Work Text:
Jimmy couldn’t say the trip to the convenience store was easy. Zee ran over several things on the way and he knew it wasn't the pavement or 'some rocks' like the older guy convinced them of. None of them believed him, of course, Jimmy can still remember the soft shudder that Tommy unconsciously let go everytime they ran over something.
The journey didn't suddenly become easier now that they had arrived. The blindfold that was tied tightly around his head served its purpose well. He couldn't see anything, the sun rays couldn't even break into his eyes. His hand moved to clasp Tommy's, their fingers intertwined. His other hand found its way to Max's shoulder, the five of them lining up with Zee on the front trying to find the door.
"Guys, I think it's the front door." Jimmy could hear the movement from the person in front of him before the soft click on the door told him it was no longer closed.
They continued to move, the air smelled differently now they were inside the store. He quickly untied the cloth around his eyes as soon as Max said it was okay to open their blindfolds. He blinked repeatedly, adjusting his eyes to the light around them.
"This is heaven." Said Nat. Jimmy had to agree with the younger kid. On a normal day a convenient store is just a convenient store, but not on the verge of apocalypse like right now.
It's been six weeks since the horrible event happened. Jimmy didn't know the day would end up in terror when he took Tommy to one of their cute dates that time. They were walking on the street when they saw car crashes, next people were running around, some of them got hit by trucks and some ran themselves into fire. It was only after they got into Zee's house and saw the news on tv when they found out what was really happening. There were these creatures out there that would make you kill yourself if you only look at them. Jimmy could still see the image of him and Tommy clinging to one another after they heard the explanation.
Snapping himself out of his mind, he let his eyes wonder around the store. The tall shelves were full with foods and other goodies. The freezer for ice cream and cold drinks was still up running. There was no one in sight on the store. Jimmy glanced around the door and saw Zee putting down a ruined padlock on the cashier's table. They broke into this locked store, and that's why there's no one inside.
"Hey, let's split up. It would be faster to collect everything we need." Said Tommy, their fingers still locked together. It only got loose once Jimmy nodded his head.
The rest of the group also moved towards a different aisle. Sounds of carts getting dragged here and there filled the silence around the room. Jimmy grabbed every crackers and cereals he could reach. His long legs moved fast from one aisle to another. Soon, his cart was full of different variations of foods and toiletries.
He was about to find Tommy when his eyes caught sight of a stack of notebooks on one of the shelves. He decided to look through the stack in case he found something nice. A regular sized book with a picture of crescent moon over black cover caught his eyes. After turning the pages inside, he put the book inside his cart along with some quite fancy looking pens.
Turns out it didn't take a long time to find Tommy. The older man was on the next aisle, concentration written all over his face as he read something on the label of a canned food on his hand. Jimmy couldn't hold his smile, but he'd been like that for months so that was no new.
"Phi," he said as he walked closer.
Tommy glanced to his cart before meeting his eyes. "You sure you already checked the expiration date on those?"
Jimmy nodded to the question. His hand took the book from his cart. "I found this. I think it suits your style. Let's transcribe the chords of the songs on your playlist sometime."
Tommy didn't take the book immediately, his fingers tracing the cover slowly.
"It's beautiful."
"I also found a matching pen. But you can pick anything else, I found a lot of them."
Tommy's eyes finally met his, a smile made its way to his lips, his dimples showing. "Thank you. You're the sweetest."
A huge smile beams on Jimmy's face. He put the notebook on Tommy's hand. "Keep it. I don't wanna misplace it somewhere."
Tommy hugged the book close to his chest. His other hand reached out to stroke Jimmy's cheek. The taller leaned to his touch. It was a good thing for Jimmy to keep his eyes open or he wouldn’t have seen a flash of worrisome on Tommy's eyes. The worried eyes stayed only a second, but Jimmy couldn’t see it clearly.
"What's wrong, Phi?" asked him. His hand covered Tommy's that was still stroking his cheek.
"I just," the older man lowered his gaze. "I was really happy when you asked me to transcribe the songs. Then I remembered about the situation and is it appropriate for me to be happy during times like this? When I should be thinking about how to survive and staying alive?"
Jimmy stepped closer to the man in front of him. Both of his hand now holding Tommy's right hand. "Phi, the only thing that keeps me sane is every moment that I spend with you, and if it's the same for you then you deserve some happiness too."
Tommy chuckled to his response. "You're so good with words."
"Not really, I just love you so much and I use words to express it."
"Besides, didn't I promised you that I'll protect you?" Continued Jimmy.
"I thought I was the one who used to be a soldier."
"Let me be romantic for once, can you?"
Tommy's laughter turned into shy giggles as he reduced the space between them. "What would I do without you, bean sprout?"
Jimmy lowered his head to press their foreheads together, their noses met in the middle softly. "What would I do without you, Shawty?"
Tommy rubbed their noses together in response. Jimmy was about to lean down for a kiss before the sound of something banging the door snapped both of them. Their heads turned to the source of the sound. It came from the metal door on the corner back of the store.
Curiosity took over them, they walked slowly to the door. Max, Zee, and Nat were already there. The banging continued as the five if them walked closer. Jimmy could hear words come between the loud sound.
"Phi, are you hearing them too?" Asked Jimmy, his eyes darted to Tommy.
"Yes, there's someone there."
"Hello?" Said Max, louder than the banging sound.
"Hi, hello. Is anyone there? Please help me." Answered the voice behind the door. The voice sounded shaky and weak.
"What are you doing there?" Asked Tommy.
"I'm stuck in here, please let me in." Begged the voice.
Zee furrowed his brows, "How?"
"I just got trapped. Just please help me." Answered the voice again.
"I'm opening the door."
"Max, don't!"
For a second Jimmy could see the face of the man behind the door, but his mind took control of his body and now he was helping Zee pushing the door, preventing the man from coming inside.
"Please let me in!" Growled the man, and the force he used to push the door back snapped Max out of his mind. Realizing his mistake, Max joined Zee and Jimmy to push the man back.
"Sir, please don't force yourself in." Jimmy said through his gritted teeth.
"I just have to come inside."
Suddenly the birds on Nat's cart started to flap their wings frantically. Their chirp was high pitched and the five of them didn't need any explanation to know that something was definitely wrong.
"Tom, take Nat out!" Shouted Max.
"Let me in!" Every effort they did to keep the man from coming inside didn't seem to matter as the door was now gaping wider, the posture of the man could be clearly seen from where Tommy is standing right now.
"Tom! Get out of here!"
Tommy didn't move, his eyes starring at the man with horror. His build was bigger than Zee, Jimmy, and Max combined. They couldn't close the door by themselves. They won't make it.
"Phi, we can't hold him. Please leave now!" Said Jimmy. His shoes squeaking from rubbing against the floor.
The horrible looking man kept on trying to get inside by each second, half of his body could be seen now. Drops of sweat started to form on Jimmy's forehead. Max gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the door from opening. Zee looked like he was trying to transfix his foot to the floor.
Tommy grabbed Nat's wrist when Jimmy's ankle twisted into a weird position as the man pushed the door farther. The younger boy tried to free himself the moment Tommy dragged his body away from the metal door.
"Phi, I don't want to leave them!" Protested Nat. He tugged at Tommy's hand that was still holding his wrist.
"P'Tom, please!" Jimmy cried behind his back.
Nat tugged his hand harder, trying to escape his strong hold on him. "Phi, we should help them!"
"Nat, listen to me."
"Phi, we don't have time!"
"Nat, just listen!"
Tommy could see unshed tears on Nat's eyes, his lips trembling as he stared back at Tommy.
"Stay alive." Tommy said before he let go of Nat's wrist. Confusion shown on Nat's face for a second before he realized what his Phi is about to do.
Tommy pushed Nat and he ran, not to the front door but straight to the crazy man behind the metal door.
"Wait, Tom! No!"
"P'TOM, DON'T!"
"NO!!"
"Jimmy! Wake up!"
Jimmy's eyes shots open. He sat up abruptly, almost knocking out the person beside him. His temple was drenched in sweat, so was his back.
"Jim, what's wrong?" Asked the person.
Jimmy flied his eyes open to the man beside him. His hand took the shorter figure into his arms as soon as he realized who the person is.
"It's okay, I'm here. I'm right here." Jimmy could only sob into the older man shirt, his hand circling the figure tightly.
"Tom, what is it?" Zee's tired voice came to the scene.
"It's nothing, sorry to wake you up." Answered Tommy.
Sound of steps leaving the living room could be heard. Tommy's hand moved from Jimmy's back to his hair. Tommy played with the thick dark brown locks before stroking his head. Jimmy's ragged breath slowly went back to normal as Tommy hummed soft tunes to his ears.
"Don't leave." Said Jimmy after a while. His voice sounded husky.
"I'm not going anywhere." Replied Tommy, his hand still on Jimmy's head.
Jimmy sighed into Tommy's shirt. For another minute he let himself nuzzle into the older man. He filled his nostril with the scent of him, making sure that this was real, Tommy was here with him.
Tommy didn't stop humming. His voice guided his heart to beat slower, to match his own that Jimmy could feel through his shirt. Time seemed to stop
at the moment. Time seemed to be something he could forget that night.
God knows how long it was before Jimmy finally raised his head, his eyes still holding terror in them. Tommy's hand was still on his cheek, his thumb moving back and forth slowly. Just like on his dream, Jimmy leaned in to the touch.
"Wanna talk about it?" Asked Tommy.
Jimmy shook his head, his eyes wandering around for a moment. He was sitting on the couch that had been his bed for two months now, blocked windows and Nat's curious head that poked from one of the bedroom doors remind him that he's in Zee's house, not in the store. He replayed his memory about that day. Their scavenging weeks ago went fine, there was no man behind the door, no one got hurt, no one got to sacrifice themselves.
Tommy didn't sacrifice himself. Tommy was fine.
"Just stay with me."
"Alright." Whispered Tommy.
Jimmy's eyes never left Tommy's figure as they made themselves comfortable on the large couch. His hand wrapped tight around his Phi, making the older man bury his face to his chest.
"I'm not going to leave you, okay?" Tommy said after a while, making Jimmy bury his nose deeper into his hair.
"Yeah, you're with me."
"I'm with you." Tommy's voice sounded softer than ever. "I'm here."