Specify Ship & Number for a Drabble // Merc-Distance-Will-Fix-This-enary & Isaac the 'Flash Gordon to your Prince Barin’ Redman // Things You Said While We Were Driving.
For a long time, he said nothing at all. An hour, two. More. His gaze directed at the road before them, the usual frown casting shadows over tawny eyes, giving his companion only the occasional glance and immediately turning back at the sight of him.
He did not know this man seated beside him. Certainly, he knew his face; knew the long, angular shape of his jaw, the sharp nose; the eyes, blue and bright, though always seeming somewhat dopey; the thin, jagged lips; the stupid bleached, greasy blond hair. He knew the tattoos, had been studying them for a while now; slowly memorizing, mapping them out. He would know them all eventually; would be able to draw every single one and pinpoint their location using nothing but his mind. He knew the voice; a little hoarse, a little nasal. But he did not know him. Not like this.
There was panic, of course. At least initially. If the hopeful, joyful, happy-go-lucky man he knew had been so rattled as to sound the way he had on the phone, something must have been very seriously wrong; more than he could have ever imagined for himself. And he had imagined, all the bloody time: worst case scenarios for every possible second of his day, just to be prepared. He saw the worst in people, himself included. Every glance, every slightest of touches, every hum --- even lesser things could be enough to set him on edge. And even then, he would remain calm, at least to the naked eye. To hear his voice shake as he hissed and whispered into the phone, begging him for help, for him to please just come get him --- of course he panicked.
But this wasn’t about him.
It only took a few seconds to overcome that vacuum forming in the pit of his stomach. Took a few minutes more to assure him he was coming; to convince him to get off the line so that he could purchase a plane ticket. A few hours more --- a rental car already waiting for him at LAX.
Which brought them back to now. A good few hours of driving in utter silence between them. He kept his gazes to himself, or so he’d learned to do. It was the only privacy he could offer his companion at the moment. The DJ would be coming on soon, and so he reached for the dial and shifted between stations, static interrupted on occasion with short flashes of foreign songs he did not care for.
The highway was so dark this time of night he could see his own reflection in the windshield. Switching the high beams on, he glanced over at him; entirely still but the near unnoticeable movement of his eyes.
Leaning back in his seat, eyes back on the road, he let out a slow, quiet sigh as he sank into his seat. There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do except comply with the man’s wishes and just drive. Hardly satisfactory. He may have been asleep now, though he doubted the drive had actually done anything to soothe his companion’s nerves.
A good night to you all, folks. If you’ve just tuned in, this is Alternate USA Radio, 188.8 FM and 190 FM in the north; and you’re listening to the Late Night Show. I’m DJ Phenomenon, and I’m going to be with you all night.
Eyes still set on the road, his right hand snuck over the gearbox, feeling in the dark until it found his, fingers slowly creeping their way around and under it before wrapping around his palm. Squeezing, short and light, his thumb stroked over hardened knuckles.
”You’re going to be alright.”
It should have been a question, really --- perhaps sounded like one as well. How could he possibly know with such determination that the drifter was, indeed, going to be alright? He didn’t even know what had upset him so much in the first place. He couldn’t help, evidently, other than sit there and press down on the gas paddle. Perhaps this was beyond repair. Perhaps something terrible had happened --- something to do with his daughter, possibly. Perhaps nothing even remotely close to that. Point was, he could not have known. He was right to wait for the man to be bloody unconscious to say such a futile, foolish thing.
But there it was again, lingering on the tip ofhis tongue. He had to know, after all. It could not be a question, but a statement --- because he simply had to be alright. He had to. He was the sane, responsible adult holding everything together. Holding him together; them. Seemed like he were the only person even attempting to hold the world together. Certainly, he himself could assume the role for a little while --- but he couldn’t --- he couldn’t just be what he was. He couldn’t. Didn’t have it in him; the mental capacity, the strength the… stupid fucking optimism. The drifter had no say in the matter.
”You’re going to be alright.”