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“Yeah, yeah,” Nick mumbled. “Fair’s fair. I won’t do it if you won’t.” He picked at a loose string on the hem of his hoodie. “Honest?”
“Honest,” Seth agreed, and because it came from him, Nick knew he wouldn’t be made fun of for the thoughts racing through his head. Ever since the day he’d met a boy eating pudding on the swings, Nick would do anything for Seth, even speak the hard truths.
“Sex sounds amazing,” Nick said, hating how his voice broke in his nervousness. “If the porn I’ve watched is any indication, it feels good too.”
“Porn isn’t real life,” Seth said, keeping his hands to himself, which Nick was grateful for.
“Right,” Nick said. “But there has to be something to it, you know?” He looked away. “And, like, the making-out stuff we do is awesome.”
Seth chuckled. “Soawesome.”
Relieved, Nick said, “So glad you agree. We’re pretty good at it, if you ask me.”
“Might even be the best at it.”
“But it’s more than that,” Nick said, looking up at Seth and holding his gaze. It’s …” Here, now, a chance. A chance to say some words he’d been thinking about lately, words that he couldn’t quite get to unstick from his throat. Words that were enormous and terrifying and would change everything, even if everyone already knew they were true. Three little words about how much Nick cared for Seth.
He remembered standing in this very house, just upstairs, angry at all the lies Seth was telling him, only to have Bob flap his lips and reveal that Seth was in love with him. Love, like sex, was a vast, complicated thing that Nick didn’t have a firm grasp on yet. He loved Seth. Heknewthat. He’d loved him since the moment he’d met him. Aside from his dad, there was nobody on Earth who Nick loved more. But what was the difference between love and beinginlove? Nick wasn’t sure. Everything he felt for Seth was jumbled up in a complicated knot in his chest. It wasn’t a bad thing, but Nick wasn’t sure he was ready to parse through it yet. But no problem was ever solved by not talking about it, and Nick thought he might be ready to say … well.Something.
“What is it?” Seth asked, startling Nick out of his thoughts. “Hey, you all right?”
Nick smiled tightly. “Yeah, I’m good.” He shook his head as he snorted. “Lost in my head a bit. You know how it is.”
“I do,” Seth said. “You can tell me anything, Nicky. You know that.”
He opened his mouth to say this. To say all this and more.
Before Nick could, Seth’s phone beeped, as did his own. Nick stepped back, pulling his phone from his pocket. He frowned when he saw a text from Jazz.
We have a problem.
He looked up, brow furrowed. Seth was holding out his own phone. He had a text from Gibby.
We have a problem.
“What the hell,” Nick muttered. “What’s trying to kill us now? You think it’s some new Extraordinary villain bent on—”
He never got to finish. The door to the basement flew open, causing them both to jump. “Guys?” Dad called down. “You need to get up here. We have a problem.”
“Why is everyonesayingthat?” Nick asked. “It’d better be a real problem, or I swear to god, I’m gonna do whatever I can to help because we need to take everyone’s issues seriously, no matter how minor.”
Nick grabbed Seth by the hand and pulled him toward the stairs, already formulating a plan in his mind that would involve Pyro Storm kicking ass and taking names with his Team Leader at his side. At the very least, he’d have new material for his fic.
And, if he was being honest with himself, wasn’t he imagining fighting alongside Pyro Storm? Yes, he was. He wasn’t an Extraordinary. He knew that. He’d neverbean Extraordinary. He’d failed in that regard, but that didn’t stop him from imagining standing back-to-back with Pyro Storm, brave and true, so Seth knew Nick would always have his back.
Underneath this funny little daydream was a pleasant itch, a tickle thin as a whisper, like a thought he couldn’t quite grasponto. Probably the beginnings of a headache. He hoped not. He needed to be able to focus.
Above them, the single bare light bulb flared brightly.
They ignored it.
It was nothing. Power surges happened all the time.
