(no subject)

[not_the_s]

Nothing had gone right. In fact, everything that could go wrong, as the proverbial saying went, did go very definitely wrong. He'd hurt Bart in ways that he didn't even want to think about. He'd told Tim that he had a thing for him. And oh god, Cassie. He didn't even want to think about what he'd done to Cassie. In short, he'd screwed up his already messed up life beyond repair. He didn't even know how to start to fix it and he definitely couldn't stay at the treehouse anymore. He wandered around, trying to figure out what to do. He needed someplace to stay, first of all. The problem was that he'd hurt all of his friends.

He ran through the list and realized he hadn't hurt everyone. Just most. There was still Joey.

Taking a deep breath, he packed a bag and made his way to Joey's.

For a few days Joey had grand illusions that she would start her life from scratch and be a new person, a happy person. These plans had fallen by the wayside and she'd found herself repeating patterns from home. Wake up, go to school, study, do some art, sleep and do the entire cycle again. It was sketching she was doing at the moment, sitting on her bed and trying to remember what home looked like. A picture of a dock leading into a creek was slowly finding its way onto the page.

She was absorbed with her work, far too engrossed to notice her friend showing up at her door.

Huh. She wasn't answering. Kon knocked on the door harder. "Joey? Are you there?" He glanced around, hoping that no one had followed him. Hoping that Tim was in the midst of figuring out just how much damage had been caused. "Please tell me you're there."


Joey looked up from her sketch, charcoal poised over the beginnings of a small boat. "Kon?" She called out, placing the book down and walking cautiously to her door. His voice did not sound good and Joey was a bit concerned.

Kon leaned against the wall outside her door, closing his eyes. She was there. She was there and she hadn't seen him when he'd been all...well, they'd said it, hadn't they? Luthor-esque.

"Yeah," he said hoarsely. "It's me." To himself, he muttered, "Sort of."

Joey opened the door, her brown eyes wide with concern, wrinkle lines covering her forehead as she looked over her friend. "You don't look good." It was an observation but the words lacked the nuturing nature that might be needed in this time.

Kon sucked in a breath. "That's because I'm not so good. You know that thing that's been going on the last few days? Well...I was a part of it."

Joey was guarded as the next words came out of her mouth. "What'd you do?" The question was both accusatory and not. She wasn't being mean; from the looks of it, that'd be like kicking a puppy. But her defenses were momentarily raised.

Kon closed hie eyes and remembered in vivid detail everything that he'd done. "Everything I've ever been afraid I'd end up doing and then some," he whispered. "I didn't hurt anyone. Physically. I'm pretty sure I don't have many friends left willing to talk to me and I doubt I have a girlfriend left."

Joey had seen her friends destroy themselves before, to the degree that high school students destroyed themselves. The sort of destruction that felt like the end of the world, only later to realize that it was all a result of their melodramatic mindset. "Well get in here and tell me what happened. And we'll figure out how many friends you have left." She offered a hand to lead him into the room, a sign that she was still his friend. She suspected he needed that about now.

"No one," Kon said softly, taking her hand almost tentatively. "I nearly slept with Bart, kept screwing Tim over, got beaten up by...well, everyone." He swallowed. "And then there's Cassie." A shiver ran up his spine and he just followed where she led. He was pretty sure he'd have followed anyone if they looked friendly enough at this point.

"What happened with Cassie?" Joey's tone wasn't comforting, but it wasn't judging. Some might say she sounded like a reporter, just getting the pieces of the story.

Kon closed his eyes. "She found out." If he'd been in his rational mind...well, if he'd been in his rational mind, none of this would have happened, or so he kept telling himself. He ignored the voice that reminded him of the gleam in Luthor's eyes when he'd started getting information.

"Found out you like boys." The words were non judgementmal, and though a flicker of amusement flashed behind her eyes, it was gone quicker than it appeared. She kept a hand on him at all times, a form of intimacy that was foreign to Joey.

"What?" Kon stared at her and then realized what he'd told her. He shook his head. "No. I don't." Or at least he was very carefully keeping to himself just how good it had really felt. "The island...it screwed with me. Made me hurt people." He touched the almost healed split lip. He still had a bruise or three from back then. "Emotionally, at least. Not physically."

"What did the island do?" Joey had been here long enough to realize that the island had some sort of power, even though she was normally against blaming someone else for your own faults.

"Turned me into my worst nightmare." Luthor. "A manipulator, only out for my own good. The things I did to my friends. I'm not sure they'll ever forgive me for it." Especially the three people who meant most to him. Tim, Bart, and Cassie. "I was wondering...no. Never mind."

"Wondering?" Her eyes shone with the warmth that her voice may have lacked.

Kon looked somewhere she wasn't. "If I could stay here for a few days maybe? I'm...not too sure I'm ready to go home."

Joey nodded, her face relaxing as she smiled. "Of course." In truth Joey would enjoy the company, she was used to spending platonic nights with her male friends and had found nights without Pacey to be the loneliest times.

Kon relaxed a little and nodded. "Thanks." He was pretty sure he appreciated it so much more than she knew.