Tie My Heart Back Together With String

Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own Misfits or any of the characters, they all belong to their respective owners. I also do not own anything else I reference throughout.

A/N: Just want to clarify that I don't think I've ever made up a single power in this whole fic, I think every single power every character has had has featured in the show at some point. I'm not really pointing this out for any particular reason, I just think it's neat.

Curtis and Alisha left the community centre with the still-unconscious Lucy, ready to take her back to the hospital and end this farcical charade. Nathan and Simon were together in the store room, huddled up with one another and discussing their mismatched future and what it might hold for them, and Kelly and Seth convened in the corridor. Seth, although still battered, appeared healthier and sturdier now that he was strengthened with the powers that had been forcefully stolen from him, and Kelly was trying her best not to blush as he smiled at her.

"So…I don't suppose you want to come and destroy the time travel power with me?" He asked, glancing at the floor, cheeks tinged the palest pink.

Kelly raised an eyebrow, remembering exactly what he had said destroying the power would entail. "You want me to come and kill a bug with you?" She asked sceptically.

He smiled crookedly at her. "I'll even let you step on it."

She tried to fight off her smile but couldn't quite manage it. "Yeah, alright." She said, stuffing her hands into her pockets and following him out of the community centre, leaving the building wholly unoccupied except for two young men sat opposite one another, hands clasped loosely together.

"I think I just heard Kelly and Seth leaving." Simon said, after hearing the main door slamming shut. "They said they were going to put the time travel power into a bug and then squish it." He couldn't help grinning.

"Effective, I guess." Nathan said. He was smiling as well but there was a distracted look in his blue eyes.

"What's up?" Simon asked, cocking his head to the side as he apprehended him.

"Nothing, I'm just a bit shocked, I guess. I mean; the time travel power is gone. It's really over." Nathan's voice quieted slightly as his eyes hit the ground. "He's gone." He said after a pause.

Simon knew precisely who he was talking about, mourning his future self to some degree. There wasn't so much sadness in his voice, but more of an innocent surprise. A blameless hint of regret. But Simon understood, he understood that this was going to be a turning point for Nathan and hoped, quite contentedly, that this would be the last time that his future self could cause Nathan any pain. Not just because Nathan would no longer miss him, but because Nathan could no longer feel like he was disappointing him by being in love with this version of himself.

"I'm not going to be a hero anymore." Simon pointed out, as if to voice his thought process.

Nathan glanced back up at him then and smiled, and it was genuine. "You'll always be my hero." He said, and he was grinning, but some part of Simon believed him.

Nathan then waggled his eyebrows at Simon as he inched himself closer to him on the floor. "And, you know…" He began. "…Heroes deserve rewards."

Nathan's hand was on his thigh and Simon raised an eyebrow. "What did I say about public sex?" He reminded his boyfriend, humour in his voice.

Nathan responded by rolling his eyes. "Oh, come on." He whined. "I've had one hell of a day. You can indulge me, just this once."

Simon smiled hugely, he couldn't help himself, and dipped his head forward, pressing his forehead against Nathan's and breathing in the scent that was so familiar to him he could detect Nathan without even looking at him.

"Okay." He breathed out. "Just this once."

…

"So, what are we looking for then?" Kelly asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground as they walked, the sun slowly setting around them and casting the estate in a burnt orange hue that almost made it look appealing.

"I dunno." Seth admitted. "Like a spider or something?"

"You can fuck off." Kelly said suddenly. "I ain't going near a spider."

Seth glanced across to her and smiled to himself. "Alright then, like a beetle, then?"

"Okay, beetle." She paused before looking up at him. "Have you ever destroyed a power before?"

He shook his head. "Nah. But I put a power in my iguana for safekeeping once, long story."

Kelly didn't ask. "You should think about doing it more often." She said instead.

"What, destroying powers?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kelly, however, nodded seriously. "Yeah, these things do way more bad than good. You're lucky your power doesn't really affect you that much. I could hear what people were thinking, mate, and it was shit. Total shit. There was this one guy who killed people and all he could do was control cheese."

"It's not the powers that are fucked, it's the people." Seth admitted honestly. "If you guys weren't trying to keep your heads down; you could have caused a lot of shit."

Kelly shrugged. "I just think we're better off without them. Including you."

"Me?" Seth asked. "You're worrying about me?"

Kelly blushed and looked away immediately and Seth smiled and shook his head. Fuck it. He thought.

"Kel, will you be my girlfriend?"

Kelly didn't look at him for a moment as she considered the offer. She didn't honestly know if she wanted anything serious at the moment. But then she thought about all of her friends and how happy they seemed to be, about how Curtis and Alisha could finally have a normal relationship with one another and how Nathan and Simon had somehow found something special in one another and were finally happy together, it seemed like the time for new beginnings and if everyone else had taken the plunge then…well, she supposed she could, too.

So, instead of answering Seth's question directly, instead she merely pushed herself up on her toes and pressed an innocent although lingering kiss to his lips. Seth didn't move, he just stood still and allowed himself to be kissed and when Kelly pulled away he was smiling.

The pair stood grinning at each other like teenagers for a moment before Kelly smacked him lightly on the arm. "Stop distracting me," she reprimanded good-naturedly. "We gotta get this done."

Seth merely nodded and the pair began walking again, in search of the infamous beetle, and Kelly found her hand slipping into his as they walked.

They found themselves at the park, definitely for the bug aspect and most definitely not for the romance of it, and it didn't take long for them to find a few beetles scuttling around on the ground.

"Hurry up." Kelly said, looking around herself to the almost completely set sun. "It's getting dark an' it's well dodgy around here."

Seth nodded mutely and knelt down carefully, aware of his suit trousers, and jabbed one of the beetles with his finger, watching as the blinding light of the time travel power left him and empowered the little creature that had absolutely no knowledge of the gift it now possessed.

Kelly watched him as he knelt, aware of a group of lads squandering on one of the benches in the park. The bright light in the dark caught their attentions and suddenly a group of around five hooded boys were staring right at them.

Kelly shook her head. "Alright, let's get out of here." She said, nudging Seth. The last thing they needed right now was any trouble.

Seth seemed to detect the unease in her voice and looked up at her, forehead creased. His worried expression evened out as he saw the group of people staring at them and he was on his feet in a second.

"Hey!" One of the men called out, making an immediate beeline for them.

"Shit." Seth said under his breath, fear in his eyes as the rest of the gang fell in line behind their ringleader and started towards them.

"Shit!" Kelly repeated, louder, grabbing Seth by the wrist and dragging him a few paces back. That seemed to jolt Seth back to reality and then his hand was curling painfully around Kelly's and they were running in the other direction, across the grass and out of the park.

They approached a level-car park on the edge of the estate and Seth shocked Kelly by pulling her behind one of the large concrete pillars. Kelly's back hit the concrete as she tried to catch her breath, Seth crouched down and put his finger to his lips.

The pair remained there, as silent as they could, and Kelly winced as she heard the approaching footsteps of the group of men.

"They went round there!" One of them was saying with a London accent.

"Where?" Another voice, much lower, asked.

"Over there...Come on!"

"I'm gonna gut that prick!" One of them said angrily, their footsteps were heard once more and seemed to be retreating, going in the other direction, but Kelly didn't feel relieved.

"We need to get out of here, quickly." Seth supplied, attempting to stand but Kelly dragged him back down again. "What?"

"What the fuck is going on?" She asked, voice low but full of irritation and unmistakable fear.

Seth looked reluctant to speak. "Remember I told you I had a gang on me?" He asked.

"Yeah, what for?"

"I used to be a dealer." Seth replied. "A normal dealer, a drug dealer. Was meant to get some coke for the ringleader of that gang, but then all the power bullshit happened and I forgot all about it."

Kelly's brow furrowed. "So they're on you because you didn't score them anything?"

Seth looked sheepish as he shook his head. "No. It's because I…I kept the grand they gave me."

Kelly clenched her jaw. "You dick!"

"I didn't mean to!" Seth retorted. "I tried to give them the cash back but you know what gangs are like, vendetta bullshit, I was trying to lay low but then all the shit with the crazy girl happened and…"

"Look, we don't have time for this!" Kelly sighed, frustrated, peaking her head out from behind the concrete pillar and seeing that the coast was, for the moment, clear.

"We've gotta get out of here." She said, pulling at Seth's wrist as he followed her. The pair began to jog and Kelly sincerely hoped that Nathan and Simon were still at the community centre.

…

"I can't believe you're making me do this." Simon muttered breathlessly, but he couldn't bring himself to be genuinely annoyed.

"You love it." Nathan replied coyly, smiling brilliantly. He was stretched out beneath Simon, all of their clothes discarded disinterestedly across the store room, skin against skin, perfectly comfortable and content.

Nathan would have been lying if he had said he wasn't feeling a real sense of breathless exultation, and not just because of the form of Simon hovering above him, gloriously naked and smiling, pressing soft kisses along the dip in his throat while rubbing soft circles on Nathan's collarbone that made him want to sigh and sob in equal measure.

No – it was the dawning realisation that this was all over, that everything had come to a natural stop, and Nathan dared to believe that he didn't have to be afraid anymore, that the nightmare of the storm and the threatening lifestyle and the pain and the heartache was over.

Nathan, stood alone in the estate and confusedly watching the black blotch that was the guy in the mask running across the skyline and wondering what the fuck his deal was, would never have imagined himself here and now, hands wrapping themselves around Simon Bellamy's waist and squeezing gently, smiling in both contentment and exhilaration because he just couldn't contain the amount of love he felt for the man above him, no longer immortal yet never having felt more alive.

Nathan would also have been lying if he'd said that he didn't lead a life of ambivalence and contradictions.

Simon stilled above him and fixed him with a soft albeit confused expression.

"What's wrong?" He asked gently.

Nathan shook his head, taking one hand from Simon's waist and sweeping it up the plane of his back, fingers curling around his neck and urging him down, bringing their mouths together.

"Nothing." Nathan breathed into his mouth. "I just love you, that's all."

"That's all." Simon scoffed good-naturedly, kissing him again.

"Simon…" Nathan prompted, Simon didn't reply and merely stared at him expectedly.

Nathan bit his lip before he spoke, unsure how to word his stray thought. "If future you had never travelled back, do you suppose we would have ever been together?"

Nathan was glad Simon didn't merely shrug it off and say 'of course we would,' instead, he planted his hands on either side of Nathan's head to steady himself and contemplated the question.

"I don't know." He admitted honestly. "I mean, who knows what would have happened? There's also the fact that, without my future-self, there's a fair chance that none of us would even be alive."

"That's true." Nathan admitted, looking suddenly concerned.

Simon, however, merely grinned as he lowered himself down until his abdomen was pressed against Nathan's, he kept one hand pressed firmly to the floor to support his weight so he wouldn't crush the man beneath him, but with his other hand, he ran his fingers through Nathan's ebony locks as he loved to do.

"You wanna know what I think?" He asked.

Nathan nodded.

"I think…." Simon continued. "I think we were two people chucked into a shitty situation, fucked over, strained and bloody unlucky. And we found each other, despite all of that. Regardless of what ifs, maybes and fucking time travel." His voice lowered slightly and the humour slipped from it. "All I know is that, right now, I've got you in my arms, exactly where I want you to be, and it's messed up and complicated and unpredictable, but I wouldn't exchange it for the most perfect life in the world."

"I never thought I'd ever hear anyone say that to me." Nathan admitted honestly, voice heavy slightly as he felt moisture teasing his eyes.

"Well, get used to it." Simon said, smiling again. "'Cause I'll be saying it for the rest of our lives."

Nathan grinned and then they were kissing again, desperate and intense, and Nathan knew that Simon was right. What they had was worth the world, even if it was botched and battered and imperfect. Simon had done what no one else had been able to, he'd pieced Nathan's heart back together, and fixed the parts of him that had been broken, even if it was only with string.

Simon moved in him and Nathan trembled, wrapping his long legs around Simon's waist and pulling him in close, gasping as Simon's cock sunk deeper into his lax body, greedily taking every inch Simon could give. Nathan trembled under the intensity of it and Simon's arms were around him, one hand pining his hip to the ground while the other wrapped around his shoulders, pulling Nathan flush against him as he thrust in and out, making the Irishman shiver and gasp and groan, fingernails digging scratches into Simon's shoulder blades, causing him to wince as he was certain they were drawing blood.

"Fuck…you…you…Simon…" Nathan tried, and failed, clinging onto Simon and mouthing his neck wetly.

Simon grinned breathlessly to himself. He remembered being pleased that his sex-technique was improving when Nathan gasped that 'oh you're getting too good at this.' But now that Nathan could barely form coherent sentences, and the only thing his brain could think to say was his name, it set his whole body on fire, speeding up his thrusts, pistoning into that spot in Nathan he'd wished he'd known about before.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck…" Nathan muttered, the pitch of his moans changing. Simon took his hand from Nathan's hip, pressing it between them and grasping Nathan's hard and leaking cock that had been rubbing wantonly against his abdomen.

"Oh, shit." Nathan breathed out as his cock spilled all over Simon's hand, coating his fingers with warm and sticky mess.

"Nathan…" Simon all but stuttered out before he was coming, Nathan's ass squeezing his sensitive cock to the point of pain and then he was collapsing on top of Nathan, completely spent, supported by Nathan rubbing his hands comfortingly up and down his back.

"You happy now?" Simon muttered against Nathan's shoulder.

"Very." Nathan said, and Simon could hear the grin in his breathy voice. "I told you public sex was worth it."

Simon cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah." Was all he said.

Voices were coming from somewhere in the community centre and Simon pushed himself off of Nathan, groaning.

"Who the fuck is that?" Nathan asked, propping himself up onto his elbows.

"Sex police." Simon supplied, pulling his boxers over his legs. Nathan watched, grinning, as Simon chucked his own pants at him. The voices were getting louder now.

"Come on." He said. "Before we get caught red handed."

"I'm a right mess." Nathan said, pulling a face down at his come-smeared stomach.

Simon rolled his eyes. "See? This is why you need prior planning…"

They bickered happily as they continued to dress themselves, Simon watching as Nathan zipped up his black hoodie.

"What?" Asked Nathan.

Simon shook his head, looking down and blushing slightly, busying himself by doing up the zip on his jeans. "Nothing, I just…I miss our jumpsuits, sometimes. Truth be told, I always thought you looked pretty sexy in yours."

Nathan smirked to himself. "Fancy that." He said under his breath.

The sound of glass shattering echoed across the storeroom and the pair stared at each other before bolting out of the room and into the entrance corridor, leaving their shoes behind.

They came to an abrupt halt when they saw Kelly and Seth attempting to barricade the front entrance of the community centre with a fire extinguisher, the glass casing of it littering the floor.

Simon and Nathan watched for a moment as they propped the heavy fire extinguisher against the door, the weight keeping it shut.

"What the fuck is going on?" Nathan asked, causing Kelly and Seth to jump as they turned to them.

"What are you two still doing here?" Kelly asked.

"Nothing." Simon said immediately.

Nathan shook his head. "Never mind that, why are you two running about the place and smashing shit up?"

Seth looked hesitant for a moment. "It's me, I've had this gang on me for ages, we just saw them in the park and they've been on us ever since, we think we've lost them but I don't know."

"Why do you have a gang…?" But before Simon could finish his sentence, the window of the front entrance door smashed and a wheelie bin sailed through, landing on the floor between them. Kelly screamed as the fire extinguisher fell to the ground with a crash under the force of five strong men in hoods pushing the door until they all swarmed in.

Nathan's hand immediately flung out in Simon's direction and Simon licked his lips in anticipation, having never taken on five guys at once before.

"You!" One of them, obviously the leader, pointed at Seth. "You took my money!"

"I know!" Seth said, hands out in front of himself protectively. "I know, I'm sorry! But…I've got thousands back at my office, thousands! You let me go get it and you can have all the money you want!"

But the leader was shaking his head, egged on by his followers. "Nah, man, that ain't good enough." He said, bending down and pulling a retractable flick knife from his sock.

Seth hissed and Kelly shouted and then the entrance door was being pushed open. Everyone froze at the sight of Curtis and Alisha stood, dumbfounded, staring back at them.

"What the fuck is going on?" Alisha asked.

"Shit! He's got a knife!" Curtis called out, pointing at the leader with the flick knife and backing away in the same instant.

The leader with the knife turned to Curtis and Alisha and Simon clenched his fists, knowing his opportunity when he saw it. He surged forwards, grabbing the leader's knife arm and pulling it back, expecting the blade to clatter to the floor but it didn't.

Nathan shouted something unintelligible and pulled Simon back, Simon's firm grasp on the leader's arm pulling him back with him and all three of them landed in a heap on the ground and everything was silent.

Simon came to his senses first and pushed the leader of the gang off of Nathan, the leader stared at his empty fist for a moment and Kelly screamed as Nathan twitched, blood staining his hoodie where the handle of the flick knife was protruding from his chest.

A single tear streaked down Simon's cheek before he even realised what was happening and then the leader of the gang sprang to his feet.

"Nah, nah, nah man, I didn't mean to kill anybody." He backed away to the door, his followers falling in line, staring manically around at them. "Nobody saw nothing, you tell anyone and I'll kill you, I'll kill you all!" He practically screeched before all five of them were out of the door, knocking the fire extinguisher and leaving it clattering behind them.

That's when the panic really began to set in.

"Holy shit, holy shit, can't you rewind time?!" Curtis was screaming.

Seth's hands knotted in his hair as tears of pure helplessly streamed from his eyes. "We can't, it's in a fucking beetle!"

"Oh my God, oh my God…call an ambulance, call a fucking ambulance!" Kelly shouted, hyperventilating.

"We can't…" Alisha tried weakly. "The police…"

"I don't fucking care, just call a fucking ambulance…!"

As they continued to argue, Simon pushed himself to his knees and dragged himself to where Nathan lay, gathering his trembling body into his arms and blinking the tears down his face, trying to keep his eyes away from the blood stain so thick it blended with the black of his hoodie. He felt guilty that he couldn't take the knife out but he knew that would just make it worse.

"All right, all right, I'm calling an ambulance…" Alisha finally desisted and that was when Nathan's eyes seemed to strain and looked straight at Simon, all startlingly blue and beautiful. The pair stared at each other as if silently communicating, both knowing that no ambulance called would arrive in time.

Nathan almost smiled at the thought that crossed his mind as he stared up at him.

Your immortality can't always protect you.

That's what Simon, his first love, had told him once.

Nathan had always assumed he meant that guy who was immune to powers, and because Simon had saved him, he was safe. He was saved.

But this, this was truly what he'd meant, his immortality couldn't always protect him because it wouldn't always be there. Nathan had sacrificed it, for a normal life, full of danger. The good with the bad, because apparently the bad made the good worth something.

As he looked up at Simon's face, eyes shining with tears and staring back down at him with such a beautifully devastated expression, he concluded that the bad, specifically the knife in his stomach, was awful, but the good was pretty fucking incredible.

"I guess it makes sense," Nathan finally said, surprising himself with how weak his voice sounded.

"Don't talk…" Simon said, hand gently stroking down the side of his face. It felt good.

"I remember in the beginning," Nathan continued, regardless. "I thought about it once, maybe something happened to me, you told me it didn't…you fucking liar." He laughed, he couldn't help himself. Blood bubbled from his lips and spotted on his cheeks.

"Nathan..." Simon tried, but he was crying too much to say much else.

"This explains why you came back, bit obvious, innit..." Nathan's face creased momentarily before his expression unclouded and he fixed Simon with his best accusatory stare, which was quite a feat when you had blood leaking from every orifice in your body. "You knew, all that time you were making me fall in love with you, you knew...explains all those brooding looks, I guess." Tears fell from Nathan's eyes so unexpectedly that he even startled himself.

All he was aware of, wanted to be aware of, in that moment was Simon's warm hand on his chilled cheek and the sound of Simon's cracking voice above him.

"Nothing was supposed to happen to you," Simon finally managed, sounding desperate. "We were supposed to protect you."

Nathan reached his hand up, which took way more effort than he was expecting, he was suddenly exhausted, and nudged Simon's cheek.

"It was always gonna be this way." He managed, surprising himself with, not just the amount of acceptance he had, but also for the amount of clarity and understanding he had for the situation.

Simon shook his head nonetheless. "You can't say that; you can't leave me." He said, as if Nathan dying would be some form of offence that was strictly prohibited.

But even though he was crying, a brilliant smile lit up Nathan's face as his bright eyes stared up at him. "I love you, Simon, you gave me my life back, this is okay..." He pressed his hand more firmly into Simon's cheek and titled his head just so.

"It's going to be okay," he repeated, as if it were a promise, before his hand fell limp and his eyes dulled. Simon grasped Nathan's cheek so tightly, so desperate for that light to come back, that he forced his earlier hand wound to reopen and leak through the bandage. It stained Nathan's skin, somehow even paler than it had been five seconds ago, with his blood.

…

The ambulance did come, eventually, and when they took Nathan's body away on the stretcher and asked what the fuck was going on, Kelly, Alisha, Curtis and Seth shocked Simon by telling the truth.

They told him they were finishing up their community service when a mad man had burst in with a knife…Simon didn't stick around to listen to the rest.

He made his way back to his flat, their flat, strangely numb and when he pushed the heavy door open it was like he was operating someone else's body instead of his own. The world without Nathan in it seemed suddenly such a cold and unforgiving place, even the metal biting into his hand was more painful that it had been before.

It was genuinely like something physical had happened to his brain, like only a few hours ago did he have a mind full of thoughts and ideas and worries and now everything was singular, he only had one thought in his mind. He knew exactly where he needed to be, and he knew exactly where he needed to go.

He opened the closet, keeping his eyes down to avoid seeing Nathan's clothes on their hangers, knowing that any kind of visual reminder would remind him of what had happened and would force it to hit home and would destroy him, he was comfortably numb at the moment and couldn't afford to be anything else, because if he accepted what had happened then he would collapse, pure and simple, and he didn't think he'd have the strength to get back up again, and to do what needed to be done. What had always needed to be done.

He pulled his previously abandoned cardboard box from the bottom of the closet and opened it, seeing the sightless ski mask staring up at him where it sat atop the rest of his black outfit, he was surprised to find himself relieved, almost comforted by the sight, like he was still training to become his future self and Nathan was worrying over him and everything was fine.

He swayed slightly at the thought, almost losing consciousness as the thought threatened to overwhelm him but he grounded himself, forced himself to still and when he opened his eyes again, they were full of a steely determination he had never felt before.

He pulled the outfit from the box and frowned as he saw a wad of cash tucked neatly at the bottom and suddenly remembered that that was the ten grand he'd locked away from selling his invisibility, he'd been unable to look at it because parting from his power had felt so wrong and it had almost felt like blood money.

Abandoning his suit on the floor, he reached in and pulled the cash out, hand stretching uncomfortably around the girth of it, and he knew precisely what he wanted to do with it.

…

Simon opened the door to Seth's office to find the man himself, slowly healing from the bruises on his face and neck from Lucy's attack, instead of wearing a suit like always he was merely clad in dark jeans and a long-sleeved t shirt, stretched out in his chair, devoid of the usual intimidating mystery that generally surrounded him, particularly in his eerily-lit office. Simon found it unnerving.

Seth looked up as he entered, and surprise registered on his exhausted face and he was on his feet.

"Simon…hi," he tried lamely. "Err…what…is everything okay?"

Seth visibly winced, obviously asking someone whose boyfriend had just been murdered if everything was okay wasn't the slickest move he'd ever made, but Simon saved him some embarrassment by simply ignoring the question all together.

He supposed he should have been mad at Seth but he wasn't, not even the tiniest part of him was, but that was because he knew that Seth was just a tiny cog in a machine that was bigger and more powerful than all of them.

"I need something from you." Simon said.

"Er, yeah, anything." Seth said immediately, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Simon reached into the bag he had slung over his shoulder and pulled out the ten grand, placing it on the desk in front of Seth.

"I want to buy a power." He said.

"Um, okay, any in particular?"

"My invisibility." He said. "I want it back, it's a part of me. I need something in my life to be normal right now. Please tell me you still have it."

"Yeah, yeah, I've still got it." Seth said, pulling his sleeve up. Simon didn't allow the relief to register on his face as he pushed the money towards Seth.

"Oh, no, mate. You keep it, it's yours." Seth declined immediately. "The power was yours anyway, plus, you know…it…I'm sorry, it was my fault. Nathan…I was responsible, for his death."

Simon shook his head blankly. "The universe was responsible for Nathan's death." He told him. "It's been planned for a long, long time and we just didn't know it."

Seth was still for a moment before he cleared his throat. "Um, I just have to ask you the formality, you know, about what you're gonna do with it."

Simon smirked but it was cold and completely devoid of humour, but when he spoke there was just the slightest, slightest hint in his voice of what could only be described as hope. "I'm going to save him."

Seth, however, cocked an eyebrow. "What? How?" He asked, curiosity getting the better of sympathy for a moment.

"The way I did before." Simon merely said, seeing no reason to hide the truth anymore. "By traveling back in time."

Seth's brows knitted together and he hesitated for a moment before he spoke. "But the time travel power, it's in a fucking bug, I can't help you there. I don't have another one."

"You don't." Simon nodded. "But, there is one out there, isn't there?" He raised an eyebrow. "Don't you remember?"

After a moment of pondering, realisation spread across Seth's features and Simon knew he was remembering the conversation they'd had in this very room mere weeks before.

An unfamiliar, dark-haired man had walked out of the office, sparing one look at Simon before he was gone.

"What power did you give that guy?" Simon had asked Seth.

"Oh, err...time travel." Seth had replied.

"Time travel? Oh, did you get it from Curtis?"

"No, it's a different strain." Seth had explained absentmindedly. "He can't time travel, he can just fling people back and forth."

"But how would that make someone fall in love with you?" He'd asked naively, remembering the unfamiliar man's declaration of his intended use for his power.

Seth, however, had merely shrugged. "Dunno," he'd said. "We all do weird things for the people we love, I guess."

Wasn't that shaping up to be the absolute truth?

"Do you know who that was?" Simon asked, "that dark-haired guy? Did you get his name or anything?"

"No." Seth said. "But, I know him, I've seen him around, anyway."

Simon nodded. "That's good enough, I suppose, he'll be easy to track down, then we can make him send me where I need to go."

"But, don't forget, he can't go with you, if he sends you back in time, then you won't be able to come back."

"I won't be coming back." Simon informed him honestly. But that wasn't just because of what he knew was going to happen to him, but because he felt like traveling back wasn't him particularly leaving anything behind to come back to.

He wasn't leaving, he was going home.

…

Simon watched the unfamiliar, dark-haired man walk through the underground car park, his car lights flashing as he unlocked his car and opened the door.

Simon felt strange, wrong even, at the idea of threatening anyone, let alone someone who, to his knowledge, was completely innocent.

But the alternative was walking up to him, conveniently mentioning that he knew about his power and just nicely asking him to pop him back a few months in time without him freaking out, running away and calling the police.

Simon sighed. Threatening it was, then. He found himself bizarrely comforted by the fact that it wasn't really him doing the threatening, it wasn't really his action because it was no longer his life, as far as he was concerned, he lived for another person now, and he only had one purpose in life because he knew that if he strayed from that for even a moment, he would have to think about everything that had happened and he would break, and he couldn't afford to break right now because he needed him. He needed him. He had to save him.

"Hey!" Simon called out, stepping out from the shadows and pulling his hood down, making certain he had his shoulder bag firmly slung over his shoulder. He startled the unfamiliar man so much, he gasped out loud and dropped his car keys.

Simon advanced forward swiftly and kicked the keys under the car so the unfamiliar man couldn't grab them quickly.

"Hey, what the hell…!" He tried before Simon seized him, one handed, by the scuff of his jacket, forcing himself to look fierce.

"I know you have a power." Simon found himself saying.

"Mate…I…"

"I know you can send people backwards in time."

The guy, who previously looked like he was attempting to deny such a fact, stopped struggling against Simon's hand, fingers going lax where he'd previously been trying to pry Simon's grasp away.

"Yeah." He said wearily. "What of it?"

"I'm not going to hurt you." Simon told him, loosening his hold on him slightly as if to prove his point. "I just need you to send me somewhere."

There must have been something in his eyes that betrayed the emotion he was feeling in his heart, because the dark-haired guy's expression seemed to clear and after a moment, he nodded.

"All right. Where do you need to go?"

…

The dark-haired guy had told him to close his eyes, because apparently it lessened the nausea when you were 'flung' as he'd put it, across time and space.

Simon had rolled his eyes, wanted to tell him that he'd travelled in time before but he kept his mouth shut, and his eyes, as he felt a hand press against his forehead. He gripped his shoulder bag tightly, worth its weight in gold to him, and tried to calm his breathing. Not because of the travelling but because of the weight of the situation, of what he was going back to but also what he was leaving behind, it felt like he was leaving behind a part of himself. He didn't know if it was his innocence or his happiness or something more subtle, but some part of himself had died along with Nathan in his arms, and no matter how much time he got with his past self; that part of him would never come back.

He suddenly understood precisely why Nathan never truly got over his future self.

He shouted out in shock as he was, literally, flung through the air. There was no other word for it.

He came to a sudden, slamming halt and then his feet planted on the ground and he hit the air with the same force one would hit the water in a belly flop. He keeled over and gagged, spewing vomit all over the concrete floor, painting the ground with his innards.

His shoulder bag fell to the ground with a heavy thud and he grasped his knees, bent double and desperately sucking air into his lungs, his eyes swimming. It took a few moments for his vision to focus and then he could see his own sick on the floor, the smell permeating the air and he stood straight, looking around, but the dark-haired guy was gone.

He blinked. He'd, literally, been flung backwards in time and this must have been precisely where he'd asked to be flung to. He glanced around himself, it looked just like the estate, with no indication that he was anywhere else but in his present. He'd half-expected the air to feel different or the breeze to be cooler or something but it didn't. Everything was…normal.

It was off-putting.

He slowly picked his shoulder bag off of the ground and slung it over his shoulder, pulling his hood back up and stealing off into the other direction, aware that his past self, and people who knew his past self, would be wandering around the area and if they saw him, his entire plan would be ruined and the effort it took to turn invisible would gather too much attention.

His future self would never be that slack.

You. He corrected himself. You can't be.

He kept his head down and kept to the alley ways until he made it to what looked like an abandoned warehouse, stealing inside before anyone saw him.

He approached the metal door to the lift with caution, surprised it was even there for him to find. He reached a hand tentatively out to it and slid the door open, the lift was still functioning when he stepped inside and he nearly had a panic attack as he started to descend, pausing before forcing himself to pull the metal door back and walk into what had once been his home.

He looked around at the blinking ceiling lights, because it was underground it was off the grid and was never cut off, half the lights were smashed and the ground littered with glass, there was no bed, no fridge, no nothing. Nothing about it resembled what he had known, and, as such, he didn't find it as hard to walk in. Rather, he became quickly depressed at the amount of work he had to do, never having been one for D.I.Y himself, whenever something needed doing around the flat, it always fell to Nathan.

Simon collapsed to the ground, just catching himself in a crouching position, shins splintering painfully and arms circling around his stomach, holding himself together or just holding himself, he wasn't sure. Dry sobs escaped him and he had to bury his face into the crease of his elbow to stop himself from screaming out and alerting anyone else to his presence, and that was precisely where stayed for a long time, paralysed with overwhelming emotion. His first instinct was to turn invisible but he knew there was no point, there was no one there to see him, anyway.

When the desolation ebbed and subdued, he stood straight and picked up his bag and wiped his eyes. He sat, cross-legged, on the floor and opened his shoulder bag. In it were three things, only three, but they were the three most important things in his life.

The first thing was his ski outfit, the second was his notepad full of dates and times he'd made before so he knew precisely when and where and what he had to do, and the third thing was a photograph.

It was a shot of Nathan, not even a particularly attractive shot, from a security camera on the wall of the flat from the future that he'd snagged to take back with him, meaning that technically the picture had never actually been taken. He considered the time when this would have been taken, when they were just starting out their community service and coming to terms with their powers and tentatively coming to terms with each other. He bizarrely found himself smiling fondly, it was a simpler time back then, in fact, he would even go as far as to say that picking up litter was the best time of his life.

And then he knew exactly where he wanted to be.

He secured the picture to the wall, knowing more pictures and a lot of digital clocks would join it at some point in the near future. He pressed the picture of Nathan with his fingertips, gaze lingering on his face for a moment before he walked away, donning his outfit, pulling his ski mask over his face and dragging the metal door shut behind him.

It was nothing for him to scale the community centre and land softly on the roof, invisible so he didn't have to worry about visibility, he approached the spot on the roof where he knew the skylight would be, finding it intact and functional. He broke it as quietly as he could with his boot, removing a half of the shattered pane and leaving it on the roof, knowing that the skylight would remain broken for his past self to find.

He dropped down into the dark, empty main hall of the community centre and felt immediately better about everything. He wandered around for a few seconds, letting the nostalgia fill him up, feeling like it was a million years since his community service when the reality was that it had really been just a smattering of days.

His head turned immediately to a source of noise that he quickly identified as footsteps, getting fainter and fainter and he knew that at this time of night, the only person in the community centre would be Nathan. He felt a lump swell in his throat and had to fight off the urge to visualise himself.

He desperately wanted to go to him, to take him in his arms again, to feel his skin under his own once more and assure him that everything was going to be okay.

But Simon knew that he had to let things play out exactly as they should, that it was always going to be this way.

So he did nothing. He just sat.

The End.

A/N: Well, I honestly don't know what to say. I've written a lot over the years but this is the only story I felt has genuinely taken me on a journey. I was originally going to end this very differently to the way it has ended here but I feel like this ending is how it was meant to be and, although very sad, brings the love story full circle and allows the future to progress as unhindered as possible for the characters. I believe this ending also facilitates the ability to be able to go from chapter 22 back to chapter 1 without much of a break in narrative, which is precisely what I believe a cyclical, time-traveling story should be able to achieve. I've loved writing every word of this and I honestly cannot express my love and gratitude to all of you enough, for sticking with me and encouraging me and making this entire process worthwhile. I never expected this to get as much recognition or appreciation as it has and I'm genuinely overwhelmed by the response and I sincerely hope you all have enjoyed this as much as I have. Thank you all so much Xxx