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Johnny shrugged as he drank the last drops of his drink. They have lost everything, everything they have worked so hard until this day. He had to give the corpse parts to save his companion, Gyro Zeppeli.
He kept telling himself that it was the right thing to do but couldn’t help but feel lost. Was it worth it to save Gyro’s life?
He kept his eyes on Gyro, he was taking care of their horses in this heavy snowfall. He turned to Johnny and brought back a heavy thing in his arms. “What is this Gyro?” The taller man didn’t answer him instead he wrapped him in a heavy blanket and lifted him up in his arms. Johnny rolled his eyes he could mount his horse without Gyro’s help and Gyro knows this too. Then what the hell was he doing.
As if Gyro heard Johnny’s thoughts after he put him on top of Slow Dancer, he spoke slowly while petting her “You saved my life, Johnny… It’s the least I could do… You were sitting in the snow for I don’t know how many minutes but you should be freezing now. Let’s find a place to set up a camp, ok?” Johnny didn’t give any answer to him but Gyro smiled to him and mounted his horse.
They spent hours to find a place for a camp and finally settle in a cave big enough for two people. Gyro left Johnny to himself in the cave while looking for fallen leaves and branches for the fire. Johnny decided to spend his alone time while brooding. He was feeling useless, all he could do was laying down while Gyro was doing all the hard work. Gyro came back with his arms full of dead leaves and twigs. He even didn’t let Johnny light it up on fire, he did that all by himself too. Johnny sighed as he watched the Italian cook something.
He probably caught a rabbit too.
Gyro mistakes his sigh with hunger “Johnny, food will be ready in 5 minutes.”. Johnny laughs sarcastically after this “Thank you, Gyro.”
After eating and tossing the bones into the fire they get into their sleeping bags. Just as Johnny was falling asleep Gyro nudged him “Hey… You feeling ok?” Johnny opened his eyes and turned to him “No.” Instead of asking further, Gyro waited for Johnny to continue “I feel useless Gyro.” Silence again. “You were out there gathering stuff, catching our food, taking care of our horses… Taking care of me… I need to do at least one of them but I can’t. I can’t even do one simple task.”
When Gyro made sure that it’s the end of Johnny’s talking he reached out to ruffle his hair “But Johnny, you are not useless, you did and still do things that I can’t even imagine myself doing. You saved me countless times, hell you saved countless other people. Don’t push yourself this hard. Your determination and your selflessness are the things that made you go this far. But sometimes everyone needs help from others, you don’t need to do everything by yourself. I’m here right now, rest while I do the lame stuff like collecting leaves and shit. Ok? You are not useless, don’t let anyone else and especially yourself say that!”
While listening to Gyro, Johnny started to cry. He didn’t know what to say or how to react. The tears just came.
Gyro leaned toward him and wiped his tears. Johnny pushed his hands and hid his face in his own hands “Gyro, I’m sorry I shouldn’t cry-“ Gyro stopped him with a kiss on his forehead “Crying is ok too, now sleep. We need to be well rested in this race. Goodnight Johnny.” Gyro falls asleep instantly after saying that but Johnny kept staring at him.
What would he do without Gyro?
He remembered his thoughts after giving the corpse parts for a bottle of wine. Fuck the corpse parts, Gyro was worth everything.
He would give everything for him.