Head Boy
Date: 3/10/2024,
Categories:
Gay Male,
Author: bysjreardon
... already knew Symon-fucking-Ward-fucking-Mortlock -how's-that-for-fucking-hyphens. We went to primary school together. After which he took a southbound train, obviously.
Paekākāriki School is kind of a...well, it's in this little nook, this cute sunny dell protected from the southerlies. You can hear the trains, but they're not super-loud because there's a ridge in between. You can hear the sea if the wind's coming from the right direction, but it's muffled by the high dune. So it's the best of both worlds I guess, and in theory it's a melting pot because both the southbound types and the northbound types learn their abc's there before going their separate ways...
In practice, it's not like that. In practice, there's no need for fucking sorting hats based on parental income. Kids know. And even if they didn't...the southbound types were never available for hanging with, biking down to the dairy, generally sifting around after school. They were always whisked off in late-model SUVs to singing or drama or archery or some such thing...
Anyway. Symon. Who was now as tall as me, if a lot skinnier. Who had history here. And who didn't look any more thrilled to see me than I was to see him.
He nodded minimally, "Declan, hey..." before wandering over to a workbench and giving his attention to a hunk of metal clamped in a vice-grip.
Okay, I thought. That's good. You ignore me and I'll ignore you. That works.
Only it turned out he didn't ignore me quite as thoroughly ...
... as I'd assumed. Because, yeah...I don't know when, or how, or how many times, but he caught me checking Steven out. And then...I have a bit of a tendency to get over-focussed when I'm working on something challenging, so hey - that particular Saturday, I didn'tcompletely not notice that it was late and that most people had left, but Idid miss the conversation where Symon offered to lock up for Ray and drop the keys off to him later...
When I finally finished up and went to leave, the daylight was already fading outside and everybody else had gone. Except Symon, who was leaning against the big corrugated iron barn door, ankles crossed, doing nothing except...watching me.
It belatedly occurred to me he'd probably had to hang around due to my obsessiveness, and I nodded to him.
"Thanks for waiting, man."
He nodded back, but instead of saying no worries, or sure, or even 'whatever', he said;
"So...Steven, eh...?"
I had a moment of total panic - like, I almost threw up into my mouth. But fuck if I was gonna let him know he had me on the run.
"What about Steven?" I said, as drily as I could manage.
He shrugged. "Well. I mean, I'mpretty sure that shop's closed. He has a wife and three daughters, y'know..."
"I did not know," I replied, stepping around him and out into the open, "and I also don't see why I would need to know."
"So you don't go and do something stupid, maybe?"
"I'm not gonnado anything!" I spat, then immediately mentally cursed myself. ...