extent | duplicitynet

[ Nate leans back to make himself into a pillow for Nick. He folds his arms over his shoulders and traces his fingertips over Nick's arm. ]

It was wrong. I shouldn't have done it then, not when she was like that.

You're allowed to care, though. Even if it's not for something big like this.

[ nate leans and nick follows like instinct, like if the contact is lost right now then some fragile moment here will be lost. nick's cheek presses flat against nate's shoulder, close enough to his chest that if he's really quiet, he thinks he can hear the soft thud of his heard beating in his chest.

nick doesn't need to hear it, he can feel it, always, but it's a small comfort all the same. ]

I hate her. [ he says it, finally, a whispered confession. nick, who doesn't hate anyone. ] I don't care if that's not fair. I don't care if it wasn't her, or if she wasn't in her right mind, or any of the excuses people use. I still hate her.

[ Nate leans his cheek on top of Nick's head. He closes his eyes, letting himself breathe in Nick's scent. He always smells a little bit like the herbs he's always working with. It's comforting. It's Nick. ]

No, it's fair. She killed someone you love. Now that her conscience is back, I think she'd agree.

[ He squeezes Nick's shoulders. ]

I didn't hate her, because she was my friend, and the friend I knew would never have done that. I knew she wouldn't be like that once she could feel again.

But that doesn't matter. [ He takes a breath, and squeezes Nick tighter. ] I still shouldn't have done anything with her, not while she was like that. Because you're more important than...anything else. And I let you down, and I wish to god I hadn't.

You don't owe it to me not to sleep with her.

[ his voice catches on the words, but he still says it. he still believes it, too. it's a complicated sort of notion, this whole emotionless business, and one he's grappled with before -- but it isn't helpful, really. in the end, this isn't about hope. it's about nick, and it's about nate. ]

I wasn't expecting it. I didn't know [ a lot of things, it seems, but that's not really fair. only one of them is really keeping secrets here and nick knows it. ] ...I don't know. I just--if I could live the rest of my life pretending that she doesn't exist, I would. But I'm...glad it was you who told me, and not some...fucked up city secret drop.

[ Nate's glad of that, too. It could've happened. ]

You asked me about it going two ways. Nick, I don't want to keep any secrets from you. I am...so far from perfect and I know it. I don't want you to love me because you don't really know me, I want you to know all the good and all the bad.

I've slept with a lot of people here. I don't think there's anyone else you'd hate, but...I can give you the list. Anything you want to know, I'll tell you.

[ He pauses, and turns his eyes up to the ceiling. ]

I'm so sorry.

I don't need a list.

[ the thing is, nick is keeping secrets, and he does it on purpose, and he doesn't think it's any better just because nate knows that's the case. he feels guilty, of course he does. sometimes it eats at him so painfully nick wonders how he can stand it, but he still isn't going to tell him. ]

It wasn't sleeping with someone that got to me. I sleep with a lot of people here. Nate we've probably fucked most of the city, I couldn't care less about that. [ his arms wind around nate's waist, and he does his best to curl up against his side, press all of the spaces closed until there's no gaps between them. ] I know you, Nate. And I love all of you.

[ Nate's kept secrets all his life. There were things that he never told anyone at all back home, and an even wider range of things that he told only a few. Real honesty is a relatively new thing.

So is being loved in spite of his flaws. If he had ruined that, he would've been devastated.

He can feel that guilt running through Nick, now. He touches his chest and leans in, gently kissing his head. ]

I love you.

Nick, I swear you can feel whatever you feel about anything I do, and no matter what it is I'm not going to leave you.

Why do you feel guilty? You haven't done anything wrong.

Because.

[ that's not an answer but needs a minute, to smooth his palm out flat over nate's chest, slide it to his hip, try to pull him closer. it's basically impossible, but he tries anyway. ]

I don't want to keep any secrets from you either. But there's so much I just...don't say. Some of it isn't even bad, but then all this time passes and all of a sudden it's like I can't talk about it, because now it's been forever and if enough time passes it's not just not talking about something, right? It's a lie.

[ A frown flickers over Nate's face. He presses closer, if that we're at all possible, and moves one of his hands to cover Nick's. ]

If you want to tell me, then it's never too late. If you don't, then...

[ He chews his lip. ]

You don't have to share everything. Wanting to us my hangup, because I was a secretive little shit for years and I don't want to not be known anymore.

It doesn't mean you have to do the same.

I want to. I want to...be the person who shares everything. I want you to know everything.

[ nick flips his hand under nate's, laces their fingers together instead to hold onto him, because he can rub his thumb across nate's knuckles, and because he can manoeuvre their hands to rest on top of nate's stomach. and he can tip his head and duck a soft kiss on nate's neck too, just because he can. because he wants to feel connected. ]

I just-- don't know. I don't know how to say things, half the time, and it's hard so I don't try, and then not saying them becomes habit.

[ Nate's eyes half-close. He can feel Nick everywhere; their bodies are pressed together, their hands are holding, Nick's lips are against his neck and their emotions are shared, intermingling. Nate is conscious of opening himself up even further than normal, craving every aspect of contact. His thumb slides over Nick's, and his head turns so that he can nudge at him and lean in to kiss him. ]

So. Tell me something you haven't told me.

[ His other hand is around Nick's waist, and his fingers move, grazing at the patch of skin he can find just under his t-shirt. ]

Even if it's from ages ago.

I broke my wrist on the last day of camp having shower sex.

[ that's--not really what he wants to say, at all, but it's a stepping stone of sorts. that's the thing, it's not even always something dramatic. sometimes it's just a little embarrassing, or irrelevant, but the web still builds up so much, so quickly, that nick can't move for fear of something snapping.

it's partly indulgence and partly another delay to lean in and kiss nate, slow and soft as everything else he's feeling. the messiness is still there, nick isn't just over it, but all of that internal conflict doesn't hold a torch to the love he feels. ]

Do you remember...God, last year. I think I'd literally just started working for you. I asked for the next day off, didn't really give any more details.

[ Nate's fingers trace over his wrist, not even sure if this is the one he means. He presses in against him, kissing him back, and letting all the tangle of feelings wash over him.

Guilt, sadness, yearning, love, need. It's as confusing as the feelings between them have ever been.

It's more honest, too. Nate has never thought that was lacking. ]

I remember. You don't want to be off very often, so...

Basically never. Even then I like, I loved the Theatre.

[ honestly he thinks about the conversation more than the incident these days. about the way nick, alone and spinning out, had reached out for something approaching comfort -- and nate, who had barely known him -- had met it without hesitation.

it's significant for that, really. not a lot else. ]

I was in the Up, came across Magnus, didn't think it was weird when he took me back to his place at first. But then it got--I don't know, pushy, there were red flags, and when I tried to leave he...used magic to bind me, gag me, drug me. And when he was done having sex with me, he kicked me out. That's...how I met Ragnor, actually.

[ nick chooses his words carefully the whole time, it's still restrained and closed off, but there's something freeing, about telling a story he's barely told in full before. ]

By the time I was ready to even think about telling anyone, I'd found out that he had a citation, and then I just--I didn't want to fuck up his life, you know? It wasn't his fault. So I just didn't...tell anyone.

Edited (A SMALL EDIT TO ACCOUNT FOR MY JUNKY MEMORY) 2022-03-12 06:25 (UTC)

[ It's a story that turns Nate's blood cold for a number of reasons. That this had happened to Nick at all, and so early in his time here. That it had happened before that fateful video with Logan, and undoubtedly made that entire experience much worse. That it was with Magnus, which means that Nate has indeed slept with someone else who had hurt Nick, albeit that he hadn't known about this until now.

That something so terrible had happened to Nick at all. Nick, who's so prone to brushing off his own feelings. Nick, who never wants anyone to make a big deal, who diminishes himself to the point of not even wanting to be angry with Nate for doing something that deserved anger, who only ever showed kindness and love and support to everyone around him...

Nate lets out a little sound and turns into him, both arms wrapping tightly around him. ]

My god. I'm so...I can't believe you got to be okay with him after that.

Nick.

[ Nate presses a kiss into his neck. He can't make any of this better, but he can let Nick feel how much he loves him, how important he is to him. It seems impossible that something so big happened to him and Nate hadn't been there to hold him at the time. He absolutely must make up for that now. ]

It took, like, it took time. And work, we both— I don't know, it was hard for a long time. We're really good now.

[ this is what the aftermath of that day should have looked like. held and loved and cared for, not alone and hurt and scared, and getting high in some miserable apartment in the down. nick hugs into him tighter, breathes in deep. they barely knew each other back then, it wouldn't have been like this, but nick can--keep his eyes closed and wish, just for a moment, that it was. ]

Sometimes I think maybe like, if some people knew all that, they might...understand me and Logan better, or at least hate it less. I was already so deep into fixing things with Magnus by then, it made it--I don't know. Easier to forgive him, faster. Like I had the blueprint? But it didn't feel...fair. I don't know, it's not just my story to share.

[ Nate's brows close a little. He's never judged Nick for Logan. What happened in that video had been the result of Duplicity's meddling. Nate can negate that blame for Logan in the same way as he can blame Hope's wrongdoings on the accident that took her conscience away. He doesn't hate people for what they can't control.

It would be the same with Magnus. It hadn't been his fault. But for Nick those hurts are personal, and it's up to him how much he can forgive. He's allowed to draw his own line, it doesn't have to be the same as Nate's or anyone else's. And regardless of what he decides, one thing certainly is clear. ]

It is your story. It happened to you. There's context, yeah. But it doesn't matter, because you still get to feel how you feel. You don't...have to pretend you weren't hurt just because he was a victim too.

[ He feels that's important to say, and not just in relation to this incident. Nick is so prone to putting his own feelings away.

Nate turns to kiss his cheek, and then his hands spread low over his back. ]

You ever think about...how much easier it is for you to forgive people who hurt you, then people who hurt someone else? And why that is. Why someone else's pain always matters so much more than yours.

Sounds like a question for my therapist.

[ it's supposed to be funny. nick even laughs, or a weak effort at one anyway, that dies out as quickly as it starts. he's about reached capacity for this sort of conversation, but...isn't that kind of nate's point? nick decides he can't deal, nick shuts it down, stuffs it away, never to be seen again.

but that's what keeps leading him here. nick, with a years worth of little secrets and big secrets and no idea how to tell any of them. nick with months of compounded misery, overflowing in one conversation. ]

I don't know. I keep trying...all these things to figure that out. Why it's so hard for me to just...let myself feel shit, but--I don't think I'm getting any better at it.

[ Nate nods, and settles back on the bed. He holds Nick on top of him, and strokes his back, the nape of his neck, his hair, his shoulders. ]

Well. I'm gonna say that you can tell me anything, whenever you're ready, no matter how long it's been. I'll be ready to listen. And until then, I'll just hold you, and you can deal in your own time.

[ He lets that lie for a beat, and then adds: ]

No matter what it is, we're gonna be good. If you're upset with me, we'll work through it, if something happens, I'll hold you. We'll work it all out.

[ nick has no shortage of people willing to tell him that. you can tell me anything, and nick believes them. he really does, but it's maybe the first time that nick has thought that maybe he would. honesty doesn't come nearly so easy to nick as silence.

he settles in nate's arms, face tucked into his throat, and that clawing need to cling to nate and force away any kind of space between them is settling too. it's not a fierce, panicked need, it's just a want. he always wants to be close to nate. ]

I'm going to tell you everything. Not--all at once, but a little bit, each day. I want you to know everything.

[ it's not perfect, but it's the best he's got, better than secrets and biting his tongue, better than lies of omission. better than actual lies. ]

We'll work it out. I think...sometimes I think me and you were supposed to meet, Nate.

[ Is it strange that it's so comfortable to lie like this, with another person wrapped so tightly around him? That everything feels so good, from the face tucked against his throat to that herbal scent to the familiarity of Nick's voice and his room and his shape.

It's not perfect. Guilt still sits uncomfortably in Nate's chest. It's obvious that Nick is still holding some things back, and there's the worry about how dangerous those things might be. There's still also the worry that Kyle knows less than Nate, and that it feels wrong to keep things from him. More guilt, at the knowledge that Nate will do it anyway, because Nick asked him to and because Nate doesn't want to let Nick down ever again.

It's not perfect.

So why does it feel like it is? ]

I think...

[ He shifts, so that he can see Nick's face and meet his eyes. ]

I think that I thought someone else was my soulmate. I was so sure.

But now I think I was wrong, because that was before I met you.

[ nick tips his head, reaches up to cup nate's cheek, and just looks at him for a long moment. nick looks at nate so much, he thinks he probably has the map of his face memorised. the slope of his nose, the shape of his eyes, the curve of his jaw all live somewhere in nick's mind. he could close his eyes and picture nate's face, stroke for stroke, without any trouble.

but he looks anyway. ]

I don't know if I believe in soulmates. [ he says it softly, leans up closer to his face, finishes the statement up close enough that he could almost kiss nate. ] But if I did, I'm pretty sure mine would be you.

[ Nate's breath catches between heartbeats. Nick is so close, Nate can feel his breath on his lips. His head tilts and he brushes their lips together, the briefest, most electric touch. ]

I didn't used to, [ he murmurs. He never used to feel like he bought into any of those more romantic notions. So much has changed here.

His hand comes up to graze Nick's jaw. ]

I can't imagine not being with you. I've only known you a year, but still I can't.

Me either.

[ in this position, it's easy to tilt his head just a fraction and bring their lips together again. it's another light kiss, soft, barely contact at all and nick's heart stops with it anyway. ]

I think...part of me knew right away. [ it's a stupid sort of confession -- hardly embarrassing, but it feels like his cheeks heat up as though it is anyway. the words come easy anyway, shared quietly and just about whispered right into nate's mouth. ] I didn't trust anyone, when I got here. But I trusted you.

[ The gentle kisses pluck Nate's heartstrings the most. He wants to sing with them. They're perfect.

He kisses Nick's cheek, and runs his hand gently down his back. ]

I felt like I knew you. Right from the start. From the first day, when we were working together. You know I could spend like, every minute with you? I don't think I'd ever get bored.

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