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[abrightboy]

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[abrightboy]

"That seems reasonable. Did you tell Jesus you'd rather work in the chapel and hang out in the library?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yes," he groans. "It doesn't fucking matter. Work is work. I don't want to do any of it."

[abrightboy]

"Did you work back home?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He nods. "Been working since I was nine years old, doc. That's what you do in Creekside," he answers. "You work, you get married, you have kids so they can work, then you die."

[abrightboy]

"What did you do there?" he asks curiously.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Little bit of everything. Worked at the shop, worked for the doc," he says softly. Following his dreams, he told himself at one time. Aaron had wanted to be a doctor. He had wanted to learn all about medicine. All about healing.

Boys like him don't get to be doctors, though.

He downs the rest of the whiskey with a cough.

[abrightboy]

"What did you like the best?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Working for the doctor," he answers quickly. "He did everything for everyone. Did the autopsies and healed anyone who needed healing." He grins. "Kept me out of the mines." Said like a joke.

[abrightboy]

"If you enjoyed that, have you considered helping in the infirmary here?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"No," he mutters. "I don't know enough to do anything but get in the way."

He doesn't want to feel like a burden.

[abrightboy]

"Nobody knows anything before they learn how to do it," Malcolm points out. "The people who work there could teach you. Do you know Doctor Reid?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"The vampire? Not really," he mutters. "I've met Hunter. The kid there."

[abrightboy]

“I know him. I could introduce you. If you’re going to be stuck here, you may as well learn skills you’re really interested in. There’s nothing stopping you here, in that respect,” Malcolm points out.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"No," he says with a shake of his head, something like panic in his voice. "I'm not going back home to be a fucking doctor."

[abrightboy]

“Are… you going back home? Because when you graduate, you can go anywhere. Don’t you hate it there?” Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"No," he laughs. "Not really. I get fed here. Got a place to stay. Huge library. And no one knew the Bishop."

[abrightboy]

"I like it better here than at home, too," Malcolm tells him.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yeah? So where are you going after you graduate Kikimora?"

[abrightboy]

"Probably nowhere right away. Kikimora is my second inmate. I never had a firm plan on how long I was going to stay, but now that I'm with Will, I won't be leaving before he graduates," Malcolm tells him.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Will?"

He sits back. "Why?"

[abrightboy]

"Because we're together. We're probably going to get married once he graduates," Malcolm tells him.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He almost argues that men can't get married, but he's pretty sure that Malcolm is from the future, and that's likely the direction things have gone.

Or, he reminds himself, Una was right about multiverses. Either way, Aaron has no personal objection to it, though it still makes him antsy in the same way Norton does.

"You want to get another drink?" he drawls.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm glances at his own glass, which still contains most of its contents. He smiles. "I'd be happy to pour you another," he says, getting up.

[creeksidealtarboy]

When he walks away, Aaron lets out a breath and leans back. He doesn't intend on drinking much more, if anything, if only because it'll make him chatty, but this gives him a moment of a break.

At least he's not trying to take a swing at him.

So when Malcom returns, Aaron's comfortable again.

[abrightboy]

"You know, the infirmary isn't going anywhere," Malcolm tells him as he hands the glass over. "You can work in the chapel now and if you decide you want to learn some medical skills later, you can. You're not hedged in, in that respect."