Solangelo Oneshots and AU's

The Draw (S)

AN:
Hey guys, sorry about taking so long and about that last chapter (if you saw it) but here's the chapter I promised.

It's been a while since I've done a smut chapter so you're gonna have to bare with me here. Though this isn't entirely smut, it's only one scene within the whole story so if you don't like reading it then you can always skip. You do you.

Regardless, I hope you guys enjoy. I'm actually lowkey happy with this longish chapter. :)

Nico washes out of the foster system at the age of eighteen. He doesn't leave with much more than what he had showed up with in the first place: just a backpack with a few sets of clothes, some savings and a couple of aged photographs that held the remaining memory of his sister. There isn't much he's gained through his years spent at the home, he didn't find a family (understandable, Nico thinks, he knows he's always been too abrasive, too much like the lawbreaking teenagers that loom in the back alleys of dark streets) nor did he make any siblings with his supposed foster 'sisters' or 'brothers'. He wouldn't say he's ungrateful though, since after all, it still did keep a roof over his head and kept him fed — even if that grizzly sludge they used to serve at breakfast could ever pass as food.

It's common knowledge that there isn't much hope for people like him. It's supposed to be overwhelming, being thrown into the real world with no cushion to break your fall. You're abandoned to wander the streets aimlessly until you realise your hopelessness, and you eventually find yourself running back for help because nothing could of prepared you for feeling so totally alone in such a big, big city. Nico had seen many people come and go through the home and had witnessed those rare few that outgrew the system, no one really used to ever talk about it: how inwardly everyone's biggest worry would be the evident abandonment one would face if they were never adopted.

While the others grew anxious as time slipped past, Nico was circling calendars and counting down the days until he was finally free. Up until January 28th, he made himself busy with finding a small job and an even smaller place to stay with the benefit money that had fallen into his hands. It's not much, but it's better to put one foot in front of the other rather than to just blindly jump right into the chaos unprepared.

On his last day, the sisters engulf him in hugs and bid him farewell, wishing him all the best and making him vehemently promise that he'll visit. Nico knows he won't, it's all just for formalities and he knows none of them ever particularly cared about him anyways. It's a mutual feeling, the home won't miss him and vice versa.

Though he is hit with a pang of something when he eventually leaves those gates, but he firmly decides to not read into it as he finally starts the next and much anticipated chapter in his life.

~*~

Objectively, he hasn't got the best of lives, but through Nico's eyes it's enough. There's hardly a need that urges him to strive further than the basic human instinct of survival. If his past years have taught him anything, it's to not let himself over indulge because for every single thing he finds himself attached to, it sets off a ticking time bomb that will no sooner than later detonate and leave behind nothing but fractured memories.

It's nobody's dream job to work as a lowly employee at a bowling alley, having to wear a degrading red and white pinstripe polo shirt and interacting with icky little nine-year-olds everyday. Nobody wants to spend their hours sliding a pair of bowling sneakers over the counter or lamely explain the two for one combo on nachos and slushies. But if that's what it takes for Nico to get his rather underwhelming pay check at the end of each month, then so be it.

Besides, there are a couple of unspoken perks to it. Like how he can get away with stealing the candy or watch cocky guys humiliate themselves in front of their dates after they gutter-ball. Also, when he works the last shift before closing time, some of the staff round up and have a little match for themselves when the manager heads out. Nico's not one for making a lot of friends, but his coworkers are nice enough and bring good competition — even if Nico is usually the one to come out victorious.