food in the woodsen

Koa

Don't you just wanna wake up dark as a lake
Smelling like a bonfire, lost in a haze?

"What?!" Koa's startle is a beat or two late, but it's taking him a lot of work to parse the conversation. Alarm spreads like moss over his face; he grabs for Zavien's elbow, gripping it urgently in his hand. "Woah, no, don't say that, man!" He shakes his head vehemently, then sucks in a breath as the motion dislodges a wave of nausea from his guts. "Don' even joke'bout that, man. No fuckin' dying, k? 'Specially over a girl. Nobody got time for that shit." Maybe not exactly what Zavien was saying, but it's the thing that Koa's decided to be worried about.

Suddenly his shirt is in Zavien's hands, even though it's actually a decent bit later. Koa blinks as his friend's face looms close in his vision, and without really considering it wraps his arms around Zavien, pulling him in for a hug. "I know," Koa slurs soothes mushily, rubbing his palm in what he intends to be calming circles across his friend's back. "It oughta be enough. But like... people are complicated. You can love someone with all your heart, but that doesn't mean you'll work." Koa knows this better than most, for better or for worse.

"You just gotta talk to her - like, forreal. Tell her what you're feeling, and what you need. You're, like, a fuckin' catch. Lena knows that." He nods emphatically, his chin bumping into Zavien's shoulderblade.

If you're drunk on life, babe, I think it's great
But while in this world I think I'll take my whiskey neat