Chapter Text
“Y-you're on death's door,” Branzy responded, flexing his fingers between his. Clown sighed, and it turned into a painful cough. The gray-haired man immediately tightened his grip around his hand, rubbing grounding circles on the back of his hand.
“I've been worse.” He grumbled, shutting his eyes and releasing a long sigh. * This kid is genuinely worried about me. I've never had anyone like that.* He opened his eyes, feeling a shift in the bed under him. Branzy had changed positions, sitting criss-crossed by his thigh. Their hands were still entangled together.
Clown watched the grey-haired man sit there calmly. Watching his breathing as he focused on the gentle movement of Branzy’s hand on his. *Branzy.* Clown shifted, trying to sit up. Branzy looked behind him quickly, feeling the sudden shift.
“You should stay lying down,” he turned, his voice soft and gentle. Releasing their hands to press a gentle touch onto his chest, pushing him back down. “Imma go make a call real quick. I will be back.” *don't leave.* Branzy stood up, grabbing his phone before walking out of the room. *no* Clown closed his eyes, squeezing them shut.
As soon as the door clicked shut, the room felt all too big. It’s an intimidating expanse overwhelming his senses. Being both wounded and an assassin, he slowly sat up. Glancing around the room, looking for a better place to hide other than lying in a bed exposed. The door then opened. His eyes snapped towards the entering man.
“Sorry bout dat.” Branzy hummed walking in. “I needed to call wor-” He stared at him, seeing the way he was sitting up. “Clown,” he approached, “Lay down.”
“It’s too open here.” Clown mumbled as Branzy guided him back down. “I don't like it.”
“Well i-im not leaving again… Okay.” Branzy stared at Clown, waiting for him to nod. *better not* Clown nodded. “Now rest. I won't leave.”
6 Years ago
It was a gentle and cool day. The wind was blowing gently as the sun’s rays sent waves of heat over them. The bell rang the campus was flooded with students. Most scattering in different ways with their groups. Others went straight home. The unlucky ones made their way to work, dragging their school bags behind them, miserably.
But not Clown, he sat in the sun on the school’s lawn. The moist green grass cooled his back as he stared up at the blue sky. He had gotten out of class early today, more like skipping the last quarter of class. He listened to the noises produced by the various students walking by. Some were complaining about tests and assignments, while others were discussing gangs and fights. Someone was loudly talking about tacos and food.
Then, suddenly, a face appeared over him. Dark black hair and piercing gray eyes stared down at him from above, making eye contact with him. The guy was also wearing his suit and bright red tie that stood out from the rest of his appearance. Then he bent down, crouching over him, still staring at his eyes before reaching down, sending two soft pats to his cheek. Clown let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a split second.
Once his eyes reopened, there was another looming over him. A white-haired man looked down on the black-haired man. Clown then slowly sat up, turning towards the two who were watching his movements closely.
“You skipped class.” The white-haired man murmured towards him.
“Why?” the other finished. Clown shuffled to his knees. Hands going to rest on his legs.
“Why not?” he retorted, a smirk appearing on his face.
“Bro.” The white-haired man sighed.
“Bro.” Clown deadpanned.
“Bros.” The black-haired man said, grabbing the white-haired man’s shirt, pulling him down. “You guys wanna go to the arcade?” he suddenly said.
“The arcade? Seriously Minute? We aren’t 10 anymore.” The white-haired man stared at the black-haired man beside him.
“I think just hanging out at the park is a better place, Leo.” Clown spoke up as he rose from the place he was sitting.
“What, for you to just nap more?” Leo smirked.
“Maybe.” Clown shrugged.
“Let's get going then.” Minute said, standing up, bringing Leo with him before shoving the two forward.
“Bro.” Leo sighed, turning back around to stare at Minute.
“Come on. Let's go.” Clown grabbed Leo’s arm, forcing him to start walking. Leo and Clown were walking side by side. While Minute followed a few strides behind them, eventually catching up and placing himself between Clown and the road.
Eventually, the park came into view. It’s tall trees looming over nicely cut grass and various people playing or hanging about the place. But unfortunately, a very busy road blocked their way. They stopped at the side of the road.
“They seriously need to get a crosswalk here.” Leo let out a long sigh.
“Yes, they do.” Clown huffed, taking a step forward as the cars slowed down. Leo, and Minute followed him, a moment later. Then, after crossing another road that surprisingly had a sidewalk, they finally made it to the park. They immediately walked towards one of the trees, Clown plopping down on the grass. Both Leo and Minute leaning up against the tree. After a few moments of silence, one spoke up.
“Did you hear about that new gang?” Minute said.
“Unfortunately.” Leo huffed. “Our gang’s new rivals, supposedly.”
“The only fight between us is an argument.” Minute chuckled.
“Their group is still small; we should be fine for a while longer.” Clown said calmly. “Hopefully they don't take the park from us.”
“I'm alright with that. Maybe you will stop sleeping.” Leo said his eyes landed on a group of guys walking into the park. He nudged Minute, catching his attention and gesturing with his head toward the group of people walking toward them.
“Clown, it’s time to go.” Minute said, hauling himself up. “We got visitors.” Clown sat up, looking at the two sitting against the tree.
“Alright, let's try not to fight people today.” The three of them started walking away towards the area where some of their gang would be. Then, a decent distance away from the park, the three turned down an alleyway that led to one of their favorite hangouts; someone yelled out to them.
“Yo Kidos, you seen the local gang around?” The man shouted, his voice somewhat deep and rumbling. The trio turned around, looking at the group of 5 or so people. Multiple of them were beefy, with large muscles on their frames. A few others were not so strong-looking but seemed to be able to take good punches.
“You're talking to three of them,” Leo grunted, putting his hands in his pants pockets.
“Who are you guys and what do you want?” Minutes spoke, crossing his arms, staring at the man at the other side of the alley. Clown stretched his arms over his head, knowing that a fight would very much break out. Then the one who yelled at them spoke something to his companions, something quiet enough not to be heard; a few of his guys charged towards them after a second.
Present time
It had not even been 2 minutes after Clown closed his eyes when his breathing started to pick up suddenly, his vision becoming unfocused, Branzy’s form blurring. *Don’t leave me.* his hand, the one that was not being occupied by a gentle touch that he barely felt, reaching out towards the other. The area beside him shifted, and his other hand was taken swiftly by another hand.
“I'm still here,” Branzy spoke softly as he shifted to lie beside him. Branzy’s warmth and presence settled next to him, one of his arms going to stretch across his chest so that the movement would not pull at his wound. “Just rest, I'm not going anywhere. Okay?” he hummed, “Try to sync your breathing to mine.” Branzy took in a few steady breaths. It took a while for his breathing to slow; eventually, his breathing matched the grey-haired man’s. His eyes slowly shut as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
When Clown finally awoke, the first thing he noticed was how there was still warmth clinging to his side. *Why is Branzy still here? How long have I been out?* He groaned, feeling a finger run over one of the scars on his face. He reached up, grabbing the hand with his eyes locked onto Branzy’s somewhat still form next to him as he tilted his head up to face him, their eyes meeting.
“How long have I been out?” Clown spoke, sleeping still in his voice.
“I think it's about 3, so….. A while.” Branzy responded quietly, clearly happy about the current predicament. “You feeling any better?” he continued. *My head and eyes don't hurt; my side hurts a lot. Why did I have to get stabbed?*
“Yeah, I feel better,” he hummed. “Might still have a fever.”
“Okay.” Branzy moved to place the back of his hand on Clown’s forehead. “You're warm, but it's not as bad.” He reassured, before bringing his hand down to rest on the jester's chest. “Need anyth-”
“Branzy.”
“Humm?”
“Thank you.”
“Its not that big of a deal.”
“It is.” Branzy stared at the clown, puzzled.
“Why is that then?” He asked, tilting his head.
“I can’t remember the last time someone cared for me.” Clown said quietly, turning his head away as he spoke, hiding the words the best he could.
“Clown-” Branzy tilted his head as he sat up slowly before bringing his hands up to cup his face. *Don't touch me* clown thought instead of speaking. “Y-you're being cared for right now, that's all that matters, right?” The grey-haired man hummed cheerfully, forcing Clown to look at him.
*yeah.* Clown nodded. “Thank you, Branzy.”
“You're welcome, Clown, love you too.” Branzy smiled.