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-sorry 'bout the accents, didn't want this to go private.

     Lorn sighed, testing his grip on the flip knife in his pocket.

     He's done this before, but he wasn't that young reckless punk anymore. He was 23. And from his paranoid point of view he was 2 years away from being nearly 30. Too old for this shít.

     But it had to be done.

     He'd set a target already. A man, because he just couldn't do this to women. No, not that he was prince charming or anything, it was just that this was Viscount Street and the last  time he'd tried this on a girl he was a creepily-long-nailed finger away from being raped.

     The man he had in view was tall, he could tell he had nearly his height. He wasn't skinny but his muscles didn't exactly bulge out of his clothes: a large some-band hoodie and loose army pants. He had on a cap, with a hole tore in the back for his tiny ponytail to swing majestically in the morning wind.

     Lorn pulled his hood on, rolled his shoulders and got on following him. The sidewalk wasn't too crowded, but enough for him to blend in.

     He observed with a clench of the jaw as the man approached an alleyway on the right. He could easily take him by surprise and get him there, he was talking on the phone.

     Lorn quickened his pace, gently pushing people aside with the hand that wasn't in his pocket. And when he got close enough, he hooked an arm around the man's neck and pulled him into the alleyway, past the dumpster and shoved him against the wall with a thud. Just as he got to press the knife against his chest threateningly, he took an actual look at the man's face.

     "Lorn!?" Verger wheezed. "What the fúck Lorn you think that's funny?!" he pushed him off, patting his clothes in place.

     Lorn stumbled back and laughed breathlessly, closing the knife and pocketing it. "Shit I'm sorry I had no idea it was you. What the heII, are you everywhere now?" he undid his own ponytail, having meant to hide anything characteristic about him that could've been said to the police station.

     Verger frowned. "So you didn't know it was me? What the heII are you doing then?"

     Lorn rubbed his mouth, glancing to the side.

     "Were you trying to kill someone?" Verger looked seconds away from running for it.

     "What? No! I wasn't serious about it- look, it's just a thing I used to do: pretend I'm dangerous so that they'd give me money. Kind of like robbing but with no violence." Lorn placed his hands in pockets and nodded.

     Verger responded by shaking his head. "I think we need to talk." he pointed at him. "And it reeks here."

     Lorn sighed, looking around. He was pretty sure there was a park next to the building, so he motioned for Verger to follow him to the door a few meters away on the left.

     Once in the building, they crossed the hallway and then went down the stairs to the left before opening another door to a small park surrounded on all sides by the building.

     Straddling the swings so that they'd face each other, the men exchanged a long glare. The creaks of the chains filled in the silence of their staring contest, and a couple arguing could be faintly heard from one of the open windows.

     "What happened to your face?" Verger asked, tracing a finger from his own cheekbone to his jaw to reflect his friend's cut.

     " I need money by this evening, is what happened." Lorn stated, swinging lazily.

     Verger squinted at him a second before his bangs got in his line of vision. Running a hand through them, he pinned them under the cap. "You knew I won at streetball, you knew I'd be willing to help, but you had to go Adolf-mode on that bítch."

     Lorn rested his forehead on the chain. "The guy that stabbed the ball at the end of the contest?"

     "Yes."

     Lorn shook his head. "Look, I understand we're friends but I'd feel shít borrowing money from you."

     "You'd feel shít borrowing from me but not feel shít stealing from strangers?" Verger asked with a squinted eye and a mocking grin. Observing the bricked wall on the background, Lorn had the urge to grip his head and maybe-

     "Yes."

     "Well you're nuts. Just tell me how much and what for."

     Lorn straightened up only to sigh and slump back on the other swing chain. He went to respond, but Verger's phone rang- he's known him for long enough to tell it was some Slipknot melody.

     "Yes, sorry- no, yeah, I'm fine it was just Lorn." Verger played with the lace of his hoodie, twirling it between his fingers. "No I didn't, never will, stop being dumb." Lorn smirked. "All right well it's something pretty serious so I'll call later, okay?" Verger glanced around. "Okay, bye." he hanged up and shoved the phone in his pants.

     "Lionel." Lorn stated, and Verger nodded, starting to gently swing. Since Lorn was, too, they were getting closer and closer to bumping into each other. "What will you never?"

     Verger frowned an eyebrow. "Back on our subject."

     "Gay you and your gay friend were talking about me, it's pretty damn concerning."

     The man blinked once. "Kiss you by surprise. He's shipping us. Now can we just?"

     "Why'd he suggest that? You-"

     "Shut the fúck up Lorn." Verger snapped, shoving the swing so that he'd knock into Lorn's. "He's just being childish and you're being babyish, now tell me the sum and the cause."

     "50, drugs."

     Verger glanced downwards with a frown and nodded. "Fine. Let's go at my place, I don't have money on me."

     They both stood up and Lorn shoved his hands in his pockets, having yet to move towards the door. Verger glanced at him from a couple steps away.

     "Thanks."

     Verger looked him up and down, then shrugged. "Sure." he fully turned towards him.

     "You um..." Lorn scratched his nose. "I don't know, isn't there something you want in return?"

     Verger scoffed. "Like what?"

     Lorn looked at him with pinched eyebrows. "A kiss or some shit? I mean you seemed to enjoy that last one." he pointed behind his shoulder as if yesterday was there.

     "Lorn!" Verger exclaimed.

     "I'm just saying it's the least I could do! I mean you're gay, so it's like... a good deal or whatever?"

     "Lorn." Verger raised his palms and made a 'stop' gesture before walking away.

      He made it several steps into the building before he heard the gallops of his friend's running, and just as he turned around, Lorn slammed into him, an arm on his shoulder as he led him away.

     "You're the best." he grinned, bumping their temples. "And just so you know, you're coming with me. I'm paying Valentin during his boyfriend's party, and he said I should stay."

     Verger raised his eyebrows, stepping out with Lorn holding the door for both of them. "His boyfriend? Wow, Lorn, you're a magnet when it comes to us aren't ya."

     The man tsked. "Couldn't ask for better."

 

     "You sure you know the place?"

     Verger glanced at him. "I lived here most of my life, yes I know the place."

     Lorn glanced out the window, swaying with the bumps of the bus. He fidgeted a little then gazed away, the view making him all weird.

     "What?" Verger laughed.

     "Let's switch seats..." Lorn murmured.

     "Are you seriously scared or what?"

     "It's just weird."

     "You've never left Viscount Street?"

     Lorn shrugged, eyeing a young girl. The clothes on her were actually doing their job of covering skin, and it was alien to witness such sight.

     "There's sun." he murmured, risking another peek at the window. The buildings weren't tall and crowded as to block it, and the windows were clean enough to reflect the light.

     "And what the- don't they sell male clothes? Is it universal out here or what?" he asked, gawking at a group of guys wearing skinny jeans and tees and matching disgusting haircuts: short at the sides and thick, slumped Mohawks on the middle. "And since when are square glasses cool?"

     "Hey, it's just another trend."

     Lorn moved his head towards him, eyes nearly out of their sockets. "You didn't..."

     "Haters be hatin'." Verger made some sign with his hand, at which Lorn laughed. "Nah but you know, it's law of adaptation. I was... well not that bad, just you know... not this." he motioned at them, the two sore thumbs in the bus with their baggy clothes, bruises, wild hair and no iPhone in their hands to take photos of their coffees. There had to be at least four people that were currently doing just that.

     "Huh." Lorn nodded, catching the glances of staring people. They turned right away, rubbing their noses awkwardly and starting a chat on some popstar. "Why'd you leave anyway?"

     Verger opened his mouth, tilting his head. He licked his teeth, then shook his head. "Well, I came out to my basketball team and they told the entire school and no one was exactly cool about it. I took it until the final exams, after which I thought I'd have gotten out of that shit but most of the basketball team went to this sports university in city and so they still managed to bump into me. So, I left."

     Lorn scoffed.

     Verger frowned at him. "What."

     "Nah it's nothing, just..." Lorn chuckled into his knuckles, his elbow propped on the window sill. "What'd they do to you, exactly?"

     Verger squinted. "Well... I always thought movies and books were exaggerating when it came to this, but it's seriously the case. They'd call me names, shove me around, graffiti on locker, pranks, all that American stuff."

     Lorn laughed again.

     "What, now."

     "That's pussy of you."

     "Oh wow okay."

     "Sorry let me reformulate that:" Lorn pressed the tips of his fingers together, elbows on the armrests and chin tucked in under his thin smile. He batted his eyelashes. "We grew up in incongruent environments and so I can't help but mildly chuckle at the outstanding contrast."

     Verger rolled his head back with laughter and shoved Lorn's shoulder. "Okay, Lorn, what dark past rests on your heart huh?"

     The man let his arms dangle down and his back slump in his usual attitude, his shoulders uneven. He played with his blond strand of hair and watched Verger with half closed eyes.

     "Well for one, my group of friends would beat me until I puked blood before patting my back and buying me a drink."

     Verger took a moment to let that sink in, then twisted his face. "Why'd you hang out with them, then?"

     Lorn laughed. "As bad as it was, that was me being on the bullies' side. You don't wanna know how the others had it." he shook his head.

     "Jesus." Verger murmured. "So you were one of those guys..."

     Lorn squinted. "No, Verger. Where I grew up, there weren't 'those guys' and 'these guys', we were all equal maggots wiggling their way left and right towards survival. There weren't bullies and bullied, there were just... fights."

     By that point, the people sitting around were listening interested. It took a tilt of Lorn's head to make them turn away.

     "I see." Verger was glancing outside. "That's... kinda hot."

     "Fúck off." Lorn laughed, kneeing him in the arm and looking outside once the bus took a stop. He sat straight up. "We're getting out. Now."

     "But this is not-" Verger huffed once jerked to his feet, and stumbled after Lorn all the way out of the bus- they'd taken the badass back seats.

     "Why the heII." Verger whined, watching the vehicle leave. "It'll be ages until the next one." he turned around to see Lorn's object of attention and stumbled in place. "A lingerie shop."

     "Yeah." Lorn placed his hands on his hips, back hunched.

     "I did not know you were into that, but I guess red would compliment your-" Verger couldn't even finish before covering his face in laughter, mental images having taken over.

     "Ha." Lorn offered. "No but Valentin said I should buy Nigel a pair."

     "Nigel?" Verger gasped, his surprised face barely standing against the grin on his face. "No way, mate."

     "You know him?" Lorn squinted, walking towards the shop with Verger beside him.

     "A month ago Troy would tell me about this devoted Christian boy Nigel that got himself into their group... Shit, Lorn, he's seriously not going to be pleased by this." he laughed once they entered.

     "I'd rather have a Christian twat pout at me to having Valentin dismember me with a butter knife, thank you." Lorn sighed, playing with the blond strand of hair again as he looked around. "You ever saw this Nigel?"

     Verger pursed his lips at the bras, poking one and watching it pop. "Well, at your streetfight there was this tiny guy tugging Valentin back from jumping the fence. He looked worried and out of place, so I guess it was him."

     "Okay so what size?"

     "Well sorry I didn't check out his butt, I was busy, you know, saving your life."

     Lorn rolled his eyes, going deeper into the shop. The walls were tall and black with occasional colored panels, and the floor cream. The nightdresses were displayed on the walls, while the panties and kinky stuff were aligned on two long hangers that led to the counter.

      "So you should be familiar with this, silk or cotton?" Lorn murmured, touching a pair with laces.

     Verger turned at him and made an eyelid twitch. "I like silk in my ass and cotton in my mouth. The bondages should be in that other room." he nodded at a black door with chains hanging by the pillowed surface.

     Lorn pulled a face and shuddered. "Don't ever go with the jokes. Please. Never again."

     Verger sighed, snatching a white pair with a tiny blue bow at the back and shoving it in Lorn's chest. "Let's just go. And FYI, I'll buy him a separate gift and let you be the creepy stranger that just hands him a pair of panties as a birthday present.

     Lorn mimicked him with a constipated face but then it went blank. "What age is he turning?" he glanced at the pair. "Would it even be legal?"

     "Since when do you care what's legal?"

     "I care what stupid I do, I'd rather not have... sex offender on my file or something."

     "Well then how about you put the damn pair down and stop being a chicken. Can't you take Valentin anyway?"

     Lorn scoffed. "Yeah, and then have his friends sacrifice me to you know who!"

     Verger tilted his head. " 'You know who'. Well if you're good enough the Tooth Fairy will come and help."

     Lorn turned around and walked to the counter, Verger on his trails. Just as they got nearby, Verger slipped a hand in Lorn's, skipping ahead with a smug smile on his face.

     "Hi." he greeted the employee, a young woman in skinny jeans and Hannibal t-shirt. Lorn slammed the pair on the counter and smiled wide enough for wrinkles to form under his squinting eyes.

     "Hi."

     The woman pursed her lips and slid the pair closer to place it in a bag.

     "You think they'll fit him?" Verger nodded at Lorn.

     The woman frowned, her posture going all stiff and uncomfortable. "Um... I'd say they're..." she glanced at Lorn, who had yet to loose the sobbing Asian grin. "A few sizes too little..."

     Verger laughed exactly three 'ha's. "Just the way you like them!"

     Lorn violently snapped his head towards him, squeezing his hand. He then opened his mouth and inhaled interruptedly, like a dolphin squealing backwards.

     Then he threw the money on the counter, snatched the bag and led his friend outside.

     Once there he sighed, his face no longer the materialized nightmare of Bacovia. "You are so funny Verger seriously you crack me up that was so on spot."

     Verger smiled, his hand carefully still as to not remind Lorn they had yet to let go. "Thank you, I tried." they walked towards the bus stop nearby. It only took a few steps for Lorn to let his hand slip away from Verger's and into his pocket.

     Once they stood under the low roof of the booth, Verger glanced at the schedule paper on the wall.

     "Yes, yes, two hours until the next one."

     Lorn peeked right over Verger's shoulder, and Verger made the small move it took for his back to press against the man's chest.

     "Nice, what now." the man sighed, pacing away.

     "Well, let's go to the mall and look for something I could buy Nigel."

     "What the fuck's a mall?"

 

     Lorn was still laughing. He's been laughing since several shops back, pointing at the clothes beyond big windows.

     "Seriously look at that dude!" he pointed another way. A scrawny boy with a full cap turned backwards and a tee that reached his thighs, only to cover what the low jeans failed to.

     He just awkwardly ignored them, tugging his girlfriend along.

     "Dude, and her leggings- I spiked my granny's breakfast one day and she knitted something similar to that shit."

     Verger laughed, watching expectantly as Lorn took the first sip of his Starbucks coffee. He frowned, his pace slowing down.

     "What?"

     "I can't feel coffee grounds sneak in my mouth... Is this even coffee or hot chocolate?"

     "Will you shut up. You have more sass than half of these people together."

     Lorn took another sip, watching with his eyebrows lowered as a man walked with a phone pointed at himself, talking.

     "Shush." Verger gripped his wrist.

     "No it's okay I encounter that stuff in Viscount Street too, just without the phone."

     Verger snickered, letting his wrist go with a discreet brush of his hand. But then his grin went flat and he sighed.

     "It had to happen at some point."

     Lorn looked ahead, lips pursed around the straw. "What? Those lanky fags?"

     "Yes, the lanky fags." Verger scoffed, feeling considerably better in his skin as he observed the physic he had on the basketball team he'd left.

     "No way!" what used to be his best friend, Travis, exclaimed. "Verger?"

     Verger stopped walking since the men were blocking his way. He might've intentionally chosen the mall knowing the team spent their Wednesdays roaming about. It was just, he couldn't keep himself from giving into the temptation of seeing what was of them.

     They haven't changed too much in two years. Travis let his hair grow, but other than that he was the same ol' beard and beanie guy. Stefan was probably wearing lenses or got rid of the glasses all together. Kevin got uglier than Verger remembered him to be, and the other eight people present must've shortened because Verger was suddenly not the smallest in the group anymore.

     He didn't reply, choosing to stare at the ground as Travis went in for a pat-on-the-back-no-homo hug. Once he retreated, Verger arranged his band hoodie in place and cleared his throat, looking at them from above his nose.

     "Hi!" Travis laughed. The others didn't seem as enthusiastic about pretending to have not made a mess of Verger back in the days.

     But Travis happily extended his hand towards Lorn, and the man shook it briefly. "Your boyfriend was a good friend of ours, it's been too long."

     "Really?" Lorn smiled thinly, tapping the Starbucks cup with his index. "My boyfriend told me otherwise."

     Travis's grin slid off his face and he glanced between them, then finally quit the act. His grin resurfaced as smug, and his shoulders slumped casually. That attitude used to 'bother' Verger, but now that he had Lorn next to the man for comparison, it simply lost its charm.

     "Well we were kids back them, surely he holds no grudges, do you Verger?" Travis tilted his head, leaning towards him just a little.

     Verger made himself interested in the shopping bag he was holding, glancing at the Jesus figurine he bought for Nigel.

     But then Travis's knuckles pushed his chin upwards before retreating in the man's pocket. It must've been the first time he touched him since he came out.

     "Are you shy now?"

     Verger should've known this was a bad idea. He thought he'd manage to face the hatred in the eyes of what used to be his best friend, but the memories of their good times were still there and it still stung to see Travis watch him like that.

      "Boyfriend ate your tongue?" he snickered.

     "So you play basketball, huh." Lorn butted in, causing Travis to glance at him. Before the man got to respond, Lorn uncapped his coffee and simply poured it over Travis.

     The man's friends jumped back to avoid getting spilled and everyone in the vicinity gasped.

     "Can you throw this in the trashcan there, then?" Lorn chuckled, pushing the empty cup into Travis's chest.

     The man let it fall to the ground and hunched over, tugging at his clothes incredulously.

     "You fuck." he gasped. "You fággot fúcking fúck!"

     "That's like the three Ks but more fabulous, hah!" Lorn said.

     Verger erupted into laughter, his howls funnier than the actual situation. He was gripping his stomach, letting the entire frustration about the past spill out of his lungs and onto the dripping wet man.

     "You ridiculous piece of shít!" Verger exclaimed.

     Travis gawked at him, frozen in spot since it must've been unpleasant having coffee as a second skin.

     "Him? What about his friends here." Lorn waved a hand. "They're just watching him get humiliated instead of starting a fight! You guys ever threw a punch? And no, punching a wall because your parents don't let you eat cereals at lunch out doesn't count."

     The men stopped passing Travis napkins to look at Lorn confused. Lorn scoffed at them.

     "Here's the thing: I'm hetero, Verger's gay and you guys are fággots. 'Deal with it'." he quoted a passing stranger he'd previously made fun of. "Now come on 'bae'." he quoted yet another, darting an arm over Verger's shoulder and leading him away.

     Verger only stopped laughing after several steps, and then glanced back only to start over.

     "I love you so much Lorn!" he wiped an eye, then the other and nudged his head into the crook of Lorn's neck for a couple seconds.

     "Well I'm taking back what I previously said." Lorn lightly announced.

     "You being straight?"

     "You not being a fággot."

     Verger mewled. "Stop spoiling me, bae."

     "I regret everything ever."

     "Hueh."

I let my father know he has a fanbase thanks to the whole 'drink an egg' deal.

He laughed and walked past mom with a sly grin.

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