(Untitled)

[whatdiesinside]

Idle hands are the devil's tools; Snafu can feel them itching against the rough catch and drag of new denim on his thighs, trying to scratch it smooth and scratch that--that itch they always have. He's not going to be much use to the devil today, not enough room to pace off the excess energy in the frame of the door. Just the rec room to one side

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[rhymingdevil]

I had been trying to avoid the mistletoe and so far, so good. I hadn't gotten caught under it even once and I hadn't even been strong-armed into rescuing someone from it. The latter, I don't know how I managed, but I was on my way back to Savannah's with a cup of coffee when I saw the guy there. Merriell, I think he said his name was, and I tried to stifle a groan. Damn.

"How long has it had you under there?"

[whatdiesinside]

The smile cutting his face lacks humor or warmth, is just that--something cutting, something like a grimace. Plenty of people pass through here every goddamn day, and he gets the dead man. The dead man with a face he almost knows, but Sledge isn't here to help him find the name for it.

Just one more abortive, stupid feeling with Eugene attached to it. Taking a moody drag from his cigarette, Snafu tilts his head away, then back, thinking it over. "Getting toward half an hour, maybe."

[rhymingdevil]

I figured it'd been a while, given he'd given up and started smoking inside, but Merriell seemed like the kind of guy who'd say fuck it and smoke indoors anyway, rules be damned. My brother Jeff had been a guy like that, right down to the cigarette.

"No pretty girls wandering by to take pity? I'd have to think there'd be at least one."

Savannah, I know, if only because she was too sweet not to help someone.

[whatdiesinside]

Snafu's head rolls on the axis of his neck, one shoulder to the other, and he breathes out a thin cloud of smoke, squints through it at--Nichols, he can remember this fucker's name but not an enchanted door, how useful. "Now where's the fun in that," he drawls, sliding a little lower against the frame, fidgeting with his hips and crossing his arms over his chest, because if he can't get out of this, the least he can be is entertained.

[rhymingdevil]

I arched a brow. I hadn't really gotten into the whole mistletoe thing, mostly because I didn't have anyone to kiss, and now I was facing a guy I didn't really know if I liked him on a regular basis and he was trapped. The nice thing to do would be to get him out, but was I going to kiss him to do it? I couldn't say.

"Isn't that how the whole mistletoe thing works? You get stuck, pretty girl kisses you, everyone goes home happy?"

[whatdiesinside]

Nobody really took him aside and fucking explained it to him, and Snafu grunts something like assent, shrugging and slouching and looking sideways at the guy again. Being trapped here's an inconvenience, but that's about it. Hardship that doesn't even have the decency to excite or interest him, fuck people up a little.

"I don't think this place really gives a shit who it is," he points out.

[rhymingdevil]

I looked around for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to rescue Merriell or not. He was an okay guy, if hard to get to know, and I guessed I could be a good Samaritan.

"If I spring you, you won't tell anyone, will you?"

[whatdiesinside]

Snafu gives a bark of laughter, watching Nichols check to see if the coast is fucking clear before he makes his offer, and Snafu was here maybe a month ahead of the kid, and he knows there's no point to it. Nobody gives a shit, and he's learning not to give one either. Especially if it means getting the hell out of this place, home where he can chainsmoke in peace. "'Cause I'd just be achin' to spread that around about myself," he drawls, rolling his eyes and tossing his cigarette down, a little too far for him to put it out with his foot.

His grin sharpens, watching the smoke curl through the air, "Better hurry, before I burn the whole place down."

[rhymingdevil]

I rolled my eyes a little and stepped beneath the doorway, watching him for a second before barely smacking my lips against his forehead. I had no idea if that would appease the island gods, but it was the closest I was getting to kissing him.

"Did it work?"

[whatdiesinside]

It does, enough for Snafu to stalk after him, step in close and slide his hand over Nichol's cheek like he's going to return the favor, hood his eyes and look at the dead man's mouth like he gives a shit.

Snafu lets the moment stretch, all awful potential until he smirks and pats the kid's cheek. "Guess that'll do," he says, sliding past him and crushing the cigarette under his foot.

[rhymingdevil]

I wasn't really sure what had just happened but I felt a little...off. Something about the way Merriell looked at you sometimes made you think he was a serial killer in training and I had to wonder what, exactly, made him tick that way.

"Uh...you're welcome?"

[whatdiesinside]

"Yeah, thanks," he says, and it's not about meaning it, so much, he just doesn't know what to do with the words. Not worth much, really: "Could say I owe you one, but--"

but he can't have that, and he's had enough time to stay in one place, let the restlessness build. Worse than being in a hole knowing the Japs are right over a fucking hill, because he's out of the trap and there's nothing. There's always going to be nothing, just moments of this: fucking with people, stepping back into Nichols' space and up on his toes, a peck on his lined forehead. "Now I don't," and he starts to head for the stairs before that can mean anything either.