A sticker brother has absolutely been acquired and he is not letting go anytime soon, but not moving yet also works. He is warm, because he always dresses up a bit too warmly, but he has barely stopped shivering because of the fright earlier, so Clive's solidity and warmth help him, in turn.
Both of his own arms wrap around Clive in turn, tight, as tight as he can.
"All the time in the world."
The whisper makes him shiver and his eyes sting, and then blur, but he can't let go and properly cry, not yet. "Still your little brother. Ah... I missed you so."
His voice quivers and he buries his face against Clive's shoulder because the words don't even begin to describe any of it.
The hug hurts. Clive is sure he has bruises already forming from where he got thrown to the ground, but who cares about those? Who cares! Clive will happily take more as long as he can keep Joshua in his hold, or at least close by.
But it's so damn hard to keep it together the longer they embrace and when Joshua answers him, reminds him that he's still his little brother, Clive can't do it. The sudden reappearance of Joshua topped off by his draining energy and hurting body only sucks out the last dredges of whatever strength he had to keep going. He clings to Joshua with one hand while the other finds his brother's hair, fingertips threading through the bright strands and pressing against his scalp. He gasps in a sob and new tears track down his face.
"I lost you, Joshua." He lost everything that night. Everyone. Their father's death was devastating, of course, and he'll always grieve him, but the bond he had with Joshua ever since his brother was born was the most important thing in his life.
And then he kicked him out of the way of that speeding truck and that was the last time he ever saw him. He was in the hospital for a long time afterward, only to find out that their father really did die, but so did Joshua. And him. The sight of all three of their headstones next to each other has been burned into his mind forever.
Oh... crap. Nope, no way hold back the tears after that sob, and Joshua shakes with one of his own, even if it stays silent.
"When I woke up... I could not remember who I was. For years, I did not know. And then I did, and I have been missing you... every day. Remembering all, and having nothing."
There had been that boy, so loved and so treasured, and then his life was completely gone, obliterated in a night. He had not known, for a very long time, why he had been spared at all. The world very clearly had not needed him...
He did his best to make use of the life he had been granted (by his brother, who was gone, but also by so many who had made sure his body recovered, and his mind, and he had shelter and food and education), but it was so... empty.
"Until that day when I saw you. And I realized... if the world was wrong about me being dead, why had I not thought that it might be wrong about you, too? So I looked, and I looked. Then chance brought a friend who remembered us from back then as a neighbor, and he'd been an officer. And he helped me find the trail to come to you again."
Joshua can't not believe it, because he has dedicated a lot of his adult life to making this a reality. His fingers clenched in Clive's shirt.
"And they almost took you from me again." Quiet, flat. Perfectly, helplessly balanced between terror and fury. "I could not have stood aside and watched them."
There are definitely better places to have this sort of emotional breakdown than in public. Then again, they're at a hospital and if there is any place where it is somewhat normal to start crying, isn't this it? Not that Clive really cares either way. He has his brother back. That's all that matters.
He's curious as to who this friend is, but that can wait for later. What is more important is the shift in Joshua's tone. Clive pulls back enough to gently put his hands on his brother's face, both so he can see him and also to make sure Joshua looks at him, too. "They didn't. They won't." The last word comes out firmly. Clive may not have much to look forward to in his life, but with Joshua back, he at least has some reason to try.
But with the way Joshua says all that, like he really would do something drastic to protect Clive, makes him a little nervous. It's comforting to know the love they have for each other hasn't faded all these years, of course, but if Clive can help it, he won't let Joshua have blood on his hands, not even for his sake. Clive has already dirtied himself once, so he'll easily do it again. But not Joshua. He won't let Joshua.
Breathing out, he presses their foreheads together and just basks in his brother's presence for a few moments. They really can't stay here, though, and it's getting late. His flat isn't anything special, especially compared to the comfort in which they grew up, but he doesn't want to part from Joshua, and he's sure the feeling is mutual. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
So much has changed. Everything has changed, for both of them. Except this. Except knowing that his brother sees him, and understands, and loves him anyway, their brows leaning together reminding him of it. There is much they both need to learn about each other, but this immutable truth he knows. And the world is a little bit more right, thanks to it.
"Yes. Let us."
He grips Clive's shirt for a moment longer, and then finally pulls away, wiping his eyes with a sleeve but holding Clive's hand as he beelines for the taxis.
"My bike is near your apartment, but I think it's better to wait to give you a ride on that until later."
Clive allows himself to be led, suddenly feeling like a kid again. Joshua often dragged him by the hand when he was excited or in a hurry. One corner of Clive's mouth curls up, the other impeded by the bandage on his cheek.
"You have a bike?" He hadn't even considered that Joshua would drive anywhere, despite obviously being an adult now. The thought is so foreign to him after all these years of thinking Joshua was dead, but it shouldn't be a surprise now. The bike detail is, though.
They reach an available taxi and Clive opens the back door for Joshua, intending to slide in after him, and gives the driver his address. Getting back home sounds better by the second.
Joshua absolutely shifts further in to let Clive take a seat... and then promptly plasters himself against his brother, tipping his head to rest on Clive's shoulder, and shifting their arms to lock their elbows, not straining the bandages on Clive's hands further.
"Yeah. It's a bit of an older model, a Firebird Scrambler. Easy enough to not think too much about its maintenance."
Talking about ordinary things helps, right now. At least until they can get somewhere private and break down... again... properly.
The clinging is fine. It's pretty nice, actually. Clive grows more and more tired as his energy drains and Joshua is warm. On any other day he might let himself catch a few quick minutes of shut-eye, but he doesn't allow himself that just yet. When he's back home.
He does frown a little, though. "I didn't understand half of what you just said." A Scrambler? His brain feels scrambled. But if it helps Joshua feel even remotely normal, then Clive will happily stay confused.
Nap is absolutely a wonderful idea and Joshua will still cling for it because he's barely beyond shivering and only because he is too focused on Clive.
He looks up at his brother and grins.
"All the better for me to show you later. Eventually." He squints. "I guess we're not going to try even for food tonight."
The back set of the taxi is dark as they're driven along, but even without the help of the passing streetlights, Clive still makes out the brightness of Joshua's hair. And when he's greeted with a grin, even after all they've been through in the last couple of hours, Clive's chest aches with such affection.
He can't help it. He reaches over with his other hand, the one obviously not claimed by Joshua's clinging, and gently scratches the top of his head with his fingertips. There will be time later for a proper hair ruffle. "Eventually."
The mention of food, however, has Clive's stomach suddenly growling. He hadn't eaten anything at the bar - he never got the chance - and now the suggestion has woken up his body in a new way. He's starving. "I...might have something at home." Unlikely, considering payday hasn't hit yet this week. "Or we can order something. I really don't care what. Anything you want."
The finger scratch makes Joshua tuck his head between his shoulders just a little, but then blink, and ... giggle. Until the stomach growl and Joshua sucks in a sharp breath. So some things are worse than the exhaustion he can see on his brother's face. Fair enough.
"Right. I'll figure something out." Taking his phone out while still tucked in almost entirely against clive.
"So. Pizza?" Pizza can be universally ordered, and it is fast to arrive, easy to eat, and tends to make one feel full enough.
Clive rests his temple against Joshua's head for a few moments, just content to have his brother back and be around him in (hopefully) safety. But staying this way for the rest of the car ride would get pretty uncomfortable, so he just lays his head on the back of the seat and lets his eyes fall closed.
Joshua was always better at making decisions than he was, too, so if he wants to order pizza, then Clive isn't going to argue. "Pizza's perfect. Get it." But neither is he exactly helpful about it. "And get whatever you want on it. I'll eat basically anything right now." Just not...literally. So he hopes Joshua won't get anything truly crazy. Not that he expects his brother will, of course.
"Which means the simpler, the better." Joshua will just keep himself plastered even if it's not the most comfortable, but seeing Clive getting a bit of rest is good. Soothing.
He'll just finish the order to Clive's address, and put away his phone.
Clive nods. Simple isn't bad at all in this situation, or even in most. And he really is hungry enough to eat almost anything so he's not going to be picky.
Still, as the ride goes on and Joshua remains practically wrapped entirely around his arm, Clive realizes, again, that it's Joshua and he's here. He turns his head and opens his eyes again and just looks at his brother. Countless years have passed since he last saw Joshua and he's changed in ways Clive had known would happen had life gone on as it always should have. But then Joshua had died and Clive had just focused on getting through singular days and those details disappeared.
Except Joshua looks so much like himself that Clive is amazed he hadn't recognized him immediately in the bar. The hair, the easy slope of his nose, the way his eyes regard everything around him with curiosity, but also a hint of defiance. His brother. His little brother.
His throat tightens around another sob, but he chokes it down, not willing to break down in the back of a cab when they're so close to home. Squeezing his eyes shut, he instead buries his face in Joshua's hair and just breathes. And if those breaths turn a little shaky, he knows Joshua won't bring attention to it.
No, of course Joshua won't bring attention to it, his own tears keep coming and going, so he'll just keep on holding on as long as they are on the ride.
"There is... so much I want to say, and to ask... that I don't know where to start. And it can probably wait until the morning anyway. But if you have things you want to know now..."
"When we get home." If this were a simple matter of catching up with a friend after a few years and just getting to know what the other has been up to, it would be different. But both of them have been considered dead for literal years and that makes the catching up a lot more sensitive. Besides, it's not as if Clive had been expecting this development, so he doesn't exactly have the words even marginally formed in his head for what his heart so desperately wants to know.
Then his phone vibrates in his back pocket, the quick rhythm that denotes a text message. He shifts in his seat so he can pull it out with only a little difficulty, but frowns when the crack in the screen becomes apparent. When he was thrown on his back earlier, he must have landed in just the right - or wrong - way. Well, as long as it still works. He'll just have to read this text around the new crack.
It's late. Are you dead?
Clive breathes out, amused when anyone else would probably be offended. If Joshua looks at his screen, Clive is sure he'll be of the same mind. He quickly fires off a short Almost back home before shutting the screen off. "My landlady. I'll check in with her when we get there, but she's just a couple of doors down from me."
"When we get there. Over pizza, hopefully. For now, back to rest with you."
He just wanted it put out there, that he'll answer when Clive does come up with questions.
The brightness of the phone does draw Joshua's eyes, and he purses his lips, half in concern and half in dry amusement at the sight of the cracked screen. And then he is fully amused, but then again...
"I did meet her already, she is the one who directed me to where I can find you. She seems acerbic but actually concerned about you." He had to talk at some length with her before she was satisfied that he wasn't looking for 'Clint' with the intent to harm him.
Ah. Joshua met Charon already. Well, if Charon didn't try to literally throw him out on the sidewalk, then it probably went well enough. "She's...like that. Protective, but don't tell her I said so. She'd just deny it." When Clive first moved into the building, he hadn't been sure what to make of her. Outwardly, Charon is not kind, caring only about her tenants following her rules and getting rent in on time and leaving her alone. Clive had been, admittedly, intimidated at first. But he kept his head down and followed her rules and paid his rent on time and left her alone. Until one month he couldn't pay on time due to his hours at his job getting cut and all he could really do was go to Charon with his tail between his legs and promise - somehow - that he'd get the money to her as soon as he could.
And...she gave him that chance. Though it also came with a side job of his own, so to speak. "I help break up physical disputes for her when they get too close to home." It's not the greatest part of town where he lives, after all. "Or, rather, I hope things don't get that far. Usually, the sight of me standing silently makes people think twice." He looks down at his bandaged hands. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled about this development."
Clive pauses, then continues in a quieter voice. "She knows who I am." That he's Clive Rosfield. "I look after her back, she looks after mine."
Joshua is a little startled, but also not necessarily surprised. He had not hinted at knowing 'Clint's' identity, but somehow the questioning ... and then sending him after Clive make a lot of sense with the context of Charon knowing.
What he isn't? Is tensing up. In fact, there is a small smile in his quiet response.
"That is a good thing, that she knows. Any way in which you were less alone, I am glad for."
It is the truth. Having to hide who it is, every day of these long years, or at least until he met Jill, and most days beyond that... It must have been indescribably lonely.
"She read you your rights, didn't she." That's Charon, but it's good to know that she continues to be healthily suspicious of strangers snooping around her complex. "Sorry. I'll clear things up with her."
Despite Charon's demeanor, though, Clive is grateful to have her in the know. Even though she's not related by blood or was ever associated with the Rosfields, she has become something of family. If nothing else, he can lay down some of his burdens around her and not worry so much.
Before long, the taxi driver pulls over in front of the apartment complex and Clive reaches for his wallet.
Joshua can't quite help the startled chuckle. "It wasn't as bad as that. But she made sure that she wasn't giving your information to someone who was a threat to you. I could very much appreciate that."
As someone who might be a little overprotective of Clive himself. At least in his mind, since he hasn't chance to do anything about it until tonight.
But as Clive does reach for his wallet, Joshua finally sits up and shakes his head, taking out his own.
"Let me." Not... exactly a question. But his smile is sweet, just so happy to be here, even if his eyelashes are probably still clumped with tears.
Clive wants to protest. Joshua has already paid for their dinner - and, sure, pizza isn't going to break the bank - so it feels selfish to let his brother cover this fare, too.
And he's the older one here. He should be providing for Joshua, not the other way around. He may not have been an active older brother for far too many years, but that instinct is still there. All the same, Clive sighs and relents. "Next time, then."
When he gets out of the car, he sees Charon standing outside the entrance, smoking a cigarette. She doesn't react to his presence until he gets closer and the bandages on his face and hands become more visible.
"Now when I asked if you were dead, I weren't bein' serious. Did you have a date with the Grim Reaper or somethin'?"
"Or something." Clive looks back, finding Joshua and still getting a little jolt of surprise every time he sees him. "Some might say I had a guardian angel watching my back." He turns back to Charon, lowering his voice, though Joshua will be able to hear should he come close enough. "He's my younger brother, Joshua. He's always welcome, same as Jill."
Charon takes another pull on her cigarette as she eyes Joshua up for a moment, but makes sure to exhale away from both of them. "All right. All right. Get on inside, then, before you fall over and bust the other side of your face. You look terrible enough already."
"You're too kind, Charon." But Clive gives her a crooked smile before letting himself and Joshua inside and unlocking his door.
The flat is small, just one bedroom and one bathroom, and pretty sparse. Not in a modern style where everything is clean and hidden away, but simply because Clive doesn't have a lot. But there is a couch and a coffee table with a laptop set upon it and a small dining room table with some bills set aside to be paid. "It's not much, but make yourself comfortable."
Next time when Clive is not in pain and, well, shock. When Joshua can be certain it will not leave him wanting for a good meal.
Though his thoughts are distracted by watching the banter between Clive and his landlady, trying not to let his lips curve up too much.
"Ma'am. I'm glad to meet you properly. And many thanks for sending me in the right direction earlier."
"Well. 'least he's got his manners."
Joshua grins, then follows his brother too see his space properly for the first time. The only remark he thinks of is that he wishes his brother's place had a bit of more, only to let Clive be comfortable at home.
"Thanks. Sit down and relax yourself. You were doing a bit of bleeding and all."
Clive has opened the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of water, which he sets down on the table. Then he looks at Joshua and snorts. "A bit. Right." He taps the lid of one of the bottles. "I don't have anything else right now. Sorry. Unless you want coffee...?" Though there are two details to sort out with that. It's too late for any sensible person to drink coffee, though Clive has been known to do it. And does Joshua even like coffee? He can't imagine it, but it's also been far too long since he last saw Joshua. He's not a kid anymore. His tastes have undoubtedly evolved.
He still hasn't sat down, electing to instead gather up his bills and rehome them on the kitchen counter, suddenly a little self-conscious, even though his apartment is hardly a mess. But he rarely has company over, except for Jill from time to time, and she already knows his life is kind of a mess. This is Joshua's first time here, though, and he wants to appear as if he's mostly in control, as well as just be a decent host. They weren't raised in a barn, after all. Quite the opposite. "We passed the bathroom on the way in, right here." He points across from where he stands in the kitchen. "And the living room is...well, you can see it."
Clive isn't wrong. Joshua is not the greatest fan of coffee, though he'll drink it in a pinch. However, "the water is great! Thanks." He'll grab the bottle and open it, then sip - slowly, it's cold - but then sip again. He's not realized how thirsty he has grown. Then again...
Right.
"Tempting as it may be to stay up, I think we can both use the sleep, rather than the coffee."
His eyes only really leave Clive when he starts pointing out the layout of the apartment, and he looks around, then nods.
"It is very sensible." There is nothing but earnestness in his comment, but also, he sits up a little, his own tiredness pushed aside by Clive rallying up.
"You said, like Jill. You kept in touch with her?"
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-09-11 07:45 am (UTC)Both of his own arms wrap around Clive in turn, tight, as tight as he can.
"All the time in the world."
The whisper makes him shiver and his eyes sting, and then blur, but he can't let go and properly cry, not yet. "Still your little brother. Ah... I missed you so."
His voice quivers and he buries his face against Clive's shoulder because the words don't even begin to describe any of it.
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Date: 2023-09-11 08:34 am (UTC)But it's so damn hard to keep it together the longer they embrace and when Joshua answers him, reminds him that he's still his little brother, Clive can't do it. The sudden reappearance of Joshua topped off by his draining energy and hurting body only sucks out the last dredges of whatever strength he had to keep going. He clings to Joshua with one hand while the other finds his brother's hair, fingertips threading through the bright strands and pressing against his scalp. He gasps in a sob and new tears track down his face.
"I lost you, Joshua." He lost everything that night. Everyone. Their father's death was devastating, of course, and he'll always grieve him, but the bond he had with Joshua ever since his brother was born was the most important thing in his life.
And then he kicked him out of the way of that speeding truck and that was the last time he ever saw him. He was in the hospital for a long time afterward, only to find out that their father really did die, but so did Joshua. And him. The sight of all three of their headstones next to each other has been burned into his mind forever.
"I can't believe you're really here."
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Date: 2023-09-11 08:54 am (UTC)"When I woke up... I could not remember who I was. For years, I did not know. And then I did, and I have been missing you... every day. Remembering all, and having nothing."
There had been that boy, so loved and so treasured, and then his life was completely gone, obliterated in a night. He had not known, for a very long time, why he had been spared at all. The world very clearly had not needed him...
He did his best to make use of the life he had been granted (by his brother, who was gone, but also by so many who had made sure his body recovered, and his mind, and he had shelter and food and education), but it was so... empty.
"Until that day when I saw you. And I realized... if the world was wrong about me being dead, why had I not thought that it might be wrong about you, too? So I looked, and I looked. Then chance brought a friend who remembered us from back then as a neighbor, and he'd been an officer. And he helped me find the trail to come to you again."
Joshua can't not believe it, because he has dedicated a lot of his adult life to making this a reality. His fingers clenched in Clive's shirt.
"And they almost took you from me again." Quiet, flat. Perfectly, helplessly balanced between terror and fury. "I could not have stood aside and watched them."
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Date: 2023-09-14 11:02 am (UTC)He's curious as to who this friend is, but that can wait for later. What is more important is the shift in Joshua's tone. Clive pulls back enough to gently put his hands on his brother's face, both so he can see him and also to make sure Joshua looks at him, too. "They didn't. They won't." The last word comes out firmly. Clive may not have much to look forward to in his life, but with Joshua back, he at least has some reason to try.
But with the way Joshua says all that, like he really would do something drastic to protect Clive, makes him a little nervous. It's comforting to know the love they have for each other hasn't faded all these years, of course, but if Clive can help it, he won't let Joshua have blood on his hands, not even for his sake. Clive has already dirtied himself once, so he'll easily do it again. But not Joshua. He won't let Joshua.
Breathing out, he presses their foreheads together and just basks in his brother's presence for a few moments. They really can't stay here, though, and it's getting late. His flat isn't anything special, especially compared to the comfort in which they grew up, but he doesn't want to part from Joshua, and he's sure the feeling is mutual. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
no subject
Date: 2023-09-14 11:34 am (UTC)"Yes. Let us."
He grips Clive's shirt for a moment longer, and then finally pulls away, wiping his eyes with a sleeve but holding Clive's hand as he beelines for the taxis.
"My bike is near your apartment, but I think it's better to wait to give you a ride on that until later."
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Date: 2023-09-14 12:05 pm (UTC)"You have a bike?" He hadn't even considered that Joshua would drive anywhere, despite obviously being an adult now. The thought is so foreign to him after all these years of thinking Joshua was dead, but it shouldn't be a surprise now. The bike detail is, though.
They reach an available taxi and Clive opens the back door for Joshua, intending to slide in after him, and gives the driver his address. Getting back home sounds better by the second.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-14 01:44 pm (UTC)"Yeah. It's a bit of an older model, a Firebird Scrambler. Easy enough to not think too much about its maintenance."
Talking about ordinary things helps, right now. At least until they can get somewhere private and break down... again... properly.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-14 06:40 pm (UTC)He does frown a little, though. "I didn't understand half of what you just said." A Scrambler? His brain feels scrambled. But if it helps Joshua feel even remotely normal, then Clive will happily stay confused.
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Date: 2023-09-14 07:51 pm (UTC)He looks up at his brother and grins.
"All the better for me to show you later. Eventually." He squints. "I guess we're not going to try even for food tonight."
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Date: 2023-09-14 08:53 pm (UTC)He can't help it. He reaches over with his other hand, the one obviously not claimed by Joshua's clinging, and gently scratches the top of his head with his fingertips. There will be time later for a proper hair ruffle. "Eventually."
The mention of food, however, has Clive's stomach suddenly growling. He hadn't eaten anything at the bar - he never got the chance - and now the suggestion has woken up his body in a new way. He's starving. "I...might have something at home." Unlikely, considering payday hasn't hit yet this week. "Or we can order something. I really don't care what. Anything you want."
no subject
Date: 2023-09-14 09:14 pm (UTC)"Right. I'll figure something out." Taking his phone out while still tucked in almost entirely against clive.
"So. Pizza?" Pizza can be universally ordered, and it is fast to arrive, easy to eat, and tends to make one feel full enough.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-15 05:55 am (UTC)Joshua was always better at making decisions than he was, too, so if he wants to order pizza, then Clive isn't going to argue. "Pizza's perfect. Get it." But neither is he exactly helpful about it. "And get whatever you want on it. I'll eat basically anything right now." Just not...literally. So he hopes Joshua won't get anything truly crazy. Not that he expects his brother will, of course.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-15 12:33 pm (UTC)He'll just finish the order to Clive's address, and put away his phone.
"It has been a long evening anyway."
no subject
Date: 2023-09-15 10:51 pm (UTC)Still, as the ride goes on and Joshua remains practically wrapped entirely around his arm, Clive realizes, again, that it's Joshua and he's here. He turns his head and opens his eyes again and just looks at his brother. Countless years have passed since he last saw Joshua and he's changed in ways Clive had known would happen had life gone on as it always should have. But then Joshua had died and Clive had just focused on getting through singular days and those details disappeared.
Except Joshua looks so much like himself that Clive is amazed he hadn't recognized him immediately in the bar. The hair, the easy slope of his nose, the way his eyes regard everything around him with curiosity, but also a hint of defiance. His brother. His little brother.
His throat tightens around another sob, but he chokes it down, not willing to break down in the back of a cab when they're so close to home. Squeezing his eyes shut, he instead buries his face in Joshua's hair and just breathes. And if those breaths turn a little shaky, he knows Joshua won't bring attention to it.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-16 05:09 pm (UTC)"There is... so much I want to say, and to ask... that I don't know where to start. And it can probably wait until the morning anyway. But if you have things you want to know now..."
no subject
Date: 2023-09-17 12:30 pm (UTC)Then his phone vibrates in his back pocket, the quick rhythm that denotes a text message. He shifts in his seat so he can pull it out with only a little difficulty, but frowns when the crack in the screen becomes apparent. When he was thrown on his back earlier, he must have landed in just the right - or wrong - way. Well, as long as it still works. He'll just have to read this text around the new crack.
It's late. Are you dead?
Clive breathes out, amused when anyone else would probably be offended. If Joshua looks at his screen, Clive is sure he'll be of the same mind. He quickly fires off a short Almost back home before shutting the screen off. "My landlady. I'll check in with her when we get there, but she's just a couple of doors down from me."
no subject
Date: 2023-09-17 02:03 pm (UTC)He just wanted it put out there, that he'll answer when Clive does come up with questions.
The brightness of the phone does draw Joshua's eyes, and he purses his lips, half in concern and half in dry amusement at the sight of the cracked screen. And then he is fully amused, but then again...
"I did meet her already, she is the one who directed me to where I can find you. She seems acerbic but actually concerned about you." He had to talk at some length with her before she was satisfied that he wasn't looking for 'Clint' with the intent to harm him.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-17 10:14 pm (UTC)And...she gave him that chance. Though it also came with a side job of his own, so to speak. "I help break up physical disputes for her when they get too close to home." It's not the greatest part of town where he lives, after all. "Or, rather, I hope things don't get that far. Usually, the sight of me standing silently makes people think twice." He looks down at his bandaged hands. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled about this development."
Clive pauses, then continues in a quieter voice. "She knows who I am." That he's Clive Rosfield. "I look after her back, she looks after mine."
no subject
Date: 2023-09-17 10:42 pm (UTC)Joshua is a little startled, but also not necessarily surprised. He had not hinted at knowing 'Clint's' identity, but somehow the questioning ... and then sending him after Clive make a lot of sense with the context of Charon knowing.
What he isn't? Is tensing up. In fact, there is a small smile in his quiet response.
"That is a good thing, that she knows. Any way in which you were less alone, I am glad for."
It is the truth. Having to hide who it is, every day of these long years, or at least until he met Jill, and most days beyond that... It must have been indescribably lonely.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-18 01:11 am (UTC)Despite Charon's demeanor, though, Clive is grateful to have her in the know. Even though she's not related by blood or was ever associated with the Rosfields, she has become something of family. If nothing else, he can lay down some of his burdens around her and not worry so much.
Before long, the taxi driver pulls over in front of the apartment complex and Clive reaches for his wallet.
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Date: 2023-09-18 06:19 am (UTC)As someone who might be a little overprotective of Clive himself. At least in his mind, since he hasn't chance to do anything about it until tonight.
But as Clive does reach for his wallet, Joshua finally sits up and shakes his head, taking out his own.
"Let me." Not... exactly a question. But his smile is sweet, just so happy to be here, even if his eyelashes are probably still clumped with tears.
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Date: 2023-09-18 09:19 pm (UTC)And he's the older one here. He should be providing for Joshua, not the other way around. He may not have been an active older brother for far too many years, but that instinct is still there. All the same, Clive sighs and relents. "Next time, then."
When he gets out of the car, he sees Charon standing outside the entrance, smoking a cigarette. She doesn't react to his presence until he gets closer and the bandages on his face and hands become more visible.
"Now when I asked if you were dead, I weren't bein' serious. Did you have a date with the Grim Reaper or somethin'?"
"Or something." Clive looks back, finding Joshua and still getting a little jolt of surprise every time he sees him. "Some might say I had a guardian angel watching my back." He turns back to Charon, lowering his voice, though Joshua will be able to hear should he come close enough. "He's my younger brother, Joshua. He's always welcome, same as Jill."
Charon takes another pull on her cigarette as she eyes Joshua up for a moment, but makes sure to exhale away from both of them. "All right. All right. Get on inside, then, before you fall over and bust the other side of your face. You look terrible enough already."
"You're too kind, Charon." But Clive gives her a crooked smile before letting himself and Joshua inside and unlocking his door.
The flat is small, just one bedroom and one bathroom, and pretty sparse. Not in a modern style where everything is clean and hidden away, but simply because Clive doesn't have a lot. But there is a couch and a coffee table with a laptop set upon it and a small dining room table with some bills set aside to be paid. "It's not much, but make yourself comfortable."
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Date: 2023-09-19 10:54 pm (UTC)Next time when Clive is not in pain and, well, shock. When Joshua can be certain it will not leave him wanting for a good meal.
Though his thoughts are distracted by watching the banter between Clive and his landlady, trying not to let his lips curve up too much.
"Ma'am. I'm glad to meet you properly. And many thanks for sending me in the right direction earlier."
"Well. 'least he's got his manners."
Joshua grins, then follows his brother too see his space properly for the first time. The only remark he thinks of is that he wishes his brother's place had a bit of more, only to let Clive be comfortable at home.
"Thanks. Sit down and relax yourself. You were doing a bit of bleeding and all."
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Date: 2023-09-20 06:07 am (UTC)He still hasn't sat down, electing to instead gather up his bills and rehome them on the kitchen counter, suddenly a little self-conscious, even though his apartment is hardly a mess. But he rarely has company over, except for Jill from time to time, and she already knows his life is kind of a mess. This is Joshua's first time here, though, and he wants to appear as if he's mostly in control, as well as just be a decent host. They weren't raised in a barn, after all. Quite the opposite. "We passed the bathroom on the way in, right here." He points across from where he stands in the kitchen. "And the living room is...well, you can see it."
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Date: 2023-09-20 01:45 pm (UTC)Right.
"Tempting as it may be to stay up, I think we can both use the sleep, rather than the coffee."
His eyes only really leave Clive when he starts pointing out the layout of the apartment, and he looks around, then nods.
"It is very sensible." There is nothing but earnestness in his comment, but also, he sits up a little, his own tiredness pushed aside by Clive rallying up.
"You said, like Jill. You kept in touch with her?"
After the mess at a different bar.
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From:cw: mild sexual assault mention
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From:going with clive wakes up to company in the living room, lmk if i should change
From:it's perfect bb
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From:You set yourself up for this one, Rose.
From:🤡
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