Chapter Text
13/11/2021
In hindsight, fumbling for his lighter in his pocket while he trotted down the stairs was not a great decision, but Evan’s urge to flick it open was far more important than sense in that moment. Missing his footing, Evan tumbled forward and hit the bottom of the steps in a pile of his own limbs. Lovely, great start. He didn’t bother checking if anyone had been around to notice, only stood and scurried out the doors to feel the cool November air hit his face. This time, he succeeded in grabbing his silver lighter, flicking it open and lighting the cigarette that had been dangling between his lips since the moment he stepped out of his apartment. Frankly, it was a miracle he hadn’t swallowed it in his stumble.
This is the prime time to be applying for scholarships, do you know how expensive a decent education is? His father’s words echoed around him, but he shoved his headphones over his head to silence them immediately. He hardly knew where he was going, busy trying to silence his mind and warm his icy cold hands in his hoodie sleeves. His feet however, they seemed to know, fast steps leading him across streets, through alleys, and up steps, until he finally looked up and found himself nearing what should not have been his favourite area, and yet.
Pandora Avenue was far from a warm welcome, with more tents than housing and a lower sanitation budget than Skidrow, it would seem. It presented an alarmingly easy market for anything Evan could not yet buy for himself, but with all the price gouging, he really should invest in a fake ID. He had long finished his cigarette and gone through two more by the time he arrived, finding his spot on the third floor to sit and ponder. He often wondered if he did too much pondering.
The building -a half-finished apartment complex was his best guess- had luckily yet to be discovered by most of the youth in the area, so it was a rare escape from the noise. Upon first finding it, Evan had spent a few days meandering his way through it. The concrete foundation of the building had been completed all the way up to the sixth floor, but only the first two floors had drywall separating different spaces, and about half of the first floor was blessed with windows. As a result, the first and second floors were littered with needles, cigarette butts, bottles, and all manner of spray paint. The third floor, to his delight, was not actually accessible by the stairs, and the elevator shafts had been abandoned before a cabin could actually be placed in any of them, so all the floors above the second were typically empty save for a few raccoons and stray cats. It had taken him a week to find the loophole. On the second floor, the western elevator shaft had an opening for the operator’s stairs, not easily noticeable unless one was to nearly drop their phone into the abyss that he assumed would have become a basement. Each time, he made sure to carefully cover his tracks. So many of his favourite spots had been overrun by high schoolers in search of a makeout spot; he’d be damned if they took this one too.
With his back against a pillar, Evan sat and finally pulled his phone out of his pocket. Several texts from his mother, a handful from Dora, and one from his father. Hardly a text really, it was a link to an application, from the looks of it, an application to UVic. He didn’t bother clicking it.
“It’s rude to ignore your texts, you know.”
Evan jumped when he heard the sudden, albeit familiar, voice. He brought his headphones down around his neck as he replied. “Did you follow me here?” He asked, watching the boy climb out of the elevator shaft -there really was no dignified way of doing that, not even for Barty- and take a seat a few feet away from him.
Barty gave him a wide grin, waving the question off. “Don’t be ridiculous, I’ve been coming here for years.”
“It’s only been here for a month, Barty,” Evan reminded him, rolling his eyes as he reached for his pack of Playfares. He made a face when he realized he only had two left, but nonetheless fished one out and brought it to his lips.
“Ooh one for me too?” Barty asked, making grabby hands at him, but Evan shook his head.
“Sorry, s’my last one,” he replied around it, lighting it and dropping his lighter down by his foot.
“You’re awfully selfish,” Barty remarked, but didn’t argue otherwise. Instead, he busied his hands by reaching into his hoodie pocket and produced a worn out, plastic belt. Evan knew it had once been covered in bright pink sequins, but now it was simply an ugly, faded grey. He watched Barty do it, but turned away a moment later.
“They say that stuff is bad for you, you know,” Evan murmured, tilting his head back against the cold cement pillar.
“Says the guy with the cancer stick in his mouth,” Barty scoffed, tightening the belt around his bicep. “It’s a shame really, such a pretty mouth, soon it’ll be all shrivelled up from the chemo, your youthful lips will lose all their allure once the radiation takes over.”
This did earn a laugh from Evan, and he finally turned to look over at Barty. “Has anyone ever told you you’re fucking dramatic?” He asked, watching Barty remove the belt and bring his sleeve back down. He scooted closer then, sitting down next to Barty just in time for his head to fall to the side onto Evan’s shoulder.
“Yes but we both know you love it,” Barty replied, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
Evan turned his head towards him, watching the way every muscle in his face turn to jelly as he leaned further into Evan. Not that he minded, truthfully; Barty was always uncharacteristically warm. He was the one person that Evan didn’t mind being close to.
They sat in silence, and after a while he got so lost in it that he almost jumped when Barty spoke again.
“You never texted me back about that concert.” His voice was soft, hardly an accusation, more of a question if anything.
“Sorry, my dad took my phone,” Evan replied, eyes still fixed on Barty’s, though the latter’s were shut lightly.
“You have it back now though, I can feel it buzzing,” Barty replied, shifting his weight slightly so that he could reach a warm hand into Evan’s pocket and pull it out.
“Barty… my dad’s been…a lot, about you, you know?’ Evan said, voice softer than it had been before.
A pause followed this, as though Barty was considering it carefully. Evan knew the words hadn’t upset him, hardly anything could when he was like this, so he simply let him take his time to put together a response. He didn’t think Barty really considered things all that thoroughly before they came out of his mouth, it was more that it took a little longer to piece together a sentence.
“I could sneak you out? It’s not until next week anyway, so he’ll have time to cool off?” Barty looked up at him with a small smile, and immediately Evan knew he would eventually find himself at that concert, so he chuckled a little, grabbing his phone back from his friend.
Evan laughed a little, shoving Barty a bit, though he did not object when Barty immediately leaned back into him, somehow even closer than he had been before. “Alright fine, but if I get caught I’m telling him you seduced me with your devil-worshipping ways.”
Barty’s face immediately split into another grin. “And where would be the lie in that?”
This time, Evan shoved him harder, laughing as he stood up. “Come on, I’ve never gone past this floor,” he said, heading back towards the elevator shaft. He craned his neck upwards, shining his phone flashlight in search of an easy way up. The opening for the fourth floor could be made out as he inspected it, but just barely, and his flashlight range didn’t reach any further to reveal more.
“If you make me climb that I’m guaranteed to fall on my ass,” Barty protested, on his toes to peer up over Evan’s shoulder. “There isn’t even a chain or anything.”
Evan chewed on his lower lip while he considered it. It didn’t appear that the operator’s stairs had been completed past the third floor, only a thick bar a couple feet below the fourth floor opening. If he could just get to that…
“Give me your belt.”
Barty blinked, processing the question slowly before he arched an eyebrow in response. “Not even gonna wine and dine me first?”
Evan looked back at him with his best ‘unimpressed’ face. “You know what I’m talking about, I think I can get up to that ledge,” he did his best to explain, pointing out the spot to Barty as he did.
Barty made a face, looking between Evan and the bar a few times. “Ok Spiderman, but what makes you think I even have it? I resent the implication,” he finally decided, eyes twinkling with mischief behind his indignant expression.
“You used it ten minutes ago, dumbass,” Evan replied, reaching into Barty’s hoodie pocket to grab it himself, not that the latter seemed to care.
It took a few tries to even loop the belt over the bar, and Evan nearly fell into the elevator shaft twice during the process. He grinned victoriously once he caught hold of the other end of the plastic though, yanking on it a few times.
“Will that even hold your weight?”
Evan shrugged, looping the ends of the belt around each of his palms as he did. “If it doesn’t, you’ll catch me,” he declared simply.
With that, he bounded off the floor towards the adjacent wall, getting his foot in a nook it had, and after a bit of sliding, he was able to stabilize the grip on his shoes. He didn’t need to look down to know what Barty’s expression looked like, but he did anyway. Face familiarly flushed, hands shoved in his jean pockets, and dark eyes fixated on Evan; he couldn’t help the self-satisfied grin that came over him at this.
It was only at this point that he questioned what came next. One foot lodged in a small hole in the wall, the other pressed stiff against the adjacent wall -the same wall the bar was on, just two feet above him now. Twisting his body, he looked downwards, at the dark vertical tunnel below him. I guess there are worse ways to die. He didn’t like how Barty seemed to read his thoughts.
“If you fall I’m telling the press that you lit up a room and planned to follow your father’s footsteps into business!” Barty taunted, and despite his carefree attitude, Evan could see the way his eyes followed each and every movement.
“It’s cute that you care,” he replied with a breathless laugh. He barely had time to register Barty making a face at him before he turned back to his task and started to slowly shuffle his feet up the wall, staying in the corner and using the belt to haul himself up to the bar.
Finally, finally, he was just beside it, and from there, getting one foot onto it was easy. A few large, unsteady steps later, and he was on the fourth floor, peering down into the elevator shaft. Catching his breath, he grinned, watching Barty poke his head out and up to look at him. “Not that that wasn’t impressive, you still need to get me up there.”
Evan scoffed playfully. “Wow, presumptuous much? I’m perfectly happy to leave you down there,” he declared, though they both knew it was far from true. He turned away from the elevator shaft, finally looking around to register the new space he’d unlocked.
Unsure what he was expecting, the fourth floor was laid out just the same as the third. A large, echoey space, concrete floors and pillars as its foundation, littered with just a few piles of wood. The only difference was the warmth. The adjacent building was only three stories, so this new floor eclipsed it and, almost as a reward, was bathed in sunlight. He couldn’t help but grin a little at this; if he had thought the third floor was private, this was even more so.
“Evvvvaaaannnnn!” Came Barty’s whine from the elevator shaft, and it took him a moment to remember his task. His eyes swept the floor around him before he spotted it. Thank fuck for lazy construction guys, he thought to himself as he brought the long, albeit scratchy rope back to the elevator space.
“I’m gonna tie this up here, so you can climb it. Nice and easy, you won’t even break a nail,” Evan explained, securing one end of the rope to the nearest pillar and tossing the rest of the rope down. He watched intently, hearing Barty grumble about something, but was satisfied once he felt the rope become taut. He sat near the edge, watching Barty come up and offering him a hand once he got closer, finally helping haul his body weight onto the new floor.
“You’re lucky you’re cute, Rosier,” Barty murmured, flipping him off and laying on the floor to emphasize his disdain. Evan just smiled as he stood, no stranger to Barty’s dramatics, and grabbed his hand to hoist him to his feet.
Dragging a deceptively willing Barty along with him, he finally reached the sunny spot he had first noticed and cleared a spot. Evan sat with his back against a pillar and reached up to tug on Barty’s sleeve, and a smile crept onto his face when Barty took his seat directly beside him.
Barty did smile this time, pink lips spreading into a proper, crooked grin that made it all the way up his eyes. Evan mentally stopped himself before he could notice the colour of his eyes in the sunlight. “Worth it?”
After pretending to consider it for a moment, Barty smirked and lunged into Evan’s pocket, pulling out the pack of cigarettes stashed there. “Ha! I knew you were holding out on me!” He accused, grabbing the last stick out of the packet and bringing it to his lips to light.
Evan didn’t protest, just snickered a little and held the lighter up for him, watching him take a slow inhale immediately. Once Barty plucked it away from his lips with two fingers, Evan smiled, pulled him close by the front of his shirt, and kissed him.
Through the bitter tobacco and Barty’s wicked grin, Evan melted into the soft touch of his lips. He felt a hand creep up into his hair -better not be the one with the cigarette you fucker- and brought his own up to his cheek, letting his body relax and feel the warmth. Warm sunlight, warm bodies, warm breath, warm lips. It wasn’t until he blindly found the cigarette between Barty’s fingers that he pulled away, turning his head to bring that to his lips instead.
Barty didn’t try to hide the grin on his face, just let Evan take it from him and watched the smoke creep up over their heads.