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Warren’s day had been rather eventful, to say the least. It started with him getting up to get ready for an interview. He needed a job to fix his piece of shit car that had broken down yet again. If he played his cards right, he’d get a nice cushy office job. Okay, so it would be boring as hell but it paid twenty-five cents over minimum wage and was inside somewhere airconditioned, which would be amazing when the summer hit.
He tore his room apart trying to find his nice pants and damn near had a panic attack when he found them crumpled in a drawer. He didn’t have enough time to go get a new pair. He grabbed the pants and scuttled to the laundry area, not sure what to do but certain that whatever he had to do would be there. He looked at the label of the pants and, of fucking course, they weren’t supposed to go in the dryer. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he did but couldn’t help but get a mental image of the pants and dryer catching on fire.
It was then that he heard a very irate-sounding Nathan Prescott yell, “I just ironed these pants!”
Warren wasn’t sure what was going on over where Nathan was but ironing sounded like the perfect solution to his pants problem. There were a few issues with that, though. First was that he didn’t have access to an iron. Second was, even if he did, he had no idea how to iron.
Warren and Nathan rarely talked. It was just the occasional Nathan telling him to get out of his way in the hall and them getting grouped together on in-class projects here and there. If Warren didn’t want the job so badly, then he probably wouldn’t just sucked it up and went to the interview in wrinkly pants. Instead, he found himself striding across the laundry area to talk to Nathan.
“Can you help me? Please?”
“Oh geeze, what the fuck do you want Graham?” Nathan spat, not even looking up as he ironed one of his shirts.
“It’s just, uhhh…” for a moment, Warren considered that maybe it wasn’t a good idea. Except, then he remembered that it was a job above minimum wage. In a room with central heating and air. In a desk where all he’d have to do is answer phones and redirect calls. “I need to iron these here pants and I don’t have the equipment necessary.”
Nathan rolled his eyes, though as he did so he ended up seeing the very wrinkled slacks. As someone who was anal about keeping things neat and tidy, especially his clothes, he found the sight appalling. How did that even happen? He still felt a reluctance scooting to the side when he was done with that shit so that Warren could iron his pants.
As Warren set his pants down on the ironing board and stared back and forth between them and the iron, Nathan grew irritated quickly.
“For fucks sake, Graham. You don’t know how to iron, do you?” Nathan’s response was Warren looking at him wide eyed. Nathan groaned, mumbling, “Oh, my God,” before he nudged Warren over. “Just lemme do it.” When he was finished, he tossed the pants back to Warren and then continued ironing his own clothes and acting as if the other boy didn’t exist.
Warren said a quick, “Thank you!” before rushing to his room to change. He didn’t have much time before Chloe, whom was driving him to the interview because his car was dead, would be there to pick him up. It was when he arrived back to the dorms later that he went to give Nathan a proper thanking. He’d and Chloe picked up some milkshakes on their way back, and Warren got a strawberry and a cookies and cream; Nathan would have to like one of those flavors.
When Warren knocked on Nathan’s dorm room door, he was again greeted with irritation.
“For fucks sake, what do you want now?”
“I, uh… I wanted to thank you for earlier,” Warren mumbled, chewing at his lip nervously. “I got some milkshakes and I was hoping you’d take one in repayment for helping me?”
Warren was surprised when Nathan’s scowl softened; his glare changed to something looking somewhat confused. Warren hadn’t even noticed that Nathan’s shoulders were tensed until he relaxed them. Nathan was quiet for a moment as he eyed the milkshakes.
“Um… Sure,” Nathan said, even though he was anything but. He wasn’t used to nice, simple gestures like that from anyone other than his very closest friends. Most people didn’t pay him back when he did them favors like that. He’d heard that Warren wasn’t like most people, that Warren was just a genuinely nice guy and it seemed to add up from the limited time they’d spent together in classes. Still, Nathan had a hard time believing it; in his experience, most people weren’t nice just because.
Still, he found himself grabbing the strawberry milkshake and inviting Warren into his room. It just seemed polite and, frankly, he was at a loss for words. At least if Warren joined him while he sat down to watch more YouTube videos on his projector, he wouldn’t have to say anything. Except, as soon as Warren sat down on Nathan’s bed to view the projector, the first thing he did was ask a question.
“You watch Let’s Plays?” It seemed really out of place, at least from what Warren knew about Nathan. Then again, he didn’t know enough to have any idea what Nathan did when he wasn’t in school or partying. Still, Warren never would’ve assumed that Nathan watched other people play videogames in his spare time.
Nathan shrugged, “I like horror and I suck at horror video games, so I like to watch people play them.” He hoped that Warren wouldn’t ask him any more questions. The last thing he needed was for Warren to know that horror actually scared the crap out of him. He hoped that Warren would just silently drink the milkshake and then leave. He regretted asking Warren to come in. He wanted to say that he regretted opening the door, but he had a soft spot for milkshakes.
A minute or two later, Warren asked another question: “So, do you regularly watch Pewdiepie or are you just watching because he’s playing Amnesia?”
“Uhhh…. Technically both?” Nathan murmured, his gaze landing on the milkshake in his hand. “I watch him play horror games but that’s pretty much it.” Again, he shrugged and sipped at the too-thick milkshake so he wouldn’t have to keep talking.
They remained mostly quiet for some time after that. They’d giggle once in a while when Pewdiepie would scream in Swedish. There would be a periodic slurping sound when the milkshake was just a little too thick to easily fit through the straw. Every so often, Warren would crack a joke and maybe, just maybe, Nathan found himself enjoying the other boys company. Of course he wouldn’t ever admit such things out loud but he did ask Warren to stay after their milkshakes were finished to watch a few more videos.
When the sun went down and the only light in the room was the light from the projector, Nathan found himself getting antsy. He’d been doing fine thus far, not showing how freaked out parts of the game made him. Warren scooted a little closer to Nathan, him becoming nervous as well. The game was getting really tense. Then there was a jumpscare and Nathan freaked out.
It wasn’t anything major, really. It was that he let out a really embarrassing, high pitched little squeak and buried his face into Warren’s chest. He lingered there because he didn’t want to pull away and see the whatever look Warren was going to give him. Annoyance? Maybe disgust? Regardless, Nathan didn’t want to deal with it so he lingered for what was probably too long.
He lingered long enough to memorize Warren’s smell, even though it was masked by a cologne that he recognized. He wondered how someone like Warren would have a Giorgio Armani cologne but he couldn’t bear to ask that. It didn’t sound cultured to other teenage boys; it would sound oh so very gay. Nathan was also oh so very gay, but no one needed to know that.
Though, when Warren adjusted to get more comfortable and still allow Nathan’s head to rest on his chest, Nathan wondered if maybe Warren already knew. Victoria had known before he’d told her; so did Rachel. Maybe it was just really obvious. Maybe everyone knew and was just too polite to say anything. Actually, that idea was laughable. He was in high school so there was no way that people would be that nice.
Nathan found himself snuggling closer to Warren, turning so that they could cuddle and continue to watch the Let’s Play. It felt strange how nonchalantly they were both acting, how neither one of them were saying nothing as they continued to cuddle. Then again, it would be weirder if they started talking about it. Maybe Warren was just being kind because he was scared and it meant nothing. At least, that’s what Warren was trying to tell himself. It was difficult to actually believe that when he’d noticed Warren sniffing his hair a few times.
When Nathan got scared again by another jumpscare, he found himself burying his face in the crook of Warren’s neck. He then found himself mentally commentating on just how fucking gay the whole situation was. Matters were made worse by the fact that Warren was trying to comfort him, holding him tightly which just pulled the two closer together. And then Nathan just thought, “Fuck it,” and leaned up to kiss Warren.
It was surprisingly gentle, even to Nathan who was the one who initiated the kiss. He normally liked to be more aggressive, assertive, but he didn’t want to scare Warren away. He’d also never kissed a boy before so it just felt right to take things slow. Warren seemed to be enjoying it at least, with one of his hands coming up to the back of Nathan’s head to pull him closer. Nathan found that he, too, was rather enjoying it.
He’d always assumed that those magical kissing moments, where everything felt good and just so right, were fake. Some Hollywood fabrication taken from romance novels and those coming-of-age novels written by teenage girls. Though the scenario wasn’t perfect, and his knees didn’t feel weak, and he didn’t do that thing where he brought his leg up like some fairy princess, he thought that maybe, just maybe, he was wrong. Maybe he’d just never felt that spark before because he’d been trying to find a girl to ignite it when he needed a guy all along. Because everything felt so right and so good, he didn’t want it to stop.
So Warren was the one to pull away even though he didn’t really want it to stop either. It was just a safe assumption that things were going to progress further and he wasn’t sure if he was okay with that idea. They continued to cuddle until the video was over and didn’t even mention what had happened. Warren then excused himself because, after the eventful day he had, he just wanted to shower and go to bed even though he hadn’t had a proper dinner.
Things were made even weirder when Nathan walked Warren to the door and said, “Maybe we could, I don’t know, go out for breakfast tomorrow or some shit.”
The words, “Like a date?” were at the tip of Warren’s tongue but he made a conscious effort not to say anything. Instead, he smiled, nodded, and made sure they had one another’s numbers in case Nathan was serious about that offer. He then slunk into his bedroom and locked the door behind him; he’d had enough excitement for one day.