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“Stop fidgeting Adam.”
Nigel’s curled in a scowl as he heard that same sentence for the umpteenth time today alone and he was getting sick of it. The sudden and unwanted appearance of Adams mother had thrown him off kilter drastically and in an attempt to focus and regain some of his control Adam had naturally began to stim. Something Nigel had learned about early in their relationship when Adam explained to him that his near constant moving was him controlling the sensory imput he was getting, Adams mother must have known about it too yet here she was telling him not to do it. Like it was some nuisance to her.
Nigel stamped down a growl and pushed away from the doorframe to go out on their balcony to smoke. Getting mad and blowing up at her, causing a scene in front of Adam could run the risk of upsetting him even more. He leaned against the railing remembering how this whole thing started.
Months ago NASA, fucking NASA had contacted Adam after recognizing the work he did for the observatory where he worked, and commissioned him to write a program and design a telescope to see the surface of Pluto like nothing before. Adam had thrown himself enthusiastically into his work, was still doing so, so much so that Nigel was the one to remind Adam to go through his routines. They had paid Adam more than handsomely for it too; he had even gotten put in the paper and had done a short interview about it all for a news channel. Nigel couldn’t have been happier or prouder of his little spaceman, having come so far and done so much.
Then Adams mother had shown up out of the blue right on their fucking doorstep. He had honestly assumed that she was dead like his dad; Adam never talked about her now he was beginning to know why. Especially after she had looked him up and down like a bug that needed to be squashed, and turned to Adam whispering about how she could set him up with bachelors that were much better than Nigel. He snarled and slammed his hand against the railing making it ring.
“Nigel?”
He spun around to face Adam, ridged and clenched still.
“Hey baby, where’s your mom?”
“She had to go back to her hotel for something, I don’t know if she’ll be back.”
‘Good riddance’ Nigel thought as he watched Adam for a few moments, he had yet to relax even a fraction.
“Adam darling, answer me something. Why haven’t you been stimming? I’ve been watching you all day, every time you go to stim you stop yourself.”
Adam couldn’t meet his eyes, darting everywhere but his face, he couldn’t even make it look like he was by looking at Nigel’s forehead.
“Sh--she doesn’t like it when I stim, calls it fidgeting. She thinks it’s annoying.”
Nigel scoffed, “Fuck what she thinks. You’re not doing it for her fucking benefit. C’mere baby.”
Adam hesitated for a second before taking a step towards Nigel, raising his arms to hug him but Nigel stooped him before he could. At Adams look of confusion Nigel just smiled softly and took Adams hands and put them on his chest, he then cupped the back of Adams head. Pulling him closer to let him nuzzle into Nigel’s neck and take in his scent.
“Do what you need to darling; you don’t ever need to deny yourself something that you need when you’re with me.”
Adam sighed shoulders going lax as his left hand began to tap out a pattern on Nigel’s pectoral, his right hand pulled and twisted at the fabric of his shirt.
“You know why she’s here don’t you?”
Adam nodded, “For my money. It’s the reason why she left my half-brother with his dad and married my dad, its part of the reason why she left my dad for Frank.”
Nigel’s arms tightened around him.
“Give me the word darling and I’ll make sure she understands she’s not welcome here until she gets her shit together. Just say the fucking word.”
“Okay, Nigel.”