The Guardian (for cleverfox)

[overthesea]

It was times like this when Will wished sorely that he had siblings or extended family. Somebody other than his parents that could look after him. Because now that he had lost them, he was left with nothing. He had lost his entire world and now there was nobody on whom he could rely on. It was a pain like nothing else. He was only thirteen and had, up to this point, led an extremely sheltered life and now he had no family. It was just him and that terrified him beyond belief.

Well, technically speaking it wouldn't be just him for very much longer. A family friend was coming, Noah Qinn, a person that, really he didn't know, not well enough that he wanted the man to adopt him anyway. But he had no choice in the matter. The man was his legal guardian now and he had no say in it. How could he, he was only thirteen? Will was sitting in the hall, which used to be a rather quiet place, but now it was deadly silent. Only the ticking of the grandfather clock was to be heard. He was never very good at waiting. Will knew that watching the door would only make it worse, but he couldn't help himself. He was nervous and on edge and not looking forward to meeting this man at all. He didn't want Noah; what he wanted were his parents.

[CleverFox]

Dr. Noah Quinn had actually gone to college with Will's father which was how he had became acquainted with the man and then his family after that but since he had moved away to go to medical school and then to set up his medical practice the frequency that he had been able to actually see the man and then later his family hadn't been what he would have wanted. He had kept in touch with phone calls and the like however so he was just as close to his friend as they had been in college, which made it extremely painful to get that phone call saying that he and his wife were both dead. That had been a hard blow for Noah but he wasn't able to dwell on his pain for very long since he was almost immediately told that guardianship of his friend's thirteen year old son would fall to him.

The only real experience that Noah had with children was on a professional level and so that was a daunting prospect for him. And while he could have refused to accept guardianship that was something that he would never do seeing as it would leave Will in the custody of the state and being in foster care wasn't something that he'd wish on anyone and certainly not on the child of his best friend. So he got into his car and went to pick the boy up, having called his attorney to make a few arrangements along the way. It seemed like the trip both took forever and at the same time wasn't long enough, Noah sitting in the car for several minutes after arriving and just trying to get himself pulled together though he did finally manage to force himself to get out.

Noah was an average man, height and weight wise, with brown hair that he wore a medium short length though the most striking feature that he had and the thing that stood out the most was the fact that his eyes were two different colors. His right eye was blue while his left was a vivid, emerald green, this being pretty much the only thing that made the man stand out among other people. The man was dressed in a suit and was actually still wearing his lab coat since he had left rather abruptly after getting the news that he was now going to be the guardian of a teenager, Noah making his way to the building and then entering, his mismatched eyes shifting around as he searched for his young charge.

"Will?" he called out in a soft edged voice.

[overthesea]

Will grew more and more nervous as time slipped by, yet at the same time, his denial of the situation grew. He couldn't be taken away by this man, he couldn't, it wasn't fair, he wanted his parents back, he wanted things to go back to how they were and for everything to be normal and happy again. The boy pulled his legs up to his chest and hid his face in his face in his knees, arms hugging his shins. He didn't want this, he didn't deserve this, it wasn't fair! Tears stung his eyes and he squeezed them tight, though they wouldn't fall, even if they were wide open. He hadn't cried at all since his parents death. He didn't know why, but for some reason, all the feelings within him remained locked and he just couldn't find the key to release them.

Will heard the door open and he tensed, curling up tighter as if somehow, if he made himself small enough, this would all go away. He didn't know what he'd say to the man. He didn't really know him that well, yet this was the man he'd be spending the rest of his childhood with. It wasn't a welcoming thought. On hearing his name being called out, he cleared his throat and said in a small, shaky voice, "Noah?"

[CleverFox]

It took a great amount of willpower to make him open that door and step inside but Noah knew that he had to do it and he just wasn't the type of person to leave a child with nowhere to go even if the fact of the matter was that he just didn't know how to raise a child. He dealt with them from time to time though in the facility where he worked it was an infrequent thing however dealing with them on a professional level was a far cry from actually raising one so he was understandably nervous about the entire affair. He did manage to force himself to open the door however and once he was inside he called out Will's name, looking over at the boy when he answered back.

The fact that the boy was sitting curled up in a protective manner concerned Noah somewhat but he was chalking that up to the trauma that the boy had suffered with the loss of his parents so he was trying not to read too much into the matter. "Hey buddy," he said as he walked over to the spot where Will was sitting, crouching down so that he could look the boy in the eyes. "You ready to go pal?" He wasn't sure if the kid had all of his things packed up or not but he would give him time to get things in order if he needed it since he wasn't in a terribly big hurry. He just felt that it would be for the best if they were off so that Will would be able to start adjusting to his new life, Noah fully aware that it was definitely going to be a big adjustment for the teen.

[overthesea]

Will instinctively shrunk back, if but a little, when Noah crouched down next to him. He found the man's eyes fascinating and he couldn't help but stare at them, as he always did. On hearing the question, he could have sworn he could feel all of the colour drain from his face. Going? Going where? He looked at the floor near Noah's feet and felt a thrill of horror to see no suitcases. Noah wasn't moving in with him, Will was moving in with Noah, which made a whole world of difference. There were so many painful memories in this house, but it was his house all the same. It was his home and now, along with with losing his parents, he had to leave his home too.

He felt a tightness in his chest and the tears that never fell stung his eyes again, "You mean... I'm going with you?" he asked, voice hoarse from disuse. It wasn't as if he had had anybody to talk to since his parents' death, "wh-why aren't you moving in here? Why can't I stay?" anger blossomed within him and he uncurled rising to his feet, "you should be the one moving, not me! That isn't fair! I'm not going with you, you're staying here, you should be the one moving!" Will's voice, quiet before, had now risen to a shout, "I don't even want you! Why do I have to be the one moving! It's my house!"

[CleverFox]

Noah knew that a lot of people found his eyes off setting so he would have been amused to know that Will was fascinated by them however that was a subject that had never came up the handful of times that he had actually seen the child. So they missed out on what probably would have been quite the interesting conversation, Noah instead moving to kneel beside the boy and feeling a bit bad to see him curl away but he didn't draw attention to it and instead asked the child if he was ready to go. It was probably something that he should have thought about but honestly the thought that the boy might have issues leaving his home had never crossed his mind so Noah was surprised when he suddenly gained a burst of anger from the boy in response to his words.

He wasn't going to lose his temper however and so rather than getting angry he just stood up once again and calmly allowed the boy to finish his little tirade before he spoke up again. "I am sorry that all of this is coming as an unpleasant surprise to you Will and I know it's rough but this is just the way that things are. I have a very large dog that i have to care for as well as an important job so moving this far away from home isn't really an option for me buddy," Noah told him, bringing up his dog Orion and hoping that the teen might at least be happy about the prospect of having a pet but at this point that wasn't something that he was going to hold his breath about since he was fully expecting a fight.

"You can bring whatever you wish and if I need to hire a moving truck then I will but I'm sorry but we can't stay here," Noah told him, once again stung since the kid had said that he didn't want him but that was to be expected as well. He may have been the boy's dad's best friend but to Will he was more or less a stranger so it was only natural that there was no emotional attachment there though Noah was hopeful that one would eventually develop.

[overthesea]

Will had lived a rather sheltered life and as such he got whatever he could have wanted from his parents, mostly within reason. But he was used to getting what he wanted, used to having things his own way and right now things as far down south as they could possibly get. Under any other circumstances, he would have been thrilled to have a pet, the one thing he was never allowed to have, but right now he couldn't have cared less. He didn't want to move away from all that he had ever known. He wanted to stay here, where his friends where, where he knew people. It was all too new and just too much to deal with and right now all he could do was take it out on Noah. It certainly felt like it was his fault to Will anyway.

"I don't care about what's convenient for you!" Will snarled, green eyes lit with anger, "this is my home! I've the only family I've ever had and now you want to take my house away from me too!" desperation clutched at him and he felt the awful tightness in his chest again and a sharp pain whenever he took breath, "Why can't you understand that I don't want to go! In fact, I'm not going! It's my house!" he stomped over to the door and swung it open, the wooden frame cracking on the wall with a bang, "Get out!"

[CleverFox]

Noah was willing to make allowances since he knew that all of this was hard for Will however the fact that he decided to have a tantrum that was fitting of a much younger child and then went so far as to tell him to get out was more than the man was willing to just tolerate. "Okay let's get something straight right now William, you are not the one that is going to be in charge in this relationship. And I'm sorry that this is hard for you but it's going to get easier for you once you settle and get used to it. However if you continued to display this level of attitude and disrespect then you're going to earn yourself a punishment that I can guarantee that you aren't going to like," Noah told him, his voice level and calm but still containing a definite stern quality. He may not know much about raising children but he did recall his own childhood and he knew exactly how his dad would have responded to such defiance and disrespect and while that was something that he didn't particularly want to do he was not going to let the boy think he could walk all over him either.

"Now, unless you want me to be the one packing your stuff I would suggest that you calm down and start cooperating young man," Noah told him, gazing at the boy with a level look. He really just didn't want to have to spank the boy on the first day that he had custody of him but at the rate he was going that was exactly what was going to happen and Will was going to find himself over the man's lap before all was said and done. Not a pleasant prospect for Noah but one that he was more or less resigned to since the kid wasn't showing any signs of cooperating with him thusfar regardless of what he tried.

[overthesea]

Will's body was shaking. He was on the verge of either screaming or crying. If the situation got any worse, he might actually end up doing both. On hearing the tone of the man's voice, the boy instantly decided that he hated him. He was not used to being talked in such a way and it riled him to hear it, but it also scared him a bit. It was foreign for him to be talked to like that and it make him quail a little to think that he'd be living with this man indefinitely. Slowly, he shut the door. He was still furious, but his instincts were telling him to back down. He glowered at the man, eyes filling with tears against his will.

"Do I have to do it now?" he asked quietly, though his voice quivered with anger, "Where do you even live, anyway?" the prospect of moving far away made him even angrier and he let out a growl, raking a hand through his hair, "God, this isn't fair!"

[CleverFox]

The fact that the boy was taking out all his pent up frustration on him really bothered Noah if he were being honest with himself about it but all the same he knew that if he allowed Will to think that he was the one that was going to be calling the shots then he would have absolutely no luck getting him to behave himself from here on out so that was something he was not willing to allow. Because of that he ended up getting stern with the child, calling him on the fact that he was having a tantrum and warning him that he was getting dangerously close to getting himself into trouble. Noah was glad that the kid at least decided to back down at that point but he was clearly still angry right now, which sort of depressed Noah since he was going to have to deal with the kid and he wasn't sure how.

When Will asked if he had to do it now and then went on to ask where he lived Noah sighed softly and replied, "I live in the next town over, it takes about two hours to get there from here." Which was the reason why he couldn't just move here and then commute to work, four hours spent in a car each day on top of the hours that he worked would just be too much. "I'm sorry that it isn't fair but unfortunately there is just nothing that I can do about that buddy," Noah told him in a soft voice, trying to show the kid that he really wasn't the jerk that Will was likely thinking he was, not that he really thought this was going to help.