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Sav came to Nic's dorm after studying in the lounge with the rest of the Kingsley Gang. She hardly even knocked—just swung right in and startled Nic into scribbling a line across his art history notes. He slapped his hand down in annoyance, and turned to glare at her as she dropped into the futon with an annoyed groan. The door to the room slammed shut, and probably pissed off every single neighbor near them.
"Oops, sorry," she said absently, scratching at her messy hair before twisting around to face Nic. "You know Olivia's a helicopter girlfriend?"
"Um, no? What makes you say that?" Nic snorted. The idea seemed weird. Sure, she was loud and outgoing and spent every waking... moment... in their dorm—but some people were like that! There wasn't anything he found weird about it, especially since he spent all of his childhood constantly being followed by his siblings.
Sav sighed, pulling a leg up onto the cushion as she said, "Well, for one, she babysits Leo and I."
"Really? No, she just wants to hang out with you guys."
"Yeah, but there's no way Leo would initiate that sort of contact on a regular basis. The guy has to be reminded to say 'Hello' sometimes," she rationalized, and Nic couldn't really argue with that. He always figured it was because they lived together and saw each other every day that Leo just... forewent the formalities of greeting Nic every time he walked into the room. "She thinks I'm gonna steal Leo from her," Sav concluded.
"What? Pff, no. That's just weird. You're, like, two years younger than him."
"No, you just think it's weird because you know that I would never. But Olivia doesn't know that I would never," she insisted, and he shrugged because it was clear now that Leo was on board with Sav being disinterested in most everything involving romance and sex. That much was clear during dinner when he'd stop Flo and Wes from retelling raunchy stories from the weekends as soon as Sav started to fake-gag. He seemed to forget that pretending to gag was just a part of her humor, but either way she discretely appreciated the effort.
Nic's phone buzzed on his desk, startling him out of the conversation. He reached for it, and instantly jolted from his chair. "Shit! Kieran's on his way!" he shouted, leg getting caught between his loft and the chair. He yelped, tripping forward and rolling onto the ground.
As he scrambled for his closet, Sav sat, stunned, in the futon, before asking, "Um... why should you be worried?"
"Because I forgot today his class is meeting up for dinner! They're all going out to eat at this snooty vegan restaurant Eliana eats at all the time," Nic explained, kicking off his pajama pants. "Fuck! This is what happens when all his texts are limited to telling me the second he leaves the Co-Op. For fuck's sake—"
"Why? It's, like, Sunday," she deadpanned. "And midterms. Like, legit midterms. You know, the ones that come before Thanksgiving?"
"I know, but last week was their last lesson because the instructor's gonna be out of town. And she's treating them all to dinner tonight before she heads out," he explained, throwing on the closest patterned button-up and nice slacks. He tucked in the shirt hastily and looped a belt around his waist. Sav watched him pace across the room, grab his wallet, stuff it into his coat pocket, and check himself in their floor length mirror.
He texted Leo, who got back to him saying to lock the door—Leo had his own key in his backpack anyway. Sav picked up her things and followed Nic to the door as he was saying, "And I mean, I wouldn't normally go to a vegan restaurant if it meant I was going to pay. But Ezekiel and Eliana offered to pitch in and they insisted us broke college students didn't have to pay—"
He broke off into a startled yelp when the door swung open, and his boyfriend happened to be on the other side preparing to knock. Kieran seemed just as startled, and Sav gasped and muttered, "Fuck, you scared me."
"I could say the same to you guys," Kieran commented. His lips parted into a breathtaking smile as he laughed, his slim brown eyes squinting at Nic as he reached an arm out wrapped it around Nic's shoulders. "You look good."
Nic was in such a daze that he dropped his keys. How was it possible that someone could look so perfect just saying the simplest things? And of all the rare times Kieran complimented Nic, it was disgusted in an insult, or an off-hand remark that wasn't meant to be translated and interpreted and made into something it wasn't. His compliments were never so transparent as to cause Nic to drop his keys in surprise.
"You broke him," Sav laughed.
"He never compliments me," he insisted, looking between the two of them and pointing a finger at Kieran. "He just said I look good. Shouldn't that be the other way around?"
"What do you mean?" Kieran snorted. "That you look bad? Because you don't."
"He did it again!" Nic cried out, and Sav snorted as she locked Nic's door for him and muttered under her breath, "Who knew you two could be such saps? I feel like I'm drowning in sugar right now."
"I only say that you look good because you look like shit most days because you don't sleep," Kieran corrected himself.
"Ah, yes, the salt is back. My favorite conversational seasoning," she said as Nic moaned and groaned about Kieran's betrayal all the way down the hallway, and even after Sav departed from them to go to her own room. He pretended to mope against Kieran's shoulder as they walked through the Kingsley parking lot, which was really an inconvenience for both of them because Kieran kept squirming and trying to nudge Nic off of him.
Nic clung onto him whining, "I don't look terrible, do I...?" until Kieran jammed his shoulder against Nic's cheek. "Ouchie! I bit my cheek!" he yelped, his hold loosening just enough for Kieran to squeeze through it.
"I warned you, like, six times," Kieran said with an innocent shrug. He shook out his arms and huffed out, "God—You have octopus arms."
"Yeah, and you have a shoulder made out of those spikey rocks in that cartoon version of Hercules," he complained, pushing a finger into his mouth and coming away with a bit of thin, transparent blood. Nothing awful, but it still tasted like he had a penny jammed against the inside of his cheek.
"Ok. New rule: if I say 'let go' more than two times, I'm serious," Kieran said as he looked down at the helmet locked to the handle of Ellen's moped. He jimmied it off and stuck it over his head, and Nic stood there dumbfounded for a solid minute while Kieran settled onto the moped and waited for him.
The last time Nic felt this uncomfortable around Kieran, it was at the party when he thought he was way in over his head, asking if he could paint the most beautiful man alive, right in front of his face. He felt like he wasn't in any position to talk to Kieran. And now...
"What?" Kieran asked. "C'mon, we're gonna be late."
"I made you uncomfortable," he said.
"Dude it's fine, whatever. Let's go."
"I can get clingy sometimes. I can stop if you want, it's just... something my siblings do to me so... I get that it's annoying sometimes," he said, looking down at where his hands were now running up and down the ridges of his jacket zipper.
Kieran leaned over, and tapped his hand over Nic's. "It's fine. Really," he insisted, and that smile was back. "God. Sometimes you take things so seriously." He pulled on Nic's hand and drew it around behind him so Nic could climb onto the back of Ellen's vespa. He started up the engine after Nic settled in and wrapped his scarf over his mouth, and tugged his winter hat over his ears to ward off the chill.
Riding a moped in the cold of winter wasn't exactly one of Nic's favorite pastimes, but it got them to their destination faster, if not with red cheeks and noses. Nic wondered if Kieran was compensating for their small spat in the Kingsley parking lot by holding Nic's hand into the restaurant, but whatever the case, it warmed up both of their hands as they both breathed out through cold teeth.
The restaurant itself was dark—as most restaurants were—with deep maroon walls and copious amounts of... plants. There were far too many plants in one room for Nic to be completely comfortable, but as soon as Nic mentioned it, he got his neck pinched and a sour, "Yeah, well, this is what the world would look like if parasites weren't swarming the planet."
"Parasites?" Nic blurted out, "I feel insulted and I don't know why."
"Kieran! Nic!" they heard Ezekiel's distinct English accent from across the restaurant. Kieran perked up instantly and twisted around, searching the floor before spotting the ginger-headed man waving at them from one of the circular booths against the wall, framed by hanging plants and potted plants atop the booth dividers.
They strode across the room and Kieran squeezed into the booth where Ronan and Eliana moved to make room. Nic followed after him, and as their instructor greeted them both and caught them up on what the conversation was about, he glanced sparingly over at where Ronan was sat, glancing away from their instructor as he reached for his wine glass. As he took a sip, a strand of his silver hair dipped from behind his ear, and he caught Nic's gaze.
Nic cleared his throat awkwardly and looked around the rest of the table, and to where Ezekiel was showing them pictures of the paintings done during his session on the other side of Portland. Eliana gave a little scoff and said, reaching into her purse for her own phone. "You should see the photoshoot I helped out in—" she boasted, and barely flashed the first picture before Ezekiel yelped, "Not exactly appropriate for the table!"
"As if your penis is!" she remarked.
Kieran snorted, smirking over the rim of his water glass. "I don't know. It might just be a matter of whether or not it's photorealistic. Nic's drawings of me were pretty photorealistic."
"Really? Kieran mentioned you were an artist," the instructor commented. Nic heard enough variations of that to know it was an invitation to bring his work to the table.
"You told them I was in the class? Isn't that against the rules?" Nic chastised, blushing all the same as Kieran shrugged shamelessly, and the others laughed. "I don't—I don't think I took any pictures of it," he said, and even if he as a terrible liar, he was flustered enough to come off as flattered. "Sorry."
"Oh—I snuck a few pictures when they were doing critique," Kieran blurted out, digging his phone out of his jacket pocket and flicking through the pictures. As they all filled the silence with chatter over Ronan's gig the previous night.
Ronan waved his hand dismissively, grinning as he said, "Oh, it was just a small intimate thing. A photoshoot out of the city with one of your friends." He gestured to the instructor, who asked how the photographer was. Nic prevented himself from scowling at Ronan by busying himself by finishing off half his glass of water. There was something about Ronan's airy voice, the slightly breathless moments at the end of sentences that just... rubbed Nic the wrong way.
Kieran seemed to be on the same page because he broke up the conversation by showing the pictures of all the drawings on the board, with Nic's class surrounding it. They played a game on picking out Nic's drawing, during which time Nic studied the rest of the dining room with his lips pursed into an amused smile. When they did discover Nic's drawing, he felt a bit hollow thinking about how he made a disaster of himself all week over Kieran in his damn drawing class. How he had pictures of his own damn drawings that he got off to in the shower.
That wasn't exactly the sort of material to share at the dinner table with Kieran's nude modeling friends.
"You intentionally posed seductively, didn't you?" Eliana accused, winking at Kieran.
He laughed all while Nic turned pink. "I think it's funny seeing Nic get worked up," he confessed, grinning devilishly at Nic. Ezekiel hooted with laugher, and reached across the table to shove him by the arm.
The waitress came and went, and as she refilled their waters and brought another wine glass for Eliana and Ronan, Ezekiel asked, "So how long'd that drawing take you?"
"It was the last drawing we did. So... like an hour and a half?" Nic said, ending with a confused laugh. Their instructor let out a surprised hum, eyebrows raised as she looked at Eliana, who complimented Nic on his work. Nic blushed and looked down at his phone, muttering his thanks as he noted a Snapchat from Bev.
As Nic opened the snap quietly under the table, Ronan gestured for Kieran to bring the phone closer. He squinted at it for a second before looking at Nic and saying, "Oh, come on, you're telling me you didn't take pictures of this?"
"Ronan, come on," Ezekiel snorted, chuckling as he waved his hand. "Don't harass the boy."
"I'm being honest! And they're dating—we can be open about that kind of stuff. C'mon, Nic, let's see it," Ronan insisted, reaching across Kieran, who didn't even bother blocking his path. he leant back, leaving Nic to the fishes, and the shark that happened to snag the phone straight out of Nic's hands.
The whole time Eliana hooted and leaned in to see Nic's phone, while Ezekiel rolled his eyes and said, "Privacy is still a thing! Who knows what's on that phone." Nic replied by squeaking out, "I don't have anything on that phone!" "Oh, he's a growing boy. Leave him alone," Eliana said from the side as Ronan shouted his triumph and showed the drawings to the table. Kieran leaned in to see while Nic turned absolutely red at the evidence. He groaned, slapping his arms over his face while Kieran patted his back apologetically, but still flicked through the pictures anyways.
"I hate everyone," Nic sighed as he dropped his arms down and took his phone back after the humiliation was over.
"You really are a beautiful artist, Nic," Eliana said. "This is incredible work for a freshmen in college."
"Yeah, well... s'why I'm going to school for it I guess," he murmured, looking away from them all.
"Why not an art college though?"
"So I could go to school for decreasing motivation over the years and smoke 24/7? No. No thank you," Nic laughed, and Eliana offered a look that said, "Well, you aren't wrong." He shook his head, looking down at his glass of water before saying, "Also, I don't think my parents would have paid for my tuition if I went to an art school. Because for one, art school's stupidly expensive—not to mention the supplies on top of it—, and also because of the whole 'druggie' stigma."
"I mean, when I was in art school, everyone was addicted. In photography class no one could shoot at a shutter speed under a hundred twenty-five 'cause all our hands shook so much," Eliana said.
"Yeah, well, we also came from a time when everyone smoked," the instructor said. "Only about half of my photography classes these days raise their hands when I ask if they smoke."
"The other half are liars..." Ezekiel sang.
They went on telling stories about the good ol' days of university. They took a brief break to eat as if they hadn't had food in days—as one does whenever the food comes to the table at a restaurant. It was so fucking good compared to what Nic had been eating every goddamn day at the dining hall, and he hadn't realized it until the cooked zucchini touched his tongue and he muffled his moan behind his sealed lips. He looked at Kieran, who was in the middle of slurping up wholewheat spaghetti noodles. Kieran's eyes went wide when he realized Nic was watching him, and he looked sparingly over at him before the noodle broke off and fell onto the plate.
They giggled like idiots because food just sounded so good and pure—like they wouldn't eat a quality meal again until Thanksgiving in two weeks.
***
By the time they went back to Kingsley, Kieran was exhausted and could barely keep his eyes open. They spent a bit of time at Ronan's apartment again with the others, and it wasn't exactly the greatest idea considering Kieran worked in the morning. Going to Ronan's meant drinking, movies, and a nice luxurious couch ideal for sleeping material. Nic stayed awake the whole time out of paranoia, but Kieran fell asleep halfway through the movie and needed to be jostled awake when it came time to leave.
As they wandered down the opulent hallways decorated with pure whites and golds that were accented in deep red carpets, Kieran kept his eyes down to his phone, checking all the messages he missed during the movies. In the elevator, Nic picked at his nails before pulling on his gloves, and tugging on his hat.
"Hey, if I texted Leo, would you want to stay over tonight?" Nic asked, and Kieran hummed—clearly not having heard the question. "Tired?"
"Very."
"My dorm's closer to Starbucks, so you could stay the night if you wanted," he reiterated, gauging for Kieran's reaction.
Kieran blinked for a moment, thumbs pausing over his keyboard. He looked up and stared at the elevator door as it pinged and opened up. As they exited, he hesitated right on the brink of the door, preventing it from closing. "Um... you wouldn't mind?" he asked finally.
Nic shook his head. "I'd just have to text Leo to see if he's cool with it. That way you can just park the moped in those free spots and Starbucks is, like, right across the bridge," he said.
Kieran smiled at him despite the sleepiness in his face making it tight. He agreed to staying the night, so Nic quickly texted Leo as they exited the apartment complex and approached the moped. As Nic closed his phone and zipped it into his pocket, preparing to drive them to Kingsley, the message sent. They exited the city as Leo blearily opened his phone to read the message from where he was warm and comfortable in his bed. Nic read Leo's response the moment they parked the moped to ensure that they wouldn't wander inside together for nothing.
The coast was clear.
Kieran climbed the stairs with him, and they shushed one another as they got to Nic's and Leo's room. It was dark in the room, so they flicked on the closet lights. Kieran went to plug his phone in at Nic's desk before shedding his coat and wandering over to Nic's closet where he was changing.
"Dude, privacy," Nic whispered.
"Dude, I'm awake," Leo grunted from overhead.
Kieran snorted and said, "Sorry Leo. Nic is just being a twelve-year-old. Can I borrow shorts or am I just gonna wear my boxers."
"Oh geez hang on let me get you a shirt too," Nic squeaked, clumsily fumbling through his drawers, all while fully aware that Kieran looked over at Leo triumphantly, as if to say, "What'd I just say?"
They swapped places in the closet and Nic went to get his backpack ready for the morning. When Kieran came out again, he went straight for the loft, but Nic stopped him. "Whoa, hey—don't you, like, wash your face and stuff?" he demanded critically, and when Kieran gave him a confused stare, Nic slapped a hand to his face and turned to Leo. "He doesn't even wash his face. How do you have such flawless skin?"
"Good genes, I guess?" Kieran said. "I dunno. You tell me."
"He's an alien. Not from this world," Leo groaned into his pillow.
Nic grabbed Kieran by the wrist and towed him towards the closet again. "I'm gonna show you how to wash your face first. You'll feel better—washing my face always makes me feel better."
"You mean 'less gross,' right?" Kieran corrected, and Nic didn't argue with that. He grabbed a spare towel for Kieran and took his container of supplies out the door with him. Kieran followed him through the halls and to the boy's bathroom where the tiles were cold under their bare feet. Really, it was a sin not to wear flip-flops in those bathrooms, but at the time, Nic couldn't give to shits. His priorities were centered on Kieran starting a face regimen.
"If you're gonna be a model, you need to learn how to wash your face properly. You'll get wrinkles if you don't moisturize," he chided, lining up the cleansers on the countertop while Kieran stood there, pale in the blinding bathroom lights. When Nic finished explaining everything, he looked at Kieran through the mirror.
Kieran breathed out shakily and murmured, "I need to piss." He turned away and went to one of the urinals while Nic groaned and slapped his hands on the sink.
When Nic finally got around to making Kieran cooperate, the process went smoothly and by the time they returned to the room, it was only... eleven at night. Kieran hardly seemed to worry about his six AM shift as he walked into the dark room patting his cheeks fondly.
Nic let Kieran climb up the loft first. It involved them both to stand on the desk to get there, but eventually they made it up all in the pitch blackness of the room. The dorm beds weren't monstrous by any means—they were just simple twins. With the obvious chill in their room, the warmth of Kieran's body beside Nic's was reassuring.
The first thing Kieran did the moment they were settled under the covers involved pressing the bottom of his feet to Nic's bare calves. Nic yelped, hissing out, "Your feet are cold!" He kicked his knees up and scrambled out of Kieran's foot-hold so he could attack Kieran with his own feet. Kieran giggled, and the bed squeaked obnoxiously while they fought around on the bed until Leo whined, "You two are such children."
"We already confirmed that Nic is twelve-years-old," Kieran said, rising up from his pillow before falling back down. If it wasn't so damn dark, Nic was sure he'd be able to see Kieran's smirking, victorious face.
After a few minutes of lying together in silence, Kieran whispered, "Your breath is really hot."
"Thank you."
"As in I feel like I'm in a sauna."
"I retract my thanks," he murmured quietly, and Kieran scoffed.
Nic twisted onto his back, and then onto his other side so his face was to the cool air of the rest of the room. He tucked the blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes, only to be startled by Kieran's arm sneaking under Nic's, searching around before his arm found itself crossing Nic's chest. The wriggled around until Nic wasn't on the edge of the bed, and Kieran had his leg tossed over Nic's hip.
Before Nic could even ask, Kieran spoke, his words hushed and completely unapologetic, "Why do you think I have a body pillow in my room? Gotta hug something."
"You're ridiculous," Nic scoffed, looking up at the ceiling as he thought, God, thanks for making him a cuddler.