Forrest stops, going still and wearily alert, and it lasts a beat long enough that Henry begins to suspect that, yes, Forrest sees him. But then Forrest's shoulders ease back down, and a soft exhale falls out like a small and timid cheer.
"Oh," he says to Henry. "You startled me."
x 🔪 o
BUZZ/KILL (Henry Barrow Comes Home)
Fanmix below & Fanfic on AO3
Since he can remember, everything between them has been shared - fears and rage, dreams and desires - until they became one. Henry doesn’t need to be his own person. He owes himself to his mom.
It shouldn’t have unsettled him when both their attentions turned to the same person, then - but last Whistling Night snapped something in their partnership, and something about Forrest Nash makes Henry finally not want to share.
Happy birthday, KFAM! It's been a year since the worldwide release of the game ♥ Here's another boost to the Henry/Forrest post-game longfic published last Halloween and super updated since, this time with YT links to the music featured in the author's notes, and little blurbs from most chapters attached! (The last two blurbs are just one continuing conversation lol) Hope you enjoy both or either. Happy anniversary! Did you know it's also the birthday of my Uncle Roni?
x 📻 o
Track 01: Baby - Cannons
It was the best show Forrest has ever done, his voice always smooth, but that night, it was something more, a sound that solidified the shape of his shoulders and the steadfastness of his hands, becoming part of his body so that Henry didn’t need to see his face to know what was there.
Track 02: So Bad - Gesaffelstein
…behind Forrest Nash, Henry’s mother sits quietly, watching the back of Forrest’s head, deliberating. Henry doesn’t give her away, doesn’t warn the man beside him, but silently, he’s wishing for the dream not to do it, not after that last film - because if Marie kills Forrest in a dream, then when Henry wakes up, surely, Forrest will…
Marie looks to Henry, a warning in her gaze. Henry feels himself ready to stand and ask, just this once. Just give me this one, for once. Just for now.
Track 03: Original Sin - Sofi Tukker
Later, though, he’ll consider the stillness that settles over Forrest, in this moment, comes across in memory as, for the first time with Henry, easy, and his voice disarmingly fond.
Track 04: Spellwork - Austra
“How do you know?” Henry asks at a crosswalk, stopping.
“What do you mean?”
“What does it look like,” Henry elaborates, “when I’m closed?”
Forrest takes the time to stare at him, considering. “Nothing like you are here now,” he says. “Sometimes, it’s like you just have a lot on your mind, but other times, it’s like,” he mulls, and says with some reluctance, “you put on another face, like a mask.”
Track 05: Hello Lover - Empires
As far as he can snoop, there’s no photo of Forrest as a child with his family, his parents, or of how he looked when he was Henry’s age. Would he have been lankier, awkward? Henry imagines looking at Forrest from the past and seeing through him, another young face laughing with a group of friends passing by. Was he still mean back then? Would he have caught Henry staring and squinted, glared? Smile?
Track 06: Get Goofy - Kornél Kovács
Everything else should be affecting him more than the latter, but he eats and settles for the night and at the forefront of his thoughts is the lit doorway of Forrest’s home glowing in a dark, empty street.
Track 07: Pillow Talk (ft. What So Not) - Imanu
Maybe Henry has an itch and Forrest being close, closer, is going to scratch it, and then Henry will be normal - his version of normal - back to a good son and a better liar, a good killer instead of a struggling town stalker. Maybe one date isn’t going to cut it, but a few, and some time - and Henry’s draw to the man could settle into something that doesn’t do what it did to him this morning anymore.
And then, he can go back to being…being…
Track 08: Talk Fast - 5 Seconds of Summer
Sometimes, he looks as alone or solitary as Henry often feels, but there’s the draw to slot the two of them together that was never present with the others, or other groups. Henry almost wants to ask, “Does that make me weird,” but refrains. He feels like he already knows the answer, anyway.
Track 09: Rabbit Hole - Cherry Glazerr
“What made you come over?” Forrest asks. Before Henry answers, he recalls another day and another inquiry, a different mood and the same result, “What’d you come up for,” over a small dancefloor, under such different lights, in a world far, far away.
“You,” Henry answers.
Track 10: i'm yours - Isabel LaRosa
Don’t let him get far, he wishes, and another memory presses onto him, soft and insistent. Don’t let him say no, the first night he tried to kiss him. This is a bad idea, he thought then. “Is this a good idea,” Forrest asked him not long ago. No, Forrest. No, no, no take-backs, no going back. You and me forever, baby.
Track 11: Desperado - Rihanna
He doesn’t look around the room, because he’s been here long and often enough that it’s committed to memory. The storage space next door is a labyrinth he can navigate with ease. The stairs up, the hallways, the staffrooms and studio, the rooftop that sometimes smelled too much of old cigarettes.
The thought comes unwittingly. He might not have to leave.
Track 12: Desire - Cannons
No, Henry thinks. No, no. This long into the game and this deep into it - No. “This is Forrest Nash,” the radio plays, “host of 189.16, The Scream.” But what’s the alternative, if he wants to keep him? “We’re almost through the night, folks.” What’s the alternative, if Henry wants to be the vessel for his mother that he’s always strived to be? “And it looks like we have room for one more caller. Let’s see who it is!”
Track 13: Jupiter 4 - Sharon Van Etten
“It’s still home. I’ll go back eventually. But to work? I loved it, even with everything that happened. I still miss the city, but,” his lips pursed, eyes shifting away. Embarrassed, Henry wondered. “I like myself more now. Here.”
“You changed.”
“Yeah. I go back, same work and same issues, then wouldn’t I go back to who I was before, too?” Then, to him, directly, “Do you get that sense? That you changed?”
Track 14: Wolf (Boys Noize Remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs & Boys Noize
“I don’t know,” Henry answered.
“Well,” Forrest mumbled, smile slanting, looking briefly unsure. “For what it’s worth, I do. Like you,” he clarified, soft and confiding, and, it occurred to Henry, shy. “The way you are here, now.”
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