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The lake beyond the clearing had always been special to Joe. After he had returned from Richard, he had spent hours at it, listening to the way the water lapped gently against the pebbles that made up the shore.
It was special to him. Bringing Ox with him to this place just seemed right.
As he gently untied the blindfold over Ox’s eyes, unveiling the sun glittering over the surface of the lake, the small picnic that Jessie had helped him set up, and the scenery that made up the location, Joe took Ox’s hand and squeezing it gently. Ox leaned down and kissed Joe’s temple, the look in his eyes saying more than words ever could.
SafeSafeSafe
Joe grabbed Ox by the hand, pulling him towards the water and tripping, leading to both of them crashing unceremoniously into the water. Ox resurfaced first, shaking his hair like a dog and sputtering somewhat unattractively. Joe opted to swim under the surface and jerk Ox back under the water.
In short, the two of them attempted to test their theories that making out underwater didn’t work as well as it did in movies, and were proved correct, seeing as it ended with the two of them almost drowning.
“I knew it was fucking bullshit,” Ox coughed after the two of them collapsed on the grass just beyond the shore of the lake. Joe grinned at him.
“It was your idea in the first place,” he snarked, flicking Ox’s nose as he sat up, “of course it was bullshit.”
“Oh fuck you,” Ox responded mildly, an easy smile spreading across his face.
The two of them fell into an easy silence that eventually led to the two of them abandoning the picnic in favor of making out on the grass. It was easy between the two of them, and Joe truly felt the safest he had ever felt in years.
The two of them had been through so much over the years, from Ox bringing him out of the more severe nightmares, to the distance that had almost torn them apart. It had had the potential to destroy the bond that sang between them, but they had pushed through and were stronger because of it.
Joe was never leaving him again.
He pulled back, looking down at Ox for a long time before standing, and pulling Ox along with him.
The two of them silently made their way into the forest, light dancing in strange patterns as it filtered through dark leaves in tall trees. Joe slipped his hand into Ox’s, and Ox squeezed his hand in response.
“Look. Flowers,” Ox stated, and Joe looked between the patch of flowers and Ox a few times.
“Yes. Flowers. Funny that they grow in a forest, huh?” Joe replied sarcastically, and Ox shoved him gently, pulling Joe over to the patch and sitting down, beginning to pluck the purples and yellows from the ground and arranging them in his hands.
Joe leaned against his back while Ox worked, letting his head rest on Ox’s shoulder as he closed his eyes. he hadn’t intended to fall asleep, but the soft rustling of the leaves above them, and the sounds of the birds flying between the branches of the trees lulled him into a hazed nap.
He was awakened by Ox ruffling his hair and responded with a sleepy smile as he sat up. Ox held up a large ring of flowers connected by small knots.
“How did you do that?” Joe asked softly, his voice rough from his nap, “Your fingers are huge.”
Ox feigned being hurt and sniffed pompously.
“I happen to be a master of arts that require delicacy, now shut up and put this on,” he settled the flowers in Joe’s hair and bopping Joe on the nose once it was settled. Joe bopped him back. Ox flicked him. Joe flicked him back.
Joe decided to tackle him, and they ended up making out again. The Flower crown didn’t make it out alive and was mourned accordingly.
The two settled against a tree as the sun began to set, Ox holding Joe to his chest as Joe drew circles on Ox’s chest.
Joe wondered for the thousandth time just how he got here with someone he loved, with someone he felt safe with, even after all of the things that had happened between the two of them. They were unbreakable. That was something Joe never thought he would be able to have.
There was a gentle tug on his hair, and Joe turned his gaze from the setting sun to Ox’s eyes. The beams from the sun were falling on Ox’s hair, turning it a stunning shade of dark golden brown. He sat up and ran his hands through it.
“Where’d you go?” Ox asked quietly as Joe did so, his hands finding their way to Joe’s waist, gently pulling him onto his lap. The warmth Joe felt from that action was one he would never dislike. Love wasn’t something he thought anyone would dislike.
“My head,” he replied somewhat eloquently as he opted to bury his face in Ox’s neck. Hands moved from his waist to running gently over his back.
“Dangerous,” Joe could feel Ox’s slow exhale, and the constant beat of his heart. He brought his fingers up so they rested over Ox’s heart. This was where he felt like himself. No prying questions, easy silence, and the constant beat of the one he loved beneath his fingers.
“Maybe sometimes,” Joe brought his head away from the crook of Ox’s neck, pressing his forehead against Ox’s, “but not too bad today. Just how relieved I am.”
Ox smiled.
“Why is that?”
Joe knew that Ox was only asking the question for the sake of asking the question. They both knew the answer to it. Their wolves knew the answer to it, how could they not?
“You.”
Ox gently took the back of Joe’s head and brought the two of them together again. Joe lost himself in the sensation of Ox’s lips on his own, and the way Ox’s fingers finding their way beneath his shirt made the familiar feeling of want within him stir.
But then Ox inhaled sharply and pulled back.
“Oh, Joe,” he whispered, his eyes growing wet. Something about his face was wrong. Like he was…
“Ox?” a hint of panic slipped into Joe’s voice as he reached for Ox’s shirt.
“You’re waking up,” Ox swallowed, and panic was rushing through Joe because ox was disappearing right before his eyes. He was fading, and the fact that Joe is grabbing onto his chest, his shoulders, his arms, was doing nothing to change that.
You’re waking up.
“What…What do you mean?” Joe’s voice cracked as the sun set behind them, and the last bits of sunlight flickered on their fading forms.
“Joe. You’ve been asleep for about a year now,” Ox’s hands pulled Joe closer so that the two of their faces were inches away, “you’re finally waking up.”
What the hell? What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck…
Joe swallowed hard, because why did Ox look so sad? And he had been asleep? What had the last years been then?
“Ox I don’t…I don’t understand…” Joe found that he was crying, and looked down and saw that he was fading too, “What about you?”
His smile was so sad.
“Then what have the last years been,” Joe whimpered, “and before that, and…”
“I’ll see you again,” Ox murmured, and brought their lips together. Joe wrapped his arms tightly around him as the world around the two of them slowly faded. He clung desperately to the scent that he had grown so familiar to, the strength, and the soft smiles, despite knowing that he had no control over what was happening.
“I promise.”
The warmth of his lips slowly faded into a cold, chapped sensation. The quiet sounds of nature at sunset faded into a subtle beeping, and he found himself opening his eyes to a white ceiling.
Ox was gone.
Ox was gone.
Joe immediately jerked upwards, his eyes darting around the room for anything while Ox’s last words played themselves over and over in his head.
“I’ll see you again.”
He pulled off the various wires connected to his chest, to his arms in a panic. Ox was somewhere close by. Even if Joe couldn’t feel him, he knew.
Joe couldn’t feel the bond between them, the song was gone, and all that was in his head were muddled images he couldn’t understand. He shoved himself off the bed, and immediately collapsed on the floor, his legs refusing to respond to his wishes to run, to find Ox, because something told him that he was here. Wherever here was.
He grit his teeth, his arms trembling as he used them to pull himself upright, leaning heavily on the metal rails on the side of the bed.
Ox
He thought desperately as he slowly made his way out of the room, leaning against anything that would support his weight. The last look that had been on Ox’s face told Joe enough. Ox was in danger.
“Oh my god, he’s awake!” a sharp voice startled him from his concentration, and he was met with the face of a shocked nurse who was approaching him rapidly.
“I need to find him,” he said numbly, willing the bond that he had felt in that place to tell him where Ox was, because Ox had to be here. He had to.
“Sir? Sir, I need you to come with me. The doctor needs to run some tests-”
“Where is he?” Joe turned towards her, stumbling and gripping on the woman’s shoulders to keep himself from falling, “where’s Ox?” his voice cracked as he looked into her concerned eyes. He needed Ox, he needed him.
“We need a doctor in here stat,” came a tense voice down the hall.
Ox.
The sad smile on his face as the two of them fell from that perfect world.
Joe turned in the direction of the voice, moving as quickly as he could as he ignored the nurse’s request that he calm down and return to his room. He had to get to Ox now before it was too late.
Time had never been on his side though, even if he couldn’t remember.
Somehow he made it to the room before the doctor that had been called entered it, breathing heavily with white knuckles, but he could see him.
The warm, happy face that had met him in the dreamlike world they’d found each other was nothing similar to the face that lay in a bed with frantic nurses moving about it. The pale face and limp hair held no similarity to the Ox that Joe had held onto, and if it weren’t for the distinguishing eyebrows and the beauty mark beneath his eye, Joe would deny that it was Ox at all. But it was.
Reality was cruel.
“Ox,” the name fell from Joe’s lips, causing one of the nurses to spot him and ask him what he was doing. Joe attempted to move closer to Ox, to touch his hand and tell him he was here, to tell him to stay and explain. To tell him to hold on because Joe didn’t want to understand why his mind was empty without Ox.
Someone gently took him by the arm, trying to lead him out of the room because he “wasn’t supposed to be here,” and “needed the doctor to look at him.” Joe attempted to pull away from those arms, to pull away from the ones taking him from Ox who looked like he was breathing less and less, but he found that all of his strength was gone, and he couldn’t do anything but watch the doctor move into the room, and shut the door.
He had to listen as he was led back down the hall.
“Heartbeat has flatlined…”
“…clear…”
“…clear…”
Joe’s throat caught in his chest and a last rush of adrenaline shot through him as he jerked his arms away from the people holding him back. Ox was leaving, he was disappearing, he was…he was…
“Time of death, 2:57 pm. July tenth, 2018”
Joe felt his legs give out beneath him as he fell again. This time he didn’t fight the arms that caught him and hardly noticed the sharp prick in his neck that was followed by a numbing sensation sweeping over his body.
Time of death, 2:57 pm. July tenth, 2018
Joe welcomed back the darkness, but this time, he didn’t open his eyes to a hospital room or to a perfect, small town with his family. He opened his eyes to old memories and the reality that his brain had rejected in favor of what could have been.
Breaking News:
The sole survivor of the Bennett family massacre, Joseph Bennett, awoke in the hospital last night in a state of panic. It is likely that his memory was compromised during his time of captivity by Richard Collins, the man behind the murder of the Bennett family, and Joseph Bennett’s kidnapping. The victim was not available for questioning. More on this at eleven.