Taking Him In

• Chapter Five •

𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐
• ———— •

The view was pretty. From his window. It revealed their backyard which stretched for miles... still, not as big as the land surrounding the orphanage. It was kept though, no strangely bushes or out of control grass that reached waists. Still, Winter misses it. Rolling through the yellow tinted grass like he were a dog, alone in his own world, smiling and laughing at the tickle against his cheeks and neck.

He missed it so much. But tried not to dwell on it.

A soft rapping came from the door. "Can I come in?" Sage's expected voice floated through. Winter sighed and slumped down onto the bed, muttering a small positive response. Sage opened the door and stepped in, smiling tightly.

"Feeling better?" He broke the tension, shutting the door and walking over to the bed, taking the spot towards the end. Winter shifted, hands fiddling in his lap. "Better. Yeah" he replied quietly. Sage nodded, slowly sliding the bundle of money towards him. "You forgot it" he explained when Winter gave him a curious look.

"I thought you wouldn't want to give it to me after I..." he trailed off, though Sage understood. Nevertheless Winter grabbed it and stowed it away in his pocket without much hesitation.

"No, you earned it. We overwhelmed you with questions. The future can be daunting, but... it'll be easier if we work with what we have. Xai and Dallas are going out to buy an archery set, do you want to go with them?" He chuckled awkwardly, "I don't know the first thing when it comes to the sport, you might need a certain bow" he explained with a half shrug.

Winter bit the inside of his cheek, sighing. "Yeah I... I need something specific, sorta. Xai will probably castrate me though. The guy hates me even more" he deflated, crossing his arms over his chest. Sage snorted, "he's going to be like that for awhile, but he doesn't hate you. Just.." he paused, brushing aside his hair. "Dislikes you. Which isn't a surprise coming from him"

Winter scoffed but felt too tired to argue. Everything was coming at him at once, most of him trying to comprehend these people want to spend money on him for a simple archery set! It... it's confusing. They really do want to help him. Even still, it was hard to trust, hard to not imagine them turning their backs, ready to stab him when he was settled into their family.

Families don't take in homeless children! What's so different about this one? Are they clinically insane?

"You're thinking" Sage pointed out. Winter grunted, "yeah, surprise, I can do that"

Sage laughed, "that's a good thing, you're already better than Dallas and Xai combined"

Winter rolled his eyes but let an amused smirk flicker across his features. Before a silence could take over again Sage cleared his throat, earning Winter's gaze. "Listen, I just want to say... I'm sorry you've been through so much. I know I can't say anything, or do anything, for that matter, to make your past different. But I can help your future, your past is heartbreaking but that's what it is, the past. Don't let it rule your life, you have potential to do great things" He uplifted, tone gentle.

Winter felt his heart tighten in his chest. He's never heard an adult, or father figure, ever say that to him before. Everyone else writes him off as a worthless, useless loser who'll end up dead in a ditch. But... Sage really believes in him. It'll only suck more when he inevitably disappoints him.