Photographs.
Summary: Jez returns after the fire and finds out what happened… fluffy slash Jez/Joe.
Jez pulled his duffle bag out of he taxi and looked around, the shop, Il Nosh but the main thing he noticed, The Dog was gone. In its place was a pile of burnt wood and furniture. He walked towards it and saw rows of flowers around the newly constructed fence. Kneeling down, thinking that most likely it was a Dean or an Osborne who'd died, he red the card. His hand started to shake, he dropped it and stood up, stumbling backwards a bit.
It couldn't be true
It must be someone else
Joe. His god damn Joe. The one he'd come back to see, to take with him when he went back to America. It couldn't possibly be the same Joe. He looked around, Gilly. He could see Gilly in the shop, apparently he'd actually gotten a job. Running in and staring at the shocked and confused taller boy Jez opened his mouth to speak but found him self choked and unable.
Gilly saw Jez's bag still out side by the flowers and knew what he meant. The northerner nodded and looked sympathetically down at Jez, who looked near tears.
"Only last Friday. He went in to get Olivia… Neither of 'em made it out." Gilly couldn't believe that it had only been one week and yet he was able to explain it so easily. Jez bit his trembling bottom lip and walked out of the shop, he sat down on his bag and looked at all the flowers. All from people who probably never met any one who was in the fire. Jez didn't even care that Olivia had died, she was nice, he knew that, but she wasn't Joe, and Joe was all he could think of. Sitting there, isolating him self from the out side world, he began to cry. He could feel the unfamiliar sting in his eyes, the salty taste running over his lips and mouth. He looked up from his trainers and saw that people were looking at him. He sniffed back a few more sobs before wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He felt an arm settle gently on his shoulder, Gilly knelt down next to him and sighed.
"Sorry mate. I guess I should have been a bit nicer about that." He'd forgotten. He knew how close Joe and Jez were but he'd forgotten. "Do you wanna go to halls? I know there's something in his old room for you… I was helping out with his stuff and left it because I thought it was personal." Jez knew what Gilly was talking about. He nodded slightly and stood up, feeling like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
They walked in silence towards the college. Gilly was holding Jez's duffle bag for him. As they approached the flat, the one he'd shared with Joe, he flet his legs begin to shake and he hoped to god that there weren't any other people in the flat. Luckily for him there weren't, the door was unlocked as it always was, and they wonder why things were getting stolen… wait that was Joe lying… he smiled quickly then felt another flood of tears in his eyes. Gilly dropped the bag on the sofa and sat down. Jez walked instinctively towards what used to be Joe's room. He opened the door and took in a quick breath before stepping in. He looked around and grabbed the desk chair. Standing on it he counted ceiling tiles. Five across and three to the left. He pushed up the tiles and felt around underneath. He pulled out an A 5 photo book over flowing with little scraps and stuff. Jez gently laid the tile back to where it had been and stepped off the chair, slowly walking back to the main room. His hands shook as he cradled the small book. Gilly looked up sympathetically as Jez walked in, he seemed a different person then he had been before. Jez sat down on the sofa next to Gilly and opened the book. On the first page were a number of small scribbles in silver, gold, and just plain blue or black.
They were a conversation, a few weeks of note passing between the two via the book, the only safe way to pass notes of their kind around the flat. The book had been hidden in Joe's room all the time, and if ever either he or Jez wanted it they could go get it. Jez smiled through blurry eyes as he red each note carefully, his fingers trailing over one particular note. It was written in metallic blue scented pen. The 'I' had been dotted with a girlish heart, Joe had, for the first time, said that he loved Jez through that book, and he'd dotted the 'I' with a heart… Gilly looked around nervously as Jez flicked through the book. The two of them may have been a secret to the others at halls but they definitely weren't to the old people at the park who fed pidgeons… or to Gilly. He'd had the unfortunate luck to enter the flat when it was only the two of them, making out on the sofa. Gilly went bright red as he thought about it, but then looked down at the photos.
He was better friends to the two of them then any one else knew. He knew the real them, the them that no one else had ever seen, and probably never will. They looked so cute together, Joe was holding the camera up above them as they sat in Joe's room, the pictures were funny but heart breaking.
Just as Jez was about to flip the pager again the door creaked open and the loud voices of the current residents was heard out side.
Well… I had intended for it to be a one shot but… what the hell! Stay tuned for chapter two!