think of me once in a while

[singmod]

THINK OF ME ONCE IN A WHILE

WHERE: The wilds of Milton.
CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A.

TAKE CARE

Off the heavily-trodden paths and steady trails there’s a lonely semi-circle of gnarled jack pines that twist and bend beside a rocky cliff face. Beside the pines are carefully-laid stone piles, three in all, one half-built with rocks stacked haphazardly in waiting beside it.

They vary in size, one as tall as a man, one smaller, one sort of leaning, as though the builders were more concerned in the act of laying the stones themselves than any kind of uniformity. In one cairn buried deep in the middle of the circle of stones is a scrap of graying fabric, in another a piece of paper too weathered to read, in another a silver fork.

The site itself looks worn and revered. It’s been used, but for what purpose is unclear. Marker, memorial, altar, grave - the cairns might be all things at once, or nothing so significant. There’s only one real clue: a small collection of plants, some wilted and some fresh, at the foot of each stone tower.

Comments

[notarat]

Softly: ".. yeah?"

He likes it. The proximity they're having right now, the physical touch. The fact that it's just the two of them for a moment, and they don't have to worry about scurvy, or a lack of food, or annoying incompetent leaders, or a monstrous bear hunting them.

Though maybe he likes hearing these words even more than that.

"You mentioned here that you were planning on abandoning the ships back then. Oahu." A reveal that hadn't surprised him in the moment, and with every day more of having lived in close proximity with Hickey, the less surprising it is. ".. Would you've asked me to come with you?"

[friendsfordinner]

Hickey lets out a small little chuckle before pointing out, "Obviously."

And that much is true. He would have asked Billy to come with him. After all, he likes the man. He enjoys his company. He chooses to spend time with Billy, to be with him, to indulge in intimacies that he hadn't with any other man. The only reason why Billy got a knife in his back was due to circumstances needing to make it so.

After all, Billy's no use to him or to anybody if he's dead on his feet like that.

"Way I see it, we could find a little place for us, right on the beach. I figure we'll spend most of our time in the outdoors, so it doesn't have to be too big. Enough room for a bed, a table, a roof over our heads to keep the rain out. We'll fish and we'll eat fruit plucked right from the tree."

There's a little shrug before he points out, "Paradise seems like it'd be better with more than one person."

[notarat]

"I would have followed you if you asked."

Granted, it's likely not a surprise when following him into this is already a step down from following him into a freaking mutiny - even if Billy was the one who proposed the idea first. But despite his cat-like behaviour of seeming to shrug the other off the way he had done so often before, especially back home, he knows that he can't get rid of his attachment to Hickey so easily.

It's why he knows this to be the truth. Even if it's the most impossible hypothetical of scenarios at this point.

He exhales, and it's almost a sigh, despite the faint smile that tugs at his lips. "Can't believe you are the only man to get me out of my mind enough to consider these things."

Even if it's not like Billy would have much to throw away, he still would've sacrificed a slightly more stable existence for one that clearly is anything but that. But that's the problem, right? Hickey is so good at making these delusional plans sound so appealing. The two of them in a hut on the beach, basking in the warm sun. Sliding a ring onto his finger on the ship, as if the two of them ever had a future. As if people would ever not consider them sodomites, as if they wouldn't both die out there in the damned cold sooner or later.

[friendsfordinner]

Oh. That's...nice.

To be honest, there was a part of Hickey that wasn't sure Billy would say yes. A part of him that thought if he asked 'do you want to go to Maui with me', Billy would answer 'no'—after all, he hadn't brought up the plan for a reason. Sure there are parts of Hickey's nature that he's a secretive bastard about, that he'd never tell Billy about. But in an ideal world, they'd have reached Maui eventually. In an ideal world, Hickey would have buggered off and enjoyed his time in Oahu.

Still. It's nice to hear that Billy agrees with his plan.

Hickey can't help but give Billy a wry little smile, shrugging slightly before he sighs, "This place isn't Oahu. It's cold and dry and we've got bloody gods barking at our doorstep, killing off members of the community. But I think it might make a wonderful back-up plan."

After all, they've got a little place for them. A roof over their head. Fish and meat at their disposal.

[notarat]

He seems to consider those words for a moment and then lets out a hum.

"Well, I'm warm." He shifts his hands on the other's face slightly, as if to remind him of that fact. If Billy is willing to thank this place for one thing - aside from being alive at all, really - it's giving him this strange ability right when he had grown to hate the cold so much.

And, hey, if Hickey wants to be warm too, then maybe he should come home to cuddle with his husband-shaped space heater earlier instead of buggering off to play with rocks all day!

"Which means I am fairly close to considering this place ideal enough." They have a home, they have food, some people here are actually accepting of them, which is still wild.. "It'd just be nice if someone could do something about that Darkwalker."

Sure, at this point it's not like they aren't used to being stalked by some weird, murderous supernatural being, but Billy sure would appreciate that not being the case anymore for once. It'd be nice to be able to live without worrying whether one of them could be its next victim.

[friendsfordinner]

If someone could do something about that Darkwalker.

The thing is, Hickey is trying. The sooner they learn about this thing, the sooner Hickey can show his worth, the sooner it sees him. He doesn't know what will happen when that happens, but at the very least, it'll give him power. Power to keep Billy safe and alive. Power to ruin Rorschach and Jopson and all the pricks of the world threatening his happiness.

But Hickey's smart (occasionally). He knows that mentioning his plan to win over the Darkwalker will end with him getting yelled at. He can keep that to himself for the moment. Instead, he presses himself up fully against Billy, chest to chest, as he moves one hand to pull Billy closer.

The other hand gives his butt a quick little squeeze. Hickey can be a shit.

"Give it enough time. Someone'll figure that thing out in the end." Someone like him.

[notarat]

A small and definitely not voluntary noise escapes Billy when he suddenly feels his butt getting squeezed. Clearly he did not see that coming at all, but even though he does look surprised and then flustered, it's only for a moment. After that moment it becomes clear that he's not offended at all by Hickey being a little shit of a menace here, since the corners of Billy's mouth actually faintly tug up, like he's amused by it instead.

Who cares if his lover is going to squeeze his butt in the middle of a forest with no one else around. He might have properly scolded Hickey if it was in the middle of the community hall (even if, deep down, Billy would find it kind of exciting), but out here?

He instead lightly pinches the other's cheeks as 'punishment' while his hands are still right there before said hands instead further move back into Hickey's hair, fingers lightly scraping against his scalp.

"Incorrigible. That's what you are, you know that?" See? Even this isn't real scolding. It's way too obvious. Billy is so good at sounding bitchy when he wants to, and there's too much of a layer of amusement hanging over it right now for him to really mean any of it. "Whoever is going to try and figure out that being will certainly not have as hard of a time as I am having with you."

Cornelius Hickey: the real menace of Milton. Forget the Darkwalker.

[friendsfordinner]

Damn straight he's incorrigible. It's so nice having these moments with Billy. Moments where they could act like any other couple, any of the other couples here in Milton or back at home. Cuddling, physical affection, all of those and more. So yeah, he's perfectly fine pinching Billy's butt. Because really? Billy deserves love and affection and his ass to be occasionally squeezed.

He takes the pinch with a smile, enjoying the light scolding as well as Billy flirting right back. Because yeah. He is incorrigible. And he's having a grand time being that way.

"You wouldn't like it if I made your life easier," Hickey lightly teases. "You'd look at me and go 'who's that man and what has he done with Cornelius Hickey.'"

[notarat]

For how often he reads Hickey for filth, right now the opposite is happening, even as Hickey is just teasing him. Billy is the one getting read for filth this time, because-- yeah, it's true. No matter how much he might complain about the stuff Hickey does, the way the other is always so full of unpredictable plans is one of the things Billy likes about him. Hickey keeps life from becoming boring, even if he also makes it harder at the same time.

Not that he's going to admit to that.

"You think I wouldn't enjoy taking it easy and not having to clean up your messes for once?" Literally or figuratively, even! "You can't tell me there is anyone out there who has done as much for you as I have."

[friendsfordinner]

That much is true: nobody has done as much for Hickey as Billy has. Granted, that's mostly because nobody's done much for Hickey in the first place. After all, you don't kill a man and steal his identity with the express purpose of fucking off to Maui if you've got things like 'people back home' or 'a healthy support system.' It's just been him. It's always just been him.

Except now it's not. And it's...nice? It's nice. Hickey can get used to this.

"I've gotten better at the literal messes," retorts the man who absolutely has tracked mud into their house on more than one occasion. "I clean up the kitchen after I butcher any kills."

This is a man who has absolutely gotten rabbit blood in the weirdest spots of the kitchen. Cornelius Hickey is a man who washes his hands almost religiously after touching an animal's innards, but has absolutely overlooked a blood splatter or two.

[notarat]

Billy is definitely thinking about the times he's found blood or rabbit bones in the strangest of places in their kitchen.

Then again, Hickey actually bothering to even do as much as attempt to clean up after himself is at least something. If you'd ask Billy, he wouldn't say the other seems naturally inclined to do such a thing, and here he is doing it anyway.

"I suppose you are making an effort." High praise coming from Billy of all people. Worded so amazingly, clearly. His touch against the other's scalp gets a little softer, more affectionate though - it makes it clear that his words are meant in a positive way far more than his tone does, considering the latter is definitely not doing the trick whatsoever there. "Though I hate to imagine how you ever lived before joining up."

At least cleaning the ship was kind of a joint thing. But he truly can't imagine Hickey having a space to himself and keeping said space actually neat on his own.

[friendsfordinner]

Hickey's practically preening, buzzing with contentment and happiness at the praise. The man has an ego on him and buttering him up (or at least acknowledging that ego) goes a long way. And yes, he recognizes the praise. Billy gave him a compliment. Billy gave him a compliment he deserves. That's what matters in Hickey's mind.

Of course, the compliment is then dashed by Billy pointing out the obvious (Hickey isn't good at cleaning) and he can't help but roll his eyes before pointing out,

"Hey, I've lived perfectly fine! Besides, it's easier to keep things clean when you've only got a fraction of the space I've had before."

[notarat]

A small sound escapes him. It's almost like a laugh, especially with the way the skin around his eyes crinkles. It's just amusing, being able to give Hickey these little jabs that make him whine like that. There's definitely something endearing about it. It's likely bias, since Billy would just find it annoying if it came from anyone else, but..

.. well, maybe that's just the way it works when you actually care about someone. It's not a feeling he's experienced that often.

"Is that why you have never told me about any of it before? Because it was all perfectly fine?" At least it doesn't seem like a very serious attempt to dig into the other's past, since Billy adds with the same amusement as before, "Cornelius Hickey, cleaning champion of England? I was not aware I was in such honoured company."