@hardlydead

[outerfringe]

[One day David simply stops appearing by the fire with the rest of them, and Jeff does his very best to be relieved for him. There are only two real possible reasons for that, right? Either he'd actually died for real, or he'd managed to find a way back home- and either way, it meant that he was out of this place. Jeff tries to be happy for him, and for the most part, he is.

He doesn't think about David at all the first day after he wakes up on the cold floor of the Ormond resort, back stiff and jacket crusted with frost. Instead he's too busy finding his way back to town, organizing arrangements to make it home. His apartment key no longer works, he recognizes none of his neighbors, but his bank account was still somehow in alright standing.

Jeff finds a new place. He does not find a new dog.

He feels weird about creating a Facebook account just to check for David, but he does it anyway. When that comes up fruitless, he thinks a lot about the conversations the two of them had while tucked close together in the dark. Wonders if David would even want to be found by someone like him, to be faced with a reminder of the time they'd spent doing everything they could to simply survive.

Jeff tries to paint but can't seem to pull himself out of severe blacks and reds. Tries to catch up on the music he'd missed from the bands he'd loved but it fails to soothe him the way it had before. He considers a therapist, and then decides that he'd be locked away the second he was candid enough for someone to actually help him.

So he packs some things, books a flight. Finds himself at his fifth seedy pub in three days without much hope - except this time when he says he's looking for David King, the big guy by the bar makes a point of sizing him up. Jeff sets his shoulders, frowns and promises that he's an old friend, but it doesn't seem to affect much the scowl on the guy's face. He says something (that Jeff completely misses, he can barely understand a goddamn thing when people here are drunk and loud), but seems to indicate for him to wait.

Which he does. He parks on a stool with a drink, assumes his most unapproachable aura, and waits. He doesn't know who he's expecting to appear, but it's not David.

There's not a chance it would actually be that simple.]

Comments

[outerfringe]

[Jeff shoots him a funny little look, peeling off the top to his soup container.] I flew across an ocean to deal with you and your headaches.

[hardlydead]

[ rebelling against his upbringing by having terrible manners: the david king story. chewing and swallowing gives him enough time to get the slightly besotted look off his face though. ]

Terrible decision. I'm a nightmare to put up with.

[ it's... mostly a joke. he delivers it like one anyway. ]

[outerfringe]

[Jeff's not really expecting the hungover wine and dine experience. He's more sipping the soup than using a spoon, and he shoots David with his eyebrows up.]

You stopped me when I tried to leave yesterday.

[hardlydead]

My side of things is pretty decent. [ shrug ] I get you.

[ he's going for another bite of his sandwich, but stops himself, electing to speak and then eat. ]

You got fleeced in this deal, all I'm saying.

[outerfringe]

[Awh, look, manners. :') Jeff shakes his head with a chuckle, rooting around slightly in the bag.]

Tell me how I got fleeced.

[hardlydead]

[ the obvious answer isn't one he really feels like putting on the table. he'll have to eventually, david knows that, but he'd like a little time first. ]

[ but there's a lot of other stuff. david shrugs a shoulder all nonchalant. ]

Well it's not like I bring much to the table, is it? Unless there's someone who needs beating up, then I'm your man.

[outerfringe]

[Jeff isn't expecting a Serious Conversation right now - especially not this morning. His own mood is much more in line with that nonchalant shrug, and he exhales an amused breath at that.]

Yeah, 'cos I'm riveting in conversation.

[Unpacking pastries now.]

[hardlydead]

[ david snorts ] Kept my attention so far.

[outerfringe]

No shit.

[He hands over a pastry wrapped in paper.]

I've bought you two meals. It's the cheat code for guys.

[Spoken as if he actually has an extensive dating history of his own.]

[hardlydead]

[ he laughs as he takes the pastry. ]

And it's working a treat, gotta say.

[outerfringe]

Yeah.

[An exhale, half-smiling down at at his own soup.]

Let's see how you feel when the board games start.

[Jeff doesn't know what he's expecting. This has already been more than any of it. Feeling like his feet are actually on the ground again - that alone has made the trip worth it.]

[hardlydead]

I'm a simple man, just feed me beforehand.

[ is it a joke? who can say ]

[outerfringe]

How many rounds of that game you think we can manage in two days?

-fuck, right, I need to get- I don't know, your phone number or something.

[hardlydead]

Oh shit, I don't know if I'm ready to give you my number.

[ said around another mouthful of sandwich. you sure travelled across the ocean for this, jeff. ]

[outerfringe]

[Jeff snorts, pulling his hair back into a high ponytail, just to get it off his neck.]

Alright, fine. Asking the girl at the desk out, then. She's into metal.

[She'd heard like, three songs by the band on his shirt, but whatever. He's got a thing for casual human interaction that he'd gently dismissed in his life before.]

[hardlydead]

[ wow. hand on his heart, how could you. ]

I hope you two have a great time together.

[outerfringe]

Mm, thanks. [Scraping the last of his little paper soup bowl with a spoon, now.] I'll let you know how it goes.

[hardlydead]

[ FROWNS ]

[ he's not actually upset, he just wants to win this exchange but he can't think of a way to one-up jeff here. guess he'll just... eat his sandwich. ]

[outerfringe]

[Oh okay, so the silence between them is now officially a

✨weird one✨

and Jeff isn't sure about what he said that he should try to take back. He clears his throat awkwardly and tries not to think about the million different reasons that could have caused that joke to land poorly.

Finally, he glances at the window.]

... Rainier than I thought it'd be. Not as cold, though.

[maybe if he just? talks about the weather??]

[hardlydead]

[ that makes a laugh slip out of david, who's still deep in thought on great one liners and coming up with nothing, and he gets up off his chair to plant himself on the sofa next to jeff once he's done with that last bite of his sandwich. ]

Mate, you come from a town that had a ski resort. You don't get to talk about cold.

[outerfringe]

[Okay, he still feels pretty fucking awkward, but the laugh seems to help. Jeff flexes his hands a little awkwardly atop his own knees.]

Not like, a successful one. Barely counts.

[hardlydead]

[ how about if he leans over and puts a hand on jeff's face to guide him for a kiss? ]

I'm not an expert, but I don't think that has much to do with temperature.

[outerfringe]

[And he will lean into that kiss immediately, because he's mostly just relieved that they're still allowed to do that while sober.]

Don't get your point anyway. I can think other places are cold.

[He's just talking because it's weird if he stops. An undercurrent of anxiety he doesn't recognize even in himself.]

[hardlydead]

[ he snorts and gives jeff another kiss. ]

Doesn't matter anyway.

[outerfringe]

Why not?

[David tastes like sandwiches and last night's beer and it's such a normal thing it makes his heart ache in a pleasant kind of way.]