Sunshine, Lollipops, & Rainbows [GAY/AF]

Sunshine,

"Shiloh hand me the wrench please," a hand crawled out from under the car.

Complying I handed Tod what he needed and turned back to the old squared television set up in the shop. The only source of entertainment really is this old smelly place. Oli, gas, car metal, tires, the shop had it all, the scent etched into its walls from decades of car repairments.

The hot summer humid heat wafting from one cluttered window didn't help to cool down anybody; Tod seemed to think it circulated the sweatshop bringing fresh air⎯ really, it didn't. It was more like a big coat suffocating you.

But I wasn't going to say anything, mostly because if that window were to close, we'd all become a shepherd's pie.

Tod was a nice man who lived by himself, his ex-wife got custody of his kids. Frankly, I feel bad for the old guy, would've been a great dad. My foster mom may have forced me to come work with him, but I didn't struggle much. I didn't have any ambition to study for six to 4 years in another "school," better yet willingly, so here I am.

Who's to say I'm not happy where I am?

A lot of people think working 9-5 is a pain in the rear which on some occasions is true. But other times if you find happiness in your job, then it's not so bad. I like working on cars, I get paid decently an hour, and I get to hang with Tod and his old coworkers. 

Really, I like it.

It is lonely sometimes when I realize I'm not blood-related to any of the people I now call my somewhat family. They always have people to go back to but I have no one to lean on. Being in the foster system for 18 years you get used to not growing attached. You get used to being messed up, the scraps on the side. Hell, the person I now call my 'mom' never adopted me on paper and was only kind enough to take me in until my eighteenth birthday which was in a few months at the time. Honestly, a true act of kindness in the mess of the foster care system.

The old television screen began to blur in a mix of black and white static. I frowned and heard some ruckus from the side. Jason and Madix were throwing a worn-out football across the workshop when Jason looked over, probably hearing the tv's white noise. 

"Hit it a couple of times to the left," Jason made a banging gesture with his hand and then proceeded to get a punch from the football Madix threw at him.

Madix laughed and Jason decided to throw the football ten times harder.

"Don't do that, just tap the screen three times," Tod's gruff voice said from under the car. "And you old fools better not be messing the shop up!" 

I tapped a finger on the screen a few times. Discolored squares blotted and flickered across the screen until an actual moving image appeared. Some unknown show from who knows what time period aired.

I wasn't really paying much attention, instead, thinking about what I should eat for dinner and even going as far ahead as thinking about breakfast tomorrow. As you can see my life is a very simple one, not one I'd like to change. 

"Hey bud since we got nothin' much in the shop you can head home early," Tod scooted out from under the car wiping his hands covered in black soot. I perked up happy to finally get into my air-conditioned car and grab a burger on my way home.

"Thanks, I'll buy you lunch tomorrow," I grinned grabbing a cooled water from the mini-fridge and hearing the complaints from the old guys who didn't get a verbal pass to go home.

You don't know you're in a slum until you actually feel luxury. The cool air from the air conditioning in the car was like a sip from an oasis in a hot blistering desert. For a few moments, I relaxed into the temperature in a quiet peace before driving off.

Skipping the part where the car could boil breakfast and burn Satan in five seconds if it wasn't for the twenty minutes it took to cool the machine down. 

It was already late and the sun had since descended but the 24-hour fast food place 2 blocks from the workshop was of course, open. 

A buzzing of summer bugs worshipped the street lamp in front of me as I waited for my burger and fries, the radio's soft noise in the background, and occasionally a cicada will scream from a tree in the distance.

After getting my food in a greasy bag (the only acceptable way to get your fast food), I turned the radio up a little louder for the thirty-minute drive to my rented apartment. A country song had just ended and the commenters were talking about the weather and then onto some comedy commentary.

I grabbed a handful of fries and shoved it into my mouth- when suddenly the topic of 'Espers' came up in the commentary. It was sort of taboo to keep hush hush on the name Esper in the media. With it being brought up I turned the nob up a couple of notches and closely listened to what they had to say.

And...

...Life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.

I don't like complicated.

A/N- This stories been rotting in my drafts so I'm going to post the chapters I've already done for the next couple of days. Enjoy.

My artwork of Shiloh... I can't get the images to not be sideways haha.