(Untitled)

[hockey_god]

He was counting down the days till he saw Aaron again, till Christmas. He'd even bought a little calendar for the purpose of crossing off dates on it just to see them disappear. Shortly before exams he'd packed up his clothes, a couple books, everything he'd want at the apartment that he wouldn't need before then. He only needed a couple changes of

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[isaprick]

It almost took a couple of sentences for Aaron's full attention to be engaged, but that was only because he was this tired; after that, he sat up and followed through, not only the story but Dale's tone, too.

It didn't take nearly as long to want to be there and be able to hold him, just for the way he sounded, the cadence of his voice, the little signs of how upset Dale was. It hurt, that Dale was upset and he couldn't be there. But he could talk.

After Dale trailed off, he was quiet for a very brief while, then murmured, "he's changed." A beat, then he tilted his chin up. "But what you two had hasn't. And--" Aaron's mind was providing a cascade of things. Jamal was having trouble reconciling who he had been with who he was; Jamal was feeling guilty; Jamal needed Dale's help, reassurance, something. "And it'll take a bit to be friends as you used to be again. But that's okay. It'll be okay. Changes do that."

And he knew. And he was there.