It was nights like these that only served to convince Nick more that the deep South had never been meant for human habitation. God. Even before this zombie shit had hit and trapped him here, he should have guessed that it was a horrible idea to be in goddamned Georgia during this sweltering October. That was why the devil came down there in that one song; it was hot as hell. Unable to sleep with this sweat sticking to his back, he'd distanced himself from his sleeping travelling companions, and stood out instead by the back door of the small home they'd taken for their safe holdout for the night, his stare absently fixed out through the back window. He listened to the insistent drone of night insects through the haze, and in the moonlight he could make out the silhouette of one of the stupid zombies staggering disoriented before finally just collapsing face-down into one of the presumably cooler mud puddles.
"Heh. Me too, buddy. You're not special."
At least it was better to feel sticky and gross with a little bit of air circulation, though, so it was better than nothing. Hell, some people listened to these screaming bugs on a loop to help them get to sleep, anyways. Maybe that would do something.
He was out there for a while before he started to hear some shuffling around from farther back in the house, and sort of tensed, not exactly in the mood for socializing, if it could be called that. Whatever, just… play it cool. It was probably just one of them getting up to use the bathroom, and they wouldn't even realize he was also up.
Footsteps started coming down the stairs. Shit.
"Well fancy seeing you up this late too, Nick," came about the voice he least wanted to hear right then.
His frown deepened and he shrugged his shoulders, in a manner of "guess so". "Ellis."
He didn't even yet turn around as he could hear the other man venturing into the kitchen. Ellis didn't seem to mind though, and let out a quiet chuckle. "Nick, man, I've been waiting all night to show you. Didn't wanna bother Ro and Coach, but. Found something while we were checking this place out I got a feeling you'd like."
Huh. Now that, at least, was intriguing. Nick raised a brow and finally turned around, wondering what this could possibly be. "Aww, for me? You shouldn't have," he riffed, only to cut off into a stunned, "Holy shit," when the younger man reached into his pocket and pulled out an honest-to-god pack of smokes. He sort of wanted to wipe off the grin on Ellis's face that followed, but hell, this was more than worth it.
He chuckled as he also retrieved one of their packs of matches, and passed off both. "Yeah. Just had the thought. Mind if I pull up a seat a minute?"
Well, legitimately at that moment, Nick figured that he was pretty indebted to the guy, so. He guessed that fair was fair in this case, and he shrugged. "Overalls, tonight, you are an honored guest. As long as you don't go getting any ideas."
This seemed fine by Ellis, and within a moment he was hauling over one of the chairs from the table. Once he'd sat himself he let out a yawn and stretched contentedly, leaning back casually while Nick lit up.
"Listen, Nick my buddy, something I've been meaning to tell you."
"Ffft," Nick breathed out, rolling his eyes. "So did you remember something else your good friend Keith did?"
Ellis laughed and waved a hand. "Nah nah, nothing like that this time. You're funny though, Nick. Like, like what was that you were saying earlier? When we killed that one-arm thing with the jersey. And you said, ah, what was that…" There was a pause as he seemed to remember, and then, "Ah yeah, that's right! You looked at Coach, and you said… "Hey Coach, was that one of yours?""
There was something, some kind of tonal shift, that had Nick turning back pretty quick. The smile hadn't left the other man's face, but something sharp had made itself clear in it. Slowly, Nick started to frown deeper.
"I was joking . You know what a joke is, right?"
"Oh yeah, 'course I do, Nick! Like that one about the vampires going to the bar, or that one 'bout how you hope Ro isn't the first to go, because there goes repopulating the earth."
Great. So this had been some kind of trick to get him sitting here so he could be chewed out. Not exactly Nick's idea of a great time. "Yeah, well. Think I'm gonna go be funny back in bed then," he grumbled. He'd hardly gotten a step before Ellis was standing as well, a hand very firmly on his arm. Immediately he was glaring.
"Let go of me."
"You know what kind of vibe you give me, Nick? Like, like… you still think you're some kinda big-shot, because you've got a nice suit, and some flashy rings, and had some cash. Like you're too good for the rest of us." He shook his head, gesturing out towards the window. "And I mean, aha. Look out there, man. How do I say… Your money doesn't mean shit anymore. It's good for wiping our asses with. You ain't a big man anymore, no more than us all."
For once, just about all that Nick could do was kind of gape for a moment. Soon enough though, the smile was back on Ellis's face and he shrugged his shoulders.
"'Course, I could be wrong. I mean, we like having fun, right? We mess with each other. That's what we do. But, I tell you, there's one thing in a tough kind of situation like this we don't need. And that's a jackass for the sake of bein' a jackass."
This, this seemed like some kind of fever dream. Maybe Nick was actually just suffering heat stroke, even though he'd long since stripped out of his heavy suit jacket and down into his undershirt and boxers. This was the guy who'd pouted for an hour when they couldn't go coasting down a waterslide. His cigarette ash dropped and he didn't even notice it.
"...And what do you plan on doing, huh?"
"Well hell man, it's not like I'm gonna do anything. I mean, shit Nick, you should know I'm not that kinda guy. I was raised better than that." There was a long pause, before, "Should go without saying though, might be a little slower to go rushing to someone getting the life choked out of them if they don't straighten out some of their shit and not purposely hurt my friends ."
Another laugh left him and he patted Nick firmly on the shoulder before letting go of his arm.
"You know I'd much rather this wasn't a problem though. I'd like it if we could just keep on being buddies."
"I, uh." Nick sat down in the chair that Ellis had vacated, at a pretty great loss for how to actually respond to any of this, for all of his usual perceived slickness. "Yeah."
"I'm real glad to hear that, Nick. Like, real glad." He stretched and let out another yawn, aiming back for the stairs. "Thanks for having this talk with me, man. Think I'll be headed back for some shuteye though."
As he shuffled back through the kitchen, Nick finished off his cigarette and let the butt drop to the ground, before he was caught by, "Oh, and, Nick?"
Slowly he turned around. "Yes. Ellis."
"...Just so ya know? You're lucky you're kinda cute." A wave. "See you in the morning, buddy!"
A/N: Oh hey I realized I posted this on my Ao3 and totally forgot to drop it over here. This was actually a comm for chronicbedhead over on tumblr a while ago.