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Björn, being no real kind of cook, had made sure to ask Anna if she'd be willing to provide for the first visiting meal of Colin's visit to the apartment. She'd been delighted, more-than-excited as only mothers could be about the prospective love life of their children. She'd sent over a Bread Strata with red bell peppers, yellow onion, garlic, thyme, grated Gruyere, and...admittedly some milk and eggs as well. He wasn't certain if in the meantime Colin was still vegetarian, had gone further and would be offended by the eggs, or what his diet was. At least there was also polenta-stuffed poblano peppers as a side dish that had neither dairy nor even egg as animal product.

Hopefully Nischal was excited about the stuff as well, instead of the two of them having to figure out what to cook. He'd slid a note under the boy's closed door, which was so often closed and isolating, to at least ask him out to join the company, to get his opinion on the arrangement, and could only hope that the little lord would find it something interesting and worthy of his time. Nischal needed to have some sort of life outside of work, but if he did, Björn was notably out of the loop of it. And worried that maybe, possibly, there wasn't one.

His phone buzzed in his pocket while he mixed juice with seltzer for drinks, a quick check of the message and number confirmed it was Colin. He put the mixins down and headed to the door, while risking calling out to Nischal - hopefully the youth wouldn't mind the interruption to the general quiet of the apartment, "Nischal, Colin is here! I will heat up dinner soon if you like some, too and join us? "

Then opened the front door.

Life right now seemed to be nothing but a dull looping image for Nischal right now. There was no drive inside of him to do anything, just the urge to lie on his bed, stare up at the cold, uninviting ceiling and listen to the same songs over and over again. It seemed like his self imposed isolation was filled with nothing but music that was drawing him further and further into this hole that was quickly looking too deep to climb out of.

It wasn't as if all the people around him weren't offering him help. Bethany and her kind words, and his motherly relationship with Raven both got him thinking, speaking again, but now the very idea of the value of his self worth seemed pointless to even consider. Yet it seemed Bjorn saw some sort of worth in him. He hadn't been kicked out yet, though what did that mean in the vastness of things? He was paying rent so why would he kick him out? There was the note, though.. A nice, warm note, inviting him to dinner with the two, to meet and possibly make a friend in this one who Bjorn regarded so highly.

As much as he longed for it, Nischal wasn't quite sure he was ready to go out there. he had finally decided to clean up, discarding his normal t-shirt and shorts (he wasn't leaving his room anyway, what did he care about the weather outside?), for something a bit more pleasant, a warm, dull grey sweater with a pair of dark jeans that he seemed to swim in. Maybe this was a terrible idea. Maybe he should just remain silent, let the others think that maybe he wasn't home. No, that was stupid, Bjorn had probably heard him shifting about the room earlier.. And the smell of the food was just too tempting, wafting under his doorway.. He couldn't resist, and with a deep breath, he opened his long closed door, and stepped out, seeing the two infront of the entryway.

What was he thinking? Why did he open the door in the first place? How could he even dare try to impeded on such warm and loving happiness that existed far before he had ever come here. This wasn't a meeting for three, no, it was a reunion of lovers wasn't it?! Why the hell was he even invited?! He didn't belong here, he didn't belong in a place with such warmth and light radiating away from it.

Was it too late to go back into his room before the others saw the distress and anxiousness that was beginning to over come his small frame? He could alway eat later when the two depart or something.. His feet wouldn't move though, he was stuck, frozen on the spot just outside of the door, and his stomach argued against him, telling him that it was foolish to even try to go back to the room.

"I..." His voice cracked, and he quickly shut his mouth again, so unused to speaking after going wordless for days on end. It was one hell of impression he was making..

"She adores you Björn...I think she mourned for a week when we broke up." Even though they had both agreed to it because he would be going away for so long and had parted on really good terms. Of course, he hadn't exactly thrown a party afterwards either, but that was to be expected. His mom being sad too, well...it had been a nice - and kind of amusing - surprise. "I think she was..a little surprised I came home that night."

What that said about him he wasn't sure. Colin didn't have time to think about it much though, because Nischal chose that time to make his first appearance, slipping out from his room and then freezing in place. He looked...small-ish - or perhaps he only seemed that way because the clothing he wore seemed almost comically over-sized on him - and had that deer-in-the-headlights look that bespoke of nothing so much as a wont to flee back into the room from whence he came. Colin could tell that Nischal was one of those types of people that both wanted to be part of things but worried about being in the way...he'd had friends before that reacted like that when meeting a "friend of a friend" (or boyfriend of a friend?).

Björn seemed to notice it too, he could tell. Hopefully Nischal would relax and they could all have a nice meal together, get to know each other some. "Hi Nischal!" With a wide smile Colin moved towards the dark-haired youth to greet him. "I'm really happy that you're home tonight - Björn wasn't sure you would be." He didn't bother with a hand-shake (which was usually reserved for formal occassions or people with grey hairs and more wrinkles than he had sense), the dancer went for an arm looped around Nischal's shoulders, though he did hold back on giving the youth a noogie. "You are going to eat with us, aren't you? I've been looking forward to meeting you since Björn mentioned he had a room-mate."

"Besides, you do not want to miss Anna's cooking. Trust me." He chuckled and winked at Nischal before answering his boyfriend's question(s), "Yep, still vegetarian. I should've reminded you the other day...but I forgot." Animal-friendly bi-products were still A-O.K. too; it pleased him immensely that Björn had remembered (even if he hadn't) because it showed that he cared. Björn always had been pretty good about the "little things" like that.

Ah, but he should probably put his bag away, shouldn't he? "Where should I drop my stuff? As fun as it is to cart my bag around, I should probably put it away and wash up before we eat..."

"Living at a boarding school is practice in group life without making things awkward. At least I hope not to be. A lot of people live in apartments with housemates and roommates. It just takes being polite. "

"Besides, Colin is not so scary as me, maybe. " The dancer had a way with just being in everyone's space and in lives without being obtrusive or abrasive. As much as they'd gone to Hillworth together, the dancer had never seemed very intimidating to anyone there either, even if he'd landed himself in the correctional school by legitimate means. 'Twinkle-toes' was less stupid too- maybe Nischal woudl have an easier time talking with him.

"Ah, my room is that door, " Björn motioned with a paw. "Colin, Your bag can go where you like it. "

He didn't expect that Colin could fit enough Star Trek stuff in one little bag to make it a new geek nest, but the other would hopefully find a mattress on the floor in a corner familiar enough to be well comfortable in the shared space. I should build a box platform for it so it does not be on the floor. Or like those footed flat frames in the IKEA catalog.

"Laundry is all fresh. There are navy towels for you to use, Colin, and any of my toiletries if you need. They are the same brand as at Hillworth." The strongman busied himself again heaping food on plates and putting cutlery on them. Hopefully the other two had appetites as large as one might hope of youths their age.

"I've always lived alone, until Bjorn was kind enough to bring me in once my family returned to India and I was left behind." Which was a straight up lie, but close enough. Back when he had lived in the mansion, there were always people around. But the rooms were the size of this apartment, the house like an endless maze with all of it's rooms and corridors.. He could honestly have gone days and days without seeing his parents or siblings. But that was okay, that didn't matter anymore. He was here now.

"I'm not afraid, really, just.. A bit anxious is all. But you say you dance? I used to dance alot too. I just don't.. It sounds so stupid but I can't find any joy in it right now. But I'll figure it out soon enough." That's what he continually told himself. It WOULD get better, life would be happy again, he WOULD find his joy and this time he wouldn't let it go. That time just hadn't come yet.. And the world was getting darker and darker. But he would be fine. It would all be fine.

"I eat what is given to me, there isn't much I don't like. I'm not very picky, but I can enjoy a good meal.. And this truly, does smell fantastic, thank you." Curiously enough, the urge to just go back into his room was subsiding. He certainly still felt as if he didn't belong in this scene, with the two lovers meeting again after being apart, but maybe he could draw himself in there somewhere. Maybe as the family pet. The kind they have to take care of and look after due to obligation, that would fit. Just a dog. No, not even a dog. A fish. In his mind, no one takes care of fish due to love or affection. They are there, they are pretty, and that was all. He could do that, he could be the fish, and his room could be his bowl. Nice, clean, and out of the way.

Left behind? And in America, while his parents returned to India? Good god, even that was a bit much for Colin's bright nature to not react to, but he did his best to not let his eyebrows go all the way up to his hairline. Instead he breathed in slowly, like when he was meditating, and then nodded at Nischal's story with only slightly-less of a smile on his face than before. Thankfully the conversation moved beyond Nischal's apparently distressing "origins" and onto things that the curly-haired blond found much easier to discuss.

"Mhmm, I've danced for as long as I can remember." He tilted his head at the youth's mention that he used to dance, but didn't any more. There was quite the story there, but he wasn't going to ask about that sort of thing the first time they met - no matter how interesting the stories might have been. So he just smiled, nodded and allowed himself to be guided to the living room with his plate. He agreed with Björn that living communally was a good way to improve someone's outlook (if not mood) - it was hard to be too down in the dumps when you had others to help pull you out of it.

Colin settled near Björn, one leg tucked up under himself. "Oh, that's right! I almost forgot - I brought a couple movies." He gave his boyfriend a slant-wise look when the big blond asked Nischal if he liked "sci-fi" things, but the corners of his mouth were bowed up. "I brought a couple of movies, mostly sci-fi...but there's an action movie or two in there as well - courtesy of Mom. I'll go grab them." He set his plate down and went back into Björn's room to fetch a small stack of movies that they could chose from: Star Trek (the 2009 reboot), RED, Inception, The Matrix, Gamer and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.

Once he'd shown what he had to offer, he picked up his plate while they debated.

Nichal hadn't precisely answered whether he liked science fiction or not, but at least he narrowed down the selection offered. Were those movies deep at all? Or intricate? Björn was possibly the worst judge of intricacy or deepness, so he simply gave a pleasant nod to support the two of them in the working out of the decision from the point of 'star trek' as a suggestion. Colin knew all the movies, books, tv series and everything in that intellectual property by heart anyway. He'd be able to pick out what was 'intricate' or 'deep'.

Björn didn't really much care what the movie was- most movies were beyond his comprehension or care. Being with friends, just relaxing, and feeling others near and warm was his chief pleasure. Other than the food.

Maybe this will work out. Maybe this will really work out. "We could do this once a week maybe? A house dinner and a movie for everyone to relax? Maybe your movies to pick next week, Nischal?"