Chapter Text
It’ll be fine by dusk light, I’m telling you baby.
These things eat at your bones and drive your young mind crazy.
But when you place your head between my collar and jaw.
I don’t know much but, there’s no weight at all.
The sun started to fall. It’s orange lights clinging to every surface around, the smoke from his cigarette casting shadows over his angular face as he walked, his brown eyes drifted down lazily to look at the worn out clock on his wrist. He was late again, but who cares? It’s not like anyone really cared anyway.
He knew that Curly would wait hours for him, so Jimmy took his time, walking slow as he draped his old jacket around his shoulders trying to shield himself from the cold air of that winter evening.
Jimmy was exited to see his friend again, but he wasn’t going to admit it out loud. Life had been busy for the both of them. And, as always, was Curly the one reaching out to Jimmy so they could meet, Jimmy, obviously, agreed.
The bar stood imposing before him, a long trail of smoke left his lips as the man dropped what remained of his cigarette and crushed it with his foot. It was cold outside and even though Jimmy was freezing, he lingered standing by the door for a couple of minutes. He wasn’t ready to meet Curly yet... When he managed to enter the bar, he spotted the other man almost instantly, Curly was an easy target. He was standing by the counter, tall, blonde, dumb smile plastered to his face, bright aura and always with some annoying chick hanging from his arm. Jimmy rolled his eyes.
“Fuck off, bitch” Jimmy barked as he pushed the girl away from his friend, his chest burned as he watched the girl walk away cussing and insulting at him.
Curly turned around as the familiar sound of the husky voice of the brunette reached his ears. And, again, that stupid bright smile etched on his face grew even wider, Jimmy rolled his eyes once again but this time he was trying to hide a smirk.
“Jimmy!” The exclamation loud as the blonde man launched himself forward, throwing his whole body over the other man, tangling his arms around Jimmy’s waist, pulling him flush against his body. Curly smelled like coffee and expensive perfume and his body felt warm against Jimmy’s freezing skin. He stood still before pushing the blonde man away and signaled to the bartender to pour him a drink too.
“I’ve missed you, man! What have you been up to?” His tone was bright as usual, it annoyed Jimmy. Why had he always to be so happy to see him? Why he even wanted to meet him at all? They haven’t talked for a while now, Jimmy failed to understand it, but he was to tired and the bar was to loud to think about it now...
“Not much” The words rolled out of his mouth before chugging the whole glass of liquor down his throat without effort. “Just... The usual... I’m doing fine.” His mind flooded with images of the past year, all the fights and the time in jail made him shiver slightly. Jimmy knew better than to tell Curly about it. After a gesture, the bartender filled his glass again, but this time he kept the bottle by his side.
Curly’s expression soured with worry while he watched Jimmy fill and empty his glass with record speed. It always surprised Curly to see Jimmy’s ability to drink.
“You sure?” Curly’s glass was still almost full and the worry etched on his face grew slightly. Jimmy frowned, he wasn’t in the mood right now.
“Don’t start with that bullshit right now, Curly.” His tone was harsh as he threw a killer look to the man sitting at his side.
“I’m not starting…” The blonde man said gently, taking a small sip from his own drink, noticing already the poor mood his friend was in. “I just noticed that you didn’t look quite fine.” Jimmy closed his eyes with force. Why did he always had to read him so well sometimes? The man felt exposed, vulnerable even, and he didn’t like that.
“I told you to cut it, Grant.” Curly’s name felt strange on his tongue, but he was mad and didn’t want to answer any questions, at least not being sober. “I’m fine and I’m here, that’s what counts so stop with that shit and let me drink in peace.” His speech seemed to have an effect, because Curly looked down, almost regretful. It made Jimmy feel bad, but not enough to apologize, as if he ever did that.
“It’s… been a long day, can’t blame a man for wanting to forget.” Jimmy’s voice was softer now, that edge of annoyance and harshness was still there, but not as visible.
Curly lifted his eyes to look at Jimmy’s face that was hidden behind his hair. The blonde man studied his face for something, anything, that would explain his friend’s mood, but Jimmy was good at hiding things from Curly, he was always too happy to fully see anything. That was the good part.
“I don’t blame you, I just don’t want you doing it alone.” That gentleness on his tone was starting to drive Jimmy crazy, he didn’t need his pity, he didn’t want his pity.
Jimmy scoffed, but the sound was tired. Was it too much to ask to not deal with all this right now? Was it really that hard to understand for Curly? “If you don’t drop it now, I’ll go, and you know I’m not joking.”
Jimmy had his eyes fixed on his glass when, suddenly Curly grabbed him by the wrist. Brown eyes locking with blue ones as the warmth of his skin penetrated through the pores of his own. The touch was sudden, almost urgent and Jimmy hesitated before pushing Curly’s hand away.
“Don’t… don’t go, Jimmy” Curly looked… desperate? The expression on his face was unreadable for Jimmy, who could feel some kind of warmth spreading through his chest. Not that he hated it, but he didn’t want to feel it. He wasn’t the kind of guy to have those feelings.
A part of Jimmy wanted to say something, but the words got caught in his throat, tangled in between his vocal chords.
“Yeah, whatever…” His voice came out low, almost too low to be heard. By this time, Jimmy’s bottle was empty.