The Mortician's Son (BoyxBoy)

C H A P T E R . 1 3

T H E  G R E A T  G A M E *

The graveyard in the dark had always been Nathan's favorite place to think (his coffin came in a close second, though.) The serene, ghastly, paranormal atmosphere always had a way of clearing his head. But tonight the deathly calm of the graveyard did not settle him.

"Then I sincerely hope… that Blake doesn't favor his ambition over you, as my boyfriend did."

No matter what he did, Anna's words continued to resonate in his head. Over and over, it didn't matter what sort of rationalization Nathan concocted to keep the haunting sentence at bay, his natural cynical mentality could not help but draw similarities and conclusions. They were both familiar with the paranormal, they both spent most of their lives alone and had someone precious who was going away… Would he end up like her? Loveless and forgotten in the darkness?

Nathan drew his legs up on the headstone he was sitting on and rubbed his eye. He hadn't been getting enough sleep due to his recently-formed anxious feelings. The brunette sighed as he dropped his head onto his knees.

Neverland University. That was where Blake was going. It was practically worlds away from Twilight Town. It seemed so trivial when Blake happily announced his acceptance some unimportant day in early December. But that was before February, before they realized they had feelings for each other, before the thought of Blake leaving made Nathan feel sick to his stomach. Now the poisonous thoughts were starting to form— "what about me?" "What about us?" — ebbing and ebbing away at him and it took all of the brunette's strength not to shout in utter frustration.

Of course, Nathan wouldn't openly object to Blake going far, far away. NU was the university of the teen's dreams. Who was Nathan to get in the way? He loved Blake, wanted him to be happy even if Nathan had to live with a gut-twisting uneasiness. But would Blake return that same sacrifice, courage and faith despite such a long distance? Even normal relationships were strained by distances and Nathan was quite certain that he, Blake and their families were far from normal. God knows what was going to happen to them.

The brunette knew that he had to talk to Blake about this eventually, but with finals week coming up, Blake was left with little free time. He even begrudgingly asked to stop their usual tutoring hour in favor of studying for his finals. Blake needed top grades to ensure his high GPA and secure a full-ride scholarship to NU. Nathan didn't want to distract him.

 

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Something was bothering Nathan, Blake could tell. But whenever he asked the brunette about it, he firmly denied anything. Knowing Nathan's unhealthy habit of pushing things unto himself, Blake came to the conclusion that he should do his best to find out what was distressing the brunette, despite what Nathan said. However, Blake barely had time to speak to Nathan amidst preparing for his harsh finals (his teachers were certainly going all-out this year) and other distractions.

"Crap…" Tyler muttered as he drew three cards from the deck. "I fold."

Twilight Town High School Administration forbade the students from playing poker only if the students were using cash, which was why the group was playing poker with potato chips instead. They knew they should have been studying for their approaching exams, but once Dylan insisted Manson teach him how to play poker, the topic became infectious. Zexion and Nathan were the only two who decided not to participate. Nathan watched with interest while Zexion peered over his book once in a while, reminding Dylan of the different hands.

It was Blake who held most of the chips, and he was smirking widely behind his five cards. Alex, holding the second-most chips, knitted his brows together and mulled over his luck.