Work Text:
When the snow came, that was when Rico got worse.
They would stand out on the street together, huddled close for warmth. Trying to get a rich lady for Joe so they could get some money and get some food. Neither Joe nor Rico wanted to admit that the way they looked cuddled up likely deterred most women that passed by, but Joe told himself they were just missing out. Cuddling up with Rico was necessary, when it was this cold and when he was struggling to stand.
Rico nudged him, took a step closer, and Joe let him, his side pressing to his stomach. He didn't bat an eye when Rico pushed his right hand into his left pocket and twined their fingers together, gripping hard so he would stop shivering.
"Joe.. Joe, I'm cold. I think my knees are freezin over here.." Rico muttered in his ear, being as quiet as he could so nobody passing by would hear him.
"Okay, you wanna go back inside?" Joe murmured back, and Rico nodded into his chest. "Okay, okay, boy. You need to lean on me?"
Rico grumbled and muttered "Don't need ya damn help..", even while he put his arm around Joe and held on tightly.
"Sure ya don't, Ratso, sure. Could do this all on your own. C'mon, boy, you're okay." Joe could feel eyes on his back, eyes all around him, but he'd learned to ignore that many months ago. Rico clung onto him, weak kneed and stumbling like a newborn calf.
"So damn cold outside.. freezing.. you think they'd figure out a way to warm it up outside, all those fancy scientists.. but they don't care bout us, I guess, those cheap asses.. we gotta freeze to death for them to care, that's what we gotta do.." Rico started muttering, grumbling words at him all the way to the back of his condemned apartment.
Joe pushed the door open for him, and Rico tried to stumble through on his own, but fell forward. Joe caught him before he could fall, pressing him in close to his chest. Rico started violently coughing, throat scratchy and sounding like it hurt, so Joe just held him tight and waited for him to stop.
"Joe.. Joe, um.. could you sorta.. carry me? Up the stairs? I can't.. my knees.." Rico nearly whined, leaning back into Joe.
Joe gathered Rico up in his arms, carefully, expecting Rico to grovel about how this was fag shit, but he just cuddled into Joe's chest, nuzzled his head up and down and huddled in for warmth. He wasn't going to be much help, just heavy weight, so Joe had to take one step at a time and hold Rico as tightly as he could.
"Little tired, huh?" Joe giggled, but Rico only grunted in response. He felt like a weak kitten in his arms, about as small as one and about as weak and pliable as one. "Rico?"
Rico didn't respond, that time, didn't make a sound or a movement. When Joe looked down, he realized that Rico had fallen asleep in his arms.
Joe stopped halfway up the staircase to confirm what he was seeing.
Rico hardly ever slept - too dangerous, and he said he had to watch out for Joe because he was a dumb, naive cowboy, and he often was too afraid or in too much pain to sleep, although he never said it aloud. Joe never pressed it, either.
Joe kept going up the stairs, slowly, cradling the sleeping Rico in his arms. They had left the door slightly ajar to the apartment, because Rico sometimes had a tough time opening it and balancing on the stairs. But now Joe could simply push open the door with his foot, then step inside their apartment.
Rico and Joe slept in seperate beds, of course, but they no longer slept across the room from eachother. Sometimes, Joe woke up with Rico in his bed, shivering and pressed into his body to try to keep warm, and he didn't say anything about it.
It had been jarring, at first, to recieve any kind of affection from Rico at all. He had assumed Rico wanted one thing, payment for letting him stay with him. But he didn't. Not at all. They had been called fags on the street, they had been given all sorts of dirty looks, but to Joe, Rico wasn't a fag.
When they woke up together, Rico would get up, start making breakfast, and then talk and bicker with him like nothing had happened. That wasn't fag shit.
Joe kicked the door closed behind him, and it made a loud bang when it slammed shut. His head shot down to look at Rico, alarmed, but Rico hadn't even twitched.
Joe walked over to Rico's bed and then gently laid him down across it, stretching his body out, and he tried to let go of him, but even in sleep, Rico dug his fingers into his shirt.
Joe tried to let go, but ended up leaning over the bed, his arms curled around Rico's back and under his knees. He tried to gently slide his arms out from under Rico's body, but Rico shuffled toward him in his sleep, wouldn't let him let go.
Joe decided to just settle in and lay down with Rico, gathering him up in his arms. This wasn't fag shit, cause he wasn't touching Rico below the belt. He was just holding him close so he could get warm while he slept.
Joe hadn't slept so well since he'd sold his radio, but curled around Rico, he found himself drifting off, eyelids fluttering. He felt safer in this abandoned building than he felt in a high end hotel, in the bed of a rich, important lady.
Joe fell asleep, warm and safe, protecting Rico with his big cowboy arms.
**
"Hey. Hey, Joe. Joe? Wake up, dammit.." Rico's nasally voice said into his ear, nudging his face with his nose.
"Mmm?" Joe sleepily murmured, whole body heavy and warm.
"I'm hungry. When I'm up to making breakfast, get off." Rico muttered, with his usual grumpiness when he was bickering with him.
"Okay." Joe murmured, still sleepy and heavy headed.
Rico was touching him, but it didn't feel jarring, didn't feel unnatural. Rico was pulling him close, as roughly as he could manage, which wasn't very. Rico didn't seem to be alarmed when he rubbed his back and settled with hands gently clasped around his waist. He realized he had rolled somewhat on top of Rico, was presumably crushing him into the bed.
Joe rolled a little more onto his back, and Rico followed, climbing more on top of him for every movement Joe made.
He'd had a girl on top of him before. A rich lady on top of him not too long ago. He'd woken up breathing heavy, eyes wide, and had to politely ask her to get off while willing his eyes not to water. But with Rico, he felt even calmer with him on top of his body, draped over him like a weighted blanket. He could push him off anytime he wanted to, receive no complaint. Well, a little complaint.
"You alright?" Joe suddenly asked, breaking the silence to lift his head and take a look at Rico.
"Yeah. Yeah, Joe. What, you think I'm not alright? I'm alright." Rico grumbled back, weak coughing slipping into his speech. "You alright?"
Joe considered that for a second.
"Yeah." He answered, nodding. "Yeah, I'm alright. I'm alright."
He surprised himself that he knew he was telling the truth.