long after they get out of town, after months (or maybe longer) have passed, after it’s been enough time to pretend anything that’s happened is even slightly funny — ryan and naim sometimes joke about the entities. they’re young, & sometimes everything feels like laugh or cry.
it’s nothing personal, no insults, nothing concerning hunter’s name or the worst, ugliest, sorest bits. just when they need more bread from the shops, and naim won’t get off the couch to come with, ryan squints and says,
“but the entity.”
(he hasn’t really seen not-naim in months. fear, right now, is a shadow skirting the edges of their lives. never gone, but not intrusive.)
naim blindly reaches an arm out and gives one of ryan’s curls a tug. ryan just smiles.
“cunt,” naim says, but he laughs. he gets up anyway.
when they walk out of woolies a little later — they’ve got a trolley full of things that aren’t bread, and ryan nearly falls on the floor trying to balance on the back of it, and naim thinks he’s lost his keys.
they get in the car laughing. the entity feels far away.
