{ Who } Emmett and Howard. { What } Whit the heck's yer problem? { When } Wednesday, early evening. { Where } Howard's trailer. { Rating } PG-13 for language. { Status } Complete.
Emmett had spent all of Tuesday dealing with the nagging feeling that something was missing.
It was too quiet, far too quiet. Something was definitely not there that should have been, but he couldn't put his finger on precisely what it was. There was too much to think about, too much to deal with. He'd pushed the nagging voice down in the back of his mind, busying himself with all the other little issues that needed his immediate attention.
It took him an embarrassingly long time to figure out that what had been missing was Howard.
The idea was so ridiculously absurd that Emmett nearly punched himself in the head as soon as his brain gave birth to it. It made sense though. Since he'd joined, Howard had been a constant presence in Emmett's day to day life, an incessant source of life and sound and vibrancy. Emmett had always liked to think he'd enjoy the silence if Howard found something else to occupy himself with.
The silence was dull, lifeless, and gray, not the sublime calm he'd imagined it would be. Life without Howard just wasn't life, something integral was missing. Emmett liked to think he would feel the same way if anything to happened Walt. In fact, he knew he would. He'd already been there twice.
He carefully picked his way up the steps of Howard's trailer, two bottles of whiskey and a bag of fruit he'd filched from the kitchen in tow. The bag was placed on the step so he could knock soundly on the door.