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

EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

FIVE YEARS LATER.

Niko Sallinger's day began in rain.

The last few days had been an endless torrent of grey clouds and pattering skies with droplets of water sliding down the glass windowpanes of the cafe he owned. While the shite weather that came along with living in the United Kingdom had been absolutely gloomy, it had been very good for business. People would chase indoors for shelter and his customers would huddle inside his cafe, ordering loads of hot coffee and buttery pastries. Niko had came to adore rain when it arrived, liking how it caused raindrops to glisten like diamonds under the beams of car headlights and how people would be bundled up in their sweater weather clothes- coats of various colours that dotted across the sea of people, milling about and trying to get to a place called home.

Niko watched the world around him move from the back of the kitchen as his waiters worked the counter, yelling out orders like "Monica? I have an almond milk latte for a Monica?" All of his waiters had been his fellow rehab patients, who, like him, had been led astray by the influence of narcotics and alcohol, and like him, was desperate for a second chance. This cafe was their second chance.

"Hey, I'm gonna take my lunch break now, is that okay?" One of his barista- Leila- asked him as she came into the breakroom. He nodded speechlessly at her, indicating his consent. He was proud of her. Six months ago, Leila had just finished her eight months detox program for heroin. She had looked too thin with her sharp collarbones jutting out of her skin and her waist no less than twenty-four inches. In that six months, Leila had put on some weight and enrolled in some night classes to obtain a diploma. Looking at her now, Niko felt somewhat like a proud dad.

"Take as long as you need," he informed her. "I'll cover your shift if ya need."

A smile broke out on her face, "Thanks, Nik!"

They exited out of the breakroom and Leila tossed him the apron. As he knotted it around, another barista- Johnathan- yelled out:

"Is Sebastian here? I have a Long Black for a Sebastian!"

Niko's whole body froze. What? His face became pale, all the blood leaving his brain and his breath became shortened. It couldn't be... There's a lot of people in this world called Sebastian, Niko. But it didn't stop Niko from flickering his chocolate-laden gaze up and searching for him.

Then, there he was. He had looked older from the last time he had seen him- of course, since the last time he had seen him Niko was sixteen going on seventeen and now he was twenty-two teetering on the precipice of twenty-three. There were uneven patches of stubble of hair across his jaw and he no longer had acne as the familiar line of red dots around his forehead had disappeared into the tufts of jet-black hair. Niko felt the same way he did when he first met him- when he was a young fifteen-year-old boy intoxicated with the taste of codeine and cerulean blue eyes the size of the moon on his mouth. He thought about the orders of a Long Black was so ostentatiously him, reminding him of days they slurped terrible one-pound coffee and smoked mysterious green herbs. He thought about Sebastian and him and their little love story and how he still had that effect of making Niko's heart skip eight beats whenever he saw him. He thought about how good they were to each other and yet how they weren't good for each other and he thought about how he would do it all again- every step, every mistake, every kiss.

"Niko?" Sebastian whispered when their gaze founded; Niko kept memorizing the new details of Sebastian- Sebastian had outgrown his lankiness that plagued him through his teenage years, becoming all broad strokes and defining arches. Has he been working out? The thought of Sebastian pumping protein and hitting the gym was so absurd as the most memory Niko had of Sebastian doing exercise was the combat training he did in his video games. "What are you doing in London?"

"I- I work here," Niko stuttered, feeling out of place and completely shaken. "What about you? What happened to Scotland? How's..." everything?

"I'm here to get my Masters," Sebastian replied. Niko was surprised by how firm and confident he sounded as opposed to Niko's stumbling phrases. Niko compared that to how he was when he first met him- the meek, shy loner, too terrified of himself and his own sexuality to now and how far he had come. "And my mom's still in Scotland, working. Violet's here too."

"That's really cool," Niko replied, feeling completely out of his depth.

"What about you?"

Niko shrugged, "I'm just...working, trying to figure things out." After all, Niko had spent the last three years in and out of rehab, trying to fix the hole in his heart. It was only until two years ago when he decided enough was enough and got clean for the sake of Rae, his sister, and his new nephew. He decided he wasn't going to be his mother.

"That's great," Sebastian grinned, running his eyes over Niko as he collected his coffee from the counter. They always said you never know what you have until you lose it. From a young age, Sebastian was told to always appreciate what you have, to be grateful for your life. Sebastian never fully understood the meaning of it, that was until he met Niko. "Look, I have to go to class soon but...do you think you'd be keen to catch up?"

Niko blinked. "Of course!" he cried out, feeling excitement flutter in his chest. An infectious grin lit up Sebastian's features and Sebastian held out his phone. Niko hastily entered in his number.

"I'll text you when I'm free," Sebastian said as he heads out the door and onto the streets. He waved as he put up the hood on his jacket to protect him from the rain and Niko watched him disappear into the crowd.

The day might've begun in rain but it ended in sunshine.

-

something that makes this...somewhat a little happier.

gonna be updating 'American Teenagers' soon, which is not a spin-off, but it's also kind of a concept novel i'm so keen to write!

yeek!

it's been a fantastic adventure, lovelies!

dedicated to sad-cats.