Tie My Heart Back Together With String

A/N: Hello all, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I can't express how UNBELIEVABLY SWAMPED I have been with exam prep lately, seriously, it's scary. Thank you everyone for sticking with this story and for all your amazing reviews, it really means the world to me x

Chapter 7

They didn't seen Nathan over the weekend, they had tried to text him at various stages, to invite him out, but had gotten no reply.

On Monday morning, everyone was stood in the locker room getting changed, except Nathan.

"Do you think he's going to show?" Asked Alisha.

Kelly shrugged, but she had worry in her eyes.

"Hold on." Said Curtis warningly, they all looked to see Nathan walk into the locker room. He looked tired, but otherwise okay.

He walked straight to his locker, seemingly unaware of the others staring at him.

They all watched as Nathan opened his locker door and took out his jumpsuit, he seemed to get changed with less of his usual flair, something they hadn't noticed until now.

Nathan stopped for a minute and then turned to see them all staring at him, Alisha, Curtis, and Simon immediately looked away but Kelly continued to stare at Nathan, her eyes opened with concerned, Nathan merely looked at her before turning back around.

His mind was unusually silent.

The next day, Nathan spoke, it wasn't much, all he did was ask Curtis to pass the paint, but it was more than the previous day.

The third day, Nathan walked by the group who were eating at one of the benches, Alisha called out for Nathan to come and join them, he gently declined with almost a ghost of a smile before he walked away, to be alone again.

That was pretty much how the next few weeks went, no one got a word out of Nathan except for when he needed to speak to them, he spent all of his time alone and was...fucking heartbroken.

But no one knew why, Kelly thought that maybe it had something to do with that boyfriend of his, but didn't want to bring it up, it was probably the last thing he needed.

Nathan leant against the doorway to the community centre, looking out across the estate.

The rest of them were out eating lunch somewhere, but Nathan couldn't bring himself to join them.

He knew it was ridiculous, he knew he was acting like a crazy person and the worst bit was that no one knew why he was acting like a crazy person.

No, the worst bit was that he had no one to talk to.

Simon, his Simon had made him promise not to tell anyone anything, but he must have known how destroyed Nathan would be after he did.

But then again, how could he have known?

Nathan was so used to Simon having all the answers, he'd actually begun to blame Simon for the way he was feeling, but how could he have known?

How could he have known how much Nathan loved him, he was always so damn cocky and withdrawn with his emotions...

But now, he had nothing...he'd lost the only thing that made him whole.

Simon was sat alone, eating lunch quietly outside the community centre, he didn't know where the others were but they never really hung out anyway.

He glanced up momentarily and did a double take as he noticed Nathan walking over to him.

Simon watched in silence as Nathan sat down opposite Simon and smiled slightly at him.

"Hello." He said.

Simon, unsure of what to say, tried to smile back. "Hello, Nathan."

Nathan glanced down at the bottle of water he was holding and began fiddling with the paper label before looking back up to Simon.

He looked a little strained. "How are you?" He asked.

"Um, okay." Simon answered, nodding, trying to hide his confusion.

Nathan nodded too, quickly, like he was embarrassed with himself. "That's good," said Nathan quietly, like he was talking to himself.

Simon couldn't shake this feeling that Nathan was struggling with something, it kind of looked like he was in pain just talking.

But, aside from that, it was nice to see Nathan talking to someone for once, making contact, at least.

"How are you?" Asked Simon, playing with his ignored food.

Nathan shrugged and frowned to himself. "I dunno." He answered truthfully.

Simon cleared his throat. "You seem a little lonely," he admitted, hoping maybe he could get Nathan to talk.

But Nathan merely smiled at him sadly before standing, he gave Simon a little wave before he walked away.

It was when Simon was walking back to his house that Nathan joined him again.

He was walking alone out of the door of the community centre when Nathan appeared as he had done earlier and began to walk with him.

Simon had said "hello" but Nathan hadn't responded, he had barely acknowledged that Simon was there.

The only way Simon could be sure that Nathan meant to be with him was that he was walking in the direction of his house.

When they had finally reached Simon's house, Simon had turned to Nathan and tentatively invited him inside but Nathan had quickly shook his head, like he had finally come back to himself, and turned and hurried away.

All Simon could think about was how Nathan must have gravitated to him in whatever grief he was going through.

Simon supposed he'd have to be there for him when he needed him, that's what friends were for.

Hadn't he told Nathan once that he'd felt like Nathan was his only friend?

Well, now it looked like he was Nathan's only friend.

He opened his front door.

"Thanks," said Simon as he accepted the drink Nathan handed him.

"No problem," said Nathan quietly, sitting down next to him on the mattress in the community centre.

Nathan looked at Simon and Simon smiled at him, Nathan looked away to make sure Simon couldn't see him and scrunched his eyes up in pain.

He couldn't help but be forcefully reminded of the time his Simon had sat there, he couldn't quite remember what they had been talking about, but he remembered Simon coming out of the darkness and knocking him over when he was coming back from taking a pee, and the only reason he'd been there was because he was worried about Nathan...

He felt tears squeeze from his eyes and suddenly deeply regretted having Simon sit next to him, this poor imitation, this...

"Nathan..."

Nathan froze as he felt Simon's hand on his skin, his touch was warm and reassuring and everything he remembered.

He wanted to cry again, but he didn't, he turned to face the man.

Simon looked concerned, his brow was furrowed in that way Nathan remembered, he was almost a complete copy of the Simon that had been here that night.

There was something oddly comforting about that.

"Nathan," began Simon, retracting his hand, he took a deep breath. "Come on, Nathan, what's wrong?"

Nathan smiled sadly, something Simon noticed he did a lot now.

"Nothing." Nathan answered. "Just...thanks for being a friend."

Simon left shortly after that and as he was walking home he was left alone with his thoughts, he couldn't help but think about how his attitude to Nathan had softened lately, he'd always liked Nathan, he was his friend and if Simon was honest with himself he'd had a slight crush on him.

But lately, Nathan had been so wounded and vulnerable that Simon had felt unreasonably protective of him and wanted to be there for him.

"You are never gonna believe what just happened to us." Said Curtis in the locker room.

"What do you mean?" Asked Kelly.

"Something happened to us, but I rewound time and now we're back here."

Alisha shook her head. "What happened?"

"Like, people with powers started to become famous, and we became famous and we were rich and on TV and everything, but then there was this guy who could control milk and he killed you all, but he didn't kill me, and I rewound time."

"What?" Asked Simon after a moment.

"Oh my God!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Exclaimed Alisha.

Nathan, however, didn't say a word. Which was strange considering he'd been coming out of his shell so much lately and tentatively talking to people.

"I think we need to go out for a drink," suggested Alisha, "so you can tell us more about this freaky milk guy."

"Tell me about it," Curtis agreed, slinging his jacket over his shoulder and heading out, Alisha and Kelly following closely behind.

"Nathan?" Asked Simon, as he hadn't moved from his locker. "You coming?"

"Oh, I'm okay." Nathan said, smiling slightly and turning back to his locker.

Alisha put a hand on Simon's arm. "Come on, let's go." She smiled at him, everyone was being kinder to him lately, he nodded and followed her out.

"Hey, I might actually stay home too," said Kelly, "I'm dead tired."

"All right," said Curtis, while the rest of them walked out.

Simon turned to see Kelly walk over to Nathan. "Hey," she said quietly to him, "mind if I stay here with you?"

After a moment, Nathan nodded. "Sure." He said.

Simon looked around to see Curtis and Alisha were already gone, they would never have even noticed he was there anyway, and he quietly turned invisible and followed Kelly and Nathan back inside.

He knew he shouldn't be spying, but there was something about Nathan that brought a genuine concern out in him, he wanted to make sure he was okay.

Simon sat gingerly down next to Nathan and Kelly in the hall of the community centre, they were silent for a moment until Kelly spoke.

"Okay, I'm just going to come out with it," she said, "has the way you've been acting got anything to do with your boyfriend?"

Simon nearly knocked the chair over. Nathan had a boyfriend?

But his shock at that dissipated as he watched a single tear slide down Nathan's cheek, it made his heart jerk.

"He died, Kelly." Said Nathan, voice heavy.

"Oh, God, Nathan." Said Kelly in a comforting voice, genuinely shocked. "I'm so sorry."

"I just...I don't know what to do." Nathan admitted, more tears flowing, "I loved him, he was the first person I loved and now he's fucking gone..."

Simon watched as Kelly hugged Nathan and wished sorely that he could reach out and comfort him too.

There was something deeply distressing about seeing Nathan in this kind of pain. It was so raw and nothing Simon was used to, especially coming from this strong, quite literally indestructible person.

Nathan cried for quite some time, and it was a fresh kind of agony to be sat there watching him.

Simon couldn't help but think that Kelly was doing an inadequate job of looking after him, like he was the one who should have been doing it, like it was his job, except it wasn't and he had no idea why he was feeling otherwise.

It must have been nearly half an hour later when the tears finally dried out and Nathan was merely leaning his head on Kelly's shoulder, silent.

"Things are going to get better." She assured him.

"How?" Nathan asked dismally, Kelly cast her eyes down at him.

"Well, for one thing," she began, "community service is gonna be over in a couple of months."

Nathan sat up straight. "Yeah, that's going to be weird."

Kelly frowned. "What do you mean?"

Nathan shrugged. "I don't know. Getting back to life, wondering what comes next. One time Simon, our Simon, told me that picking up litter was the best time of his life."

Kelly laughed and put her arms around Nathan, holding him tightly. "It's going to be okay." She said quietly, whilst Simon stared at Nathan, having no memory of ever saying that to him.

Soon after that, Kelly left but Simon stayed, invisible, at Nathan's side.

He didn't know what he was doing, aside being really stalker-y, but he knew something strange was going on.

He hadn't said anything to Nathan about litter, he knew it, so what was Nathan talking about?

Simon watched him, asleep and peaceful, no longer plagued by the grief he'd been feeling due to his dead boyfriend.

Simon shook his head, he'd had no idea, none of them had except Kelly, he'd really hidden it well, Nathan was stronger than Simon had thought.

Simon had never realised it before, sure he thought Nathan was attractive, but there was a sort of beauty about him.

He could see it now, as he watched Nathan's chest rise and fall, he looked ghostly pale in the light and the shadows over his limbs made him look willowy, like some kind of supernatural creature.

Simon sat there and stared for what must have been half an hour before he realised how much time had passed.

Despite all the pain and despite all the confusion, Simon felt his eyes begin to soften, and realised he hadn't felt this content in years.