Chapter Text
Balaclava and gloves got torn to shreds. The pieces of black fabric and the knife met the waters of Regent's Canal a few hours later. All the clothes Hickey wore that night got burnt on the riverside and the ashes followed into the abyss. Everything but the shoes because he didn't own another pair.
The sweatpants and hoodie he changed in were softer on his skin and the Universe, that always provided for him if he looked in the right places, gifted him an empty 24/7 laundromat to take a breath in.
A dog barked outside, Cornelius didn't even noticed he fell asleep over his bag. His sight was blurry, the soft morning light was stretched and blinding, and already too strong for his headache. He had to wait at least a couple of days to visit a pharmacy to avoid being linked to the mess of the previous night. There were only a handful of places he could go without being clocked out immediately. But with the hoodie and pair of scratched sunglasses he was covered enough to visit the public library. At least he could use the bathroom and get an assessment on the damage.
Well...Fuck.
Breathing exercises always helped with the pain. Even when inhaling too deep felt like pushing needles in his chest.
Hickey observed his shirtless reflection in the small bathroom mirror, his left cheek was swollen and purple so was his left arm that kept trembling even when he tried to relax it. The shade of color on his left side was only blue, a good news, it meant it wasn't hit as hard and that it was going to heal faster.
The water he spat back in the sink was pink.
Hickey's tongue pressed around and studied his mouth, the taste of rust came from his cheek, all his teeth were in their place.
Good. He felt good, he was alive and free and everything he wanted was still within his reach.
He could ignore the soreness in his legs. The pieces of his burner phone were still in his trousers.
The money from the first salary were enough to get him a cheap room for a few days but it was too risky to show up with a bloody face, plus he hadn't been in London long enough to get useful contacts, he didn't know which areas were safe. Yet his body needed a place to rest and some painkillers.
Shelters were nosy and overcrowded.
The choices thinned out and the only viable option left was one of those places full of junkies. An abandoned station too far from the center for anyone to care.
Funny how he met Cornelius Hickey in a similar place the first time.
"Do you have a lighter?" Hickey had asked him quietly, hands shaking in need of a dose.
"Only matches"
He covered the smell of crack with the smoke of a cigarette and for a moment it felt like living in a loop without escape. A breath and then he was sure he was going through something different, a test, a proof of rebirth, what the late Cornelius Hickey couldn't survive the new one would.
Library. Park. Station.
Library. Park. Station. Supermarket? They'd had him stopped or kept watch on him, Hickey hated to be looked at like a thief. He was, sometimes, but that didn't mean people could just assume the worst about him. Vending machine then.
The syrupy artificial flavor of an energy drink became repetitive and so were his days confined to specific locations. For a lack of alternatives he was left distracting himself with the pieces of his phone. The parts assembled back together gave no sign of life. Bless public libraries for free sockets use. The lower half of the display shined alive then the device started croaking glitched noises.
Shut up!
Cornelius apologized and smiled, snatched the phone cable from the wall and left. It seemed that except for the lack of display the thing worked just fine, maybe the ringtone was even more annoying but Hickey could make do with it, at least for phone-calls. And that was when the phone cackled again.
"Hello?" Hickey couldn't think of anyone who had his number.
"Cornelius? Where are you?" The voice on the other side arrived altered, robotic.
"Who's this?"
"It's Magnus! Where are you? We waited for you!"
"Magnus?" Right, they were supposed to hang out, two days ago.
"And you didn't come to work!"
Work, he forgot about it!
"You could have called me, that was very rude of you"
Magnus remained silent, waiting for an apology. Cornelius' tongue caressed his gums.
"I'm sorry about that" He finally conceded.
"Okay" Magnus agreed, "Are you okay?" he asked softly, "I was worried"
"What the fuck happened to you?!" Thomas shouted when Cornelius came out of the bathroom wearing Magnus' clothes and with his beaten face completely visible.
'First night at the fight club' he wanted to say, Hartnell barely knew him, Hickey didn't owe him any explanation but thinking about it a second longer it was easier if he just lied. "I had an accident with my roommate's scooter and he didn't take it well" he shrugged, "Magnus said I could stay here for tonight. If it's okay with you"
"Sure mate," From his part Thomas understood immediately to stop prying, "the couch turns into a bed." and to show his point the host started lifting the mattress.
"You're so kind but don't worry about that, I can do it later." Hickey stopped him, he could put up a pretense of niceness at least. "Don't want to bother more than I already have"
"Oh, uhm, sure. I'll help Magnus in the kitchen then...so you can get comfortable. I'll call you for dinner okay?"
"That would be lovely" Hickey smiled sweetly, "Thank you" he locked the door of the small living room, the muscles in his arm still trembling from the blows, his hair still damp from the hour long shower, Cornelius didn't care about unfolding the couch into a bed or to put clean sheets over it. This flat was a safe place, the worst that could happen was pissing off Hartnell and Hickey didn't really give a shit about that.
Laying down on the couch Cornelius could finally stop regulating his breathing. He hated the first minutes when it all came out at once and his body was a separate entity, suddenly forgetting how to let the oxygen in and out. Relaxing was one of the most painful thing he had to do, but Cornelius had learnt years before it a was necessary evil or his body would betray him when he needed it most.
The knocking at the door that informed him of dinner time got unanswered, after a few second the sound stopped and didn't repeat.
The next thing Hickey knew, it was the day after.
The flat was silent and Neil's stomach begged him to be filled. His first thought was to take a smoke instead, train his body to his will like he could do a few months ago, before it got used to five meals a day. His belly growled again and Hickey decided that he could get a compromise after all: Breakfast.
There were two mugs in the sink and zero in the cabinet, Cornelius took a glass without thinking about it and filled it. He ate and didn't care he finished the box of cereals.
The clock on the wall ticked loud, it was past midday. The sound of steps getting closer. Someone was home.
"You sleep a lot" Magnus greeted.
"I was really tired" Hickey faked a yawn, "Where is Tom now?"
"Work"
Then Magnus asked him about his scooter accident. How it felt, what was it like, if he got scared.
Cornelius hadn't seen many accidents in his life but he had used the scooter story often enough, he could describe wheels' trajectories and how faster than the speed limit the other driver was going. Nobody ever asked him if he got scared. Nobody had cared how he felt in ages.
"It's not that you really understand what's happening." Neil said, "It's more that you feel like your body is moved around and you can't stop it. I wasn't afraid, just pissed. But if you're lucky enough it's just some bruises. And I'm always lucky anyway" Neil explained.
"I'm sorry if I got angry," Magnus confessed after a few second of silence "Thomas says some coworkers are real assholes"
Hickey chuckled, "Well, he's right. Hope I'm not one of those"
"Of course not!"
"So, ehm" Tommy clears his voice, "A few months ago Hartnell got a promotion"
Sol nods. So the cult is newly founded, great.
"And he couldn't play football with us. You know, new schedule and all." He gestures vaguely, "We had to find another guy to take his place so Des Voeux comes up and brings one of his colleagues. And we started playing. You've seen us, it's not that we put too much effort in it. It's for fun, but this guy was competitive as fuck and well," Tommy takes a sip of water before going on, "A gol was inevitable, not that we cared but this guy took it bad. Real bad. And... Magnus was the goalie...this guy started offending him," Armitage lowers his tone, "saying horrible, horrible shit. I didn't know what to do, Magnus was upset, of course. It felt like it wasn't real. You know?"
Oh. Sol doesn't know what to say so he gestures for the other to continue. This isn't the story he imagined.
"Neil was the first to react. Honestly, I thought he would've been the first to raise his hands, counting he just broke up and was in a pretty bad mood, but he just told that asshole if he didn't apologize he had to leave." Armitage sighs, "As you can imagine there came no apologies"
"And Hickey hit him?"
"No, Hickey sucks at fist fights, it was the other guy that punched him first. Actually," Tommy gets his phone out "I have the video"
Fuck yes, Solomon wants to see it.
The footage is shaky, "Des Voeux made it" Armitage explains, "It's always like this when he records stuff", but Solomon still recognizes everyone except the guy. The video starts with Hickey's hands cupped under his nose. He looks with curiosity as they're filling with blood. The others are slowly getting closer, the guy is angry screaming and Tozer's happy there's no audio, he doesn't want the details. Hickey just looks the guy dead cold in the eyes, there's a trail of shiny wetness where he dried his hands on his black tee but now that his face his visible Solomon sees him smiling, his beard streaked in red.
It feels like someone's squeezing Solomon's gut. Something deep that he didn't expect. Tozer wants to say something articulate but he only manages a low murmur. He can feel himself blushing.
"See, this is when Magnus comes for the rescue, broke the guy's face." Tommy comments as Manson appears on the screen and punches the guy right on the nose. Hickey takes a step back and cheers.
Sol smiles along, the asshole deserved all of it.
Wait, when did he get passionate to the story? He arrived thinking those people were insane, and now? He rooted for them. Was all the tension with Hickey really about this? Wasn't he about to start a fight with Sol the other night?
"Didn't picture Hickey as someone who steps back from a fight" Tozer questions.
"No shit, Magnus always has his back." Armitage rolls his eyes.
Manson wasn't with him last night outside the pub. "Always?"
"They're best friends, they've been roommates for at least an year now." Tommy shrugs.
Sol hums thoughtful, "Hickey knows he could've just told me right? That starting a beef like that was just stupid?"
Tommy frowns, "He isn't often...traditional and I know he's annoying when you've just met him. And... after that. And I've heard the worst about him from Billy." his expression softens "But he cares."
Suddenly Sol recalls the first time he met Hickey and how he wanted to be sure Sol would have been kind.
"So...Did he like, took out his knife?" Tommy asks, "That's what upset you?"
"His knife?" Tozer echoes.
When he was 10, Tom Hartnell and his brother found a baby squirrel in the park, not older than two weeks. His short fur ruffled, the scared little thing let them pet it. They brought it home and fed the rodent nuts, seeds and fruits. They never had pets and their parents didn't complain about the new family member, "You'll look after it" their mother told them. It was so cute, its cheeks full of seeds and it tickled when it climbed their arms and legs. Its tail as soft and fluffy as it looked. Unlike other pets though, squirrel couldn't be trained and the soft ball of gray fur shat on every table, cabinet and surface it could reach. It chewed on books and toys and homeworks.
Living with Cornelius Hickey, Tom thinks, is the same. He watches Neil leaving dirty dishes in the sink without a worry on who's going to wash them, (Thomas, it's Thomas who'll wash them), to think that he was so close to move in with Billy and then they broke up. How could someone as precise as Gibson stand Hickey who avoided chores like the plague?
Neil called Billy a traitor then buried himself in Magnus' bed without eating, without leaving the blankets but to take a piss. After the first week of break up, when he finally got up, he just acted like nothing ever happened, like Billy never existed. At that point it felt too cruel for Thomas to ask him why they broke up, or to do the dishes. Hickey would look at him with his baby rodent eyes and assure him he would clean everything later and then he would conveniently disappear for a few hours.
The only thing Thomas knew Hickey would wash was the yellow mug Magnus insisted they gift him when it seemed obvious Hickey wouldn't move out.
"He eats cereals from glasses" Magnus pointed out. "He's ridiculous"
And there Neil is, taking his mug from the cupboard and filling it with milk.
"Are you really having breakfast right after dinner?" Hartnell has to ask.
"'m still hungry" his roommate shrugs and grabs the cereal box.
This happens because you eat from cans but never cook anything, Tom wants to point out but they've discussed enough on the topic so he just asks "Doesn't it bother you that it tastes like breakfast?"
Hickey looks at him like he's got something on his face. "No?" then he frowns thoughtful.
Noo! Fuck. Tom knows that face, he said the wrong thing, now Hickey won't shut up for hours.
"Stop policing yourself for everything" he just says instead.
Seems like he shares Tom's annoyance on talking about his (lack of) diet, tonight he was lucky but sometimes Tom wonders if Hickey starts monologuing just to unnerve him.
Then a chime. Neil turns to his laptop. He hums and smiles.
"Good news?"
"Yep. Don't know why Tommy worried so much about Tozer being all moody, just said he's goin' to be there tomorrow"
"Maybe cause he's got a crush and you've been a dick?"
Hickey puffs and rolls his eyes, sometimes Tom really wishes he could slap his roommate's squirrel face.
Peace ^.^
Tozer emailed back.
He's home, feeling like an idiot because he doesn't know how to feel about Hickey, on one side he's an annoying asshole that acts like he's better than everyone else because he can vaguely quote Marx.
On the other side he's the kind of loyal that gets in a fist fight for his friends. Which aligns with Sol's principles.
On the other other side, Hickey carries around a knife, which is a bad sign, but it's also sexy. And he's so damn handsome with blood smeared on his face.
Shit! Sol can't show up tomorrow with a boner, he has to figure it out tonight.