Chapter Text
‘Lew, come on, we’re gonna be late.’
‘Hmmph.’
Lew pulled the covers closer to his chest, opening one bleary eye to see Dick leaving the bathroom in a cloud of steam, a towel wrapped around his waist. The scent of that godawful tea-tree shampoo he always insisted on using wafted into the bedroom as Dick began searching around for underwear.
‘Come on, Nix, you’ve got ten minutes.’
Dick started opening and slamming drawers rather more loudly than was strictly necessary, rattling the coat hangers inside the closet as he pulled out a fresh shirt.
‘Alright, alright. I’m up.’ Lew rolled onto his back, pushing the covers away and feeling the cool air slowly bring him to life. Yawning enormously, he sat up and swung his feet onto the floor. Dick glanced over as he slung the shirt across his shoulders, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. Lew grimaced back at him. ‘Y’know, my dad owns the company, I don’t think we’re gonna get fired for being five minutes late.’
Dick merely paused in the process of fastening his trousers to throw a decidedly more crumpled and greying shirt in Lew’s direction. Grumbling, Lew got up and stumbled to the bathroom.
The bathroom was tiny, in keeping with the rest of the apartment. When they first moved to the city, Nix had rather hoped that his father’s generosity in offering them both jobs might have stretched to his offering to help with a deposit. He wasn’t exactly surprised when this proved to be wishful thinking on his part. Besides, he reflected, Dick had been predictably mortified at the very idea of it. Instead they had taken this rather tawdry little shoebox in an area of town which, for all its faults, at least wasn’t crawling with tourists. The whole place was barely bigger than the Nixon family home’s second-smallest dining room, but the look in Dick’s eyes when he pointed to where their bed and their dresser would fit ‘just perfectly’ made it as good as a palace. So they’d painted the tired old walls in primrose yellow and spent hours puzzling over a giant Ikea bookshelf, to provide some kind of separation between the kitchen and the bedroom. A pair of mismatched chairs and a tiny dining table that rocked on its uneven legs were squeezed into one corner. The smog-stained window looked out onto a charming view of the neighbouring apartment block’s fire escape. But for the first time in his life, Lew had looked around him and seen home.
‘Lewis!’
Lew poked his head round the bathroom door, still brushing his teeth.
‘Hmmm?’
‘I bought milk yesterday, what did you do with it all?’
‘Hurrlurrburghhh…’ He turned and spat into the sink. ‘I was trying to make White Russians.’ He could hear Dick’s exasperated sigh from the kitchen.
‘I am not eating Pop-Tarts for breakfast again.’
Lew couldn’t quite stifle a giggle as he emerged in time to see Dick staring forlornly at an empty milk-carton.
‘Sorry. I’ll go shopping today.’ He crouched down and peered under the bed, retrieving yesterday’s suit trousers from the floor and flinging them onto the mattress before turning to rifle through the underwear drawer.
‘The last time I let you go shopping on your own you came back with a fifth of Vat 69 and a packet of Twizzlers.’
‘You didn’t give me a list.’
As he pulled on his socks he could hear Dick muttering darkly, followed by some reluctant crunching.
‘These are vile.’
‘Please, Dick, Pop-Tarts are delicious. Live a little.’
Lew dressed quickly, figuring he’d exacted enough revenge on Dick for getting him up at whatever ungodly hour it was. By the time he’d finished, Dick was standing by the front door, checking his watch.
‘Ready?’
‘Yeah, yeah. Let’s go.’
The apartment was only on the first floor so they took the stairs out onto the street. It was a late April morning, the sky stretching clear and blue overhead. Sunlight infiltrated the gaps between tall buildings, promising to burn away those cold pools of shadow that still remained. The nearest tube stop was a few blocks away. Dick walked briskly, Lew keeping pace at his side.
‘So tell me, what does an HR Manager do?’
Dick side-eyed him. ‘…Manage HR.’
Lew raised his eyebrows, weaving slightly as he tried to light a cigarette on the move. ‘Sounds exhilarating.’
‘And what exactly is your job description?’
‘I don’t know, but yesterday I photocopied some envelopes then took a 2-hour lunch break so who’s complaining.’
Dick laughed, shaking his head. He glanced thoughtfully at Lew.
‘Nix?’
‘Hmm.’
‘What does your dad’s company actually do?’
Lew took a long drag on his cigarette. ‘Y’know… I honestly have no idea.’ He grinned at Dick. ‘But then I’m just the guy who photocopies the envelopes.’
They reached the tube station just in time to see their train pulling in.
‘C’mon,’ Dick broke into a jog, trying to get to the quieter carriages further up.
‘Aw, Dick, there’s another one in five minutes!’
‘Hurry up, Lew.’
They ran along the platform as far as they could before ducking into the train just as the doors began to close. Much to Lew’s disgruntlement, the carriage was nearly full anyway.
‘Well, that was a- watch out-‘
Lew put out a steadying arm as Dick swayed to get out of the way of a young man giving up his seat to an old lady.
‘Sorry,’ the man responded in a warm southern drawl, turning towards them with a hangdog expression.
‘Eugene!’ Dick and Lew exclaimed simultaneously. He answered them with a slow, quiet smile.
‘Hey, guys.’
Lew laughed, patting him on the shoulder. ‘How’s it going?’
‘Okay, just headin’ to the clinic.’ They shuffled closer to the doors to make space for him. Eugene leaned back against the handrail. ‘You guys just moved to around here?’
Dick nodded. ‘Yeah, got a little place on West Street.’
‘Huh,’ Eugene’s smile stiffened a little. Lew exchanged a knowing glance with Dick.
‘It’s alright, we know it’s a dump.’
Eugene laughed, ducking his head. His face relaxed. ‘I’m sure it’s just great.’
‘What about you?’
‘Well… Me and Edward got an apartment on Bay Avenue.’ He glanced at them sheepishly. Lew whistled.
‘Nice.’
Eugene shrugged, rubbing the back of his head. ‘Got some good business going since I went for private practice: the clinic’s really started makin’ a name for itself. So I figured why not invest, y’know. And it’s ground floor so it’s good for Snafu.’
Lew grinned. ‘How is old Snafu?’
Eugene gave a rueful sigh. ‘Fat as ever. Edward spoils her too much.’
Dick moved closer as they squeezed out of the way of the doors at the next stop. ‘And how’s Babe?’
A tender look illuminated Eugene’s face. ‘He’s fine. He’s gonna be working shifts at Joe and Bill’s new bar.’ He glanced from Dick to Lew. ‘You guys heard about that? It’s called Legless.’
Dick shushed Lew as his laughter drew angry glares from the other passengers.
‘Legless?’
Eugene chuckled. ‘Yeah. They’re having a big opening party next week if you guys wanna come?’
‘Sure, sounds great.’
‘I’ll give you a call, let you know the address. My stop’s next.’ Eugene checked his watch, then looked up at them. ‘Oh, and about Snafu… Edward took her to the dog park a few months ago and, uh, well… she had a bit of an accident.’ He rubbed the back of his head again. ‘Six little accidents, to be precise. I’ve found good homes for three of ‘em, but the other three are coming up for twelve weeks now and if I can’t find somebody to take them I’m gonna have to give them to the shelter. So, I know it’s maybe a long-shot, but if you guys know anyone who’s looking to adopt a puppy can you let me know? Maybe you could ask around at work, if it’s not too much trouble?’
Lew just stared at him, a strange light in his eyes. ‘Snafu had puppies?’
The train juddered to a halt at the next stop. Dick put a hand on Lew’s shoulder.
‘Sure, Eugene, absolutely. I’ll put something up on the message board at work, I’m sure there’ll be someone.’
‘Thanks. I’ll see ya.’ Eugene nodded at them both before slipping away into the crowd.
The doors slid closed. After a moment of silence, Lew turned towards Dick with a studied air of nonchalance.
‘Dick…’
‘No.’
‘Dick, come on, you don’t even know what I was about to say!’
‘I know exactly what you were about to say.’
‘I’d take care of it! I’d feed it and train it and take it for walks… you wouldn’t even know it was there!’
‘Lewis, you can’t even do those things for yourself.’
‘That is an outrageous slander.’
‘You order home-delivery from the pizza place one block away from the apartment. Yesterday you apparently drank over a pint of White Russians. It took me three months to train you not to leave your cigarette butts in the bath!’
Lew huffed defeatedly.
‘Can we at least go and see them before they get adopted?’
Dick gave him a wary look. ‘…It would be nice to see Babe and Eugene again. I’m glad we bumped into him.’
Lew needed no further prompting. ‘Well, that’s settled! We can go round before Bill and Joe’s big opening party!’
Dick was keeping up the act, but Lew could see the smile catching at the corner of his mouth.
‘Fine, but we’re just going to look, remember? I’m sure there’ll be someone in the office looking for a dog. This is us.’
The carriage doors opened again. As they walked along the platform, Dick could have sworn that Lew was bouncing.