Never in a Million Years |N.R|

|38| Blood or water?

Nat was ready. Or at least she said she was.

We were finally leaving Norway, after a good few tumultuous and confusing days. Thankfully our stay had ended on somewhat of a good note, although we were quickly moving onto a much shakier one.

Budapest was our next stop. 'Buda-pesht' as Nat kept correcting me.

We were on our final leg of the trip which was a long train journey, the both of us dressed in black as we remained quiet and to ourselves on the carriage. Nat seemed to know exactly where she was going whilst I just followed without question. It was nice to see her back on her feet again, let alone strong enough to lead.

She was always so strong.

I was sat bouncing my leg and picking at my cuticles whilst across from me, Nat was calm and collected as she flicked through some magazine that she'd found. My nerves were on high alert once more since I was heading into unknown territory. Also because I knew all too well that whatever was to come would be anything but easy. Nat didn't lie to me about that.

Even though she wasn't 100% sure about what the vials were or why her sister had sent them to her, the very fact that she'd done just that meant that something bad was happening. Or had happened already.

My rambling thoughts and anxious movements were cut short when I felt a firm hand grip my leg beneath the small train table. I snapped my eyes up to Nat and instantly caught her staring back at me with a look of comfort. She knew better than anyone how bad my nerves got; in fact she was the only one that really knew about them at all.

"We're going to be fine Y/n. As long as we stick together nothing can get to us."

As much as I tried to accept her words wholeheartedly, I knew all too well that she couldn't know any of that for certain. She was just trying to comfort me, as well as herself.

But in an effort to put her at ease too, all I chose to say was "I know." Something in her eyes told me that she knew that brief reply meant a lot more beneath the surface level, but she didn't speak on it at all. They weren't words that needed to be said anyway.

I lifted one of my hands from my lap and rested it palm up on the table, urging her to hold it with one of hers. She didn't waste another second before doing just that and I quickly enclosed her warm hand in my tight grasp where I squeezed it a few times.

We remained like that for the rest of the train journey to Budapest. Hand in hand, sending each other smiles of reassurance, but mostly just watching out the window at the world we were speeding by.

The second the train began to slow and pull into the station, my stomach flipped with reignited nerves. There was no turning back now, not that there ever had been. My life had only ever consisted of running.

"We haven't got far to walk. Just stay by me and stay in the crowds. We can't afford to be recognised, okay?"

"Okay." With that the both of us took a deep breath before stepping out onto the bustling platform. Much to our relief we were very quickly swallowed up by the crowd; so much so that I was forced to reach forward and discreetly grasp Nat's hand as to not lose her within the chaos.

She knew exactly where she was going as we made certain turns here and there, navigating our way out of the station and into the cool air of the Budapest streets. We didn't stop there though, not even for a second. However, there were a lot less people surrounding us then so I dropped Nat's hand and instead followed directly behind her.

Hungary's views on homosexuality had certainly progressed in recent years, but it wasn't the safest and most accepting place for such people. So in order for Nat and I to remain wholly unnoticed it was probably for the best that we didn't make it obvious at all that we were a couple. A sad reality, but a reality nonetheless.