Chapter Text
The sound of fireworks was muffled, as well as the other sounds that came with living in a roaring city. Racing cars, laughing people… Ambulance. Avery stared at the death screen on his—no. Derek’s laptop for what seemed like ages before grabbing his keys—just in case—and bolting out his door.
Avery found the laptop in a storage locker located in his apartment. He had the common sense to realize that it meant that Derek was in the same complex as him, which meant that he could ask the person who tended to the front desk where he was.
Before sprinting out of his door, Avery frantically looked everywhere for any sign of Derek’s social media presence, in turn finding a YouTube video titled “Goodbye from d3rlord3” from a channel called “derekhutchins333”. Bingo. He knew what name to give the person at the front desk. Could he say it was an emergency..? What were the chances that they would actually give him the number..? He couldn’t back down now though, not when Derek paid with his life to save someone as insignificant as Avery.
Out of breath, Avery finally reached the front desk. He tried his luck, “Do you know which room Derek Hutchins is in?! It’s urg—it’s an emergency.” Due to the fact that it was a little after midnight, the person at the front desk was very obviously half-awake, though they were familiar enough with Avery to not be suspicious of the fact that he was searching for some random person’s apartment number. They jumped awake when Avery barked his question at them before nodding, turning to type into their computer as Avery tapped his foot on the tiled floor anxiously, watching the clock as if it would make this go by any faster. “220” They said finally, hesitating for a moment before passing Avery the key. “I don’t know why this is so urgent, but.. I heard a scream from that direction a few moments ago. Best of luck.” Avery didn’t respond, taking the keys in a hurry and sprinting up the stairs to where Derek’s room was.
Finally, he reached the door with the number “220” on it. His shaking hands frantically unlocked the door with the borrowed key. When he opened the door, he immediately noticed the foul stench that flooded the halls, but he didn’t care about that right now. He ran through the apartment, searching for any sign of him before he finally did.
Derek was unconscious.
Avery cursed under his breath, running over and shaking his shoulders frantically. “DEREK! WAKE UP!” More tears started building the longer Derek didn’t move. After a few seconds, Avery stopped, fumbling to pull out his phone from his pocket and punching in the numbers 911, though waiting to press the call button until he got Derek on his back. He took his phone, slamming his finger on the glowing green button before running out of the apartment, grabbing Derek’s phone and closing the door on the way out. He made a mental note to himself to clean Derek’s living space for him someday, though he set it aside for the moment as he sprinted, Derek’s unconscious body in tow, as he explained to the responder that his “friend” was unconscious due to “unknown reasons” and that the ambulance needed to get to the complex as soon as possible. He ran out the two front doors at the entrance of the two’s shared block, standing in front of it with Derek still on his back while he stayed on the phone with the person on the other end of the phone, saying whatever he felt he could as he occasionally looked down the street for any sign of a first responder. Finally, blaring blue and red lights came rushing down the street, and Avery let out a slight sigh of relief to himself, but it wasn’t over yet.
The ambulance truck came to a screeching stop in front of him as people ran out the back of it, pulling out a stretcher and signaling for Avery to bring Derek over to it. He hesitated for a moment before nodding and speed-walking over to it. They got Derek situated before pulling the stretcher up the ramp. One of them—a woman with blonde hair and tired but kind eyes looked at him with something resembling sympathy. “Do you want to ride with him?” She asked, Avery nodded rapidly, stepping into the back of the truck with the woman and taking a seat next to Derek’s stretcher.
The first responders did the best they could until they were at the hospital. Watching them, Avery finally let tears escape, rolling down his cheeks. He gripped the rails on the side of the stretcher that were facing him like his life depended on it, knuckles going white. Avery stood over Derek’s body, tears falling onto the other’s cheeks, “Please wake up, Derek..” he pleaded, choking on his own sobs the longer he looked at Derek’s unconscious face. Avery brushed some stray curls away from Derek’s eyes, scanning his face in hopes that he could remember in case it was the last time he saw him.
Avery’s composure finally shattered into fine little pieces, his head dipped as he full-on sobbed over the stretcher, heavy tears landing on Derek’s wrinkled and messy clothes.