closed for @highfears, @ianfm and @urdamage featuring donnie, finn, ian and bo at donnie and finn’s apartment.
donnie can’t remember the last time he had such a nice night, though sadly he’s able to be confident in knowing that it’s now nearing the one year mark since the last time he was able to enjoy himself as much as he has tonight. everything has been so different since that very first attack that took place here in shrike heights, and donnie has been one of the unlucky residents who have been very closely and personally affected since the start, with his friend and coworker otis being killed in the first attack, and then his best man bo almost meeting the same fate in the next that took place so soon after. every resident of the small town has been negatively impacted by the attacks, but for donnie it’s always felt scarily close and extremely intense. since then, things have only gotten harder, more painful, much scarier and overall worse in every way imaginable. but not tonight, no, tonight has been good.
he sits on one of the two couches in his living room and he laughs at something finn is joking about from his seated position so close next to him that he’s practically in his lap already. he looks to the couch opposite him and his partner and his eyes that sparkle with amusement scan over both ian’s and bo’s figures. he’s so lucky to have them both here, so lucky that they’ve both survived the nasty ordeals they’ve been forced to suffer through, and though he doesn’t try at all to kill the happy buzz that they’ve been sitting in all night by speaking up and voicing these thoughts, he feels so lucky that he’s been able to be present for a night with bo and ian - and finn too of course - that’s just nice, and so like old times. it’s no secret amongst the group that donnie has a side of him that’s quieter, broodier, more troubled and fond of overthinking; but this night it too special for him to ruin by taking away from the likeness of old times by thinking exclusively of the hard times that have surrounded tonight.
he squeezes finn’s waist and he takes a sip of his beer before he decides on the first thing that comes to mind to speak of as a rare lull in conversation occurs. “do you guys remember when we moved into this place? and we invited you guys over for dinner and you two -” he gestures to finn next to him and then bo across from him - “got up on the brand new coffee table and you ended up breaking it.” he recalls the memory fondly - though the two of them falling to the ground hadn’t been so funny at the time -, a smile on his face as he thinks back to the night that had started out much like tonight. “did we ever tell you how i had to pull splinters out of finn’s ass after you guys went to bed? i kept trying to get finn to be quiet so we wouldn’t disturb you if you were trying to sleep, but really i was just trying to listen out to see if you were doing the same for bo down the hall.” he laughs, addressing ian there in the end. he doesn’t imagine their night will be as rowdy as it had been then, but donnie doesn’t need the rowdiness to enjoy the time they were spending as friends, friends who were acting as if nothing bad in the world had ever happened to them outside the safety of this apartment.
