Second Hand [manxboy]

Epilogue

Six Years Later

Nico waited outside of his car, sitting on the hood. It was a warm day, so he'd rolled up the sleeves of his button-up shirt. His slacks were tight and a dark grey, which only made him swelter more on what was really just a mild day.

He squinted up at the sun on occasion before he fixed his eyes back to the plain concrete building in front of him. Even in the parking lot, tall fences surrounded him. It still made him uneasy even though he'd kept a clean record. That didn't mean he hadn't done anything he shouldn't have, though. It was too much in his nature—but he'd made it.

It had taken everything he had to get Yakov to stay at home for this—although that's where Nico and Miroslav were going immediately after for dinner, or else they would both get chewed out.

It had gone well at first—Nico had been in to see Miroslav once a week, at least up until his third year of college. Then classes had gotten more difficult, and he had made it in about once a month. After graduation, he'd struggled for a good six months trying to find a job. Since that had happened, he hadn't been able to see Miroslav. He had a lot of work—grading papers and tests when he wasn't at the school yelling at kids in Russian. It would be worse for the school to figure out that he visited a prison on his off-time as well.

He saw movement at the doors in the distance, and so he perked up on the hood of his car. He combed back his hair with his fingers and sat at attention until he was sure it was Miroslav coming out.

Nico jumped off his car and wrapped himself around Miroslav almost instantly. Miroslav hugged him back just as tight, enough to make Nico's back pop uncomfortably. "Ow," he complained, trying to wiggle away then.

Miroslav just smirked and let him go, though he didn't move his hands off of Nico. He kept them at Nico's arms, giving him a once over. "Going for the sexy teacher look in all of this tight clothing?" Miroslav teased.

Nico gave him a slight glare. "I prefer to dress nice."

"I'm sure Yakov is pleased—wait, is that a tattoo?" Miroslav went for his arms then, trying to push his sleeves up further.

"No its—okay, maybe it is, but I promise, it's not anything like what you have," Nico explained. "I'll show it to later, when I can undress properly." He grinned suggestively.

"You mean like in ten minutes, right?" Miroslav asked hopefully.

"It's a thirty minute drive out here, sadly, and no. My dad says he'll have both our heads if we don't show up for dinner—and then I can take my felon boyfriend home to be supported like the low-life he is."

Miroslav gave a fake "ha, ha," and rolled his eyes. "I actually might have a job lined up, thank you very much."

"Oh really? Do tell." Nico had them get in the car for that talk, though he instantly held onto Miroslav's hand as he drove.

"They have a program to help open up jobs after release. I have an interview Monday at a restaurant," Miroslav explained. "Lots of sharp knives to go with my menacing appearance."

Nico took another quick look at him, half amused by the joke, until he saw the scar on Miroslav's jaw. "Hey, you didn't have that last time I saw you!"

"Oh, didn't I?" Miroslav tried to cover it up guiltily. "Well, I'm out, so it doesn't really matter anymore."

Nico swore under his breath. "What for at the restaurant?"

"Just a dishwashing position. It'll be low, but I might be able to work my way up to something like a cook, which I would like. And either way, at least it's something, so hopefully I won't be using all of your under-paid teacher money."