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CHAPTER THIRTEEN MOVIE NIGHT
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"I'm just saying, if my house was haunted to the point that hands came out and clapped inches away from my face, I would simply move away. Or pass away. Dealer's choice, honestly," Riley said as he brought his drink up to his mouth, a soda he'd bought at a nearby fast-food joint. His other hand was taken, fingers linked through his own. At the sound of laughter at what he had said, Riley turned to stare at the other man in question, a little dazed. He'd met Nathan Allen a month ago, nearly exactly, when Riley had decided to stroll through the nearby mall, having nothing else better to do. Despite his claim to start dating and being more social, Riley hadn't really had much time since he had moved to Washington two years ago. He was still in a state of disbelief that he had met a guy he genuinely liked on the one day he had been forced to take off work.
He had been suspicious of Nathan at first, as any good spy would be. They were taught to be suspicious of everyone, no matter how kind their eyes were, or how bright their laugh. Those were the first things Riley had first noticed about Nathan—his kind eyes and the way he always had a laugh on the tip of his tongue. The way he looked—his dark brown hair, a personal favorite of Riley's—came later. But Riley had been careful. He had done a background check—or, rather, S.H.I.E.L.D. had done a background check, as they always did whenever an agent started dating. It was a safety measure, and a required one. Nathan's background check had come back clean. Aside from a brief stay in jail for a single night for public drinking on New Years when he was under twenty-one, he was completely normal. He had an office job. There was nothing more normal than that, so Riley had let himself date the guy for the past month. It felt so nice that sometimes he thought none of it was real.
"Okay, but that wouldn't have worked," Nathan pointed out, bringing Riley abruptly out of his thoughts, and reminding him they had just come back from a horror movie showing at some random festival Nathan had found for them. "The demon was attached to the family, not the house. It would follow you." Riley hummed and gulped down more of his drink.
"Dying it is, then," he decided, making Nathan laugh again.
"You'd still have to deal with the demon, though," Nathan pointed out, tugging at Riley's hand and leading him across the street. They were near Nathan's apartment building. Riley had arrived at his to walk to the festival, which was only a few blocks away. Riley had never told Nathan where he himself lived, far too paranoid for that, even if he was trying not to be. Nathan never seemed to care. He had long ago accepted that Riley was a secretive person, and Riley appreciated that he didn't push for answers.
