For Joe

[kingsroad]

It had been about a week since the island had had its regularly scheduled chaos, this time in the form of flood and escaped dinosaurs. King especially, had not appreciated the dinosaur part, since he had to practically run into one to realize something was just not right around here. Thankfully, the dinosaur he'd run into had been virtually

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[jdick]

After his day on the beach with his gun, Joe had actually found himself feeling a bit better and after he'd stashed the gun in the hut that he still couldn't bring himself to sleep in, he'd continued to wander. Down toward the small waterfall this time, Ozzy at his heels, and he squinted as he approached, wondering if he'd actually finally found King. Sometime the day before he'd sort of given up actively looking for him, only because Joe was fucking exhausted, but now, here he was. Figured that that was how it worked.

"Hey," he said as he approached, lifting his hand in a slight wave as Ozzy ran excitedly around Joe's feet.

[kingsroad]

King watched as the person continued to approach, and after some careful thought, decided that this person must've been Joe. The pup running around his feet pretty much sealed it, as King recognized it from the last time he'd seen Billy.

It was weird seeing Joe like this, as they kind of never went out of their way to find each other, but it was comforting at least, to see someone familiar. Even if that someone was a shaved, pesky little version of himself. "Hey," King said in return, looking Joe over. Joe looked like he'd been hit by several trucks. "You look like shit."

[jdick]

Joe let out a soft snort of forced laughter and he shrugged, then nodded a little, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, I feel like shit, so I guess it's pretty fucking appropriate that I look like shit, too." More than appropriate, really.

And suddenly Joe didn't want to do this. He wanted to turn around, go back to Dale's or Logan's and burrow into a bed and sleep for a week, Ozzy at his back. He wanted to let King find out on his own, because he was so fucking tired of being the bearer of bad news rather than just being allowed to mourn. Fuck everyone else, Joe wanted this time to himself.

But he knew he couldn't do that.

[kingsroad]

"That's usually the case, yeah," King said, still watching Joe. King felt like shit too, and probably looked it, though he hadn't really looked in the mirror lately to find out. Joe on the other hand, in addition to looking like shit, looked extremely uncomfortable as well. Like he had something to say, but couldn't quite get it out. "Something happened," King said, deciding to help Joe cut to the chase despite the growing knot of unease in his stomach. There was really only one thing that could've bothered King right now, and he had a feeling he was about to hear it.

[jdick]

"Yeah, something happened," Joe agreed and he didn't plan on telling King everything, how he'd climbed the mountain and gotten stoned and gone looking for Billy, because a part of him was still almost embarrassed about that. But he did need to tell King.

"Billy's gone," he said simply, then rubbed his head again. "For awhile now, I think. I went looking for him."

[kingsroad]

King took a moment to absorb that information. It was one thing to think it and try to prepare for it, but another entirely to actually hear it and know it was true. He didn't doubt Joe. If anyone could be entirely certain Billy was gone, it'd be him.

King turned away to look out over the water, trying to sort out his feelings on the subject. At first, it was kind of nothing at all, but then.. a part of him realized that this was it. One last fear come to light and.. well, what could he say to that? It was inevitable at this point. He blinked a bit and looked back over at Joe, not bothering to hide the emotion that was threatening to overcome his face.

"And you're being looked after and all that? You have a place to stay?" King managed to ask, despite the rising tightness in his throat. If anything, he thought he owed it to Billy to at least make sure his Joe was alright.

[jdick]

"Yeah," Joe said, surprised at the hoarseness of his own voice, then cleared his throat to try again. It hadn't been long, but between his time on the mountain, his conversation with Logan, his fight with Dale and finding his gun earlier in the day, he'd thought maybe he was over the worst of it. But now, again, he could feel himself starting to flounder. Since they'd met, Billy had never been more than a phone call away and it wasn't that Joe had called often when he'd left Vancouver, but the knowledge that he could had always been sort of comforting.

Now? Now there was nothing. Billy was flat out gone. No phone calls, no plane trips, nothing.

"Yeah, Logan and Neil said I could stay with them, but I figured that might fuck up their sex life," he said dryly, clearing his throat again. "Been staying with Dale, only because he wouldn't let me stay in the Council office."

[kingsroad]

King wasn't familiar with who Dale was, but nodded anyway. Dale was obviously a friend, and that was a good thing, because really, as far as caretakers went, King wasn't really the guy to ask. Not that he wouldn't've tried, of course, but it was better Joe had a real friend look after him than whatever the hell King was to him

[jdick]

Surprised by the hug, Joe didn't respond immediately, because it was strange to have arms that familiar wrapped around him. Briefly, he was reminded of that weekend when everyone had been all fucking backwards and King had slapped him around before kissing him, and he tried not to laugh. Whatever they were, he really had no idea, but he appreciated the comfort anyway and so his arms slowly moved around King in return, his head ducked slightly.

Being squished firmly surprised him even more and he did let out a soft, surprised sounding laugh at that, though he didn't move away. It was weird to be comforted by someone who looked like him, but it kind of worked. In some weird, fucked up way, it worked.

[kingsroad]

Leave it to Joe to laugh when King was actually trying to be serious. Not that King could blame the guy at this point. It must've been weird for Joe to be hugged liked this, but King had meant it. There was no one else to hug, no one else left that King had shared a decent amount of memories with that would understand. "Asshole," King murmured, pressing his forehead against Joe's shoulder for a brief moment. He guessed it made sense that the last physical comfort he got on the island would be from the weird, hairless version of himself.

King held on a little bit longer, making sure the moment lasted long enough that he could remember what it was like before pulling back again. Joe wasn't so bad, he guessed. He stepped back and gave Joe a few pats on the shoulder. "Thanks for telling me," King said, because it had honestly meant a lot that Joe had bothered. King possibly wouldn't have known for another week or so on his own. Some friend King was. No wonder he was about as miserable as he could be.

[jdick]

Joe gave another laugh at that and squeezed King back before letting out a soft sigh and pulling back as well. Of all the people on the island, he didn't expect to get any sort of comfort from King, but it was nice. And it was needed, so he offered a faint smile, rubbing a hand over his head as he sighed and gave a little shrug.

"Looked for you for a couple days after I came back, but I couldn't find you," Joe admitted, because he had sort of given up after a couple days. "I went around telling the people I figured really needed to know."

[kingsroad]

"You didn't have to, but it's appreciated," King said. And honestly, he would've understood if Joe had never told him and just hid out instead. It's what King would've done and had done and he couldn't blame anybody else for doing the same.

Billy was gone after all, and well, Billy had been great. And if King and Joe had anything truly in common other than their looks, it had been Billy. King wasn't going to deny that he had liked Billy a whole hell of a lot, probably a little too much, but he knew he would've done anything for that skinny little fuck, as he was sure Joe would've too.

King tucked his hands into his jacket pockets and looked at Joe. "He loved you a lot."

[jdick]

At that Joe's smile disappeared and he nodded, his gaze shifting past King to look at the water, his hand still rubbing over the back of his head and then his neck. "Yeah," he breathed out quietly and he knew it. If there was anything Joe knew to be true, that was it and at the moment, it was all he had to hold onto.

"That's pretty much the thing keeping me going now," he admitted reluctantly. "And I'm hoping he went home to his kid or something like that." Not home to death, to suicide, to the fucking ground. If Joe thought about that, he would truly lose his shit.

[kingsroad]

"He was a good guy," King said, still watching Joe. If there was anything he still believed, it was that the people who disappeared in life, ended up exactly where they were supposed to. And if they were truly good people, he doubted it could be anything bad.

"And from how I take it, very loved. I'm sure he got what he was hoping for, too." King couldn't really imagine anything else for Billy. It wasn't like Billy had been miserable the last time he'd seen him. It was quite the opposite.

[jdick]

"I really fucking hope so, man," Joe agreed with a little nod, his lips pursed slightly before his mouth relaxed and he rubbed at the bruise on his jaw. "The shit thing is not knowing, but..." He trailed off and shrugged a little. The shit thing was not knowing, but he had to live with it. There was no way to ever know for sure. All he had was hope.

[kingsroad]

King just nodded a little in return. He didn't think there was much else he could say on the subject. Billy was gone, plain and simple, and in all likelihood, wasn't coming back. They never came back.

King looked elsewhere for a moment before returning his attention back to Joe. He gestured at him with his chin. "So what happened to your face? Someone beat you up?"