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[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise didn't know how things went so wrong so fast. Maybe it was too much drink, or the weed Elio had shared with him, but whatever the reason Nicaise's head was spinning, and the next thing he knew he was in the bathroom trying desperately not to empty the contents of his stomach into the toilet.

What a complete and total disaster of a night. The only positive thing he could take away from all this was that at least this hadn't happened in the middle of Spin The Bottle.

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[speakordie]

After awhile, I had completely pushed the strange encounter with Nicaise out of my mind. I was having too much fun to concern myself with it, but I am suddenly reminded when I go to talk a piss and instead walk in on Nicaise hugging the toilet.

The sight takes a moment to process, and then another moment for me to decide how to feel. I'm annoyed with Nicaise and have been giving him a wide berth for the night, but now I suddenly have to deal with this.

With a roll of my eyes, I huff and leave the restroom to retrieve a bottle of water and a few napkins before going back and slipping inside, locking the door behind me.

"Overestimated yourself, huh?" I ask him, nudging at his shoe with the toe of mine. "Might as well get it all out. You'll feel better."

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise looked up at Elio with a scowl that looked more like a grimace on his pale face. The earlier rejection had been mortifying enough, but now Elio had to walk in and see him like this. This really wasn't his night.

"You've poisoned me," he grumbled, a weak accusation, and looked back to the toilet with a fresh wave of nausea. He held his breath, trying to keep it in. "And I'll do no such thing."

[speakordie]

"Jesus, are you serious? I didnt poison you," I say with a roll of my eyes, slamming the water bottle down onto the counter. "You drank too much all on your own. Don't try to blame anyone else for you ending up with your head in a toilet."

He really is such a brat. I have no idea how I didn't see it before. Even so, I open the medicine cabinet to try and find some sort of painkiller.

"Throw up here if you're going to," I tell him over my shoulder. "Ellie doesn't deserve you barfing all over her guest room because you can't hold your liquor."

[handfulofsapphires]

The anger and the arguing felt familiar, and Nicaise simply smirked in the face of it. Forget that it was Elio, that he might never want to see Nicaise again, because once he was feeling combative it was difficult to back down from it.

"Oh, I can hold my liquor, believe me," he said dryly. "It must have been the cigarette you gave me, it--"

But his reply was cut short when the urge to vomit completely overtook him and he had no choice but to throw up right there in front of Elio.

At least he got it in the toilet, and not on Elio's shoes.

"Fuck," he cursed, taking a steadying breath, waiting to see if that was it.

[speakordie]

"It wasn't a cigarette. It was marijuana, a natural herb, which is actually used as a cure for nausea. And you had two drags," I retort as I pull down a bottle of Tylenol and pop it open, shaking two into my palm. "Meanwhile, I've been watching you knock back poorly mixed sugary cocktails all night. If you're going to argue with me, at least do it properly."

I'm waiting for a retort but he throws up instead, and I feel a viscious stab of satisfaction and utter sympathy all at once. Even if I'm pissed, I still squat down and rub his back, patting a little as he gets it all out. It's a ghastly sound, and I wince a little as I reach for the napkins.

"Told you that you would feel better," I tell him, holding out the napkins so he can wipe his mouth. "Drink some water and we'll get you to bed."

[handfulofsapphires]

"You've been watching me all night?" Nicaise asked sarcastically, ignoring the rest. His voice was hoarse from vomiting, and despite the petty squabbling Elio's hand was a welcome presence on his back. He felt like his stomach had been turned inside out.

He took the napkins and wiped his mouth, trying to be as mannerly and poised as possible.

"I'm not going to bed," he said stubbornly. "No one else has gone to bed."

He wasn't even sure where they were all supposed to sleep.

[speakordie]

"Yeah, so I could know where not to be," I say coolly, not rising to the bait. My nose wrinkles as he sits up and the smell wafts over, and I squeeze his shoulder before stepping away.

"No one else has puked their guts out either," I remind him, quirking my brow in challenge. "So it looks like you're first in line for everything."

I unscrew the water bottle and hand it to him, and then hold out my palm to offer the Tylenol. I don't want to fight with him anymore. I'm tired and drunk myself, and I don't want to deal with his attitude. "Take these for the headache, drink the water, and go to bed, Nicaise."

[handfulofsapphires]

It didn't make sense. Nicaise thought he had built himself a skin so tough that no one could pierce it, but every word from Elio twisted like a knife in his gut. Or maybe it was just the drink, ready to heave itself from his stomach once more. He stared down at the mess he'd made, his mind empty of cutting remarks.

"Just leave them," he said, wishing for Elio to simply go and leave him to his misery.

[speakordie]

Nicaise looks so pathetic and sad that I feel my resolve crumbling, and I sigh as I reach over to flush the toilet. Looking around, I find a washcloth and wet it with cool water, ringing it out and laying it over the back of Nicaise's neck.

"I'm not going to leave you here," I tell him, tousling his sweaty hair and rubbing his back. "You need to lay down. I'll sit with you for a bit, okay?"

[handfulofsapphires]

"I don't want your pity, Elio," Nicaise said, though he didn't move away from Elio's touch. In truth, the cool towel felt good, the hand on his back felt good, and he would have gladly laid down but he was afraid to move. He wasn't even sure he could get his legs to stand.

"I can take care of myself," he insisted anyway. It was mortifying to think of Elio seeing him this way, especially after all the things he'd said.

[speakordie]

"I'm quite sure that you could," I say honestly, chuckling a bit. Nicaise, I've learned, has the tongue of a viper. "But right now you don't have to."

I slide my arm under his shoulders and haul him to his feet, handing him the pills a little more insistently in that I actually shove them into his palm. "Seriously, take these. And believe me when I say that I'm not poisoning you. They're for the headache."

Nudging at his hand, I put the water bottle in the other. "Do it, and we'll find you a bed."

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise glared at Elio as he was manhandled and brought to his feet. He gave in and took the damn pills, hoping he could even keep them down, and then tried to wrestle himself from Elio's hold, but found he didn't have the strength. His head was spinning.

The sad part was, this wasn't his first time he'd gotten sick from drink. Not by far. It was just his first time in Darrow because there hadn't been anyone feeding it to him. He'd done it himself.

"Fine," he said quietly. He realized he needed to compose himself, because if he came home like this tomorrow Laurent would probably forbid him from ever coming out to another party. "I'll go."

[speakordie]

He takes the pills and I bite back any sarcastic comment that I want to make. He struggles against me but gives up before I can even move to let go of him, so I assume it was just for show.

"We've all been there," I tell him, keeping an arm around his waist as I lead him out of the bathroom and down the hall. After peeking into a few rooms, I find one that's bland and unused looking enough that it has to be a guest room, so I herd him inside and help him gently down onto the bed. There's a small arm chair nearby and I drag it over, plopping drunkenly down into it and propping my bare feet up on the edge of the mattress.

"I'll do my best to be a good nurse," I say with a smile lacking in any sharp edges. "Though I'm sure you've had better."

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise laid down on his back on top of the comforter, the room spinning a moment before seeming to calm down. He let out a quiet groan as his stomach lurched, but thankfully nothing came up.

Elio said something about a nurse, and at first Nicaise misinterpreted, thinking that he couldn't even remember the nurses' faces from the hospital, but then he realized what he was truly saying. Nicaise's jaw clenched for a moment as he considered how to reply. He longed to kick Elio's stupid feet from the bed.

"I misunderstood the way you were touching me. Is that what you want to hear?" he asked, staring up at the ceiling.

[speakordie]

I'm not actually expecting him to say anything on the matter, and I take a moment to ponder his words. It was probably a bad idea all around, but nothing we can't salvage.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression," I tell him, deciding that it's best to get it all out there. "I have a boyfriend, and I'm faithful to him."

The kiss was meant to be friendly, to settle his nerves, and instead it made a mess of things. "I'll be more careful with my affections from now on."

[handfulofsapphires]

"It's fine, Elio. I should have known better," Nicaise said, putting the damp towel over his forehead to give him an excuse to have to keep his head still and his eyes off Elio. Nicaise had always been quick to insult back home, but that wasn't what he wanted anymore. Unfortunately old habits were hard to break, and conversations like this felt like trying to navigate a swamp on foot.

"I don't even like you like that," he continued, an easy lie. "I got caught up in the moment."

[speakordie]

"Alright," I say easily, believing him for the most part. I am always baffled when people like me in that way, even with Oliver. Maybe especially with him. "I can see that."

For a moment, I'm tempted to just let the matter die, but there's something else I want to say. Maybe it will start the whole fight over again, but I feel like I have to address it.

"Look, man, I don't want to lecture you or anything," I say quietly, brow furrowed. "But if you want something like that from someone and they say no, you have to respect that. You can't just insult them because they turned you down."

A long sigh escapes me and I tip my head back against the chair, eyes closing with a shrug. "That's all I'm gonna say."

[handfulofsapphires]

Nicaise felt too ill for this conversation, to even think past the pain in his head. He made a quiet sound of frustration.

He hadn't insulted Elio because he wouldn't kiss him. The rejection had stung, but it was the way Elio spoke to him. Elio couldn't even be plain with his reason, he just brushed him off like a child when they were supposed to be friends.

"I apologize for insulting you," he said, covering himself with the blanket and not commenting on the rest, because that was exactly what it was, a lecture.

[speakordie]

“And I apologize for insulting you,” I say, because if he can be magnanimous, so can I, even if I’m not entirely sure what I did wrong. If his cutting remark is to be believed, perhaps it was I implied that he had no experience. Maybe it was wrong of me to assume, but I don’t particularly like the thought of a boy his age having that kind of experience.

Sure, I was fooling around with girls at fifteen, but from what I’ve pieced together from vague comments and gut reactions, I don’t think that’s particularly the kind of experience that he has.

He stares at the ceiling and I lightly nudge his thigh with my toes. “We good?”

[handfulofsapphires]

"Yes, we good," Nicaise echoed in his thick Veresian accent. This wasn't the sort of relationship or conversation he knew how to navigate. Even though he'd been in Darrow for what felt like a relatively long time, these things still felt alien to him at times. He didn't want to say so, admit some sort of weakness or shortcoming, so he simply did the best he could to adapt and make himself the kind of person everyone else was.

"Except I did have too much of everything," he said, draping the cloth over his face.

[speakordie]

“That much is obvious,” I say fondly, dropping my feet from the bed and moving my chair a bit closer. “But you’re far from the first and far from the last. Not too long ago, I was throwing up in a fountain on the street after drinking too much.”

That night in Bergamo was one of the best of my life, even with how drunk I got, and even with the clock on my time with Oliver ticking louder and louder.

“So just get some rest,” I tell him, reaching out to briefly touch his arm. “You’ll be okay in the morning.”