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Thomas’s shoulders slumped, his arms wrapped tightly around himself. “We’re not good for each other, are we?”
Seong looked away, his chest aching as he battled with the monster that wanted Thomas to itself and the morals of a good man. “I’m not the one to ask that question,” he whispered. “There are better people to ask.”
Thomas was silent as the elevator finally arrived and they stepped on with a large family, the parents trying to corral their children into a corner to give them space.
They waited for the family to get off first, children screaming about the beach as they ran off.
“Can we just wait by the van,” Thomas asked quietly.
“I don’t have the key but maybe the driver is still there,” Seong said. “Or if he’s not, perhaps he left the doors unlocked. Felinus shouldn’t be much longer.”
Bat, Tiger, and Brutus were standing by the van when they walked out. Bat and Brutus were passing a cigarette between them, each making sure to blow smoke in any direction that wasn’t Tiger’s.
“There are our fearless nerds,” Bat said, smiling as he turned his head to exhale. He tilted his head up to blow the smoke up rather than forward. “Where’s our fearless leader?”
“He’ll be down in a minute,” Seong said, nodding towards the van. “Is that open?”
“Nope,” Bat said, handing the cigarette to Brutus. “Driver said he’d be back. I think he’s worried we’d hotwire it and go for a joyride.”
“That’s not an unfounded fear to have with you,” Brutus pointed out, taking a long drag from the cigarette and putting it out as he exhaled. “You did it before.”
“I was young,” Bat said, smiling broadly. “And you helped.”
“Vinny was so pissed at me when the soldier dragged us to his office,” Brutus rumbled, a smirk quirking his lips.
“I seem to recall him laughing at our asses by the end of it,” Bat said, bending down to pick up the butt.
“Only because you are impossible to stay mad at,” Brutus said, pulling out a bag of hard candy and offering it to Tiger.
Seong watched Bat’s eyes dart to Brutus, his throat constricting for a moment but looked away quickly. “Do you think they’re going to come back with us,” Bat asked, looking at Seong.
Seong shrugged, glancing at Thomas.
His head had dropped again, staring at his sneakers with his hands deep in his pockets. “I want them to stay,” he muttered. “But… Mark might want to come, and if he comes then Kevin will come, too.”
Bat and Brutus glanced at each other, a silent message that Seong had given up long ago trying to decipher passing between them.
“Cat is approaching,” Tiger said, looking behind them. “Mark is with him. No bags.”
Behind Tiger the locks clicked. Thomas moved forward, climbing immediately into the van before Tiger even finished opening the door.
“He’s fast,” Bat commented, looking from Thomas to Seong.
“Yeah,” Seong agreed quietly, looking back to see Mark slow as Thomas disappeared into the darkness of the van.
The runner frowned, his shoulders slumped, but there was an acceptance as he turned to look at Felinus. He watched as the two spoke quietly and shook hands before Mark turned slowly away.
“Snake,” Bat said, touching his hand. “I’ll take that. You get in. You look dead on your feet.”
“Thanks,” Seong murmured, allowing Bat to take Thomas’s bag before following Thomas into the back row of seating. “He went back inside,” he whispered, his arm wrapping around Thomas’s shoulders as he sat down next to him and pulling him closer. “He accepts what you want for them.”
Thomas’s head bobbed slowly, resting against Seong. “Good,” he murmured. “He was looking forward to snorkeling.”
* * *
“Okay, but they really are cute together,” Bat said, leaning on the coffee bar of the plane as he looked back at the sleeping figures.
Thomas and Seong were sitting next to each other at the back of the plane, long legs stretched out in front of them and both sound asleep. Thomas’s messy curls were in his face as his head rested against Seong’s shoulder, a bit of sunburn on his freckled nose. Seong’s head was leaning on top of the pillow of red curls, his own dark hair falling out of the hair tie he had thrown it in to keep his bangs back.
