Taking Him In

• Chapter Fifteen •

𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐
• ———— •

A small groan filled the room as Winter stretched his arms above his head, waiting until he heard the satisfying click of his bones before letting them drop to his sides, tired eyes gazing at the bright sunlight pouring through his window. It was an early morning, the others already left for school. Sage had taken another few weeks off of his work to continue teaching online due to Winter's injuries. While he felt terrible, he didn't want to be left alone here either, priorly unable to move. After some healing time he could manage leaving the bed and heading down the stairs, but not for long periods of time.

Brushing away his hair he slowly peeled back the quilt, legs drifting over the side, feet pressing against the carpeted ground. Ezra had stayed the night in his bed after accidentally falling asleep while playing a video game. Winter didn't mind much, it was surprisingly a pleasant experience - with such a safe presence beside him he didn't wake up once, nor endure a nightmare, or accidentally find himself in his wardrobe.

Maybe Ezra would be willing to spend the night in his bed more often, but he didn't get his hopes up.

With a soft wheeze he pushed himself up, rubbing his torso as his legs dragged him out the room and down to the first floor, listening out for the tell-tale sign Sage was conducting a lesson. Thankfully, he caught him between classes, so slipped into his office, smiling half-assedly his way.

Sage peered over the monitor, returning the lazy affectionate look. "Morning, kid. How're you feeling?" He started, pushing away from his desk and leaning against the soft cushions.

Winter took a seat on his desk, shrugging tiredly. "Fine. Bit painful, whatever" he waved off, looking down at his work and scoffing shortly. "Why would anyone choose to do school work"

Sage rolled his eyes, throwing a glance towards the stacks of unmarked homework littered over his workspace. He needed to get that done, but worrying over Winter had distracted him quite a bit. "Some people enjoy it, most need it to get a job, if you forgot" he replied mockingly, now it was Winter's turn to roll his eyes, picking up the abandoned mug of coffee and swigging the last few remnants left behind by Sage.

"Whatever. Hey, listen" he put down the mug, scratching his neck. "I uh-... yeah, speaking of jobs, I think I have one. Or two" he mentioned, Sage's eyes blew wide in surprise, silently encouraging him to continue. Shifting awkwardly he did so, "in a theme park not too far away. I saw on their website they had an opening in the archery section crap- needed someone with experience and..." he gestured to himself, "I haven't missed the bullseye yet. So. Take that as experience"

Sage laughed, "telling them you have experience isn't going to land you a job" he pointed out. Winter sneered at him childishly.

"Nope. Turns out they're desperate. Next week I'm going over and showing them what I can do, hopefully I'll get it... then I can start paying you back-"

"Shut up" Sage cut him off, Winter narrowed his eyes. "You're not giving me or Ken a penny, alright?"

"But-"

"Alright?" He pressed, raising an eyebrow sternly. Winter slumped and looked away, biting the inside of his cheek. It certainly was irritating both adults were so against him paying them back for everything they've done, but at the same time it eased stress weighing his shoulders, after all he'd have to pay a lot back to return to neutral. 

"..fine" he muttered, voice dripping with reluctance.

Sage ignored it and smiled, tapping his pen against his cheek. "Good. How about the second job?"