Work Text:
After the bloodbath in the van, Joe and Nicky were quickly shuffled onto a waiting plane. Nicky was disappointed to see that Copley was behind all this, that he had sold them out. He tried to see the best in people always, to believe that people were inherently good, that the scales of justice tip always towards right eventually. This was a blow. The betrayal made him sad, though he knew Joe would be furious. Nicky got sad, Joe got mad, that was usually how it went. Joe tried to have the same outlook as Nicky, but he couldn’t always muster a matching amount of charity in his heart.
To distract Joe from the anger Nicky knew he was feeling, and to show the guards that they were not weak, that they couldn’t be intimidated, he cracked a joke. There was a TV on the plane, something that Nicky teasingly acted excited about. Joe played along with him, requesting champagne as he boarded. The guards didn't take kindly to their joking, especially since they had killed so many guards in that van.
The two men were roughly herded onto the plane and shoved down into leather seats, their ankles chained to the sides. Joe commented on how grumpy they seemed. He got a punch in the face for that.
The guards knew better than to keep them close together. They were facing each other with a few seats between them, not exceedingly far, but far enough to feel the distance. To not be able to reach out to each other. It always made them uncomfortable when they couldn’t reassure each other with a soft caress or a brief touch. Right now they would have to communicate with only their eyes.
Luckily, they were very good at this. Over the hundreds of years together they had developed an almost psychic short hand. Live with someone that long and words become unnecessary. That didn’t mean they didn’t love to talk to each other, to use all the words, in every language. Nearly a thousand years and they both felt they would never stop learning about the other, never grow tired of talking, never find out everything there was to know. This life was a gift.
Joe and Nicky locked eyes as the plane rolled down the runway, engines roaring as the wheels left the ground. As the plane ascended Nicky leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He’d been flying on planes for over a hundred years but he had never really grown comfortable with being off the ground like this. He still insisted man was not meant to fly, damn what Da Vinci had thought.
Joe cleared his throat, drawing Nicky’s gaze back to his. Joe knew what he was feeling, that unease and trepidation he always felt in planes or helicopters. He always held Nicky’s hand on takeoff. He hated that he couldn’t now. So instead he got his attention and smiled. Letting him know he knew, that he was right here. Nicky smirked as they leveled out, heading God knew where. He blew out a puff of air, knowing his fear was silly. Especially for an immortal! But fears aren’t rational, and they’re nothing to be ashamed of. Joe had told him this.
They knew they should take this time to rest. Who knew what lay in store for them? But they were afraid to look away from each other. What if they were separated when they got where they were going? What if they never saw each other again? It seemed unlikely but they were literally flying into the unknown. They knew they would fight tooth and nail for each other though, die for each other. They would just have to trust in those eternal scales. That they would tip in their favor.
The surrounding guards gave nothing away regarding their destination. They hadn’t been flying for very long when Joe started questioning them. Copley was sitting near the front of the plane, too far away to engage, studiously ignoring them. The more Joe heckled and wheedled, the more agitated the guards became, shifting angrily in their seats. But they didn’t rise to the bait and they didn’t say a word. Nicky just sat there and smirked. Joe was such an instigator, always playing it so cool.
God he loved this man.
Suddenly, the plane began its descent. That hadn’t taken long; they couldn’t have gotten far from France, maybe one, two countries away. There was no overhead announcement, no clue as to where they were landing. Joe and Nicky stared levelly at each other. One way or another, this was it. Whatever was waiting for them when they landed, they would face it together. It would take a force of God to separate these men.