BOYS OF SUBURBIA [boy x boy] [Wattys 2018]

✗ TWELVE ✗

The school holidays dragged on.

They've begun hanging out regularly, going out anywhere as long as it was within each other's company. It was easy enough for Niko to slip out of the apartment and out of Roger's side and hang around Sebastian's grocery store, smoking and sharing cigs by the cashier. Niko would keep Sebastian company on his slow working days, with a laptop of anime playing by Niko's lap, watching with a stolen box of cereal hidden under Niko's pockets. Or they would lie side by side in the corners of Sebastian's room, trying to finish Sebastian's stupid summer school trig homework while Spotify was blasting. And now Sebastian's scent was everywhere he left, stinking up his car, his cigarettes, his fucking pills with that stale nicotine hovering over clean fresh soap smell, and Niko found himself breathing it in every time his insomnia was holding him prisoner.

On Sebastian's or Niko's payday, they would splurge. Cashing out on McDonald's, which sounded like some sort of shitty date, but it suited both of them as they stuffed their faces clean with Big Macs and soda. They would skip off to the bathroom and smoked their hash there until the workers kicked them out and it would be too late to catch the bus so they would take Niko's car, driving around, smoking some more, playing songs they shouldn't be hearing. On nights like these, Niko would find himself crashing over at Sebastian's place- simply because 'I couldn't be fucked to drive that far. Goddamn it, Sebastian' but Sebastian usually didn't mind and neither does his parents and neither does Niko's parents- oh wait, parent.

So here they were, infinite in the moment, on a Saturday morning in a vaguely pretentious cafe just a few miles from their street and Niko had brand new pills burning holes in his jeans.

"Try this."

"What is it?"

"Eh-" Niko scratched his head as he laid out the neon pills on the table, propping his chin up with his elbow. "Some sort of drug. Like e, but not e."

"Specific," snorted Sebastian, and the sarcastic little fucker preceded to pick up the pills, rolled it in her fingers like he was some sort of ecstasy expert and sniffed it. Sometimes, Sebastian geeked out a lot- really, just like he was doing now with that tacky Justice League t-shirt he was wearing, geeking out to the point where Niko wouldn't be caught dead with him. Niko didn't know why he kept Sebastian around- Roger would kill him if he found out Niko started with the 'uncool' and somehow that was enough incentive to hang on. But there was more to Sebastian than wiry frames and Batman t-shirts and a lack of a social circle- Sebastian was smart, witty and so sarcastic Niko felt he was dipping his whole head in acid. But it was mostly because Sebastian was smart. Smarter than half the fuckers Niko used to paint the town red with.

"Can it kill me?"

A slow smile spread across Niko's lips as he captured the straw and wrapped his hot pink tongue obscenely, noticing how Sebastian looked away for a while, "Maybe."

Ever since that night they snorted the coke together, Sebastian felt more open than ever before with Niko. It's like the floodgates had burst open and Niko couldn't put them back up even if he wanted to. Gone was Sebastian's shyness, the hesitation in his smiles, the tremor in his voice when he said something sharp and far more clever than Niko and hoped Niko caught the sarcasm.

"Pass it over then."

Niko casually slid the baggie across the table. Sebastian popped a capsule, a pink fluorescent pill that didn't look safe to consume.

Now it had come to a point of their friendship where Sebastian wanted to try something and if he got too fucked up, Niko would have to drag Sebastian back to his house and up into his room unnoticed by his parents. Sometimes, Violet- Sebastian's sister caught them. She smiled that enigmatic Mona Lisa grin and said, "Don't have too much fun, lads," as she retreated back into her room without helping Niko. Niko would be pissed because there was no way Sebastian was light to carry and Violet didn't even bother with asking to help and neither does he know what Violet was technically insinuating but sludged into Sebastian's room anyway. Sebastian's room was messy, with comics, trig textbooks and randomly marked essays sprawled all over the place. Niko would dump him on the bed, letting him pass out and snore on his plaid sheets, and it would be the dead of night. It was nights like these that Niko would crash at his place. Sebastian didn't mind when Niko curled up on the space that wasn't taken up by the skinny bitch.

Sebastian played with the pill on his tongue, letting the pink colour embed itself on his tongue. Then he swallowed it with a gulp of his milkshake and jerked upright- eyes awake, alert and bright. "Holy shit," he gasped, as it took effect on his body. Those blue eyes were dilated with alarming shock as the psychedelic images pierced him in the brain light knives stabbing into his skull. Niko was looking right at him, close enough that noticed the flecks of grey swirling around his otherwise blue eyes. It made his heart flip.

"Shut down the noise, alright?" said Niko, as the waiter cleaning up the next table before them gave them odd looks. "They're suspicious." Niko quickly shoved the bags of pills into his pockets.

"Give me another one," Sebastian said, obviously high from the first hit. Sebastian was so soft and easy- high from the first swallow already.

"No," Niko refused, "Before you kill yourself with them."

"Fine," pouted Sebastian. Cute. "But that was strong, like really strong."

Niko grinned deviously as he dug around his pockets for a half-empty crushed packet of menthols. "Ya reckon?"

Sebastian had his own cigarette out too, cashing out on his own addiction. The waiter sent them an irritated look as grey plumes rose from their cigarettes. Smoking indoors was basically saying a major fuck-you to anybody who worked there. Whatever, thought Niko, wondering how long it was before they were kicked out.

"You're so corruptible," remarked Niko, smirking as Sebastian sucked the cigarette like it was his lifeline. "It's hard to believe you're such a good little boy before."

"Maybe I'm wasn't," Sebastian countered smugly, "You never know."

Niko snorted and reached for the packet of menthols on their table just at the same moment Sebastian did- and their hands unexpectedly brushed against each other, sending jolts of electricity through his veins.

Even hours later, Niko could feel the warmth of Sebastian's fingers on his and he wondered, just wondered if there was something wrong with him.