perf*ct (boy × boy) ✔

nineteen: third time's a charm

The house was just like I had expected it to be from the look I had gotten from outside. There were no oriental carpets or creaky floors, but light earthy colors. The living room/hallway was an open space, and even though it wasn't a huge house the high walls and doorless frames gave it a roomy impression.

My gaze wandered to the pictures on the walls, and before I knew it I was smiling at the familiar faces of Nathan and Nicholas. I couldn't tell the difference between them in their childhood pictures. There was the third brother, Jonathan, as well, and the two parents who I had seen by the house when I took Nathan home that one night. 

"Who's this?" My curiosity got the best of me, when I picked up a picture of a middle-aged man with warm blonde hair, a goofy grin and thick glasses. He was wearing a white cap and he was posing with a baseball bat. 

"That's my dad." Nathan was playing with the hem of his shirt, keeping a safe distance from me.

I set down the picture and tried to estimate the damage his face had gotten. The skin on the side of his chin looked ruddy and there would no doubt be a bruise on it by tomorrow. There was also a small bruising on the corner of his mouth, but other than that he seemed fine. Thank the lord or whoever was responsible for misbehaving teens.

"Do you have any frozen peas? Or ice?" I asked. "How about a first aid kit? You also need a towel."

"It's fine." Nathan objected, but I kept insisting until he finally got a bag of frozen corn, which I wrapped in a towel and handed back to him to hold against the bruises, and a first aid kit. When I bedabbled a cotton swab with disinfectant, he lowered his face, his cheeks reddened all over, and stammered: "I can do it myself."

"Just let me play the hero for once." I grinned, hoping to lighten the mood and make him relax. 

"Since when are nurses heroes?" Nathan lifted his gaze, giving me a small smile.

"Are you kidding me?" I chuckled and began to clean the dried blood from the corner of his mouth. "Nurses are superheroes. It's one thing to be a doctor, but nurses are the real heart and soul for the healthcare system." 

It's possible I gave him a long, dedicated speech about the importance of nurses and how underappreciated they were. Nathan listened to me with an expression that either meant he was impressed by my words or had no idea why I was still speaking. Either way, he listened to me intently and even smiled at my enthusiasm. 

"The cold should help, but I'm afraid there will be a respectable bruise on it tomorrow." I watched how Nathan rested his head against the backrest of the sofa. He sighed and closed his eyes while pressing the bag of corn against his jaw. I followed his example and we fell into a comfortable silence. I noticed that even though Nathan made me nervous, he was also easy to be around with. 

Then I heard the front door opening and I had barely gotten on my feet when a hand gripped me by my collar. It was like having a déjà vu.

"Didn't I tell you to leave him alone?" Nicholas snapped, a deep frown on his face. "And that I'd end you if you touch him again?"

"Nicholas, stop it." I had never heard Nathan raising his voice before, but once he did, he sounded just like Nicholas. He got up, separated Nicholas from me and stood between us. "Solar didn't do anything, he was just helping me out."

"Oh, right. How did you get those bruises then?" Nicholas glanced at Nathan, clearly not buying it, and then glared at me like he wanted to murder me right there and then.

"I-I hit someone and he hit me back." 

"Why would you hit someone?" Nicholas looked incredulous, and this time I couldn't blame him. Why on Earth would Nathan get into a fight? 

"Because they said something.." Nathan's shoulders slumped, making him look shorter than he already was.

"Because they said something?" Nicholas repeated, looking even more incredulous. Then he took a deep breath and started lecturing: "You shouldn't just go and hit someone because of what they say. Getting into fights is irresponsible and you need to think about —"

"They called me and Jonathan retarted, and then asked if it was because mom was an addict too." Nathan cut him short. Nicholas gasped, and I watched him as the words slowly sank in.

"They said that?" Nicholas' face turned red and he furrowed his brows while he clenched his fists. "Who were they?"

"Does it matter?" Nathan shrugged. 

"Of course it does, I'm going to kick their asses." Nicholas fumed. So much about not hitting people after what they said.. Although, I must admit, I was truly regretting not beating them to a pulp now that I knew what they had said.

When Nathan just shook his head again, Nicholas sighed and slumped to sit on the couch. Nathan sat down next to him and I sat next to Nathan. And so there we were: me and the Dawson twins hanging out in their perf*ct house.

One was holding a bag of corn on his bruised jaw and one was fuming and clenching his fists. Me, well, I was feeling completely out of place.