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V has been laying around his apartment for weeks now, pretending that everything is fine and he’s just “tired” when anyone contacts him. He's even been blowing Kerry off the past few days, ignoring calls and texts, because he's in a bad mood and doesn't want that to affect their relationship. It’s more than being tired, of course, but he’d never admit that to anyone, much less his boyfriend. He likes to pretend he’s strong, likes to let others think he’s indestructible. Little does he know that Kerry Eurodyne is no gonk, he knows V isn’t tired and knows the perfect way to get him out of this little funk he’s in.
There’s a knock on V’s door early in the morning and he's able to ignore it at first but whoever is knocking is persistent. The annoyance of the now constant banging noise in his small apartment is enough to eventually get him out of bed. V stomps over to the door, ready to give whoever’s on the other side a piece of his mind, but when the door slides open there’s no one there. He sticks his head out and looks around but sees no one aside from his neighbors who all look unphased.
Just before V is about to go back in he looks down and sees a can of soda with a small note attached to it. He picks it up and goes over to his computer desk to inspect it further. All kinds of thoughts race through his head as an ex-corpo. Is this some kind of poison? Does someone want to mess with him, get a point across? It could be any number of things and he’s ready to go into full on corpo-mode but then he sees the handwriting on the note.
It’s Kerry’s.
V’s shoulders relax as he pulls the note off the energy drink and starts to read it.
“Hey cutie pie. Tired of you not returning my calls or texts so let’s try something fun. Since you’re so sleepy all the time, drink this and meet me now in the place where we first met.”
V actually cracks a smile and thinks this is honestly the cutest thing he’s ever seen. He chugs the drink and heads into his bathroom to shower and get ready. Once he’s feeling like an actual human again he gets dressed and heads out into the chill morning air. At first he starts driving towards the docks but then realizes that’s definitely not where they first met. He changes course and starts driving to North Oak, to Kerry’s villa, wondering what his boyfriend has planned for him.
Upon arriving at Kerry’s villa, he notices the man's car is missing. The place is quiet and when he looks up he doesn’t see Kerry’s silhouette looking down at him from the windows in the bedroom like he usually does. As V’s eyes track down to the front door he sees another note, a square, white piece of paper, stuck to it.
“Look at you, all dressed up for me. Love it, such a silver fox. I’m not here but I am somewhere nearby. You have a lot of sad memories, baby. Too many. Sometimes you need to face your past and meet your ghosts to move forward. Meet me where Johnny Silverhand lives.”
The Columbarium is just down the road so V gets back in his ride and heads there. Normally he avoids this place because he tells himself he doesn’t have time for the dead when in reality it just hurts too much to acknowledge their loss. On the way to Silverhand’s niche he passes Jackie’s niche and sighs. His hand traces the name and he can feel a tear run down his face. Before the memories of that horrible night resurface he quickly wipes his face and moves on. On Johnny’s niche is another note.
“I’m not here, but I almost was. I wonder if they would have put me here next to Johnny... Sometimes it’s a good thing to stop running from our pasts and face them, babe. It’s okay to cry, I know losing Jackie hurt you. Anyway, the next stop is fun and I promise I will actually be there. Meet me where you first met Us Cracks and stopped me from doing something I would have regretted.”
Riot, that’s an easy one. V is ready to leave this place, or at least that’s what he tells himself, but in his car he can’t stop thinking about the people he’s lost. He comes to the realization that life is too short and maybe that’s what Kerry is trying to tell him, too. All V has been doing is laying around for a whole week, pitying himself and pushing people away even though that's not really what he wants to do. He needs to live life to the fullest, live through the good and bad, not just the happy times. You never really know when your number is up and V knows he'd regret any time wasted.
When he arrives at the club it’s fairly empty. By now it’s a little after noon and party goers haven’t swarmed the place yet. They’re likely still sleeping off whatever they did last night so the only people here currently are younger folks who can get in when the bar isn't open and junkies who never sleep. He walks onto the dance floor, looking all over for Kerry to no avail. Finally he turns toward the stage and sees a note taped to it.
“Boo, I’m not here because it was fuckin’ boring. My bad, should have thought more about the timing of this thing… I wanted to see you dancing because you’re bad at it and it’s absolutely adorable. Another time, I guess. So let’s have lunch instead. Meet me where we had our first kiss. Promise I’ll be there, lover boy.”
V laughs at Kerry calling him out on his bad dancing. That man has always thought it was cute that V feels like a statue on the dancefloor. He can picture Kerry now with that cute blush on his freckled cheeks, laughing with that big smile of his while he tries to show V how it’s done. With a smile on his own face, V goes back to his car with his sights set on Dark Matter.
On the way he can’t seem to stop smiling. Kerry’s reminded him of all the fun they have on their dates and now V feels awful for blowing him off all week. He loves Kerry and realizes now that all Kerry wants is to spend time with him. It doesn't have to be something extravagant with Kerry, he's perfectly content just sharing space and watching funny videos all day. This scavenger hunt is meant to get V out of the house but also to make him think about life, every single aspect of it, and has helped him realize that all he needs is a partner in crime.
All he needs is Kerry.
V takes the elevator up to the restaurant above the club where they shared their very first kiss. V will never forget that night. Even now he can feel those butterflies in his stomach, feels like he can’t lose, and it all comes to a head when the elevator doors slide open. There, alone at a table, is Kerry Eurodyne. He waves V over and stands up to greet him. When V gets within range he reaches out and pulls Kerry into the biggest hug.
“Thank you.” V says, hoping Kerry understands what he’s being thanked for. It’s everything from getting V out of the house to bringing him all over town to making him truly think.
“So… You had fun?” Kerry says from where he’s nuzzled up against V’s neck.
“Hell yeah. You’re good at this.” V giggles. “Should do scavenger hunts more often.”
“No way, you better not sequester yourself in your tiny apartment and force me to come up with some crazy game to get you out of bed ever again.” Kerry pouts but then he kisses V’s skin and smiles. “Just come out when I ask you the first time, okay?”
“Okay, okay. I promise, I won't be doing that again.”
“Good.” Kerry pulls back and flashes that adorable smile at V before adding, “Mission accomplished.”