#tbh this chapter was kind of filler at the time as well bc i wasn't sure how to get to the next arc

[journey-to-the-attic]

i've come to the conclusion that i must have been having too much fun writing extended dialogue for mephisto for the first time because this section is drawn out

editing an older chapter and WOW as much as i'm still very long-winded now, i was so much worse at condensing bits that definitely needed to be condensed back then. why did i spend nearly a fifth of the chapter just on getting mephisto down from a tree

i could definitely streamline the scene or cut some of it out entirely but also i like the dialogue so at a bit of a loss here

[uc-fakeadoption-au]

herói do futuro: chapter 1

read on ao3:

chapter count: 1/?

rating: teen and up audiences

category: gen

warnings: no (archive) warnings apply

relationships: Nathan Drake & Victor Sullivan, Nathan Drake & Samuel Drake, Samuel Drake & Victor Sullivan

additional tags: fake adoption au, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, also titled just a dad and his two sons, Young Nate, Young Sam, aka hes not balding yet lmaoo, "young" sully, Team as Family, Fluff and Angst, pretty good amounts of fluff tbh, Family Bonding, accidental family acquisition, There will be headcanons, content warning for sully bc he's young and hot, dare i say...dilf sully?, yes beta we DON'T die (like sam!!!), place-filler ocs (they don't mean shit to the story I just needed someone for certain roles)

summary: Uncharted AU; Victor Sullivan never thought he would have son(s), hell, what *does* he know about raising a kid?

However, a chance meeting with a certain pair of brothers during a job puts a swift end to *that* line of thought.

It might even change the future as we know it...

alternative to ao3 under the cut:

It was supposed to be a simple, in-and-out job.

The client — a swarmy wannabe collector-slash-historian — had contacted him on the premise that it was going to be an easy and absurdly well-paid operation. All for some wooden saint stored in an old Boston church.

Now, Victor did have a pretty good idea of what was so interesting about that particular idol (he wasn't ignorant, thank you very much), but the level of prep did seem a bit overboard. Not that he was complaining, having the floor plans, several images of the church, and a detailed schedule on its functioning would make it a lot easier to plan and actually grab the twenty-pound saint, unseen. Simple.

But it can never be that easy, can it?

When he got to the actual building, turns out that the entire storage in the basement had been moved to a different location a few years prior due to some kind of renovation. Which was fan-fucking-tastic and begged the question: where the hell would they have transferred all that shit to?

A few days (and a frustrating discussion with the client, who promised an even higher finder's fee to keep looking for the wooden icon) later, they managed to at least find out where the haul had been moved to. 

The pro: it wasn't too far from the original location.

The con: it was now stored in a small chapel in a religious all-boys orphanage.

~

 

So that was how Victor "goddamn" Sullivan ended up there. In a nun-staffed orphanage. Posing as an oh-so-lonely guy, looking to adopt. 

It felt like too much bullshit, even for his standards. And he didn't expect a lot from this in the first place. Goddamn.

~

 

"Mister… Smith, was it?", cautiously asked the woman.

Uh oh, suspicious already? "Yes, that's me. And you, miss..?"

She extended her arm for a handshake. "Reed. Susan Reed. I'm the social worker assigned for your case. Welcome to the St. Francis' Boy's Home, sir".

Goddammit. He really expected that the whole thing was going to be facilitated by the nuns. That surely complicated things.

"I see. Well miss Reed, I assume you know what I'm here for".

"Oh, of course, you're here for a visit. You're looking to adopt, after all. While we haven't had the time to completely process your paperwork, you should be okay to get on with the first steps".

Ah yes, he was supposed to be named Victor Smith this time around. At least the fake name worked to buy him some time then. While having a criminal history was supposedly "not a determining factor on approving an adoption", that could be a problem if found out.

Not that he was actually adopting a kid. What the hell did he know about raising one of those, anyway? Focus, Sullivan.

"Sure", he replied after a moment too long. "Can I have a look around, then?"

The social worker's eyes widened and she shook her head vehemently. "Oh no, mister Smith. I'm afraid it's protocol to have a guided visit, at least at the first few times. I'm sure you understand why", her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Crap. He had a bad feeling about this girl. She wasn't exactly onto him, but she was certainly unnerving. He didn't doubt that was protocol though, just didn't think it would be actually enforced. Victor was pretty sure that if it were just the nuns, they would have let it go, after all, it would be one less unruly kid to look after, right?

Looked like this one would need extra caution. All that just to scope out the place. He was starting to ask himself if the money was actually worth all this trouble. His thoughts were interrupted by Miss Reed taking off the room with a quick "follow me". All he could do now was follow the woman and hope for the best.

Behind them, the heavy wooden doors banged shut.

~

 

This was bad. This was really bad. The "disguised" thief had really underestimated this woman's capacity to be a nuisance. Sure, she was doing her job, prattling about the procedures for adoption, adding in details about the orphanage detail and little curated tidbits about the resident kids, in a way that made it painfully apparent that this was very much rehearsed and said thousands of times already. He wondered if the kids in the anecdote she was telling him were even still there.

Worst of all, her constant blathering was pretty distracting. He barely kept track of the way they were heading while trying to keep up with the conversation. Maybe he should just tune her out, but that could be bad for the persona he was trying to set up and she was already somewhat suspicious of him, so maybe…

"Oh, and just down this corridor is the orphanage's chapel. Honestly, it is not a place of too much interest among the kids, but well, it is a Catholic orphanage after all…"

That made him come back to full awareness.

"Just down here, you say? Could we take a look?"

She actually looked surprised to hear that. "I didn't take you as a religious type, Mister Smith".

"I'm not, actually", he smirked, "Just interested in architecture. Lots of interesting buildings around here, especially churches".

"Hmm, I see. I apologize, but the chapel is currently closed for maintenance. Some of the boys managed to set up something explosive inside, a part of the floor caved in. Until that's fixed, it's too structurally unsound to let anyone in. The nuns have been taking the kids to another church nearby in the meantime". 

Goddammit. Here's to hoping they didn't move the stuff stored in there someplace else. This was starting to really sound like a wild goose chase.

"That's too bad. You think that'll be fixed anytime soon?"

"I have no idea Mr. Smith. But surely, if the adoption process goes well you'll be back here plenty of times, at one of those visits the chapel will be fixed already".

"I sure hope so. The sooner the better", he said through gritted teeth.

"Well, we could ask one of the nuns if there's a set date for the repairs if that would make you feel any better?"

"I'd like that. It sure is a tragedy to know that such an important place is in disrepair like that, you know", he lied.

"Let's go ahead and fetch one of the nuns then. There should be some of them just ahead, we're getting closer to the classrooms now after all".

A short walk later, they had found a quite particular nun, one Sister Catherine. They pretty much caught her smoking in one of the windows, a fact that she was quick to conceal. Flustered and surprised, she managed to regain her composure for him to ask about the chapel. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, as the nun started ranting and raving about the "terrible, shameful" situation, saying that the staff could not pinpoint exactly who had been the culprit. According to her, it was really obvious who did it, a pair of frequent troublemakers.

"You see, I tried to warn Father Duffy or well, anyone who would listen. This has the Morgan's name written all over it! Only these boys would do such a thing. Father Duffy says there wasn't enough evidence to declare them guilty of that. For me it was really obvious who did it, but…"

"I do believe you, Sister Catherine, I really do! But could you please answer Mr.  Smith's question first, please?"

Startled, she turned to look directly at him.

"I'm sorry for this sir, but I'm afraid we don't have an exact date for the repairs to end. It's mostly done via volunteer work, you see. Because of that, there's never a set schedule. I can't honestly tell you an exact date".

God-fucking-dammit. He was really hoping for an easy entry. Surely, he could climb from the outside, if the damn chapel had any windows that actually opened (he had checked that beforehand. They didn't).

"Well, thanks for the info anyway", he tried his best not to sound insincere. 

"Shall we continue, Mr. Smith?"

"Sure, go ahead".

They continued their little tour, Ms. Reed pointing out the kids working hard in the small classrooms, an mostly empty god court and finally vaguely indicating the stairs to the second level, with kids' rooms and the administration office, to which they would return later, to discuss paperwork and the like (not looking forward to that). All in all, it was a pretty standard orphanage, as far as they go. Their last "stop" was in the large courtyard in the back of the building, in which there were a few stragglers, probably running from the classes. The social worker didn't try to reign them in, though, so it was probably fine.

After a few minutes of watching the few scattered kids in silence (finally!), Reed started to get a bit fidgety, turning to him after a moment of that.

"So, Mr. Smith, was there anywhere you'd like to see again? Any of the children you'd like to know about?"

Oh yeah, he was supposed to actually show interest in adopting one of the little creachers. Huh.

"Uh, well… Maybe you could tell me more about those Morgan kids?", that was the one name he remembered.

"Oh, certainly. Actually, that one coming there is the eldest, Samuel".

At that point he noticed one of the children in the courtyard approach, making a beeline towards them. Huh, talk about "luck". No brother with him, though.

"Hello, Samuel. Where's your brother?"

"Around" he grumbled "He's never too far anyway".

"I see", she nodded pensively. "Mr. Smith, can I trust you with Samuel for a minute while I fetch his brother?"

"Sure".

"Okay, I'll be just around the corner. Holler if you need me, Samuel".

The kid just waved her off, waiting for her to be out of sight to straighten out and look at Victor straight in the eyes. Interesting.

"So you're the troublemakers everyone's talking about huh? Or at least, half of them".

"And you are the weird old dude that's 'looking to adopt'", the boy finger quoted.

"My reputation precedes me, I see".

"It's not like a lot of people come looking for kids here. And anyway, you're an old, single dude, kind of a rarity around here". Cheeky little bastard.

"Less of the old, kid".

Out of the corner of his eyes, he'd been following the route of a scrawny little kid that had been tiptoeing around him for a good few minutes. He was telegraphing his moves horribly, it was clear that he was up to nothing good. He was curious though, that was probably the other Morgan kid. Samuel was just a distraction from him, despite not being very effective against someone like him.

He'd let him try, anyway.

"Hey, what's going on there? You having a heart attack, old man?"

"Haha, very funny. Watch it".

"Are you threatening to beat up a poor, innocent orphan?? You're an evil man, ya know".

He felt small fingers fish his wallet off his pants' back pocket. The distraction they set up was pretty good, someone else might have actually fallen for it. It was definitely an attempt, that he could say.

"Sure kid, whatever helps you sleep at night", he joked.

Looking behind him for a bit longer than what would be socially acceptable, desperately fighting a smile, Samuel simply shrugged, mumbled an off-handed "Whatever, old man", and tried to leave. The keyword being tried.

He would have made it were it not for Reed returning, loudly proclaiming the youngest brother's with a loud "Here you are, Nathan! I've been looking for you like crazy!"

Turning around, he locked eyes with the kid in question. Caught in the act, he was trying very poorly to conceal the stolen wallet behind his back. It didn't really work, but it sure was amusing.

"Hello, Miss Reed! Sorry, I was just running around, ya know", he cocked his head innocently, right after being joined by his brother.

Samuel and Nathan Morgan, huh. Those two surely seemed promising. They could be a great help…

[uc-fakeadoption-au]

herói do futuro: chapter 3 is out!!

read on ao3:

chapter count: 3/?

rating: teen and up audiences

category: gen

warnings: no (archive) warnings apply

relationships: Nathan Drake & Victor Sullivan, Nathan Drake & Samuel Drake, Samuel Drake & Victor Sullivan

additional tags: fake adoption au, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, also titled just a dad and his two sons, Young Nate, Young Sam, aka hes not balding yet lmaoo, “young” sully, Team as Family, Fluff and Angst, pretty good amounts of fluff tbh, Family Bonding, accidental family acquisition, There will be headcanons, content warning for sully bc he’s young and hot, dare i say…dilf sully?, yes beta we DON’T die (like sam!!!), place-filler ocs (they don’t mean shit to the story I just needed someone for certain roles)

summary for the chapter: sully accidentally kinda adopts two kids yet still refuses to have any responsibilities about them (whether it's emotional or straight up keeping them from being caught and shit)

also the plan + some action?? not the fighting kind though, just stuff happens; also I finally explain what's up with the hollow saint

alternative to ao3 under the cut:

The next time he saw Samuel, he wasn't even in the orphanage. The little shit was just sitting there in his rented room, looking pleased with himself.

"So, it really was all a con, huh? Not gonna lie, kinda hate the "Sully" thing, gonna stick with Victor. It was the only thing you didn't lie about, I guess".

"Sure kid, suit yourself. I assume your brother let you in on the 'secret'?"

"No, actually I'm here just to shame your life choices. What else would I do?"

Victor didn't bother dignifying that with a response. Samuel just seemed to… deflate.

"Listen, can you actually do that? The thing?"

"You're gonna have to be more specific, kid".

"Ugh, the thing. The last one you told Nathan about? The most important part of the deal??"

"Oh, that. Yeah, 'course".

"Are you sure you're not lying about that too? You don't have the greatest track record, old man". Well sure, but you're in no position to argue about that, kid.

"Well, if I don't do it, you can always notify the orphanage staff about what I did. It would really set the whole thing back. That good enough insurance for you?", he extended his hand.

"I guess it'll have to do".

"I see great things in you kids' future", they shook hands, sealing the deal. "Great things".

~

The plan was pretty simple.

As he had checked beforehand, it was impossible to get to the chapel from the outside. It was joined to the main building, and the few windows with outside access were either just made of stained glass or way too small to be of any use.

That's where the kids came in. With free reign of the orphanage, they had the opportunity to find out the best time for them to enter, and the best way to go around it the stealthiest and quietest as possible.

In return, he would help them run away from the orphanage. They'd be together long enough to bail the kids out and get them on their way — Victor would drop them off somewhere 'safe' and would give 'em a portion of the job's pay — and after that, they wouldn't be affiliated in any way. It was the best outcome, as in everyone would get what they wanted individually. Though, throwing a couple of small children out in the world all by themselves probably wasn't a great idea, but oh well. Wasn't his problem.

~

After a few days of 'meticulous research' — those were Nathan's words, not his — the kids had come up with a decent strategy, as it follows:

They'd be separated into two 'teams'. One was just Nate, by himself, who'd be inside standing guard by the chapel's door, though he could totally do exactly the same thing as the other two would. He'd also be in charge of if everything was good to go when they got there, and, as a last resort, providing a distraction. He had a certain cute-lost-puppy quality about him, which made a way better distraction than whatever his brother could come with.

The other 'team' was Samuel and Victor, who would sneak in through the rooftops, the kid serving as the guide. They'd decided the best time to do it was at the early hours of the morning, as it was the time with the least staff running around. Thanks to that, after they snuck in, they could just waltz in right through the main chapel door, unobstructed.

Everything was good to go, if not for the kids asking questions.

"Why do you even want to get in there, anyway?", challenged the eldest Morgan.

"You didn't really come here just for architecture, right Sully?"

"Nah, kid. Just gotta…' borrow' something from the basement there"

Samuel scoffed, "What could you possibly want from there? There's nothing valuable in there, we checked it out when the floor collapsed".

<

"Yeah, there's only stuff like Christmas decorations, a bunch of boxes with old documents".

"And some messed up wood saints".

"I'm actually after one of those".

"All of this just for those ugly things?? There's a reason they are hidden away like that, and it's not because it's precious in any way "

"You might be wrong about that one, kid"

"How come?", asked a fidgety Nathan, resting his head in his arms.

"Yeah, do share your infinite wisdom with us uneducated orphans".

"C’moon Sam", whined the younger Morgan, elbowing his brother. Yeah, they were definitely brothers.

Victor leaned back in his seat, lighting up a cigar — at which Nate made a face at, probably didn't like the smell. "Those wooden saints are hollow inside, right? You could safely store stuff inside them, valuables included. In fact, there was this story I heard when I was about your age…"

"Oh, hell no", Samuel almost tumbled right out of his seat in his haste to get away. "Keep your secrets, old man. There's no way I'm sitting through a whole stupid story".

"Anyway, as I was saying before your brother so rudely interrupted me...", he leaned in Nate's direction, "So, it's said that during the Brazilian gold rush, the miners used to hide gold in these hollow saints to avoid paying taxes. It was a pretty religious country at the time, so those easily flew under the authorities radar".

"So you're saying one of them, the ones in the basement, could be full of gold??"

"Sure they could”.

"Whoa".

"Yeah whoa. You reckon that's a good enough reason for going after 'em?"

The kid just smiled brightly.

~

Victor left, as usual, no unnecessary reminders to the kids or anything that might be suspicious to someone watching. Unlike usual, he didn't even make his way to the rental room, opting to make himself as comfortable as possible on a nearby rooftop.

That night, they'd put their plan into motion.

~

He was starting to regret that decision after sitting on the goddamn rooftop for a few too many hours, completely freezing his ass off. The kid better be here at the right time, exactly to the right minute, or he would kill somebody.

Thankfully, Samuel didn't disappoint. A few minutes before the time they agreed on starting, he could already see a small figure sneaking through a window and jumping between rooftops. Right, time to go.

He expected the kid to come near and at the very least say hello, but Samuel was waving him over instead.

"Should have expected that you wouldn't even bother with a greeting, huh?"

The kid waved his hand dismissively, "Yeah, yeah, not like we're having a nice hang-out session or anything, why waste the energy? We've got better things to do".

"Would it kill you to be nice… no scratch that", he followed the kid over a gap. Would it kill you to be at the very least polite for once?"

Samuel was ahead, scrabbling up a vine-covered brick wall.

"Yes, it actually would", he deadpanned, dangling precariously on a brick that jutted out from the rest of the wall.

He wouldn't dignify that with a reaction at all. At least he got to see the 'impressed but mad about it' face Samuel pulled when he got to the top before him. Perks of not being thirteen, or tiny, for that matter.

After a few more stupid jumps and an impressive amount of climbing using suspiciously well-placed, yet crumbly footholds later, they got to a large gap. It seemed that some kind of makeshift bridge had been placed there before — though now, it was lying at the bottom of the shaft, strewn in pieces. Kid really looks edgy, most likely he placed that beforehand.

While he could probably make the jump, the kid would end up like the bridge if he attempted anything like it.

"You got a hook? Rope? Anything?"

"Not really".

"What?? Aren't you supposed to be the experienced one here? How come you don't even got basic equipment?"

"Well, it was you who said this was an easy, straightforward path. If anything, you brought this on yourself". The kid looked like he was just about to explode. "I do have an idea to get you across, though".

"Yeah?"

"Watch and learn, kid".

He grabbed the kids from under his armpits, took a running start, and with the kid's strangled whisper shout of 'Oh fuuuuuu',

threw him across the gap.

~

The kid got to the other side unscathed, without even making any major noise, not even a single tile got out of place. All in all, a perfect landing, ten out of ten. Except for the fact that it took a while for the kid to stop whisper-yelling curses and threats at him, despite it all going well. What a hassle. They did get across, didn't they?

"You realize each moment you waste throwing that tantrum of yours is one we could be using to get to the chapel, right? And one less moment exposing your brother to any risk, even if it is just standing guard".

At that, the kid finally shut up.

"Great. Will you resume your guide duties now, Morgan?"

If looks could kill, Samuel would just have committed a brutal murder. He gestured for Victor to follow him, fuming.

They proceeded amidst a heavy silence. It was only when they got to the orphanage's roof that the kid spoke again. Maybe he shouldn't have been so callous. Too late now.

"We're coming up to a window in a bit. We'll get in using it".

"Lead the way, kid".

They went in through a second-story window that opened into some kind of sickbay (which was pretty much almost always empty, thankfully), connected to the main hallway. It was a decent entry point, pretty discrete. Before they could step out, the kid elbowed him to get his attention.

"We'll have to sneak past the administration office. You have been here before, you know where it is, right? So, it shouldn't be a problem, since everyone is most likely already out. But," he raised a finger, "sometimes Father Duffy falls asleep at his desk when trying to solve all the messes that keep piling up. So, we have to watch out in case he's there this time".

"Okay kid, let's go".

Despite the fact they were on the floor where all the children slept, it was pretty quiet. Not a soul on the hallway, not even staff. Only one light was still on at the administration's office, a single beam that was only visible because the furthest door in the room was accidentally left ajar, providing a way to peek inside. True to Samuel's word, the orphanage's priest had fallen asleep at his desk, hunched over an enormous pile of paperwork. " Sneaking" past that was nowhere close to challenging. Not that he was complaining.

Getting to the main stairway, they quickly descended to the first floor. There, they didn't need to be as cautious — hell, they could just casually walk there if they wanted to — though they still kept their eyes peeled for anything unusual.

Making their way to the chapel, both paused at the sound of two very distinct voices. A boy's and a woman's one. Both scrambled for cover, hiding on the sides of a large doorway. The boy's voice was definitely Nathan's, probably deploying some kind of distraction. Sully couldn't exactly pinpoint the second one, but he had heard it before.

"That's Sister Catherine", Samuel mumbled. "Of course, of all the people it had to be her".

Oh, that was it then. It was only the woman who was notoriously suspicious of the Morgans. The one that (correctly) accused them of every single instance of mischief detected within the orphanage's walls. Well, shit . Nathan better have this figured out, or they were fucked.

"Can't have nice things, kid. Should have figured that out by now".

He cursed under his breath. "Okay, okay. If anyone can pull this off and get that witch out of our way, it's Nathan".

"So now what? We wait?"

'We wait".