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In Conclusion
The trailer is a mess; anything metal or metal based is strewn haphazardly. It’s not his concern. It’s not. Nor is the fact that he’s sure anyone within hearing distance is fearful for their lives after his very vocal, very long screaming session.
Thankfully no one had dared knock on the door.
So he’d spent a night sleeping in the midst of the chaos when he could no longer make sounds without his throat feeling raw like sandpaper had been rubbed down it curled tightly tucked up into as small a figure as he could get. Never let it be said he did emotions well at this point.
Sluggishly he comes to on the floor and it takes a bit before he can pull himself together. A low huff escapes him at the sight of the mess and the feel of dried tears on his skin. He’d definitely gotten way over-emotional hadn’t he? Pulling himself to his feet, he shuffles to the bathroom and throws himself into a shower trying to ignore the clear indications of everything. It’s not easy.
So he’s quicker to get done and dressed and out of the trailer. Pushing the door shut, he’s met with loitering Revenants keeping quite a bit of distance just watching. He gives a harsh snarl low in his throat. “Th’ fuck are you all lookin’ at?”
“Everything...better?” Howard’s tentative question has him snapping his teeth and making the male step back further from him.
“Look,” he says trying for something that was less thunder than he felt, “I’m trying here. So don’t push your luck and go do something constructive that is not bothering anyone we’ve promised to play nicely with. Understand? The compound hasn’t been torn apart. Everything is fucking perfect at that point.”
Howard opens his mouth, closes it, opens it. Seems to reconsider and then merely nods. The man was learning. And then comes, “If you are all done giving our boss a hard time there are things to be done.” At this point, Levi deserved a raise for putting himself through this though right then Bobo just wants a smoke and to try and stop feeling entirely too fucking much at this point.
Of course the menace re-approaches once the others are shooed off and he takes a long drag of the cigarette staring at him, almost daring him to be stupid. “If you would like my advice…”
“I don’t,” he interrupts after exhaling the smoke, “I really just don’t.”
“If you did,” Levi continues as if he hadn’t just been not-so subtly threatened, “I would suggest going and talking to him. Bring him to you. But talk. You two have been apart for a bit because of things you both need to do but at this juncture, I really think communication or at the very least something physical would help this.”
“You don’t even know when to quit do you?”
Levi looks at him and Bobo hates how amazing patronizing the man had gotten since his last stint in hell. He’d been keeping his partner closer to him this time around and was far less willing to be bullied. “Boss, I know a man in love when I see them. And you love him. The opposite is true but you’ve not let yourself see that either. So go. Talk to him. Let him know how far in you are for him. Because you don’t hide it well.”
He was going to need several cigarettes it seemed and a drink if he was going to get through anything resembling this sort of conversation with Levi. And honestly, he could shut him up pretty quickly but as prickly as he’d been...sometimes, you just had to let them chastise you to make them feel better.
He’d learned a long time ago how to keep Revenants in line. And giving them the chance to do this was okay so long as it was certain individuals. Were it a few others and they would have been tied and over the line. He was being decidedly merciful at this point.
*~*~*~*~*
Doc drags his thumbs around the rim of the cup but makes no move to pick it up. He wondered if it was a record at this point; having a full cup of a drink and not tasting it in a pretty lengthy bit of time. “So, I’m going to guess things are not exactly great with you and our resident Revenant King?” Wynonna’s voice is soft, cautious even.
“Whatever would make you think that?”
“Because he’s the only one who can make you both drink more and less and it’s a weird combination. Wanna talk about it?”
“I am afraid that it has to reach it’s conclusion before I can do that with much assurance,” he answers.
“In other words, you’re waiting for him to figure out how he’s going to respond?”
“Yes.”
Wynonna winces. “Well, depending on how personal this whole thing is and I’m going to guess it’s a lot of personal, it may take him a while before he figures out what he’s feeling most and work from there.”
“Considering the state of things...that’s what worries me.”
“That bad?”
He sighs softly. “Without saying too much that isn’t mine to say, I will merely admit that I did not handle him well in the past.”
“So you knew him?”
“That I did. I just don’t remember because I was a drunken prick to him. Suppose that’s the only mercy anyone is allotting me in this.”
“Well, at least you’re trying here. You’ve done nothing but try since you got out of that well.”
“Will it be enough though?”
“Will it...Wow, you...This is really personal isn’t it?”
“Wynonna,” he says quietly, “I love him so yeah, it’s really personal. And I cannot bear the thought that he might not be willin’ to give me a chance to prove that on account of a certain godamn Earp and his way of bein’ wholly selfish and a dick.”
“Good ol’ Wyatt Earp was a mess wasn’t he?”
“Oh, you have no idea. Not to say he didn’t have some decent qualities but...he wasn’t how any historian is ever going to paint him.”
“Most aren’t,” she murmurs, “But I think in this; you’ve done what you can, you’ve said your piece. You’re just...going to have to let him decide now what his next move is.”
“I know that,” he says quietly, “I’ve never been a patient man before. And this...This is not something I could recover from.”
“Hey, none of that. You’ve never lost when it was important and I doubt you’ll start with Bobo Del Rey. Just give him some time to be all overly emotional demon and let him figure it out. He’ll come to you when he’s ready. And Doc? No matter how this ends, you still have family and we will support you in any way we can.”
“Thank you,” he says quietly, thickly, “I appreciate it.”
She squeezes his shoulder. “Buck up, cowboy, and drink that before someone wonders if the product here is bad or poisoned.”
Despite the situation, Doc finds himself snorting. “Don’t scare off the patrons, got it.”
He’s still sitting contemplatively when he’s approached. Shifting his attention, he finds himself gazing at Levi. And if he’s not mistaken, the male looks just a shade too amused for words. “Levi,” he greets.
“Doc,” he answers, extending his hand with an envelope.
Carefully, he takes it; the lightness slightly worrisome and a fear begins in the pit of his stomach. Slowly, he pulls it out before realizing it was a single folded page and wonders if he really wants to do this here before choosing that he might as well. He unfolds it expecting a great many things, all of them pretty awful, and his eye catches the simple two-word message: Come outside.
He pauses only as long as it takes to set the message and his hat by the cup before rising trusting enough that both would be looked after and heads for the door heart in throat. He steps outside wondering exactly what he was walking into and finds the other waiting by a wall, hands in his pockets trying to seem comfortable. Doc is sure at any other time he’d pull it of but there were too many tells with the other that made any posturing a lie. “I’m here,” he says softly as he steps closer, “As bade.”
He expects a lot of things; anger, snarky commentary, accusations and at the worst him laughing and throwing everything back in his face. And part of him is sure he’d deserve all of it. What he gets is the feel of a belt loop being gripped as he’s jerked forward before another hand tugs his face up and lips are pressed against his. Soft, this kiss is soft and meltingly sweet. A soft, pleased sigh escapes him against Bobo’s mouth before he tugs him closer to deepen it.
Of course it’s broken before he’d like, the other lightly pressing his forehead against his, breathing unsteady. “One chance,” comes the words that have his emotions rising, “You have one chance in this, Henry.”
“All I need is one,” he murmurs fingers tracing along the other’s jaw as he meets his gaze, “I love you, Robert Svane. That much I know to be true.”
“John Henry Holliday…”
He chuckles softly. “I’m a man of my word these days, Robert Svane, so when I say something you can take it as the truth.”
He watches the other close his eyes before there would come, “We’ll see, I suppose, won’t we?”
“Yes,” he agrees, leaning to place a soft kiss at the corner of his lips, “Together.” He feels the upwards curve of the other’s lips into a smile and takes the opportunity to kiss him again and it’s returned eagerly as he’s pulled flushed against the other’s body.
They might still have a lot to work out but in that moment, Doc is quite sure that they will. And in the end, all he needs to know.