yknow what, i want to see the original paradise city residents interacting before the bus arrives.
agustus sneaking into jonathan's church to steal his food, but not bothering to hide his tracks anymore, because even when jonathan catches him in the act, he never actually does anything. maybe he was careful the first few times, but agustus found out quickly that jonathan is all bark and no bite when it comes to his food. or at least when it comes to him (chuck gets an earful every time he tries anything.)
squiddo visiting zora to check in every week, just to make sure she's alive and sane. she drops off supplies (never outwardly admitting she's trying to help, she always insists she simply had extra laying around), and chats idly about the terrible weather they've been having. for a few minutes zora gets to pretend she's just a normal girl having a polite conversation with her elderly neighbour, and for a few minutes things feel okay.
zora and jonathan teaching agustus how to properly shoot a gun when he admits he's never been able to use one properly, because "it's an essential life skill." zora remarking on how quickly he learns and jonathan giving him a pat on the shoulder, and agustus pretending he doesn't preen at the praise... even now, whenever he holds a gun, he mumbles jonathan's instructions under his breath, reminding himself how to use the weapon properly.
chuck and jonathan sharing drinks from an old stash of wine that they found. it tastes horrible, it's about 50 years expired, however chuck just insists that alcohol gets better with age. jonathan makes a face at every sip, but if it's getting him drunk, then he'll put up with it. once they get a bottle or two in, they start talking about their lives before all of this. it’s a strange feeling, but not an unpleasant one; in that moment, they’re just two guys sharing drinks and talking about a past they can never return to.
squiddo sometimes stops by jonathan’s church just to drop off flowers to “brighten up the place”. he insists there’s nowhere to put them, but she just brushes him off and brings a vase from ikea next time. (he doesn’t realise she’s giving him the zora treatment too AKA using deliveries as an excuse to make sure he’s still breathing and hasn’t gone off the deep end quite yet.)
one night agustus’ camp falls apart due to heavy thunderstorms, so he retreats into the sewers to shelter and finds chuck’s lab. and when he does, he immediately falls asleep in the corner, where a makeshift bed is set up. it’s probably a reckless move, but he knows chuck isn’t an actually dangerous guy—just a bit out there. sure enough, he doesn’t even see him when he wakes up. (though where did that extra blanket come from…)
something about them all living their own completely separate lives, but being the only survivors left in this hellscape of a city just bringing them together. Idk
one must imagine that in another universe, jonathan didn't have a chance to spend a year in isolation, because his valiant attempt at solitude was undermined by the rest of paradise city's survivors just not leaving him alone.
chuck was his first nuisance. despite getting off on the wrong foot (read: chuck stealing all of his best crops), he somehow got it in his head that the two were "friends"--something that jonathan vehemently denies. he turns down the open invitation to chuck's lab. he ignores the laughter and yapping whenever they have the misfortune of crossing paths. he tries to forget chuck exists entirely, most of the time. (he... can't forget the time he was surrounded by a horde of the undead, only to be pulled into the sewers by chuck, and led back to his church through the tunnels. he might owe him his life for that. the next time he notices a few carrots missing... he doesn't mention it.)
and well. he's working on a cure. as batshit insane as chuck seems, jonathan hopes he finds it.
and once squiddo found where he was staying, she started to visit almost every week. "checking in!" she'd yell out as she stopped her horse outside the church, and jonathan would pretend he didn't hear. she's too chatty for his liking, too positive. it's a miracle she's even survived this long in the apocalypse, given her laughable goal of finding and helping other survivors. forget zombies, other survivors are the most ruthless things in the city.
it's only when she mentions her life before paradise city that he pauses, because as much as he loathes thinking about everything he's lost, having someone who he can talk to about it who actually understands to that extent is... nice. oddly enough. maybe he'll tolerate her.
agustus is another curveball though. he's so cautious at first, taking only the smallest amount of food from jonathan's supplies, only ever enough that could reasonably be brushed off. unlike chuck who makes his presence known, agustus is so subtle that jonathan doesn't even realise he's taking stuff until he actually catches him in the act. he chases him off, but doesn't pursue him. and after that, agustus begins to test his luck. he sees how much he can take before jonathan gets actually mad, what times he won't be around to notice, whether he'd do anything at all if he was caught. it's almost like a game, and it's clear he's winning!
from jonathan's perspective though, as much as he hates the guy, he can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. the first time he saw agustus, all he could see was another desperate survivor, malnourished and skittish like a cornered prey animal. so... maybe he isn't as mad as he acts. maybe he remembers being that scared, starving young adult with no one to rely on, and maybe he once was the kind to steal anything he could get his hands on too. (it isn't him going soft; he still yells at agustus every time they meet, he just... gets it. even if he doesn't admit it.)
he meets zora last, and surprisingly in the friendliest way... at least compared to the others. it's through squiddo, naturally, who introduces them in the same way one would introduce two kids expecting them to be best friends immediately. at the very least there isn't any yelling or death threats or guns pointed in any direction--only a lot of distrust. jonathan thinks she's lying and taking advantage of squiddo's goodwill, and zora sees him as just a paranoid old man. they don't particularly like each other, but that's unfortunate because they just. keep. meeting.
zora's on a supply run? jonathan just so happens to be in the same place. squiddo invites jonathan over to her place to talk about something important? zora was coincidentally just leaving. they can't even kill each other because squiddo is both their friend so they're at a weird impasse where they just have to pretend to tolerate each other. (until, strangely enough, it doesn't feel like jonathan's pretending anymore. but that's something he'll take to his grave.)
yet the worst part is that, much to jonathan's dismay, his church becomes a meeting spot of sorts for the group as they all become acquainted with each other too. it's easy enough to get to from all of their bases, it's well-guarded and always full of supplies, and jonathan himself couldn't keep them out if they tried. and he hates this, the first time he gets home to find zora and agustus hanging out on his rooftop, he almost pops a blood vessel. he wants nothing more than to be left alone, and he tells them as much, but it's too late.
eventually he reaches an agreement; they can visit, but they're not allowed to come empty-handed. at first, jonathan makes the rule with chuck and agustus' thieving hands in mind, but soon it just becomes standard practice, even if they don't take anything at all. even if he's not home to accept any peace offerings. sometimes he'll come back to find a few bullets tucked into his drawer and a fresh apple on his bed, and he knows immediately zora and squiddo had dropped by.
......and maybe, after a long time of being worn down, he starts to invite them in as well. when it's raining, and he knows agustus would be shivering in his tent, he offers for him to sleep there for the night. when it's clear zora's not doing well and squiddo asks him to keep an eye on her, he lets her stay with him for a few days. when chuck needs to ramble about his research to someone, he lets him pace along the pews for hours, listening even if he has no idea what he's saying. when squiddo is feeling homesick for a time she can barely remember, he lets her cry with him. and he comforts her, because he's the only other person who can remember a time before the infection.
so. jonathan didn't ask for friends, family, or a community of any sorts. but he got one anyway.
