As The Sun Beats Down

NATE

the inmate loves the prison guard
the one who feeds him through the bars

“At least this way you get a little breathing room first.” Nate tries to laugh through the guilt, his arm squeezing more tightly around Sunjata. “And because of you all those people got to go home tonight.” A short term victory, extended only because the enforcers are stretched too thin to buckle down any tighter.

Nate knows better than to push too hard though, especially when he can feel the fractured edges against the places they touch, the way the other man is pinched and squished into himself. Silence stretches out, fills the empty spaces, until finally they step out through a rusted door, the shriek of hinges loud in the quiet dark they step out into.

It’s here that Nate withdraws, pulling his arm back into himself and severing the connection between them so he can look at Sunjata. “Are you coming with me?”

no day or night, no one can tell
so he paints the ceiling full of stars

Sunjata

i bank on the funeral,

It’s true, all those people did get home because of him. But he can’t help but to let the impending doom of the repercussions draw him tense, tight, uncomfortable under Nate’s arm, suddenly cold enough that even the other man’s warmth does little to break through it. He swallows hard as they reach the end of the service stairs and the Drench becomes fully into view.

Nate’s arm moves away from his shoulders and the connection is lost and suddenly he feels even more unsure, like he’s about to float away into the wrong places should he let Nate out of his sight. So he straightens up a little, the steel of his gaze finding Nate’s face as the doctor looks at him. “Yes.” Because where else would he go?

And so he waits for Nate to lead the way, following him like that very same lost dog he was so apt to be nicknamed.

'cause i learned all my lessons that way