I KNOW I DESERVE A SLAP. I’M REALLY SORRY. WILL THIS MAKE IT UP TO YOU?

Chapter Eleven

It took Nicholas Austen three whole days to convince his stubborn friend to acquiesce to his demands. These were as follows: they were to start their own taxi company, ferrying people around the Camden area; Lex was to do all the driving and drumming up trade; an invite would be sent out to all of Lex’s colleagues offering them an increased salary and better bosses, for one; and, naturally, Nicholas would pay for everything. The first day was dedicated to requesting politely. For the second Nicholas decided to compile a giant list of pros and cons, and follow Lex around reciting from it constantly. Finally, after two days of dogged dismissal, the Austen boy resorted to simply whining the word “please” in his companion’s ear until the taxi driver eventually caved in a spectacular explosion of rage and reluctance.

Unbeknown to the man who had immediately shrieked, clapped his hands together with glee and ran off to try and sweet-talk Bryn into letting him borrow his computer for a second, Lex was actually thrilled by the idea. So, maybe it wasn’t a lifelong dream of his to co-run his own taxi company (he was still holding out for a Beatles reunion – he’d sent his details to Apple Corps along with a long letter listing all of his best qualities and insisting that he was a perfect replacement for rhythm guitar if they ever needed one), but he was now free from the clutches of Monster Marshall and was thoroughly excited to start this new chapter of his life. And, in a sort of pathetic way, Lex enjoyed the fact he was entering into something permanent with Nicholas. It was, as he did not enjoy recalling, probably as close to a relationship with the man as he was ever going to get.

Lex left Nicholas alone to sort out all the “fiddly stuff” – there were forms to be filled out, domain names to be bought and all sorts of things to be paid for which made Lex’s temples throb painfully whenever he was confronted with them. The Austen boy was perfectly contented with engineering the whole thing, but came unstuck on one point: the name.

“Let’s call it ‘Lex’s Taxis’.” Nicholas had announced one evening through a mouthful of mashed potato (Sandy had been in a constantly jubilant mood ever since Mr Marshall had buggered off the premises and was now ambushing the pair with steak pie and sausages at every turn), and Lex had almost haemorrhaged at the suggestion.

“No!” He had retorted like Nicholas had just suggested he get a sex change, “It’s your company too! What about ‘Nicholas and Lex’s Taxis’?”

The conversation had continued along on that vein, the names getting stupider and more elaborate as the hands on the clock ticked round, until the two of them had eventually settled on a moniker they both agreed on.

So ‘Handley-Austen Taxis’ went live a couple of days later. Business was exactly what they expected: slow. But once the thankless task of distributing flyers and putting up posters had been carried out, things started to pick up, slowly, and soon the two chums were beginning to see the benefits of their little business venture. By this point five of Lex’s previous co-workers had responded to their top secret letters, including one all-too-familiar face. Lex had begged and begged Nicholas to stop Jerry from coming the hell near him, but the Austen boy had spouted some rubbish about equal opportunities and all that, and accepted Jerry’s request all the same. A short conversation on the nature of Lex’s disliking of the man (“I fucked him.” “Oh. Well, I’ll put you on different shifts then.”) followed, and then the matter was never spoken of again. Nicholas was quietly surprised at the response to their letters – it was obvious that Robert had been rather unkind when he had quoted Lex’s reluctance to communicate with his colleagues as a reason for his dismissal. In fact, most of the applicants cited Nicholas’ pal as their main reason for wanting to join the troupe, even if they’d kept quiet about it whilst in the employment of Mr Marshall. The Austen boy made a mental note never to mention this to Sandy. Hell hath no fury like a Sandy that had been proven wrong – Nicholas knew that well.

Now with their business almost close to prospering, Nicholas began to focus his attention on another important issue: Lex’s birthday. He had a vague idea of what he wanted to get the guy, but had no idea how to actually go out and secure it. Or just what a guy like Lex really, really wanted. It was easy to go down the Beatles route, but Lex liked books, and cars, and check shirts too! Nicholas was determined to make Lex’s 26th a birthday he’d never forget. In exactly that sort of clichéd way.

It was the night of the 21st of September when he was finally certain he’d found the perfect present. Or presents, for that matter.

-

“Niiiic-kuh!”

The door handle rattled again.

“Lex, I said no! Go away!”

Lex Handley, who was currently standing in the upstairs hallway of the London Youth Hostel in nothing but a large white Beatles t-shirt and a pair of baggy blue boxers, hadn’t even intended to visit his friend when he’d stepped outside his door that night. He’d actually been bound for the bathroom, and that explained the fact he had a toothbrush wedged behind his left ear. But the moment his eyes strayed to the left and caught sight of the note blu-tacked to the front of Nicholas’ door, his plans immediately changed. He was going to get past that door with the “LEX – KEEP OUT!” sign on it if it killed him.

Nicholas realised his mistake as soon as the door handle started to move by its own accord. He knew he probably would have been better off putting a sign up saying: “Go on Lex, come right on in and have a look around!” – maybe that way he wouldn’t be faced with having to thwart another attempt to enter his room every few minutes.

So this was effort number six… and counting. Lex didn’t seem to be taking the hint that Nicholas really wasn’t going to let him in, and seemed just as determined as he had for the last five goes.

“Lex,” Nicholas halted his wrapping to glance over to the juddering door again, “If you don’t leave soon I will buy you a house, okay?”

He didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to him sooner: faced with the prospect of – shock, horror! – being spoilt rotten by his best friend, Lex went grey. He really was going to hate the next day, wasn’t he?

An indignant noise followed Nicholas’ threat, and then a muffled “Fine.”

Footsteps leading towards the bathroom told Nicholas that his tactic had worked, and now he was free to wrap his selection of presents. He hadn’t been able to find any wrapping paper that involved Ferraris or John Lennon, so he had settled for a roll of dazzling red paper dotted with tiny yellow stars. It sort of matched Lex’s door, anyway. Nicholas had also plumped for a rather amusing card, if he was allowed to say so – one picked gleefully from the Kids section, with “YOU’RE 6!” inside a speech bubble coming out of a shiny red toy car. He’d made his own adjustments by adding a ‘2’ before the ‘6’, and inking ‘Ferrari Daytona’ on the bonnet of the red car, in case he needed to make it quite that clear. Whilst in the shop he’d also been entranced by a card “Wishing My Princess a Happy Seventh Birthday!”, and made a mental note to return there in a year’s time.

Deciding against the giant thank you essay he’d been planning in his head on the journey back, Nicholas kept the message inside short and sweet and slid the card inside the envelope, immaculately swirling “Lex” onto the envelope in his fancy scrawl and placing the now finished card onto the pile of presents resting against his bed. Just as he was about to slide into bed and lean over to switch off the lamp glowing on his bedside table, the door handle rattled again.

“I’ll go to the estate agents tomorrow Lex, you know I will!” He called out, grinning to himself as the shaking immediately stopped.

The grin lingered on even after the light was extinguished and he was safely enveloped in his covers. Nicholas listened for the sound of Lex’s door closing down the hallway, and closed his eyes shortly after.

He was certainly looking forward to tomorrow.

-

Nicholas half expected to find his bed invaded the next morning, and was thoroughly astounded to note that Lex was nowhere to be seen even when he ventured out into the cold hallway. There was no Beatles music being forced upon the guests this time, and none of his friend’s “singing”, if it could even be called that. The place was silent, and it was a sign of the times that Nicholas found this unnerving. Normally he would put his hands together and pray for a bit of quiet time, but the everyday racket was a sign of life down the corridor. Lex was in session. It was nice, comforting, even, to know that he always had someone a few doors down to add a bit of sparkle to his mundane existence. Now, on the day when all Nicholas wanted to think about was giving his friend the biggest bear hug in the history of bear hugs… his sparkly princess was nowhere to be seen.

Making a mental note to never EVER let Lex know about his new nickname, Nicholas decided to head downstairs in case Sandy and Bryn had invested in a soundproof room for their almost-son’s birthday. He found the couple in question, sitting… just where they usually sat whenever he ventured downstairs in the mornings. Yes, very interesting.

“Erm… Sandy? Have you seen Lex?” Nicholas enquired once he was close enough for them to hear him, “It’s sort of his birthday.”

Sandy frowned, like she was trying to place some really important giant bit of information. “I think he went to work. He didn’t really say where he was going, but he had his ID badge on.”

The colour immediately drained from Nicholas’ face.

“You have got to be joking.”

Sandy shook her head, but inside she had no clue exactly why this was so improper. And why Nicholas needed Lex at home.

“He can’t be working on his birthday! Working on your birthday… it’s just not right! No one does that!”

Sandy raised an eyebrow, “Nick, I think ya’ll find that everyone does that.”

Nicholas stared at her again, the cogs evidently working overtime in his brain.

“Is there any way I can get into contact with him?”

“Ya know he doesn’t have a phone,” Sandy reminded him, “So no, I don’t think so. Unless you have some sort of, intercom thing or something.”

As a matter of fact, they did. Nicholas hadn’t been banking on using it for ordering Lex home like a Victorian schoolmistress – more for checking up on how things were going; if any things of note had happened; when Lex would be getting home… etc etc – but he’d paid a fair sum for it, and he was going to get his money’s worth.

With a quick wave and a hurried thanks to Sandy, Nicholas jogged up the staircase as fast as his leather Dior’s would take him (he’d made the mistake of not trying them on before he bought them and they were now rubbing terribly. At least that would teach him not to impulse buy) and plonked himself down in his office chair, fiddling with the buttons on their intercom… telephone… thingymajig. It had ended up being a bit of a scene trying to get Nicholas’ newly purchased desk, chair, mini filing cabinet and… telecom system (or something) into the four walls of his bedroom, but the four of them had managed somehow. Even though Lex had done absolutely everything in the world except help them, and managed to stand in the way of everything, just quietly humming Beatles tunes to amuse himself. Not that Sandy, Nicholas and Bryn had been astounded by this – being hopelessly annoying (and yet still endearing) was one of Lex’s personality traits that they had grown to know and… they were still working on the ‘love’ part, but it was getting there.

So Nicholas was more than a little bit thrilled that he had finally gotten the opportunity to sit at his posh new desk and call up his friend with his posh new contraption that he still didn’t know the name of.

“Lex?”

The line had definitely connected – there was a muffled uttering of the word “shit”, some frantic sounds of movement and then:

“…But I don’t blame John for breaking up the band. I mean; I’d rather they went out on a high, you know? I’d-”

“Lex, I know there’s no one in the car with you.”

A careful pause.

“Oh man, I thought that was convincing as well!”

Nicholas grinned against the speaker, “It would be if you were trying to fool anyone but me, Lex.”

The man on the other end of the line chuckled. Nicholas could hear the beeping of the pelican crossing Lex had just been forced to stop at, and the gentle, familiar rumbling of the taxi’s engine.

“I know why you called me up – well, intercom-ed me up or whatever – and I don’t mind, honestly!” Suddenly came Lex’s cheery ramble out of the receiver. Nicholas had been focusing so hard on the background noise that he’d almost entirely forgotten that he was supposed to be having a conversation with his business partner.

“I want you to turn that car around immediately and head straight home, you hear me? If you aren’t back in fifteen minutes, Mr Handley, there will be serious consequences!”

Lex’s cackle was a little distant this time – he’d obviously done his little driver’s tick of disregarding his rear view mirror and twisting his head round to get a good look at what was behind him himself. That was so typically Lex: if there was something to be done, he would do it his way. And nine times out of ten, he would do it better.

That was just one of Lex’s many habits that Nicholas found himself grinning about in his bed in the middle of the night. Not that that was something he ever intended to reveal to a living soul, though.

“Yes, sir, Mr Austen, sir!” Lex piped up once he’d finished his manoeuvre, “Right, I’m not too far away. Be back in a bit.”

“I thought you’d be a bit more reluctant.” Admitted Nicholas.

Although the Austen boy couldn’t see him, Lex’s face split into a wondrous smile.

“I thought you’d realised by now…” Lex broke off – the sudden rush of feeling in his chest had made his driving a little squiffy and he needed to correct it before he was pulled over for being intoxicated again, “…I never pass up the chance to see you, Nicholas. Never.”

-

The moment Lex Handley stepped back through the doors of the London Youth Hostel, Nicholas pounced.

“Ooofff!” Lex let out involuntarily when he found his chest being suddenly constricted by another chest being pressed against it, and a pair of strong, rather muscular arms being wrapped around his torso. Half expecting half hoping he would look up to find a pair of lips being pressed against his too, Lex was more than a little disappointed to find Nicholas merely beaming back at him.

But, beggars can’t be choosers. And Lex certainly wasn’t picky.

“HAAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY!” The man dressed in top-to-toe designer suddenly exclaimed and withdrew from the hug. “I can’t believe I haven’t see you already today to say this! Silly you, actually going to work today? Come on, I’ve got plans for you today.”

Lex raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

“Plans?”

Immediately, situations started running through his mind. The Hard Rock Café! The London Eye! Paris! Tokyo! DISNEYLAND!

So, naturally, Lex was in for another disappointment.

“We’re going to sit around all day and do NOTHING.”

It was lucky that Nicholas was already delirious with excitement, as he totally missed the “what the fuck” look that Lex was currently exhibiting.

“Yes, I was thinking of booking us to go away somewhere, but then I thought ‘what the hell, Lex won’t want me to spend all that money on him, how about we just stay at home and do nothing instead?’” The scary thing was, he wasn’t even joking. “I didn’t think you’d want to make much of a fuss anyway. So, where do you want to go? Your room or mine?”

Normally a sentence like that would at least elicit a snort from Lex, or a wiggle of an eyebrow, or even a suggestive comment. But the taxi driver did nothing except shrug his shoulders and look up at the ceiling. Things were different. Lex was experiencing a phenomenon one experiences at least ten times (if not more) in their lifetime: A Shit Birthday.

And this one… well. This one looked like it was even going to top the one where he got caught fucking Harry Collins in his parents’ bed. By his parents.

Lex sighed.

-

Lex and Nicholas had endured about three hours of intense boredom by the time the Austen boy made his leave, and it was not a moment too soon. Nicholas wasn’t usually the one to go to such extreme lengths to prove a point, but it was going to be worth it once he saw the look on his best pal’s face when he handed him the…

Well. That was for later, wasn’t it?

Wincing his way down the staircase (the shoes were still causing him considerable pain so he’d been grateful for the sit down, even if it was frightfully boring), Nicholas made sure to check that the coast was clear before slipping through the door to Sandy and Bryn’s office.

“Hey, Nick!” Came Sandy’s bright voice with its quirky Texan tonality, “Everythin’ goin’ ta plan?”

Nicholas couldn’t help but grin at the thought of what was to come.

“Yes. Gosh he’s lucky I like him so much – there aren’t that many people I’d be able to stomach multiple hours of nothingness for!”

He sat himself down on one of the swivel chairs by the bookcase and rested his arm on the shelf labelled: “The English Civil War, 1642-1649”

“I feel kinda mean doin’ this to him on his birthday, but then…” Sandy tailed off, mirroring Nicholas’ satisfied expression, “It is pretty amusin’.”

“I’m just focusing on later. I mean, he’s really going to love later, isn’t he? I really think he will.”

Sandy nodded emphatically, “I know he was secretly hopin’ for Disneyland, but this is like, second best. And ta be honest, anythin’ involvin’ ya’s gonna make his day.”

“Aha, I’m sure he’s just been loving these past few hours.”

Sandy chuckled gently, shuffling some papers on her desk as she gazed at Nicholas across it.

“I’ve already put the notice out, so let’s leave Lex ta do his own thing for a little while. So, call him down in about an hour, yeah?”

-

And that was exactly what Nicholas did. Lex was escorted down the same stairs he had trudged up a couple of hours before, except this time he was blindfolded and had exactly no idea just what he was being led into. At first the man in question was a bit wary of the whole thing (He’d had, let’s say, an adverse situation involving blindfolds before), but after a few firm assurances by his pal and a bit of firm handholding, he was more intrigued than suspicious about the whole escapade.

Nicholas led Lex into the Canteen, but it was not like either of them had ever seen it before. The scuzzy, long plastic and metal tables had all been pushed to the side along with their accompanying wooden benches to make room for the main focal point of the space: a medium-sized dining table, complete with tablecloth, candles and four posh looking dining chairs. The lights were dim, and Nicholas didn’t recognise the tune but The Beatles were most definitely filling in the silence with their jaunty guitars.

Once the Austen boy had taken in this unexpected sight, it was time to allow his friend to do the same. Carefully, as not to wreck Lex’s hairdo, Nicholas undid the knot in the blindfold and pulled it away, retreating slightly to let his companion appreciate everything by himself.

Lex stood there for a moment. Then he swore very loudly.

“Wh… what is this? Like, are you being serious?” He managed to splutter once he’d stopped turning the air around him a nice cerulean.

Sandy, Bryn and Nicholas all exchanged glances. Neither of them had been banking on Lex still being so pissed off about what had already occurred that he wouldn’t appreciate their gesture.

Luckily, their worst fears weren’t confirmed. In fact, they were spectacularly quashed by a forceful hug from the birthday boy himself.

“Guys, this is amazing! I can’t believe you’d do all this for me!” He pulled away, his face just a picture of… Nicholas couldn’t even begin to think of the adjectives.

“Er, actually, it was just Sandy and Bryn who set this part up. But we came up with the idea ourselves. I had to occupy you, you see.” He piped up and received matching ‘that-wasn’t-really-necessary-Nick-but-thank-you’ beams from the two hostel owners.

It was then at this point that Sandy decided that Lex merited an explanation from the trio.

“Lex, we’re sorry about makin’ ya birthday so damn awful before. But we just wanted to make this part so special and… well,” She chuckled, “Nick wanted to make a little bit of a point.”

Lex rolled his eyes but was still smiling like a maniac, “What lesson do I have to learn this time?”

“Will you let me spend money on you? Please?” Nicholas ventured.

This took some consideration on Lex’s part. Nicholas was trying not to hold his breath as he waited for his friend’s answer, but what the hell, he was going to anyway. He was almost at breaking point when Lex finally answered, chewing on his fingers.

“…If it’s worthwhile, I might just let you. But not too much, okay?”

Nicholas nodded his head, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to listen to a word.

“Right, who’s hungry?”

-

It came out over dinner that Sandy and Bryn had closed the hostel especially for this night, and Lex found this gesture difficult to take. It was probably having all his friends around him that did it – all of the people that immediately affected his life were surrounding him with love and happiness and friendship and… he knew it wouldn’t be long before the tears made an appearance. But although he seemed reluctant to accept all these gifts, he was not by any means ungrateful. Nicholas was starting to realise that Lex was one of those people who’d refuse assistance even if he was missing an arm, and ‘presents’ certainly fit under that category of ‘assistance’.

That was one thing Nicholas was intending to improve on.

The conversation flowed as well as the drinks did that night – a fact that wasn’t surprising in the slightest. There was much to talk about. Lex, realising that he’d kept astonishingly silent about his new job to his other two best friends, and spent most of the evening chattering about interesting customers he’d been forced to deal with. Nicholas, having heard these stories before, was allowed to chip in with bits of useful information: an extra tidbit here, and outsider’s view there… it was not unexpected for the foursome to find themselves still conversing well after midnight. But, as the clock struck twelve, Nicholas realised that although they had all certainly been enjoying themselves and each others company, they had neglected to perform the most important ritual of all. The present giving.

Sandy began by pulling a long, thin package seemingly out of nowhere, and placing it gently down on the table in front of Lex. He immediately looked at Nicholas for reassurance as his fingers traced the swirling patterns on the bright orange paper.

“I thought I told you not to get me anything?”

Nicholas smiled, “Well I certainly didn’t.”

“Oh, okay then.”

Gingerly, as if he was unwrapping the Crown Jewels or something, Lex slid his finger under the flaps of paper and started to pull the long, thin object out of its wrappings. It wasn’t immediately noticeable, but Nicholas could tell that he was holding his breath as he did it.

“Oh, Sandy, Bryn!” Lex exclaimed as his present was revealed – two matching front and back number plates, each emblazoned with “LEX 1”. He swallowed, considering just how expensive personalised number plates were, but then slid his chair out from under the table and jumped up to give his who generous pals a hug. “Thank you so much, guys!”

“Oh, it was the least we could do.”

With a smile hinting on his lips, Lex sat back down and tidied up the knife and fork he’d knocked out of place as he’d hopped up from his seat. When he looked up and noticed the tiny package sitting in the centre of the table, he frowned.

“NICHOLAS.”

“I’ll be offended if you don’t open it!” The Austen boy replied, his eyebrows dancing on his forehead. Obviously realising he wasn’t going to get his way this time, Lex slid his hand up to the present and pulled it towards him. He dumped the leftover wrapping paper in the centre of the table.

“‘Northanger Abbey’?”

“It’s a powerful tour-de-force of emotion! One of her most underrated novels! Uh… apparently.” Nicholas replied as he leant his elbows on the wood.

Lex looked up, grinning. “You have no idea what you’re on about, do you?”

“…Not a clue. But, you see… it’s got my name on it! And I’m sure one of the characters is called Nicholas… or is that one of her others?”

“Nicholas, it’s fine. It’s a great gift, so thank you.”

If Lex thought he was out of the woods then, he was very wrong. The next time he looked up there was another present grinning at him amidst the discarded wrappings of its predecessors. Lex rolled his eyes and didn’t even bother to protest this time, instead pushing his plate further away from him to make space for the box. It wasn’t very large – smaller than the book, in fact – but it was immaculately wrapped and finished with a tiny red bow to match the paper.

“If I find out this cost you more than a tenner, I swear to God you are going to be experiencing some serious pain.”

A few swift movements of his fingers later, all was revealed.

“I knew you’d never let me buy you a proper one, so… well… yeah.”

It was a Ferrari Daytona. Four inches long, but pristinely blue and just…

“It’s perfect, Nick.”

Fuck, he was going to cry, he really was.

As if sensing the imminent appearance of the waterworks, Nicholas stepped in with a: “Er, well there’s just one more thing I’d like to give you and then that’s it, I promise.”

Lex looked up from the car sitting in its tiny glass box, “Promise?”

His vision was getting a little blurry, and he quickly prodded his eyes in the hope that then it would merely look like he’d just got an eyelash in them, or something. Lex Handley didn’t cry, not even when he was presented with number plates and books and mini Ferrari Daytonas.

The next package Nicholas produced was definitely larger than the first two, and looked somehow squishy. Like a Christmas jumper, or something, which made Lex giggle. He pushed his plate back even more and then set his sights on removing the wrappings (which he still did slowly even though he was extremely intrigued as to what pattern would be on his jumper). Once he’d dealt with the ends he slid his finger under the main fold and then paused. The look on Nicholas’ face was making him want to stop all of a sudden.

This was important. Okay. This was important. God he had never seen Nicholas look that way in his life.

The Austen boy nodded once and Lex continued, his appendages beginning to shake gently. He felt sick. Just another flap to unfold and then…

Oh. It was a jacket.

“Wow, Nick, that’s a really nice jacket. Thank you.”

It was a jet-black military style jacket, made of a heavy fabric with large ebony buttons running down the front and a shirt-like collar. It smelled old, like it had been residing in an old attic or at the bottom of a charity shop bargain bin, and looked worn, but there was an expensive air about the garment. Like it had seen a lot, and came with a hefty price tag because of it. Or maybe Lex just thought everything seemed expensive to him.

Nicholas shifted uncomfortably in his seat, Lex’s underwhelming response bothering him.

“Don’t you want to open it?”

Lex nodded enthusiastically – after all, it was still a bloody nice jacket – and began to undo the buttons one by one. Nicholas’ fingers began to curl around the edge of the table and his grip tightened with every unbuttoning. Once they were all dealt with, Lex flipped the jacket open.

Inside was a small colour photograph. Lex recognised the person in it immediately – of course he would, it was none other than John Lennon. He smiled, touched by Nicholas’ idea of including him. The man in question was standing next to the exterior of a house, staring off into the distance with an amused expression on his face. He was clutching a dogtooth-patterned hat just out of shot, but Lex could see a corner of it peeping into the frame.

It took him a couple of seconds to realise just what John was wearing.

“Holy shit.”

Nicholas relaxed his grip, and the table groaned in appreciation.

“I hope you like it.”

It was very difficult for him not to laugh – Lex’s eyes were literally about to pop out of their sockets as he held the photograph in his grip, and his mouth was hanging open like he was trying to catch flies with it. He seemed past the point of eloquent speech, and had just resorted to mouthing the words “holy shit” over and over again.

This was John Lennon’s jacket. John. Lennon’s. Jacket.

HE HAD JOHN LENNON’S JACKET.

Lex’s next movement was unplanned, and unfathomable. He jumped up from his seat, and in one fluid motion managed to run round the table to where Nicholas was seated, pick his pal up from his chair and rugby tackle him to the floor. When the Austen boy sat up again, smoothing his hair self-consciously, he found Lex grinning down at him with a leg either side of his own. In other words, he was straddling him.

“…So you like it, then?”

All of them burst out laughing. Lex rolled his eyes amid the mirth, but he still had a grin on his face to rival the best of them. He felt like his heart had floated off to join the fairies and the rest of his body was striving to join it – every part apart from his brain, which wanted nothing more than to stay down on Earth with the guy he was currently in a compromising position with.

Nicholas carried on his bit of speech, not even seeming to care that him and Lex were in a position that was raising a few eyebrows.

“I spoke to the Hard Rock Café about it beforehand, and they’d be more than happy to look after it for you in case you didn’t want to keep it here. I negotiated a plaque and everything! But they understand if you want to keep it close by.”

Lex still couldn’t quite believe that he wasn’t quite away with the fairies just yet. This was just… surreal didn’t seem like the right word. Out of this world.

“No I… I think that’d be good actually. Keep it safe.”

Their eyes met for the last time that night.

“Okay, good. We’ll go tomorrow.”

After a quick vote, it was decided that the four of them should all retire to their bedchambers and try and get a good night’s sleep. While Sandy and Bryn stayed to clean up (they had insisted), Lex and Nicholas trudged wearily up the stairs to the first floor landing, and muttered their sleepy goodbyes to one another without their gazes leaving the floor. Nicholas knew the extent of Lex’s gratitude already – it was one of those things that could go unspoken.

Nicholas had kept unnaturally quiet about his final gift to Lex throughout the meal. In fact, it was only when Lex returned to his room – a little unsteady from the spirits they had downed along with their dessert – and sat himself down on his unmade bed that he noticed the envelope that had been pushed under his door.

‘Lex’, it said in immaculate, swirling script. Gently running his finger under the flap, Lex found himself grinning as he pulled out the card to reveal Nicholas’ doctored design. He flipped it open.

‘Dear Lex,’ it read, ‘Happy Birthday! I hope you have a very agreeable day.’

The blonde chuckled to himself – that was so Nicholas. His eyes then focused on the smaller words down near the bottom of the card.

‘Thank you for everything. Love From, Nicholas.’

His heart juddered to a halt.

‘Love From, Nicholas.’

Love From.

Love.

Lex let himself fall backwards into his mediocre mattress, those three words dancing in front of his eyes. The card fell onto his chest and he picked it up again, tracing the indents Nicholas’ pen had made in the card with his finger. His digit lingered on the first word, reluctant to be parted from it. No matter how much his brain was telling him to switch off, he couldn’t stop staring at those four letters.

Love.

Maybe it meant something; maybe it didn’t.

But for the first time since Nicholas’ arrival, Lex Handley felt hope.

in case you were wondering, this is the photo i was on about:
http:[slash][slash]i9[dot]photobucket[dot]com[slash]albums[slash]a90[slash]He1e[slash]3e70d117038c7f624ddfc81ee1a54b9b434[dot]jpg

(well that was lengthy. and not even in the good way.)

i dont know whether it still exists in the world, or if its for sale, because i just thought itd be a nice idea and made it up. yay!

i will happily suffer any punishment you choose to subject me to for this taking so long, because frankly i am disgusted with myself. please blame my teachers for giving me so much work, and me for actually doing it.