Family

He’s holding onto the singular sheet of paper with no small amount of reverence, fingers tight at the edges as though it might disappear, slip away from his grasp without warning. This is his proof, his future, neat black type against standard issue white paper headed with the official logo of the national adoptions agency.

Finally. Finally. Sixteen years of ups and downs and ‘maybe’s and ‘no’s and now he-

Hitoshi looks up and he’s not crying, he’s not, it’s just that his eyes are leaking and his nose is running but god, he doesn’t care anymore because it’s finally over.