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You and Dude were both chilling in your house, lounging around on the couches.It was a pretty standard hangout for you two, always sitting around at your place chatting or just spending time together. This time, however, you could tell that Dude was more stressed out than he usually was. He doesn’t typically spend this much time straight up complaining about the town, about the world itself. The topic itself wasn’t out of the ordinary, but today he seems way more caught up in things than usual. He was gesturing a bit more forcefully as he spoke, and kept finding another grievance to go on about instead of mellowing out a little bit after chilling with you for a while. You were both pretty laid back people, but shit must be getting to him lately.
Talking to Dude had always been the best, him being the only one you’d be able to chat with for literal hours, and this wasn’t exactly an exception, but it’s a bit more intense than you were used to him being. That makes sense though, what with his bitch of a wife, with being unemployed, with always having so much shit to get done in this town where people were more likely to pull a gun on you than to give you the time of day. Even if today he has more on his plate than usual, there’s always a lot going on in his life. You yourself were always lucky you could be holed away at your place to avoid much of the town’s issues itself, but you really felt for the guy. You hate seeing him all worked up, so you try to think of something you could do to help, and you quickly decide that the best way would be the way you yourself relax when you need that extra help. You think it’ll be perfect for you both to chill for a while while still having a nice time together.
He takes a moment to shake his head in between one of his rants about the various townsfolk and the way they act, and you step in before he gets completely worked up again.
“Hey, Dude, why not let your errands lie for a few hours? I know we’re already hanging out right now, as we do, but,” You sit up a bit and look at him more directly, “How about we just take some painkillers and laze about in bed together and ride out the high? I know I like to do that when I’ve got a lot on my plate, and that seems like it could be something you really need right now.”
Dude hesitates for a moment, thinking it over real quick, “I’m usually more of an ‘uppers’ kinda guy, as you know, but hell, you’re right… that does sound pretty nice,” he sits up too, stretching out his back, “A bit of a mind break from this crazy week, I just can’t pass that up” He smiles and already seems to relax back into the recliner, realizing now how worked up he was getting before.
“Sweet man! go ahead and bring the radio to the bedroom and start it to whatever channel you’d like while I go grab them”
You head into the kitchen, squinting as you pass the window. Even with the curtain closed the sun’s been bothering you lately. You used to be up for most of the day, but lately you’ve found your sleep schedule drifting to where you’re awake later and later into the night. Hell, if it wasn’t for Dude having a really reasonable sleep schedule you’d probably be a full night owl at this point, but you’d never give up your hangouts with him. You even often already give up extra sleep on the days you see him. It isn’t that much of a hard decision because you sleep less and less these days regardless, so you might as well spend that time awake doing something you enjoy doing, like this.
The radio crinkles to life in the other room and you hear the flipping of channels as you grab the pills and make your way to your bedroom in the back of your place.
“Hey, sorry I forgot to ask, have you ever done this before? I gotta know the right dose to give you.”
“Painkillers? No, actually. I wasn’t joking around with what I said earlier. I’m always out seeking the ‘energizing’ stuff out,” You count out the right pills for each of you while he talks, “When you got as much on your plate as I do, it just makes sense to have that extra edge.”
It’s kinda funny how different you both were, he always needed to keep up with the demands of his life while you were always looking to try to escape them. And now here you are together, best friends in Paradise-fucking-Arizona.
Still, you were surprised that he hadn’t taken them before whatsoever. He’s not the type to shy away from drugs in general, and he’s certainly done a lot of them that you hadn’t tried.
You toss Dude his pills, which he immediately takes, totally raw dog.
“Oh come on Dude, dry swallowing pills isn’t good for you. I literally have water.” He just chuckles at you, and you take your pills as well, with water. You also grab some more water just to have on both sides of the bed on the nightstands in case it’s needed later. Better to have them now than to have to get up later.
Dude shrugs off his trench coat, it’s a strange sight because that’s what he always wears, but you were happy he could feel comfortable enough around you to really relax. You’ve seen his arms before, but the amount of times he’s actually taken his trench coat off around you like that you could count using one hand. He really only took it off when he needed to wash blood and stuff off of it, after all. You get the fan from across the room and turn it on, it wasn’t exactly summer yet, but it was the time of year where it was starting to feel like it could be. Dude unties his boots and puts them all next to the other stuff he discarded when he came in. One of the cats he had with him today almost immediately finds its place on his now discarded coat.
You both settle down on the bed, propped up on some pillows.
“I know it hasn’t kicked in yet, obviously, ” Dude breathes out, taking his shades off and putting them on your nightstand, “But it really is just nice to even have this moment of a break. Not just now, hanging out with you is always a good time. Unlike anywhere else.”
You glance over at him. His eyes were such a bright vibrant green. You've seen them before, glances here and there, a lot more times than you’ve seen him without his coat. There was something about being able to look at them while he’s just gazing off into the room like he is. It feels like a different experience. You understood his preference for his shades, but damn. His eyes were beautiful.
“Well, it’s a good thing we’re friends, then. You’re definitely my favorite part of this town, too.” You have no idea what you’d even be doing with your life if it wasn’t for him. Part of you wants to call that a little bit sad, but it’s not that bad. There are definitely worse fates than hanging out with your best (and only) friend a few times a week and making enough money that you don’t have to be working insane overtime hours to afford what you have.
He smiles, still not looking at you. You look out towards your familiar surroundings as well.
“Are you comfortable? Anything else you might need?”
“What else could I need? I have my favorite person here and good drugs in my system. You’ve even provided a bed and blankets to relax in. I’m supposed to feel good here, right? I feel you’re providing more than enough.” You smile, happy that he’s happy. It almost feels strange how quickly you became this close to each other, it’s been more than half a year since you met, but you both just seemed to get closer and closer to each other with every meeting. You wonder how long exactly you had been each other’s favorites, when it finally hit a milestone that significant. What with how you both didn’t have anyone else you were particularly fond of, probably not too long an amount of time whatsoever, but you’re not complaining. You give a hum of affirmation and contentment.
“Just let me know if that changes at any point. I’m here to serve.” You lower your head a little bit in a mockup of a bow.
“Oh-hoh? Be careful what you’re offering.” He chuckles and you laugh along with him.
You look at him again, intending to keep the bit going, and see something you hadn’t noticed before. There was a discoloring taking up a decent part of his right arm. He was covered in scars here and there, as expected from the various stories he’s told, but this was newer. It wasn’t fresh per say, pretty faded, but the coloring of his skin there was obviously different.
“Woah… that one looks pretty rough, Is that a burn?” You gesture to it, and he lifts his arm to get a look at it, as if he forgot it was even there.
“Oh, that,” He grumbles, “I was in the library when those protesters burned it down last month. A god-damned bookshelf fell onto me and left me that little addition to the collection.” He lets you grab his wrist and turn his arm around to inspect it. You give a low whistle and let go. Dude crosses his arms immediately for a moment, rubbing the scar itself absentmindedly, then relaxes and puts his arms back down. “It’ll fade more with time.” You nod, thinking the same thing. It could have been a lot worse. “Besides, only you and I are going to be seeing it at all, not many get the pleasure of seeing me this unclothed,” He gestures down to his body, still mostly covered. You still give him a once over, as if that’s somehow changed during this conversation.
You divert your eyes again, looking at your surroundings, continuing the waiting game. You scratch at your neck for a second, feeling your body start to itch. That’s always good. You’re about to mention this to dude to see if he’s starting to feel it as well, but he beats you to the punch.
“Eugh… I’m fucking itchy.”
You laugh, finding it funny how you were both on a similar wavelength with this, “Me too, man. That’s how you know it’s going to start kicking in. I think it’s a histamine response or something…”
“Hey, if us doing this together goes well… maybe we should try crack together sometime, you’ve never done that right? It can be like a trade off.” At your blank look he smirks, “just kiddin’. I know that’s not really your style. I don’t think I’d want that to be your thing, regardless…” He trails off, looking a little distracted.
Suddenly he lays the pillows out so he can properly lay down, and with his eyes closed he blindly grabs for the blanket. You do him a favor and pull it into his reach before following his lead. You lay down next to him, both of you facing each other, comfy and snug in the blankets.
“Hey Dude?” He makes a sound of acknowledgement. “Do you ever just… have moments where you can relax at all, outside of the times we hang out?” Dude sighs at that. You look at him for too long of a time, and he looks a lot more relaxed than you had ever seen him before. It felt cliche to think so, like some description of seeing someone you love sleep and how their face changes. That doesn’t make it any less fitting though. His face has changed. You shift to lay more on your back instead of facing him, also sighing and sinking into your pillow.
“I think you already know the answer to that…” That was true. You did. You feel bad for him, that sounds goddamned exhausting. Still, looking at his face here and now, there’s at least this moment for him. This moment for you too, not for a chance at a relaxing, blind to the world day, but a chance to help him, see him as he could be. Without the piles of stress weighing him down.
You both stop speaking, Dude starting to get caught up in the feeling and you not wanting to distract him from that. You get to see his first time getting to experience this opiate high. After you do them a few times it’ll never feel quite that intense again, which you can say from experience.
You’re happy that you could do this for him, really. With the few months you’ve known Dude, it feels like he’s always helping you out, even ever since you met, so it’s nice to be able to return the favor every once in a while with something more substantial than just hanging out.
It was kind of a miracle how close you two are to each other at this point. You both kept to yourselves overall, interacting with people only when you needed to. Even when you met, he was just stopping by the gas station you worked at at the time to put a few bucks into his tank (this was back when he had a functional car, though he does often keep a gas can with him these days as well). It was a night shift at the gas station, and Dude walked in while you were getting robbed at gunpoint. It was a common experience, and the main reason you don’t have that job anymore. Fearing for your life that often kind of sucks, you’d rather stay home and not think you’re going to die by gunshot. Also a good reason you tend to stay home overall instead of hitting the town. That time you didn’t have to go through the motions of giving up all the money and calling your manager because Dude stepped in and threatened the guy to back off. You gave him a few extra gallons at no charge, as much as you could really get away with. After that, you two had just ended up seeing each other around town more, even with how little you left your house. It just went to show how often Dude was out and about. So one of the times you saw him you took a chance and called him over to give him your phone number so you could actually hang out on purpose instead of just seeing each other around. He seemed different to everyone else in town, so you didn’t want to miss that connection. It took a little bit of convincing on your part, something you’d normally drop pretty quickly, but it was worth it.
Your first real hangout you both had a lot of fun, and found it really easy to talk and joke together. Properly getting to know him confirmed your suspicions, too: he was different from all the other weirdos in this town. So you just kept hanging out after that. Now you do so multiple times a week. It helps that you both don’t really have any other friends, and Dude hates being at his place with his wife (and from the offhand things he’s mentioned, you completely understand why).
“You…. do this a lot then…?” Dude asks you after a time, breaking you out of your thoughts.
“...You could say that, yeah.” He stretches next to you, and surprises you by reaching out and snuggling up to your side, arm thrown haphazardly across your midsection. He grumbles a little bit.
“I can understand why… If I could do something like this forever I would,” You understand the sentiment. “...Mind turning to the side so I can get closer?” You shuffle to the side, completely accepting this turn of events, and Dude snuggles into your back, even throwing his leg over you. He was acting outside his usual norm with the physical affection, but you were comfortable, happy. It really made you realize you were touch starved as all hell.
“Thank you…” he breathed out. You think about his thanks, ‘Thank you for turning to the side’, but also, you think- ‘Thank you for doing this for me. Thank you for being here with me.’
You both continue to occasionally slip in and out of short conversation, voices soft. It’s easy for Dude to lose focus on it when he allows himself to, easy to get lost in the feeling of the high and even easier to get lost in the feeling of your warm bodies pressed against each other. You could feel the bit of energy flowing through you that you never seemed to have anymore. This was nice, cuddling together, you focusing on Dude, knowing he’s getting this moment away from his hectic life here, in bed with you. You try not to think too much about that.
“You know,” Dude says, “You feel like the only real person in this fucking town. Everyone else just fucking… You’re the only one who gets it, the only one who under-” he cuts himself off with a chuckle. “Well, never expected that.” It’s a similar sentiment to things you both had mentioned at one time or another, offhandedly. How strange everyone else was, even how unreal things could feel sometimes. His words now felt more real though, more vulnerable, open.
You wiggled around, facing him again, he moved his leg back to let you wiggle around but kept his arm on you. God, the look on his face. His eyes were lidded, just gazing at you. You wanted to reach out and hold his face in your hands because… He was beautiful. Looking at him right now, (and you’ve thought the same way about him many times prior to this, but were too hesitant to acknowledge it before) he was gorgeous. Your hands wander up and you hold both sides of his face. You just wanted to keep touching him, keep holding him. He kept his eyes on you, curious, accepting your touch. His gorgeous green eyes, not as out of it as you had assumed he was before. You wanted to kiss him. How long have you wanted to kiss him? This man was really a lifeline to you, he meant so much to you and with everything you know about him, and the way he acts around you versus anyone else, you know that you mean as much to him as well. All that time you two spent together, every conversation you had, always bringing you closer and closer to each other and farther from the rest of the world.
You inch your face closer to his, deciding that giving in to your desires is the best course of action, and he gives a little smirk before meeting your lips halfway.
Your head spins, you’re not sure if it’s the drugs or the affection, or some amalgamation of the two that was causing it, but it felt like the kiss lasted forever, while also only lasting a second.
“You know,” Dude gives a breathy chuckle, leaning his forehead against yours, “We’re gonna have to do that again when I’m not feeling half asleep.” You cuddle into Dude.
“Sounds like a good plan to me.”
And you spend the rest of the high there, embraced. There was probably going to have to be a conversation about this, but right here and right now? Things were as perfect as they could be.