(This one corresponds to the Small House Stories a bit. I'm angry at myself because of using a good idea for the final SHS in this one.)
“How long has it been?”
“Two years?”
“I’m actually afraid to go upstairs,” Thom laughed, scratching his head, “Couple of years ago there were people on every floor, always someone awake and talking, or listening to music, or playing. Not it’s just…big and empty.”
He raised his shoulders as if from cold, looking around the dimmed room.
“I couldn’t fall asleep before Ed was home,” Colin smiled into his bottle, “…sort of…’Alright, Ed is here, and if someone breaks in – he’s going to beat them up.’”
They laughed and Colin continued, “…and now there’s this,” he nodded to the boxes scattered around the entrance with his name on them, “…And you guys are the last survivors in this place. There’s a bet going on between Phil, Ed, and I who’s going to be the last one to stay here.”
“Who do you think it will be?” Jonny asked with a crooked smile, tucking his hair behind his ear.
“You, I think,” Colin answered and Thom snorted.
“I’m not dealing with the owner, no way,” Thom said, finished his beer and they chuckled curtly, before the room immersed into silence in which tick-tock was sharp.
“It is getting late,” Colin got up, stretching and sighing, “And I should go to sleep. We all should go to sleep, but who am I to say? Tomorrow I won’t even be living here,” he said with a sardonic smile, “Shite, that’s the spirit of someone who’s moving out of the all-guy dungeon to a nice apartment with his girlfriend,” he rubbed his face, sighing, “Cheers, mates, cheers.”
“Is that the last one?” Thom yelled, wiping the sweat off his forehead, looking at the opened door of the house.
“Yeah, I think so,” Jon yelled somewhere from the inside and Thom jumped off the truck and sighed, “I think he took the whole house with him.”
Jonny appeared, leaning over the side of the house awkwardly, his arms crossed on his chest in front of him. Thom smiled.
“You were fighting over the records, weren’t you?”
“No,” Jon shook his head, “He left all of them for us, except for a couple of his favorite ones. He even left the one I gave him for his birthday, because I like it more than him.”
“That’s the case with all the records you give as presents,” Thom mumbled.
Colin appeared on the doorstep, fingering the doorframe awkwardly.
“Erm…there’s nothing left,” he said, “Scary,” he met Thom’s eyes quickly and was grateful when he was pulled into one of the rare hugs.
“How long has it been?”
“Seven months?”
“Seven months is a lot.”
“Maybe eight, I’m not sure.”
“Eight is even worse.”
“Why? People stay roommates for decades.”
“In the movies.”
“Well, we always wanted an unusual life…”
“You are wearing each others’ clothes.”
“Only shirts,” Thom corrected, “His jeans are too long for me.”
“So cuff them.”
“Well, okay, I’ll rephrase. My jeans are too short for him.”
At that Jonny laughed, pressing his nose against Thom’s shoulder and Thom smiled, turning his face to Jonny’s slightly.
“Okay,” Ed said, his face not okay at all, “That was weird.”
“What?” Thom and Jonny looked up at him, genuinely confused.
“Come on Ed, we’ve all been living together there too,” Colin said, eyeing Thom and Jon, “They won’t stay at the house forever.”
“But don’t you think it’s getting strange?” Ed continued to watch as Jonny rearranged Thom’s slightly messy hair quickly and they shared a toothy smile.
“I must agree,” Phil agreed, nodding his head in agreement, “I truly agree. I can’t agree more.”
Over the general conversation, Jonny’s side murmur was heard, addressed solely to Thom. “Don’t forget to remind me to buy more coffee today, we are out of it and you are sleepy for the rest of the day if you don’t drink it in the morning.”
“Okay, that does it,” Ed said, covering his face with his palm. Colin laughed uneasily.
“What?” Thom asked, pushing his eyebrows together, “We live together, for Christ sake!”
“Let me ask you a question, does Jonny tuck you in every night when you go to sleep?”
“Erm,” Thom frowned, confused, “We listen to music together and then we usually fall asleep…”
“…on the same bed,” Ed finished, nodding, “Do you cuddle under a duvet when you watch movies?”
“We don’t own a TV, so we don’t watch movies,” Jonny answered triumphantly, and then lowered his head quickly as three pairs of eyes shot at him. Thom laughed and nuzzled close to him, to which Jon answered with a quiet mutter that was understandable only to them and managed to raise his head to show his furious blush.
“I’m going to ask the ultimate question,” Ed said, speaking slowly, “Have you ever kissed? Snogged? Groped?”
Both Thom and Jonny froze with a note of confusion and utter surprise in their eyes and Ed had to apologize and shut up for the rest of the evening.
“How long has it been?”
“Ages. Centuries. Epochs. Eras. How do you mean?”
“Since our second kiss.”
“Easy. 20 years.”
“Don’t try to tell me that you remember.”
“We returned home after that awkward dinner and I kissed you against the door. Your palms were pressing against the wood and you tasted like mint. I remember the way your chest felt against mine and I remember the rustle of your hair.”
“Okay, okay.”
“…I picked you up and carried you upstairs then…”
“You’re not the only one with the great memory here.”
“…And into our room. And then you said…”
“Alright, alright…”
“You said, I wish we bloody had the TV.”
“Yes, yes…”
“And I laughed into your hair and kissed your nose.”
“Yes, I remember your strange obsession with my nose back then.”
“It still exists.”
“How long has it been?”
“Since our third kiss?”
“Since we moved in together into an apartment.”
“I don’t know, all dates and events are mashed up together since that night. I can tell you how long it has been since I discovered the little freckle on your shoulder blade, however I don’t know when was the last time we moved to a different place.”
“How long has it been?”
“Since I fell in love with you? Ages, centuries, epochs, eras.”
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