Work Text:
June. 2011. London.
What Simon enjoys most is silence. It’s something that he’s always find more comfortable, even if it’s awkward. It’s what he’s grown up with, what he’s lived with, and what he’s found himself used to.
It’s why Simon works at a bookstore. Bookstores (and libraries) are known to be quiet, it’s quite literally a rule of theirs, and what’s better than working in silence surrounded by a multitude of films and books. Because Simon loves books. Not as much as he loves films but it’s close.
So Simon can’t be blamed for not feeling too happy with the bookstore’s new program. At least he’s not the only one.
“I’d rather be in the psychiatric hospital than here,” Lucy, recently released from very said psychiatric hospital and into the world, says. She’s been working here a month longer than Simon and regularly sees a therapist to help her out with her issues.
In his opinion, Lucy looks better now than she did the last time he saw her at the community center. No longer does she have eye-bags or that disturbing twinkle in her eyes. She cut her hair and it now curled just over her ears, showing off her fresh ear piercings.
Lucy had been beyond apologetic during Simon’s first week, tip toeing around him and eagerly helping him with anything. It threw Simon off and he had to sit her down and tell her that he didn’t need her to do that when he forgave her. What he wanted was the sweet girl from the ward he became friends with and she eagerly agreed, happy to be back on good terms.
Simon held back a sigh, “I would too.”
The bookstore had started hosting summer programs for kids, helping them build literacy skills while offering other activities that focus on STEM, coding, and such. Free breakfast and lunch included—yes, that was directly read from the pamphlet.
It’s not that he hates kids, not necessarily, but he’s not the biggest fan of them. They’re messy, sticky most of the time, snotty, hyper, emotional, and all kinds of things Simon has no clue how to deal with despite growing up with his own little sister. But worst of all, they’re loud. Screaming, crying, laughing, every sound from kids are loud.
“I need headphones,” Simon murmurs. It’s a shame he left his in his bag in the back of the bookstore. Having headphones on is discouraged considering how they’re supposed to be ready to help anyone in need at anytime but there’s only so much noise Simon can take.
Lucy gives him a sympathetic smile. “Want to go out in the back and take a quick break?” She’s leaning in her chair that she pushed back so her legs could sit crossed on the wide front desk. Simon has long since stopped reminding her its not proper.
“I don’t want you working by yourself,” Simon says, even if it sounded like heaven to him. He tapped his fingers against his knee while he twisted his chair side to side, long since used to the tiny squeaks of the wheels under him.
Lucy gives him a lingering look before shrugging her shoulders. She’s getting better at taking his rejections, doesn’t continuously offer once he says no. “At least we’re only doing this for one month,” She offers.
“Right,” The words did little to comfort Simon. “One month,” A kid in the corner starts crying loudly, wailing his eyes out while one of the staff in charge of the program try desperately to calm him down. The sound grates Simon’s ears. “One month,” He repeated to himself.
When his lunch break comes around, Simon doesn’t spare more than a second to dip into the back of the bookstore. It’s dead quiet. All at once the tension leaves his body and he sighs as it goes.
The break room is a small kitchenette with a round table and a couple of chairs pushed in the corner. Employees were allowed to use the refrigerator, microwave, and coffee machine as much as they wanted, along with any of the small selected snacks that their manager restocks every two weeks.
The lid of his lunchbox opens and he’s hit with the smell of his chicken, fried vegetables, and rice. It’s warm, because Simon uses the same thermos lunch box him mom bought for him in secondary school, and the microwave in the backroom is too dirty for him to put his food inside lest it gets contaminated by it.
Simon is grateful his lunch is almost an hour long. It gives him time to decompress before he has to go back out. He lets his mind drift as music plays in his headphones while he eats.
Lucy pops into the back to check on him from time to time. She peaks her head through the door and gives him a glance before she goes back to her business. It’s her way of knowing that he’s okay when he’s like this, all wired up and restless. Simon always gives her a thankful look when she doesn’t try to talk to him, knowing he wouldn’t be able to string a coherent sentence together.
It’s a good thing the youth programs conclude after lunch.
When his shift at the bookstore comes to an end, Simon helps Lucy put everything back in place before they close. There’s only a few books lying around and a few more in the wrong places so the two aren’t there for long. He checks out a book from the back for himself before he clocks out and is waving Lucy goodbye while heads to his car.
It’s a simple red car. A 2010 Kia Rio to be exact, but Simon has never been a car guy. It’s not the most impressive but it gets him to and from places and that’s all that matters to him.
Simon tosses his lunchbox in the passenger seat when he gets into his car. His phone bluetooth connects to the car the second it revs to life while his seat belt clicks in.
He taps a few buttons on his phone until The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen plays loudly over his speakers. It’s one of his favorite songs, has been since he discovered the band in secondary school along with Joy Division (the latter being the one he based his whole personality off of).
His lips mumble along to the lyrics as he drives while his mind drifts off to think of non-consequential things. Like what food he has for dinner, if he wants to order out instead, if he has enough soap for laundry, if his load in the wash was done, boring things like so.
The loud shrill sound of his phone ringing breaks him out of his concentration so badly that he almost swerves. Simon glances at his phone It’s an unfamiliar number.
He hesitates to answer, having only bad experiences with unknown numbers.
But it’s not like just anyone calls him (only his sister, grandparents, and the other four from the community service). His stomach lurches at the possibility of someone he loves being in danger and, without hesitation, he clicks the green button. “Hello?”
“Barry!” Nathan’s voice comes over the line, “Listen to me, I’ve only got one phone call. I’m in serious trouble.” Simon’s stomach drops.
Simon swallows thickly as he tries to process hearing Nathan’s voice. It’s been months since Simon has seen Nathan, since any of them has seen Nathan, after that night they helped Marnie deliver Nathan Jr and he fucked off to god-knows-where.
Things had majorly changed in the last couple of months for all of them in his absence.
Kelly, for example, is in college for engineering while doing a side hustle at a coffee shop. She moved out of her mom’s house and lives in the dorms throughout the year.
Alisha and Curtis still work as bartenders. Alisha goes to cosmetology school and is bunking with one of her mates from school. Curtis is living with Nikki and started coaching young kids at the community center.
Simon himself while having a job at a bookstore also goes to college with a major in computer and information science and a minor in cinematography and film production.
They’d all agree that they would make sure they wouldn’t be ending up back in community service, not after all the shit they went through while they were there. The only good thing about that place was the fact that after their service was up, there were programs that allowed the four of them to apply to good colleges and get financial aid.
“Barry! Are you still there?” Nathan’s voice quickly snapped Simon back. “I’m in Las Vegas. I was doing magic tricks. How am I supposed to know that a dice can’t have a seven on it?” Nathan’s flippant attitude was belittled by the small waver in his voice at the real life consequences he was facing.
Simon couldn’t tamper down the surge of anger that rushes through him. “Why are you calling me?” He grits out, his jaw clenched. Calling him after all this time, months of radio silence, a whole year of nothing until now.
“Because…” Nathan sighs, “I—you’re the only number I’ve got memorized. My mom changes hers every month and I never called the others that much. Well—except for Kelly but I can’t remember the last two digits and I didn’t want to chance it on my one call.”
Simon scoffs, “And what happened to your—the woman? Your baby?”
“Well, she kind of had to fuck off when the new daddy got locked up. I don’t blame her, the police spooked her off and she didn’t want that around Nathan Jr.”
Simon stays silent, not knowing what to say to that.
“Anyways, if you could, you know, come get me, that’d be great,” Nathan continues. His voice lowers and he whispers into the phone, “Or turn invisible and sneak me out—Hey! Back up! I’m still on call!”
There’s scuffling in the background before Simon hears Nathan again, “Right, so how soon can you be here?”
“You expect me to drop everything just to help you?” Simon asks. And it’s rhetorical because he knows the answer, knows it before Nathan says anything, because Nathan is just that much of an asshole.
It doesn’t stop his fists tightening over the wheel when Nathan says a simple, “Yes.”
“I’m hanging up,” Simon rolls his eyes and lifts his finger.
“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Nathan shouts. “Wait, come on, Barry. Help a friend out, please. Please? Look, I’m even begging ya, yeah? I’m sure a sick fuck like you is into that.”
Simon tampers down the incredulous chuckle that threatens to come out of his throat, knowing Nathan would misread it. His words aren’t funny, it actually pisses off Simon even more, but it’s such a Nathan thing for him to not know how to ask for help properly, to ruin it while he’s trying.
His resolve is weakening. Simon’s always been particularly weak to Nathan. Always looking at him, reveling in any attention Nathan threw at him, desperate to be his friend.
Quickly, Simon hangs up.
The car is silent as Simon pulls up to his flat. He parks his car and sits in the seat, staring at his wheel dazedly. The moment stretches on for so long that Simon almost assumes the call didn’t happen, a figment of his imagination.
He picks up his phone, disconnects it from bluetooth, and goes to dial Kelly’s number. In his recent call history is the unknown number, the one that looped across his phone screen during the call. His pulse races underneath his skin and he almost itches to feel his heart thud under his fingertips.
Instead, he calls Kelly.
The phone doesn’t ring long. “What’s happenin’?”
“He-I got a-Kelly,” Simon stuttered. He pauses, takes a deep breath, and on the exhale he blurts out, “Nathan called me.”
The line goes silent before—“What?”
“Nathan called. Just now. He’s in prison, said he couldn’t remember the last two digits of your number so he called me, wanted me to come up and help him.” Simon rants.
Kelly groans, “Oh my fucking god. Of course. Of course he’s in shit, of course that’s why that idiot calls. Had us fucking worried over nothing.” She sighs, “I’m gonna fucking wring my hands around his neck next time I see his scrawny ass.”
Simon silently agreed with every word.
“So? You gonna leave him?”
It’s a question and Kelly’s always been blunt, but it puts Simon on defense almost immediately. “He can’t just—call us and hope we’ll get him out of anything. That’s not how friends work.” He says.
“Yeah,” Her voice softens as she says, “But it’s Nathan.”
And that seemed to sum everything up, didn’t it? It’s Nathan. No one breaks the rules like Nathan, no one’s an exception like Nathan, no one does what Nathan does.
Simon knew from the moment his resolve weakened that he wouldn’t leave Nathan there. His anger had long since faded leaving behind an ache Simon thought he’d left behind with the memories of Nathan that he had. An ache so painfully familiar it makes it’s home in his chest.
“Right,” He murmurs.
Kelly doesn’t let him linger in it for long. “Plus, I kinda need him to be here in person so I can give him a good smack, yeah? Haven’t done it in a while and he definitely deserves it.”
“Okay,” Simon smiles. “I’ll bring him back.”