A young boy watched with a hint of satisfaction as a fire roared to life under the makeshift hobo stove he'd just made. The old one was lost after he and the others had to abandon their old dwellings to the local gang. They had lost all their possessions, the little amount that it was, and the loss mostly hurt his pride, but that was just fine by him. Nobody had gotten injured, and as long as he had his family with him he didn't mind tucking his tail between his legs or tossing it to the dogs.

He didn't give a damn whether they had to find another abandoned ruin of an apartment or rough it out in the woods. Though that didn't mean he would take it lying down. He had made sure to memorize every single one of those bastard's names and faces.

James had just snapped another handful of twigs when the crunching of snow from his right caught his attention. His hand subtle shifted behind him to a particularly sharp rock and he prepared himself for a fight. However, it wasn't needed as his body lost all its tension as he spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair.

"Yo, I see you got the fire going, nice!"

James gave a small laugh at the goofy grin Alex gave him. The other boy's was a rosy hue and he could see how his lips had a glossy layer of mucus gleaming from the stove's light. He got up from the log he was sitting on to walk over to Alex, taking the matted blanket he was wearing and wrapped over the blonde's shoulders. They placed the pile of firewood he had secured next to the stove, that was enough to keep it going through the night at least. None of the buildings around were in any safe condition so they would have to camp outside tonight, thankfully it was only the beginning of winter and the snow wasn't too terrible yet. They would have to find a more secure location soon.

"Warm yourself up, I'll help Sarah look for something to eat." He gave a wave behind his head as he went into the treelines. For 30 minutes James just kept walking without care until he spotted a tree with a cut on its branch. It was a small thing that would've easily been missed or overlooked if one wasn't actively trying to find it. It was one of the signals he and the others had come up with to mark out areas of significance.

The branch was facing his right so he spun on his heel and went to his left. After all, Sarah was already scouring that area apparently and she was miles better than him at it.

Whatever she couldn't get, he most certainly couldn't either.

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Might as well make himself useful and look elsewhere. Barely two hours had gone by before he had decided to head back, cursing his luck as he went. Winter truly was a cursed season, not only does the snow makes it a pain to do anything, but only does the sun go down far too soon for his likely and it also meant a severe lack of edible plants for him to scavenge. People also get sick easily around this time.

A sudden memory flashed by of a little girl lying in a dirty matted cot, coughing her little lungs out with her face beet red, yet smiling brightly at him.

He had already been squinting to see through the snow, but at the unpleasant memory his brows furrowed even further and a harsh frown flashed by his face. He gave a deep sigh, watching the dense cloud of vapor slowly float away as if he was a dragon.

God, he hated winter. It was the most terrible time of the year.

He marched back towards camp and hoped that the others had better luck than he did. Jame's mood soon showed a marked improvement however as he could hear the sounds of laughter and the smell of roasting meat. 

"-ot into his pants!"

Sarah was practically wheezing as she tried to finish telling her story to no avail, red in the face and barely able to breathe, that didn't stop the others from chuckling anyways. If only at her sheer excitement and Mike's face, wide-eyed like a deer in headlights and mouth opened wide enough to catch flys. A second ticked by before his brain caught up and he spluttered his denial, but James chose that exact moment to interrupt with an amused cough.

"So, what's this about getting into Mike's pants? You didn't shack up with one of the Nightwalkers, did you?" An eyebrow was raised before he wiggled both suggestively, a crooked grin on his face. Seeing everyone ganging up on him the poor lad covered his face with large and rough tanned hands and groaned loudly, earning another round of laughter at his expense.

"Ha, Nightwalker? More like a wall-crawler, Mikey tried to catch a squirrel only for it to climb up his pants leg! Went right for the nuts!"

Sarah had finally caught her breath and finished her sentence without choking this time while Julius joined in on the teasing with a mock sympathetic tone, patting the larger boy on the back comfortingly.

"Poor Michael, now he can't be a proper bride- I mean groom anymore. Don't worry though, if nobody wants you I'll take you as my concubine lol" 

James simply contented himself to sit and watch the by play, washing his findings before adding his raisin-like tomatoes and wild roots into the soup. Alex passed him a chipped mug, the faded words "World's Best Dad" written proudly across its surface, and drank deeply from the warmth of both the water and the atmosphere.

"Welcome back," Julius greeted him as soon as he finished teasing Michael, his green eyes lit up as the flames danced nearby. He waved a hand to the skewers that were roasting next to him. "We got lucky today and got some variety so take your pick."

Nodding in thanks he grabbed what used to be a rat and ignored the foul stench and sour taste and bit into it with a large smile. Yes, it wasn't an easy life they led by any means, but he wouldn't trade his new family for anything in the world.