Joe
He hadn’t envisioned their trip to Malta to be something like this, but with Andy and Quynh splitting off to goodness knows where after Copley had been taken care of, they’d brought Nile and Booker along with them. He knew Nicky needed to be away from Quynh, at least for a little while. Nicky wouldn’t admit to as much, and had even embraced the woman before they’d gone their separate ways but Joe knew Nicky better than anyone could ever really know anyone.
And until Nicky stopped seeing her mania-induced rage that had Joe dying nine times at her hand, it wouldn’t be fair to either of them to put them under the same roof.
Nicky’s telling a story that Joe’s heard more times than he can count, so he settles for watching the way the light reflects off of Nicky’s blue-green eyes as Nile devotes her attention to him.
Booker’s sprawled out beside him, sunglasses in place to block out the sun. The world. The whole universe. Joe doesn’t think twice before plucking the frames off his face rather aggressively and tossing it onto the grass.
Under normal circumstances, Booker would have told him to fuck off and put the sunglasses on again. As their relationship stands, on highly tenuous ground, Booker only makes a small sound of disapproval before letting his eyes drift shut.
Joe’s attention goes back to looking at Nicky, who’s listening attentively as Nile shares an anecdote from her own childhood. Joe’s far too old to remember childhood stories anymore, but the bittersweet nostalgia that wraps around her every word is familiar.
It’s how he feels when he looks at the world around him sometimes and marvels that he can still find a place within it.
He reaches into the bag they brought and digs out an old leather bound sketchbook. Nicky’s general form is easy to capture for how well he knows it, and the number of times he’s committed it to paper. Still, he spends time recreating the expression in Nicky’s eyes. Indulgent. Soft. Patient.
Nicky looks at most people that way. It’s who he is, always ready to forgive and eager to learn from the world around him. It’s why his inability to get past Quynh’s rage hurts him more than it probably hurts Quynh herself. Joe had tried reassuring him that knowing the pain that drove Quynh didn’t mean he had to easily move on from the actions that her pain had fueled, but Nicky wasn’t convinced. It’s why Joe often finds himself wishing that Nicky could show himself a little more of the kindness, and fairness that he treats the world with.
Nile’s harder to draw, but he captures her nevertheless. The youthful enthusiasm she desperately tries to curb if only to fit in with the rest of them. The drifting attention that’s taking in everything around her, even as Nicky’s saying something to her.
The sun’s low in the sky when he finishes and Booker’s long since drifted off. His head’s come to rest on Joe’s lap, and he has half a mind to push it off.
But he doesn’t, and Nicky’s all too pleased with it. He gives him a corny thumbs up, no doubt Nile’s influence, and Joe feels a little too old to be on the receiving end of it even as he grins begrudgingly. It’s Nile that jostles Booker awake and he grumbles, and swears before lifting himself off the ground. They walk back to their villa just as the sun sets, casting brilliant shades of orange and yellow across the azure ocean.
Nile watches it with awe, nudging Booker to share in at least a part of her enthusiasm. Booker only rolls his eyes but after more of Nile’s insistent prodding, Booker’s eyes finally fix on the sunset and a faint smile crosses his face.
And Joe mentally captures the image, to recreate it on paper for when he isn’t pissed at Booker.
“I’ve not seen him smile like that in a long time,” Nicky says from beside him.
“Didn’t know he was capable of it,” Joe replies. It doesn’t come across as lighthearted as he’d wished for it to, but Nicky doesn’t push.
Joe draws Nicky against him, resting his head on his shoulder. They’ve stood like this before, watching the very same sunset. He’s painted this ocean with almost every medium of art he’s ever dabbled in. He’s swum in these waters, and long ago, he’d washed off blood in it too.
Nicky’s hand settles on his and he squeezes lightly.
“Here Yusuf. We’re here now,” he says.
And so Joe holds Nicky a little more tightly and watches the sunset like he’s watching it for the first time. He’s struck by the thought then, that perhaps it’s not so terrible that everything’s shifting so quickly around them.
Not when those changes come in the form of a girl who’s eyes he can look through to see the world anew, and a man who’s finally beginning to process his grief of over 200 years.
“This is all actually very new,” he murmurs softly.
“It is,” Nicky agrees.
There’s a little wonder in both their voices, though Joe can’t tell from what exactly. Perhaps it’s that things can still be new to them after so long.
Or perhaps because it doesn’t seem so frightening.
Nicky tilts his head back to look Joe in the eye and they’re both smiling. He feels a little drunk, a little heady and he’s smiling too much to kiss Nicky properly but their lips meet anyway.
And as the sun sets, Joe swears he can feel the rise of a new dawn on the horizon.