A mole's behind

5. Spiderwebs, second hand souls and pyjamas

POV Iskall
Was he being serious? He had meant to, but maybe Grian was right. Maybe I'm overcompensating for that thing with Åke. It still hurt. He had tried his best, but it had never been enough. His former partner had always found something to be jealous of.

"I think I am. I'm not sure... It's kinda hard to explain really. Maybe it's time we talk about our past. Are you OK with talking about the people I loved before you?" Nervousness made his stomach bubble. How would Grian react?

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Right now, Grian nodded. Iskall sat up, facing Grian.

"Yes I am. I hope you don't expect me to do the same. Because, uhm..." Grian said and looked uncomfortably at the carpet, "I really don't have anything to tell about past relationships."

"You've told me about Mumbo, I think that more than covers it." Grian looked up and he gave him an encouraging smile.

"I guess it's my turn now." Iskall sighed. He took a deep breath, gathering courage. "Let's see, where do I even begin... I started liking people in that way when I was about 15. It's never been one person in particular, I've just been checking out people. Well, first girls, but that didn't last very long. Most of them are just too frilly." Grian smiled sympathetically. Iskall wondered if he had a similar experience.

"In my class was this boy that everyone knew was gay. It's funny, back then he looked a little like you do now..." His voice trailed off. They did look a bit similar, both with strawberry blond hair and light skin. Grian gave him a funny look.

"Never mind. Yeah, so there was this guy that I thought looked kinda cute and we were in the same class, so naturally my friends noticed and set us up. It was kinda cringeworthy, to be honest with you. Everyone secretly - well not so secretly, because you know, even we knew about it - so yeah, everyone was betting on how that date would turn out. And then we got along surprisingly well. Not like magic or fairy-tale or anything. We were just two people getting along nicely. Anyway, so we had that first date and we had fish for dinner and..."

"Uhm, Iskall?" Grian interrupted the Swede.

"Would you mind going into more detail there? I am really very interested in the side dishes. What sauce did you have to the fish? Was the waiting staff accurately dressed?" He used his overly British geezer voice, sounding posher with every sentence. His face bore the broadest grin.

A high-pitched chuckle escaped Iskall's lips. He tried to hold back his laughter to answer in his best mock-British accent. "Not bad, not bad at all mister Grian, sir. I believe you have quite articulately brought your point across, if I may say so. Very posh, un-be-liev-ably British." They went on for a bit and soon laughter filled the air. Iskall, tried to calm himself, but it was no use. When they finally gasped for air, his stomach was hurting.

"Ok, ok," Grian said, panting.

"Let's," gasp,

"Let's go on," pant,

"where we left off." He straightened his back, sitting upright again.

"There was this guy in your class and you had a date."

"Yeah, like I said, so Åke and me went on..." He was interrupted again, "Hold on, what was his name? Can you say that again?"

"Åke," Iskall pronounced carefully.

"Awe-keh," Grian mimicked. The look on his face was priceless and made Iskall grin again.

"Yeah, almost. Your Swedish is almost as good as my British," Iskall let his eyes twinkle.