#nikoliwells

It had been a week. Hunter had been thinking hard about what to do, how he and Nik should solve this situation. It had been beyond awkward for Hunter, he was sort of glad that Nik had volunteered to go and stay with his friend because it gave them space and Hunter wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle making this kind of choice whilst Nik was around. That said, it was pretty lonely without Nik around and Hunter admittedly missed him quite a lot. He tried to fill his time with going out with friends, keeping with company so he didn’t have to be by himself.

To Hunter’s credit, he didn’t so much as kiss another person during that week. He couldn’t bring himself to, knowing it would only cloud his thoughts and make it more difficult to decide what to do about Nik. Hunter kept himself awake at night thinking about it, weighing up the pros and cons and trying to come to a decision. He’d spoken to his sister about it and she’d told him she was quite worried because he was actually asking for her opinion. The fact was that he didn’t know what he was doing, all of Hunter’s relationships were casual and he couldn’t see things being like that with Nik. He’d told himself from the beginning that a relationship at college was a bad idea but the more Hunter thought about it, the more he wondered how bad could it be?

          Hunter hadn’t always thought he’d make it to college. Sure he was smart but getting him to concentrate in a class? Impossible. Hunter was always a hyperactive child, he’d much rather be outdoors than in a classroom and he could talk enough for a group of people. He and his sister hadn’t had the best start in life, not with the death of their mother at such an early age and their poor excuse for a father running out on them. 

          Hunter’s sister had already been to and graduated from college, achieving perfect grades throughout and more of an example than Hunter could ever hope to be. She’d always been more academic and, in Hunter’s opinion, the smarter out of the two of them. Hunter thought he had more street-smarts, he could talk himself out of most situations and he had a way with people; he was eccentric, sociable and always looking for a good time. His sister was different; focused and motivated to make the best of her future and Hunter sometimes wished he could be like that.

          The day he moved in, Hunter ended up going by himself. It was a long way from his home town and Hunter wasn’t sure he could justify dragging his grandparents that far. They did a remarkable job of raising him but they were old, the drive and then helping him unpack would be too much. Anyway, it wasn’t like Hunter couldn’t do all that himself with the amount of energy he had. He thought he’d be more nervous, moving to college (by himself no less) was daunting but Hunter knew he was ready for it. He was excited, he’d get to meet a bunch of new people and have a load of experiences away from home. What part of that wasn’t exciting?

          By the time he’d moved most of his stuff into his room, Hunter had already made acquaintances, which was considerably easier when you were cute and had to get a bunch of boxes upstairs. He didn’t have that much stuff with him, certainly not as much as some people. He had the basics i.e. his clothes, books, laptop etc. He’d brought a few more personal items like pictures of his family, posters of the various sports teams he supported etc. It wasn’t until he’d started making himself at home that he noticed the other bed. He’d totally forgotten he was getting a roommate and that was kind of exciting to. If he didn’t make any friends at all, at least he’d have the poor guy he had to share a room with. The second that said poor guy walked into the room, Hunter was charging ahead with introductions.

@nikoliwells

     A month. A month Hunter had been in this camp and not in a hundred lifetimes did he think he’d see Nikoli Wells’ face again. It was surreal almost, he’d spent so much time trying to find Nik and here he was, right in front of Hunter, and he had no idea what to do or say. Part of him had been convinced that Nik was dead, it was a realistic scenario that Hunter had partially come to terms with but this was...well, it was another experience entirely.

     So what did Hunter do? Well, he did what any shocked, vaguely cowardly ex-boyfriend would do. He hid behind the first solid structure he could find. Hunter’s hiding place of choice was a tree which turned out to be a pretty bad idea. You see, when trees are concerned, branches are often a common occurrence. For someone with a pretty bad shoulder injury which is taking a very long time to heal and is still very painful...well, branches are not your friend.

     “Ow.”