Dealing
Travis carefully walked into the sitting room, finding all the lights out. He moved back behind the sofa, leaning over it to look at Nicholas.
“Nick?” he asked quietly. “I’m gonna order something for supper. Do you want anything?”
“No,” Nicholas said, just as quietly.
“Want me to put the kettle on?” Travis asked.
“No.”
Travis hung around for just a few more moments before retreating to his room. After he phoned in his order, he pulled out one of the mice from the cage and let it wander around on his bed while he idly played the latest FIFA title on his PS2. He kept the volume low, paying more attention to any sounds that might have come from the sitting room. The only sound that did come from that direction was a knock on the door, and as it cut through the silence of the flat, Travis quickly turned off his game, put the mouse back in his cage, and rubbed a bit of sanitiser onto his hands.
“Lights,” he announced as he came to the sitting room.
He flicked them on before answering the door, paying the delivery boy.
“I know you said you’re not hungry, but I got you some pad thai in case you get that way,” Travis said, putting the paper carton on the coffee table. “Try to eat something, kay?”
He didn’t wait around for Nicholas to respond and made tracks back to his bedroom, turning out the lights as he went. Nicholas just needed space and quiet, and while Travis was more than happy to give him those things, he kept his bedroom door open so he could at least be able to hear if anything happened. Nothing usually did happen, but on the off chance, he didn’t want to miss it.
He put on a DVD and let it play through the credits before going back out to put his leftovers in the refrigerator. On the way, he stopped to grab Nicholas’ as well, completely unsurprised to find that he hadn’t even touched it.
“Is he all right?” Nicholas asked as Travis started making his way back out to the bedroom.
“Who?” he asked, a little startled at the sudden conversation.
“Dr Sandhu.”
Nicholas was still lying on the sofa, and had hardly moved since Travis got back home, but Travis knew he’d been awake the whole time.
“Yeah, he’s fine,” Travis said, moving closer to the sofa. “Reckons his nose is broken, but he didn’t seem to act like it was a big deal.”
Nicholas was quiet for a long time, and Travis gave him time to compose his next thought.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said finally.
“Don’t be like that,” Travis said. “You did everything you’re meant to, and he’s not pressing charges. I told him next time to just let you walk away.”
“We should be setting the example,” Nicholas said.
“It was a reflex,” Travis reminded him. “You were upset. Hell, I’d have probably hit him in the same circumstances.”
Nicholas hummed disapprovingly.
“Take tomorrow off,” Travis said. “I’ll cover for you. I already talked to Sergeant Clarke about it. Well, texted him, but the same thing.”
When Nicholas failed to respond, Travis got up and returned to his room. If he’d be going in the next morning, he figured he might as well get to bed at a decent hour.
When Travis left the flat, Nicholas had still barely moved. His eyes were closed, but Travis had a feeling that he still wasn’t asleep. He had no idea that Nicholas had not only been up and moving around, but had even gone off to do something that Travis would have considered fairly stupid. For a moment, he considered phoning Hannah to come check on him, but decided against it, on the grounds that it would likely just cause more problems. If he’d known about Nicholas having turned himself in, he would have phoned Hannah.
But Travis knew exactly what would happen once he left. Eventually, Nicholas would get up, and start going mad and scrubbing every item in the flat to within an inch of its life. Not wanting to be around to get in the way of Nicholas’ second stage, he made early plans to find a reason to get home late.
The plan, as it happened, wound up being the pub. Well, Milliways, and while it didn’t actually allow for Travis to get home any later than usual, it did from his perspective put off going home. Of course, he hadn’t expected to run into goddamn Hunt again, which had just completely soured his entire evening. He waited around at the Bar, giving himself plenty of time to cool down and stop being irrationally upset at Nicholas before going back home. He’d expected to find the entire flat upended while Nicholas coped, but was rather unpleasantly surprised to find this not the case.
The flat had not been completely upended, and nothing had been scrubbed or hoovered. Instead, every single thing of Nicholas’ had vanished.
“Nicky?” Travis called cautiously through the quiet flat. “You all right, mate?”
He made his way to Nicholas’ bedroom, and almost felt sick. It was empty. He’d left behind the bed and wardrobe, but everything else was gone. Travis knew logically where it had all gone, but the fact that it was gone to begin with was terrifying. He didn’t know why it was terrifying - just that it was.
Nicholas had moved out. He’d been saying he was going to, but Travis never managed to believe it until now. He thought - no, knew - that Nicholas would chicken out at the last minute, but he hadn’t. He’d gone, and left Travis to find a half-empty flat.
Travis stumbled into the bathroom and was sick.