@shincsobright moved from here!
Freddie allowed himself to be tugged along towards his couch by Marcia's warm fingers, and once she had settled he sat close beside her with one arm around her shoulders. His other hand took hers where she had laid it in her lap, and he slowly traced his thumb over her skin as she spoke. He felt glad at her reassurance that 'the kids' - as he had so easily referred to them, as if he had always been part of their lives - would take the news well. Freddie had grown to love them, too. Every moment he spent with the Reyes family felt like it erased a painful one spent with his own in the distant past, and he could hardly wait to be an official member.
"Always so practical, looking out for your family... that's one of the things I love most about you, you know," Freddie replied, smiling down at Marcia. He took a deep breath. "Uh, well, I guess I always imagined I would move in with you and the kids. I mean, this place is obviously not big enough for more than two-" he gestured briefly at the cluttered, homey apartment, "-so I guess I'd sell it. And... put the money towards someplace bigger?" He paused then, a worried furrow appearing between his eyebrows. "But I know you wouldn't want to leave your parents' place. So... maybe I just let your brother rent here, when he wants to move out?" A soft laugh slipped from his lips. "This practical stuff is complicated. What do you want, Marcia?" he asked, his brown eyes filled with a determination to fulfil any wish she had, so long as she could be happy with him.
