extent | duplicitynet

[ After this. ]

do you need anything

( it's a good few hours before nate gets a response. )

a day off.

done

what about healing potions or anything

i think so

can you rig my door the people who live here are kind of strong

no entry charm?
yeah i can fix it so no one can get in but you

do you need me not to see you rn?

uh

no ur fine but i dont want to talk about it

ok that makes things easier

ok if i pop in now?

havent got anywhere else to be 👍

[ He appears in a flash of purple light, armed with a bag of what he needs for this charm.

Nate doesn't look great; he's as tired and drawn as he's been all week. All things considered, though, he probably looks better than nick does right now. ]

Hi. Listen, I brought you this.

[ He holds out a folded envelope of some very strongly-scented herbs. They'll burn purplish, and they smell sweet. ]

For smoking. Strongest I have, head-in-the-clouds stuff. Thought it might help.

( unsurprisingly, nick is in pretty rough shape. he's done his best to hide it, showered, dressed, swamped in a sweater that's long around the arms and high around the neck, but there's only so much that can do. there's visible bruising, he's stiff and awkward in his movements, and there's tape from a sloppily laid bandage poking out at the back of his neck via his shoulder, but nick's in no state to be healing anything right now.

and yet when nate appears, he absolutely beams at him. )

You're too good to me. ( he doesn't get up from where he's sitting around the end of the bed, but he holds an arm out to take the envelope and open a corner to smell the contents. ) And you can do the...

( his eyes move to the door, and it's the only time the whole charade slips. only briefly, and then he's back on the bullshit once more. )

[ Nate nods. ]

Yeah, I can fix the door.

[ A breath. Then he sets a little bottle full of gold liquid on his nightstand. ]

Complete physical heal, [ he says, softly. ] if or when you want it. I'll get started.

[ He gives Nick a little smile and turns to deal with the door. This will take a small ritual; laying of salt and brick dust, drawing of symbols around the door frame, finally a spell that makes all the symbols glow purple and then vanish. At the end, he takes out a pair of crystals, one white and one black. ]

Okay. So you activate them with a drop of blood. Black one stops the door for anyone but you. The white one stops the spell.

[ He holds the crystals out. ]

( it doesn't at all fit with the 'nothing is wrong' act to down the potion the moment it leaves nate's hand, which is a crazy reason to ignore the bottle outside of a quick sideways glance, but nick is doubling down hard here.

it tempers a little, moving quickly away from bubbly enthusiasm and softening into friendly smiles, but it was a thin facade to begin with at best. maybe if it wasn't very apparent that nate knows exactly why nick is parked up in his room with no apparent plans to leave any time soon. )

Even I can't mess that up. Right? ( he takes the crystals, wedges them quickly in a pocket before he can think too much about whether it's a good idea to literally barricade the door. and before he can think too much about anything else either, he waves the envelope idly. )

I want to try this. Are you going to stick around for a bit?

[ Nate lifts his chin. He's being deliberately careful with boundaries here, but whatever Nick told him he needed right now, he would do. He sits back a bit on the bed. ]

Long as you like. I have my own.

[ He unpockets his cigarette case, where his pre-rolled joints are living. They're not as strong as what he gave Nick; Nate wants out of his head these days, but he needs to work, too. He has a whole library to comb through. For that, he needs the focus those stronger drugs would take away. ]

Want a light?

( nick shifts around on the bed until he's facing nate, and it's all very careful and slow. he knows what he's doing in asking nate to stay, because he's never been that much of an actor to begin with, but there's no ideal solution here. he stays, and nick probably cracks, or he leaves and with him goes any chance of nick keeping himself occupied. )

Yeah, I'm not feeling very...

( he snaps his fingers, where a whole lot of nothing happens. there is also lighters littered all around the room — mostly because fire is notoriously temperamental for him anyway — but that would involve movement, and nick is pretty solely focused on digging out the contents of that envelope. )

—showy. I'm lazy, tend to me.

( which is a funny joke when it's nick trying to needle nate into bringing him something that's barely out of arm's reach, but it falls very short of the mark here and now. )

[ Tending to him is exactly what Nate would like to do, actually, so that works out. He pulls his knees up to sit cross-legged, puts a cigarette in his mouth and then makes a fist to flick his thumb against. It lights up with a bright flame, which he offers to Nick first before lighting his own. ]

Good thing you're mates with a showman, then.

I've been on a bit of a bender with these lately. They're good shit.

[ He exhales, sending the smell of flowers into the air, and sending a rush of lifting calm through his veins. ]

( it's a lot easier when he has something specific to keep his hand occupied, even if it's just taking long drags and exhaling even slower. only a few days ago nick had been messing around, practicing different smoke shapes, safe in the knowledge that someone else was on top of removing any trace of smoke from the room itself. today there's just a guilty look cast towards the door.

then again, if there's ever a free pass for smoking in the house, it's probably this. )

You're good at what you do, man. This is good shit.

( it must be good, he can tell that the effects are starting to wind their way through him already. probably fast acting by design if he had to guess, he's already looser in his movements as he brings his hand up for another drag, fake smile fading into something smaller, but softer, more real. )

Do you think they have their own star signs here?

[ Nate gives him a little smile. ]

My head's a fucking mess on a good day. I like to get out of it.

[ These drugs fit the bill. He takes a deep inhale, and relaxes back, his body losing the tension it's been carrying all week. ]

They probably do. With their own charlatans to lie to people about them, too. You'd be an Aries, yeah?

I'll drink to that.

( nick even raises his hand like a toast, before the cigarette is tucked neatly between his lips so that he can lean back on the bed, propped up on his arms. he doesn't think the drug is doing much for the actual discomfort, if anything, but he certainly doesn't care as much. )

Oh, stop it, it's fun. Obviously I'm an Aries. When's your birthday?

( by which he obviously means 'what is your star sign', but he wants an answer, not an eye roll. )

[ Nate does roll his eyes, but it's with a wry smile, and he does answer. ]

First of June. Gemini.

[ He leans his head back against Nick's wall. ]

I'll be 20 this year. Never celebrated last year, cause I'd just got here three months past and it was longer than that to my birthday at home.

You're first, though.

Gemini. Of course.

( he's half joking, but it's said with a smile and a kick aimed somewhere around nate's knee, so it might as well be a complete one after all. )

Time is fucking weird. My birthday was...months away, and now it's like. Next week. Shit.

( it's hardly the most important thing he could be focusing on right now, but nick still frowns tightly all the same, beckoning nate over closer so that he can lower his voice a bit more. )

I don't care if it makes me a brat, I want a twenty first. I'm not cancelling.

I know.

[ Nate leans his head back to smile faintly at him. ]

You should do it. It's worth celebrating, and you're not a brat.

[ He hooks his arm around Nick's. ]

You still want me to Cullen for you?

I know a lot of people that would disagree with you on that.

( it's aimed as a joke and mostly gets delivered as one, though he gives up halfway through and closes his eyes. it's nice, he doesn't feel strangled by emotions the way he had been even a few minutes ago, and he wonders idly if it would be a good idea to get a regular supply of this stuff. absolutely not, but the thought holds great appeal right now.

he's still too stiff to move as naturally as he'd like, but nick still somewhat wraps himself around nate the moment the arm gets hooked through his. he winds his foot around nate's leg, laces their fingers together, leans until he can rest a head on nate's shoulder. nick can understand, rationally, why people might be...wary of contact with him right now, but he's got no such hesitance. )

Ask me again in a couple of days. Right now, I can't—

( even think about that, but he's not going to finish that sentence any time soon. )

[ Nate doesn't need any clearer signal than that. His arms wrap around Nick's shoulders and pull him in. His chin settles on top of his head and his hand moves gently over his back. If Nick wants to cuddle, Nate can absolutely cuddle. ]

I get that, [ He says, softly, and presses his lips into Nick's hair. ] So let's say it's on hold. I'll bake you a cake instead, how's that? It'll have everything that's not good for you inside. Full fat.

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