Two of my favorite things in Bones are the relationship between Angela and Hodgins and the friendship between Hodgins and Zack. So I decided to write this. There's a little bit of Hodgela but it's mainly Zack/Hodgins friendship. It takes place a few months after the Angela/Hodgins break up in season 4.
Losing Zack and Angela so close together was definitely the hardest adjustment Jack Hodgins had ever had to make. The house was empty and quiet for the first time in years. Generally, if he wasn't with Angela, he was with Zack; sometimes he was even with both of them. Now he was left with the knowledge that he'd never be able to waste time with either of them again. Everything was different.
Zack had gotten himself locked away. What hurt the most was that he had gotten caught because of Hodgins. He'd sacrificed his hands, his plan, everything to keep Hodgins safe. That kept Hodgins from thinking Zack had become someone different. They were best friends. They'd do anything for each other. That obviously still stood. And that hurt him the most.
Then things with Angela had fallen apart. He could have stopped it. He could have stopped it easily but he didn't. He had to live with the fact that he just let her walk away… She had just gotten her divorce. They were ready to get married. He could picture her in labor, squeezing his hand tightly as she went through the miracle of child birth… If he was lucky at all their children would have her smile and her laugh. He shook his head, reminding himself that he would never see those kids. Her children would never be his.
Hodgins flipped on his living room light and opened the movie cupboard. He needed something- anything- to get real life off of his mind. His eyes scanned over the DVDs. 50 First Dates, Two Weeks Notice, While You Were Sleeping… He closed his blue eyes and ran a hand over his face. Those three were Angela's movies. They were a few of her favorite movies. He actually didn't mind any of them and the watched them together all the time. Now he had to remember to bring those back to her.
Taking a deep breath, Hodgins opened his eyes and moved his gaze to his TV shows, hoping that would be less painful. There was no such relief. The first show he saw sitting there was Firefly.
Zack sighed as his robot did the opposite of whatever he told it to. Hodgins stood beside him, an amused grin stretched across his face. This was priceless.
"You know your robot reminds me of you. You tell it to turn, it stops. You tell it to stop, it turns. You ask it to take out the garbage, it watches reruns of Firefly."
Hodgins reached down and picked up the first and only season of the show. Somehow, it didn't hurt as bad as Angela's movies did. Perhaps because this was his. He wasn't returning it. He owned this.
Zack had showed him the series and Hodgins had bought his own copy. He had lost count of how many nights he and Zack had spent watching this old show. When Serenity came out the two of them had gone to a midnight showing and were the first in line to make sure they had the best seats in the place.
He smiled to himself as he remembered that Zack had cried at the ending. He had teased him for ages about that. He'd never told Zack that he had welled up as well. Hodgins gave a small chuckle to himself as he thought back on the time he had showed Angela the series followed by the movie. She had cried as well, which he had lightly teased her about. She called his bluff, however, and told him that she knew that there was no way that he hadn't at least come close to crying. Of course, he denied it completely, laughing at the accusation.
Hodgins turned the series in his hands then let out a sigh, walked to the player, put in the first disk and sat down on the couch. He flipped on the first episode, set his elbow on the arm rest, and rested his head on his hand as it started.
"Zack! Zack, answer the damn door!" Hodgins hollered, pounding on the door to the apartment above his garage.
The door opened and there was Zack, glowering at him. "What?" he hissed, annoyed.
"You left trash in my car. An ice cream wrapper. There was still some in it and it is in the carpet," he growled, looping a finger in the rubber band and snapping it.
"This is a fertile land and we shall thrive.." Hodgins heard from the TV in the living room.
"That's it?" the younger man asked, annoyed. "That's what you interrupted me for?"
He and Zack got along okay. They weren't friends by any means but they got along better than they did when they first met. Hodgins didn't want to strangle him every time he spoke anymore, that was a real improvement. However, he expected him to show respect for his car.
In all honesty, Hodgins wouldn't usually be pissed off about it. But he just got home after being pulled over, stuck at a thousand red lights, honked at for no reason, cut off in traffic, and flipped off by someone jaywalking. When he saw the trash and ice cream spot he overreacted. Unfortunately for Zack, that meant he was the scapegoat.
"It's not like you were doing anything important," Hodgins snapped.
"Would you like me to go clean it now?" Zack asked dryly.
"No," Hodgins shot back. "I took care of it. I just thought you should know-"
"Oh, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" said the TV.
Annoyed Hodgins changed gears. "What the hell are you watching?"
"Firefly," Zack replied blankly.
"What does that mean, Zack?" growled Hodgins.
Zack sighed. "It's a science fiction show about a small ship of smugglers. They're sort of like…" He struggled to find a good word. "Space cowboys," he finally said.
Hodgins raised his eyebrows. "Wow… Okay…"
"Would you like to try it?" The younger man obviously didn't think Hodgins would take him up on the offer.
Hodgins debated between his somewhat low tolerance of Zack and his curiosity. His curiosity won out and Zack let him in. The intern sat on the couch so Hodgins took the armchair. Zack restarted the pilot episode.
Before he knew it, the disk was over. Surprised that he was already done with the first four episodes, he got to his feet and ejected it. He looked at the next disk and felt a flash of pain. It was the most watched of the set. First on it was Shindig, his personal favorite. After that was Angela's favorite, Our Mrs. Reynolds. The very next one was Jaynestown, Zack's favorite. The three of them would all watch that disk together every now and then.
Unable to do it, Hodgins instead got out Serenity and inserted the disk then sat back down on the couch.
"Zack, will you take out the trash for me?" Hodgins asked as he did the dishes. He'd let them pile up over the past few days and now had no clean dishes to eat off of. Aw, the joys of single life.
"I'll get to it," Zack assured him.
Hodgins nodded to his friend and kept washing. The friends were finishing their Thanksgiving meal. Zack hadn't been able to go home to Michigan for both Christmas and Thanksgiving and Hodgins had no family to spend the holiday with.
By the time the dishes were done, Zack was planted in the living room watching TV. Hodgins tossed aside the dishtowel and spotted the trash can. "You've got to be kidding." He walked into the living room and glared at Zack's figure in a chair. "Trash, Zack. I told you to take out the trash. Not watch Firefly reruns." He glanced at the TV and, unable to help himself, asked, "Which one is it?"
"Out of Gas," Zack replied.
"Fine but after this one you're taking out the trash."
"Deal."
Hodgins sat on the couch and finished the episode with his friend. They ended up watching two more before Zack took out the trash.
Firefly was the foundation of their friendship. The best friend he had ever had was farther away now than he had ever been before. He wasn't on the property anymore, he wasn't a phone call away, and he wasn't at the lab… He was in a mental hospital.
Hodgins slowly lifted his head off of his hand as he realized that things were different but Zack and Angela both weren't completely lost to him. They were a part of him still and now, watching Firefly and Serenity, he felt closer to them than he had in months.
And as the movie credits rolled, Hodgins gently brushed away the tears rolling down his face.
I'm a little nervous about how it came out so I'd really appreciate feedback! Constructive criticism is welcome!