Fingernails (Mrog/Matty x George)

Ten: Consequences and Bodies

Harry and Nick were sitting cross-legged on Harry's shitty patio, their knees touching Nick with his left hand in Harry's right, a cigarette in his other hand. Harry's spare hand was wrapped around Nick's neck, keeping him close as they kissed, Nick's cigarette slowly turning to ash as their lips moved together.

Harry had originally pushed his lips against his boyfriend's due to nerves about telling Nick all that he had to, but over the last few minutes of almost bruising contact he had forgotten that he had kissed Nick to avoid actually speaking to him about anything that mattered in the slightest.

It was only when Nick gently pulled away, Harry following his lips instinctually for a moment, to take a drag of his cigarette that Harry's plans to tell Nick about the move came crashing back down on him. Nick leaned back into the older boy as soon as he'd blown the smoke from his lungs, his tongue tasting of cigarettes as he stubbed out his cigarette on the ground and brought his hand up to tangle his fingers in Harry's thick hair.

Harry gave in once more for a moment, enjoying this most excellent method of procrastination, before pulling away and linking both their hands.

"Nick, love, I - I need to tell you something." Nick raised his eyebrows, leaning in to kiss Harry's cheek before speaking.

"What's up? Thought you were a bit quiet."

Frowning and closing his eyes, Harry lowered his head to face his lap and took a deep breath. "I'm moving away, Nick. It's Mum's work.",

Slowly, Nick pulled his hands from Harry's, causing the older boy to look up at him, concerned until Nick lifted his hands to cup Harry's jaw. "Hey, it's - well, it's not okay, but it's okay, you know?" Nick smiled gently, leaning in to press a quick kiss to Harry's lips, keeping hold of his jaw. "We can still meet up, love."

Harry grimaced, biting his lip. "That's the thing, I, uh - she needs to move to fucking Newcastle, Nick. You can literally get a plane from here to there, it's a bit far to pop over for a cup of tea and fuck."

"Shit." Nick's face visibly fell from its happy, carefree state, his eyebrows lowering and his lips slipping out of their smirk. He looked up to see Harry looking utterly forlorn at his expression, and forced a smile onto his face, moving his right hand up to stroke through his boyfriend's hair. "We can text, right? And I'll call you at least every other day, and we can Skype and all that; it'll be fine, love. I promise, we can do this."

Harry turned his head to the side slightly, leaning into Nick's touch as he did so, his eyes falling shut. "Nick, I..." Harry wasn't entirely sure how to continue, honestly: he'd been wanting this relationship for months, and the second it was there and happening, it was being torn away from him. His chest heaved as he drew in a shuddering breath, forcing himself to look into Nick's eyes as he spoke. "It's not going to work once I move, Nick."

Nick let out the breath he had been holding in a quiet sigh, licking his lips before sucking his bottom lip into his mouth.

"You know I want to be with you, you know it, but you must know that it won't be enough once I'm fucking three hundred miles away. It's a three hour train journey, you know neither of us can afford that."

Breathing deeply, Nick removed his hands from Harry's face, leaving their knees touching as he dug out a second cigarette from his pocket, lighting it, and placing it between his lips as he shoved the box and lighter back in his pocket. He took a drag, blowing the smoke out to the side to avoid getting it in Harry's face before offering the cigarette to his boyfriend.

Harry took it, almost reluctantly: it wasn't like he never smoked, but he tried not to do it often; he supposed that his was a situation that allowed a quick one, however. They smoked together in silence, sharing the one cigarette until Nick threw it to the ground, having been staring Harry straight in the eyes for several minutes, and latched his hands onto the back of the boy's neck, tugging him back in to kiss him once more.