May Day: Part 16

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Doyle hummed the theme tune to Dixon of Dock Green as he poured himself another gin. His house was quiet and dark, except for the one lamp on the sideboard. He chuckled to himself, but sobered almost instantly. He wandered back across the shadowy room, taking a pre-emptive gulp of the spirit and picking up his book on the way, he settled back down into his sofa in the peace.

The words weren’t going in. No matter how many times he read a sentence, he couldn’t quite latch on to what it actually meant. He just couldn’t stop thinking about Bodie. He didn’t know what he was feeling: proud, worried, regretful, amused… He never knew how he was feeling anymore. It almost felt like a storm was going on in his head, and he didn’t even want to think about his heart.

It had been a low-down dirty trick, and whatever bit of bobby was left inside of him was wincing. But having Bodie just dump him in the street, like that - when all he’d said was that he didn’t think he had enough coins to stay at the pub too long, especially what with Bodie’s date coming down - had just been the last straw.

His face had done that thing which Doyle hated more than anything; Bodie had had the face without a look on it, and his voice had sounded hollow and strange: “You’d better get some money, then.” And that had been that; Doyle was walking home. Doyle had moved right past guilt, now - if he felt indignant and wounded, then it probably wasn’t his fault anyway.

But it was. And he knew it, which was why he’d reacted so badly to Bodie ditching him. He’d marched round to his nearest contact, and pulled a favour so dirty all the gin in the world wouldn’t make him clean.

Speak of the devil, Doyle thought as his living room was suddenly illuminated by car headlights. Setting his empty glass down, wiping his mouth anxiously with the back of his hand - and some of his arm - Doyle instinctively looked for hiding places. He knew what was coming.

He opened the door before Bodie could boot it down, but his face was met with a fist he didn’t even see coming. Bodie had never, ever hit him before - Doyle had never thought he would. He lay, dazed and winded, staring up at his ceiling for a moment, before the same hand reached down and grabbed his forearm, hauling him upright and towards him. 

"You met Charlie, then?" Doyle muttered, groggy beyond words.

He was having trouble seeing straight - Bodie was a lot harder than even anyone thought and the punch had given Doyle stars in his skull - but he fixed unfocused eyes onto the face that was actually, now he thought about it, a lot closer to his own face than he had first imagined.

“… Bastard,” Bodie had been saying, softly and under his breath, but Doyle thought he only caught the end of it. He leaned in closer, putting his ear to Bodie's lips.

“Beg pardon?”

“No, that’s it,” Bodie said mildly, his face giving nothing away at all as Doyle drew back to look dazedly at him. “ Bastard.” 

"I know," Doyle grinned a balmy, half-witted grin, drunk with danger and a possible concussion.

Comments

[schnuffi.livejournal.com]

Aha, so that's what happened. Doyle being mopey as well and playing childish tricks on Bodie. Bad Doyle!

Guess he just got what he deserved - now I wonder what Bodie has in mind next. Somehow I'm sure he won't kill Doyle or even beat him up anymore than he already did.

That was a nice twist you put in there - thanks for writing!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Good response. There's some smarting ahead.

I'll take the next. And sorry, folks, I'm kinda wedded to plot, so it might take me until tomorrow night to disentangle this bunch of fong luh. Unless you all prefer the crazy..

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

I've never done this sort of thing before, so thankyou!

And I think a good strong dose of plot is a worthwhile thing to wait for, indeed - you can see how I 'neatly' sidestepped that particular problem. :P

[schnuffi.livejournal.com]

Oh goodie - I happily leave the plot to those who can actually write plot and stick to the action scenes meself *G*

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Well, Doyle's a hot-headed sort of person: probably not thinking straight when he did what he did.

What Bodie has in mind is up to kiwisue, but I doubt he'd kick Doyle when he's down... Especially over a misunderstanding... Or would he?

Thankyou very much, love! Glad you liked! :D

ps. your icon makes me laugh EVERY single time you use it! :D

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

You did a very neat sidestep indeed - but they're back at each others' throats again and that'll take some explaining. Will give it my best shot!

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Yay!! Alice is playing too!! Loved this - I like how you switched us back to Doyle and got the pair of them in the same room again, even if Doyle saw stars.*g* Bodie's punch, followed by his "Bastard" and then his “No, that’s it,” Bodie said mildly seemed just about right, so thank you!

One thing, hon, the 'has' here needs to be 'had'.. ("and his voice has..")

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

:) I like action scenes & you do them pretty well. I just have to think about how it all works together!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwww lads! You had him find Doyle right away and Doyle didn't even make it difficult!

He certainly deserved that punch too, which obviously Doyle recognizes else he'd have punched back.

drunk with danger and a possible concussion :D

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. The fun thing about a RR is to see who takes us where, and to figure out WTF you're going to do with your part. *g* Very nice. I love when people go off in their own direction.

Thanks!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

I look forward to it. I for one, like the plot and have been trying to plot it up a bit! *pulls up chair and waits*

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

*evil laugh* 'cos it's expected, and may be true, wait and see.

Hmmm. Have we established that it's (so far)a misunderstanding? Including the thugs at the pub?

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

:D

Well, the way I thought of it was that Bodie and Doyle had a misunderstanding/argument in the car, where they were speaking at cross-purposes - Bodie doesn't think he said one thing, Doyle thought he said another (all because of their previous argument). Doyle gets arsey and impulsively calls a favour in to 'scare' Bodie, to teach him a lesson... I didn't understand why else Doyle would have got thugs on Bodie, y'see?

Hope that was of some help? Hopefully you can work with it and I haven't ballsed things up too badly! :D

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Hello, hello! Yes, am late to the party, but I'm here (and caught up) now! :D

Thankyou very much indeed! I'm glad you thought it was in character: it's always been rather a thing for me that Bodie never punched Doyle in the show, whereas Doyle did. That protective thing I think B has for D always bends my mind, so working against it was worrying! :P

Ahhh, thankyou, love! Alas, alack, t'was but slipped fingers in the middle of distracted history revision! Sorted now, thanks, pet!

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

hee, chuffed you picked up the cashpoint machine *g* ( is not sure why cashpoint machine is so charming ). And am charmed too with Bodie whumping Doyle, and only a little bit sorry Doyle saw stars. Oh, I'm not down on Doyle btw, the other way round would have worked for me too! Glad you're playing!

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, that's one possible explanation (and no, no balls are up, except in the best kind of way!). There are others but I don't know for certain which one I'll use can't tell you or I'll have to kill you.

Guess you'll just have to wait *g*

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

Damn yoooou! :P

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a lovely point, too, and couldn't resist expanding on it!

Heee, glad you liked the minor battering - punch ups are always fun! And thankyou, love: happy to be here! :D

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

I've never taken part in one before, but I'm loving this one! Glad you liked - thankyou!

[ailcia.livejournal.com]

They know each other too well, I think. They're so gloriously dysfunctional! :D

I think Doyle knows when he's done wrong... Unlike Bodie, like! :D

SO glad you liked! xxxa

[ankaree.livejournal.com]

Good job! I like that you brought the lads are back together again. And worrying his Bodie like he did, I guess he deserved that punch :)