Room for Rent [boyxboy]

Chapter 3

After Aidan had taken a couple more sips of his tea, in what had been a surprisingly comfortable silence, Cameron spoke.

“Sooo… Books or movies?” he asked casually, taking another gulp of his own tea, before looking at Aidan.

“Umh… I kinda like both, really.” Aidan answered with a slight shrug. “I mean, it kinda depends on the mood, I guess. Like, I like watching movies. But sometimes, I’d rather just read a book.” He smiled at Cameron with another slight shrug.

“Yeah, I see what you mean” Cameron smiled back. Then he took another gulp of his tea, before he continued. “I’m more of a movie person meself. Never been that into books. If there’s a movie version, I’d usually rather just watch the movie. Always been a slow reader. Too many words, not big enough attention span. By all means, books can be nice. But movies are easier.” He shrugged, and took another gulp of his tea.

“Yeah” Aidan grinned.

“Waddabout TV series, then? Prefer movies? Or are you fine with either?” Cameron winked, before he took another gulp of his tea, and apparently emptied his mug. He looked down into the mug, seeming surprised and disappointed by the emptiness.

Aidan gave a small giggle at Cameron’s reaction to the empty mug, before he mumbled out “Either is good. As long as it interests me.”

Cameron nodded with a “Right?”, before he got up and started making himself some more tea while he continued.

“But like you said, though. It depends. If you want something short and easy, that you maybe don’t need to pay full attention to, or you just want something that lasts for an hour or two, then movies are obviously better. If you want something shorter, then one of the series that you can watch out of order is better. You know, like you can watch an episode that lasts for 20 or 45 minutes, and you’re good. You don’t need to watch it in context to be able to enjoy it. Then there are the continuous series. Where you haffta watch every episode, in the right order, or you won’t understand what on earth is going on. Those are usually long-term commitments. A bit like a relationship, I guess. Just less messy if you’re the one to break it off. “

He paused for a minute, taking a sip of his tea, seemingly deeming it drinkable, took another sip, and then sat back down by the table.

“What do you mean ‘if you’re the one to break it off’?” Aidan asked, taking another sip of his own tea.

“Well, you know, say you have a girlfriend… Do you have a girlfriend?” Cameron looked at Aidan questioningly. Aidan shook his head and looked down at the mug. “Boyfriend?” Cameron asked. Aidan shook his head as he felt a surge of fear creep up his spine and starting to constrict his lungs. “You ever had either?” Cameron asked. Aidan just kept looking at the mug, trying to concentrate on not crushing it. He shook his head again.

“Oh,” Cameron said, slight surprise in his voice. “Never?” he sounded genuinely curious.

Aidan looked up at Cameron. When he met his eyes, the fear seemed to let go. He could still feel it tingling in his spine, but it wasn’t gripping him tight anymore.

Aidan gave a slight shrug as he shook his head once again.

 “Well, then I guess you won’t know entirely what I’m talking about. But then again, you might’ve heard or read enough to know that breakups are usually messy.” Cameron winked, and took another gulp of his tea before he continued.

“My point is, if you break it off, it’s usually ‘cause you’ve lost interest, yeah? So on your part, it’s not really that hard. It might be in the back of your mind, as a memory, but you don’t really care enough to keep going. You know, it’s not worth the time and effort. Or, as it quite often is, time and money.” He winked, and took a sip of his tea.

“If they break if off, in this context, say if a series is cancelled. It’s usually a rough stop, often far too sudden. There’s no way in the world you could ever prepare for that. Even if you knew it was coming. The same often goes for series that were finished before you even started watching them. ‘Specially if you watch it all at once. Suddenly you’re done, and you go cold turkey. No idea where that expression comes from, by the way.”  Cameron took another gulp of his tea, and grinned at Aidan.

Aidan couldn’t help but grin back. The fear had faded completely.

“Anyway,” Cameron continued. “You like comics, then? Or you stickin’ to your books?”

“I like comics” Aidan smiled at Cameron. “But they’re usually a commitment. And quite often a bit expensive. Not, like, on their own. But, like, collectively. Like, if you try to actually follow along.”

“Like” Cameron mocked. Aidan blushed.

Cameron chuckled, and asked “So, like, Star Wars or Star Trek?”

Aidan gave a small glare, and took a long sip of his tea, before responding. Cameron just grinned at him as he waited.

“I like ‘em both, I guess” Aidan shrugged. “Never been like a die-hard fan of either, really. I’ve seen all the Star Wars movies, and they’re cool. And I’ve seen both of the new Star Trek movies. I like them too. I haven’t seen any of the old Star Trek movies. Not that I can recall, anyway. I tried watching New Generation or Next Generation or whatever it’s called. But it really wasn’t my cup of tea”

“Ever watched any of the classics?” Cameron asked.

“Classics?” Aidan looked at him with a questioning gaze.

“Yeah, you know, the original Star Trek series. From the 60’s”

“Nooo” Aidan shook his head.

“I guess we’ll eventually have remedy that, then” Cameron winked. Then he finished off his second cup of tea.

When he got up to make some more, Aidan said “You really like tea, don’t you?”

“Yeah” Cameron grinned as he filled more water in the kettle and flicked it on.

   

   

AN: I keep messing up their names, for some reason. Especially Aidan, I often write his name Aiden. Though that can be excused by the simple fact that I often confuse e and a when typing. Please do point it out to me if I mess up names.

Or just random typos. Please point those out too.