A Wall Between

Chapter 40

"And that's why I want a doctor to get on in there with a scalpel and sort my business out," Mason said. "I mean, I don't have any particular plans to stop being celebate, but what if I get overtaken by lust one day? I played Sims 3 with story progression on and I left my guy unattended for a bit while I played another household and next thing I knew, he had a wife and a kid. It spooked me. I don't want a wife and a kid."

"I know your ADHD is bad sometimes, Mase, but I don't think you can get distracted and accidentally end up with a wife and kid in real life," Cooper reassured him. "Ready to head off?"

"Yep," Mason said. "Let's go."

They got back into the car with Cooper in the middle seat and Sasha and Mason on either side of him. Cooper took Sasha's hand and held it in his lap, playing with his fingers in a way that felt nice while he talked to Mason.

It was so interesting to listen to them. Ellie and Cooper often bantered, but it was usually just short quips back and forth. Cooper and Mason just... talked. The conversation wandered, constantly shifting topic and tone, but they never ran out of things to say. It reminded Sasha of the podcasts he listened to with Abra sometimes while they were driving or cooking.

They pulled up to a set of huge electric gates and Abra had to speak into an intercom before they slid open. The house they revealed was even more intimidating. It had rectangular hedges along the driveway leading up to it and a fountain and it was much too large. It looked like the kind of place that should probably be called a manor, though Sasha didn't exactly know what defined one.

Sasha was taking his shoes off before they'd even parked. Shoes inside wasn't something they cared about in their own home, but Sasha's mind was already searching for all the ways he might get in trouble for doing something wrong here.

It was kind of awkward to have already taken his shoes off when they parked, because they were still outside, and then Sasha started worrying about if maybe his socks would get dirty. The path was pretty clean, though. Sasha held his shoes in one hand and Cooper took his other hand and together the five of them walked towards the front door.

Mason rang the doorbell and Sasha quickly put his shoes down beside Ellie's when she toed hers off so that nobody who lived here would know he'd done anything weird.

The man and woman who answered the door were clearly Logan and Bianca. Bianca, because she was quite pregnant, and Logan because he looked a bit like Cooper. Also Cooper had a framed picture of himself with Logan and Mason on top of a stack of cardboard boxes in his room, but Sasha wasn't very good at remembering faces. Logan was taller and slightly broader shouldered than Cooper and his hair was a mousey brown, but the shape of their faces were similar.

Sasha watched, pretending to be invisible, as Logan greeted each person in turn with a hug. He discovered that he'd failed at being invisible when Logan turned to him after he was done with everyone else.

"Sasha, right?" Logan asked.

Sasha nodded.

"Nice to finally meet you. Do you do hugs?"

It would never in a million years cross Sasha's mind to initiate a huge with a stranger, but he didn't object. He nodded again and Logan leant in and gave him a quick hug.

"I'd do hugs as well, but that's getting a bit difficult," Bianca said, giving her expanded belly a pat.

"That's okay," Mason said. "I'm just now realising that when these guys picked me up from the airport, I launched in on a rant about how I want my nuts sliced open instead of actually saying hello to anyone. Nice to see you again, Bianca. You're way more pregnant than I'm comfortable with and it's honestly distracting."