Careful

Date/Timing: 5 December 2005
Setting: Edan & Rhys' room, UoM; Manchester, England, United Kingdom
.
Edan slouches, exhausted, back to his room after lunch to get some blessed fucking /sleep. He manages to lock up, turns—
Rhys and Iggy leer, perched side-by-side on Rhys' desk.
"What?" sighs Edan as he bends to fumble with his trainers.
Iggy sparkles, leans forward. "Tell us the truth, Gingersnap: what happened between you and Hermann last night?"
"Don't spare us a single sexy detail." Rhys waggles his eyebrows.
Edan straightens (mostly), runs a hand through his hair. "Nothing but an exam and sleeping happened."
"That's /it?"
Edan gives him a Look. "We were up 'til six working on the exam, then we went to sleep for a whole /hour."
"Kissing?"
"No." Edan flops onto his bunk, drapes his arm across his eyes.
"Cuddling?"
"Nope."
"/Seriously?"
"What part of 'up 'til six' means we had enough energy to cuddle?"
"It's not like snuggles are a high-energy activity."
"Why do you care what we did or didn't do last night?"
"Maybe because you've been looking for a chance like this since the start of the term?"
"And you apparently totally blew it."
Edan peers out. "There's ... he's not comfortable with touch and I don't want to pressurize him."
"Wait. You mean to say you've never even /touched the object of your affection?"
"Uh, not really?" Sighs. "Brushed his hand passing him things, grabbed his arm to keep him from falling, bumped him dancing a couple of times ...."
"You're kidding."
"Sounds like you're afraid he has cooties."
"I'm not pushing him."
"Or holding hands or hugging or—"
Edan throws himself to sitting. "Look, I think he's been abused. He fuckin' flinches whenever I /do touch him. I'm not gonna add to the trauma: that's the /last thing he needs."
Iggy and Rhys exchange a look.
"That explains /so much. How didn't we see it?"
Rhys nods. "The touch thing, the standoffishness, his story about being sick so much as a kid—"
"Oh my God," breathes Iggy, covering her mouth with her hand. 
"His leg, right? 'Fell off the roof', my ass," growls Edan. "Someone pushed him down stairs or something."
"Then didn't get him proper treatment," finishes Rhys. "The fucking monsters."
Edan grunts. "And now he lies about it, blames himself, like an abused kid would."
A quiet beat; Edan lies back, re-drapes his arm.
"When'd you realize?"
"First lecture. Kid bumped into him and he curled up like a pangolin." Sighs. "Only seen that from a neighbourhood kid who got beat every damn day by his mum."
"/That's why you've been so careful around him."
"Yea. Exactly." Edan yawns. "I'm not gonna hurt him."
"You're kinda amazing, Gingersnap. Figuring that out so fast."
Edan waves it off.
"You know what else is amazing about him, Iggy?"
"What's that?"
"He knows what a pangolin is."
Edan sniffs, makes an obscene gesture.
Category:Celestial Mechanics
2005 12 05
Category:Ficlet
Category:Manchester (setting)
Category:Edan's POV
Category:Edan
Category:Edan (ficlet)
Category:Rhys
Category:Rhys (ficlet)
Category:Vigsai
Category:Vigsai (ficlet)
Category:Hermann (mention)
Category:Ficlets with images