If We Ever Meet Again.

Chapter 3

{{Neutral POV}}

Both of the young men just stood, staring at each other. It was difficult for either of them to believe what was happening. They were probably both shocked by how they looked now... Neil was in awe that Todd had barely aged, he still had the puppy face he had when he was younger, and his floppy hair, and his build hadn't changed much either, but damn had Neil changed, almost exactly how Todd thought he would as well: taller, generally more man shaped and bulky, but his face hadn't changed much, apart from a little bit of stubble and glasses which he seemed to wear much more, since they were on his nose right now. The changes were surprisingly minor, but they were notable enough for the two to have to stare at each other and study each other's features.

Neil started to smile first as he came to terms with who it was before him.

"Todd..." He said, much more gently, taking a couple of steps closer to him, which made the smaller male smile too.

"Neil." Todd turned his blue eyes up at him, smiling almost cheekily, but just for a moment before he continued talking. "I never thought I'd see you again... I came to Boston as soon as you left Harvard, in some vague hope that I'd be able to find you."

"I came here, and I've worked in Vermont as soon as I graduated, looking for you! I had some odd feeling that you'd be working at Welton, but I didn't even know what you'd be doing for a job. What do you do?"

"I'm an English teacher, like the captain himself. I take it you've stuck in the medical line?"

"Mhm. But, I do acting on the side, I came here to learn some lines! Wait, why are you here? You said you were in Boston, that's like, a three and a half hour drive?" Neil said with a chuckle, turning to walk across the field, beckoning him along gently.

Todd followed along as he spoke, laughing a little bit at himself. "Yeah,
it was a while. I don't know though, I just drove and found myself here. And here I am, believing that coincidences don't exist!" Todd followed along, engaging in the conversation eagerly, if awkwardly.

"Well, apparently they do. Miraculously so." Neil said, a little quietly as the two of them drew closer to their cars, with the vague light of the moon coming in between the trees. They glanced at each other, in a sort of 'what now?' way, both of them reading each other's faces. Todd didn't know the area very well, since he'd only been to Welton there, but Neil clearly did, so it was up to him to open his mouth.

"It's a little quiet round here. There's Mollies, but... I just went there." He chuckled. "It'd be kind of embarrassing to be back there within the hour. We could go to my house? Traffic is pretty quiet at this time of night."

Todd would normally be horrified by being invited into someone's home at all costs, since he was scared he'd do something wrong, but he was purely just excited to see Neil's house, he couldn't begin to imagine all the weird and wonderful stuff he might own! He nodded, taking his car keys out of his pocket.

"I'll follow you then, my host for the evening." Todd said in his usual tone, almost a mutter. Neil nodded and got in his car as well, taking a second just to stare off into the distance, then have a little excited flail, smacking his hands against the wheel and grinning from ear to ear. He muttered to himself in the car, starting it up and leading it down the empty, snow covered roads.

"It's Todd, it's really Todd... After twelve years he's finally with me again! Well, we can do loads of things together... We can cook together, and read together, and he can help me learn my lines and I can help him... uh... with his work! I can sort out papers and pick out his ties, yes! I can be the sorter outer." He listed chirpily.

Todd on the other hand sat in almost absolute silence, now only just rationalising what had happened in his head and what he was doing. All he said was a quiet, "holy shit", in disbelief.