Savior [Completed]

Side Story: What Rodney Said

Before you read:

I should have probably written out Nick's chapter next, so that there's continuity and you don't wait too long (and uni is starting, so it's going to be hell - read my broadcast to readers on my profile?), but for the same reason (of no time), I decided to post what I've got.

Third person narrative. Which I really need to work on. 

What Rodney Said

Never before had the door seemed intimidating. Even when they’d been about to set off on their first official date, Rodney hadn’t been daunted by the prospect of knocking on that door – certainly not as he was now. He knew he’d already called and was expected, that he’d thought over everything carefully and that he was sure about what he wanted to say, yet…

When the door swung open, however, he forgot to think.

“Hey,” his voice was hoarse, “I...can we talk?”

The sincerity with which he had posed the question struck Ryan with equal parts of relief and disbelief as he stepped aside to allow the taller boy in. The former, because it sounded like Rodney really did want to have a calm discussion – the best kind he could have hoped for – and the latter, because he honestly seemed to think that ‘No’ was a possible answer.

“Of course! You know that I’ve wanted to talk to you ever since-” he froze, catching himself a little too late. “You know,” Ryan added meekly at the end, chastised.

Rodney was silent.

Ryan cursed himself internally. ‘Damnit Ryan,’ he thought, ‘way to make things weird already!’ It was bad enough, in his opinion, that Rodney had felt the need to call in advance and ask if Ryan were free, as though he were seeking an appointment with someone he didn’t know…and now this.

 “I can explain that, by the way,” he said uncertainly, when it became clear that Rodney wasn’t going to react at all. Unless following Ryan to his room without breaking step counted. “What you walked in on wasn’t-”

“That’s okay,” a ghost of a smile flickered on the taller boy’s lips. “And chill out, Ryan. I don’t need an explanation.”

Ryan was startled. For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether he’d heard right, but something in the air told him that his hearing was perfectly functional. But what did that mean for him? If Rodney did not want to even try to find out what had been happening…what was he supposed to make of that? “But Rodney!”

“No, listen, that’s okay. And relax. I really don’t need an explanation.” He’d thought about it over the week more than he’d care to admit and was internally relieved when his voice had remained steady. He’d wondered what it was he’d seen, whether there could be a better explanation than the obvious, a less hurtful one, but after everything, he’d decided that he didn’t want to know.

What if there really wasn’t a better explanation?

He didn’t think he could bear that.

Ryan, on the other hand, still hadn’t found an answer to the question he’d asked himself, and repeated himself instead.  “But Rodney!”

He was upset, and despite everything – both that had happened and what was to come – Rodney hated seeing the other boy so distraught. He reached out to touch the other boy’s shoulder as means of offering comfort, but found himself unable to.

The hand remained suspended in air.

Both sets of eyes turned towards that hand, and slowly, awkwardly, its owner closed it into a fist and withdrew it. No, he wasn’t comfortable enough to do that, and there was no need to make this more complicated than it already was.