Time frame: April
Rating: T
"Hey, how's your head?" Nick asked as politely as he was able, before sitting down on the outdoor rug across from Derek, right beside the shed's front door.
"I'm doing a bit better today, Nick. Thanks for asking."
"Headache gone?" This was uncomfortable, Nick pretending to give a shit about anyone other than himself or Ellis. He wasn't good at small talk.
Derek sighed, "I wish. It's dulled out a lot but it still hurts. Where's your man?" Derek replied, taking a puff of a cigarette, making a disappointed face, and then putting it out.
Nick pointed in the direction that Ellis and Keith were, working and chatting back and forth.
"He said that Stubbs has been down lately, so he has to be a Mother Hen and check things out." The conman continued, eyeing the ashed out cigarette on the ground. He hadn't smoked in weeks. Ellis insisted on it due to his heart condition.
"He has? What's wrong with Keith?" Derek asked, concern in his voice.
Nick shrugged.
"Beats the shit outta me. I tried to tell Ellis that we've all been having a shitshow of a time, but he's sure that there's something else going on here."
Derek nodded.
"I guess when you've been friends with a guy as long as they have, you start reading each other. If Ellis thinks something is wrong, it probably is."
That was a good point. Keith and Ellis had been together nearly every day since they were babies. Of course they were going to be more in-tune with the other's feelings than the average bear.
"Personally, I'd bet all the money I have left that he's just moping around about his falling out with Jared. I swear Stubbs is gayer than a musical, but Ellis swears I'm just being stupid and jealous."
"You're not." Derek responded in a short and very frank tone.
"Oh?" Nick's eyebrow cocked up. Goddamn I love being right.
Derek shook his head.
"With you being the kinda guy you were before the apocalypse, your ability to read people is pretty dead-on. Ellis is just a naïve kid, but you know that. Like you, I know for certain that the Keith is into guys…your guy at one point."
Nick's eyes widened.
"So it's not just me? You see it too?"
Derek smiled a half smile.
"You'd have to be Ellis not to see it, bless him. Keith and I have known one another for years and I think those feelings have been there for a long time. I'm sure Ellis would never mess around on you, he's a good kid, but if it was up to Keith, you'd have never had a chance. The only reason they aren't together today is because Keith didn't have it in him to defy his family."
"Really?" Nick encouraged more.
Derek nodded.
"He was always scared to death of them. Can't say I blame him. I hated the Marshalls, they were all pretty shitty people. Keith was the only one out of them that didn't deserve the fate he got."
Nick listened. He remembered getting drunk with Keith months ago and talking briefly about their families in the past. This was familiar. Keith mentioned something or other about his dad being a jerk.
"I thought you were friends with his brother." The conman responded.
"I tolerated Paul. He could be okay sometimes and he never made me pay for weed, so there's that. I guess he was the second less-shitty Marshall. The rest of them, especially Keith's parents were absolute garbage. They treated him like he was the biggest burden on them, literally bad enough to where he would have been better off in foster care. That dad of his, real piece of work, would practically bar-fight his kid over nothing. I've never seen anything like it."
Boy does that sound familiar, Nick thought.
His own father was not any better than this, so he could relate to Keith in this aspect.
"Lucky you." Nick replied, wishing he could have said the same.
Derek nodded.
"I never knew mine…my biological father, I mean. He took off when my mom was pregnant with me. She got with this guy Al when I was 10. For being a stepdad, he was a really nice guy. It was thanks to him that my Aunt Milly was finally removed from our house. My mom didn't have the heart for it. Her sister lived with us for as long as I can remember, and for the entirety of that time, she was an overly-religious abusive bitch. Al became aware of how she was treating me and told her to get the fuck out."
Lucky you, Nick thought again.
He'd have thought that with Derek being the kind of guy he was, that he'd been through some shit in his youth, but apparently that was not done at the hands of male family members. He was given a hand and still turned out crazy.
Some people are just fucked up from the start, I guess. This guy is Damien from The Omen.
Nick sat quietly for several moments, just watching Ellis and Keith talk in the distance.
"Don't worry so much about him." Derek offered, "Ellis wouldn't do anything against you."
Nick knew that, at least he was pretty sure that he did. But he still worried, having never been in a single healthy relationship in his life. The fear of having it all taken away was always looming overhead. Deep down he knew that he couldn't compare to the developed friendship that Ellis shared with Keith, and he didn't want to. He just wished there was some way to make sure that there was no way Keith could offer Ellis more than himself.
Maybe it was just lack of intimacy that had him in such a worrisome mood. With being stuck in a 30 foot shed with so many other people, they had very little privacy and hadn't shared more than a kiss and snuggling together for warmth since they arrived. It was grating on Nick's last nerve, but what other option did he have?
It was too dangerous to sneak out for a quickie in the woods, though with Derek alive, there hadn't been any real threat of Infected coming near. Still, with his luck, distraction would be his downfall.
"Do you think any of our people from the last Zone are still alive out there?" Nick changed the subject.
Derek's face went serious, staring out into the woods.
"I don't know, man. Ever since I got shot, I can't smell anymore. Sometimes I think I can get a hint of something cooking, but I'm pretty sure it's just the leftover gunpowder in my head." Derek explained, downtrodden.
"Are any of your memories from that ordeal coming back?"
You and I both have a good idea about who the fuck shot you, as soon as you're able to remember it, that is.
Derek paused, eyebrow pulling down in thought.
"I'm getting little bits and pieces of the day, but nothing important still. Isn't that nuts? Whoever shot me could be hiding in plain sight and I have no idea. He…or she could come back to finish me off any second and I'd never see it coming."
That must suck. At least I know who I have to watch out for.
"You don't have any issues with anybody here? Nobody you know of that might have done this?" Nick didn't want to openly accuse Jared and risk inspiring false memories, but he was definitely a suspect.
Derek shook his head, very slightly.
"There's Keith. We had an argument or two. He really doesn't like me, but I don't think he'd shoot me. He talks a big game but I really doubt that he's a bad person deep down, and definitely not a killer."
Yeah, no. I didn't get that impression either. Stubbs is about as much a killer as I am a saint.
"But, I can't remember any other reason someone would have to want me dead. I gather that a lot of people here aren't fond of me, aside from Ellis and Danny. That Zoey girl has been nothing but nice, too. But aside from Keith, nobody here hates my guts."
"What about Jared? What was that punch in the face about?" Nick reminded.
"Huh? Punch in the face?" Derek's face showed that he was legitimately confused.
"You don't remember? It was a while back, way before you got shot. The second you and Jared met, remember?" Nick was trying to piece Derek's memory together, giving only the necessary information.
Derek again shook his head.
"A lot of things have gotten pretty hazy I guess. I have a few gaps in my memories…I think I remember it a little, now that you mention it. But the past couple of weeks have some holes in them. The doctor lady said it's pretty common for my memories to come and go while I'm healing. They might all come back, or they might all stay gone. The thing of it is, when I try to remember, I just keep going back years at a time, to before all of this happened."
"Okay, well let me remind you. When you and Keith came back from that CEDA run, Jared showed up. He was there maybe a day before you guys arrived. When he met you, he swung on you. Didn't tell us what it was about but we all figured you'd met before and had some sort of lasting beef with one another." Nick pointed out.
"Nah, it wasn't that. I'd never seen Jared before that. But… I know why he punched me."
Derek leaned in a little closer, speaking in a hushed voice.
"Keep this between you and me, but I'm pretty sure that he and Keith have or had a thing. That said, I'm pretty sure that punch was out of jealousy and some kind of White Knight complex, being that Keith must have told Jared that he and I were also a thing at one time, lots of years ago."
What?
What in the Hell? Is Francis the only straight man in the apocalypse?
Oh yeah, Louis. But I don't even know about Louis.
He has that soft spot for Zoey.
But she's such a mannish bitch-
"Nick?"
The conman snapped out of his momentary train of thought.
"Did I lose you there?" Derek asked.
"No, I'm good. I was just thinking, putting pieces of the puzzle together. See, I was sure that Stubbs was into dudes. I was damn sure even though Ellis thought I was wrong. I was also pretty damn sure that Jared and Stubbs were fucking, but again, Ellis was always telling me that I didn't know what I was talking about. All of my hunches have been dead-on except…"
"Except your suspicions about Keith and Ellis?"
Nick nodded.
"I can't shut it off. The way Stubbs looks at him…the way he touches Ellis. It's louder than any of that 'we're just friends' bullshit."
Why am I talking about this with Derek?
Um, because he's listening.
"Hey Nick, can you come here a sec?" Ellis asked, approaching the pair and motioning for Nick to follow him.
Of course he was going to follow.
He gave Derek a quick nod, stood, and then let Ellis lead the way around to the back of the shed.
Once they were alone, Ellis gave a quick look in both directions before he spoke.
"You were right." He started.
"I know." Nick replied, "But let's clarify, which one of the many things was I right about?"
"Keith bein into other men."
Well no shit.
Nick didn't have to say anything back. His 'I told you so' expression more than covered any reply he could have come up with.
"Uh huh. Did you get any info about the shooting?" Nick asked, really not in the mood to talk about Keith's sexuality, and how it now being out in the open made things even more unpredictable and uncomfortable.
Ellis shook his head.
"No, sorry Nick."
The older man sighed.
"You had one job, El."
"I know, I was just surprised is all."
Nick nodded.
"Sure you were, kiddo. It's fine."
"How about you?" Ellis asked.
"Nothing. Derek can't remember anything. But I'm putting pieces together."
Ellis's eyes lit up.
"What do ya got?"
"Aside from your best friend wanting to fuck you?"
Ellis sighed then shuddered.
"Besides that."
Ellis knew better than to argue with Nick now, having been wrong this entire time. Now that Keith came clean about being attracted to guys, a lot of their past seemed suspicious now. A lot of little things here and there didn't seem as innocent anymore. Nobody had to actually come out and say anything in regard to the guys that Keith was attracted to being a rough translation for "secretly being in love with Ellis for the past decade".
Nick continued cautiously.
"I'm still betting it was Jared."
"Remind me never to doubt anything you ever say again." Ellis replied.
Nick nodded.
"Do you think you can keep playing dumb, though? Maybe we can get to the bottom of this shit if everyone thinks you don't know shit."
Ellis scoffed.
"Play dumb, Nick? I am dumb. This whole time I been just standin around with my thumb up my ass and all this time…" He trailed off after noticing the look of concern in his partner's eyes.
"Don't worry too much about it. Miranda Hillard didn't know that her ex-husband was dressing in drag and babysitting their kids." Nick offered, trying to be comforting.
"That was a movie." Ellis replied, not comforted at all.
"Fine, I didn't know my ex-wife was fucking the mailman until I came home and found bills all over my bedroom that weren't mine."
Ellis tried to fight a smile but it came despite his efforts.
"With the mailman? Did you kick his ass?"
Ellis's smile was contagious and Nick lost all seriousness within moments, smirking as he nodded in reply.
"Oh yeah, I beat the mail out of him, almost ran him over with his mail truck. What was he going to do, tell his boss on me?"
"I'm glad he didn't. I think assaulting a federal employee is a felony."
Nick wasn't sure if it was a felony or not but he agreed with Ellis in the idea that he didn't need any additional charges added to his criminal record.
"Hell, if it is I'd probably still be doing hard time…speaking of 'hard' time, are you aware that we haven't had sex in over a week?"
Ellis paused for a moment, looking puzzled and doing the math in his head.
"Huh, you're right. It's been 9 days."
"Yeah, it's been too many days. Later on when everyone goes to sleep we're going to have to change that."