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Jay’s taking his sweet ass time.
He should’ve taken Matt down from this stupid noose like an hour ago. He’d heard him scream Matt’s name, and then nothing. Maybe he had caught on already, and was pretending Matt was dead to get back at him.
Well, maybe he should help Matt down first! Check to see if he’s really dead. That’s the first thing you do when you find a body, obviously. Is it? Matt doesn’t really know.
It’s getting boring up here anyway. He decides to open his eyes. Jay will laugh, and he and Matt will be friends again, and put this whole incident behind them. Maybe they’d even keep the noose up! It would make for great conversation whenever Jay brought a girl home.
He wished he didn’t open his eyes.
Jay’s lying on the floor. Matt’s bottle of peanuts is open, and peanuts are scattered all around Jay’s body. Jay’s clutching the bottle tightly, like his life depended on it.
Matt’s blood goes cold. This can’t be real. He has to be dreaming. He’ll wake up, and everything will be back to normal. Him and Jay would never have gotten into that argument, and they would be best friends forever.
But now he’s gone. It’s all Matt’s fault too. He’s responsible for Jay killing himself. He never should’ve pretended to hang himself. He never should’ve left. He never should’ve done a million different things.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spots the gleam of a camera. Jared. Matt never wants to see him again.
“Jared, what the fuck is wrong with you?! Why’d you let him do that?!”
“I don’t interfere. It’s what I do. It’s what you guys pay me to do.”
“That’s for the fucking plans! Not when one of us is gonna die! Let me down now.”
Jared complies, and Matt strangles him. He takes the man’s face in. Dark curly hair, and a stupid mustache. Matt doesn’t want to see him ever again. He doesn’t want any cameras here again. There’s no use for them anyway, now that the band is over.
“I-I’m sorry Matt.” Jared says.
“No you’re not!” Matt yells. “If you really fucking cared about us, you’d stop Jay! You’re just a fucking psycho!”
“Would Jay want this?”
“Who fucking cares?! He’s dead! He’s dead because of your own stupid rules!”
Matt wants to squeeze the life out of Jared. He knew how much Jay meant to Matt. He’s seen most of what they’ve done together. Why the fuck would he just let Jay do that?!
“I’ll get you a show!”
“I don’t want to play a show without Jay! A show without him wouldn’t mean anything to me.”
Jared finally falls unconscious. That’s good enough for Matt. When he wakes up, he’ll properly fire him. He goes to Jay’s body, and carefully cradles him in his arms.
He looks so peaceful. Every part of his face is perfect, even in death. His nose, his beard, his hair. Matt wants to look at his face forever.
He’ll miss running around the city with him. He’ll miss hearing his voice. He’ll miss the songs he’d play on the piano when Matt had a plan, or was sad, or needed help, or when he played a game, or just for fun. Sometimes he’d do it in the middle of the night, and it would give Matt strange dreams.
He’ll miss how much he loved candy. He’ll miss how angry he’d get. He’ll miss his strange swears that were censored. He’ll miss his beautiful brown eyes. He’ll miss his messy hair, and how he’d let Matt brush through it sometimes. He’ll miss every single thing about Jay.
“I’m sorry, Jaybird. I’m so sorry.” Matt says softly. He hugs Jay’s body. He hugs him so tightly. He never wants to let go of him again. He never wants to-
Wait. Matt can feel his chest rise and fall ever so slightly. He can hear his heartbeat.
Matt pulls Jay’s head towards him. He has a stupid smirk on his face, and his eyes are filled with… something.
“I got you real good!”
“Bird, you piece of fucking shit!”
Matt punches him. Not super hard, but it causes Jay’s nose to bleed a bit. Jay returns the favor. They get up and fight a bit, before realizing how stupid the situation was. They laugh over the absurdity of it, before Jay notices Jared still hasn’t gotten up.
—
Jared wakes up in a hospital bed. He knew Jay’s plan was a horrible idea. At least he didn’t have to take Jay to the hospital. At least Matt wasn’t actually fucking dead.
At least Matt didn’t strangle him to death. Where are those two anyway? Did they leave him here?! God, he wishes that Matt just would’ve fired him on the spot.
“Oh! You’re up!” a doctor says. “I’ll go get them.”
He leaves, and comes back with Matt and Jay. They both look disappointed, maybe with themselves, or maybe with Jared. He hopes he doesn’t get fired. Maybe he should go film another band to get back at them.
No one says anything as they walk back to the apartment. Jared wishes that he had his camera right now. He likes to film random things around Toronto while Matt and Jay walk around. Just now, there’s a woman with a lot of dogs. They all have little sweaters on. He wishes he could’ve filmed that.
They get to the apartment. Jared wished that he lived there with them, but it’s not big enough for multiple people. Luckily, his apartment is nearby. Maybe one day they’ll have a house that Jared can live in as well. A house with multiple floors. A house that he’ll love as much as Matt and Jay do. But for now, he has to make a small commute.
There’s still pumpkin pieces outside. Matt and Jay decide to clean them up together. Jared hurries inside and gets his camera to film them. For now, everything is back to normal.
Jared hopes it stays like that.