The Good in Sin

Hard Times

Phoenix walked to his table calmly, but what Sin couldn't see was how excited the kid was to get attention from someone like him. "Sit down," Sin said.

Phoenix sat beside him this time, since Sin patted the seat next to him in the booth.

"What homework do you have?" He asked.

Phoenix looked a little confused but took it out. "Ah, I see," Sin said. "I'll help you."

As a child with no father, it felt so different for him to being helped by a man who was independent and tough looking. Phoenix was so happy he helped him with his homework, and for no reason.

It was writing. Phoenix knew it was easy for him to learn, but that was mostly with numbers and science. But these were words. Something Phoenix had to really think about.

He was good at putting words together. He read large chapter books for crying out loud, but he got overwhelmed when looking at an empty page and his mind would go blank.

He had to write about his favorite things. Favorite toy as a child, favorite vacation, favorite person, favorite movie, favorite song, and so on.

"Let's start with an introduction," Sin said and helped him with the beginning. Then he took a free sheet of notebook paper from Phoenix's journal and set in front of Phoenix. "Here, just scribble down all your favorite things."

Phoenix bit his lip in thought while pressing his thumb into the eraser of his pencil. What was his favorite toy? The only one he had as a child was an old wooden clown that was his grandma's only gift to him. Not that he met her, but once on his first birthday, she sent it to him. Her mother had carved it herself, so it was old. Phoenix cherished it with his life, because although he didn't think his grandma loved him, she thought about him. He smiled thinking about it and noted down wooden carved clown.

Sin cringed. "I'm not a clown person," he admitted.

Nix laughed. "Mom hates clowns too. Her mom gave it to me, so I love it. I don't know her or anything, so it's nice." He smiled to himself. He looked so happy, Sin observed. The poor kid didn't know his own grandmother.

"Alright," Sin said, wiping his mind from the pitiful thoughts. "So vacation?" He asked to change the subject.

He watched as Phoenix's smile faded into a hard and wondering expression. "I've never been on one," he said. "I guess if you could count moving here when I was two, but I don't remember that."

"You've never been on a vacation? Road trip?"

"No, we don't use the car much. Only for emergencies. Gas takes up too much money." He shrugged, then slapped his hand over his mouth and looked around shyly. "She doesn't like it when I talk about money, she feels bad."

Sin didn't have to guess why. Just by hearing the kid talk, he realized they struggled more than the average middle-class citizen.

"Well," The man began, "Write about a vacation you want to go on." He suggested.

Phoenix grinned and noted down, 'I want to go to Disney World.' On the inside, the kid knew it wouldn't happen. But he could still imagine it, and that made him happy enough.

"Favorite person. Let's see, who's your best friend?" Sin asked.

But Phoenix had someone else in mind, already writing the word, Mom, on his paper. Sin leaked a small smirk at how cute it was that the kid adored his mother.

Sin continued to help him with the rest, and it helped him learn more about Phoenix. Then Phoenix would go back and ask him what his favorite things were, taking Sin back. They ended up learning a lot about each other.