Page 60 of Someone Like You

Handsome

Ah, yes

In my defense I was planning to amend that, but I’m too much of a wuss to even get rid of myself

You

Imagine your disappointment if you hadn’t given yourself a chance to plague my life

Handsome

That’s a very good point

It gave Ian chills to realise it could’ve happened. If Phil had given in to his darkest thoughts instead of fighting back, Ian would have gone all his life never knowing Phil existed, never knowing he’d lost him, because he would have never had him to begin with, and that prospect was somehow worse than giving him up.

You

Tomorrow at Sandy’s 6 pm?

Handsome

I’ll be the glum nerd with the laptop

You

I’ll be the one turning heads

Handsome

You mean as usual?

You

More than usual

Handsome

You gonna show up naked?

You

Better

Handsome

What’s better than naked?

* * *

He hated funerals as much as he hated churches and religious ceremonies, but he wouldn’t have denied Uncle Rory a last goodbye if it’d been his last day on earth.

Ian hadn’t seen him in ten years, since he’d moved to Antwerp with his new Belgian wife, but distance hadn’t made them any less fond of each other. Despite not being Ian’s uncle by blood, Rory had been a pillar in his childhood and even more so in his teenage years, when Ian had lost his mother and his father Thomas was having a hard time dealing with the grief and a son who was understandably angry at the world Rory had been the one to talk Ian out of dropping out of school to escape to London, the one to reassure him that there was nothing wrong with liking boys the same way he liked girls, so long as everyone involved was treated with the same kindness and respect. And now, at just seventy-two, Rory was gone.

“I’m next,” said Thomas as they trudged out of the cemetery, leaving behind the lament of the bagpipes and the cluster of people still gathered by the grave.

“Ach, wheesht!” Ian stuffed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, rolling his eyes. “You’re sixty-one and don’t have a heart condition.”

“Ye never know, son. Ye never know. Life’s bloody short.”

---