Ty Solomon (shadowbadge) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-01-27 20:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | #september 2017, jared, jared x ty, ty |
Who: Jared and Ty (and various NPCs)
When: Tuesday, Sept 26, midday
Where: out and about, then the station
Warnings: ugly slurs, violence, emotional turmoil
Status: Complete
Ty felt like he’d hit the ground running first thing that morning and hadn’t stopped. The day seemed like it had been five days packed into one already. Things had been ... busy. People still trying to drive in the fog had been crashing into each other, other people had called in incidents of violent attacks, lots of people, really. At first, in the morning, Grady had wanted them to all patrol individually, but his tune on that had changed pretty quickly. It was a day for partners. So he was with Jared, knocking out calls as quickly as they could. They’d already put two people in cuffs and taken them to holding cells for their behavior, and Ty felt like he was balanced on a precarious razor’s edge more and more as they day went on.
The next call they had was for more than a fender-bender, it was a pretty major three car accident that was going to take a while to sort out. Ty got out of the cruiser when they arrived, his body tense, already dreading handling the citizens who were standing on the sidewalk and yelling at one another. This fog was just pushing everybody to their limits, that was the only thing he could think of that was making everyone so jumpy today.
Jared was trying to keep his game face on. They were the police and people were counting on them to be in control but he really didn't feel like he was. Every time he exited the vehicle to do anything he felt honest to God afraid, like there was something out there hiding in the mist, ready to chomp at him. It wasn't really a feeling he was used to, not a whole lot of things actually scared him, but they seemed to be piling on lately.
He got out of the car after Ty and felt that feeling of fear wash over him again so he took a deep breath before putting on his air of authority, interrupting the shouting match with a loud enough 'Hey', holding his hand up in indication to stop. He could barely see the people there until he was up close and they all looked furious. Having had his own car smashed recently he could kind of understand it but the way they looked at him was chilling. "Let's get this sorted, everyone calm down."
Ty had been afraid too, but in a different sort of way. He wasn’t too worried about what might or might not be out in the fog, it was the other people that had started to bother him. It was probably a sign of being overworked, that there had been too much bad shit to deal with lately, but he kept feeling like the townspeople they were dealing with were looking at him funny. With suspicion. He’d been keeping his physical distance from Jared today, keeping everything absolutely professional, but there was still this bad feeling that grew every time they went somewhere ... like people knew. Like they could see it. It was making the skin on his back crawl.
“What happened here?” he asked, notebook and pen in hand to start making notes. Ty squinted over at the cars that had smashed together just as all three men on the sidewalk started yelling at once again, all of them trying to get their version of events heard first.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Jared said again, pointing at each of them. "One at a time. You first, you two go get your damage report paperwork for your insurance company, let's keep this civilized." Normally people listened to him, it wasn't this hard to deescalate a situation and he expected the two to go get their damn paperwork and let them do their job because they were the police, damn it. No such luck this time. The two guys he'd told to back off started shouting even louder, both of them angry about being 'dismissed' and accusing Jared of saying it was 'their fault' since he hadn't told the third man to go get his paperwork.
"Calm down, sir," Jared told one of them, trying to to get one of them to talk at a time but they just got angrier and he was starting to feel like showing them just who was in charge here. His jaw clenched and his gun felt heavy at his side while his heart beat a little too fast.
The disrespect made Ty bristle almost immediately, though he tried to clamp down on the feeling. It was their job to deal with upset people, to try and keep things from escalating, to keep the peace. But these assholes were just shouting and accusing Jared of shit that wasn’t true and it was making Ty’s temper feel harder to control. Kind of sparky. “Hey!” he barked, trying to cut through their yammering. “Shut up and do as you’re told. You can’t all talk at once.” It didn’t have much of a calming effect, and one of the men turned to direct his ire more toward Ty, getting red in the face as he gesticulated wildly and insisted that one of those other dickheads had slammed into him, that he was the victim here.
Things were ramping up from bad to outright weird and it was getting harder to keep up with who was claiming what.
One of them was shouting something to the effect that 'this motherfucker had been watching him on his street so he probably did it on purpose’, another was yelling the same thing over and over about how everyone always blamed him and it wasn't his fault, it wasn't his fault, it wasn't his fault! The third was glaring at Ty now and despite the yelling Jared heard what he said as if it was louder than all the other yelling going on combined even if it wasn't.
"I'll be damned if I take orders from a nigger," he said and that just made everything way worse.
Jared paled when he caught the words and he grabbed that guy by the back of the neck and pushed him toward the cruiser. He wanted to slam his head against the hood, an urge so strong he almost gave into it but somehow managed to hold back. The guy fought back but he was a great deal smaller than Jared in every way so it wasn't much of a struggle. Through the haze of fury all Jared could think was that they needed to separate these guys and contain them somehow.
With as angry as everybody was, Ty probably should have anticipated that, but he hadn’t, so it was kind of like a sucker punch to the gut. He’d reacted before he could think about it, his teeth baring and one fist clenching as he took a step toward the guy. Luckily Jared got there first, grabbing and re-directing him toward the cop car before Ty could bust his teeth in.
There wasn’t much time to think though, because one of the other men started crowing about police brutality. This whole situation was rapidly spiraling completely out of control. Amidst shouting that sounded more and more like nonsense, the two guys in front of him started fighting each other. Ty hadn’t even really registered who struck first, but within a second they were both snarling and grappling. Ty dropped his clipboard and lunged to get in between them, yelling for them to calm down, calm the fuck down and cease and desist immediately.
'I'll show you police brutality' Jared thought with a rush of anger so alien to him that it was a little scary. He shoved the man into the back seat of the car, avoiding flying fists and kicking feet and managing to get the door closed before he rushed back to help Ty because things were seriously getting out of hand. He thought they should probably call for backup if things kept escalating since they couldn't shove all three guys in the back seat together but in truth he would much rather just beat them up until they stopped fighting. He could see it in his mind's eye, a visceral image of the two of them on the ground, their faces unrecognizable as Jared's fists slammed down over and over again.
He grabbed one of them from behind, hauling him away from the guy he was fighting and giving Ty a little more space to keep them apart. "You," he rumbled. "Get in your fucking car and pipe down or I swear to God..." He'd swear to god he'd what? He'd shoot him. That was all that came to mind. He had a gun. He had a gun and he really wanted to use it right about now. Another surge or fear went through him because this felt alien, like it came from somewhere else. Jared rarely got angry, it took a lot to get him to this place of blind rage. The guy was screaming and kicking as Jared pulled him away and it would be so easy to put him in the ground.
Ty was not feeling quite so rational. He’d gotten hit a few times in the scuffle, and the pain from wayward elbows and fists only served to piss him off even more. His heart was pounding and it felt like there was a white-hot band squeezing his chest tighter and tighter as he struggled with them. He could swear he heard another ‘nigger’ in there somewhere, and possibly a ‘faggot’ too, and it all just made him see red. Ty felt more than saw one of the men get dragged further away, and he took the opportunity to sweep the legs out from under the other guy and shove him in a way that would put him on the pavement.
It worked like a charm -- as angry as they were, these were all just normal out-of-shape middle aged men -- and within a second Ty was dropping down onto him, forcing him to roll over onto his belly none too gently and planting a harsh knee in the middle of his back. Ty yanked the man’s arms behind him and pulled his cuffs free, ignoring the way the guy howled and struggled under him as he got his hands secured. He didn’t care if the man was hurt, he wanted to hurt him more, in fact. Ty wanted to grab his head and smash his face against the sidewalk. Instead he just pushed on the back of his skull, leaning over to hiss at him again to shut the fuck up, he was under arrest.
Jared didn't see what was going down, too busy wrangling the other guy into the car and getting his keys from him so he wouldn't try to drive the damn thing away. It wasn't a reasonable thing to do with the layout of the cars but the guy was just angry enough to do something Stupid so Jared wasn't taking any chances. "You're staying right here," he yelled at him as he cuffed his hands to the steering wheel and slammed the door shut. Making some noise was sickly satisfying and he ended up hitting the roof of the car a couple of times with a clenched fist before turning around to see if Ty needed any help. The anger was getting out of hand like a livewire right in his core, vibrating and burning cold. He foggily thought this wasn't normal, that they needed to get out of there, somewhere, anywhere away from other people.
The man was handcuffed and on the ground, but that didn’t make Ty feel any better about anything at all. His mouth was still free, and there were words he was catching in all that rabid growling that made him want to hurt this man. Maybe even pull his gun and shoot him. He deserved a pistol whipping at least. “You motherfucker,” Ty snarled, pushing the man’s face harder into the pavement. He wasn’t thinking, he was running on pure instinctual rage, and he felt ready to break bones. Still kneeling on the man’s back, Ty cocked his fist back and punched him in the back of the head. The sharp jolt up his arm, the pain in his knuckles, it all felt so good and Ty lifted his hand to do it again.
Jared had meant to go check on the asshole in the cruiser since Ty had the situation under control out here but that punch got his attention and while a small part of him felt a little giddy and made him want to join in... No, that was definitely not right. "He's down, Ty," he barked and a new surge of anger came rushing in, this time aimed at his boyfriend. He was going to get them in trouble, he was hitting a guy in cuffs, he was being a fucking idiot and he was probably just using Jared for sex anyway. All these stupid things came on like a tsunami of negativity and Jared's breath caught for a second as he tried to push it all down.
Ty heard him, technically speaking, but the words barely registered through the haze of Ty’s anger. He’d lost his grip on whatever reason he’d had for punching the man on the ground, but that didn’t seem to matter. Now he was doing it just for the sheer fucking joy of it, a primal sort of thrill that he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt before. It felt great though, cathartic. Like he was purging every drop of anger or hurt he’d ever had, funneling it through his arm and into his fist to smash it against this asshole’s skull. Ty punched him again with a growl, his teeth bared and just not consciously aware of Jared behind him anymore.
"Ty!" Jared snapped again but Ty wasn't listening and fear was mixing in with the rage again though this time it was pointed at himself and what he might do if these feelings got any stronger. "Get off him," he grumbled even as he moved to physically make Ty stop, grabbing his punching arm and pulling him back. "That's enough!"
Ty wasn’t even very aware of who grabbed him, just that somebody did, and that could not be tolerated. He almost lost his footing as Jared pulled him back, but it worked a bit in his favor as he pivoted and rammed his shoulder into Jared’s stomach. “Fuck off!” he shouted as he got his balance and shoved against his partner as hard as he could, trying to yank his arm free. He was going to kick the shit out of somebody, and if Jared wanted to volunteer, then ... so be it. Something about it didn’t feel right, but Ty was too caught up in it now to heed that.
He was a lot stronger than the two assholes Jared had just dealt with and that impact only fuelled his rage. For a moment he was sucked into it, nostrils flaring as he gave into the urge to hurt Ty and before he knew it his fist had made contact with Ty's face, the sudden pain in his knuckles jolting him out of it in a flash. "Fuck," he hissed before Ty reacted and all he could think to do was get them somewhere safe, somewhere... out of the fog.
It was a beautifully aimed punch, and Ty’s head snapped back. He heard his nose break before he felt it, and for a second everything screeching in his brain went still and quiet. Then the pain kicked in and Ty groan-yelled his own ‘fuck,’ feeling hot blood drip out of one nostril. The pure rage flooded back in like a tsunami and he lunged at Jared as best he could, throwing his own wild punches. He was hurt now, and that just meant he had to fight harder.sure
The pain was almost cathartic, each blow a reminder that this was wrong and Jared took the first hits before his training kicked in. He grabbed Ty's arm, twisted it and pressed down until he had him where he wanted him and why the hell was it so tempting to keep twisting until something broke? He fought that urge too, feeling a little nauseated as he hauled his boyfriend toward the cruiser.
Ty let out a noise that was half pained and extremely frustrated. In spite of the searing pressure in his shoulder, he tried to fight Jared’s grip and get free. That wasn’t happening, so he tried not to walk ... enough to make himself cry out again in pain as his arm twisted further. There was a reason that hold worked so well on unruly citizens. Ty just had never been on the receiving end of it outside of training. So he ended up having to go where Jared directed him. He kicked the side of the car, snarling at the man in the back seat, his lips and teeth streaked with blood now.
What Jared wanted to do was beat Ty bloody, smash his head against the car, maybe smash his head a few times with the car door, get out his gun... He'd gone cold and pale, shaking with rage as he shoved Ty into the passenger seat of the car and slammed the door after him. It didn't make much sense but it felt like it would help when he really should have taken Ty's gun away from him, handcuffed him, done anything to make sure he was safe but right now he just needed Ty away from him before he started giving into some very terrifying impulses. He half expected Ty to pull his gun once he wasn't holding him anymore but he didn't care, pacing to the front of the car and letting out some of his fury on the hood instead of on one of the bodies that would have been so much more satisfying to punch. The guy on the ground was trying to get up, still talking when he should know better and shut the fuck up but Jared just punched the hood harder and did his damndest to ignore him.
It was like Ty had forgotten his gun was even there, which was probably for the best. He pushed himself up from the awkward angle he’d been shoved into the cruiser at, his fists shooting out to punch the dashboard in front of him once or twice. He heard a whimper from the back seat and twisted around to grab the wire cage that separated the front from the back, another growl coming out of him. He started to tell the man back there he was fucking lucky Ty couldn’t reach him when he started to feel strange. Or rather, the strangeness started to wear off. All that anger rapidly drained out of him, and Ty’s face relaxed out of its snarl and right into confusion. The man on the other side of the cage was staring at him with huge, wet, sane eyes, his own anger gone.
The car was shaking a bit, loud hollow bangs coming from Jared’s fists hitting the hood. Ty twisted back around, feeling absolutely lost for a moment as he looked around and clearly recalled what had just happened. “Oh shit ... Jared!” he breathed, then shouted. Ty reached over to honk the horn briefly, gesturing wildly toward his boyfriend to come closer, to get in the car.
Jared's head jerked up when the horn sounded and he glared at Ty as he licked blood from his lips, then glanced back at the guy behind him, still talking shit. He needed to get that man inside his vehicle too, he thought, or he could just shoot him, that would be really fucking satisfying too. Squeezing his eyes shut he punched the hood one more time then slowly made his way around the car, his breathing labored and his sore fists clenched tightly. Getting in the car felt like a good idea and a bad idea all at once but he didn't know what the hell else to do. He opened the door, pulled his gun free from the holster and pointed it at Ty. "Cuff yourself," he muttered through clenched teeth. "Or I swear I will fucking blow your brains out."
Stupidly, Ty was expecting Jared to just get in the driver’s seat like he’d done a million times before, so he’d done nothing but watch as Jared walked around and open the door. He was thusly unprepared when Jared pulled his pistol, and the fear that washed down his back was sharp and frigid. He flinched backward, right into the door on his side, his hands coming up immediately, palms out. “Whoa whoa, fuck, hold on-- don’t-- okay, okay just ...” Ty sat forward enough to slowly reach for one of the spare pairs of handcuffs they kept in the center console. “It’s the fog, Jared,” he said as he did so, doing his damndest to sound calm and collected when his stomach felt like it was in his throat. “Come out of the fog, shut the door.” The guy in the back started to blubber his agreement, then stopped himself and went quiet again. Ty thought that was the smartest thing he’d ever done, and he carefully snapped the handcuffs into place on each wrist and put his hands on the dash. “Please don’t,” he added with more of a waver. “Please just come in here.”
Jared leaned down to see better, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Ty's cuffed hands on the dash. It was terrifying that he wanted to pull the trigger and underneath all the noise he focused on the fact that Ty had done exactly as he'd told him and that he could get in the car now. Just get in the car. Shut that guy up first, a little voice told him as the other man staggered toward the car but it could wait, that man was cuffed and bleeding, he couldn't do much damage so Jared got in the car, his gun still in his hand, tapping lightly against his thigh as his whole body shook with nerves. "Fuck," he hissed as he slammed the door shut, then locked it for good measure. He was about to say something else when he felt the very same thing Ty had felt just minutes before, like the fog was lifting from his mind even if it still surrounded him. "Fuck," he whispered more softly and he didn't really want to look at Ty but he did, his expression panic stricken. "Oh fuck I'm so sorry, fuck.... I'm sorry."
He wasn’t the only shaky one -- a tremor had taken over Ty’s whole body, a crazy mixture of relief and adrenaline and more things he couldn’t even define. The sense coming back into Jared’s eyes was probably the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and a shaky laugh that had no place being there bubbled up out of Ty’s throat. Unmindful of the man watching them, Ty leaned over the console and grabbed for Jared to pull him into a fiercely tight hug. As well as he could with his hands cuffed, anyway. “It’s okay,” he breathed, though it sounded more like a reassurance for himself. “We’re okay.” Well, not all of them, the man he’d punched was still weaving around out there, bumping into the other vehicles and yelling nonsense. But they were okay, just a little bruised and bloodied.
Jared didn't feel okay, not with the way he had wanted to hurt Ty, the things that had gone through his mind were disgusting and terrifying but he hugged Ty back, probably more tightly than he should, that tremor in his body not wanting to stop. "Oh fuck," he whispered, like every time he said it he was letting go of something and managing to relax a little more, piece by piece. "We're okay," he echoed as if to try to convince himself. "Okay..." He let go, then slowly removed the cartridge from his gun just to be absolutely sure he wasn't going to do something crazy. "There's something in the fog," he whispered breathlessly. "There's... it wasn't us. We need to get that asshole inside."
Ty didn’t want to let go of him. He wanted to cling and cry really really hard for a good hour to try and purge all that scary darkness and the mental image of Jared holding a gun on him. But that couldn’t happen because they still had a job to do. His face was throbbing as his nose swelled, and Ty tried to mentally latch onto that pain and let it focus him and keep him from breaking down. There were people to protect. “It’s making everybody fucking nuts,” he agreed. Ty pulled his own gun free of its holster and dropped the clip out of it. He put the ammunition in the center console and the pistol itself on the floorboard, then reached for the keys to start to uncuff himself. “I’ll get him in his car, I’ll move fast, you get on the radio and call Grady, he’s got to know what’s going on, everybody needs to be inside, we’ve got to get the word out. It’s fucking ... drugged or something, I don’t know. We can take these three home and go from there.” His hands free again, Ty reached for the door handle and then hesitated. He popped the glovebox open and started rummaging around in it.
Jared was trying really hard to remain focused and professional but there were too many emotions going on for him to really succeed. First of all, terror. He nearly lost his cool completely and that was not a feeling he was used to at all. He'd nearly hurt Ty which was something he would never have thought could possibly happen. Then there was that feeling of fierce love for the way Ty was keeping it together and not flipping his shit on him for everything that had happened. Not everyone was rational enough to deal with shit like this but there he was, making plans, figuring shit out, working fast and keeping calm despite his messed up face and the obvious terror he was feeling. Jared had felt a lot for him in the last couple of weeks but it was almost overwhelming at the moment. His eyes felt tense and heavy and, worst of all, wet and he grabbed the radio, breathing as slowly and deeply as he could through his mouth, his chest hurting. At some point he had the wherewithal to turn around to address the terrified man in the back. "It's okay sir," he said, his voice nowhere near as steady as he wanted it to be. "We'll get you home, we'll sort this out when it's over." Then he radioed in, watching Ty with deep apprehension as he really did not want him to go back out there.
If Ty just stayed focused and got through this, everything would be okay. That was what he was trying to tell himself, at least. One problem solved one step at a time, that was all he had to do. Ty found what he was looking for and pulled it free from all the other things stuffed in the glovebox. It was a bandanna, and he shook it out before quickly folding it and tying it around his face, over his mouth and nose. It hurt to tighten it, but that was okay for the moment. Ty had no idea if it would help, but it was something, at least. “Okay,” he muttered. “Be right back.” He opened his door and rushed out of it, getting it shut again as quickly as he could. He reached the car that the second man had been pushed into and the guy behind the wheel banged his head on the window to get Ty’s attention, looking distressed as he frantically shook his hands where they were cuffed to his steering wheel. Jared must have done that, fuck. “Stay put, sir!” Ty called to him through the window. “Stay in your vehicle, I’ll be back for you.” He ran on, grabbing the final free man by his cuffed arms once he reached him and steering him toward his disabled car.
Jared watched him intently though he wasn't even sure what he'd do if Ty started freaking out again. At least he wasn't working for some idiot sheriff who wouldn't listen to him, Grady took it seriously and that was more than Jared could say about some of the cops he'd worked with in the past. Not that anything like this had ever happened because what the hell even was this? The guy in the back was mumbling something about being sorry, about how he'd never say something like that, how he didn't mean it and he didn't know why he'd said it and Jared couldn't really deal with him right now. "Sir," he said evenly. "We all got carried away out there, there's something going on, nobody's blaming you." The words came automatically which was just as well because all he was thinking was 'come back, come back, come back' - like a broken record, hopeful and scared as he watched Ty out there in the fog.
Ty almost got the guy to his car. He was struggling a bit, but seemed mostly dazed and disoriented. Which a couple of punches to the back of the head would do. They’d been hard punches too, Ty’s knuckles felt swollen and throbbing in time with his nose. He was also starting to feel an itch in the back of his mind, like something was Wrong, and he was in danger. Which was all true, of course, but the growing paranoia didn’t feel like something he could control.
He’d been about to open the man’s car door and shove him inside when a better idea occurred to him. The man in the cruiser was docile already, this one would be soon, and they could kill two birds with one stone. Ty steered and hustled him toward their car instead, and hurriedly opened the back door to push the protesting man inside. Once he was secure back there -- still snarling and cursing, but cuffed so not too dangerous -- Ty hurried to climb back into the front, breathing hard as he shut his door and snatched the bandanna off of his face. “Doesn’t help,” he muttered.
Jared was just relieved to see him back in the car but also worried that the car might not stay safe for long. It was too weird that they seemed to calm down once they were inside it because if it was something in the air it should be everywhere by now. He waited until the guy in the back stopped cursing, his rage slowly replaced by confusion and then fear. "We gotta move fast then," Jared muttered. "Get that guy in here and get back to the station..." He didn't know what else to do, none of this was anything he'd ever been trained for, he didn't think he'd ever heard of something like this happening before. "I can go this time, I've got the keys."
Ty cast a glance back over his shoulder at the back seat, and winced a bit at the scrapes on the man’s face he’d attacked. He’d been thinking that they should take the men home and sort all this out later, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea either. “Think we can fit all three?” he asked in a murmur, his gaze ticking to Jared’s face again. Fuck, Ty had split his lip. Fear flared up in him again, totally natural this time, because this was truly bizarre shit that they obviously had zero control over. If there was one thing that Ty hated more than anything else, it was having zero control.
"We have to," Jared said quietly, turning around to look at the men again. "We can't leave him behind. You guys can make room, yeah?" He nodded as they agreed and then looked back at Ty. His own face was a little bruised and yes his lip was split but it was nothing next to what he'd done to Ty's face and guilt pooled deep in his gut, even if it hadn't technically been his fault. He wished they were alone so they could actually talk - or just hug it out or something, anything but keep working and pretending like they were just partners. "It seems to start with... fear? I should be okay if I run."
He’d been thinking about coming back for the third guy, but Ty supposed Jared was right. It wasn’t safe to leave him, especially with his hands cuffed to his car. Someone else who’d been run crazy by this shit could come along, and he would be a sitting duck. Ty nodded, his dark eyes worried as he looked at Jared. They’d both given up their guns for the moment, so that was something, but fucking Christ, Jared had put dents in the cruiser hood with his fists. “Hold your breath as long as you can, too,” he advised.
Jared didn't really think breathing stuff in had anything to do with it but he nodded because he wanted to reassure Ty in any way he could right now. He'd held his own for a while out there so he was more worried someone else might come along and escalate the situation even further but that wasn't something he could really prepare for without getting his gun back out and... no. Just no. "Sit tight," he said and looked at Ty again as if he could find reassurance in his face or somehow tell him everything he was feeling without giving it away to the other men in the car. One deep breath later he was out of the vehicle, jogging over to the car where he'd left the man handcuffed.
"It's the fog," he said hurriedly as he opened the door, showing him the key to stop him from freaking out. "Something's driving everyone a little crazy, it's safe inside so we're gonna get you safe but we gotta hurry, okay?" Safe sounded like such a nonsense word right then and all those things he'd been worrying about in the car became all the more plausible now that he was back out there. Someone was going to show up and shoot them all or the car would no longer work as a safe place and they'd go crazy while driving to the station, or everyone at the station was already crazy and they were going to walk into a massacre. His hands shook pretty badly but he managed to get the cuff off one hand to free the guy from the steering wheel and that was enough to get him out of the car and running.
It was Ty’s turn to sit there and worry. He was sitting on the edge of the car seat, both hands gripping tight to whatever was closest to them as he struggled to make out Jared’s shape in the fog. If someone did run up and attack him ... well, there was still a loaded shotgun secured under the dashboard he could grab. It was a terrifying thought to have, but Ty knew he could kill a motherfucker if Jared’s life was in danger. All of their lives currently seemed in danger, so he hoped fervently it wouldn’t come to that. The radio was crackling with calls between other deputies and the station, and while Ty wasn’t exactly listening to it, the noise of it was a comfort. Some normalcy was still going on, some people were still coherent.
The last man hadn't been much of a fighter but he could jog along just fine and Jared was feeling pretty damn antsy by the time he helped him into the back seat to join the other two. That feeling that he wasn't going to survive the day just kept getting stronger but at least that terrifying rage wasn't back yet and he hurried to get into the car before it had a chance to prove him wrong. "Station?" he said as he started the engine and locked the doors again, just for good measure. He wasn't used to not having a clue what to do but today was the day for it and despite being inside the car now he still felt afraid.
“Station,” Ty agreed. The men might want to go home, but there were first aid kits there and people to look after them and they probably would all have to give statements. That put an extra layer of fear in Ty’s gut, since he’d been the one punching a civilian in the back of the head, but he couldn’t worry about that now. Not yet. The next little while passed in a blur to him. They got to the station, escorted their guests inside, talked to the other officers who were there, talked to Grady ... Ty felt like his head was spinning the entire time. All he wanted to do was drag Jared somewhere private, hold onto him with all his strength, and cry. All of which was currently impossible, but he still felt shaky and unbalanced and scared. And fuck, his face hurt.
That last part was at least an excuse to retreat for a few minutes, and he ended up in the locker room in front of the sinks. Ty leaned over it, closely examining his nose in the mirror. It was definitely broken, only a little crooked, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore, so that was something. He’d taken a small handful of Tylenol to hopefully take the edge off, and after a few deep breaths, Ty pulled the cartilage back into place. A doctor could’ve set it better, probably, but there was no time. The pain made his vision sparkle and he let out a hissed curse, fists clenching as the wave of agony passed.
Jared had wanted to go with him but he knew better so he stalled for a bit before pointing out that he really needed a clean shirt before they went back out there, not that going out there was something he wanted to do but it wasn't like they could take the rest of the day off just because they weren't feeling good. Even if people listened and stayed inside there was bound to be an asshole or two who didn't care or didn't hear about it until it was too late and someone had to go out there and deal with it. Jared just wished it didn't have to be them.
He headed for the locker room as soon as he was able, a sinking feeling in his chest when he spotted Ty by the sinks. "How bad is it?" he asked quietly, feeling entirely too emotional and unstable to stay at work and seeing Ty only made all of it more intense because he had punched him in the face and he'd pulled a gun on him.
Ty hadn’t heard him coming, and Jared’s voice made him jump a tiny bit. It was just that sort of fucking day, and the fresh pain in his nose was making him feel kind of nauseated. He looked over briefly, then turned the sink on to get his face cleaned up. “Just broken, it’s fine,” he muttered hoarsely. Ty cupped the cold water in his hands and gingerly started washing the blood off of himself. He was still a little shaky, but he knew he had to pull his shit together and get back to work as soon as possible. People could be killing each other out there, they had to do as much damage control as they could and get everyone inside. He glanced at Jared again. “You okay?”
Just broken. Jared's stomach lurched uncomfortably and he shook his head. "No," he said because why lie when it was obvious nothing was okay right now. His eyes stung again and he'd been doing such a good job of not having an absolute meltdown that it didn't feel fair that he start failing it now. "I've never hurt someone..." He didn't even know how to end that without saying things he might regret but that seemed like such a stupid thing to worry about now, didn't it. "I know there's something causing it but... I'm sorry, I should have been stronger, I should never have..." He shook his head again and wiped at his eyes with some annoyance when he couldn't hold the tears back.
Broken wasn’t so bad when Ty knew that Jared probably could’ve killed him if he’d hit him just right, so a busted nose felt like he got off easy. He could hear the raw emotion in Jared’s voice, which only made his own feelings more intense and harder to keep a lid on. Ty straightened up and pulled some paper towels free to dab his face dry. He was shaking his head a bit as he dropped them and moved in toward Jared. Anybody could walk in, but Ty was having difficulty mustering any fucks to give about that. He wrapped his arms around Jared and squeezed him tight. “It wasn’t you,” Ty murmured. “None of that was ... us. It’s fucking everybody up, you did amazing, calmer than me, okay?”
It was easy to say when Ty hadn't heard what was going on in Jared's mind. Those things he'd thought, those things he'd wanted to do, each and every one of them was terrifying because he'd really wanted to pull the trigger. He didn't give a shit if anyone walked in right now, it didn't even have to mean anything, not really, they'd just had a traumatic day and he needed this. "I can't do that again," he whispered as he wrapped his arms around Ty, a lot more gingerly than Ty did because he was still worried he'd hurt him more than he could see. Right now he was debating which would be worse, risking hurting Ty again or not knowing if he was okay if they went out with different partners. "I know it wasn't me but... It was me and I'm freaking out, Ty."
Ty tightened his grip some more, unmindful of the way it hurt his shoulder a bit. Holding onto Jared was more important. Ty rubbed his back some, his expression fretful over Jared’s shoulder. He was still keeping his own emotions on a tight leash, though his grip on it was slipping. But Jared was crying and since they still had shit to do ahead of them, Ty didn’t feel like he could break down. He had to be strong for his man and his job. “You won’t do that again,” he murmured. “Because now you know what caused it, right? We can deal with it now.” Ty pulled back enough to look into Jared’s face, his hands coming up to cup his jaw. He brushed a thumb right under Jared’s split lip and looked a little pained. “I’m sorry for my part too,” he whispered.
"Yeah we can," Jared said because he needed to believe that it wouldn't get worse, that they'd already made it through the thick of it and from now on it would just be more of the same or preferably less. "I swung first," he added more quietly but it was all more muddled than that so he shook his head to admit just that then glanced over his shoulder to make sure nobody was there listening. "Maybe you should stay at the station or go home... That looks like it hurts." He had an itch to touch Ty's face but he didn't know just how much it all hurt so he wasn't risking it, even if it was just to touch his cheek. Instead he gently clasped his arm, rubbing it with his thumb.
As Ty remembered it, Jared had been trying to keep him from hurting the civilian on the ground and he definitely would have swung first if Jared hadn’t been controlling him so well ... but it didn’t really matter how it had all gone down, just that it had. Ty completely understood why Jared felt bad about it, he did too, and he hadn’t been the one to pull a gun and point it at his boyfriend’s face. He shook his head a little at the suggestion. “It does, but I’m okay. Just took some painkillers, and it’s a fuckin’ all hands on deck kinda day,” he said. They were still alone, so he took the opportunity to lift up onto his toes and kiss Jared briefly, careful to keep it gentle and on the uninjured side of his mouth.
That small kiss tugged on Jared's heart and despite logic and reason he still felt like a monster being forgiven by his battered boyfriend. It wasn't like that and Ty could hold his own but the worst of it still played in his head, the impact of his fist with Ty's face, the sheer panic when he'd raised his gun and pointed it, loaded, at his head. "Listen if you... if you want to partner up with someone else today I get it," he whispered. "You don't have to explain anything or... if you just need time."
It was another offer that Ty completely understood, but felt so wrong he had to immediately shake his head. He lightly scritched his fingers in Jared’s beard and steadily held his eyes. “I’d drive myself fucking nuts worrying about you,” he murmured. Maybe it was counterintuitive today, considering what had just happened, but Ty didn’t trust anyone else to have Jared’s back the way he could. Being in love with someone could make one hypervigilant and he was definitely willing to sacrifice more than any of the others would be. “Let’s just do our part, get everybody inside that we can, and get through this day. Then we can go home together, okay?”
Jared's shoulders slumped a little in relief because that offer had gone against his every instinct and desire. He knew that if he'd gone out with anyone else he'd have been too distracted worrying about Ty to really get any work done and that wasn't good for anyone's well being. "Then we can go home," he whispered and wrapped his arms around Ty again, bringing him in close and pressing a gentle kiss against his temple. He had a feeling he was going to have nightmares about this shit and if he knew a way to process it all he'd gladly jump on whatever that was.
Ty slid his arms around Jared’s ribs and hugged him back, closing his eyes briefly. His face ached and his shoulder hurt deep inside, his knuckles were swollen and bruised, but he was largely okay. Intensely grateful that it hadn’t turned out worse, for sure. Jared easily could’ve blown his brains out like he’d sworn he would do ... Ty already knew he wouldn’t shake that particular memory for a long time. But all that had to wait, because they had real shit to take care of first. “We’ll be okay,” he muttered, patting Jared’s back a little and squeezing him again.
Jared wanted to stay there and hold onto him for hours but they were on the clock and the longer they stayed in there the higher the risk of someone walking in. He kissed Ty's temple again before reluctantly letting go of him, forcing a little smile. "You ready to go out save some idiots?" he asked, his voice a little raw. He still needed to get a clean shirt and they had reports to write where he had no idea how much to disclose of what had gone down but the fact Ty didn't want time apart was an anchor he could cling to for now.
He gave him a smile back that was equally tired and forced, but hey at least they were trying. It was going to be another utterly exhausting day, even more dangerous than usual, but he had to feel confident that they would make it through. Ty would just keep reminding himself that Home Together was in their near future, he just had to hold out for that. “Another day in paradise,” he murmured with a little nod, reaching up to gingerly prod at his nose. It still hurt, but not as much as before he set it, so that was a good sign. “Let’s get to it, Gaines.”