After Carter had calmed down, and after Linda had calmed Jayden's father down, it had been decided that as neither of them had any transport, and both Carter and Eric refused to pay for taxi money, the two of them would have to stay the night. Carter would have phoned Ash to call in sick, but he was too embarrassed to give the explanation.
Let's face it, was there a way to say that without sounding like a complete and utter douche? 'Oh, Hi Ash, I won't be in tomorrow because the FBI nerd who I hated so much at the time, yea, you know him? Turns out he's actually an ex-FBI nerd, who also happens to be gay, and I'm sharing the same room as him 'cause my car broke down. Plus, turns out I don't hate him, we're actually good friends.' he shuddered. Couldn't see that going down well at the station... He was jerked out of his daydreams by Norman's mother arriving with a pair of pajamas for him.
"I'm afraid he refused to lend some to Norman..." she said sadly. "Well, actually he said something along the lines of 'Only if I can burn them afterwards', which more or less equates to the same thing."
"Right. Erm, well... thanks."
"You're welcome dear." she said, smiling. Carter turned to go upstairs and get changed, but she caught his arm. "While I remember, the bedding is in the cupboard above the bed. It's a king-size, so you should have plenty of room the two of you." Carter froze.
A king-size... They were sharing a bed? Shit! Well, it was too late to back out now, he needed somewhere to sleep anyway... Norman just better not try anything is all...
He walked into the bathroom, and got changed into the pajamas he'd been lent. When he got out, he saw Norman waiting outside, looking expectantly at him.
"Carter? Did Mom give you any pajamas for me?"
Oh shit, and Norman'd be sleeping in his pants as well... He made a strangled noise, which Norman somehow correctly interpreted as a 'no'. He sighed.
"I suppose it's good that Mom's okay with me. But I dunno, I guess I just thought Dad might've...mellowed a bit by now." he sighed, then turned back to Blake again. "Anyway, I made the bed. Do you want to top and tail, or what?" Carter glared at him, semi-sure that this was all an elaborate plan Jayden had cooked up.
"What, and sleep next to your feet? No thank you." Norman shrugged.
"Okay, whatever." He clambered into bed and turned off the lights. "Night then." Carter stood there for a while, unsure if he could fit in the small space on the floor.
Maybe if I curled up into a small ball, and tucked one leg under the bed... Cursing the fact that the spare room was so small, Carter grabbed a leftover blanket off the floor, and squashed up in a sort of lying-down crouch on the floor, struggling to fit in the small space. Realising he was a bit too close to cracking his head on the bedside table, he sat up again and shuffled around a bit, but it still didn't help. He cursed under his breath, and stood up, absent-mindedly pulling on the bed clothes as he did so. Unfortunately, Norman wasn't lying on them any more, so they fell to the floor, along with Carter. "Argh! Ow, shit!" Carter yelled.
"Hunh..." Jayden mumbled sleepily. "What the Hell, Carter...?" he looked at the other side of the bed to see he wasn't there, then looked over the side to see a very dazed-looking Blake clutching his head on the floor. "Shit... are you okay Carr?" he said, sounding concerned.
Carr... when did that happen? Blake tried to get up, but seemed to have twisted his ankle. "Agh! You had to not be lying on the bedcovers when I used them to get up, didn't you Norm? You just had to." Norman looked confused for a second, then gave Carter a sceptical look.
"Well why were you lying on the floor anyway? There's not much space there." Blake flushed red, and Jayden sighed.
"Oh for Christ's sakes Carter, I'm not going to bloody rape you! Anyway... you're not my type."
"I should bloody hope not!" Carter hissed. "Just... agh, get me some painkillers, will you?"
Jayden looked at him, and clambered down into the small space next to him. "What are you doing?" Carter hissed.
"I'm checking to see if you have a concussion. Your head made a pretty loud bang against that table, and you have one hell of a lump on your head. How many fingers do you see?"
"Three." Norman nodded.
"Now?"
"One." Norman nodded again.
"Now?"
"Agh, three, what are you...?"
"What's ten plus nine?" Jayden asked, ignoring him.
"Nineteen!" Carter said grumpily. His eyes widened as Jayden brought his face closer to his, and for a moment he thought he was going to kiss him, but he stopped just as his face was inches away from Carter's.
"...Carr, would you look at me please, I'm trying to check your pupils for signs of a concussion." Norman said gently. "I'm not going to snog you, don't worry."
"I..." Carter didn't know quite how to finish that sentence off. He'd got that feeling again, of butterflies in his stomach. And he didn't have the excuse of being hungry this time... Shit. Shit! Was he attracted to another man? Before he had the chance to follow this train of thought any longer, he felt Norman's hand on him, gently feeling the lump on his head. He stood up.
"Right, get in bed, I'll find you some painkillers. And for goodness' sake, don't fall over again!"
Carter's head hurt too much to argue, so he got into the bed, and shuffled over to where Jayden had been lying so he could get in when he came back with the painkillers. He settled down under the covers, more than slightly unnerved about his recent discovery. Norman came back into the room, handed him the painkillers with a glass of water, got in the bed, and went to sleep almost immediately. Carter wasn't sure what time he drifted off, but it was a long while after that.