It's been a long day, a longer week, and if Kyle's honest, one helluva year. His world has been turned upside down, strange and different and he wouldn't want to change it for anything else.
Aliens are real. He is their foremost expert. He is working through the past, and becoming a better man.
And that night he's been nursing a beer alone at a small bar that isn't the Pony or Planet 7 and its just reminded him how much he's part of things... and outside of it all.
Heading out for his truck, he pauses to cant his head back, looking up at the stars and feeling utterly how vast space was and how small he is in that moment.
The multiverse was wide. And weird. And complicated. And even when you had the ability to travel through it, that ability wasn't always PRECISE - whether it was kicking down the door between dimensions or magicking your way between it.
Or when you accidentally transported yourself alone because you woke up dreaming about a reality you were maybe stuck in for a while or maybe hallucinated?
Billy was actually pretty sure it was real, but it might be MORE comforting if it wasn't?
He sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck and then transforming his frog pj's into normal clothes, looking around.
There were lights not far away, and what looked like a parking lot, and there were roads. So this was a homeish world, but not home. Billy started trudging that way, adding a jacket to his outfit when the chill in the air caught up to him.
There was a little noise coming from inside the bar, and Billy hovered on the edge of the lot, watching as a couple went in, laughing, another man coming out.
It wasn't until he stopped to look up at the sky that the light from the dim parking lot hit his face enough for Billy to recognize him.
It made sense suddenly. He'd been dreaming of Duplicity, and Kyle, and managed to magic himself to Kyle's reality! He SHOULD have probably thought through to the conclusion where Kyle was here, and not Duplicity, and thus probably didn't remember - Billy had only started a couple of weeks ago. But he was too busy being excited and before he could think about it, he was darting across the parking lot - almost tripping over a concrete bit - and then throwing himself at Kyle, arms going around his neck and hugging tight, practically hanging off of him. "Kyle! Hi! Are you okay? How long have you been here?"
There's dreams that haunt Kyle's sleep. He's been thinking about them often, right then there in the desert. He can't seem to hold on to them, to make sense of the things he sees. A house like the millionaires in Sedona. A tiny creature with too many eyes and hands. People he's never met, never known, and yet who he misses more than he can sometimes find words for when he wakes, eyes stinging and his arms empty.
Waking with the taste of blood in the back of his throat, but no sign of any sort of illness to explain away the taste. There's no blood, but he tastes it sometimes when he wakes. There's a longing sometimes in those twilight moments as he just falls asleep, to not be there alone in his bed, to not know that loneliness again.
It's that loneliness that he feels standing there, staring up at the stars, and wondering if this is what Isobel and Michael feel looking up at these same stars. Except it makes sense of them. He's not sure why he feels so... alone.
And then he is very much not alone.
Someone is suddenly hugging him, calling his name and Kyle goes still, stunned. Without thinking he hugs them back, a sudden fleeting feeling of completion as if that loneliness he's been feeling suddenly fulfilled. By a stranger.
"What? Uhmmm... fine? I live here so since my residency. Uhmmmm..." He realizes he's hugging a young man with dark hair and beautiful eyes and for a moment he feels almost dizzy trying to make sense of it all. "What's going on?"
Billy had thought he'd never see Kyle again. Or Dick, or Gar, or Jason or any of the other people he'd come to care about in Duplicity. He hadn't even a hundred percent been able to say it was real. But this was proof it was, and even if that had Complicated Connotations, it meant the PEOPLE were out there somewhere and Billy couldn't be anything but happy about that.
He pressed a brief but heartfelt kiss to Kyle's lips before Kyle's confusion caught up to him and then his brain re-engaged. "Oh. Shit. You don't remember," he blurted. "Uhhh, Duplicity doesn't ring a bell at all? Or me? Crap. Sorry." He unwound his arms to awkwardly hug them over his chest instead. "Ummmm ... it's complicated?" he tried weakly. "I'm Billy."
For a moment those fleeting thoughts from dreams haunts him. Something he can't quite grasp but there's familiarity and a sense that holding this younger man feels right. Familiar enough that he doesn't want to let go him. Maybe if he keeps him close then maybe he'll remember what it is he keeps dreaming of that is like something out of the corner of his eye.
Something that is entirely forgotten in a moment as he receives that kiss, stunned and confused. They're in the open, and he has no idea who this guy is. No one in Roswell knows he's bisexual and he's not sure that's the way that others should find out about it. Also he looks young, and so hurt by Kyle's lack of memory and he wants to make it better... even if he's not sure why.
"Hi." He says it softly, almost questioning it. "It's okay. I just... I don't remember but I..."
This guy is a stranger and it sounds crazy but he can't help himself anyway.
"I keep having dreams I can't remember." Because none of that makes sense either. He wishes it did. "But I suddenly feel like I'm having one." Why does Billy remind him of his dreams?
"Duplicity?" He frowns, saying the name as if hoping that will make it all make sense.
It was stupid to be upset over Kyle not remembering. Billy knew that was how it worked, he'd seen people come and go from Duplicity enough to know that. The only reason he remembered probably was that he altered reality by nature and away from whatever powered Duplicity, he just kicked that in. And found someone he'd been missing. Who didn't remember. Which he shouldn't be upset about, he told himself. Again. It was just ... it sucked kind of.
"It's okay," Billy said quickly. "It's uhhh ... no one is supposed to remember. I think I did because I'm kind of different. But if you're having dreams, maybe people remember more than they think they do. I could show you but it's ... a lot? And it might be better for you to not know? I don't know. We were ..." Billy had no idea how to describe what they were since it was nothing really strange in Dup but here ... yeah. It'd probably stand out. "We were friends," Billy finished uncertainly. "You helped me out a lot there."
He flashed a nervous sort of smile. "Not a dream," he promised. "Not right now. Just weird? But if you don't want to remember I can probably ... help with that too. Instead of helping you remember."
Kyle may not know everything Billy's talking about but he knows that look and it breaks his heart. He wants to assure him that everything is fine, and that it's okay and that he remembers everything. Something. Anything.
Yet he doesn't. He remembers nothing and he doesn't know what to say.
Because he's not sure its okay.
But this attractive young man kissed him and said they were "friends" and he realizes letting it go is not acceptable. He doesn't want to ignore this, whatever it is.
"Don't make me forget more."
He says it suddenly, eyes wide and panicked.
"I..." He glances around. He doesn't think anyone has seen them, no one outside but that could change any minute. "We should go somewhere else," he says softly. "It can be somewhere public. Just so we can talk about this. I..." Did he want to know? Did he want to remember? Should he? Kyle isn't sure about the last but he knows the rest. He wants to know.
"If not, we can just sit in my truck. I want to know what you're talking about." He wants to know what that longing he feels means. The longing since the dreams started.
"I won't!" Billy raises his hands in a sort of "I come in peace" gesture. "I promise. I wouldn't unless you wanted me to! I want to, you know, help. Not make stuff worse."
He nods quickly. "We can go somewhere. Or just your truck. I trust you. But you don't know me so if you want to just do the truck and not go-go anywhere else, that's fine!" Billy chewed at his lip thoughtfully. "I can uhh, tell you a little bit and then you can decide if you want to know more? or if you just want to decide I'm a crazy person?"
It was a lot, having someone come out of no where and know stuff about you that you didn't even know about yourself. Which Billy kind of gets - it's sort of what Nathaniel did to them, once upon a time. But he thinks the Kyle he knows would rather KNOW than not. He doesn't think it can be that different here, right?
Even as he says it, he realizes he believes it. He does trust him, and he trusts why he's here. Because it feels right to trust him, even if Kyle isn't sure why.
"I just don't think, for some reason, we want anyone hearing this talk." And he's not sure why but it feels like it's right up there with the pod squad and keeping their secrets. Except this one is his own.
"I... I don't think you're crazy," he says, realizing he believes that as well. "For the first time in weeks I don't feel like I'm forgetting to do something."
Or, he now suspects, that he's forgetting something not to do something.
"Come on. Over here," he says, gesturing for the truck. Only after he's in the driver's seat, and Billy is settled, does he says something he can't hold back.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
For Billy
Aliens are real. He is their foremost expert. He is working through the past, and becoming a better man.
And that night he's been nursing a beer alone at a small bar that isn't the Pony or Planet 7 and its just reminded him how much he's part of things... and outside of it all.
Heading out for his truck, he pauses to cant his head back, looking up at the stars and feeling utterly how vast space was and how small he is in that moment.
no subject
Or when you accidentally transported yourself alone because you woke up dreaming about a reality you were maybe stuck in for a while or maybe hallucinated?
Billy was actually pretty sure it was real, but it might be MORE comforting if it wasn't?
He sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck and then transforming his frog pj's into normal clothes, looking around.
There were lights not far away, and what looked like a parking lot, and there were roads. So this was a homeish world, but not home. Billy started trudging that way, adding a jacket to his outfit when the chill in the air caught up to him.
There was a little noise coming from inside the bar, and Billy hovered on the edge of the lot, watching as a couple went in, laughing, another man coming out.
It wasn't until he stopped to look up at the sky that the light from the dim parking lot hit his face enough for Billy to recognize him.
It made sense suddenly. He'd been dreaming of Duplicity, and Kyle, and managed to magic himself to Kyle's reality! He SHOULD have probably thought through to the conclusion where Kyle was here, and not Duplicity, and thus probably didn't remember - Billy had only started a couple of weeks ago. But he was too busy being excited and before he could think about it, he was darting across the parking lot - almost tripping over a concrete bit - and then throwing himself at Kyle, arms going around his neck and hugging tight, practically hanging off of him. "Kyle! Hi! Are you okay? How long have you been here?"
no subject
Waking with the taste of blood in the back of his throat, but no sign of any sort of illness to explain away the taste. There's no blood, but he tastes it sometimes when he wakes. There's a longing sometimes in those twilight moments as he just falls asleep, to not be there alone in his bed, to not know that loneliness again.
It's that loneliness that he feels standing there, staring up at the stars, and wondering if this is what Isobel and Michael feel looking up at these same stars. Except it makes sense of them. He's not sure why he feels so... alone.
And then he is very much not alone.
Someone is suddenly hugging him, calling his name and Kyle goes still, stunned. Without thinking he hugs them back, a sudden fleeting feeling of completion as if that loneliness he's been feeling suddenly fulfilled. By a stranger.
"What? Uhmmm... fine? I live here so since my residency. Uhmmmm..." He realizes he's hugging a young man with dark hair and beautiful eyes and for a moment he feels almost dizzy trying to make sense of it all. "What's going on?"
no subject
He pressed a brief but heartfelt kiss to Kyle's lips before Kyle's confusion caught up to him and then his brain re-engaged. "Oh. Shit. You don't remember," he blurted. "Uhhh, Duplicity doesn't ring a bell at all? Or me? Crap. Sorry." He unwound his arms to awkwardly hug them over his chest instead. "Ummmm ... it's complicated?" he tried weakly. "I'm Billy."
no subject
Something that is entirely forgotten in a moment as he receives that kiss, stunned and confused. They're in the open, and he has no idea who this guy is. No one in Roswell knows he's bisexual and he's not sure that's the way that others should find out about it. Also he looks young, and so hurt by Kyle's lack of memory and he wants to make it better... even if he's not sure why.
"Hi." He says it softly, almost questioning it. "It's okay. I just... I don't remember but I..."
This guy is a stranger and it sounds crazy but he can't help himself anyway.
"I keep having dreams I can't remember." Because none of that makes sense either. He wishes it did. "But I suddenly feel like I'm having one." Why does Billy remind him of his dreams?
"Duplicity?" He frowns, saying the name as if hoping that will make it all make sense.
no subject
"It's okay," Billy said quickly. "It's uhhh ... no one is supposed to remember. I think I did because I'm kind of different. But if you're having dreams, maybe people remember more than they think they do. I could show you but it's ... a lot? And it might be better for you to not know? I don't know. We were ..." Billy had no idea how to describe what they were since it was nothing really strange in Dup but here ... yeah. It'd probably stand out. "We were friends," Billy finished uncertainly. "You helped me out a lot there."
He flashed a nervous sort of smile. "Not a dream," he promised. "Not right now. Just weird? But if you don't want to remember I can probably ... help with that too. Instead of helping you remember."
no subject
Yet he doesn't. He remembers nothing and he doesn't know what to say.
Because he's not sure its okay.
But this attractive young man kissed him and said they were "friends" and he realizes letting it go is not acceptable. He doesn't want to ignore this, whatever it is.
"Don't make me forget more."
He says it suddenly, eyes wide and panicked.
"I..." He glances around. He doesn't think anyone has seen them, no one outside but that could change any minute. "We should go somewhere else," he says softly. "It can be somewhere public. Just so we can talk about this. I..." Did he want to know? Did he want to remember? Should he? Kyle isn't sure about the last but he knows the rest. He wants to know.
"If not, we can just sit in my truck. I want to know what you're talking about." He wants to know what that longing he feels means. The longing since the dreams started.
no subject
He nods quickly. "We can go somewhere. Or just your truck. I trust you. But you don't know me so if you want to just do the truck and not go-go anywhere else, that's fine!" Billy chewed at his lip thoughtfully. "I can uhh, tell you a little bit and then you can decide if you want to know more? or if you just want to decide I'm a crazy person?"
It was a lot, having someone come out of no where and know stuff about you that you didn't even know about yourself. Which Billy kind of gets - it's sort of what Nathaniel did to them, once upon a time. But he thinks the Kyle he knows would rather KNOW than not. He doesn't think it can be that different here, right?
no subject
Even as he says it, he realizes he believes it. He does trust him, and he trusts why he's here. Because it feels right to trust him, even if Kyle isn't sure why.
"I just don't think, for some reason, we want anyone hearing this talk." And he's not sure why but it feels like it's right up there with the pod squad and keeping their secrets. Except this one is his own.
"I... I don't think you're crazy," he says, realizing he believes that as well. "For the first time in weeks I don't feel like I'm forgetting to do something."
Or, he now suspects, that he's forgetting something not to do something.
"Come on. Over here," he says, gesturing for the truck. Only after he's in the driver's seat, and Billy is settled, does he says something he can't hold back.
"You kissed me."