"Hello?"
"Vik," a voice moaned for his attention over the phone. "We should hangout."
"Now? It's almost eight o'clock, Si."
"Please? I miss you." They had just seen each other yesterday. But the logic didn't matter to Vik. Simon was begging to see him. Vik wasn't going to challenge that.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, taking a few more steps down the hall so Harry couldn't hear him through the door.
"I've just had some troubles weighing on my mind."
"What troubles does a pretty boy like you have?" Vik heard Simon giggle from the other end.
"Stupid, sexy ones. I'd like to forget about them." A silence fell because Vik wasn't sure what to say to that. Simon had something in mind, "I could really use some help."
"Oh?" Vik inflected. It sounded like Simon was hinting at a certain activity. Their early days of sleeping together were shared over this casual pastime of theirs. Since then Vik had been taking more accountability of how he spent his time and how he treated his body.
"We haven't taken a trip together in a while. Can I meet you at the water tower?"
"I suppose I have enough time to procrastinate for one night." School was in the morning so Vik knew he would 100% regret this. It wasn't very responsible of him to agree to this. Although, who can say no to reliving the good ol' days?
"Fabulous. I can bring my own supply."
"Save it. I've got all you need."
"Thanks love." It was solemn. His tone, that is. Vik worried over what was causing his always bright personality to become so lackluster.
At the water tower;
Simon and Vik sat across from each other on the ground underneath the tall blue structure. Their knees touched as they leaned in close. A sliver of air remaining between their tongues they stuck out. Each boy placed a sweet-tart on the center of their tongue. A tingling sensation coated the tastebuds. The Candy was retracted into their mouths for them to suck on until it fizzled away into a disintegrated mess. Simon pulled Vik onto his lap. Their foreheads rested against each other. They giggled ever so quietly, not wanting to say a word. While staring into the other's eyes, they anticipated the eventual onset of delusion and deterioration of the world around them.
A couple hours in, the two were sprawled out on the concrete. Barely having moved a foot from where he first sat, Simon's body stirred. His hand flopped around like a fish until it found the other boy's body. Simon couldn't tell what his limbs were doing as he moved them. He just knew to keep moving. It was best not to materialize the surroundings. It only makes everything more confusing. A velvet blue light cast down from the legs of the tower. The color was so overpowering that the ground, building, and sky all bled into an indistinguishable blue. At least Vik's coat is a bright tan color that stood out amongst the melted background. To Simon, his hand looked like it was touching Vik's feet but he knew he was actually touching his coat because of the felt texture. The hand with a mind of its own dug around. That was enough to awaken Vik. He sat up to see the moons that were Simon's pupils staring at him.
"What are you doing?" The words jumped out at a normal pace to him and Simon. In reality they flowed out all at once in a lengthy sound.
"This." Simon showed him the baggie of pink powder dangling from his fingers. Vik put his head back down, unable to form a response. Then the chill of a spring night tickled his stomach. Vik's head raised a little to see Simon had pushed his shirt up, exposing his stomach.
"What are you-?" Vik asked again.
"I need a flat surface." Simon used his school ID to cut a line on Vik. The small hill was snorted up by Simon. Vik giggled at the feeling on his tummy. Simon's head fell back and a euphoric smile spread across from ear to ear.
In all honesty, Simon had done a half of a tab earlier in the day but it didn't grant him as much peace as he wanted. Much is needed in order to fully escape the heavy grasps of reality. They get heavier, then the intake gets higher. He wants to be smothered by a blanket of imagination that can't be clawed through from the outside. A blanket of darkness that covered him and played any image he wanted as the hands of sanity pushed in, wrinkling the protection, trying to steal him back.
"Have you ever done both at the same time?" Simon straddled Vik.
"No. Mixing's dangerous." Vik warned.
"No. It's eye opening." Simon hummed. "What's your favorite flavor?" The question triggered something in Vik causing him to fall off of Simon's wavelength. Simon watched the soul in his pupils vanish with the wind of whispering voices in his head. So the sitting boy waited.
The inside of Vik's mind was quiet. His thoughts tread across his neurons in silence. He didn't need to echo what the transmitters just sent in order to hear them. Just the action of thinking was enough. Every flavor he's ever been graced with ghosted over his tongue. As the mystery of how he could taste what was not there twisted his brain, the blue blob began to swirl, shake, and layer itself. It was coming alive. Vik focused on the illusions. Nothingness had come to life, and he welcomed it to flow all around him. His world had become so cozy. His elevated senses kept him company. There is so much to process that loneliness has no room.
"Green apple." he answered after a few minutes. "But I eat it like you're supposed too."
"Are you gonna do a line?" Simon poked his cheek. Vik slowly shook his head. "Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it." He repeated, increasingly closer to Vik's right ear.
"Fine." Vik gave in. Simon rolled off of Vik and onto his back. The same motion was repeated by Vik on Simon's stomach. It sort of stung since this was not his typical way of consuming the dust. His nose kept twitching and sniffling. He could hear the echoes of someone laughing at him. It was probably Simon.
The rhythmic beating of his heart started to pick up. The sensation created jitters all throughout his muscles. Vik found it difficult to sit still. Lightheadedness overtook his ability to think. Beyond that point him and Simon descended back into a delusion.
A painful poking sensation dug into his arms and back. Simon's eyelids raised halfway before being unable to raise them any further. Night's black sky still hung over. Fuzzy images of leaves rendered in his vision. It was branches that were hurting him so. Once he realized he had been sleeping in the bushes, Simon pushed himself to his knees. Dirt caked his hands, knees, and pants. He did his best brushing it off. As he cleaned himself, he spotted an extensive hole in the dirt to his left. This is what he must've spent his energy doing. Some mulch was shoved back into the hole before it came clear that trying to refill it would be futile. The gardener will probably think it was from a fox anyway.
The blue luminescence eased itself on the eyes. The world around was now reconstructing itself into a recognizable exterior. Several feet away Vik was stood pressing his forehead against one of the legs of the tower. His coat hung off of a shoulder. Simon stumbled his way over while regaining use of his legs. A finger tap on the exposed shoulder scared Vik out of his trance.
"You good?" Simon made sure. Vik smacked his lips a couple times before replying,
"Yeah. Do I look good?" Vik checked his hands and arms. Upon first glance nothing seemed to be bleeding or broken. Nothing felt like so either. Still, it's good to ask someone else to be sure.
"You always look good." Simon ran his hand into Vik's soft hair. His compliment was received with a silent giggle. "Do you feel good?"
"Very. But I am very hungry." He grabbed onto Simon to steady himself.
"Oh, yes. Me too now that you mention it."
"What time is it? Is anything open?"
"I don't know what time it is but Sheetz (a convenient store) is always open." he suggested, pulling Vik's coat back onto the other shoulder. Vik nodded in agreement. They checked their phones at the same time to see 2:40 am displayed at the top.
Arm in arm, the two trudged down from the upper most part of campus to downtown. Vik laced his fingers tightly with Simon's. Occasionally they would pass other kids returning home from a night out. These were the moments Vik relished the most: Just him and his love buzzed and carefree in the middle of the night going to get trashy food.
"Wow, this brings back memories." Vik breathed, entering the store behind Simon. Generic music echoed quietly compared to the buzzing of the fridges.
"Of what?" the other inquired.
"Harry and I used to come out here at three AM almost nightly." Vik answered, stopping in the middle of the chips and granola.
"I didn't think you guys were nocturnal like that."
"We aren't really. Not anymore at least. We came because of Harry's insomnia."
"Oh. I didn't know he has insomnia." Simon lent against the shelves to hear Vik tell his story.
"Had. It was because of his anxiety. It's at its worst at night." he frowned. "Coming out here always seemed to help. It was a good distraction."
"When did you learn he had anxiety?"
"The night I heard him sobbing under the covers."
"Aw, what makes him so anxious?" Simon continued to poke and prod into their business.
"Everything." Vik sighed, seemingly in frustration. Taking care of Harry does take its toll on Vik. He tries to not let it show because he doesn't want Harry to feel guilty. Plus Vik doesn't want Harry to see him as a selfish person if he were to not open his arms. "Comparing himself to others constantly exacerbates his fear of failure. I wish he would get better with that like he has with his social anxiety."
"He certainly doesn't have any anxiety flirting with my Josh." Simon grumbled with a piercing glare to a wall. A baby growl rumbled in Vik's throat. Simon glanced at him. There was severe agitation as displayed by the twitch in his upper lip. "Sooo, did you come out here even in the winter?" He redirected back to the fond memories to soothe Vik.
"No, that's when he finally started falling asleep at a more sensible time. Pop the window open and let the cold air in. Always lulled him to sleep." The tension in his mouth released at the image of Harry curled up in his blankets.
"Interesting. I hate the cold." he shuttered at the thought of the harsh temperatures.
"Me too. But I still like winter."
"No. Absolutely not. It makes me want to stay indoors all day." He stuck his nose up. "I love being outside."
"Have you ever had sex outside?" Vik randomly wondered.
"Vik! That's none of your business." Simon jokingly gasped. "Why?" He leaned down to Vik's height. "Do you wanna right now?" A cheeky smirk paired with those diamond eyes that frisked him up and down rustled awake pleasant exhilaration deep inside a blushing Vik.
"I've never found the idea appealing." His words remained calm but he knew they wouldn't fool Simon.
"It is kind of difficult but very thrilling."
"So you have then..."
"Maybe." Flashes of him and JJ scrambling behind some bushes, trying to not loose footing, in the late of night popped into his mind. He chuckled. "You should try it."
"I'll pass."
"C'mon." he whiny-groaned. "Where's the most exciting place you've had sex?"
"The bedroom." A let down of an answer.
"Boooo, you virgin." he taunted. Vik rolled his eyes at the childish nature of Simon's reaction.
"What about you then, hot stuff?"
"In a fitting room." he responded swiftly and proudly.
"And you didn't get caught?"
"We did..." As flashes of his third lover impatiently undressing him played, a flustered expression came through on his face. All of these raunchy flashbacks excited him. "C'mon though. Let's do it." Simon tugged on Vik. "It'll be so exciting. No one will catch us at 4 in the morning."
"Are you sure? Aren't there-?"
"I'll let you fuck me again." he sung, biting his bottom lip.
"Okay. We can have some fun."
"Yes! Let's go!" Simon yanked Vik back toward the front door. A little yelp leaped out of Vik's mouth.
"What about food? We were going to eat." He longingly looked back at cheap food under the heat lamps just waiting to be eaten.
"Oh don't you worry about that."