Chess Game
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Summary
The trial was a confusing blur of pain.
Nathan remembers it mostly in snapshots, like photographs. He wonders if they match the courtroom sketches. He stared at the artist sometimes, when it was too hard to look at what was actually going on. A few times, the artist looked back to him, and immediately started sketching his face. He wondered if he was a good model. He'd been a good model before.
Series
- Part 1 of Chess Game
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The day he gets back to the dorms happens to be a day his last class is with Warren Graham.
Series
- Part 2 of Chess Game
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He looks up from his cup to stare at Warren, who is all too busy with his plate to look back.
Nathan can't possibly comprehend how one person can manage both one of the Two Whales' fat-dripping burgers, and a large fries too. It seems grotesque to him, the amount of food these people are shoveling into their mouths continually. He's sat here long enough before to observe them - when he was skipping class, avoiding his father, or Mark - and yet it always astounds him.
He could never do it.
Series
- Part 3 of Chess Game
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The third time he ends up curled up on Warren's bed, he has to admit defeat.
Series
- Part 4 of Chess Game
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They're like giggling middle schoolers as they sneak out. The night is still young, but it's late enough that they shouldn't be outside on a school night. That's never stopped Nathan before, but Warren is the kind of good kid who doesn't go out past curfew, so it's exciting for him. They hook arms like old comrades as they make their way to the parking lot.
"I don't know why I'm paying for popcorn", Nathan states as they sit in Warren's car. "I'm not even going to eat any of it."
Series
- Part 5 of Chess Game
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He wakes up in the middle of the night with someone's hands on him and the urge to scream.
Series
- Part 6 of Chess Game
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He likes labels. They make everything easier and clean and organized, like he likes things to be, because then it's easier to think right. He used to like how organized and composed Mark was. Even the way he carefully wrote the names on every binder and stuck the photos to each page meticulously, while horrifying, reassured him in a way. The protocol and the orders made it easier to live because he didn't have to think so much. When Mark stuck the needle in his vein and let him down into the comforting blur of half-consciousness, he never had to think.
Series
- Part 7 of Chess Game
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Giving him something to do and appreciated comfort at night isn't the only good the animal is doing him, either. Since the rumor got out - from Warren, without doubt - that he's taken in a dirty old cat with only one eye and three legs, people have seemed to get a bit nicer. He's seen Zachary petting Dash in the hallway; when their eyes met, the quarterback didn't glare at him as he usually did, but only retreated into his room with something like an ashamed look on his face. It's been a long time since people have not gone out of their way to give him dirty looks and it feels kind of good.
It's not all that happens. Three days after he got Dash, Hayden approaches him.
Series
- Part 8 of Chess Game
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Summary
Nathan Prescott has gotten to see life crumble down around him many times in his existence.
Series
- Part 9 of Chess Game
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"Remember the first time we fucked?"
Nathan's question rings out for a quiet second into the empty room, with just enough of a hesitation afterward that he starts to feel a little awkward for asking. He keeps his eyes on the magazine he's been pretending to read as he thought, refusing to look down at Warren, to gauge the effect of his query on his friend's face.
Series
- Part 10 of Chess Game