Some of us die young // RED QUEEN FANFICTION

6: Something you love

The weather is bad. It's raining, and not in a pouring way but in a drizzle, wearing people thin, continuing the whole day. The sky is white and grey clouds, not one-bit sun.

Tiny drops of ice cold water are eating through Thomas shirt as he pulls his hood up, closer over his wet hair.

It's bad if you don't have somewhere to go.

The water gets right into all his pockets, drenching all his belongings.

He's glad he has had some common sense and left the most important things in a warm and dry apartment.

It's slowly becoming a problem he's got nowhere to go. If the weather continues like this, he'll be sick in no time if he's not careful. There are several options. He despises every single one of them.

It provides a different problem altogether. With nowhere to go, it's difficult to have dates. And oh yes, he finally has reached the point to convince himself this IS a very strange relationship. Not like he'd brag about his boyfriend or wouldn't dare to say the word out loud. He does it one time when he's at Farley's.

It's more subconscious than anything. "Yeah well, that's my boyfriend's-" he says and feels equally good as bad.

He doesn't discuss it. It's kind of out of question with Maven's status and all. And maybe, only a tiny maybe, he feels like Maven should figure it out for himself.

Summer was the perfect time to just wander around. With the autumn storms, the rain and the cold approaching, it's not that easy anymore. It means spending time in closed , confined stores or coffee shops because it's warm. But that also means no touching and another long list of debts. It also means crowds and if there's anything none of them like it's too many people in one place.

Or it means not meeting really at all.

Thomas is dreading the thought and takes the debt.

Thomas tries to imagine him at his home, in the tiny room he shares with his sister, and he has a good laugh. It'd be as mismatched as a frog in a desert. That boy probably never had to share anything. He's not used to having something worn down handed over. Thomas is lucky he got to have some stuff for his own sake when his sister was all dress and skirt phase.

He doesn't wear the shirt Maven has given him very often in that first night at the pool. He uses it as a pillow or just hugs it tightly, leaning against a cold wall.

It has lost its scent by now, smelling more of smoke and sweat and dirt, but if he closes his eyes he can pretend.

He pretends an awful lot these days.

Sometimes Thomas is reminded of his own incompetence when they are hanging out.

"What's all that about?" Thomas stares at the notes spread out along the table, fine handwriting curling over paper. He crumbles a bit of his cookie over the free side of the table.

While eating, Thomas watches Maven's hand sprawl numbers and words over a free corner of a paper.

"It's called studying. " There are dark, grey circles under Maven's eyes. Thomas meant to ask. He couldn't bring himself to in fear it would ruin anything. "And since you wanted to meet, I'll have to do it here."

"Oh yes, right, you are still in that awful prison." He thinks of the day he dropped out. Felt good back then. Now that he stares at the notes, he can't even make sense of it. He feels like a little child. It stings.

He tries to cover it up by stuffing the next cookie into his mouth. Maven still notices. Even a fool could see that it's nagging on him. He looks at all the words and numbers and he can read them, but it doesn't mean he understands.