There weren't a lot of things that could give Saxon a jump scare. His twin sitting cross-legged on his bed to arrest his entrance and looking like one who was owed money—or candy— was one such thing. "Should I even bother asking how you got in?" Saxon asked as he slipped off his bag, depositing that and the cellophane he'd been gifted on his desk before turning to his closet for a change of clothes.

"I missed you," his voice was cheery and followed by the crinkling of foil that didn't immediately raise the appropriate alarm bells in Saxon's head.

"I'm not giving you your candy stash," Saxon's voice was blunt as he tugged a t-shirt over his head. "Not unless you've had dinner."

"I ate."

"Oh?" That he was surprised to say the least would be the understatement of the century. "What did you have?"

"Pudding," he piped up and Saxon just felt his eyelids begin to twitch with maddening alarm. "Banana."

He whirled around, leg only halfway through the shorts he'd pulled out. His lip twitched at the sight of his twin feasting away at the snack that had been shared by a course mate at rehearsals, mouth smeared with cream. ". . .You're annoying," he scowled, pulling the shorts up the rest of the way and going to snatch it back.

Nigel held it out of reach from him, his other hand coming over to hold him off. "Weren't you the one advocating for me to eat properly?" he asked, quirking a brow. "Now you're just going to take it away?"

"I never advocated with my own dinner," Saxon glowered at him.

Nigel ignored him, taking another bite of the pudding and getting the tip of his nose smeared in the process.

". . . And disgusting." A disdainful glance at the mess he'd made of the lower half of his face.

"You're mean."

Saxon rolled his eyes and went to brush his teeth so he could go to bed. When he came back out, he felt a vein pulse in his temple at the sight of his twin having extended his mess to his bed.

"This is really good," he remarked when he was done, accurately tossing the empty pudding cup into the white polythene still sitting open on the desk. "Do you have another one?"

"No," he managed through gritted teeth, getting a wet wipe to clean his blanket and launching the rest of the packet at his brother's head.

"I'm sleeping here," he said when Saxon tossed the trash away and got into bed, absolutely persistent and steadfast in ignoring him.

"Suit yourself."

His eyes were screwed shut and Nigel left him to his petty self, massaging his forehead that had taken the brunt of the heat before cleaning up the rest of his face and laying down as well.

"Were you drinking?" he asked minutes later, tone already hoarse and low with impending sleep.

"Just a little," he smiled. When his twin didn't say a word more, back to ignoring him, he just chuckled. "'night, Saxon."

Silence. But he welcomed it and didn't say a word more as they both drifted up to sleep.

—

Nigel didn't remember much of the night prior to his return home. Not much of the conversation he'd had with his friends or the ride back home in the cab. He did remember getting into his twin's room and ransacking it top to bottom for his snacks, eating the most wholesome cup of banana pudding he'd had in a while and annoying the shit out of his brother in the process and as a result, having one of the most peaceful rests he could vouch for in a long time.

The following morning met him not nearly as hungover as he imagined and he got out of bed, his twin oblivious as he made his way back to his room. He quietly washed up then went down to the kitchen to fill a bottle of water and then returning to his twin who was still glued to his desk, laptop playing something as he jotted down some other thing, very much oblivious to the fact that he was probably already up.

He walked over and ripped an earbud out since the sole purpose of his existence was to frustrate the hair off his twin's head, jamming it in his ears and peering close to the screen. "I knew it," he tsked under his breath at the low, guttural moans that filled his ears and the even more graphic images filling his eyes. "You're watching porn."

"I'm not—" his whole face dyed a startling shade of beet red as his twin uh-huh'ed and went to make himself comfortable in bed again. "It's just that one scene in the whole movie and it's for a review. For one of my courses."

"How sloppy," Nigel suddenly snorted then looked up to see the red was climbing down his twin's neck as well. He hit pause. "Come on, let's watch it together."

"I don't have the time, Nic," he said, rubbing at his eyes. "The reviews are due pretty soon and I just want to get it over with."

"Suit yourself." He hit play.

"Nic."

"You look half-dead," Nigel mused. "You've got dark circles and could easily cosplay a ghost. I'm asking you to pause and chill, not abandon your schoolwork."

"There's no time to pause and chill," he said, hissing when his finger rubbed wrongly at his eye, causing it to burn and promptly overflow with tears.

"How long have you been up?" he asked.

Saxon didn't respond, just staring at him with one hand cupped over his eyes.

"I'm just saying," Nigel shrugged. "You won't be able to use the degree if you die from overworking first."

Saxon frowned, ripping the other earbud out and going to wash his eyes. He stood at the door to his bathroom after patting his face dry, somewhat at a loss as he watched his twin focus on the movie he'd resumed.

He was envious of his twin, always had been. Nigel had always been the more intellectual of the two of them, able to get stellar results with half the effort. It never came that easily for him and that evening, his twin had been right. His paltry was much better than anything he could ever hope to achieve with his grades.

In fact, Saxon didn't think he could ever have gotten his scholarship if it wasn't for the fact that it was one solely focused in the arts. It made him nervous. Their mom gave Nic so much shit for his grades that were already so good and what he'd already be incredibly satisfied with if it were up to him. She'd always been proud of him even if his grades had been less than optimal but he still couldn't help wondering.

What if the day came when she was no longer satisfied with the little she could manage? She'd no longer encourage him. Would she look at him with the same eyes she did his twin? Saxon couldn't really stomach the thought. He didn't understand how his twin had survived over a decade with it.

Putting the towel away and pulling the door shut behind him, he picked the earbud and put it back in before going to settle in bed next to his twin and watch the movie alongside him. Not taking notes or thinking of how he could arrange the reviews so it could be better appreciated by his lecturer. Just enjoying the sappy rom-com.

There were only some ten minutes left to the movie when his twin's phone started to ring with a specialized tune that had his eyes going wide as he scrambled for it, handing his laptop over.

"Did something happen?" Saxon asked on seeing his alarmed look as he fumbled past his lock screen, getting out of his bed and shoving his legs into the bedroom slippers haphazardly.

"Don't worry about it," was all the explanation he was willing to give before he rushed out. Saxon watched the door slam shut before lazily bringing his gaze back to the screen.

Nigel needed a slap to set his thinking straight. He was, after all, a soon to be dead man for nearly missing and inadvertently cancelling a date for the second time in history on the one person he adored. This particular date, a simple picnic they'd finally decided on after hours of bickering on the phone and in person, was one that had been in planning for many days on end now. It was too important to him, with him planning on finally asking her out if things went as planned and his own jitters didn't convince him out of it first.

Anyway, this matter of importance had been logged into his calendars pretty early on so he stood no chance of forgetting. Imagine the odds. He tried her number while he quickly got ready in a basic graphic t-shirt and distressed jeans, somewhat nervous when it only rang so long before falling silent. Was she mad? Mad enough to ignore him? There were no calls, no text messages and very much unlike her so he wasn't really sure what to think.

He headed out anyway, practicing his very much long-winded apology as they should have set out for the park and their proposed picnic spit hours ago. The ride was short, the walk up her house steps even shorter as he tried her door, then rang her doorbell and then tried her line again. Not necessarily in that order.

He was currently too scatterbrained to even keep calm. Was she out? She'd at least open the door even if she was out, right?

The call connected.

"Hayley," he injected as much cheer as was possible to cover the nerves in his own voice. "I'm —"

"Hayley's busy."

He found himself checking the caller ID just in case, frowning at the blunt, masculine voice that grated on his ears.

"Too busy to talk?" he found himself asking despite internally screaming at who this intruder was. Why did he have her phone?

"Take the hint," he said, tone cold, words dripping venom. Did this person have some kind of vendetta against him? "She just doesn't want to talk to you."

"I'm sure that's—" Nigel trailed at the sound of the beep, lips pursing as he stared blankly at his phone screen long until it darkened. He waited, then tried the line again, even if to at least find out who that was then felt his forehead wrinkling when it didn't even manage to connect and he just heard the dial tone.

Was he blocked?

Who the hell was that clown?

—

A bit shorter than my usual QAQ