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Jay's late. What a surprise, right? Probably got distracted again. His part of the plan should have been simple- Matt would create a distraction, and all Jay had to do was sneak into the back room and find the business books or whatever, the kind of thing that shows what the owners of this place are up to.
It’s a relatively new Italian restaurant in the area- opened just a year or two ago- but Vince Valence has been eating here a crazy amount. Like, actually unreasonable. Sometimes Matt has seen him walk in, but when he (very stealthily and subtly) follows Valence inside, he's nowhere to be seen. He must be talking to the owners in some secret room, plotting something. And Matt plans to find out what it is, so they can blackmail Valence into giving them a show.
So Matt did a whole big distraction, freaking out at a bug he planted on his takeout spaghetti and threatening to sue or call the health inspector or something, making such a big scene that 4 staff had to get involved and he ended up getting thrown out.
That was an hour ago, and Matt's been pacing back and forth in the alley behind the restaurant the entire time since. Jay should be done by now- if he hasn't found what they're looking for, he better get out of there anyway, because there's no way he won't be caught soon.
Maybe he's already been caught.
No, there haven't been any cops, so he can't have been arrested or anything.
Matt's quickly losing patience (and debating just going home, where Jay might frankly be already, having abandoned Matt to figure this out himself) when he hears a door rattling. He ducks behind a dumpster so he doesn't get caught skulking around their back alley, and listens. The door opens, there are footsteps, and then a loud, slightly wet thump. There's a wheeze, and someone says, “That oughta teach ya to dig around where ya don't belong.” It's like a cartoon mafia voice- Matt has to put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
Some more footsteps, then the door slams shut and Matt jumps out from his hiding place to check it out. There's a lump in front of the door that wasn't there before. A lump that looks a lot like-
“Jay?” Matt hurries towards him, biting back worry. No need to jump to conclusions, man, calm down. They do this all the time. He's probably fine! “Guess that's what took you so long, huh? What'd you do to get-”
Then he gets closer, and his heart stops. Jay’s facedown on the concrete so Matt can't see his face, but there's a puddle of blood spreading beneath him. His jacket is covered in footprints. His arm doesn't look right, like it isn't sitting in his shoulder the way it should be. The only sign Jay’s even heard him is a wet gasp.
Matt throws himself to his knees, ears ringing. “Jaybird? Birdie, you hear me?” He flips Jay over onto his back, earning a strangled sound he's never heard Jay make before. Jay's face is covered in blood, already beginning to swell. One eye seems glued shut, the other squinted in pain. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck, he looks bad. “Birdie?”
Jay says something, or tries to. All that comes out is a gurgle and more blood.
“Oh my god. Okay, Bird, don't- don't talk, just- okay. Alright, this is fine, you're fine.” Matt pats Jay on the shoulder, and Jay’s arm spasms. He whines. “Sorry, Jay, just- stop moving, I have to- Jared!”
He turns to the cameraman when he remembers there actually is another person here who can help. Jared lowers the camera just slightly, still filming but looking past the device to make eye contact with Matt.
“Jared, you asshole, call 911!” Matt yells at him. Jared hesitates, glancing at his camera. “Put the camera down and fucking call them!”
Jay's arm- the one that isn't bent out of place- reaches up to grab Matt's collar. “Messed up,” he garbles, hardly intelligible. His teeth are stained red.
“Wh- what? You what?” Matt's starting to panic, grabbing Jay's hand like a lifeline. This looks so bad. Jay looks so fucking hurt.
“Mm… messed up,” Jay tries again, but he cuts himself off when he starts coughing. It might be the worst thing Matt's ever seen- he's hacking up blood, spraying it all over Matt's shirt, hardly managing to choke back gasps of air in between. What little color was left in his face under the blood is gone, tear tracks clearing enough of a path down his cheeks to see the white underneath. His fingers twitch in Matt's collar like he's trying to grip but can't get his fingers to cooperate.
Matt lugs Jay’s upper body up and cradles him, flinching at the sound Jay makes when he does. It sounds like his childhood cat Maisy, when she reappeared at their doorstep after being mauled by a cougar or something- it's the sound she made when he picked her up, scratching at him until he dropped her. She took two more steps and died right there.
Matt squeezes Jay's hand.
“Caught,” Jay chokes out into Matt's chest. “S- sorry…”
Matt lets go of the hand he's holding- flinches at the whimper it causes- to run his fingers through Jay's hair instead. “Hey, no, no,” he soothes, hoping desperately that he doesn't sound as terrified as he feels. “You did- you did great, Jaybird, you did so- fuck! Jared, is an ambulance on its way or what? We fucking need someone here.”
Jared pulls his phone away from his ear and covers the microphone for a moment. “They're gonna meet us across the street. They say we should get out of here, now.”
Matt laughs hysterically. He wants to tear his own hair out- or maybe Jared's. “What the hell do you think we're calling them for?”
“No, Matt, like we need to go. Some guys just beat Jay half to death-”
“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” Matt screams, trying to cover Jay's ears. He can't hear that right now- why would Jared even say that?
“They just beat the ever living shit out of him for sneaking around their restaurant, and we're-” Jared stops, looks around nervously, continues in a lower voice. “And we're calling the police right outside their door!”
Matt stares at him for a moment, then decides he can't stand to look away from Jay a second longer and drops his gaze to him again. Every breath stutters, comes out wet and thick. Jay's hand is sliding down his chest like he doesn't have the strength to hold it up. “You’re okay, baby,” Matt coos. His voice breaks and he hates himself for the way it makes Jay's brows twitch downwards. “I've got you, you're okay.”
A hand grabs Matt's shoulder from behind, and he instinctively presses Jay closer to himself- Jay makes another terrifying, unrecognizable sound- before realizing it's just Jared, hissing into his ear. “We gotta get the hell out of here before they come back!”
Jay hears that part, drooping eye widening and leg kicking out weakly at nothing. “No, n-no m- no mo-”
That's all he gets out. The rest is ragged, bloody coughs and gasps as he starts to panic in earnest. His face crumples and he shakes, but that seems to be all he can manage. Even his fingers barely twitch against where they've slid down to Matt's stomach. Matt feels like the ground is dropping out from underneath him. “No, baby, no more, I promise. I've got you, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, okay? You hear me, Birdie?”
Jay gives the barest nod, head lolling against Matt's chest in what Matt decides to see as an appeal for comfort. Jay doesn't breathe any easier, doesn't stop shaking.
Matt's pulled upwards by his armpits, nearly dropping Jay. The reaction this time is only a quiet, wheezy whine, which is somehow almost worse than the strangled cries from before. “Matt, we have to go!” Jared's still pulling at him.
“You're scaring him!” Matt shakes Jared off to keep petting Jay's hair. Jay’s breaths are coming only in shallow gasps now, with several seconds passing between each one. Matt's never felt so cold. He doesn't remember when you're supposed to use CPR.
Then Jay is being pulled up and away from him, and Matt’s the one who keens like he's dying. Jay’s hand lingers on Matt, flutters weakly towards him even as he's moved, and Matt is dragged up with him by some invisible force. He can't let go of Jay, even for a second, or- or-
In just a moment, Matt is on his feet, taking Jay from Jared's arms. Matt holds him as gently as he can, in what he belatedly realizes is a mockery of a bridal carry. He wants to scream at the thought, but he doesn't want to scare Jay.
Jared pushes Matt out of the alley and around the corner, where there are more people- people who stop to stare at the wreckage of this plan. Matt stumbles over a crack in the sidewalk, and though he manages to regain his balance without falling, the movement is enough to jolt Jay, whose head bounces off of Matt's chest to fall back past his shoulders.
He doesn't lift it back up. The new position makes it impossible for Matt to miss the unfocused, glassy eyes, and he realizes Jay hasn't made a sound since they stood up.
Matt stops dead in his tracks, hardly noticing when Jared runs straight into his back. “Bird?”
Jay doesn't respond. Doesn't even react, just hangs from Matt's arms like a rag doll. Jared's the one who's still talking, who's still saying something about going far enough. Matt doesn't need to hear it- he already knows he's gone way too far. He knows he can't come back from this.
“Jaybird, sweetie,” Matt coos, bouncing Jay slightly. There's still no response, not even a twitch. “Jay?”
“Aw, fuck. Matt, we need to-”
“Shut the fuck up!” Matt screams, and he doesn't know why. He doesn't feel angry. He doesn't feel anything. Jay is still warm against him, and for a moment it's almost familiar to see him looking up at Matt so slack-jawed. But his eyes…
Someone puts a hand on Matt's shoulder, and his knees give out. He and Jay are on the floor again, like just a few minutes ago, but Jay is quiet now. Maybe this is the part where he's supposed to do CPR.
Matt lays him down gently, more gently than he's ever done anything. He's never done CPR, never learned it, but he's seen it on TV. He puts his hands on the center of Jay's chest and pushes down, but instead of the resistance he expects there's a cracking sound, far too much give, and a new dribble of blood from Jay's mouth.
Matt pulls away like he's been burned. Distantly, he's aware of the camera on him, of Jared having started filming again. Instant replay, roll that footage again- watch Matt Johnson leave a dent in his best friend's sternum. Jay's chest isn't reinflating, he isn't complaining about laying on the dirty city sidewalk, he isn't doing anything at all. He just stares up at the sky, unblinking.
“Bird?” Matt croaks out. There are people around them now, voices in his ears, they're surrounded. Matt grabs Jay again, pulls him up against his chest to protect him from the crowd. Jay doesn't fight him the way he should. Matt strokes his hair with shaking hands. “It’s okay, Birdie. We'll- we'll fix you right up. Like it never happened, right, baby? Good as new. You'll be just fine, eh, Jaybird? Birdie? What do you say?”
Jay doesn't answer.
Matt holds him tighter, closer. He can wait. As long as it takes, he's got nowhere else to be. He can wait for Jay to answer, even if it takes the rest of his life. For Jay, he'll wait.
He'll wait.