"Hello. How are you?"
Adam said the same thing to him every day now when he came home at 5:30pm sharp. Nigel found he was starting to look forward to it. He also liked it that Adam seemed to get a little braver with him every day, staying longer to chat. He no longer ran for his door or ignored Nigel. It ridiculously felt like some sort of accomplishment to Nigel, considering all he did was roll out of bed before five and move his ass out onto the porch. He needed to go find something to do and soon, or else he was going to get fat. In his world, fat meant lazy, lazy meant careless, and careless meant dead.
Nigel made a mental note to check out some of those trails that ran all over the place or better yet, ask Adam about them. He was willing to bet cash that Adam knew all about the trails because if Adam was interested in something, he tended to know a hell of a lot about it. Which why Nigel now knew about stars and all that other shit up there. Space was one of Adam's interests.
"I'm just contemplating life, my darling. One has to take care of the soul from time to time." Nigel said, watching as Adam absorbed it all. That's what Adam did. He took in everything you said and turned it over in his head. Whether or not it took hold of some grey matter was another thing entirely as Nigel had observed from his little chats with his unusual neighbor. He found it kind of charming, never knowing what to expect from Adam.
"How do you do that?" Adam asked, and there was his other quirk. Adam wasn't the kind of guy to ask questions because he wanted to piss anyone off or put anyone down or challenge one's point of view. He asked questions because he was genuinely curious and just flat out wanted to know. Adam's approach to this was blunt or mistimed or both though, so Nigel fairly confident that Adam pissed off or confused quite a few people with his mannerisms.
Luckily for them both considering how close their cabins were to one another, Nigel had lived a lifetime dealing with weird and usually violent people, and he wasn't exactly sane himself so it didn't really bother him. He couldn't be hypocritical of the recluse living out in the woods with him when he himself spent more time here than Adam. It seemed like Adam had a nine to five job or at least Nigel hoped he did. The alternative was that Adam was some crazy person going out into the woods for eight hours a day, doing god knows what, and Nigel wasn't sure if he could be okay with that. That's the kind of crazy they make horror movies about that, ones that usually involved cannibals.
"Do you have a job?" Nigel asked, deciding to just get that particular thought out of the way so he could sleep at night. Sudden subject changes never seemed to both Adam too much either.
"Yes." Adam answered in his typical manner, to the point and with no informational embellishments.
"What do you do?" Nigel tried again, wanting to smack himself. He already knew that if Adam could answer 'yes' or 'no' to a question, then that would be his form of answering. The guy wasn't big on explanations without some sort of prompting. From what Nigel could tell, Adam wasn't doing it to be a pain in the ass either. He simply just didn't think it was relevant to do so.
"Um, I work at the planetarium. It located up on the ridge. You can't see it through the forest because we are technically on a ridge as well, but if you take the yellow trail, you can walk there in twenty eight minutes." Adam told him, his face lighting up from within, becoming more animated. Nigel was beginning to live for moments like this, warmth seeping into Adam's face as he became excited. Nigel already knew what he was going to start talking about. Of course Adam worked at a planetarium. It was like finding out that fish lived in the ocean. "Right now, you can see the constellations of Virgo and Leo quite clearly as well as Ursa Minor and Ursa Major. Cassiopeia can also be viewed, and can easily be found because the constellation is so close to the Ursas."
"Really, Cassiopeia? No shit. Who knew." Nigel smiled. He meant it as a harmless joke, but it had the opposite effect on Adam. Nigel watched in dismay as Adam started to shut down, much like someone had flipped an off switch in him.
"I-I should go have dinner now. It's almost time." Adam stammered, turning to leave.
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't go. Stay right there. What's wrong?" Nigel said, vaulting easily over the porch's railing so he could catch up to Adam before he disappeared into his own little cabin. He didn't like it when the life left Adam's face like that, and so suddenly. He also didn't like it that Adam wasn't bothering to make or fake eye contact with him anymore.
"I'm not stupid. I know I can come off that way, but I'm not. I know when I'm being made fun of." Adam said softly, looking at the little dogs on Nigel's shirt instead of at him, but that could have meant anything at this point. Adam liked this shirt for some reason. Nigel had no idea why.
"Who said you were stupid and who's making fun of you?" Nigel asked, doing a quick review of that they had said. "Adam, I wasn't making fun of you. I was more making fun of myself. I don't know shit about stars or any of that stuff. I didn't even know there were stars called Cassandra-"
"Cassiopeia."
"Yeah, her. Him? It? Fuck it, doesn't matter. It was a potshot at me for being stupid prick, and not at you for knowing everything about everything."
"Why would you make fun of yourself?" Adam asked like it were some sort of trick, still shrinking into himself.
"Have you seen me? I'm a shit show and dumb as a brick, a professional fuckup. What's not to make fun of?" Nigel chuckled, rough and low. He pinched his belly to prove his point. "Hell, at this rate, I'll be a fat fuck too."
"I don't understand your self-deprecating humor. You're not stupid, and I like how you look." Adam said, glancing back up at his face now. Nigel took it as a good sign. "Though if you keep sitting around, drinking cheap beer full of corn syrup, you will more than likely become quite obese."
"Do you? What do you like best about me?" Nigel asked, deciding to ignore the obese assessment and focus on what was important here. Adam appeared to give it some serious thought, but he always did that with any question.
"I like your hands, how you hold things like your cigarettes." Adam decided finally. Not what Nigel would have picked personally, but he could work with it.
"Do you imagine them holding other things?" Nigel smirked, but like always, his flirting was a swing and miss. Nigel sighed as its orbit failed to register with Adam.
"No. I've seen you hold lots of stuff. I don't need to imagine it. I have to go eat now." Adam said. He was back to Mr. Robot mode which as far as Nigel knew was normal, everyday Adam. The guy was very particular about certain things like when he ate, but Nigel could respect that. He liked doing things his way as well.
"May I join you?" Nigel asked cause why not. The worse Adam could tell him was no.
"Why?" Adam answered instead because of course he would. He never knew what was going to come out of Adam's mouth, but that was part of the fun.
"I want to talk to you some more. Doing so over a meal is a common way of continuing to do so." Nigel said, walking Adam to his front door.
"I don't like to talk to other people when I eat, and I have to watch my show." Adam said, beginning to fidget. He wasn't as rigid as some Aspies with their scheduled rituals, but he did like getting familiar things done within a certain amount of time.
"That's fine, but can sit with you and I talk to you afterward?" Nigel said. Dealing with Adam was all about finding the loopholes with him, and Nigel was a pro at that.
"Yes, that's fine. What do you want to talk about?"
"Anything you want."
"Do you like macaroni and cheese?"
OoOoO
"Good morning."
"Buna dimineaţa?"
Oh fuck his life, Adam was a morning person. Nigel stared at his neighbor with his pressed pants and neat little sweater in striped brown like Saturn's ring through sleep crusted, blood shot eyes and why the fuck was he even thinking about Saturn? Nigel tried to reason out his life with no caffeine or nicotine in his system. Like why the hell Adam was on his porch at…what fucking time was it? He leaned back off of the doorframe that was so helpfully propping him up to look at a clock. Fucking Christ on a cracker, he was awake at 8-fucking-am as in the ass crack of morning. Usually someone had to be dead or desperately in need of being dead for him to be up with early.
Not trusting himself with words just yet, Nigel flopped down on his porch to find the pack of smokes hidden in the skull ashtray he kept out there. He jerked back when a travel mug was suddenly presented to him, too near his 'not awake enough for this shit' face. Taking it gingerly from Adam while trying to remember why he liked his neighbor and that he had literally killed men for less, Nigel moaning obscenely loud when he took off the top and the smell hit him. It was coffee, mutha fucking fresh brewed Colombian black gold. All was forgiven. Adam was an angel from heaven sent by a smiling god who loved Nigel after all. He took turns between his cigarette and his coffee until he felt mostly human again.
"Adam, my darling, my angel, the star that lights up my life…" Nigel said, gathering up words in an intelligible order and was proud of himself for it. "Why the hell are you here? Why am I awake at this ungodly hour?"
"You said last night that you were getting fat. You also mentioned that you were interested in hiking and getting familiar with the trails. The trail I take to work is the yellow trail, but it's also good for a beginner." Adam said, completely unperturbed about waking a sleeping Romanian bear who kept a gun under his pillow cause some old habits die hard. "All the studies I have read state that if you want to jump start your metabolism in the morning, you should do at least twenty to thirty minutes of exercise as soon as you get up. I moved around my schedule so that I could wake you up in time to go to work with me and then walk back to properly start your day. You have fourteen minutes left to change into proper attire and footwear. I suggest you layer."
Having several colorful suggestions of his own, Nigel stared up in dismay at Adam, who looked so damn proud of himself. To his credit though, the kid had brought him coffee. Adam had also paid attention and remembered everything they had talked about. Fucking Adam Raki and his hopeful little face, Nigel mentally grumbled as he sighed out loud like that was going to get him back into bed.
"Let me pull on some clothes. I can't very well go running around the woods in my boxers." Nigel said, finishing off his coffee to hand the empty thermos back to Adam. "I better not be eaten by some animal."
"You have ten minutes left, and if you were eaten by an animal, odds are it will either a mountain lion or a bear."
"Adam, shut the fuck up and bring me more coffee."
OoOoO
"So tell me something about the universe I don't know."
That earned him a look, Nigel biting back a grin. Adam had great looks, though they were very subtle. It kind of reminded Nigel of a cat, the flat looks of discontent they gave humans when they did something that annoyed the feline.
"That is an extreme broad subject." Adam said. They were currently walking through the woods. It was Nigel's habit now to walk Adam to and from work. It got his ass out of cabin twice a day and moving. Nigel, or more accurately Adam, had also replaced his beer with tequila. Something about it being a free radical and your body not recognizing it as sugar or some shit like that. Nigel didn't care as long as it did the drink, and it turned out that Adam knew how to make a decent skinny margarita. It could have been turpentine for all Nigel cared. As long as he got to hang out with Adam, he really didn't give a flying fuck what they were doing, eating, or drinking. "Could you please narrow it down to something more specific?"
"The universe if general or something like stars?" Nigel asked. He didn't really care about that either. He just wanted to hear Adam talk.
"I was referring to things you don't know." Adam shot back.
"Adam Raki, you little cocky shit, was that a joke? Did you just make fun of me?" Nigel said, caught by surprise by it and nearly choking on cigarette smoke from inhaling wrong.
"I can joke. I can do that," Adam smiled that dumb little grin he got when he thought he had done something particularly clever. Nigel was going to give him a pass on this one because Adam's jokes were usually so subtle. "But in all seriousness, you are going to have to narrow it down what you want me to talk about. The universe is very diverse and mostly beyond human comprehension."
"Tell me something about the planets then," Nigel shrugged. "But not Saturn. Fuck Saturn. All those rings and shit."
"You need to let that go. You're thinking too much about something that doesn't think about you at all. It a gas giant and does not the capability to do so." Adam said, getting ready to launch into further information about Saturn. Nigel could practically see it being compiled in Adam's head.
"What about Jupiter? Tell me something about Jupiter." Nigel said quickly, watching Adam deflate but not in a bad way. It was more like he was emptying out his head to fill it up again with new information.
"The fifth planet from our sun that we know as Jupiter is named after the Roman king of all the gods in his pantheon. The Greeks knew him as Zeus, but he was also known as Jupiter by the Romans. Jupiter has sixty seven known moons, all of which are named after the Roman god's love affairs and conquests, though a few are named after his illegitimate daughters as well . NASA is sending out a craft to gather new information about Jupiter and its many moons. The name of the craft is Juno. Juno is the name of Jupiter's wife and she was the queen of the gods. She often cursed or killed Jupiter's lovers."
"So what you're trying to tell me is that NASA is sending out Jupiter's wife to gather information on him and all the girls he had on the side." Nigel laughed, because that was cold.
"Yes." Adam said, making Nigel shake his head. Space people had odd senses of humor.
"You tell that story well. I liked it."
"Thank you. It's the story I like to tell when I give tours. It doesn't allow for a lot of questions and seems to please the masses." Adam smiled happily to himself about something.
"So you're a tour guide?"
"Oh no. I am an electrical engineer with a focus on aerospace and other technologies. I help calibrate the lens at the planetarium as well as chart star map for them using mathematical theory so they know where to look and when." Adam said that offhand manner of his, like they were discussing what pinecones came from which tree, and not that Adam probably had a higher IQ than several people combined.
"Holy shit." Nigel said, biting through his filter as he stared back at Adam in surprise. He hadn't called that one.
"What? What's wrong?" Adam asked, looking around confused. "Did you see a mountain lion?"
"Nothing is wrong." Nigel shrugged with a hoarse laugh. "You are just way out of my league is all."
"Why would you say that? I don't understand." Adam frowned.
"Smart guys like you hire guys like me. That's how the world works." Nigel pointed out. Adam might not last an hour in his kind of world, but Nigel realized that same could be applied to himself as well. Some people were just meant to work the dirt while other went to live among the stars.
"What do you do for a living, Nigel?" Adam said, making Nigel grimace.
"Nothing now or anything you want to know about. Let's just say I am a very bad man and leave it at that." Nigel muttered. He didn't like how Adam was looking at him, staring at him like Nigel was some sort of new star chart.
"Your accent is Eastern European. I looked up what 'buna dimineaţa' meant and it's Romanian for 'good morning'. That and most of your cursing is in Romanian so I think it's safe to say that you're Romanian or that you lived there for considerably amount of time. Some of your tattoos are commonly found in prisons and among certain gangs in that country so you either spent some time in jail or are comfortable with the criminal element there. As far as I can tell, you don't work, but you seem to have a lot of money based on your recent purchases for the cabin. If I had to guess, I would say that you were a drug dealer, and that you were very good at your job and you quit. That or you were very bad at your job and you're hiding." Adam said, like he was talking about anything else. "You have an indentation, though very slight, on your left hand's ring finger indicating that you were married until fairly recent. The ring is missing or gone altogether so you're probably divorced or it did not end well since you don't talk about it."
"Smart guy like you figured that all out. Of course, you looked up my words and my ink. Why aren't you scared of me?" was that Nigel could settle on safely asking. He wasn't sure how he felt about Adam knowing all this about him. He hadn't exactly hid it but he hadn't put it out there either.
"I have no interest in drugs or doing them. I don't care if you do them though I would prefer it if you didn't do them around me. I don't like police or really anyone in uniform, and I felt no need to inform them of anything since all I've seen you do is sit on your porch and drink beer, though I don't think that's legal on this property since it crosses over into a national park. You don't litter though so I have decided to ignore it." Adam said.
"Thank the maker for that. All my sins and I get busted for drinking beer in the woods." Nigel rolled his eyes because of course Adam would know that and have issue with it. "Please continue. Don't stop on my account."
"I have no experience fighting so I'm not a physical threat to you. I also hate guns so I'm unarmed and have no access to any firearms though I suspect that you have one if not several. You stay here all day and don't talk to anyone, but I think that has more to due to social stigmas working against you based on your appearance and your general impatience with other people rather than a fear of being discovered. That and you receive little to no mail and to my knowledge, you have no visitors so I think it's safe to say that you've cut ties with whatever organization you were working for. I don't feel like my life is in any immediate danger or that you mean me any harm. Based on all that, my answer is no. No, I am not scared of you." Adam stated in the same tone he would have used to explain the laws of thermodynamics. Nigel knew because Adam had already done so already, twice. "Would you like to accompany me to a work function?"
It took a moment for Nigel's brain to catch up and register that last part.
"You know that I'm a drug dealing thug, and you're asking me out on a date?" Nigel said it aloud just to be sure. This was even surreal for him.
"A former drug dealing thug, and yes. Only if you want to. I don't even want to go, but I need to get along with my coworkers. The easiest way to team build is to go to social functions." Adam sighed. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I am not looking forward to all the small talk."
"Yeah, okay." Nigel surprised even himself by agreeing to go.
"Yeah?"
"Yes, darling."
OoOoO
As per usual, Adam had been completely honest about this work function being boring as fuck all. Adam's coworkers were nice enough people, but they were soft folk who all talked about space as much as Adam. Like a lot of convicts used to playing by their own set of rules, Nigel tended to feel out of place among 'normal' people as it was. None of these people would last a day in his world, but that didn't matter now, Nigel feeling like an awkward potato as he faked conversations with other people.
Some woman named Debra or Brenda was trying to chat him up about the party which had a theme, Luau, whatever the fuck that was all about. As far as Nigel could tell, it involved wearing really garish flowered shirt, grass skirts, and flower necklaces, and he had no idea why. Nigel could have ignored that, but the only booze here was this sickly sweet punch with not enough rum, served in coconut shells with little umbrellas.
Feeling overdressed in his button up black dress shirt to hide most of his neck tattoo and black suit in an effort to not stand out, Nigel knew he completely stood out, feeling like an undertaker, but he had wanted to make a good first impression on Adam's coworkers. Adam didn't seem to mind or care for the theme either though. His 'festive' luau attire consisted of all black clothing as well, designer jean that Nigel knew someone else bought for Adam cause they hugged the curves of his ass perfectly and a fitted button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows that did amazing things to his waist and hips. Nigel just wanted to stare at him all night but fuck, Tiffany-whatever-fuck-her-name was trying to talk his damn ear off and had been trying to for some time now. God help him, she adored his accent.
"So you came here with Adam?" she asked pointlessly. She and everyone else had seen Nigel enter the room with Adam in tow.
"Yes. We're…." Nigel began but was at a loss for the right word. Neighbors sounded too weird for how he was dressed, friends didn't fit right either, and boyfriends sounded juvenile as well as untrue. One date did not a boyfriend make. "We're close."
"Oh wow, that is so kind of you." Candy(?) said like Adam was something to be pitied. Nigel checked her pineapple shape nametag to confirm her name. Nope, he had been completely off. Karen From Finance, written in cursive with her job title for some reason, was sliding herself over some pretty thin fucking ice.
"Why is that kind?" Nigel fake smiled, keeping his body language relaxed and open as he resisted the urge to punch this bitch in the face. He put his hands in his pockets to keep from reacting
"Oh you know, the whole Asperger's thing. I know it can be difficult to deal with sometimes. We all have an Adam story or two." Karen laughed like it was all some big joke, but Nigel sure as shit wasn't liking the punchline.
"What the fuck is Asperger's?" Nigel said dropping his nice face. Karen was smart enough to step back, looking flustered by the sudden change in his demeanor. "And where do you get off mocking Adam for it?"
"I-I thought you knew." Karen stammered, trying to backpedal. "I mean, god, how could you not?"
"Is everything alright? You look and sound upset." Adam said, drinking from one of those ridiculous coconuts. If he had heard any of it, he didn't appear perturbed by it. Nigel was going to make Karen eat her fucking nametag if that wasn't the case.
"Everything is fine, darling. Karen from finance and I just had a misunderstanding is all, one that she's not going to repeat." Nigel said, glaring at Karen who seemed to the good sense to feel fear. There was a tiger in the room, and its claws were beginning to come out. "I'm not feeling well. Do you mind terribly if we leave?"
"No. We've been here long enough by social standards. We can go." Adam said, checking his watch. "I don't want to eat anything here. The pig roast doesn't look like it has been cooked to food safety standards."
"Good enough reason for me."
OoOoO
The walk back was quiet. Neither of them liked it.
"Nigel," Adam began. "Did something happen?"
"What's Asperger's? That bitch from finance said something about you having it. You're not dying are you?" Nigel asked, lighting a cigarette and ignoring the face Adam was giving him. He had been on his ass lately to quit or at the very least, cut down.
"Well, we are all technically dying, a little bit in every moment of every day." Adam started to say, cutting himself off when Nigel grabbed his arm to bring both of them to a halt.
"Adam, answer the damn question." Nigel snapped, watching as Adam's face fell and his hands starting doing the clenching thing when he got nervous or upset about something.
"No, I am not dying. Asperger's syndrome is developmental disorder that falls on the autism spectrum. It means I have difficulties with social interactions and nonverbal communication such as reading facial expressions. It's also marked by restrictive, repetitive patterns of behavior and interests." Adam explained miserably. He hoped that Nigel would still want to talk to him after this.
"Is that it?" Nigel asked after a moment, waiting to see if there was anything else he should know.
"Yes, basically. It's an oversimplified description but if you have any questions about it, I can go into further detail." Adam sighed. He wondered if he would have to move if Nigel didn't like him after this.
"That's fine." Nigel said after a moment, a lot of things making more sense now to him.
"It is?" Adam asked, peeking over at Nigel who motioned at him to start walking again.
"Yes, why wouldn't it be? It makes you good at your job and you have a few more quirks than your average asshole." Nigel shrugged. "The real question is why was Karen being such a bitch about it?"
"I have mind blindness. I usually don't know what other people are thinking so I tend to project my own feelings onto them. There have been misunderstanding because of it." Adam explained.
"So if you're happy, you think everyone else is happy?" Nigel reasoned out.
"Mmm…No, more like if I'm sexual aroused, I have to ask the other person I am with if they are too. I don't know what people are thinking most of the time, and I'll miss cues like flirting or not flirting. I can't tell when other people are sexually aroused or interested in me." Adam sighed. "Karen can inform you all about it if you're curious. Some of the women I work with are very unprofessional. We have rules about dating coworkers."
"Karen can go fuck herself with something long and rusty." Nigel decided.
"That doesn't sound very hygienic or pleasurable." Adam smiled, feeling unusually warm and fuzzy, not all of it from the rum punch. He felt like that a lot with Nigel. It reminded Adam of how he felt while being with Beth and yet, it still felt completely different from that.
"You and your jokes. You're a funny guy. I wonder if anyone knows that about you." Nigel mused, meaning his words more for himself than Adam.
"Why were you mad before, and why are you sounding so sad now?"
"I'm mad because your coworker shouldn't be talking shit about you.
"That's just Karen. She talks poorly about everyone. She's referred to as the 'office gossip'. I don't think she's very happy with her personal life." Adam said, "Everyone else is pretty nice though."
"Damn it, Adam, just let me be mad at that cunt. I guess I'm pissed off because you didn't tell me about the assburgers-"
"Asperger's."
"Yeah that. I don't care that you have it, but should have been from your lips to my ears." Nigel grumbled, not knowing where he was going with this. Adam didn't owe him anything or had to explain himself to Nigel. They had barely known each other for two months.
"I-I'm sorry." Adam started to say but Nigel cut him off.
"Don't be sorry. I told you I'm not mad about the Asperger's. I don't give a flying fuck about it. I just want to know why you didn't tell me." Nigel said as they walked up to the cabins. He took a seat on the porch's stairs, Adam sitting down next to him.
"I don't think you understand how hard I try to be normal." Adam said softly enough to break what was left of Nigel's heart. He was going to bury Karen's bitchy ass in the woods somewhere soon.
"Look at me. Look." Nigel said, placing his hands on either side of Adam's face so they would make full eye contact. "Fuck normal. You live next a former drug lord who used to kick in people's faces for fun on regular basis. I haven't seen the ass end of normal in forever. You don't have to be anything except yourself with me. Do we have an understanding?"
Adam moved instead of answering, Nigel letting him go. He knew that Adam had a thing about personal space which he had just aggressively breached. Nigel didn't stress out too much about it considering Adam's mouth was on his own now, the younger man's hands settling on his shoulder and back of his neck to keep him close and in place.
As far as kisses went, it was one of the nicest ones Nigel had ever had. Adam tasted sweet from the luau's drinks and his lips were soft, plush enough to make Nigel feel how chapped his own were. Adam's hands were cool on Nigel's skin, smooth from a simpler life.
"Thank you." Adam said like he just hadn't blown Nigel's mind. He waited for Nigel to collect himself before going back in for another kiss before sitting back to look up at an approaching twilight, star already starting to peek their heads out.
"I think I should be the one saying that." Nigel chuckled as he touched his lips, Adam's sweetness still lingering there.
"Just so you know, gorgeous, you can thank me like that anytime you want."
OoOoO
TBC
