basically kidnapped, but it’s hard to with the thought that Conor might, just might, be theirs.
It’s an hour long wait before the troopers arrive at the station. Michael and Ryan are waiting in the chief’s office, nursing on cups of coffee as they try not to count the minutes. There’s a commotion out front and then Jane appears in the doorway. “Come on,” she says. “They’re here.”
Conor is making a commotion in the lobby. “I want my dad!” He screams, obviously distressed. A female trooper is trying to comfort him and tell him that he can’t have his dad but Conor continues to fight with her.
“No!” He yells and stomps his foot. “I want my dad!”
“Conor,” the trooper says. “Conor you can’t have your father right now. Maybe you can visit -”
“I want Mike,” Conor says, fat tears in his eyes. “I want Ryan. I want my dads!”
The poor trooper looks lost. “Conor, I don’t know who -”
“Conor,” Jane says and helpfully pulls the crying seven-year-old away from the trooper. “Calm down and you can see Mike and Ryan.”
Conor sucks up snot and tries to pull away from Jane and then he finally catches sight of them. He makes a mad dash across the lobby and almost knocks over a police officer before he’s slamming into Michael’s leg. He almost knocks Michael over but Michael gets his balance and swoops Conor up into his arms.
“It’s okay,” he says automatically and strokes Conor’s hair. “It’s okay Conor, we’re here.”
Conor makes a horrible attempt to laugh and then he’s trying desperately to pull Ryan into a hug and not leave Michael’s arms. Michael feels like he’s being choked but he doesn’t care; Conor is back in their arms, and he’s safe, and he’s theirs.
He lifts his head and makes eye contact with Jane and Jane just nods as if giving them permission to leave. “I’ll bring the paperwork over in the morning.”
Michael drives home while Ryan sits in the back with Conor. They make eye contact in the rearview mirror and they both can’t stop grinning. Conor is theirs.
In the morning Jane brings over the promised paperwork. There’s an adoption packet and another business card for her associate whose line of work is more focused in adoptions. “Just in case,” she says after Michael and Ryan have signed the adoption papers and gives them a bright smile, her happy façade back in place.
The paperwork won’t officially go through for a couple more months but for all intent and purposes they’re Conor’s legal guardians - they’re Conor’s parents.
“Does that mean I can stay here forever?” Conor asks once he’s given Jane a hug and she’s left.
“Jeah!” Ryan says excitedly and gets the dogs barking. And then his face gets serious. “Like until college and then you have to get your butt outta here.”
Conor looks confused. Michael says, “College is forever away.”
Conor breaks into a grin. “Jeah!” He says and races around the house with the dogs.
Things don’t become sunshine and daises after that. They’re the Phelps-Lochtes for God’s sake and anything less than wild and crazy would be unacceptable, but Conor settles into the family like he always belonged there and no one does a double-take when Conor interchanges Mike and Ryan for dad and daddy. Along the way they hit a few bumps and crash horribly into some ditches, especially when Conor gets older and asks things like why didn’t my parents want me and learns to drive, but despite everything having Conor as their kid compares to nothing, not even the thirty-something medals Mike and Ryan share between them.
part one part two part three AO3
ryan lochte/michael phelps
pg13, 25183 words
just general warnings for curse words and one use of the word 'faggot'
The next thirteen days go by too quickly. Debbie stops by to say goodbye to Conor and Conor cries into her shoulder when she leaves. The night before the visit as they’re putting Conor to bed, Conor asks, “If I’m bad tomorrow do you think my parents won’t want me?”
It fucking breaks Michael’s heart. “Nah,” he says and pets Sydney’s head. “It’s impossible not to want you.”
Conor doesn’t have to leave the moment the visit is over. When Jane comes to collect him she explains that he’ll be with them for a few more days and then he’ll rejoins his parents and his brother. Conor almost throws a tantrum when he and Jane have to leave but he holds himself together like a big boy.
Michael doesn’t feel like doing anything except for sulking around the house and Ryan agrees with him. They try to watch the football game and take their minds off the fact that Conor’s only going to be with them for a couple more days but Michael ends up losing it when he goes into the kitchen to grab a beer and sees all of Conor’s drawings taped to the fridge.
He sits on the kitchen floor and cuddles with Herman until Ryan wanders in and finds them. He kind of does this frustrated pathetic sort of sigh before he collapses on the floor with Michael. Eventually Carter comes into the kitchen and sits down next to his owner, all of them feeling depressed.
Eventually they move back to the living room and Michael collapses against Ryan’s back on the couch, trying to force himself to watch the Steelers beat the Ravens. He should be cheering and hollering for his team to come back and beat Pittsburgh’s ass but he doesn’t have the will to do it.
They must doze off at some point because Michael’s awakened by his phone blaring Lil Wayne. It’s dark inside the living room, the only light coming from the TV that’s playing the late night noise.
“‘Ello?” Michael mumbles into the phone, not fully awake. Next to him Ryan begins to stir and mumbles into his shoulder, “What is it?”
“Michael?” Jane’s voice is shrill. “Michael is Conor with you?!”
Michael jolts away. “No,” he says and looks at the clock above the TV. The green letters blare 10:30. “I thought he was with his parents.”
Ryan is leaning over Michael now, trying to press his ear to the phone and hear the conversation.
“Fuck!” Jane curses into the receiver. “Fuck, fuck,” she says again. “You and Ryan need to come down to the police station as soon as you can and by soon as you can I mean right now.” And then she hangs up.
Michael and Ryan hesitate for only a few seconds before they’re both pulling on their shoes and racing into the garage.
It’s raining hard by the time they get on the highway and they take the wrong exit before they finally end up at the Baltimore County police station. Inside Jane is pacing back and forth, talking to someone on the phone in a high, excited voice. When she spots them she abruptly hangs up.
She looks at them like she’s expecting to see someone else and then flops down in a chair. Her hair is rumpled and her fine white shirt crinkled.
“What’s going on?” Ryan demands and she pats the seats next to her. They both know not to argue with her and sit down, the social worker between them.
“The Dwyer’s have taken Conor,” she says simply. Ryan opens his mouth to ask a question and Jane cuts him off. “They’ve taken him across state lines.”
“We’ve taken him to Florida before,” Ryan says and looks to Michael for some sort of explanation. Jane rolls her eyes and then rubs at her forehead. “No,” she says, “not like that. You asked permission to do it. You were allowed to do it. They’re not.”
“So they’ve kidnapped him,” Michael says and then feels panic well up in the back of his throat. “They’ve kidnapped him. How the fuck did they do that?!”
“Unsupervised visit, remember?” Jane says, her usual perky exterior giving way to something much fiercer. “They’re last fucking visit and they decide to take him to Pennsylvania!”
Michael stands up and starts to pace. “How do you know they’re in Pennsylvania?”
“State troopers stopped their car after the alert was put out that he’d been taken as soon as they got into the state.” Jane stands up and picks lint off her jacket. Her phones starts to ring and she picks it up with a brisk, “what?” and then steps away from them.
Ryan is chewing nervously on his bottom lip, leg jittering. “Fuck,” he says, “fuck MP do you think he’s okay?”
“Yeah,” Michael says even though he has no fucking clue. He continues to pace. “Jane said the state troopers stopped them. He’s probably with the troopers right now.”
Ryan continues to chew on his lip. He reaches out and grabs Michael by his belt loop. “Mike,” he says, “Mike stop you’re making me nervous.”
Michael sits in the chair that Jane left vacant. Ryan laces their fingers together and curls himself up in his chair.
Jane comes back over to them, her phone clutched tight in her hand. “He’s fine. He’s safe. They’re bringing Conor back here right now.”
“And his parents?” Ryan asks. Jane sighs and rubs the toe of her shoe into the tile like she’s putting out an imaginary cigarette bud. “Going to jail, probably.”
“Probably?” Michael repeats.
“Most definitely,” Jane says.
“And his brother? What happens to Conor and his brother?” Ryan questions.
Jane sighs and sigs her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “For now Conor’s staying with you two. We’ll have to figure something out later.”
Michael leans back in his chair and tries to keep from smiling because it’s no smiling matter that Conor’s been basically kidnapped, but it’s hard to with the thought that Conor might, just might, be theirs.
It’s an hour long wait before the troopers arrive at the station. Michael and Ryan are waiting in the chief’s office, nursing on cups of coffee as they try not to count the minutes. There’s a commotion out front and then Jane appears in the doorway. “Come on,” she says. “They’re here.”
Conor is making a commotion in the lobby. “I want my dad!” He screams, obviously distressed. A female trooper is trying to comfort him and tell him that he can’t have his dad but Conor continues to fight with her.
“No!” He yells and stomps his foot. “I want my dad!”
“Conor,” the trooper says. “Conor you can’t have your father right now. Maybe you can visit -”
“I want Mike,” Conor says, fat tears in his eyes. “I want Ryan. I want my dads!”
The poor trooper looks lost. “Conor, I don’t know who -”
“Conor,” Jane says and helpfully pulls the crying seven-year-old away from the trooper. “Calm down and you can see Mike and Ryan.”
Conor sucks up snot and tries to pull away from Jane and then he finally catches sight of them. He makes a mad dash across the lobby and almost knocks over a police officer before he’s slamming into Michael’s leg. He almost knocks Michael over but Michael gets his balance and swoops Conor up into his arms.
“It’s okay,” he says automatically and strokes Conor’s hair. “It’s okay Conor, we’re here.”
Conor makes a horrible attempt to laugh and then he’s trying desperately to pull Ryan into a hug and not leave Michael’s arms. Michael feels like he’s being choked but he doesn’t care; Conor is back in their arms, and he’s safe, and he’s theirs.
He lifts his head and makes eye contact with Jane and Jane just nods as if giving them permission to leave. “I’ll bring the paperwork over in the morning.”
Michael drives home while Ryan sits in the back with Conor. They make eye contact in the rearview mirror and they both can’t stop grinning. Conor is theirs.
In the morning Jane brings over the promised paperwork. There’s an adoption packet and another business card for her associate whose line of work is more focused in adoptions. “Just in case,” she says after Michael and Ryan have signed the adoption papers and gives them a bright smile, her happy façade back in place.
The paperwork won’t officially go through for a couple more months but for all intent and purposes they’re Conor’s legal guardians - they’re Conor’s parents.
“Does that mean I can stay here forever?” Conor asks once he’s given Jane a hug and she’s left.
“Jeah!” Ryan says excitedly and gets the dogs barking. And then his face gets serious. “Like until college and then you have to get your butt outta here.”
Conor looks confused. Michael says, “College is forever away.”
Conor breaks into a grin. “Jeah!” He says and races around the house with the dogs.
Things don’t become sunshine and daises after that. They’re the Phelps-Lochtes for God’s sake and anything less than wild and crazy would be unacceptable, but Conor settles into the family like he always belonged there and no one does a double-take when Conor interchanges Mike and Ryan for dad and daddy. Along the way they hit a few bumps and crash horribly into some ditches, especially when Conor gets older and asks things like why didn’t my parents want me and learns to drive, but despite everything having Conor as their kid compares to nothing, not even the thirty-something medals Mike and Ryan share between them.
part one part two part three AO3