Nathan and Simon B. - A Fond Farewell
Aug. 31st, 2014 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainAfter having spent more time out than in following his graduation from Xavier's and basically overstaying his welcome in the room for the summer, Nathan's finally moving out into the city with his brother for well and good. It's perhaps a surprisingly quiet exit for such a loud boy - but he does run into his closest friend along the way for a rather heartfelt farewell.
Nathan couldn't help feeling a little like Father-fucking-Christmas, creeping 'round the halls before most of the students would bother to be crawling out of bed on the weekend. He'd taken the first bus of the morning back from Jamie's flophouse in the city, where the owner'd finally caught on to the squatters and sent the police at the crack of dawn to shake them out.
But it was good - really, fantastically magnificent - because after they'd bailed and had a couple of Egg McMuffins with a breakfast beer, they'd got the bright idea to move in together properly with the last of what Jamie's mum had sent along when their dear old Da's credit cards had all got cancelled. And now that Nathan was well graduated (which he attributed entirely to the school wanting him to fuck off already rather than academic achievement of any kind), well - why not? Nathan had hardly been using his room at the school since Jamie showed up anyway. They were freed men, out to have their way with the world!
The girl's wing was first. Laura got a bag of cheese-puffs leaning against her door, and River a pick n' mix type assorted candy that probably amused him more than it would them. Jeanne-Marie had a pack of flavoured condoms balanced on her (door)knob, and the pack of cigarettes was for Noriko. Alisha... Nathan actually lifted his loose fist to knock on Alisha's door, but ended up sighing, and just sort of letting it back down again. He hung up the hideous Christmas jumper she'd picked out for him over that knob, and went on his way down the hall.
A travel bottle of Purell clunked against the bottom of Simon-the-doctor's door, and a lacy pink bra hooked over Curtis' knob. Phil got a donut thick with frosting smooshed to fit 'round his, and Nathan half hoped he'd choke on it.
He finally stood in front of his and Barry - his and Simon's door, sort of staring at it for a minute. Then he let himself in, finding it empty. ...That was best, really, Nathan told himself. Right. Easier this way.
Nathan moved to his side of the room and started stuffing odds and ends into his backpack, just his old stuff he thought he'd need really, his faked documents the school had done up for him and his flask and some clothes. Maybe he'd just call Barry, to let him know he was off the hook from now on.
Simon didn't, as a rule, enjoy being on campus these days. He only came here to train for Scott's team, and tended to head back to the city immediately afterwards. That way, he was less likely to run into Eileen. At first, it had been a very emotional need, but by now it had become something like habit, and something more rational. He could probably have a (very awkward) conversation with her if he ran into her, but he didn't know what he could say, and he simply didn't want to.
Still, it had been a little while since he'd seen Nathan, so after practice, he headed to his old room, hoping that his friend would be in. He knocked on the door, since it wasn't his room anymore, and who knew what Nathan might be getting up to in there. There were some things Simon never wanted to see.
Nathan paused to look over his shoulder at the door whilst still cramming things into his sack, wondering which of them it was. Maybe he'd been seen on his jolly redecorating spree down the corridor. "Whoever it is, you'd better make it snappy - some of us have got busses to catch and other places to be, you know. No time for teeny-tweeny fits of masturbatory angst these days, thank you very much, so if you've got a good crying-jizz on, go spurt it on someone else."
He turned back to fix the things he'd crammed in the bag the wrong way when he'd not been looking at it, heart pounding a bit harder. Whoever it was out there was bound to slow him down and get him in a twist, and he didn't need any of that now that he'd decided to bugger off altogether.
Simon had opened the door halfway through Nathan's tirade, well used to hearing that sort from his former roommate. "It's me," he simply stated as he closed the door, looking at the bag Nathan was shoving clothes into. "You're leaving?" He'd expected Nathan to stay here until the headmasters kicked him about, and now he had to wonder if they might not have.
Nathan turned again, at that. "Didn't think I was going to live here forever and push a mop around after all these little powered-wankers until I dried up and keeled over, did you? No. Thank. You. I've got my own life to get on with, adventures to have whilst avoiding arrest, women to dirty and mind-altering class-As I've got to get in before my brain stops developing. Interesting facial hair to grow."
He paused for a breath, looking at the other one and comparing him to the limp, forgettable little Barry he (nearly) remembered him being when they first suited up in orange. That seemed like a lifetime ago, now. A few, if you wanted to be technical about it. And Barry looked a lot less of a Barry now then he had then. Less invisible, what with all of the working out and getting laid socializing him a bit. "Yes, I'm leaving! And you're one to talk, creeping in and out during the wee hours like a total sex-fiend stalker."
"I was at practice," Simon simply stated, taking a few steps closer. He was trying not to think of Nathan sporting a seventies mustache. Trying, and failing. "Do you need help?"
"Has that ever really been in question?" Nathan examined the already over-stuffed bulge of his knapsack, which was better than looking Simon in the big sad bug-eyes regardless. "Could do with another bag, if you've got it," he admitted after a moment. "Thought about bringing my brother around to fetch and carry, but the school regulations and the freaky mental headmasters and all that."
"I don't have anything left here," Simon shook his head, walking over to Nathan. "But, uh, I probably pack better than you?" He could probably fit in more in Nathan's bag, if he started over. And then they could head off together. "How's Jamie?"
"Here, you and your neurotic neatness fix that, then." Nathan pushed the bag in his direction, sitting on the bed next to it while Simon went at it.
"Jaime's as much trouble as I am, don't let his boyish smile and pretense of manners fool you. We got punted from the squat he was in - but I'm not letting him be some embarrassing homeless," he added quickly. "We'll find a place around the city together somewhere. We're even thinking about getting an old caravan, so as we wouldn't have to pay all that rent, could even drive it around this bloated nation and see what else America's got on offer. Living like pikeys a while might not be all bad." Somewhere in there, he'd started sort of smiling about it, in a way Nathan didn't even notice really.
Simon did notice, for all that he pretended that all of his attention was on getting Nathan's things out of the bag, and folding them properly before putting them back in, now taking up a lot less space. "I'm glad he found you." Having a brother was clearly working out for Nathan.
"Yeah, well. I can be halfway to decent, if someone lets me get my stream of consciousness bullshite out there first. It's just a good feeling, knowing that I don't have to explain every little thing or censor it all to fit in or whatever, that I'm allowed to waggle my dick around a bit without getting shut down completely. He gave me a chance to be myself, make up my own mind about things. That's all I ever wanted."
Nathan was suddenly itching for a smoke, finding himself tugging out his pack and thumbing the lighter, wondering if they'd fixed the smoke detector since he'd last disabled it. "Nobody ever did before. Except for you."
Simon smiled a little, and gave Nathan a quick look, but then focused back on the clothes as he said, "You were the first one to see me." It was more for Nathan's sake than his own that he was downplaying what he was saying.
"You were a crafty little perv. Somebody had to keep eyes on that." Really, it'd been so easy to pick on Simon, being so mousy and quiet and deferential. Nathan wasn't sure exactly when the general harassment had become genuine fondness, but if he was honest, it hadn't taken long.
Nathan stuck the fag between his lips and flicked his lighter. He'd take his chances, seeing as he was done here anyway. "How's your lonely superhero flagellation going?"
"I'm not a superhero," Simon stated, and shrugged. Yet, anyway. He couldn't exactly argue against the lonely bit, though. "I, uh. I've got a job with X-Factor. They'll need a cameraman, sometimes." He imagined that Nathan felt the same way about Damon as Simon did, but... a job was a job.
"Sometimes a cameraman? Is there opportunity to grow into towel boy, so as to scrub out the crotches of their pants for them?" Nathan took a nice deep drag and let it go in a huff. "If you're going to be risking your arse with a pants-on-the-outside group, at least have some dignity about it. Don't let them sideline you forever, mate. That's not really what you want, is it?"
"I don't want to be in the spotlight," Simon pointed out. "Ever." Oh, Nathan's boxers. He wasn't sure what was going on in those, and was certain he didn't want to find out, but at least they seemed clean. He packed them away neat and tight. "It's a great opportunity, something I can put in my CV."
Nathan flicked some ash to the floor, seeing as they'd want to clean the room once he was out in any case. Ah, the lurid stories only a UV light could tell... "You're still planning to think deep thoughts about crushing debt by doing film school, then?"
"I don't know about crushing debt," Simon answered, remaining focused on the clothes, "but I am doing film school. It's what I've always wanted."
"You anal retentive types and your ambitions," Nathan groaned around his cigarette. "But if you ever want to get trashed and go trolling for ladies..."
Nathan sighed, sitting up from his previous casual slump and nasally expelling another drag. He blinked a few times, big eyebrows wringing thoughtfully. "So help me, I'm gonna miss your miserable fucking face. Don't be a cock, when you become a big posh superhero-director. Take my phone calls, yeah? Even if it's just to gloat about having your shit together. I can be your screw-up friend who makes you look good by comparison. I'm well seasoned at that."
"I'll always take your phone calls," Simon assured him with a small smile. He owed Nathan his life, or at least his freedom. Probably both. He had taken a volley of bullets for him, and that was before they even were really close. "But I don't think I'll ever be really posh, so."
"That's more like it." Nathan didn't think he had to say any more than that. Jamie was his brother, but Simon... Was his best friend.
Nathan picked himself up from the bed. "Are you done yet? We can't leave the city without us too long. Who knows what the weirdos would do to it."
"You're saying we're not part of the weirdos," Simon pointed out with a quiet chuckle, packing the last of what Nathan had out on the bed into the bag. "Is there anything else?"
"There's worse out there," Nathan insisted. "There's other, less charismatic mutants out there. The mutant-haters. The Facility, the bastards, probably still screwing up perfectly good kids." Nathan looked around the little dorm room - most of his stuff he'd moved out already, in the duffel bag he'd left with Jamie, or wasn't much worth keeping. Not that he'd ever really had a whole lot to begin. The only thing that needed packing still was the memories of sharing the place with Simon and the rest for a while, and those - those were memories he'd actually bother trying to keep.
"That's it," Nathan picked up his lanky shoulders and dropped them again. "That's our time at Xavier's, all done."
Instead of closing up the bag, Simon took a step back to let Nathan do it, and look over at his friend. "We had a good time here, didn't we." Aside from the way they'd got here, the brief spell Nathan had been head over heels for Simon, Talon and River's kidnapping, and other such happenings.
"Considering how bollocks normal kid school was," Nathan put it that way, looking over to meet his shorter friend's gaze. Him the homeless compulsive trouble-maker, the other one the mail-slot pisser arsonist, and the lot of them ASBO kids getting all the powers and the rest that turned out to be more of a headache than anything, fleeing the country... "I'd say we had a good run of it here, the pair of us. Yeah, I would."
Nathan zipped up the bag, and slung it over one shoulder, sucking the last from his cigarette in one obscenely long inhalation, then flicking the butt onto the... Into the rubbish bin, what with Barry right there.
"Nathan!" Simon cried out immediately, when he threw the cigarette butt into the bin. He rushed to the bathroom and filled a glass with water, then came back just in time to throw it into the bin, and prevent a small fire from starting. He leveled a gaze full of what-the-fuck-ness on his friend.
"What?! Neither of us have been living out of here recently - if there's anything to catch in there, that's your negligence in taking it out, you're the responsible one! Look at you, running out here like the fire brigade..."
Nathan couldn't help but crack a grin at Simon's stoic alarm. Which boiled over into a genuine laugh. "You're going to be so bored without me, admit it! What'll you even do with yourself all alone at yours? Twist your own knickers? Wait, wait - you took one of the inflatable donkeys with you, didn't you!"
"I don't even want to know where they ended up," Simon stated, but he couldn't help a smile. Now that he was certain that the fire was out, he shouldered his own, much smaller bag, and headed towards the door. He stopped with his hand on the door, and looked at the now mostly empty room then, seized by a sudden suspicion, had to ask, "Did you let the headmasters know that you were going?"
"I think I did," Nathan put it flippantly, making his way out. "I'm almost certain of it."
Simon opened the door and let Nathan walk out, then closed the door after a beat, spent watching the room where they had spent the last year and a half. He caught up with Nathan in the hallway and fell in stride with him. "You're welcome to stop by my flat whenever you like, you know," he stated, eyebrows raised slightly. "There isn't much room, but..."
"Maybe I will, at that." Nathan reached to sling his free arm around the back of Simon's neck. "Keep you from rubbing yourself chapped with the privileges of bachelorhood."
"I don't think I'll have time for that," Simon remarked, turning his head sideway to smile at Nathan. He was one of the very rare people he could simply accept that sort of touch from without tensing.
"You're a teen boy with a flat to himself!" As it happened, Barry was one of the few people Nathan was inclined to touch in a way without slapping, prodding, poking, or groping. That'd always been the thing between them - they didn't have to understand one another, but they did have a bizarre kind of understanding. Keeping in different places wasn't like to change that. "You'll find the time. We both will."
Nathan couldn't help feeling a little like Father-fucking-Christmas, creeping 'round the halls before most of the students would bother to be crawling out of bed on the weekend. He'd taken the first bus of the morning back from Jamie's flophouse in the city, where the owner'd finally caught on to the squatters and sent the police at the crack of dawn to shake them out.
But it was good - really, fantastically magnificent - because after they'd bailed and had a couple of Egg McMuffins with a breakfast beer, they'd got the bright idea to move in together properly with the last of what Jamie's mum had sent along when their dear old Da's credit cards had all got cancelled. And now that Nathan was well graduated (which he attributed entirely to the school wanting him to fuck off already rather than academic achievement of any kind), well - why not? Nathan had hardly been using his room at the school since Jamie showed up anyway. They were freed men, out to have their way with the world!
The girl's wing was first. Laura got a bag of cheese-puffs leaning against her door, and River a pick n' mix type assorted candy that probably amused him more than it would them. Jeanne-Marie had a pack of flavoured condoms balanced on her (door)knob, and the pack of cigarettes was for Noriko. Alisha... Nathan actually lifted his loose fist to knock on Alisha's door, but ended up sighing, and just sort of letting it back down again. He hung up the hideous Christmas jumper she'd picked out for him over that knob, and went on his way down the hall.
A travel bottle of Purell clunked against the bottom of Simon-the-doctor's door, and a lacy pink bra hooked over Curtis' knob. Phil got a donut thick with frosting smooshed to fit 'round his, and Nathan half hoped he'd choke on it.
He finally stood in front of his and Barry - his and Simon's door, sort of staring at it for a minute. Then he let himself in, finding it empty. ...That was best, really, Nathan told himself. Right. Easier this way.
Nathan moved to his side of the room and started stuffing odds and ends into his backpack, just his old stuff he thought he'd need really, his faked documents the school had done up for him and his flask and some clothes. Maybe he'd just call Barry, to let him know he was off the hook from now on.
Simon didn't, as a rule, enjoy being on campus these days. He only came here to train for Scott's team, and tended to head back to the city immediately afterwards. That way, he was less likely to run into Eileen. At first, it had been a very emotional need, but by now it had become something like habit, and something more rational. He could probably have a (very awkward) conversation with her if he ran into her, but he didn't know what he could say, and he simply didn't want to.
Still, it had been a little while since he'd seen Nathan, so after practice, he headed to his old room, hoping that his friend would be in. He knocked on the door, since it wasn't his room anymore, and who knew what Nathan might be getting up to in there. There were some things Simon never wanted to see.
Nathan paused to look over his shoulder at the door whilst still cramming things into his sack, wondering which of them it was. Maybe he'd been seen on his jolly redecorating spree down the corridor. "Whoever it is, you'd better make it snappy - some of us have got busses to catch and other places to be, you know. No time for teeny-tweeny fits of masturbatory angst these days, thank you very much, so if you've got a good crying-jizz on, go spurt it on someone else."
He turned back to fix the things he'd crammed in the bag the wrong way when he'd not been looking at it, heart pounding a bit harder. Whoever it was out there was bound to slow him down and get him in a twist, and he didn't need any of that now that he'd decided to bugger off altogether.
Simon had opened the door halfway through Nathan's tirade, well used to hearing that sort from his former roommate. "It's me," he simply stated as he closed the door, looking at the bag Nathan was shoving clothes into. "You're leaving?" He'd expected Nathan to stay here until the headmasters kicked him about, and now he had to wonder if they might not have.
Nathan turned again, at that. "Didn't think I was going to live here forever and push a mop around after all these little powered-wankers until I dried up and keeled over, did you? No. Thank. You. I've got my own life to get on with, adventures to have whilst avoiding arrest, women to dirty and mind-altering class-As I've got to get in before my brain stops developing. Interesting facial hair to grow."
He paused for a breath, looking at the other one and comparing him to the limp, forgettable little Barry he (nearly) remembered him being when they first suited up in orange. That seemed like a lifetime ago, now. A few, if you wanted to be technical about it. And Barry looked a lot less of a Barry now then he had then. Less invisible, what with all of the working out and getting laid socializing him a bit. "Yes, I'm leaving! And you're one to talk, creeping in and out during the wee hours like a total sex-fiend stalker."
"I was at practice," Simon simply stated, taking a few steps closer. He was trying not to think of Nathan sporting a seventies mustache. Trying, and failing. "Do you need help?"
"Has that ever really been in question?" Nathan examined the already over-stuffed bulge of his knapsack, which was better than looking Simon in the big sad bug-eyes regardless. "Could do with another bag, if you've got it," he admitted after a moment. "Thought about bringing my brother around to fetch and carry, but the school regulations and the freaky mental headmasters and all that."
"I don't have anything left here," Simon shook his head, walking over to Nathan. "But, uh, I probably pack better than you?" He could probably fit in more in Nathan's bag, if he started over. And then they could head off together. "How's Jamie?"
"Here, you and your neurotic neatness fix that, then." Nathan pushed the bag in his direction, sitting on the bed next to it while Simon went at it.
"Jaime's as much trouble as I am, don't let his boyish smile and pretense of manners fool you. We got punted from the squat he was in - but I'm not letting him be some embarrassing homeless," he added quickly. "We'll find a place around the city together somewhere. We're even thinking about getting an old caravan, so as we wouldn't have to pay all that rent, could even drive it around this bloated nation and see what else America's got on offer. Living like pikeys a while might not be all bad." Somewhere in there, he'd started sort of smiling about it, in a way Nathan didn't even notice really.
Simon did notice, for all that he pretended that all of his attention was on getting Nathan's things out of the bag, and folding them properly before putting them back in, now taking up a lot less space. "I'm glad he found you." Having a brother was clearly working out for Nathan.
"Yeah, well. I can be halfway to decent, if someone lets me get my stream of consciousness bullshite out there first. It's just a good feeling, knowing that I don't have to explain every little thing or censor it all to fit in or whatever, that I'm allowed to waggle my dick around a bit without getting shut down completely. He gave me a chance to be myself, make up my own mind about things. That's all I ever wanted."
Nathan was suddenly itching for a smoke, finding himself tugging out his pack and thumbing the lighter, wondering if they'd fixed the smoke detector since he'd last disabled it. "Nobody ever did before. Except for you."
Simon smiled a little, and gave Nathan a quick look, but then focused back on the clothes as he said, "You were the first one to see me." It was more for Nathan's sake than his own that he was downplaying what he was saying.
"You were a crafty little perv. Somebody had to keep eyes on that." Really, it'd been so easy to pick on Simon, being so mousy and quiet and deferential. Nathan wasn't sure exactly when the general harassment had become genuine fondness, but if he was honest, it hadn't taken long.
Nathan stuck the fag between his lips and flicked his lighter. He'd take his chances, seeing as he was done here anyway. "How's your lonely superhero flagellation going?"
"I'm not a superhero," Simon stated, and shrugged. Yet, anyway. He couldn't exactly argue against the lonely bit, though. "I, uh. I've got a job with X-Factor. They'll need a cameraman, sometimes." He imagined that Nathan felt the same way about Damon as Simon did, but... a job was a job.
"Sometimes a cameraman? Is there opportunity to grow into towel boy, so as to scrub out the crotches of their pants for them?" Nathan took a nice deep drag and let it go in a huff. "If you're going to be risking your arse with a pants-on-the-outside group, at least have some dignity about it. Don't let them sideline you forever, mate. That's not really what you want, is it?"
"I don't want to be in the spotlight," Simon pointed out. "Ever." Oh, Nathan's boxers. He wasn't sure what was going on in those, and was certain he didn't want to find out, but at least they seemed clean. He packed them away neat and tight. "It's a great opportunity, something I can put in my CV."
Nathan flicked some ash to the floor, seeing as they'd want to clean the room once he was out in any case. Ah, the lurid stories only a UV light could tell... "You're still planning to think deep thoughts about crushing debt by doing film school, then?"
"I don't know about crushing debt," Simon answered, remaining focused on the clothes, "but I am doing film school. It's what I've always wanted."
"You anal retentive types and your ambitions," Nathan groaned around his cigarette. "But if you ever want to get trashed and go trolling for ladies..."
Nathan sighed, sitting up from his previous casual slump and nasally expelling another drag. He blinked a few times, big eyebrows wringing thoughtfully. "So help me, I'm gonna miss your miserable fucking face. Don't be a cock, when you become a big posh superhero-director. Take my phone calls, yeah? Even if it's just to gloat about having your shit together. I can be your screw-up friend who makes you look good by comparison. I'm well seasoned at that."
"I'll always take your phone calls," Simon assured him with a small smile. He owed Nathan his life, or at least his freedom. Probably both. He had taken a volley of bullets for him, and that was before they even were really close. "But I don't think I'll ever be really posh, so."
"That's more like it." Nathan didn't think he had to say any more than that. Jamie was his brother, but Simon... Was his best friend.
Nathan picked himself up from the bed. "Are you done yet? We can't leave the city without us too long. Who knows what the weirdos would do to it."
"You're saying we're not part of the weirdos," Simon pointed out with a quiet chuckle, packing the last of what Nathan had out on the bed into the bag. "Is there anything else?"
"There's worse out there," Nathan insisted. "There's other, less charismatic mutants out there. The mutant-haters. The Facility, the bastards, probably still screwing up perfectly good kids." Nathan looked around the little dorm room - most of his stuff he'd moved out already, in the duffel bag he'd left with Jamie, or wasn't much worth keeping. Not that he'd ever really had a whole lot to begin. The only thing that needed packing still was the memories of sharing the place with Simon and the rest for a while, and those - those were memories he'd actually bother trying to keep.
"That's it," Nathan picked up his lanky shoulders and dropped them again. "That's our time at Xavier's, all done."
Instead of closing up the bag, Simon took a step back to let Nathan do it, and look over at his friend. "We had a good time here, didn't we." Aside from the way they'd got here, the brief spell Nathan had been head over heels for Simon, Talon and River's kidnapping, and other such happenings.
"Considering how bollocks normal kid school was," Nathan put it that way, looking over to meet his shorter friend's gaze. Him the homeless compulsive trouble-maker, the other one the mail-slot pisser arsonist, and the lot of them ASBO kids getting all the powers and the rest that turned out to be more of a headache than anything, fleeing the country... "I'd say we had a good run of it here, the pair of us. Yeah, I would."
Nathan zipped up the bag, and slung it over one shoulder, sucking the last from his cigarette in one obscenely long inhalation, then flicking the butt onto the... Into the rubbish bin, what with Barry right there.
"Nathan!" Simon cried out immediately, when he threw the cigarette butt into the bin. He rushed to the bathroom and filled a glass with water, then came back just in time to throw it into the bin, and prevent a small fire from starting. He leveled a gaze full of what-the-fuck-ness on his friend.
"What?! Neither of us have been living out of here recently - if there's anything to catch in there, that's your negligence in taking it out, you're the responsible one! Look at you, running out here like the fire brigade..."
Nathan couldn't help but crack a grin at Simon's stoic alarm. Which boiled over into a genuine laugh. "You're going to be so bored without me, admit it! What'll you even do with yourself all alone at yours? Twist your own knickers? Wait, wait - you took one of the inflatable donkeys with you, didn't you!"
"I don't even want to know where they ended up," Simon stated, but he couldn't help a smile. Now that he was certain that the fire was out, he shouldered his own, much smaller bag, and headed towards the door. He stopped with his hand on the door, and looked at the now mostly empty room then, seized by a sudden suspicion, had to ask, "Did you let the headmasters know that you were going?"
"I think I did," Nathan put it flippantly, making his way out. "I'm almost certain of it."
Simon opened the door and let Nathan walk out, then closed the door after a beat, spent watching the room where they had spent the last year and a half. He caught up with Nathan in the hallway and fell in stride with him. "You're welcome to stop by my flat whenever you like, you know," he stated, eyebrows raised slightly. "There isn't much room, but..."
"Maybe I will, at that." Nathan reached to sling his free arm around the back of Simon's neck. "Keep you from rubbing yourself chapped with the privileges of bachelorhood."
"I don't think I'll have time for that," Simon remarked, turning his head sideway to smile at Nathan. He was one of the very rare people he could simply accept that sort of touch from without tensing.
"You're a teen boy with a flat to himself!" As it happened, Barry was one of the few people Nathan was inclined to touch in a way without slapping, prodding, poking, or groping. That'd always been the thing between them - they didn't have to understand one another, but they did have a bizarre kind of understanding. Keeping in different places wasn't like to change that. "You'll find the time. We both will."
