Work Text:
"Jimmy!"
BAM
"OPEN the Fucking DOOR!"
"Jimmy, leave it alone." Edgar stood a safe distance from the spectacle the two other men were making of themselves.
BAM
Jimmy was leaning back against the door to Johnny's bathroom, using every ounce of weight and power in his skinny frame to block it.
"Jimmy this is a terrible idea."
"Nah nah," Mmy grinned maniacally, "He'll give up soon. You know how he is."
"I think you should step away and run. I'll go open the front door for you." Edgar went to clear a pathway out of his house when a massive shove from behind Jimmy nearly threw the lanky man away from the bathroom. He was pushed forward several feet but he threw himself backwards with a thud that snapped the door closed again.
Edgar listened to Johnny's muffled curses, heart hammering. Jimmy was laughing and Johnny was on the verge of a rampage. "You know we can't stop him when he's like this."
Jimmy looked up, smile dropping. In the bathroom Johnny screamed that he was going to eviscerate Jimmy when he got out.
"Fine. Do me a favor and go get that loose fence post from the backyard."
"What good is that going to do?"
"It's better than the alternative isn't it?"
"You think tying him to a plank of wood is better than what you're doing now?"
Jimmy's face twisted incredulously. "Wha-what? No!" He huffed, now sweating with the effort it took to keep the door in place. "Just go get the damn thing."
Edgar hesitated but figured whatever the plan was it was probably better than being flattened under the door when Johnny inevitably broke out.
When he got back, lugging the heavy plank in, Jimmy was heatedly arguing through the door.
"We fucking promised. YOU fucking promised. We said we'd stop so just fucking stop!"
Johnny snarled something in reply.
BAM
Edgar helped Jimmy prop the fence post between the door and the wall opposite it. A metal boot tip scraped ominously on the linoleum floor.
THUD
He and Jimmy spent the rest of the night upstairs away from the sound of Nny trying to get free. Edgar tried not to think of what would happen when he eventually did. He fought sleep, starting awake when he realized that the noise from the downstairs bedroom had stopped.
Jimmy was passed out on the couch beside him. He stayed up waiting for the shift in the air around the staircase and fell asleep to the sound of Jimmy snoring.
In the morning Edgar found him hogtied on Johnny's bathroom floor with a sluggishly bleeding wound to the head. Pinned to his shirt was the note:
[In deference to our friendship]
Jimmy was alive. The patrons at their local Arby's weren't so lucky.