7. Heaven
"Do you believe in heaven?" Jeff asked Nick one day, completely out of the blue.
"Shit, Jeff. Who died?"
"No, no. It's just…it seems stupid to work so hard to make a life you wanna live only to have it all just, end. Like, there has to be something, right?"
Nick sighed and stopped to think before saying, "Well…I like to believe there's something. But not Heaven. Heaven seems like you have no choice where you go. I think that you get to choose where you go and who you're with; you can always wait for the ones you love, and, I'll always wait for you. And Jeff? I promise you are not going to die anytime soon; I won't let you! So don't get any ideas, got it buddy?
"Oooh buddy? Someone's getting serious," Jeff tried to make a joke before leaning in to embrace Nick.
"I'll always wait for you too, Nick," Jeff's voice cracked from where it was buried in Nick's shoulder.
"Hey, come on. No tears. Neither of us are dying, ok?"
Jeff sniffled and nodded, but spent the next twenty minutes wrapped in Nick's arms, stroking his hair. Neither of the boys had ever felt more safe or content then when they were surrounded by the one they loved.
The two of them fell asleep like that, intertwined and smiling.
Berry, Jeff's roommate, stuck his head into the room and sighed at seeing Nick there once again. He thought of waking him up, but just shook his head and grabbed some of his stuff before trudging to Nick's empty room.
"Why don't they just move in together, already?"