[for Ray - Dated to 4/01]

[asher_talos]

Things had been quiet, and Asher wasn't sure yet if that was a good or a bad thing. In that moment, as he sat at the bar of the gazebo outside the hut, he couldn't say he actually cared one way or another. The farthest thing from his mind was Hannibal King and the trouble he'd brought along with him when he showed up.

Maybe he didn't often show it or even think about it all that much, but he knew he had it pretty good on the Island. It wasn't the sort of thought he'd openly express to Danica - lest she disown him completely for thinking something so disgustingly vile - but he knew. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't home, not really, but life on the Island wasn't what it used to be nearly five years ago.

He had Danica, pain in the ass that she was, and that alone made things more bearable than they had been when he first showed up. He had Del and the twins. And, now, he had Ray.

Things could have been a lot worse. Things have been a lot worse...

And its with that thought that he thinks maybe Danica should disown him, because even he was making himself a little nauseous.

Comments

[speakscanadian]

No amount of polish was going to get Ray's boots shiny again. Dust kicked up with every step he took, shrouding his feet in clouds of grit. Luckily the dust didn't reach up as far as his sheriff badge, so that was just as shiny as it had been two hours ago when Ray had buffed it up nice and good.

"...so once we've fought off the last killer machine, I say we elope to Vegas together and see if we can't find ourselves an Elvis," he finished, hands on his hips and pacing having stopped when he looked over at Asher. He clearly hadn't been listening to Ray's plans about how to stop all the dirt from getting into the place where they live. Doggy doormat and paw pool had already been vitoed and Asher appeared to have stopped listening right around the time when Ray had suggested they stick to sweeping and share the housework.

"Wild wild west to Asher, come in, Asher..."

[asher_talos]

"Hm?" Asher hummed as he snapped back, his attention shifting back to Ray.

"Oh. Uh... We sell the dogs to the natives. Problem solved." he said, assuming Ray was still going on about the sand. Unlike the horses, the dogs were more or less useless and were more trouble than they were worth anyway with the Island's newest scenery change.

"Elvis?"

[speakscanadian]

That didn't actually sound like a bad idea. Ray'd leave it up to Asher to find these so-called natives and convince them to take on all three mucky beasts in one go. In the meantime, they were banned from stepping one paw into their now-shack.

"Let them have them for free," Ray suggested, moving over to the bar and reaching for an open bottle. When he poured into a cup, instead of liquid, sandy sludge glooped slowly out the end. "Ew. This wouldn't happen in Vegas." In the nice parts, anyway.

[asher_talos]

Asher grimaced and turned away from the gunk, or else he risked getting sick for an altogether different reason. For someone who could rip out a persons throat with his own teeth a few years back and not bat a last, Asher didn't have the strongest of stomachs when it came to some things. Blood and gore he was fine with, mystery food stuffs with weird consistencies, he couldn't do.

"You're not in Vegas anymore, Toto. Or haven't you noticed?"

[speakscanadian]

Pushing the cup away, Ray turned around to lean back against the bar and face the shack. "You mean this place isn't my nine thousand square foot adobe house on the edge of the desert..?"

If five hundred square feet was the new nine thousand, it might have been.

"I'm shocked." He turned his head to Asher. "You're a really bad butler. That kind of gave it away." That and he never answered to the name Nero.

[asher_talos]

"I seem to recall there being buttermilk, once." And there would only ever be that once, unless the Island decided to turn him into some love fucked zombie again.

"If I was a butler, you wouldn't be able to afford me anyway."

[speakscanadian]

"Oh yeah." Ray remembered, smile on his face. "Feel free to make that twice anytime." It wasn't clear whether the memory of Asher doing something nice had put the smile there or simply the memory of the buttermilk itself. Maybe both.

"You'd never get through the interview stage. I'd blackball you for being too distracting."

[asher_talos]

"Feel free to take advantage of the kindness of the new locals. I'm sure when they aren't busy ignoring you completely, they'll be very accommodating." Maybe even with a 'howdy, Sheriff' and a tip of their hats.

It made Asher miss the dinosaurs.

"And because you couldn't afford me."

[speakscanadian]

"Everything is free here," Ray pointed out, propping his elbow up on the bar and resting his head on his palm, his vision of Asher turning ninety degrees. "So even if I was willing to smash open my piggy bank or sell my body to afford you, I don't got you. The perks of zero currency."

[asher_talos]

It didn't matter which angle Ray was viewing him at, because being flipped off pretty much looked the same no matter which way you saw it.

The smile might have looked strange from his position, though, but that probably had less to do with the way Ray was standing and more to do with the fact that it wasn't something Asher made a habit of doing.

[speakscanadian]

Ray laughed lowly and reached out to push Asher's finger away. "Is that any way to treat the boss?" he joked cheekily, giving Asher an equally cocky smile.

[asher_talos]

"When he's clearly delusional by even suggesting that he's my boss?" Asher thought on it for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that's the perfect way to treat him. And he's lucky I'm stopping there and not shoving my boot where the sun don't shine."

[speakscanadian]

The smile stayed on Ray's face despite Asher's words. When he was done, Ray whispered: "You're so easy to wind up."

When Asher didn't know or like someone, he seemed like a wall, completely impervious, unable to ruffle his feathers. But as soon as they managed the impossible and did it once, Ray figured it became easier to achieve.

[asher_talos]

"And you sure know how to bowl over a moment," Asher said. Of course, unless Ray was a mind reader, he probably didn't know Asher had been in the midst of having one of those - thank goodness - but still. Fortunately, after their first evening with the hot tub, Ray's propensity to ruin that sort of thing wasn't really a surprise anymore.

[speakscanadian]

Ray's expression shifted seamlessly from surprise to intrigue. "You were having a moment?" he enunciated, eyebrow quirking. "I didn't realize you had moments, Asher Talos. A moment of what?"

[asher_talos]

"Clarity," he drawled, rolling his eyes. "I think we should see other people. It's not me, it's you."

[speakscanadian]

"Really," Ray played along, after having a brief moment of his own. Still, he moved closer, tugging on a lapel to bring Asher towards him. He leaned in and hovered dangerously close to Asher's mouth, as if holding back until Asher changed his mind.

He lowered his voice. "Other people are overrated," he murmured. Beat. "And I'm keeping the hot tub."

[asher_talos]

"I'm sure you and your hand will be very happy together," Asher said, lowering his tone to match Ray's. His lips brushed against his gently before he pulled back. "I get the bed."

[speakscanadian]

Ray's eyes rolled heavenwards as he kicked himself mentally for walking right into that.

He was a split-second too late to capitalise on Asher's near kiss and pulled back thoroughly unsatisfied. He kept his hand where it was for now. "Then you're getting me with it," he warned. "I'm in love with that bed. Me and the bed are one."

[asher_talos]

"Not my problem." Asher shrugged, leaning back against the bar, elbows propped up behind him. "You'll get over the loss, eventually."

[speakscanadian]

"I will handcuff myself to that bed before I let you take it from me," Ray told him, hand going with Asher as he leaned back. His gaze flicked momentarily down to the creased lapel, then he released his hold on it and made an attempt to smooth it out.

[asher_talos]

"You should absolutely do that." Asher nodded his approval. "Keep the boots. And the belt." Everything else was optional.

[speakscanadian]

Considering how little time they had had together over the past weeks, Ray was kinda surprised they weren't permanently handcuffed to said bed to make up for it.

"Any other requests?" he asked, walking backwards towards the hut with a look in his eye that said Asher should follow. And if he unbuttoned the very top of his shirt, it was only because it was so hot out there.

[asher_talos]

"I'll let you know if anything else comes to mind," Asher assured him, and follow he did. His vest was already mostly undone by the time he reached the door and shut it behind himself.

[speakscanadian]

"Sand. Sand!" Ray reminded Asher as he watched him tread the dusty grit into the house. Upon a quick second thought, and given the direction in which they were heading, Ray could let it go this time and he lifted a shoulder in a care-free shrug.

"You know, the bed isn't quite how we remember it..." he commented, backs of his knees making contact with the foot of the significantly unmodern bed.