Run Like The Wind {Open}

[ALEX CIEN]

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[Nick Foxx]

"Going a little mad, Cien?" came an amused drawl from the tree above Alex.

For someone who claimed to have total control over his emotions and his wits, Nicholas was not behaving like a sane man. Of course, he never had been sane - he had always been manipulative, controlling, obsessive and prone to bouts of anxiety and manic behaviour when things did not go his way. He was almost psychotic, truly - he had very little understanding of others' feelings - but recently his body seemed to have been acting without his ego's permission. Since his brief encounter with Alex in the photoshoot, where they had been cast as 'the perfect looking couple', he had not been able to keep away from the boy. But, strangely for Nick, he had not been able to speak to him. In short, he had been stalking his ex-boyfriend.

He had persuaded himself he was keeping in practice with his powers. Since his break-up he had barely used them, and he had been a little rusty; stealing powers had become more and more difficult - he felt like a magpie with a broken beak. So a quick test of invisibility, I'll follow Alex, he won't mind, and if he sees me, I've lost, that'll be fine, that'll be fine, that'll be fine...

This had gone on for weeks. During that time, Nick had barely been at his own flat, because every time Alex went out of his field of vision he worried he might never find him again. If he went home and slept for the night, Alex might go out earlier in the morning than Nick had predicted, and then what would he do? He wouldn't know where he was, what he was doing, who he was with. So Nick sat outside his house every night, and listened to him trying to make love to his new boyfriend silently while Joe slept soundly in the next room.

Very strangely indeed, Nick was not bitter, nor was he jealous. In fact, he was triumphant. After all, this 'Gary' didn't know that Alex still loved Nick. He did. Every time he walked past a billboard of Nick in his boxer shorts, Alex smiled a special smile. Every time he saw the posters that they shot together on that fateful evening...

He jumped down from the tree. He'd spoken now, he had to show himself. He'd blown the cover he'd been building up for weeks, because he was too...in love to stay quiet. There was nothing to do but stand in the rain and smirk like he didn't care, like he'd been there by accident, and to make sure Alex didn't see the brand new tattoo on the inside of his wrist.

[ALEX CIEN]

[/b][/color] Alex retorted, crossing his arms over his, still thin, frame. The he did something he doubted either of them expected. He ran over to Nick and flung his arms around the boys neck, holding on tight and refusing to let go. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to.
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[Nick Foxx]

Nick was just about to say, "I guess I am," in response to Alex's retort about the accusation of madness, but before he could speak there was a small, thin, familiar form pressed against his chest, and his arms wrapped automatically around the body he had missed so much, and he rested his chin on his ex-boyfriend's head. It was such a relief, to feel his small hands with such slender fingers clutching at his shirt. He was like a child; it was almost like Joe was hugging him again, like he used to, when Nick was practically his daddy. Oh, what a good daddy he'd been! Drunk, volatile, violent, obsessed with f*cking mummy! It surprised him that Joe wasn't far more messed up, what with all the orphanages and what Nick had heard about Alex's parents, and living with Alex and Nick, and now Gary...

Gary. Nick's hands curled into fists involuntarily against Alex's back. But he wasn't jealous. No, not jealous. In fact, he felt sorry for Gary. His hands relaxed. Gary would be the one to lose out in this situation. Alex couldn't ignore Nick this time. Yes, he'd made mistakes, but since his parents' death he was a new, improved man - not just financially. He was even cleaning the flat - almost obsessively - when he was there. And he was dressing neatly. Today he was wearing a checked shirt buttoned all the way up, tucked into tight jeans with suspenders, and scruffy looking brown brogues. He looked almost grown up. He'd taken out a lot of his piercings too, and was letting them close, and was gradually having most of his superfluous tattoos removed. Except, of course, the brand new one on the inside of his wrist. That little heart with the inscription, 'sic ego nec sine te nec tecum vivere possum - AFC amo,' would one day, he thought, be the only ink left on his skin. The tattoos had represented each of his past conquests - hence how numerous they were - but now he was past that phase. He hadn't slept with anyone for months. He hadn't even...touched...

Just thinking about it with Alex in his arms again was almost too much for his self-control. To everyone else, he was same old reckless, sexy, hedonistic Nick Foxx, but to Alex he had to show he had changed - now he was the neat, steady Nicholas Benedict. "You know I'm sorry," he murmured into the silence which was bordering on awkwardness, in a low, sincere tone that sounded entirely unlike him. "You know I can't even understand now why I would do such a thing to you."

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[ALEX CIEN]

[/b][/color] Alex mumbled, his nose buried in Nick's neck. His eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly, talking in Nick's own scent. God he had missed it. He had missed everything about Nick. He just couldn't bring himself to admit it. He was happy with Gary now, Nick was just a friend. He was happy with Gary, wasn't he? Yes. Certainly... well, no, maybe not. As a teacher Gary spent half of his time making work and the other half of his time thinking up new work to hand out that he would be able to mark again!

Alex pulled away from Nick slightly, his hand still curled around the fabric of Nick's...shirt? Alex smiled to himself and ran his fingertips along the pattern. It reminded him of then he had first traced Nick's tattoos, and all the times after when they had laid in bed together just holding each other, watching a film. Alex bit his lip and undid the first few buttons of Nick's shirt, revealing the top of the marred tattoo beneath. Alex dropped the smile immediately and placed a single light kiss on Nick's chest. He knew it must have been hard for Nick to tear himself up like that, even if it was in a fit of rage. Alex paused and then rested his head against Nick's chest, just listening to his heart beat. His eyes noticing everything that Nick had changed. Less piercings, less tattoos, new trousers, new shirts. Alex frowned and took ahold of Nick's arm and rolled up the sleeve a little way. What does it say? he asked, wondering if AFC really meant what he thought it meant.

He stepped back from Nick, finally letting him go. He immediately felt cold, but resisted the urge to hold his ex-boyfriend again. The rain still dripping off his nose. Suddenly he sneezed, shaken a little from what had happened the last time he had been too cold he offered his hand to Nick and pointed inside. I'm sure Joe would like to see you, it might take his mind off losing the race... if you want to come? Alex asked, his voice quiet. He was still torn in half, part of him wanting Nick to say yes and to everything to go back to how it was before. But the other part, the smaller part, was telling him to leave Nick behind and just be happy with Gary and the home they had together. Why was it so hard to just be normal?

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[Nick Foxx]

It was a friendly kiss. But it made his skin burn. His chest was just healing from where he had cut away the original tattoo he had for Alex, and he was bandaged elsewhere while the others were recovering from his laser surgery. Luckily, the man who had painted him had not been very experienced - the ink did not run deep. Removing them had been relatively easy, though it was still painful. He saw it as a suffering he had to endure; a kind of punishment for living that life. He had run free, but now he was grown up, and had to face the consequences of his pleasure-seeking. Nicholas Benedict Foxx was nineteen now. He was nearly an adult - a proper adult, not just a legal adult. He had to take care of himself. He would marry in a few years. He had been about to marry Alex. The image of the engagement ring - first the ring-pull off a can of soda - still haunted him.

"sic ego nec sine te nec tecum vivere possum - AFC amo," he pronounced perfectly. The benefits of a private education, and something he liked to keep secret. "It is a quotation from a love poem. It means, 'Thus, I cannot live without you nor with you.'" He left off the last part - he assumed that the initials and the word 'amo' were fairly easy to translate, even for someone not tutored in latin. "'sic ego nec sine te nec tecum vivere possum, et videor voti nescius esse mei. aut formosa fores minus, aut minus inproba, vellem; non facit ad mores tam bona forma malos,'" he continued, murmuring the foreign, dead words in a low monotone, then translating them for Alex in the same voice. "'Thus, I cannot live without you nor with you, and I know not what I seem to want myself. I wish your form was less fair, or you were less wicked; such loveliness does not suit such evil ways.' Somehow, it's us, it's me, it's you. Somehow." He fell silent, and lowered his gaze to the floor, the tips of his shoes and Alex's feet in his field of vision. His sneeze was cute, as ever, and cute was the best word for it. "I'd like to see Joe very much. I wonder if he'll recognise me."

Now they had spoken, and although it was still awkward and strange, Nick felt more...free. He could say things that had only been rehearsed in his head before now. "I'm different now, you see that, don't you?" There was a hint of desperation in his voice; he looked directly into Alex's eyes for the first time that day - he actually pleaded with him. "You understand? I haven't done all sorts of things, since... I haven't wanted to! I haven't touched alcohol, except on the night when I cut my heart off. I haven't touched anyone else. I haven't even spoken to a girl, let alone flirted with her. My parents are dead, Alex, both of them. I'm a rich man. I could make you anything, Alex, I promise you. I promise - I could give you and Joe the perfect life. We could stay here, or move to my home in New York, or my home in the country, or abroad - I have property in England and France now as well. I'm respectable, Aleksandr, I can be the safe person you need. I don't get upset and angry any more - I'm the calm one now, Alex, you could cry on my shoulder every night and I would hold you until you stopped, and fix everything, just to stop you hurting. I don't care about myself anymore - you must see, I'm not the selfish idiot I used to be. Anything could happen to me, and I would not worry, but if anything happened to you..."

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[ALEX CIEN]

[/b][/color] he emphasized the word 'like', hoping Nick would get the hint. I don't want people to think...well, you know. I just, can we be friends? I mean...not forever. Just...for now. I, you, I...ugh...you know I still like you. I mean, who wouldn't? You're...everything I've ever wanted. I just need time. We can't rush into things. Not like last time, we were engaged in a few months, it was too fast. You know? he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, turning to see his little brother frowning a tapping an invisible watch on his arm. Alex held up one finger to show he was almost done. Turning back to Nick, he bit his lip and looked towards the floor. I'm just scared that if we get back together, move back in, it won't work and Joe will be thrown somewhere else again. I just need to put him first...that's all, ok-

Suddenly the door to the school flung open and Joe landed himself in Nick's arms, wrapping his legs around Nick's waist for a support. Alex smirked and stepped back, allowing the boys to say hello. Not wanting to get in the way.
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