The Perk, Saturday Afternoon

[doctorgingerspice]

Kol was definitely well beyond the puppy stage, but still energetic enough to need a lot of exercise. Which meant, by extension, Will got plenty of exercise.

So no guilt whatsoever in stopping by the Perk on the way back to his apartment (he had an apartment here now, that was still taking some getting used to) for a pistachio latte.

... What. They hadn't had those back in 2019, and he'd missed them.

So once he got Kol settled outside with a bowl of water, he found a table by the window and settled in with his drink, idly scrolling his phone.

[ooc: opennnnnn.]

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[mother_love]

Billy had been still keeping a pretty low profile the last week or so. The attempts to totally forego sleep having proven to be less than effective.

But he still did enjoy a well-brewed mocha. And the nightmares were still making it hard to sleep, even if he had mostly accepted them for the shitty reality that they were.

So, he made his way into The Perk, after of course stopping to give a soft smile to the pup outside, (What? He wasn't totally cold and calloused!).

[doctorgingerspice]

Kol was pretty irresistible, Will himself could attest to that. He hadn't exactly been looking for a dog when he'd found him, after all.

He gave a nod in greeting to Billy as the other man made his way into the shop. Yes, he was curious to see how Billy was doing but he also didn't want to pounce on him with questions about his health before the poor guy had a chance to grab a coffee.

[mother_love]

And Billy greatly appreciated that decent human consideration there Will. And after getting his standard but far less frequent extra large mocha, he made his way over.

"Surprised to see you didn't head off with everyone else on that trip," Billy said with a slight grin. It had not been hard to notice that most of the apartment complex, including his landlord, was away.

[doctorgingerspice]

“I think it was invite-only, if you don’t work for the school,” Will said. Which was… sort of how it worked! But as he was still new-ish, he didn’t know the intricacies of how the school trip worked.

(He also didn’t know anyone who taught well enough to have scored an invite anyway, but that was beside the point)

[mother_love]

"Ah that would explain it... seems like most of the island is either connected to the school or knows someone who is" Billy said.

Not that he was all that more versed with the goings on of the town and school. Hell, Will was likely more familiar with all that the near social-shut in was so far.

"Makes for a quite... or quieter place that's for sure."

[doctorgingerspice]

"I know," Will nodded. "It's kind of eerie. But I think they're due back sometime today, anyway."

[mother_love]

"Ah, wonderful..." Billy said with a slightly sarcastic sigh. "Neighbors to worry about waking up again in the middle of the night."

[doctorgingerspice]

Well that answered the question he hadn't quite worked up to asking.

"Dreams still giving you trouble?"

[mother_love]

"Yeah... a bit" Billy said rubbing the back of his head. "The meds worked great but they started right back up soon as those ran out. Not sleeping obviously wasn't working. And meds aren't a permanent solution. So...." Billy gave a bit of a 'what can you do?' short of shrug.

[doctorgingerspice]

"Have you considered talking to someone?" Will asked.

[mother_love]

Billy gave a sputtering laugh as he almost choked on the sip of drink he was in the middle of.

"No, not about this at least. Talking to a shrink has never really been my thing."

This was the man who had essentially gone 4 days without sleep and been an insomniac for weeks before breaking down and coming to you Will. Talking things out wasn't really his strong point.

[doctorgingerspice]

"You know, to be entirely honest, it never really was mine either," Will admitted. "Which, you'd think I'd know better, right? But," he shrugged. "I was always very 'do as I say, not as I do' when it came to the head-shrinking stuff."

[mother_love]

"Great minds think alike," Billy said with a smirk, and a nod towards the vacant seat in a silent 'may I?'

[doctorgingerspice]

"Of course, grab a seat," Will told him. "The key word there is 'was', though." Because he'd been dragged (metaphorically speaking) kicking and screaming into therapy and it had... actually worked.

[mother_love]

Billy nodded as he sat down. "So, it actually helped? I mean, I guess someone around here would be more used to the more *ahem* odd topics and triggers that others might find crazier than most." Because if he was to be honest, Billy still wasn't sure he believed everything he had experienced either sometimes.... (And zombies aside, he didn't even fully understand the whole Jon and the nightmares aspect of things at all yet, póor guy.)

[doctorgingerspice]

"It really did," Will promised. Of course, his own shit had been fairly mundane compared to... some of the things he knew people around here had experienced, but it had still been really traumatic for him, so.

[mother_love]

"Can't hurt to try I guess..." Billy said with a nod. "Anything's gotta be better than the quack they had overseeing things back at the base."