Nathan slept fitfully that night, he was trying to ignore the main thing he'd taken away from his meeting with the future Simon and tried to focus on some of the other important stuff he'd found out.

The guy in the mask was fucking Simon. He'd never actually found out why he was here, he'd gotten distracted by other stuff and he mentally punched himself for it.

He'd tried to imagine that Simon was playing some sick joke on him but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he would.

He watched Kelly and Alisha file into the community centre, talking about something. Curtis walked in next followed closely by Simon.

Nathan momentarily contemplated telling them everything that had happened to him last night but he didn't know how the fuck he was supposed to explain to Simon that there were two of him running around.

"Mornin' all," Nathan announced, walking into the locker room. He turned and saw that all four of them were staring at him, shocked.

He looked around for a moment. "What?" He asked, confused.

"What the fuck happened to your head?" Kelly asked.

Shit. Nathan thought to himself, he'd completely forgotten about that. Looking at himself in the locker room mirror, he saw the large gash on the side of his face, he breathed a sigh of relief as he realised it didn't look anywhere near as bad as it did yesterday. Today it looked more like a bad cut and less like he'd just fucking died.

"Oh," he said aloud, trying to sound nonchalant. "I slipped in the bathroom and hit a mirror." He told them, almost proud at how believable his lie sounded.

Luckily, no one said anything else about it and they all got changed and began to talk about all the stuff they normally spoke about. Which was nothing much, really.

They were assigned to do the same boring shit as always, picking up litter outside of the community centre. Nathan was talking to Kelly about something but every now and then his eyes drifted to Simon, standing all alone and putting litter into a rubbish bag.

It was insane to think that this weird kid became that even weirder man. He found himself laughing quietly to himself.

But something else caught his eye about Simon, he was stood all alone.

Despite how much the other Simon had pissed him off last night he did remember that twinge of guilt he got when he'd told him that he felt Nathan had been his only friend.

Besides, this particular Simon hadn't done anything to him.

He sauntered over to Simon who looked up when he came over.

"All right?" He asked, but Simon didn't say anything, he just looked back down at what he was doing.

Of course, Nathan thought to himself, social outcast.

"Listen, Bar...Simon," he said, this caused Simon to look up at him with confusion in his eyes. Nathan didn't really know what he expected himself to say, it was always his downfall.

"Look, I'm sorry if I'm such a prick to you sometimes."

Simon stared at him for such a long time that Nathan thought he wasn't going to say anything back and almost turned to leave.

"I...I...I never thought you were a prick." Simon stuttered out, but the impact of his words were loud and clear. "I always just thought you were defensive," Simon carried on, "like you were afraid to let anyone in."

Anything of the affection that Nathan was close to feeling for Simon dissipated in that moment.

Giving him a scathing look, Nathan stalked off back to Kelly, leaving Simon alone.

It was the second time he'd done that now.

When Nathan jerked from his sleep that night it was still pitch black. He rolled over on his thin mattress in the community centre and fumbled around for his Ipod.

When he pressed a button he recoiled from the sudden light that flashed across his face, then, with one eye closed, he looked at the time.

1:27AM

Groaning to himself, Nathan let his head hit the pillow again before he realised what had woken him up .

He lazily got out of bed and made his way blindly to the bathroom, not bothering to put any clothes on.

Taking off the ski mask, Simon slipped in through a skylight and landed lightly on the floor of the community centre.

He looked around at the familiar sights of the hall and smiled to himself before sitting down on the floor.

His ears pricked up as he heard shuffling and he stood immediately, cautious because he knew Nathan was in the building somewhere.

He quietly slipped out of the room and ran down the corridor and collided with someone, keeping his footing, Simon looked down to see who he had bashed into only to see Nathan himself sprawled out on the floor, staring fearfully up at him. He was clad only in a baggy t-shirt and black boxer shorts, his curly hair a mess.

All Simon could think about was how gorgeous Nathan looked right now and how he wished he could tell him, he wished he was in a time where Nathan would have blushed and smirked at him instead of staring up at him with raw annoyance like he was doing now.

Nathan quickly pushed himself up off the floor, glaring at Simon. "What the fuck are you doing here in the middle of the night?" He asked, "and why are you knocking me about the place?"

"Err..." Began Simon nervously, causing Nathan's brow to furrow in confusion.

"I heard noises," Simon admitted, "scuffling, I thought you were in danger."

"I was only going to the bathroom, Jesus."

Simon studied him for a moment, hating the lines of anger on his face. "I'm sorry, Nathan."

Nathan rubbed his eyes. "It's okay, man. What are you doing in the community centre?"

A thought crossed Nathan's brain and now the anger was back. "Are you stalking me? Or are you just here to laugh at me being a homeless."

Simon hated the rough edge to Nathan's voice, but this was all new to him, of course he was going to get angry.

"I would never laugh at you." Simon told him sincerely.

Nathan stared at him openly for a second and for the shortest time it felt like they were actually communicating before Nathan's masked defences came back up.

The pair of them were sat on Nathan's thin mattress, both overlooking the community centre.

Nathan had pulled on a pair of tight jeans and Simon was almost saddened, but then he remembered that he hadn't travelled back in time to ogle Nathan.

Nathan wasn't looking at him, he was leaning on the railing in front of his makeshift bed and staring out over the hall, he looked troubled.

"How am I supposed to keep this a secret?" He asked eventually, "I mean, I had to lie to everyone today. Not that I care, but if I have to keep it up I'll lose track."

Simon smiled for a second. "I know it's hard," he said, "but it's something you have to do."

"But-" began Nathan, turning to face him. "If no one can know that you're here, why did you tell me?"

Simon didn't answer for a moment. "You're taking it pretty well."

Nathan couldn't help feeling like he was avoiding the question but he dropped it.

"Oh yeah," he said sarcastically, looking out across the hall again, "I'm taking it really well, I mean, I've only nearly died twice in the last few days." He turned back to Simon, "and one of them was you trying to kill me a few minutes ago."

Simon chuckled and Nathan shook his head.

"What about you?" He asked, "I mean, present you." He explained. "I'm sure he'd understand this shit a lot better than me."

"The present Simon has a long way to go." Simon pointed out.

"Yeah," Nathan agreed, "you're right actually, he's just so different to you."

Simon knocked him on the shoulder lightly. "You shouldn't treat him so harshly."

"Hey, I've been trying!" Said Nathan defensively. "Even today, he..." he paused for a moment, "he said that he thinks I'm defensive because I'm scared of letting people in."

He looked at Simon. "Which is bullshit, by the way, I don't want you thinking I'm a total charity case."

"You've never been a charity case," Simon assured him, grinning slightly. "I used to always be afraid about getting on the wrong side of you."

Nathan grinned back but he wanted to shudder when he thought about the power-shift in their relationship.

When he would sit like this with Barry he would know he has complete control over the situation but right here, right now with Simon he felt completely defenceless and he hated it.

"So, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked again, "at the community centre, I mean." He clarified.

"Sometimes I like to come back here," Simon admitted, "just visit the community centre and just sit," he had a glint in his eye like a war veteran recalling the good old days would have.

Simon looked sideways at Nathan. "Sometimes I think that picking up litter was the best time of my life."

"Well," Nathan retorted, "I think that's the sort of illness you need to see a specialist about."

Simon laughed and he knew instinctively that he wanted to touch him, he wanted to reach out and just touch Nathan but he couldn't. Not yet.

"So you're telling me that you've been coming to the community centre in the middle of the night for God knows how long and I haven't even heard you?" Nathan asked, mock-incredulously. "Life just passes me by."

"You've always been a deep-sleeper." Said Simon without thinking.

Simon stared in shock as Nathan sprung to his feet. "That's bullshit," he declared quickly.

Simon's eyes went wide as Nathan towered over him.

Standing up, Simon walked closer to Nathan but Nathan backed away.

"Nathan, what's wrong?" Asked Simon confusedly.

"You!" Nathan exclaimed, "you're wrong. This is wrong! I don't like people pissing around with my head, especially if it's got something to do with my future. There is no way that me and you ever end up together so stop saying it! I'm not gay, and even if I was, I would be able to get someone way better than you! I mean, me and you, how the hell did that even happen?"

Simon stared at Nathan patiently. "You fall in love with me."

Nathan stopped in his tracks and stared as Simon got closer to him, he felt Simon place the same hand on his cheek, he could even feel Simon's hot breath ghosting over his mouth.

He smelt fucking amazing and all Nathan could think about were those feelings in his stomach, the same fluttery feelings he got last night when Simon got this close before and then...

No. This wasn't happening. He's Nathan fucking Young for fucks sake, he doesn't go around snogging blokes and he certainly doesn't go around snogging Barry.

Nathan pulled back, watching Simon stare at him confusedly.

"This is bullshit," he repeated harshly, "I don't have..."

"Nathan." Said Simon quietly, so quietly it was almost inaudible.

Nathan stood stock still for a moment until he angrily batted Simon's hand away from him. "Just fuck off, okay?" He practically shouted before heading down the stairs and out of the community centre.

Simon shook his head, trying desperately not to be upset.

Nathan will understand soon. He told himself before sighing and putting the mask back on.

It was the early hours of the morning and the sun was just peaking out above the horizon and Nathan was sat against the cold wall of the entrance to the community centre.

It was chilly without his jacket on so he lit a cigarette to try and keep himself as warm as possible, as he tried to suck in all the heat he could he considered going back inside but Simon could be in there and he didn't want to face that again.

He laughed a little desperately to himself as he thought about how fucked up this whole situation was. He was just trying to lead a normal life, well as normal as it can get when you're immortal, when all this shit happened.

It was hard to think that squeaky little Simon, the kid that Nathan was slowly growing to like had turned into that.

Into this confident, outgoing fucking superhero that not only made Nathan promise not to tell anyone about him but spewed all this shit about how they were some Romeo and Juliet type.

Nathan took another drag of his cigarette, hugging himself as he decided that he wasn't afraid of him, not like that anyway. Among other things, he didn't see any reason why this Simon would hurt him considering he spent half of his time saving his arse, and of course the other big thing was that it's hard to really be afraid of anyone when you're immortal.

But Nathan was afraid of the way Simon made him feel. He'd never felt anything like this before, not even for a girl.

It's not like Simon made him weak at the knees like some vampire bullshit, but he made him all hot and bothered and made him feel like he didn't just want to fuck him he wanted to hold him and touch him, too.

Nathan laughed manically and he didn't really care if anyone heard him. Fuck Barry? Jesus, he was losing his shit.

He let his head drop and raked his fingers through his knotted curls. This wasn't fair, Simon wasn't allowed to do this.

Breathing heavily, Nathan pushed all that to the back of his mind and decided to focus on some of the slightly more important stuff like why had Simon even travelled back in time in the first place?

Nathan must have asked him the same question about 5 times but he always avoided it. And of course, with that big question came a bunch of little questions like trees with branches, like why was he spying on them and saving them and shit? How did he know exactly what was going to happen?

If Simon could make Nathan feel completely stupid and awkward then he could at least answer a few fucking questions.

Nathan lost track of how long he had been outside for, it became less about avoiding Simon and more about him getting lost in his thoughts. That didn't happen that often.

Soon after that, and a few more cigarettes later, Nathan lost track of what he was thinking about all together and was staring at three or four ants scuttling round on the concrete.

It must be simple being an ant.

Nathan looked up and saw Kelly approaching him, it must have been morning already.

Kelly wondered what was wrong with Nathan, he was leaning against the wall of the community centre, barely wearing anything and staring off into the distance.

"Are you all right?" Kelly asked, she knew Nathan was weird and played jokes most of the time but these last few days he'd seemed genuinely out of it, like something was really bothering him.

Nathan looked up at Kelly and suddenly realised how much he really wanted to talk to her about all this, she was the one person he could talk to about his actual feelings and she wouldn't laugh at him, but he couldn't.

He'd promised Simon he wouldn't tell anyone about him, Nathan didn't know why he was protecting him, though.

Nathan nodded at her, flicking his cigarette to the ground. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's go inside, it's fucking freezing out here."

Walking into the community centre, Kelly shoved Nathan playfully. "Couldn't you sleep last night?" She asked.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah, I woke up needing a piss then didn't get back to sleep."

"Oh mate, I fucking hate it when that happens..."

Nathan liked this sort of method of explaining things, it wasn't perfect but he wasn't lying, either.

He'd never liked lying to anyone, he was always so confident that he had no trouble telling anyone the truth about anything, no matter how embarrassing. Now he had to keep this titanic-sized secret to himself...he felt oddly alone.

A few minutes after they reached the community centre, everyone else started to file in.

As Nathan slipped his jumpsuit on over his clothes he watched Simon closely, he saw him pat his hair down nervously like he always did and in that moment decided he wanted some fucking answers.