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When things went to hell, when everything was shit and Sid didn't know what to do, he went to Tony. He always had, probably always would. Even when everything between them had been a mess, years of habit and friendship had been stronger than their mutual anger and resentment when Sid had truly needed Tony. So it came as no surprise to Tony when he answered the knock on his door and found Sid on the other side, looking dejected, with that fucking knit cap of his jammed on his head. "...'lo."
Tony looked at him, his expression one of someone who was in on an amusing secret, because in a way that's what all of this was. It was fucked up, of course, but it was amusing as well, twistedly amusing. Sid was still fucked up over Cassie, despite everything, despite a fruitless search in New York, and Tony...well, in an ironic fucking twist of fate, Tony was fucked up over Sid. How could one not find amusement in that? "Sid. Fancy seeing you," he commented, managing to sound a bit bored, a bit thrilled, and a bit derisive all at once. He stepped back from the door, pulling it wider. "Come in."
The dormitory room was bland, boring despite the touches of colour provided by posters tacked to the walls and the duvet (not the duvet, sadly, just a blue and gold patterned one) covering the narrow bed on his half of the room. Sid sank down on the edge, staring at the other side of the room without seeing the bare mattress and torn corner of poster remaining from the departure of Tony's roommate. They'd put it down as a personality clash, but really the bloke couldn't bear the nightmares, being woken up as often as not by Tony's hoarse cries, as the bus barrelled toward him again, stinking of petrol fumes and with headlamps brighter than the sun for one crystal clear moment before everything went dark. Tony was glad, in a way, though it wasn't quite the reputation he'd hoped for at uni. It meant he had his privacy, and was likely to have it for the rest of the term, at this point.
Tony shook his head and closed the door, twisting the lock before taking a seat next to Sid, waiting quietly. When it became clear Sid wasn't going to be forthcoming with details on his own, he took a guess. "Still haven't heard from her?" In answer, Sid leant toward him, digging into the hip pocket of his blue jeans, his arm warm against Tony's, hairs tickling Tony's skin (though he was sure Sid wasn't noticing any of this, Sid was so bloody oblivious sometimes, it'd be hilarious if it wasn't so fucking tragic.) He pulled out a folded, mangled envelope and dropped it in Tony's lap before collapsing backward onto the bed, glaring at the ceiling.
Tony unfolded the envelope and scanned the contents of the letter. In between the rambling stories of bizarre situations that somehow always seemed to find Cassie without her even trying, there was a paragraph about Jack, and how he was really amazing and Sid would probably love him except not because he's Cassie's new boyfriend, sorry but it just sort of happened, so there's that, and oh, she was walking along 16th the other day and a woman in a horribly amazing fur coat gave her a gold bracelet just for no reason at all, wasn't that lovely?
He looked up and over at Sid, who was darting glances at him between his intense moments of ceiling-glaring. "Fucking figures, right? I spend weeks walking around that bloody city, trying to find her, nearly getting beat up and mugged and god only knows, only to come home no better off than I began, and meanwhile some arse named Jack's been shagging her all along." He sat up, shoving the hat off of his head so he could run his fingers through his hair restlessly. "I should've let her go ages ago. I don't know why I let you send me there. It was a complete waste."
Tony didn't think it was a complete waste, but he could see how Sid might look at it that way. "Look. You would've kept waiting and wondering and being all pathetic and moping if you hadn't gone. Now you can say fuck her and get on with things, yeah?" He had a few ideas of what things he'd like Sid to get on with. "You've got options, Sid. If you just open your fucking eyes, you've got options."
Sid scrunched up his face in confusion, looking at Tony. "What options? Be pathetic and alone? Everyone's gone back home, it's just me and mum with no one to do things with, it's all gone to shit and this isn't how life was supposed to be after college."
Tony sighed and stood up, reaching out to snatch Sid's hand. "Come here." When Sid frowned at him uncomprehendingly, he rolled his eyes, tugging at him. "Come here." Sid rose to his feet, shuffling a little closer, then stopping when Tony didn't move. Tony lifted his free hand, cupping the back of Sid's neck as he closed the distance between them, his mouth meeting Sid's before the other boy had a chance to realise what was coming. "You've. Got. Options," he repeated, the words whispered against Sid's lips as his own mouth curved into that secret smile again, as he leant back just enough to watch Sid's expression change from confusion to wide-eyed comprehension to thoughtful pondering.
"...What, me and you? Like...queers? Not--not that there's anything wrong with that, it's fine for Maxxie, and--but I just never thought...I mean, who thinks about that sort of thing anyway, unless you've a reason to--" Tony sighed as Sid gave no sign of stopping his nervously stammered monologue, and put a premature end to it by kissing him again, more insistently. After a few moments of stiff indecision, he felt Sid relax, felt him return the kiss with a thrill of victory, of conquest, a feeling he'd not experienced in a good long while. Not since the accident, really, and God, it felt good to capture that moment again, and it felt right that it was with Sid.
This time it was a few minutes before the kiss ended, and Sid's eyes were a bit glazed, his lips parted and swollen from the kiss. "Right, so. Options," he mumbled, unable to look away from Tony.
"Options," Tony confirmed, smirking. He kissed Sid again, just a peck, then took a step back. "You could take a flat, find a job, move here. Get out of your mum's house, for Christ's sake."
Sid was still blinking, trying to process everything that had happened in the last five minutes. "Right," he agreed slowly, sounding dazed. "Yeah. Could do…" He swallowed and looked at Tony, insecurity radiating from him in waves. "You're sure about this, Tone? Michelle—"
"Is at York. And we were good, Michelle and I, but that's done. We all know that's done. Even you know that's done, so don't try to pretend otherwise." Tony gave him a tight smile, sitting on the edge of the bed again to watch him. "That's a fucking excuse, anyway. I'm not asking you about Cass, am I? Because we both know what's been, and what's gone. It's time to stop fucking around and grow up. Think about our futures."
"That's rich, coming from you," Sid muttered, feeling as if he'd gone from being propositioned to being lectured in the space of a sentence. Sometimes Tony's thoughts and emotions moved so fast he couldn't come close to keeping up.
"Open your eyes, wanker. Look at me. I got hit by a fucking bus a year ago, and now I'm at uni, studying economics, doing something with my life. I grew up. And what are you doing, Sid? Waiting for someone to tell you what to do next? Waiting for me to tell you what to do next? Fine." He stood up and faced Sid, who was frowning, mouth partway open and ready to object but lacking an actual objection. "Come here. Move in to a flat, apply to UCAS and see if they'll let you start late, get a job, fucking do something."
"…Yeah. Yeah!" Sid blinked a few times, sitting up straighter as Tony's words infected him. "I will. I'll do it."
Tony's face lit up with that charming smile that had made girls (and a fair few boys) swoon all through college. "Fuck yeah. And I'll help you. I have a way of making things happen round here." He smirked and pulled Sid up from the bed and into his arms again, hugging him close. "Remember what I told you at the airport?" he murmured, thinking back to the moment when it had really hit him, just how fucking much Sid really meant to him.
Sid was quiet for a long while, long enough that even Tony started to feel a bit nervous. He began to pull back, but Sid's arms tightened around him and a whisper tickled his ear as Sid finally responded. "I always loved you the best, too."
Tony felt his heart swell, but he managed to say around the lump in his throat, through a grin he couldn't suppress, "I meant about the hat." And with that they fell onto the bed as one, laughing together, and then kissing, and then touching, finding out what they'd been missing all along.