Personal Space

"Hello? Earth to Nate?" Sully waved a paintbrush in front of the fifteen-year old's face to get his attention. "You still with me, kid?"

"Huh?" Nate jumped, visibly snapping his awareness back to the sunlit bedroom. "You say something?"

"I asked you to hand me that screwdriver," Sully stated, pointing toward the open toolbox on the floor beside Nate's crossed legs. "Y'know, if it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience or anything."

"Oh. My bad." Nate quickly selected the tool and tossed it over. "There."

"Took ya long enough," the adult replied by way of thanks. "You mind filling me in on where the hell you keep disappearing to?

"What d'ya mean?"

"I mean you've been spacing out on me all day." Sully used the screwdriver to pry open the can of paint that he'd all but twisted Nate's arm into picking out that morning. Getting the astoundingly withdrawn kid's opinion about anything was difficult at the best of times, but when he was acting spacey to boot – it was like pulling teeth. "What's the matter? You getting sick or something?"

"Nah," Nate lifted his shoulders in a dismissive shrug. "Just tired, I guess."

"Right." Somewhere in the few months since meeting the kid, Sully had come to the conclusion that 'I'm tired' was Nate-speak for 'Something's bothering me, but I don't wanna talk about it.' He wished he could cut the crap and demand an explanation before the problem inevitably festered, but he'd also determined (through trial and spectacular error) that doing so was the worst possible way to get answers. Fortunately, he hadn't survived as long as he had in his particular line of work without learning a thing or two about manipulating conversations to get what he wanted. "Maybe you should try sleeping instead of climbing out on the roof every night, you ever think of that?"

The teen's eyes flashed in his direction like he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. "I dunno what you're talking about."

"No? Well, shit. I guess I better call an exterminator 'cause that's an awfully big squirrel I've been hearing on the roof." Sully gave the kid a pointed look. "C'mon, kid. You're not as sneaky as you seem to think you are."

Nate's gaze fell to his lap. "Okay, okay. It's just…" He sighed and picked at the frayed material of his hole-ridden jeans. "Sometimes I can't sleep and feel like I need air, y'know?"

"So naturally you climb out on the roof?" Sully could understand waking up feeling suffocated, but at least he used the goddamn door when he felt compelled to escape into the night.

"I dunno," Nate muttered. "Still not completely used to the whole bein' inside thing, I guess."

"Well, hey," Sully valiantly hid his pity behind a careless shrug. "If it helps, don't let me stop ya." He was honestly scared to wonder how many nights the kid had slept under the stars to get to the point where a roof over his head felt abnormal enough to keep him awake. He was no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but he was pretty damn sure that wasn't the behavior of a well-adjusted adolescent. "Maybe clean out the gutters while you're at it, huh?"

Nate's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yeah, you wish."

Getting the sense that the teenager was getting dangerously close to checking out on him again, Sully decided the best course of action was to give him an occupation to keep his attention. "Here," he said, slapping a wooden paint stirrer into the kid's fidgeting hands. "Why don't you make yourself useful and stir."

Nate scooted a little closer and obediently began to make lazy circles through the thick paint.

"You know, we really don't haveta do this," he said after a moment of silent contemplation. "I'm okay with the room as is."

"But it's so boring in here," Sully replied, gesturing toward the plain white walls that he hadn't bothered to touch when he'd moved into the place. There had been no point in exerting the effort when the room's primary purpose had been storage, but it didn't seem quite right to keep it unfinished now that it was housing an actual person. "Don'tcha want to personalize it a little?"

"Psh, I don't care. Doesn't really seem worth it if you ask me." Nate lifted the stirrer and watched the paint drip back down into the can. "I mean, how long am I even gonna be crashing here?"

Sully decided the time wasn't right to point out that Nate was living there. Not just 'crashing' like some sort of pint-sized drifter. If the fact that the kid was still living out of his duffel was any indication, he probably wasn't ready to declare himself 'home sweet home' just yet.

"That's up to you, chief," he answered, making sure that Nate felt like he was the one in control of the situation. Truth be told, he wasn't about to let him go it alone while he was still a scrawny, buzzy-voiced kid, but he figured he could sidestep some unnecessary conflict by keeping that detail to himself. "Although, I'd prefer if you stuck around at least until you're old enough to get your own place."

"But that's only, like, three years from now," Nate pointed out. "And it's not like we spend most of our time here anyway. It just seems kinda pointless to change up your place just because of me."

"Nate," Sully refrained from sighing. "We've been over this already. This is your room for however long you wanna stick around. As long as it doesn't involve dynamite, I don't give a shit what you do with it." He hated talking like Nate was liable to split at any moment, but that was the only way he knew to keep the teenager calm. It was obvious that the kid was skittish about everything that seemed permanent, and frankly – he could relate. He wasn't one to make long-term commitments either and the fact that he'd broken his own rule by bringing home a goddamn child was enough to keep him awake on a nightly basis. But because he could understand the reluctance to set down roots, something told him that it was important to make sure Nate understood that he could. The trick was figuring out how to accomplish that without scaring him away in the process.

"Look, kid. I promise I didn't suggest this to freak you out. I just wanna make sure you have your own personal corner of the world to escape from it all, you know?" Even though his own home life had been rough, at least he'd always had his room to weather out the storm. There was no way in hell he'd ever give Nate the same reasons to retreat the he had growing up, but he still wanted the kid to experience that same sense of security. Especially because he got the impression that it was a luxury the kid had previously been forced to live without. "You ever even had a room to yourself before?"

Nate didn't look at him. "Not really."

"Well, there you have it," Sully replied, now fully convinced that he was at least on the right track. "I'll bet it's nice finally having your own private place to jack off to your heart's content, huh?"

That got the kid's attention. "Jesus! You are so gross!"

"Oh, please. Tell me I'm wrong," Sully replied with a satisfied grin. Being sincere was so much easier when he hid it behind bad jokes and inappropriate comments.

"You're wrong on so many levels, old man. God."

Instead of agreeing or disagreeing, Sully picked up a nearby paintbrush and innocently began to trail it through the paint. "Y'know, pal, I don't quite know how to tell you this, but you got something on your face." Before Nate could even think about dodging out of reach, Sully flicked the brush against his nose, leaving a bright blue spot in its wake.

"Argh! Sully!" Nate growled as he wiped the paint away with the sleeve of his shirt. He shot the man an exasperated look. "Was that necessary?"

"Sure was." Sully picked up a second paintbrush and tossed it to the disgruntled teen. "Now c'mon. We're burnin' daylight here, and this room sure as hell ain't gonna paint itself."

Nate sighed. "Just as long as you know we don't haveta."

"Just as long as you know I want to," Sully's response was immediate.

The teen stared down at the paintbrush in his hands. "Okay, fine," he finally conceded, and both parties did their best to ignore how unsure he sounded. "Where do you wanna start?"

Sully stood back to examine his work when he finished pressing the last of the glow-in-the-dark-stars to the ceiling. As far as he could tell, Nate was too preoccupied with his haphazard map hanging to notice that he'd gotten more than a little bored and arranged the stars into constellations instead of sticking them up at random. He knew better than to hope that creating a makeshift night sky would stop Nate from feeling like he had to go roof climbing in order to calm down enough to sleep, but he figured it was worth a shot.

"So how'd we do?" He asked as he crossed his arms and surveyed the results of their combined efforts. The room was still depressingly empty as far as personal effects went, but the fresh coat of paint had done wonders to make the space feel less devoid of human life. The blue and gray color scheme that had come together over the past couple days – in addition to the maps and stars scattered throughout – made the room look much more like a place a vibrant and adventurous young teenager would hang out. It was a mission accomplished as far as he was concerned, but he'd let Nate be the final judge.

The boy hopped off the desk chair and trotted over to stand beside his mentor, unconsciously adopting his exact posture. "It's…" he trailed off, unable to identify the right word.

"Homier?" Sully offered, choosing the term deliberately.

Nate looked vaguely perplexed, like it was a foreign concept. "Yeah, I guess. That. Who'da thought you knew how to tie a room together?"

"Maybe if the rare antiquity business stops panning out, I should go for interior design, eh?

"Yeah, right," Nate snorted. "That'll be the day." He gave his surroundings another once-over before tilting his head up to look at Sully with a shy smile. "You were right, though. It looks really good in here. Thanks."

"Aw, don't mention it." Sully stooped down to gather the paint-spattered drop cloth from where it had been kicked against a wall. He felt uncomfortable when Nate thanked him for things that most teenagers wouldn't give a second thought. Seeing the timid sincerity in his eyes made it hard not to imagine the worst about the life Nate left behind, and even harder not to wonder if he was capable of providing something better. "Tell ya what," he added, quickly changing the subject to something a little less terrifying. "Why don't you finish up in here while I go see about fixing us some dinner. You got any requests?"

"Hmm." Nate thoughtfully patted his stomach. "Burgers would be pretty good right now."

Sully had been expecting Nate to respond with his typical assertion that he didn't care either way, so the definitive answer was a pleasant surprise. Maybe there was a chance that he wasn't going to have to learn to live with a hopelessly indifferent, half-grown enigma after all. He had no idea how he ended up living in a crazy world where a food order was considered a major victory, but he'd take it.

"Okay, you got it, pal. Couple burgers coming right up." He tucked the drop cloth beneath his arm and headed for the door. "Oh. And, kid," he paused, glancing over his shoulder to look the young boy in the eyes. "You're welcome. Don't ever think that you're not."

A/N – Hello again! First of all, I just wanna say thank you to everyone for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing. I've never shared my writing online before, so I can't even begin to express how much your feedback means to me! Also, apparently Uncharted 4 came out. (She says as if she wasn't counting down the seconds until the release.) I got a couple new story ideas while playing it, but I don't anticipate that they'll come out for a while. If they do, though, I'll be sure to post a spoiler warning beforehand. But yeah! Thanks again to each and every one of you for all of the support! It honestly means the world to me!