tension between them crackles in the air like lightning before a storm, barometic pressure spiking twofold when nish turns his line of questioning around on dylan, glancing down at the hand bunching up the fabric of his shirt as if in disbelief. if nish means to lay hands on him, he's fucking loonier than dylan even thought. he lets out a harsh little laugh. "you're really, really gonna regret that, nish," he mutters, a friendly warning in as much as it is a threat. dylan's crossed a line, but he always crosses a line. it's hard to say what their friendship can't definitively recover from when it's been a struggle from the start, they'd never had an easy time understanding eachother, but on top of nish's marriage and how little they'll see of another once it's all done with, dylan really feels like they're reaching the end of the road. how much more of a push can this precarious house of cards take before it all topples over?
his face goes slack, blatant disdain wiped clean to be replaced with such non-expressiveness it can only be described as shock. dylan's eyes are wide, blue and deceivingly innocent, and he feels like he has to repeat the words in his mind a second time to make sure he's hearing them right. "fuck you. fuck you. for real, mate. you haven't got the right to accuse me of being buried in anythin' when we both know where you've been burying your head. somewhere new, not under the sand anymore, that's for damn sure." he laughs again when nishanth pushes him, smile wide and unkind. dylan's chest is rapidly rising and falling, not even noticing the adrenaline beginning to course through his veins and make the blood rush away from his head.
he's not thinking clearly, a veritable fact, so he entertains the thought of tangling fingers in soft jet black curls and pulling harshly so dylan can nip at and mark his neck. mouth at his jugular, carotid -- leave blooming bruises for him to explain away to isla. but why should he be wary of his worst impulses, when nishanth is no longer minding his own? dylan gives a little shake of his head, mirroring nishanth's grip on his shirt so they're all tangled up in one another -- neither one can get away without getting hurt, and pulls nish's body flush against his own. he could tear the fabric if he used the right amount of force, with how he's anchoring nishanth's body here so he can tip his head forward and attach lips to his neck. it's a mess of more lips and teeth and the slightest bit of tongue, no finesse involved, but with vengeful jealousy driving the path forward it's unnecessary. dylan cradles the back of nish's head, fingers interwoven tight in the locks to allow minimal movement as he sucks hard at his adam's apple, breaking away with a thin thread of spit connecting their skin. "explain that," he breathes, sounding pissed and jubilant simultaneously.