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Benny trails after Frankie, trying to follow the path Frankie had forged, wondering if Frankie didn’t realise he’d be following him, or if Frankie was doing it on purpose.
Luckily, Benny had long legs, and Frankie always wore that stupid cap. Benny had no idea where Fish had pulled it from, but he spotted it on the man’s head through the crowd and caught up with him.
Slapping him on the back, he speaks, “Fish man, wait up.”
Frankie turns to see Benny catching up to him, but doesn’t say anything, continuing to walk through the crowd.
Benny feels a little uneasy at the reaction, but continues. “Where ya headed? Can I come?”
Frankie shakes his head a little, eyebrows raised, not to tell Benny, ‘no’, but just at Benny’s relentlessness.
“Yeah, sure, whatever. I was gonna grab some food. You hungry?”
Benny grins at him, joking, “Is Pope Catholic?” Which makes Frankie chuckle.
The two settle on little local place, ordering something hearty while Benny texts his brother to let them know where he is.
The mood was still pretty somber, coming to terms with the events of the past few weeks. The men were pretty keen to get home and now they had some passports, they could get back to some sort of semblance of a ‘normal’ life. Whatever that would look like.
The food arrives as Will does, and he sits down to join the men.
They eat up, finishing with another round of beers as the waiter clears the table.
“Early flight tomorrow, boys,” Will says, a slight order in his voice, but mainly just making conversation.
“Thank fucking Christ,” Benny exclaims, taking another sip of the ice cold beer.
“Hmmm…” Frankie murmurs, but adds nothing else.
“You spoken to Miri?” Will asks quietly, leaning into Frankie’s space. He hears Benny scoff at his question, turning to give his brother a ‘look’ before turning back to Frankie.
Frankie shakes his head, avoiding eye contact as he turns his head, sipping his beer.
Will sighs, placing a hand on Frankie’s arm that’s resting on the table.
“You need somewhere to stay for a while… take a breather… you can stay with us…” Will says, softly, glancing over at Benny before attempting to make Frankie’s eye contact.
Frankie doesn’t respond, but doesn’t seem to be offended by Will’s offer.
Benny stands then, pulling Frankie up by his other elbow. “Come on, guys,” he practically whines. “Let’s go. I’m beat.” He drags Frankie out of the bar, slinging an arm across his shoulder as the older man lifts his cap off his head, running his fingers through his head, an obvious sign of his discomfort, but he lets Benny lead him out.
Sighing, Will follows the two men, watching from a distance.
He observes the way Benny leans in to Frankie, whispering softly in his ear. He then observes the way Frankie’s hunched up shoulders drop, slightly, indicating whatever Benny has said has helped relax the tense pilot.
Smiling, Will thinks that Benny is just as good for Frankie as Frankie is as good for Benny. He’s happy Frankie is someone in Benny’s life he can trust, who’s a good friend, who doesn’t expect too much from him, but also knows what he’s worth.
And he hopes Benny can be that same person for Frankie right now, cause it seems like he’s gonna need all the support he can get when they get home.
The men arrive at their hotel shortly, again, put up by Santiago, though he had long since checked out and left them. While it wasn’t unusual for the man to disappear from their lives for a period of time, Will guessed it was definitely a more forced departure. Santiago seemed to have a lot of guilt over this entire adventure.
Will follows the two men into the elevator, allowing them to press the button for their floor. He follows them out of the elevator, his brother’s arm still slung across Frankie’s shoulder, hips bumping as the walk down the narrow hallway.
Will watches them closely, a small smile on his face, thinking how nice it is that both the men are so relaxed around one another. Lord knows it was needed after the tense few weeks they just had.
They stop in front of Frankie’s door, and the man sheepishly turns to look at Will.
Frankie’s hand reaches down to grip at Benny’s waist, as he attaches himself to the pilot.
“Night, bro,” Benny calls out to Will who keeps walking on down the hall to his room.
“Night guys,” Will calls over his shoulder with a small smirk. “Flight’s at 9:30 so we’re leaving here at 6. Kay?”
“Yeah, Will, sure,” Frankie’s husky voice calls out, eyes trailing the man down the hall. He watches as Will opens the door to his room, looking back the two men, smiling fondly before slipping inside.
“Come on, Benny,” Frankie says as he opens the door and gently guides Benny inside.
Once they’re inside the safe privacy of the room, Benny lets go of his friend.
Frankie heaves out a deep breath before locking the door and throwing his wallet, phone and cap on the table in the room.
“You need the bathroom?” He asks Benny, who has flopped down on the bed, waving his hand at Frankie.
Frankie smiles a little at Benny before heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
When he makes his way out a few minutes later, Benny has made himself comfortable. His shirt, jeans and shoes and crumpled on the floor and he’s snuggled under the covers of Frankie’s bed.
“You aren’t even gonna brush your teeth?” He asks as he climbs into the bed.
Benny immediately moves over to his friend, latching onto him as Frankie gets comfortable.
“Night Benny,” he mumbles against the pillow.
“Night Fish,” comes the soft reply as Frankie closes his eyes and tries to push aside thoughts of Miri and arguments and home, and just focus on the here and now. Feeling safe, content and appreciated by the young man.