Camping (locked to Joe, backdated to Sept 29th)

[echolls_cursed]

Seeing as how he and Neil had been fighting about damn near everything all week, Logan had been more than a little eager to go camping with Joe by the time Saturday morning rolled around. So eager, in fact, that he'd already been to the compound to find a sleeping bag in the clothes box (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed no less), and had packed his make-shift bag before Joe had even come to find him.

For once Logan was ahead of the game, knocking on Joe's door to see if he was ready.

God, he'd never thought he'd be so eager to stare at trees for nearly forty-something hours.

"Hey, you ready?" he asked, knocking once and then pushing the door open a crack. "I grabbed some food for us to take or whatever... so, uh, I'm ready to go when you are man."

Comments

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"What's wrong?" Joe asked when he caught Logan's expression, then set around building the fire back up again. There was definitely something going on, something wrong, and Joe watched Logan carefully as he stoked the fire.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan just shrugged and sat back down, wondering if maybe it was time to move camp.

"Is there someplace else we can go?" he asked quietly.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"You wanna walk around the side of the mountain in the dark?" Joe asked, an eyebrow raised. He had a feeling he knew what happened and he was surprised he hadn't seen Bucky yet.

"He's not gonna come around here," he decided. "Don't know what the fuck he said to you out there, but he's not here."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan nodded a little, knowing Joe was right, and let out a long sigh.

"Can we do something?" he asked. "I just... I don't want him in my head right now. Not this weekend. He's not allowed to ruin this."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"I got cards in my bag," Joe offered. At the time he wasn't sure they'd end up needing them, but now it seemed to be a pretty good idea. It gave them something to do, anyway, even if it was kinda dark.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Might be too dark for that," Logan replied. "Uh, how about... talking? Tell me a story about something before the island. Life. Anything you want."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Tell you a story," Joe repeated, piling some wood up on the fire, watching the flames climb higher. "Okay, then. This one time when Billy and me were about... fifteen, maybe. Might've been sixteen. We were young, anyway, we got some beer from his mom and got more drunk than I think we'd ever been. I mean, we were just fucking ripped."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Logan asked, relaxing a little and offering a small smile. "What happened?"

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"We broke into this hockey rink that wasn't far from his place," Joe remembered. "One of those shitty community rinks that barely had a fucking lock on the door. We thought it'd be a good idea to put on skates while we were drunk."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan laughed a little louder at that. "You guys were idiots, man."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, we really fucking were," Joe agreed with a smirk. "We got the skates on and tried to skate and I ended up falling on my ass and slamming my head against the ice."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan snorted a little at that, and flashed a bright grin.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Had to spend the fucking night in the hospital 'cause I gave myself a concussion," Joe continued with a small grin, thinking back on it. "Fucking sucked, man. That night, but it's a good memory."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"You guys were fucking idiots," Logan smiled, moving closer again and leaning lightly against Joe.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, we were fucking idiots," Joe agreed. "There was nothing to do that night. Couldn't get into any bars, no shows playing, long fucking night."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Kinda like here, huh? Never anything to do," Logan said.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but here there isn't even a fucking skating rink," Joe pointed out with a snort. "And not nearly enough beer."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"You don't drink anymore," Logan said simply.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Might be different if there was a hell of a lot of beer," Joe replied with a shrug. "Might be very different."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"You wouldn't," Logan said. "You wouldn't, not now. Not after everything."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but I might've if it was here to begin with," Joe pointed out. "Things might've been different all the way around, y'know? Whole different life."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Might not have met me, or Dale," Logan said. "Or maybe you would have, but we wouldn't be... You know."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know," Joe agreed. "It's a good thing I can't really get my hands on any beer on the island. Could fuck everything else up."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Wouldn't let you," Logan promised, not judging or talking down to the older man. Simply stating a fact.

He cared about Joe too much to watch him throw everything away.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, you and Dale would make sure I didn't fuck up," Joe replied with a nod. He knew that his life would be different without them, without the connections. They were what mattered.