Chapter Text
The next morning, they walked on in silence.
"Book?" Joe said. "I need to speak with you about last night."
Booker only looked over his shoulder. There was still sadness in his eyes.
"Well, you might need to talk, but I don't," Booker replied. "It's about time you get to feel how it feels when you want to talk with someone who doesn't want to speak with you."
Booker walked on while Joe stood still, thinking that, in a way, it was only fair enough that he was met with the same wall of silence he had met Booker with through all these years.
While walking in silence, Joe felt he was back in the desert again with Nicolò, who also refused to speak with him for months after escaping the madness in Jerusalem. It was first later that Joe understood that the silence Nicolò kept throughout all of those months was his way of processing everything until he was ready to speak with him and that the silence wasn't directed towards him. But this time, Joe knew that Booker's silence was directed towards him, and he had no one else but himself to blame for it.
Joe ducked to prevent himself from being hit by a low-hanging branch. Seconds later, something hard hit him in his head. He looked up, trying to see what or who had thrown something at him, but when he looked down, he saw a small branch on the ground. He rubbed his sore head, and if Nicky had been there, he would have asked for a kiss to make it all better. When he looked over at Booker, he saw a grin on Booker's face before he walked on. It had been so long since the last time Joe had seen that grin on Booker's face. Andy once said Joe was always the only one who could make Booker grin that way. It was something he used to be proud of, but that feeling disappeared as soon as Booker betrayed them all. Maybe that was the answer to get Booker to speak with him again if he could get Booker to grin again.
Joe took off his beanie so he could ruffle his curls, which was something he regretted immediately when a cold wind hit his face. As they got closer to Russia, it became clearer that winter was getting closer.
"Book?" Joe said. It took a moment before Booker looked at him. "I respect your wish about silence, but could we not agree to find a place where we can have a decent meal, a warm shower and a good bed to sleep in because who knows when we get the chance to do it once we walk into Russia."
Booker wanted to say no because he was still a bit angry at Joe, but he also knew Joe was right about that they needed to recharge their batteries so they had the strength for the long walk ahead. Booker made a sign that Joe should follow him.