when naim starts training in medicine, he gets accepted into a friendly little group of coursemates his age. conversation turns to partners every now and then ā naim says heās got a boyfriend, says heās called ryan, doesnāt say all that much else. maybe itās a residual protective instinct leftover from his years in bandee. whatever it is, naim keeps the details on ryan pretty vague. he doesnāt think much of it: heās always been a private person. itās not a big deal.
his friends, though ā they kind of begin to assume that maybe naim and his boyfriend arenāt going so strong. maybe itās a complicated situation. naim is clearly withholding, but itās his business. nobody pushes, and he doesnāt give anything more away.
one afternoon naim mentions heās leaving a little early. appointment, he explains ā needs to go get his passport redone, something mundane and routine. offhandedly says his boyfriend is giving him a lift.
3:00pm and naim interrupts himself mid-sentence, cutting off whatever he was saying about next weekās first aid module to wave at someone from across the room. leaves the biro he was writing charts with on the front desk, heads over to whoeverās waiting for him at the door ā tall & blond, dusty boots, tradie.
tall & blond is smiling preemptively, strikingly comparable to a dog with a wagging tail, a couple bracelets on each wrist, looking kind of like heās walked straight out of a magazine about surfing. he says something indiscernible that naim laughs at. his hand settles casually on naimās side like neither of them even realise itās there. tall & blond ā ryan, thatās gotta be ryan ā scoffs at something, reaches out to link him and naimās fingers.
watching them is like ā staring into the sun. magnet and metal. theyāre about to harness the power of osmosis and fucking fuse any second now.
naim heads back over to grab his bag. "that's ryan?" one of his friends blurts, and naim looks like a deer in headlights.
"yeah," he says, hackles clearly up, defensive on instinct. his brown eyes are big. skeptical. maybe suspicious.
and then someone says, "kind of assumed you guys were going through a rocky patch," and naim looks surprised.
"nah," he says, like he needs to clarify. like the evidence of just how well him and ryan get along hadn't been excessively and obviously shining at everyone from across the lobby just a couple moments ago. like ryanās eyes arenāt still focused on him. and then, "how come?ā
"you never talk about him much."
naim shrugs. he toes the lino floor like he's guilty, or maybe not sure what to do with the attention. "didn't think anyoneād wanna know."
a slightly bemused expression. āyou can talk about whatever you want, mate.ā
maybe that's all he needed, who knew? he gets to work the next morning & from then on ryanās nearly all he talks about. he looks happy about it.
andulkaphoto
discoholicmusic
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
stormborns
pixelskylines
