Jared Gaines (thatbigguy) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-06-24 02:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, jared, jared x ty, ty |
Who: Jared & Ty
Where: Main Street, then Overlook
When: Evening, October 31st
Status: Complete
Warning: Violence, gory imagery
The Point Pleasant Police Department was usually on high alert on Halloween. Jared was pretty used to things escalating late in the night, and this year's Halloween was on a weeknight so Jared was cautiously optimistic that it might not be too crazy this time around. When nine PM rolled around he found out that optimism had been very naive. Calls started rolling in about a madman chasing someone down Main Street with a gun and the deputies on foot at the festival had lost sight of him. A gunman was a big deal and Jared was a little nervous as he headed to the intersection where said event might escalate given the direction the two had been heading. He spotted them as soon as he arrived and parked the car, getting out with his own gun drawn.
One man dressed up in a flimsy clown suit (which honestly just made the situation eerier) came toward the car at high speed, yelling for help. "He's crazy!" he was wailing. "Help me!" He looked unarmed and Jared pointed at him to take cover as a man dressed up in some kind of renaissance fair outfit came darting after him, sword in one hand and a pistol in the other.
"Face me, you dastardly cur!" he was yelling, coming to a halt when he noticed the police cruiser. "I have no quarrel with you," he said, pointing at Jared with his sword. "My squabble is with this dog. We could use a second, should he man up and face me."
Jared wasn't sure what to make of that when another police cruiser rounded the corner and he felt a little less alone in this surreal moment. "Put down your weapons," he said though this was beginning to look like the world's weirdest roleplay. He was covered for the most part by the car but he still felt uneasy. The guy's gun looked... old and odd but that was no guarantee that it didn't function.
There had been some genuinely weird calls so far tonight, which ... honestly, Ty ought to be used to by now, but these seemed especially weird. JC was doing her best to prioritize things, and a woman who was hysterical about how her young son wouldn’t stop acting like a dog no matter what she tried was definitely ranked below somebody with a gun at the festival. Ty rushed his way over there. Jared had already responded, but he might need backup, and Ty was going to be it. He pulled his cruiser at an angle to block the street and got out of it in a hurry. The dude had a sword too, with his old-timey costume ... too drunk, maybe? Drugs? Ty pulled his weapon and aimed over the top of his car hood toward the man’s legs. “Drop your weapons and get down on the ground,” he ordered as well, his heart starting to race.
Hearing Ty's voice was reassuring and if he hadn't been tense and confused as hell, Jared would have smiled. Most of his coworkers were capable but he always worked well with Ty, even before their relationship had developed as it had.
The man gave Ty a puzzled look, looking at the ground and then back at the cruisers. "Unhand my weapon? The ground is filthy, I will sheath my weapons and we may speak like civilized men - which this man is not." His tone changed abruptly and he pointed with his sword at the clown cowering behind a car nearby. "If he does not partake in this duel he has admitted defeat and Ann, beloved Ann, should be mine."
Jared furrowed his brows. He was guessing drugs too, someone had gotten a little too into his outfit. "Sir, we're going to need you to put down your weapons," he repeated. "In the name of the law."
“No one’s dueling today, sir,” Ty reinforced, still keeping his gun steady on the guy ... was he supposed to be a pirate? Some kind of Revolution soldier? Ty couldn’t tell. Maybe two cops with their guns pointed at him was overkill, but he did have a firearm, even if it looked fake, and he wasn’t being cooperative. The clown looked plenty scared. This was a crowded street, and they had to de-escalate before somebody got hurt. “Put your weapons on the ground and your hands behind your head.”
"Well, that just seems excessive," the man muttered but then he sheathed his weapons begrudgingly and placed his hands on his head in a weirdly pompous way. Jared groaned quietly. "Sir," he muttered. "I'm going to need you to put your weapons on the ground, you are frightening the people around you." He knew of a few cops who would have shot him by now for 'antagonizing an officer' and failing to respond. He wasn't sure he recognized the guy though so that made it harder. Out-of-towner? Probably.
The man wrinkled his nose and muttered something about it being filthy but then he finally complied, slowly removing his weapons one at a time, careful to show them he wasn't looking to use them. So maybe there was still some sense in his head. He placed them on the ground and then put his hands on his head again. "You will come to regret this," he said. "I am Lord Philmore of Penobscot County, a visionaire extraordinaire and in full right to demand a duel of those who have wronged me."
Jared was cautiously moving toward him, kicking the man's pistol out of the way before handcuffing him. "We'll straighten it all out at the station," he muttered, giving Ty a bemused look.
As soon as the weapons were down, Ty holstered his pistol. He sighed a bit at what the guy said -- total nonsense, but it sounded weirdly clear. Unslurred, like he wasn’t drunk at all. Maybe he was on some different kind of drug. Ty walked around his cruiser while Jared got the guy in cuffs to pick up his weapons. He went to put them in the front seat of Jared’s car, assuming he would be the one taking the guy in since he was making the arrest. Ty waved the clumps of people on who had stopped to watch this whole thing go down, assuring everyone that everything was under control now.
Once Jared had their time traveling friend in the car, Ty walked back over to him. “I’ll get a statement from the clown, see if he wants to press charges,” he said, hands on his belt as he glanced around them again. “What the fuck, right?” he murmured with a huff.
Jared shook his head as he slammed the door shut behind the man he'd just pushed inside his cruiser. "Right," he huffed back. "Was the gun loaded?" Was it even a gun? It looked weird and he had a stray thought that maybe it was cursed or something. It was such a stupid idea he tried to dismiss it right away but it was clear that the events of the last few months were starting to get to him.
Ty shook his head, looking a little baffled. “I don’t even think it was real,” he said. “Looked like some kinda replica to me. Of a flintlock pistol, which ... what the hell was he thinking?” His brow furrowing, he cast a look toward the shadow of the guy in the back of Jared’s cruiser. “The sword wasn’t sharp, either. But he didn’t sound fucked up to me, so ... delusional break with reality? I dunno man.” That would be for doctors to sort out after Jared took him to the station to try and get some sense out of him. They would find out, Ty supposed. Unable to resist, he gave Jared’s upper arm a pat and tilted a little smile at him. “Lemme know how it goes,” he murmured.
"Oh I will," Jared murmured with a shake of his head and a little smile that had nothing to do with the weirdness of the situation. The touch was brief but solid and a nice reminder of what he'd be going home to after this shift was over. "Be safe out there," he added, shooting some warmth Ty's way before heading to the driver's seat of the cruiser. The guy started talking as soon as he sat inside and he still had nothing remotely intelligent to say - or modern for that matter. Jared shot Ty a look when he caught him looking, a small moment of communicating without words and then that brief encounter with his boy was over as he left him to deal with the clown.
He would have expected that to be the end of it, but the calls kept rolling in, each one weird and unexplainable. People were going insane and only a small portion of them had been drinking. Jared had to gently coax a superman off the roof of his house and the other deputies he talked to had similar stories to share whenever they ran into each other at the station or at the festival - which had a weird amount of craziness going on all on its own. It was around ten when they got a call about screaming in Overlook which Jared took because he was close enough. Chatter on the radio told him Ty would be backing him up again which was a small light in the dark.
Ty had come to expect a bit of craziness on Halloween night. So the encounter with the guy stuck in the wrong century wasn’t too mind-blowing. Ty had taken the clown’s statement and gone back to the station to turn it in. He’d been hoping for more quiet after that, but it didn’t seem to be in the cards. Like Jared, he took call after call of people acting crazy, seemingly too caught up in what they were dressed as for Halloween. It ranged from a teenage boy who wouldn’t stop acting like the dog he was dressed as -- much to his mother’s dismay, Ty couldn’t tell her to do anything but take him to the hospital -- to some guy in not much clothing, convinced he was a Spartan warrior.
The call about screaming in Overlook Estates sounded serious though. Ty heard Jared respond first, and he wasn’t too far away from the area, so he told dispatch that he would back him up, turned the car around, and raced over there. More information from the 911 call filtered in through the radio -- the suspect was wearing a mask, armed with something that might be an axe, and he’d been seen dragging a screaming woman into one of the houses. There was no way to tell if it was his own or not, and it made Ty’s stomach feel a bit queasy, thinking they might have a multiple-homicide situation on their hands, if some psycho attacked a family.
Jared found the caller at the corner of Blackthorn and Rosewood. She pointed urgently at the house and clutched her little dog close to her chest. "Go inside," Jared told her since he recognized her and she wouldn't be hard to track down again. He really didn't need civilians around if this went sour. A small part of him was clinging to the hope that this was just a Halloween prank gone too far but he wasn't optimistic. It was the second time this day he needed to pull his gun and he hated it, even if time had made it a little easier.
He didn't hear screaming when he first approached the house but then it started again, shrill and terrified. If it was a prank, this girl was a damn good actress. He was just about ready to go in without his backup being there when Ty's car came screeching around the corner, a small comfort again. Jared gestured at the house and then cautiously ventured inside, secure in the knowledge Ty was right behind him.
The front door was ajar and the foyer looked nothing like a prop in a Halloween prank. Everything was clean and expensive, from the gleaming tiles on the walls to the hardwood floors. Jared and Ty moved in quickly and quietly, checking the corners as they headed toward the sounds of scraping metal and screams that were quickly fading into whimpering. Their suspect was immediately visible when they reached the large kitchen. He was not a small man by anyone's standards - not even Jared's - and he was appropriately dressed as the madman from a slasher movie; horrific skin mask, bloody apron and all. He looked so out of place in the modern and expensive looking kitchen, sharpening a meat cleaver by the sink as a young woman struggled to get free of a crude looking rope that bound her to the kitchen table. This was definitely not a prank, her wrists looked raw and she gave Jared a deer in the headlights look when she spotted him in the doorway, then started screaming again, urgent and desperate.
With his gun aimed at the man, Jared moved in, checking for any other potential suspects. "Drop the weapon," he said and once again was intensely relieved that he had backup. The whole scene was eerie and the big guy was not chatty like their earlier arrest. He just stood there, cleaver raised casually in one hand, eyes not easily visible behind the small holes in his mask.
Ty’s stomach was in knots as the two of them went into the house. He did his best to let the intense surge of adrenaline focus him instead of make him fuck up, like he’d been trained to do. Ty checked corners and watched Jared’s back as they made their way to the kitchen, where the noise was coming from. There were no other perps that he could see, but he thought he caught a glimpse of a light on in a room down a short hallway, and the sound of a bathroom fan running. It was something to think about later though, because as soon as it registered he was looking at the big man in the Leatherface mask with a big fuckoff butcher cleaver. The woman who was tied up was making enough noise to mark her in Ty’s mind as ‘okay for now.’ All his focus was on their perp.
He moved in smoothly behind Jared, stepping off to one side so they could flank him a bit and stay between him and the kitchen exit, keeping his gun trained on the big man. “Do it now,” he barked. The dude didn’t seem inclined to put the cleaver down, quickly or otherwise.
There was something about that damn mask that made Jared's finger itch to pull the trigger. There was a person underneath it he reminded himself, just a guy.
The man was staring at them, presumably, and then he let the cleaver fall on the marble table with a loud clang. There was another sound, breathy and weird and it took Jared a moment to realize the guy was laughing. "Put your hands on your head and step away from the counter," he said and managed to keep his voice steady even if he definitely didn't feel steady at all. When the man didn't move he repeated himself more loudly, anger and wariness flaring up inside him.
Ty had horrible feelings about this. It was everything -- the mask, the memory of that fucking awful movie, the woman still whimpering and struggling against her bindings, the way he hadn’t said anything yet. It made Ty want to be dealing with the crazy guy with the sword and the replica flintlock again. “He said step away from the counter,” Ty echoed, starting to move his position again. Keeping his gun on the big man, he circled around where he was standing, giving him a wide berth, so he could get at his back.
The man stood still, continuing to stare at Jared, waiting patiently until Ty had holstered his gun again and pulled his handcuffs out. When the attack came, it happened fast. Before Ty knew what was happening, the guy had thrown an elbow into his face. Pain jolted through his cheekbone and straight into his skull as his head snapped back. He stumbled a bit, which gave the man time to grab for something else on the counter. It was a paring knife, thankfully not the cleaver, but it cut just fine as the psycho sliced at Ty. He felt a hot slash of pain across the side of his head, then another on his cheek, before he had a chance to react beyond yanking his head backward.
He let out a bark of a noise and moved his body forward instead of back, ducking his head to tackle the guy back against the marble counter. Feeling hot blood flooding out of his face, Ty struggled hard with him to get him to drop the knife, but the motherfucker was huge and strong. He was still making that huffing sound behind the mask too. Letting out a couple of strained curses, Ty tried to turn him so his back was to Jared. The knife got turned in the process, and Ty felt the man push it into his bicep. He cried out in pain and kneed the guy on the inside of the thigh, trying to get him to go down.
Jared felt like he should have seen it coming and maybe he had with the way his body had felt tense and alert when Ty moved closer, like he wanted to tell him not to and just shoot the guy in the mask instead. The situation escalated too fast and he didn't feel at all prepared for any of it. All he knew was that Ty was bleeding and he himself was yelling at the guy to stand down, drop the weapon, some other words that came out on autopilot as he got in a little closer. He was too aware of the knife and the two men were moving fast, crashing into things. When he pulled the trigger it was a reflex thing. He was aiming for the bloody apron and two shots rang out followed by dead silence where time felt like it stood still and he stared at what he'd done. He knew he hadn't hit Ty, he wouldn't have taken the shot if it wasn't clear but he'd taken the shot. Two of them, like he'd been trained to do. The guy stood still and then he crumbled down but all Jared could think was that Ty was bleeding and he needed to get to him. He circled slowly closer, gun still aimed at the bulk on the ground. "You okay?" he whispered and god damn it he felt like he'd swallowed a bowling ball. "Where are you hurt?"
The shots were deafening in the close kitchen, but Ty was pretty sure he heard the woman on the floor scream. He felt the man’s body jolt with the impact of the bullets, and for a split second he thought that he’d been hit too. There was just already a lot of pain going on and the jerking ... but then the big man’s grip on him was loosening and he was slumping down to the floor. Ty stumbled back a few steps his chest heaving. He looked around at Jared, eyes wide, his cuffs still gripped in one hand. His arm felt like it was on fire. “Motherfucker,” he panted, though that wasn’t really an answer. Ty lifted a hand to where his head and face were bleeding, glanced at the slick blood on his fingers, then pressed his palm against the head wound. They both felt shallow, he could still move all of his face okay, but Jesus, it stung like hell, and he was bleeding quite a bit. “Head, face, arm ... he fuckin’ cut me, fuck. I’m all right, though. Keep a bead on him, call for an ambulance.” Ty started for the bound woman to set her free, at least.
Jared was still clutching his gun, his brows furrowed worriedly in a way that felt like it was going to be permanent. He knelt next to the man in the mask, checking his pulse before calling for medical assistance on the radio. It all felt mechanical somehow, like he wasn't fully in control of himself. He'd shot someone and he'd gone down right away. He still had a pulse but it was weak and Jared had the horrible fear that he would take the mask off him and it'd be someone he knew. He pulled it up enough so that it wouldn't restrict his breathing, then rummaged through the drawers in the kitchen cabinets until he found a dishcloth to press against the wounds. He was pretty sure it wasn't going to change the outcome of this but he had to try.
Ty had to pull his pocket knife out to cut the ropes around the woman’s wrists. She was still crying, obviously traumatized by everything that was going on. Ty tried not to bleed on her as he helped her up and made sure she wasn’t drastically hurt anywhere, and guided her to another room to sit down and wait for the ambulance. He went back to the kitchen to stay with Jared, just in case, and grabbed a towel out of a drawer to press against his head. The cuts were throbbing in time with his heart, and he was starting to feel a tiny bit lightheaded, but Ty knew he had to push through. There was work to do. “He still alive?” he asked Jared, leaning one hip against the counter and looking down at their psycho. “You ID him?”
Jared shook his head. What he could see of the man's face looked vaguely familiar but that didn't mean much. Jared was pretty sure he was gone but he kept up the pressure just in case, looking up at Ty. "I just... I saw you bleeding," he said quietly and slowly, like he wasn't quite sure of his words. Cops had shot suspects for less but that wasn't Jared and it didn't feel like much of a reason right now. "I got a clean shot and I took it." It didn't exactly feel wrong when he looked at Ty and saw all that blood on him but he'd still shot the guy and he was probably dead.
Ty’s bloody face twisted into something fretful and sympathetic at the same time. He’d shot someone on the job before, but he hadn’t killed him, and even that had been difficult to deal with. This was going to weigh heavy on his man, he could already see it. Ty moved in closer and put his hand on Jared’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. He really wanted to pull him up and hug him tight, but now probably wasn’t the right time for that. Other people were coming, and Ty would bleed all over him. “It was what had to be done,” he murmured. It felt wrong to say that taking a life was the right thing, but, well ... “I’m lucky he missed my throat, or my eyes.”
It might feel wrong to Ty but it was the right thing to say. Jared frowned softly as he imagined how this could have gone, how he could be kneeling over Ty, desperately trying to stop the bleeding from his throat only to watch him die. The unwanted thought shook him to the core and he had to fight the urge to stand up and hug Ty close. "Lucky, yeah," he whispered and swallowed dryly. The man could have come quietly but he'd attacked Ty, attacked a police officer. Still, Jared couldn't help but feel like he was in trouble. "He's gone," he muttered and while it had been predictable it was still a shock. He got up, his hands twitching with the need to get clean. Without thinking he moved to the sink to wash them because there was blood and who knew what that guy could be carrying.
It took a lot to keep his professional distance, but Ty managed it. The ambulance arrived soon enough, followed by another one once the EMTs determined there was a body to take in as well as a victim to take to the hospital. At Ty’s insistence, they dealt with the woman first, then looked to his own wounds. While Ty was getting temporarily bandaged up, one of the EMTs checked the rest of the house with Jared ... and they found another body in the bathroom. This one, which looked to be a young man, had obviously fallen victim to the meat cleaver. They had a murder scene on their hands.
The night turned extra long after that. Sheriff Barrett came out, they taped the house off as a crime scene. There were pictures to take, fingerprinting to do, statements to take from Ty and Jared. Things seemed to have quieted down in town after midnight, and it became an all-hands-on-deck sort of thing. Hours after they’d gotten that damn call, Grady caught Ty leaned over, braced against the wall while he breathed through a wave of dizziness. He ordered the two of them go home.
Or to the ER first to get Ty’s face and arm cleaned and stitched up and some IV fluids in him, which was what actually ended up happening. By the time that was done and they had turned their cars back in at the station, it was close to four in the morning and Ty was dead on his feet. “My place,” he muttered at Jared as they walked out into the parking lot again. This time of morning was always so eerily still. “You drive.”
Jared nodded and if he hadn't been dying to get the hell out of there he'd have spent some time just holding onto Ty. He was still feeling a little robotic though, like he needed to just get through the motions until they were safe at home. He'd been pretty shaken by the shooting and then they'd found that kid in the bathtub, dressed up like a demon so they hadn't identified him yet. It had all been pretty eerie.
Jared got in the car and once Ty was in too he reached over to take his hand. "We need a vacation," he muttered before letting go again to start the engine.
Ty gave Jared’s hand a little squeeze as he slouched further in the passenger seat. “That’s the fuckin’ truth,” he murmured his agreement with a huff. The ER had given him some painkillers, but there was still a dull throb in his face and arm. He felt lucky that that crazy motherfucker hadn’t sliced his jugular open or taken out an eye, or even pushed the knife too deeply into his bicep. The doctor didn’t think there would be any permanent muscle damage. He would just have a few more scars. Ty leaned over against the door, crossing his arms loosely over his chest and leaning his head back against the seat. “Let’s winter somewhere tropical.”
"Go scuba diving," Jared said softly and usually the thought made him feel warmer but right now it didn't seem to have any effect, as if it was too far off or unrealistic in some way. He really didn't feel like driving but Ty was the one who'd gotten hurt and that need to take care of him kept Jared going no matter how tired he was. "I don't know what I'd have done if I'd lost you tonight," he muttered once they were driving away from the hospital. "I just keep picturing it..." He kept his gaze focused on the road but it felt cathartic to say those words out loud, even if he didn't really want to look at Ty while he said them.
Ty wasn’t really feeling like they would end up scuba diving in Jamaica or something either. He just felt tired and heavy. Two people had lost their lives tonight, and by all accounts their perp -- once they’d ID’d him -- had been a normal person. From what the other officers and Grady had told them, something had been happening to some people in town. A rash of PCP or ... something. It was like the fog, but weirder. Not everyone was violent, but this guy had been, and now he was dead, and it was hard to feel positive about anything after a night like this one. Ty looked over at his boyfriend’s profile, a softer sort of feeling seeping in through the badness. He reached out to gently squeeze Jared’s thick arm. “Try to stop,” he murmured, knowing how difficult that was. “It didn’t happen, I’m okay. You had my back, like always. Savin’ my ass all over again.”
Jared let go of the steering wheel with one hand to clutch Ty's hand for a moment, holding it firmly to his arm. He knew he should stop but it was easier said than done when his brain had its own ideas on what to haunt him with. What Ty said next still made him smile a little. "You're such a damsel in distress," he teased and it was funny because Ty was anything but. Jared shot him a little glance and gave his hand another squeeze before letting go to focus on driving.
That strong, warm press of Jared’s fingers against his said more than words really could, and Ty smiled faintly. “That’s me,” he murmured with a chuckle, giving Jared’s arm a tighter squeeze before he took his hand back and let his head flop back again. “Need to start growing my hair out and practicing my damsel scream, I guess.” He tittered faintly, feeling a tiny bit punchy. He knew Jared knew he was kidding; they took care of each other. That was how it worked. “Oughta make you carry me into the house,” he added in a sleepy mutter.
That made Jared laugh, a welcome sensation after the night they'd had and it was earnest and full of warmth. "Oh man, I've seen your baby pictures, Ty," he said amused. "Your hair won't grow long, it'll just grow big. You won't be a damsel, you'll be... You'll be like Foxxy Cleopatra. I mean I won't complain but, baby..." He laughed again though it felt a little desperate this time, like he was clutching for something to lighten his mood. Still, Ty with a little afro would be friggin' adorable though he might not agree.
Smiling made his cheek hurt, but Jared’s laugh made him do it anyway. It was so good to hear after a night like this. “What, you think black women with afros can’t be damsels? Racist,” he teased, grinning crookedly as his eyes drifted shut. “I would make a hot Foxxy Cleopatra.” Ty tried to picture himself with a long weave, at least, all shiny blond hair he could toss around and go ‘oh help me, big strong man!’ He giggled again, then murmured a weak “ow.”
"You're right, you're right," Jared drawled. "I'm a racist. Sorry, baby. You gotta admit though, Foxxy was not a damsel, she was just a whole lotta woman." He had the weird urge to put that movie on when they got home, just to watch something silly and easy. He knew they'd crawl right into bed when they reached the house but it was still a nice idea. "You'd make a hotter Foxxy than Beyonce did," he said then, well aware that this was probably some kind of blasphemy in the eyes of some but Ty was his man and he was a little biased.
“Oh I know,” Ty agreed, though he did it with another smirk. “Just start callin’ me Queen Tey.” He happened to think he was hotter than Beyonce too, but then again he just wasn’t into boobs and all, so that probably didn’t say much. She was still amazing, just not his type. Ty took a deeper breath and let it out slow, forcing his eyes open to look over at Jared. The drive home wouldn’t take long, but he didn’t want to pass out on him. “I still love you, even though you’re a racist,” he said with a warm little smile, his tone much more affectionate than the faux-accusation itself. There were worse words Jared might be tempted to apply to himself, and Ty wanted him to know he was loved.
"Yeah?" Jared murmured. "Well, you're pretty amazing for a black guy." He started laughing again, this time pained. "No. No, I can't, that was the worst." Even as a joke it felt all sorts of wrong to say that shit and he reached over to grab onto Ty, his hand landing somewhere on his stomach where he clutched at his jacket. "You're just amazing. I don't know how I'd have gotten through any of this without you." He blinked to keep from tearing up because he was driving damn it and it was hard enough to drive in the dark while this tired without getting all weepy too. "I love you."
Ty covered Jared’s hand with both of his. It had been an awful night. Just terrible, for a whole bunch of people. Their share of that terribleness wasn’t insignificant, but Ty knew that it was easy to overlook the emotional distress of the cop when civilians got shot. They couldn’t know yet what the backlash would be, if any, but he knew his man and he knew Jared was already carrying guilt. The man had killed and would have again, but there had obviously been Circumstances, and that made it hard. “You got my back, I got yours,” he said softly. “Don’t crash though, baby. I don’t wanna go back to the ER tonight.” They were almost home, thankfully.
"Okay," Jared said softly. "But only 'cause you don't wanna go back." He smiled again, smothering that twitch in his chin. It was a combination of emotions that had gotten to him, the guilt and the stress joined with overwhelming feelings of love and gratitude. It could do a guy's head in. "Almost home," he murmured and Haven Park wasn't far off now. "Should I start calling you Foxxy?" he asked, needing to distract himself with something. Anything.
Once they were safely inside and could relax and lie down, Ty had no doubt there would be tears. They just had to wait through the practical shit, like with everything else. He rubbed Jared’s hand with his thumbs in the meantime, looking over at him and watching the emotions cross his face like clouds. Maybe he was just exhausted, but he felt calm inside and just ... warm. Glad to be alive and in the moment, in spite of the pain and tiredness. “Queen Tey, we covered this,” he teased gently, grinning a tiny bit.
Jared chuckled as he turned the car in on Ty's street. "Yas queen," he said, fully aware that he probably wasn't saying it right but an attempt was made. He would happily make an ass of himself anytime if it cheered Ty up and right now he too needed the cheering up himself. The parking lot was like an oasis and for a moment it even felt like a mirage, like he'd just keep driving and driving and never get closer until he was too exhausted to keep going. That feeling passed quickly, thankfully, and the parking lot did get closer.
Ty let out a titter -- he would never get tired of hearing Jared say stuff like that, he was pretty sure. He was just so adorably white. And lived as straight for so long. Whenever he gave it a lot of thought, it kind of made Ty excited to open up this whole other part of life for him. Granted, he hadn’t been living in The Community himself for years, but now that they were out, maybe things could change a little. Not much, because Point Pleasant was a small town, but some. Ty gave a grateful groan once Jared had parked the car, feeling like he could just open the door and collapse out onto the pavement and sleep for about five days. He didn’t -- he managed to get his feet under him as he climbed out of the car, and headed with Jared toward his apartment.
Jared gave into that urge to touch him, lightly touching his back as they walked and once they were inside he stopped him and turned to face him, taking in the damage done now that they were away from other people and distractions. He frowned softly as he ran his fingers along Ty's jaw, then forced a smile. "You're gonna have a sexy little scar," he said softly, fully aware of how bad it could have been. It hadn't been that bad however and he needed to stop thinking about it, like Ty said. "Go settle in, I'll go get us something to drink and whatever else you need, okay?"
The hospital had covered up the stitched cuts, so there wasn’t a lot to see, but Ty knew how they’d looked before that, and it wasn’t great. He huffed a little laugh. “Good thing I already landed a man I love,” he murmured, resting his hand on Jared’s chest for a beat. “Before I got all battle-scarred.” Ty rose up on his toes to softly kiss Jared’s lips, then pulled away to start toward the bedroom. “Just water and painkillers, please.” They’d given him some, but everything was starting to throb again, and Ty really wanted to go to sleep easily tonight. He sat down on the bed with a groan and worked on getting his boots off, then the rest of his clothes, throwing everything toward the hamper.
Jared was dead on his feet but he suspected Ty felt even more so and he could shuffle along a little longer to get the things they needed. It had been a long night, impossibly long, and he couldn't wait to pass out. He brought back the things Ty had requested and set them down on the nightstand before he stripped off his clothes as well. He gave Ty a faint smile as he did so, then crawled up on the bed next to him where he flopped down in exhaustion. "To add insult to injury," he murmured. "There are already Christmas decorations up, did you see them?"
Down to just his boxer briefs, Ty gratefully took the water, murmuring his thanks before he downed a few swallows. He shook one of the pain pills out of the bottle and popped it into his mouth, then finished off what was in the glass. “Christ, every year it gets earlier,” he muttered as he turned and stretched out next to Jared. Ty gave a faint groan as he settled in. It seemed like every part of him ached with exhaustion. He looked over at Jared and offered him a faint half smile. “It’s gonna be a good Christmas, though,” he murmured, lifting his hand to lightly scritch in Jared’s beard.
"I still kinda wanna take you home for Thanksgiving," Jared murmured and at least Christmas tended to bring out the good in people more so than Halloween did. Hopefully they'd only have to deal with psychopathic Santas trying to spread cheer and presents if something weird like this happened again. "My mama keeps asking 'bout you, I think she's a little smitten." He stroked Ty's jaw again, resting his head on his arm as he gazed back at him. "You think you'd like that?"
Ty smiled faintly. “Like mother, like son?” he murmured. It was such a weirdly nice feeling to know that Jared’s mama actually wanted to meet him, to be a family. That felt more and more important the longer this went on, especially since his own was so stubborn about accepting who he was. “I think I’d love that,” he added, fingers still stroking Jared’s face back. “Can’t believe it’s November already.”
"Oh I'm more than a little smitten," Jared told him warmly. "You oughta know that by now. Head over heels, stupid in love, well past the point of no return. My mama's just smitten." He didn't want to fall asleep yet but his eyes felt heavy and full of sand, forcing him to close them more often than he wanted to. What he really wanted was to stay awake a little longer and enjoy the fact that Ty was there, alive and touching him, beautiful and safe.
He did know that, but it never hurt to trap Jared into saying it again. Ty loved to hear it. “You and me both,” he murmured, watching Jared’s eyelids struggle to stay open. He turned onto his side and scooted in closer, moving his head in to press their lips together again. “We should sleep,” he murmured. Maybe they were both too tired for emotions tonight. Whenever they came, he would be there for Jared, but their physical need for sleep seemed to be taking precedence.
Jared forced his eyes open again and squinted at Ty with a little frown and a small grumpy sound of protest. He didn't want to sleep, he wanted to stay awake and watch his man, hold him tightly and bask in the fact that he had him by his side. It was all very unrealistic, he was falling asleep whether he wanted to or not and he couldn't squeeze Ty too much because he was hurt. He couldn't even watch him because his eyes wouldn't work quite right. "Thank you," he murmured then, leaning in again to steal another kiss, his eyes closing on their own accord.
There was no way in hell Ty was getting up early to go into work, so hopefully they would have some time when they woke up to cling to each other while they were conscious. There would be plenty of sleep-snuggling, Ty felt sure. “Thank you,” he whispered back, gazing at Jared’s lashes fanned out against his cheek. Jared Gaines had saved his life that night, again, and Ty didn’t take that lightly. It made the love in his chest swell and push against his ribs in a way that was almost uncomfortable. After just gazing at his love for another few moments, Ty moved just enough to turn the lamp off, then settled back in against him.