<div class="floatleft">(https://31.media.tumblr.com/d6968cc8ced2f26c28344c2b0240eccc/tumblr_mi85rzOKjn1rap3nyo1_500.jpg)</div>Simon O'Neill was different from his two best friends in a few ways, perhaps mostly because unlike them he had not dealt with depression. No, he had buried it in schoolwork. He hadn't felt depressed because, for much of his young life, he had avoided feeling anything. People mocked him for being a nerd, but he didn't feel upset by it. He didn't feel anything about it. He just buried himself further in his studies. At 22 he couldn't remember the last time that he had scored under 100 on any test, exam or piece of schoolwork. If there was extra credit, he generally exceeded 100%, though of course the score was then adjusted downwards. And now, at college, every course from his nuclear physics degree that he had that could be an honours class was. He intended to go on in school, ultimately getting a PhD with a thesis on quantum mechanics. It was the ultimate place to turn on the brain and turn off the heart.<br/><br/>Of course, his personal life hadn't been anything to talk about. He only had two friends, and had known both of those a few years now. Nik was a lovely girl and a good student. It saddened Simon to see her not put her life into her writing, the thing that she truly loved, and instead focus on the much safer though less fulfilling journalism degree. Still, he more than anyone refused to let her give up and had pushed her to publish some of her shorts at least in some of the anthologies that existed for amateur writers. However, there was only one person he loved and truly desired and that was Sage. Where Simon had shut down most of his feelings, Sage burned with artistry and passion and Simon was drawn to his flame. He didn't care that he knew within him he couldn't handle a man like Sage. If it meant him getting burned in Sage's fire, then Simon had wanted to get burned.<br/><br/>He knew Sage didn't feel the same. How could such a powerful man desire a nerd like Simon? Those around him disagreed and often teased him about it. Such words were the only ones that had ever caused pain, even to the point of making him tear up at one point. That got him the nickname "Onion" - as in "Don't cry, Onion!" and that, in turn, had predictably got him teased by being asked if he wanted some "Sage and onion stuffing..." That joke had died quickly. It was moronic and not the least bit funny, but he had died inside every time he'd heard it. Mostly because that was what he craved.<br/><br/>Then one day he had awoken to found himself bound and Sage leaning over him. Things had changed then...<br/><br/>Simon had offered Nik a ride home tonight. He knew she was working the local bar and grill till 11pm and he would be at the college computer lab till it closed at the same time. It would be an easy thing for him to pick her up and take her home therefore. He often did this - the beaten up jalopy he'd managed to afford from the work he'd done assisting certain professors with their research and writing being just about enough to get him round town. He knew that he owed Sage a lot for paying for their house and food and bills, but at least in owning his own car he felt like he had some independence. Not that he wanted that so much these days. Belonging to Sage had quite quickly become preferable to him. Now he sat in the parking lot of the bar and grill and waited for Nik to arrive.