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[weusedtoshine]

Some days, he thinks it hurts more than his thumb, still strapped up and healing in the bone. For he first few days, he searched for her and the baby, but, pretty soon, he stopped searching. There isn't much left of her at all; nothing to really remember her by. He searches her house from top to bottom, lies down on her bed for a while but doesn

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[theboywhowaited]

"Which one's this again?" Rory asked as he wandered into the room. He had lived through the 80s once; it seemed to him he should remember all this. But then there was a lot to remember.

He perched himself on the arm of the sofa, in wait of an answer, not intending to hang around for more than a few minutes, but glanced to his side to see Baze looking... well, a little worse for wear. Rory frowned and immediately forgot his previous question. "You alright?"

[weusedtoshine]

"The one where Demi Moore's a crazy drug addict," he says, tugging his blanket more firmly up over himself. He takes a moment to think about what Rory's just said to him.

"Not really, man."

[theboywhowaited]

Blankets made sense in Leadworth, where even if it were sunny there could be a nip in the air. But on the island, Rory rarely saw them around people's shoulders unless they were sick.

He popped down from the arm to the sofa proper, ignoring the movie. "What happened?"

[weusedtoshine]

"My best friend's gone," he says, and there seems to be no point in lying about it, and there seems to be no point in holding it back. "TJ. And her baby. All gone."

[theboywhowaited]

"Fuck," Rory breathed, looking for a second as shell shocked as Baze must have felt at first. He knew people came and went on the island, but it was still a hell of a thing to encounter, something like death but not. And a baby on top of it.

"Sorry, mate," he murmured, reaching up to squeeze Baze's shoulder. "That's terrible."

[weusedtoshine]

"Yeah," he says, leaning into the touch a little; he's always been a tactile kind of guy, and his friends always encouraged it. "Hey. You want to hang out for a bit? We could totally watch something more manly."

[theboywhowaited]

Rory didn't react to the lean in a negative way. Rather, it made him feel like it was doing some good, so he liked it.

"Yeah, sure," he agreed with a faint smile. He didn't want to seem too pleased, given that Baze was hurt and everything. But it was nice to know he could do something. "Put on some "Top Gear," some rugby. Get the testosterone going."

[weusedtoshine]

"There you go, speaking another language again," says Baze, with a fond roll of his eyes. "You find something, man. I'm going to stay here with my blanket where I'm safe."

[theboywhowaited]

"Alright," Rory said with an amused grin. "Let's see if I can translate this into American. Cars or -- what d'you call it -- football without pads. If the shelf's even that kind," he said, standing up to check. "Or maybe a martial arts movie. That would be cool," he said, talking mostly to himself now.