Work Text:
To many on Gunsmoke, it was another blistering day of sun and sand with the occasional worm popping its head out of the sand.
But for the three men walking across the desert, well maybe for two of them, it was a bit of a special day and it wasn’t just because their only mode of transportation that didn’t include walking happened to break down. Again.
“Surely, you could take the time and double dollars to get something that isn’t a sentimental piece of junk, Livio.”
“Watch your mouth! This was one of the few things Nico cared about. I’m not gonna let poor Angelina collect rust in some scrapyard because she’s in need of a little more love and care than any other machine.” He can’t help but glare a little at Knives, who isn’t even handing him tools to help with the repairs, opting to stick with adding the least stimulating repartee while Vash isn’t within earshot. “You can walk, if you hate her that much.”
“...Fine.” The independent clams up a bit at that, remembering the last time he and Vash were walking for weeks on end and running from the Earth Federation agents hellbent on doing whatever it is they have planned as a punishment. “Will it survive the trip all the way back to December, though?”
“Mm, it should. Might have to make a couple extra stops along the way for better replacement parts, but it shouldn’t be too bad…” Livio thinks for a moment. “...It’ll also just be my body on it, instead of the sidecar with Vash in it, and you holding onto me for dear life.”
“Perhaps I wouldn’t need to fear for my life if some people didn’t insist on taking the wheel from you for long stretches of time just to have a little fun.” He grimaces, running a hand through his now, raven colored hair. “You may have your driver’s license, but I think Razlo needs to be retested.”
“C’mon, you know we’re one in the same. He knows the rules just as well as me, he just…doesn’t believe in them quite as strongly. Raz hasn’t crashed yet, so I’m not telling him to stop being himself. Also if I started dictated everything he should do, he might make al of our lives more difficult than they need to be.” It was a small thing, letting him have the reins, but it was the least Livio felt he could do for his other half.
It was a rare occasion that there was any conflict that couldn’t be resolved by Vash and Knives talking it out, or just driving away really, really fast . The last time he even needed to think about touching the Double Fangs must’ve been at least five months ago, and even then it turned out to be a fight about something meaningless in the end. Throwing some small time chumps in Razlo’s path felt like an insult, really, because there really was no one left that could prove entertaining or challenging enough to last more than a couple minutes at best; that was for the best of course, with love and peace sorta kinda finding its way across the planet. People would always find a way to squabble and argue over things, but that just makes them human. And annoying , Razlo adds. Livio can’t always argue with that one.
The pair rejoin Vash at the nearby town an hour or so later, thankful that the folk there seem to either: not care who they all are, or not know at all. They’ll take the small reprieve from being chased for little to no reason (mostly). It makes it easier to get the bike reapired for a reasonable price and faster than Livio anticipated. Maybe he'll be able to make a straight trip.
“You sure neither of you would like to join me…?” Livio cocks his head to the side, hoping that a little show of puppy eyes will get him some company. “I’m sure the kids would–”
“It’s probably safer if it’s just you, y’know.” Vash smiles, patting him on the shoulder. “You’ll just have to send the kids some treats in my honor, ‘cause I can’t be there. And…well. Y’know. I don’t have much left to say. Maybe in a couple more years I’ll have something to update Wolfwood on.”
“Aw, alright.” A pause. “Uhm, Knives…?” It feels a little awkward asking him, but he is here. Would be rude otherwise.
“Just make sure the children take care of the flora I left for them when we visited last, as always. It should be old enough to start fruiting now.” There’s the barest hint of a smile on his face, fondly recalling the children of Hopeland. He still has his reservations about directly interacting with the lot of humanity, but the children are never something to fear. They haven’t quite learned enough to create any true prejudices, so Knives can’t help but enjoy their company…in small doses. They do tend to ask too many personal questions and are wont to try climbing on him without asking permission. “Were you expecting something more heartfelt?”
“It would be nice to say something , don’tcha think? If you don’t wanna say something verbally well…here. How about this, you can just write it down and I’ll only read it when I get there.” Livio smiles, pulling out a little traveler’s notebook out of the saddlebag on Angelina. “It’ll be nice.” Knives looks him up and down, obviously internally debating whether or not he should humor the younger man. But it would be easier to simply play along, lest it turn into an argument between the three of them that ends the same but with more possible crying.
“Fine, fine. You’ll have to forgive my penmanship, I’m not that accustomed to writing by hand these days quite yet.” It only takes him a moment to write a note, and somehow Livio gets the feeling that his handwriting is more than good, based on everything else he happens to know about Knives since they all started traveling together. Despite all that happened before, it seems like he’s trying a little too hard to present himself as humble when he really has no reason to be, but whatever gets him going in the morning. “Vash?”
“Mm? I guess it wouldn’t hurt…” One plant hands the notebook to the other, and gets a weird look from his twin that he brushes off for now. The note is also short, before he wraps the notebook back up with its own cord. “No peeking until you get there, okay?”
“Promise.”
The goodbyes are short, temporary. It’s easy for Livio to travel with the twins, even if he does want to go back to the orphanage for longer stretches of time, because they understand the situation.
(Even if one of them was the cause of it in the first place, Knives isn’t quite the same person as he was before. And neither is Vash, nor Livio himself. Razlo as well, perhaps more than anyone else.)
He just needs…some time. Miss Melanie needs time to personally adjust and all the kids probably need even more time to wrap their head around the fact that Livio is who he is now.
You’re overthinking it again, asshole.
Still, it’s gonna be weird no matter what.
Okay, and? Just deal with it when you get there. Everything is weird, but it’s not like everyone is gonna tell you to get lost. Get goin’ already.
Yeah, you got a point there.
He stops in a bigger town along the way, parking Angelina and grabbing his gas can so he can fill up for the rest of the journey and have some extra just in case.
Livio can’t help but be stuck in his own head, wondering what exactly he’s gonna end up doing once he even gets there. He read one time people used to leave flowers on people’s graves, but those aren’t exactly…well he would say easy to come by, but he can’t really come by them at all. Occasionally he’ll see a stray burst of greenery while he’s driving and running around, but nothing that would be worthy of putting as a tribute to anyone, much less one of the most important men in his life. Maybe there’s something else he could leave instead…
He’s so trapped in his own thoughts he doesn’t hear the approach of a smaller, familiar figure, who has to start really shouting to get his attention. They really don’t appreciate it.
“ Heyyy , earth to Livio!” Livio blinks twice, looking down at his visitor and smiling. Their lithe, dark skinned figure’s silhouette is covered up by loose, earth toned clothes. “You two arguing, again?” The give a big, almost too happy grin that reaches the visible eye that isn’t covered by their black hair that is styled to cover the other.
“Hi Navus–N-no. Not fighting today, I was just thinkin’ and got way too distracted by it.” He’s honestly lucky he didn’t end up covering himself in gasoline, being a couple degrees more flammable than usual would truly make the rest of his traveling more dangerous than it has any right to be. “Whatcha doing here? I thought you and grandpa liked to live it up, not in the middle of nowhere.”
“We’re on our way to somewhere a little nicer, just so you know. I had to turn in the bounty here along the way, and then it turns into two, then three…” Navus just nonchalantly starts yapping about the whole situation that’s had them and his friend Silvio here for a couple extra days. “Also he has a name y’know.”
“I know, I know. He just acts like yer grandpa.”
“He is old, I think he’s allowed. But what’re you thinking about? Maybe I can help?”
“I uh…what do you give dead people?”
“A funeral, I think. Sometimes a headstone?”
“No, no like…after. When you visit a dead person’s…grave. I know they used to leave flowers on them on Earth, but we ain’t got flowers we can really leave that'll look nice, and I feel like Nico would take me leaving a piece of cactus on his grave as a personal insult somehow.”
“I mean he was a bit of a prick.”
“Don’t speak ill of the dead!”
“What, he was sometimes!” They put up their hands defensively, mostly as a joke. Navus knows Livio won’t lay a finger on them, unlike Razlo. A shame, really. “Why don’t we grab Silvio and maybe he might know. He was kinda close with Wolfwood, so maybe he knows something in particular he would like?”
“Sure, why not.” Livio is led by the hand by Navus, who is well over a foot and a half shorter than he is; they can toss his full weight around no problem, as expected of another one of Chapel’s favorite little experiments. “You ‘n Nico didn’t get along that much, did you?”
“He was annoying sometimes, yeah. He was also right while he was being annoying too, which was even worse, honestly.” They furrow their eyebrows, and sigh. “But he kept an eye on Silvio when I was off being dumb trying to get someone’s attention who wasn’t worth my time so he was not that bad, y’know?”
“Mhm, I get ya. I always love how to the point you are, you know that?”
“Oh, you love me? You can’t just go around saying things like that willy-nilly! People might just start getting the wrong idea, ya know? Oh, look, there he is!” They start walking faster, very obviously trying their best to sidestep the implications of that comment.
An older man, appearing in his mid fifties raises his head from the pile of scattered mechanical parts he’s working on, a little confused as he cocks his head to the side at the sound of his partner’s voice. His bright blue eyes meet Livio’s and he straightens up ever so slightly.
“Oh, were you lingering around here ‘cause Livio was gonna be here? I know you were saying you missed him a lo–”
“Nope! Absolutely not! I just found him! He’s got something to talk to you about that isn’t this topic so like, how about we change it to that.”
“Oh, okay.” He doesn’t miss a beat and just focuses on the largest of the three of them and smiles up at Livio, the corners of his eyes crinkling up his dark, sun beaten skin. “Something I can do? I doubt you need Angelina fixed again…right? You’ve been taking good care of her…right?”
“O-of course! I don’t let Vash drive it ever and the gas tank never gets too close to empty!” He puts his hands up, knowing all too well how the older man gets when something gets trashed in an easily avoidable way; Silvio is a gentle soul generally, but pissing off the mechanic who upkeeps a lot of things from town to town is never the wisest decision.
“Okay, good! Then what.”
“Well I wanna…bring something for Nico, and we don’t have any flowers. You two were friends, right? Do you know something he’d like as an…uh…”
“An offering?”
“Yeah! That’s the word. I guess it could be anything, then, huh?”
“I guess but hm…I guess it could be the things he used to smoke, or that whiskey he always used to drink. I think I still have a bottle he gave me in my bag a while back.”
“Oh, I couldn’t–”
“No, please. Take it. Neither of us really drink and I have better reminders of him than a bottle of booze. Also traveling with a big glass thing of flammable liquid is kinda annoying, so.” Silvio shrugs, laughing a little as he pulls the lovingly wrapped in cloth bottle, nicely secured for a long stretch of travel across the desert. “Just tell him I say Hi.”
“Uh, well…actually…” Livio pulls out the notebook he’d given to Vash and Knives earlier and offers it to the older man. “If you wanna say something specific you can write it down, if you’d like. He’d probably like to hear it from both of you.”
“I uh, well. Okay. That’s very nice of you, Livio.” Silvio takes it in hand, and pulls out a pen from his pocket–taking a moment to be a little nosy and reading the messages before his and smiling a little more–taking a couple minutes to quickly write a few messily scribbled lines that are smudged by the grease still on his hands from the machine he was fixing prior. “Here, you write something too.”
“Whaaat? Me?”
“Yeah, you.” Navus pouts. “It’ll be nice. Do it for me?”
“Hey, that's cheating! But f iiiii ne.” They take the book (and Silvio’s pen) and write a quick message, making a face at the other man after, as they toss the book back to Livio. “You have to leave now, though?”
“I figured if I stood around, I wouldn't go at all, so I better not let myself chicken out.”
“Well you’re better than some of us when it comes to things we wanna do.” Silvio smiles, giving Navus an all knowing look while they give a ‘do we wanna really start having this conversation about me when you're not any better’ one right back. “Come visit for real again soon?”
“Sure.”
“And maybe let me hang out with Razlo! It’s been like a year!” Navus huffs, sitting down a little too hard in a chair as he bends a little under the force. The two laugh as Livio makes his way back to Angelina, making sure the mystery bottle is safely stowed away in one of the lockable compartments as Navus continues talking about everything and anything even as Livio makes his way out of there.
Spending most of his time with the twins has made him realize how much he’s actually enjoyed the company of other people, a stark contrast to whe he would give anything to be alone when he was still rolling with the Eye of Michael full time.
Lest you forget–
I know I’m never alone Raz. It’s nice to hear the voices of other people sometimes.
Okay, I can’t give you too much shit for that one. The company you keep ain’t so bad these days.
It’s your company too, y’know. Most of ‘em understand the situation, they’re not gonna be too pressed if it’s you us me behind the wheel for the day.
I do know they prefer you have me, however. Can’t blame them. Though it’s pretty nice that some of ‘em don’t mind the whole package.
Yeah, it is nice.
Livio smiles as he continues driving across the wasteland, not another living thing to be seen above ground; thankfully the trip is only a day or so more at once, and his little pit stops have made it all the more bearable.
Another hour passes before he hears the roar of another engine in the distance, louder than his and approaching fast as a van starts keeping pace in parallel with him. It doesn’t look like any punks trying to start a fight, so he gives an awkward wave to the other drivers before any trouble begins to brew without looking out of his periphery.
“Mister Livio! Hi!” A younger, cheerful voice rings out of the now open window and he takes a moment to look at the other driver once he’s sure he’s not about to go careening into a random rock in his path. “How are you!”
“Milly, do you think you should be trying to ask him that while we’re all driving?”
“Oh, right!” Livio recognizes the two women’s voices as the girls who do the news all the time now, Milly and Meryl. From the few times they’ve met and what Vash has said about them, it’s a pleasant surprise. He’d figure that two people with an actual day job would be a lot busier and would have people driving them wherever they needed to go and update the world. “You wanna pull over? It’s getting dark soon!”
“Oh, sure!” He hadn’t even realized the time, all too determined to get where he needed to go with reckless abandon. He gently takes his foot off the gas and slows down further ahead than the girls, who weren’t going nearly as fast to start with in their car. They both approach, a fair bit less dusty than he is, and he dusts himself off. Having doors must be much more pleasant. “What’re you ladies doing all the way out here?”
“We’re on our way to interview someone in December about some of the new industries that’re starting up around there.” Meryl pipes up. “I’m sure a lot of the people in the smaller towns would appreciate some steady work in a bigger place now that things have calmed down these days.”
“Heh, yeah. Especially now that you don’t have Vash sized problems mucking up the works on the regular.”
“It wouldn’t be the end of the world if we saw some of his shenanigans here and there, for old times’ sake.” She smiles. “I thought you were traveling with him and Knives?”
“Did you lose them?”
“That’d be pretty hard to do, I think. The two of them really stand out still, even if they’ve given themselves an accidental dye job.” They all have a good laugh about it, before Livio speaks up again.
“I’m just visiting uh…home, I guess. It’s been a while since everything…” He feels his guts twist a little at mentioning where he’s going again. “And visiting…well…”
“Mister Wolfwood?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Aw, well that’s nice! I’m sure he would appreciate the company, wherever he is!” Milly smiles, patting him on the shoulder to reassure him. Her endless optimism really does go along way for him. “We shouldn’t keep you too long, right?”
“I don’t mind a little company. But I appreciate the encouragement.”
The three of them all spend the evening and into the night together, talking and sharing a little dinner together before resting for the night. Livio waits for the girls to fully fall asleep before he starts getting Razlo’s attention.
Hey.
Hey yourself. What is it?
Don’t you think it’s weird that no one is ever mad at me, about Nico?
I think you’re wasting time worrying about shit that’s long past. It sounds like you want someone to make you feel worse than you make yourself already.
Hey, it’s not that, just…I dunno.
No fucking shit. Nico wasn’t mad at us for everything, anyway.
Yeah, you’re right.
Usually am.
In the morning, the three of them have a quick breakfast together, as Livio remembers the offer he made to the twins and his other friends. He pulls out the notebook and offers it to the girls, who happily write a little message each for their departed friend.
“Safe travels Mister Livio!” Milly waves from the driver’s seat, and gives a honk of the horn as a part of her goodbye.
“If you or the two of them ever need anything, just give us a holler, okay? Or if you need us to make a fake news report so those Earth Brigade guys leave the three of you alone! We can make a little breach of journalistic integrity to keep people safe!”
“Meryl!”
“I’m just being a teensy bit honest.”
They say their final goodbyes as they drive in tandem for a short distance, as the two ladies veer off toward December proper and he stays on the direct route back home.
To Hopeland.
The front yard of the orphanage is full of children laughing and playing, its population growing a fair bit due to the area around it having become more of a bustling town in the past couple years. A couple homes have cropped up with families and a few stores and an inn for travelers to stay at.
It brings a smile to Livio’s face as he wheels Angelina to a proper parking space, happy to see that all for the kids new and old to have even more available to them. For sure, this is a far better homecoming than last he was here, and the apprehension he was feeling melts away, just a little. Hard to make it disappear entirely, with the context of why he's here in the first place.
He debates if he should just go straight to the grave, but it would be incredibly poor manners to not see Miss Melanie first. He stows away most of his belongings, and walks empty handed to the orphanage. He recognizes some of the faces playing outside, and they awkwardly wave to him, a mix of confusion and mild concern on their faces. He can’t blame them, but he appreciates there being no screaming and running from him.
(To be fair he isn’t half bald, half naked and half crazed this time.)
(Razlo resents that, by the way. He thinks the hairstyle was sick as hell, no matter what Livio says otherwise.)
She is outside, keeping an eye on everyone when their eyes meet and she gives him a smile as she closes the distance between them.
“About time you paid us all a visit.” She looks him up and down. “You look like you could use a haircut, sweetheart.”
“I thought it would be rude if you ended up having to find me when I came into town, instead of me finding you, so…” Livio scratches his cheek, suddenly feeling a little shy. “Has everything been okay? Do you need anything?”
“No, no. We’re doing well, all things considered. An ideal world would be where no kids have to find their way here, but at least now I know for sure no one’s gonna be coming after anyone here ever again.”
“Yeah. I might stay for a little while, if that’s okay?”
“Livio. This is your home, why would you ever need to ask permission to stay here?”
“I dunno. Didn’t wanna make things uncomfortable for everyone here. Especially given…”
“I’ve explained to them that they’ve got no reason to fear you, and what happened is a little more complicated than it seemed." She can tell he still does feel guilty about everything, but there's only so much she can do to reassure him, when she herself doesn't necessarily know the entire story of what went down, other than what they'd all manage to see from the windows. "And they might warm up to you better if you could maybe…fix some things around the building…?”
“Y’know you don’t gotta butter me up to ask me for a favor, right? I’m more than happy to do anything whenever you ask.” He lets out a breath. “But first, I’m gonna…I’m gonna go visit Nico. Haven’t seen him since.”
“I hope you’re not going to go on and keep making yourself feel bad for how everything turned out for the two of you. I doubt his soul wants to hear you whinging and whining at his grave.”
“I’ll try and keep both to a minimum. I’ll be back soon.”
“I’ll come and get you m’self if you don’t make your way back here by the time the sun’s set, alright? It’ll do you no good to take a nap in the middle of nowhere.”
“I promise. Can’t promise I’ll be home for dinner, but I can stick to that.”
“Good lad.”
Livio takes in a deep breath as he takes his final steps toward the grave, the shadow of the still wrapped punisher protecting him from the sun looming behind Wolfwood’s final resting place.
(He has a fuzzy memory of when they were younger and Nico had come and found him when he was hiding, his arm hovering over the both of them to keep the blistering sun out of their eyes as they both went back home, together.)
He sits beside him–beside the stone slab, directly in the shadow of the Punisher, but he can still feel him here even if his body isn’t there to see any longer–and smiles just a little as he pulls out the bottle of whiskey.
“Hey Nico…some of your…no. Some of our friends said you liked this stuff. Razlo’s the drinker usually, but I think the three of us can share. Eldest first, of course.” Gingerly, he uncorks the bottle and takes a cursory sniff– gross , is his first thought but he chuckles at the name on the bottle, Bride –before he pours a small shot for Wolfwood, himself, and then Razlo.
Hey, why am I last?
You’re technically the youngest, and supposed to be pouring for everyone else.
Whatever. At least let me have it when you’re done.
Livio sighs, more amused than annoyed at Razlo.
“Sorry I ended up waitin’ so long to finally come and pay you a proper visit.” He doubts he would care, because Livio still ended up coming on his own in the end, without anyone telling him what to do. “All three of us are much more used to making the dead, instead of talking to ‘em. Took me a while to figure out what I wanted to say, but now I don’t even know where to start…”
He sighs.
Neither he nor Razlo did much heartfelt talking before everything really went to hell just a couple years ago, much less when they were children. Not like he and Nico ever worked things out with words, it was always some sort of action that got the point across in the end.
“I uh…I miss you a lot. Or maybe I miss the idea of you? We never really got to spend that much time together in retrospect, but I wish that maybe the two of us had held back, just a little and…” His voice catches in his throat, emotion getting the better of him. "It's not just me who feels that way, of course..."
Crybaby Livio once again living up to his reputation.
“I know you’re not mad, and I know you don’t blame me, but this still sucks. I wish you were here still, not just for me. I know a lotta people really miss you. Vash most of all, but a lot of other people too. Everyone I saw on my way here really reminded me that people are pretty big fans of ya.” He smiles. “But yeah, though it’s about time I update you on everything that’s happened so far. A whole lot of stuff, so…”
Livio talks about getting close to Vash, and then his fight with Elendira–who had mentioned that she had always enjoyed Wolfwood’s company, but that didn’t mean for one damn second she wasn’t going to give her all to beat his ass with all she had–and how he nearly died once Legato got them both involved with his fight against Vash, and all the chaos that happened after Knives did…whatever he ended up doing.
(The details are kind of fuzzy because he still had wires in his body and a giant nail through his torso. Give him a break, not like Nico’s gonna chastise him for skimping on the details, right?)
“But since then I’ve been traveling around with Vash and Knives…they’re pretty good company. I thought that maybe they would be fighting all the time because of…everything before, but they get along really well when they’re not debating the validity of humanity’s existence and fighting about ethics and stuff.” He laughs. Sometimes the conversations Knives tries to start goes straight over his head and just barely touches down on Vash’s. “I like it, though. They’re better and more understanding than Chapel as traveling company, almost all of the time.”
He lets out another breath he didn't know he had been holding in, wondering if he’s talking too much for someone visiting a grave.
I mean, what else did you think was gonna happen? Talking to a corpse.
Alright, you don’t gotta make it sound weird.
Who gives a fuck? We’re a whole lot of weird in a single package. Don’t agonize about it.
Fine. Anything you wanna say?
No, why would I wanna say anything? We had a good fight, I lost. This whole thing’s for you, Livio. I don’t mind taking myself outta the spotlight for once.
Aw, thanks.
Don’t get too comfortable.
Livio smiles.
“But speaking of them, I asked everyone to write a little note for me to read to you…” He pulls out the notebook, and places eyes on the first of the entries. From Knives. Probably not the best start, but…
“Knives says: ‘I appreciate that you were as loyal as you were to my brother, we probably would have never found ourselves in the position we are now, if you ever took an order from me entirely seriously to the end. Sorry for laughing when you died, it was tasteless of me.’” He doesn’t even know how to respond to that one, honestly. “He’s uh…self-aware, ain’t he?”
“Let’s see…Vash says…’I can see why you worked so hard to get this guy back. Hope I’ve done a decent job of keeping both sides of him outta trouble!’ Wait…”
Outta trouble? Who’s cleaning up his fuckin’ messes half the time these days!
I can’t even remember the last time either of us started any trouble on purpose, c’mon Vash…He’s gonna get it later.
You better let me get a word in!
Livio laughs, turning to the next entry, from Silvio the mechanic.
“Silvio says…’I miss you a lot, but thank you for making sure Navus and I ended up back together again. I’m making sure that Angelina doesn’t fall apart from Livio using it, but I know he’s trying his best to take care of your baby.’ Well, at least someone’s giving me a little credit…And Navus says: ‘Thanks for taking care of Silvio while I was gone. You could’ve been less of a jerk, though, y’know.’” Razlo snorts in the back of their head.
Typical Navus.
Never change.
“And from the girls…Milly says: “Mister Wolfwood! I hope you’re able to relax up there and have nothing but good food in Heaven! You really deserve a break after everything, so don’t worry about us too much down here!’” She’s such a kind person, that Livio can’t help but smile. If heaven is real, he does hope God’s merciful enough to let Nico squeeze on into Heaven on a technicality. It’d be nice.
“And Meryl wrote: ‘Wolfwood, I’m glad that we all got to spend time together when things weren’t so dire and serious. I’ll always look back so fondly on the days where it was the four of us cleaning up smaller problems that Vash got us all into, so rest easy knowing that problems are going to stay that small in the world.’”
Livio puts the notebook away, taking a moment to sit and lean against the Punisher as he thinks about anything else he’d like to say, but once again words are failing him. He simply stands up, and places the mostly full bottle of liquor also on the gravestone next to the glasses he poured.
“I’ve never really been one for the stuff, but this one’s for you.” He takes the shot in his hand and shoots it back, before almost coughing it back up from the burn catching him off guard. “Damn, you drink this stuff for fun? You’re tougher than me in a lotta ways.”
Once he recovers, he takes a moment to calm himself down enough to keep his promise to Razlo to let him have his drink, undisturbed. It takes a moment for him to adjust, but he grabs the other glass and throws it back immediately, without any poor reactions.
“Fuck it–wherever you are: heaven, hell or someplace inbetween. Hope you know that no other guy in this world is ever gonna gimme as hard a time as you did. Hope it stays that way for the rest of time Livio lives on this sandy hellhole we call home.” Razlo smiles, and resists the temptation to take the rest of the booze for himself, thinking about how it’s such a waste to leave it for someone who isn’t even gonna drink the damn stuff. But out of respect, he just decides to make a snide comment about it instead. Happy medium. “Better pace yourself, it’s gonna be the last bottle you get for a while.”
The pair turn around to head back to Hopeland, but Miss Melanie is waiting for them less than a hundred paces behind, obviously having been there for a while, waiting.
“Huh, is it already that late?” Livio blinks back into control, confused. It couldn’t have been more than a couple hours since they last spoke, right? “Did something happen, or were you just worried about us–I mean, me?”
“Just wanted to make sure you had some tissues when you were done, but I didn’t want to intrude on your little moment.” She smiles, handing him a handkerchief. “You need it.”
“H-huh, I wasn’t…” He touches his face, where there’s plenty of damp evidence of tears having streamed down his face for quite a while, feeling embarrassed. “I thought I wasn’t gonna cry this time…” He wipes his face and sniffles.
“Nothing wrong with cryin’, you know. Everyone used to call you crybaby Livio because you couldn’t do anything other than cry and carry on when things were difficult–but you still managed to keep going, yeah? That’s good progress.”
“I’m not a kid anymore, Miss Melanie.” He pouts, and crosses his arms. Acting like a child, naturally.
“Can’t I think of you as my boy who got an early growth spurt? No harm in letting yourself be babied every once in a while.” She walks up to him, and takes one of his far bigger hands in hers, and leads him back. “And like all the other kids you have to pitch in…”
“I already agreed to fix stuff!”
They both laugh a little on the walk back, starting to talk about all the things that need a bit of tuning up, or are too tall for any of the kids to reach even with a ladder.
Like nothing ever had really changed since he forced himself to leave all those years ago, except for himself.
And that Nico wasn’t there with them, physically.
He can’t help but wish he’d see him in the corner of his eye, even though he said–well, he never really said a goodbye, did he? It felt like more of a see you soon.
Yeah, that felt better. Less final.
Maybe not in this life, or the next one, but they’d meet again someday.
But he’ll have to make a better habit of visiting, just to check on him. No matter where he is, he must get lonely. Even a one sided conversation is better than nothing, and Livio knows that best of all.
He looks out at the couple of trees Knives had plants, and the kids all playing up in and around them and smiles. In their younger days, he could easily imagine Nico finally getting a moment to himself and snoozing in the shade underneath one.