If you're looking for an adventure in the morally grey, and a crash course of the human condition, this is the story for you! What is good and evil? Where is that line drawn, and who decides that? Packed with humor, danger, feels, and awkward relati...
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Nathan sat in awkward silence as Ian opened a small drawer in the coffee table and pulled out a deck of cards. Ian shuffled it in an upbeat manner, but Nathan's eyes were engrossed in following the quick movement of his hands on the deck.
Shuffle, shuffle, cut, bridge. It was a rhythmic pattern and Nathan's mind went somewhere else with the movement. Supposedly, he was safe in here, but watching how deft and precise Ian's hands were on the cards made him uneasy. The sound of them smacking together when bridged was horribly similar to how it would sound if Tanner snapped him in half, and the man had not been vague at all about his intentions earlier.
It was odd having his shield be the man who had assaulted him right in the door, and he wondered about what would happen if the two men did fight. Ian was noticeably smaller than Tanner, a little shorter and certainly had slimmer arms, but he was just as built as any guy in prison. It would take no effort for the man to hold Nathan down to the floor and get on top of him. He closed his eyes to try and shake the image from his mind.
"Here ya' go."
Nathan jumped out of his skin as Ian spoke, knocking him out of his internalized terror. All he had done was set a stack of cards neatly in front of him, and Nathan let out a light sigh as he picked them up. Just focus on the cards, Nathan told himself as he looked at them. Or rather he tried to focus on them and ended up running a hand up his face.
Thinking about the possibility of being molested would do him little good. So far, Nathan hadn't aggravated Ian to a point of anger, but that could change if he continued. That, and if he didn't find some point of calm, he'd be unable to get away from it all for a bit.
He desperately needed that.
Playing cards wasn't an all too unpleasant way to pass the afternoon. Glancing over to Ian, Nathan found him leaning on his left arm and watching him. It didn't look aggressive or dangerous, so Nathan did his best to calm down before he made it so. Self-fulfilling prophecies were real things, and if he kept treating the man like he was going to rape him, it'd only speed up the process... wouldn't it?
"Hey, Ian." Nathan decided he would try conversation as he drew a card.
"Yeah?" Ian looked surprised that he'd spoken.
It was hard for Nathan not to smile from the strange look on Ian's face as he answered. Wrought between nervousness and interest, Ian had really not expected him to speak, but silently staring at each other while they played cards would be tremendously awkward.
"What's prison like?" It seemed like an innocent enough question since he had little experience with any of this.
Ian laughed, slapping his hand on his knee as if that were the biggest joke imaginable. The movement, again, scared the living crap out of Nathan, though he tried to not completely stuff himself under the table for safety. Why wouldn't the man just move slower and more quietly? Nathan was now a bit jittery as he held his cards.
