Brad flies home from Kabul knowing something terrible. It’s the middle of the night when the plane crosses into California and everyone else on the plane with him is asleep.
Nate isn’t there to meet him, not that Brad expected it. No one else comes either, because they all thought Nate would want to be the one to bring Brad home.
Brad takes a cab home, hauling his back out to the dark street, lifting his arm until someone stops.
He’s only been gone for four months, but the city always feels new. It’s dark though, and Brad’s tired, so he can’t see if anything’s changed. The cabbie’s quiet, and there’s news on the radio in a low murmur.
Brad’s house is dark and stale when he opens the door. When he walks in the air feels dull and unstirred.
Everything is exactly as Nate must have left it, clean and orderly. He even emptied the fridge and wiped it out when he left. The bed has hospital corners.
Nate’s half of the closet and dresser is empty. There’s not enough stuff in Brad’s bag to fill the space.
He sits down on the edge of the bed. He’s known this is what it’d be like, has had time enough to reconcile the information, but this is a new he’s not used to.
They haven’t told anyone. Nate wanted to wait until Brad was home and they could talk about it, present a united front for their broken relationship.
Brad wasn’t ready for it, even though it was inevitable. He dumps his phone on the floor and lies back on the bed, bring his knees up and his arms in. He doesn’t bother with the blankets.
I'm going to pretend that no matter what it was that caused them to break up, it's going to be fixed in no time because they can't break up. It's against the laws of the universe or something. There'll be angst and people will find out and people will either say it's against the laws of the universe or that they saw it coming because Brad's no relationship material and Nate was too busy being Nate to compromise or whatever. People will talk and it'll be awkward, but eventually they'll come back because as badly as life sucked when they were together, it sucks even more when they were apart. They'll keep it quiet and they won't talk about it, but the next time Brad comes back Nate will be there to pick him up, or at least his half of the closet won't be empty.
Nate isn’t there to meet him, not that Brad expected it. No one else comes either, because they all thought Nate would want to be the one to bring Brad home.
Brad takes a cab home, hauling his back out to the dark street, lifting his arm until someone stops.
He’s only been gone for four months, but the city always feels new. It’s dark though, and Brad’s tired, so he can’t see if anything’s changed. The cabbie’s quiet, and there’s news on the radio in a low murmur.
Brad’s house is dark and stale when he opens the door. When he walks in the air feels dull and unstirred.
Everything is exactly as Nate must have left it, clean and orderly. He even emptied the fridge and wiped it out when he left. The bed has hospital corners.
Nate’s half of the closet and dresser is empty. There’s not enough stuff in Brad’s bag to fill the space.
He sits down on the edge of the bed. He’s known this is what it’d be like, has had time enough to reconcile the information, but this is a new he’s not used to.
They haven’t told anyone. Nate wanted to wait until Brad was home and they could talk about it, present a united front for their broken relationship.
Brad wasn’t ready for it, even though it was inevitable. He dumps his phone on the floor and lies back on the bed, bring his knees up and his arms in. He doesn’t bother with the blankets.
Maybe he’s still not ready.
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Group hugs, you guys. GROUP HUGS
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Yeah, I'm not ready either :(
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No. *puts fingers in years and sings la la la la*
[And then they sort things out and live happily ever after, right? RIGHT?]
Well, I did want angst. But it seems I can't do angst without the happy ending. *sigh*
He dumps his phone on the floor and lies back on the bed, bring his knees up and his arms in.
Look what you did with Brad here! D:
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*stomps around on hearts some more*
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God. Okay, ouch, but also: wow. And I kinda love the juxtaposition of the broken relationship and the clean house.
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Thank you!
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