Adopt || Solby ||

Chapter 1

Sam swung open his front door with a vengeance, slipping his bag off his shoulders and throwing it across the floor until it hit the wall.

Another day at school finally over with, giving him time to saunter to the kitchen, grab a box of cookies and flop onto the couch, putting up his feet.

"Samuel?" He heard his mother call from upstairs, his head instinctively turning to the source.

"Yeah?" He shouted back, slowing his chewing on cookies so he'd be able to hear her response.

Instead of a response, he heard light steps littering the stairs until he watched his mother's frame appear at the doorway to the lounge room.

"Sweetie, no shoes on the couch," she cooed instantly, as she just knew he'd have done so, and Sam obliged, "and how was your day?"

Sam grimaced a little as he recalled on just how his day was.

"It was fine, mom," Sam assured, shrugging his shoulders a little, offering her the ghost of a smile.

She gave him a stern look for a second, and then sighed and nodded in response, padding in through the room and heading to the kitchen.

You see, the household of two was heavily reliant on routine. Every morning fell into a chalk outline of itself that couldn't be washed away and every afternoon was like a repeat of a show they'd seen a thousand times over.

Sam, who was only 17, would go to school then get home, relax on the couch and watch TV while scrolling through social media, his mother would ask him how he was and then go back to doing housework.

It was beyond Sam how the house got so dirty with only two people living in it, but perhaps that was just it. Routine.

His mother was probably still in the same routine she followed when his younger brother, older sister, and father lived with them.

Sam wouldn't be too shocked by that; hell, it was no secret to him that his mother was upset about the loneliness that echoed around the house as she went about her day.

Speaking of which, he took a quick gander over at his mother, who was scrubbing away at a particularly harsh stain Sam accidentally made this morning while fixing himself a coffee.

She was dressed in her work clothes, nice and tidy, her hair tied up in a bun and her face lightly dusted with makeup.

"You have another late shift?" He asked while standing and wandering to the kitchen, mouth stuffed with cookies, so his hand immediately covered his mouth as to not spit them all over the clean carpet.

She gave an odd stare to Sam as he took the dishcloth off her and began scrubbing using his 'man strength' on the stain he made that he didn't believe she should be cleaning.

"Yes, Sam. I already told you, my shifts are all going to be late because it fits better in our schedule. I'll be home at ten."

She delivered a poke to Sam's side that made him let out a distressed yelp, then blush in embarrassment, her motherly grin only growing as he kissed him on the cheek.

"Mom, stop," he hissed playfully, unable to contain his smile.

A routine change was a big deal in their duo of family. Again, routine was a big part of the two's life so even a shift change was rather drastic for the two of them; they'd have to rebuild their schedule to work around it, and though it was upsetting to their normality, they knew they could deal with it.

"I actually have to leave a little bit early," Sam's mother stated as she eyed the space on her wrist where a watch would be strapped--if she had one, that was, and this stupid habit was picked up on by her son, too.

"Why?" Sam asked, throwing the dishcloth in the sink once the stain was removed.

"I have things to grab," she stated, the fine, gentle wrinkles of her face baring themselves as she smiled, "be good, okay?"

Sam rolled his eyes in an attempt to express his 'when am I not?'

"Okay, mom."

"Good, see you at ten. I love you."

She leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"I love you too, mom," Sam mumbled, before following her to the lounge room, sitting on the couch and watching her walk to the front entrance.

Soon he heard the door shut and he sighed to himself, picking up a cushion from behind him and laying back against it, whipping his phone out of his pocket and turning on the TV. He reached for the cookies and ate a few more, but soon grew bored and ended up having a nap right there on the couch.

|| A/N: Kind of a filler chapter to introduce life for Sam! I swear it'll get interesting within the next few, just gotta have that build up hehe. Enjoy! ||