Chapter Text
After finishing their meal, Nick decided to show him to the arcade. Not that he was much of a gamer, but you can be an average type of player and still enjoy it when you're short on cash or just want to pass time. Plainly, Nick didn't want to go home just yet.
Or more to the point, he didn't want to leave Jay's presence anytime soon. He wouldn't even mind calling home, asking his parents permission if he can eat out, and postpone starting his project. But he didn't want to seem creepy, and definitely demanding more time to be spent on this hang out, which was impromptu the day before, would fall under that category. Besides, Nick didn't know if Jay really did enjoy his company or if it was a normal rich person courtesy. Then again, Tom wasn't anything like Gatsby. Never mind common courtesy for the rich, average, or poor, the guy was a total douche. Still, this good be the decent type of rich. Even if Nick thought Jay was pretty good company, he wouldn't go as far as to think that the blond was his friend. He knew him for approximately two days and most people would put their best foot forward during first encounters.
He wasn't gullible to believe that Jay Gatsby was perfect and, all the more, thought Nick was pretty awesome too. No matter how much he wanted to believe it. Maybe it was true, but he would have to wait for difficult situations and see how Gatsby was going to react to it.
"What game would you like to start at?"
Nick looked around, "Mmm... I always liked Time Crisis 2. It's challenging, but the rules are simple enough."
"Let's do it then."
Nick and Jay inserted their coins, with Nick choosing the Blue area leaving Jay with the red one. Turns out, despite the red area being known as standard player one, it was actually his first time playing the game. Since they weren't playing it in a console, the first round offered no tutorial so the blond was left to his own devices. He got the gist of the game, aim and fire. But the other mechanics was a mystery to him.
"Ah! How do you reload? How do you reload?!"
"Look at the screen Jay! Step out of the pedal, step out!"
"How do I fight a helicopter without a machine gun?!"
"Step out and press down on the trigger!"
Ironically, Jay got more points than Nick had in the first stage since the latter had to keep leaving his area to teach the former how to do things like taking cover and switching weapons. They spent most of their tokens and made it to the last stage against the odds that Jay was a beginner.
"Is that... it is!"
Jay cries out as he was pulled away from the game, causing him to lose one life. Alarmed, Nick looked away from his own screen, causing his own player to lose his last life. He recognized the guy. He was one of his usual bullies. Not that he actively participates, but a passive and constantly present bystander to the group that does it doesn't make him any less guilty. He placed the gun back to the holster, running over to the small group dragging Jay away. "Wait a minute!" He scowls, but then stop himself when he sees that Jay was smirking up at the man.
"I swear, Wolfe, you're gonna give me a heart attack if you keep popping out of nowhere."
Nick frowns, looking at them. "You... know him?"
"It's been a while, huh?" Wolfe looked at Jay, ignoring Nick completely. "Didn't expect that the new kid that moved into town that had your name was actually you. You weren't loaded the last time we saw, that's for sure."
Nick watched Jay carefully, and he raised a brow as Jay flinched before masking it with something of a strained laugh. "Very funny, you mean I wasn't this loaded the last time. But you know, when there's a business break through, there's a... business break through."
"No, what I mean is..." Wolfe's eyes finally fell upon Nick's, giving a chirp whistle. "Woah, what you doing hanging out with the twink?"
Nick's face turns flushed in anger and embarrassment, "Excuse me?"
"I second this excuse me." Jay says, pulling back for Wolfe and giving him a sharp look. "He's my friend, I'll have you know."
Wolfe blinks before laughing, "Dude, you're amazing." he says. "You've improved your threads, your vocabulary is shit sophisticated, now all you gotta do is figure out the right crowd to mingle with. Fortunately, you got me to point you to the right direction. Now that you're living at the high street, your actual peeps should be the preps. Instead of twinkletoes here, you should bring his cousin out to town, now she's a hot chick. Hmm, then again, that's only if she finally cuts the rope with that Tom guy. He's real fancy, too. A bit obnoxious, but better than homo there."
"You know what," Nick holds up his arm, clearly done with the whole situation. "I came out to have a good time, and now, I'm feeling so attacked right now."
Wolfe blinks before laughing out loud once more, "Oh my god, did you just quote a meme? That's so corny, dude." he cackles, "And if you didn't want to be attacked, you should've come out in the first place."
"Shouldn't have..." Nick deadpans, "it's shouldn't have..."
This only makes Wolfe crack up some more. "Oh god, now someone should call Captain America, because there's a freakin' Nazi here!"
"That's..." Nick frowns when he realized his vision getting misty, "Oh, fuck it..." he turns around and leaves.
Jay pulls away from Wolfe and runs after him and outside the Arcade, "Wait Old buddy, let me drive you h—"
Nick pulls his arm roughly away. "I can walk home just fine, so no, but thanks. Jay, if that's even your real name. "
"Now what the hell does that mean?"
"Oh, and now suddenly that smooth, fancy talk becomes What the hell?" Nick glared at him, "who are you, really?"
Jay frowns, "It's... it's a long story."
"Of course it is," Nick groans, "you know what, I don't care. I need to go finish that damn book report."
But Jay still didn't let go, "It's a long story... that I hope you'll be understanding enough to listen to... Nicky."
"Huh?" Nick froze, his blood running cold suddenly, and he slowly turned back to Jay. That nickname... With the way he said it... Felt so familiar, so achingly familiar.
Jay smiled, chagrined. He reached up a hand to his hair, tousling it a bit so that his neat and waxed style was more disheveled. "Do you remember now?"
"Oh my god," Nick pulls away, raising his hands to cover his mouth. "James?"
Jay's smile widened. No... James smile widened. "It's been a while... Old buddy."