Chapter Text
Clay clicked open the door to the outhouse at the back of his parent’s house. Justin must have been home because it was open. Just as suspected the first thing clay sees upon turning down the hallway was Justin lying on his bed.
School had finished for the day (and the year, thank god for summer) and Justin had come straight home. Clay had to make a stop on the way home to drop some study materials off to a baseball player he was tutoring, then to get gas. It took him maybe 45 minutes all up, longer than he’d wanted to be out on the afternoon of the last day of school.
“Hey bro” Clay calls out nonchalantly. No response from Justin, not uncommon though. Clay dropped his keys on the table as he walked through.
Justin was lying on his bed, in the same clothes he’d worn to school that day. He was laying on top of the covers, shoes still on, slightly curled up.
Clay wandered into the bathroom and put a small amount of waxy product through his hair. He called out to Justin as he did so.
“Hey, you’re not getting out of this if I have to go, so get up. We’re gonna be late” Clay had always been a stickler for being on time to events.
He wandered back out, seeing Justin had not moved a muscle or answered him at all. Clay walked over to his drawers and opened one, grabbing a clean T-shirt out. He pulled off the shirt he was currently wearing.
“Justin. I know you’re not asleep or you’d be snoring, as you do. C’mon, Alex is trying to set up this thing where we all meet up occasionally just to catch up. Like, real, normal high school kids who aren’t trying to save the world type-shit. It’s kind of not a bad idea. You said yes last week so we’ve gotta go” Clay ranted slightly. He pulled the clean shirt over his head and grabbed a hoodie that was sitting on his bed.
Clay stopped and turned to stare at Justin. He waited about 20 seconds before deciding he was fed up. He grabbed a cushion off the small lounge and threw it at Justin, then walked to grab his keys from the table. This garnered a small groan from the other boy.
“I’ll be in the car. It’s one hang-out. We haven’t got together as a group in a while, not without drama. Do this for Alex, would you?” Clay’s voice was laced slightly with disappointment.
Just as Clay turned to walk back up the hallway to leave he heard a rustle come from Justin’s bed. Clay turned around to see Justin start to roll over. First he moved his arm backwards, then slowly turned onto his back. Grunts and moans were escaping him, although muffled, stifled.
“Oh look, His Royal Highness decided to grace us with his presence. How nice” Clay joked, however his voice had a slightly annoyed undertone.
Justin started to roll again, flipping himself over, in a strange, slow motion, so that he was now facing the rest of the room. Clay walked back up the hallway so he could see Justin’s face.
“Look are you coming with me or n- what the actual fuck Justin?! What the fuck happened?” Clay closed the small space between them in seconds, kneeling at Justin’s side.
Justin’s face was red with blood. Starting from his forehead and dripping, like a scene from a horror movie, down his face on the left side. It was smeared now as he’d been lying on his side. His nose had blood coming from both nostrils, his left eye was purple, green and puffy, and his lip had been split in two places. There were at least 4 different cuts across his cheeks, too. His hair was a mess, some stuck to his face with the dried blood. His jaw had a brown-purple tinge to it across the right side and his ear was bleeding.
Clay now noticed how Justin had been lying, curled up, an arm across his torso in a protective manner. Justin opened his eyes and looked up, staring at Clay.
“please, d- don’t go” Justin whispered. As Clay searched his brother’s face for answers, Justin let out a sob so gruesome Clay didn’t have the words to describe it. Justin closed his eyes again, curled in on himself even more and continued to sob, each new sound causing visible agony. They’d been in fights before, they’d both come home with a myriad of bruises and bloody noses, but nothing could compare to this. None of what they’d been through had ever been this bad.
“I- I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you. Justin what the fuck happened to you? Are you hurt anywhere else? What the hell” Clays shock was evident in his voice and all over his face.
“O- old customers jumped me on- way home. Thought I’m dealing- still. Holdin’ out- on them. 3… 3 guys.” Justin was crying now, tears were joining the sobs to completely break Clays heart.
“Holy shit. But- you, you don’t have anything anymore? Why would they…” Clay was catastrophising… falling down his Clay-hole.
“No. Promise! I’m not, I d- don’t. Check my bag” Justin’s voice cracked.
“I believe you, Justin. I’m just trying to make sense. Are you hurt anywhere else?” Clay asked quickly, realising Justin needed help.
Justin started to pull on the hem of his shirt. He tried to lift it up but kept groaning in pain.
“Here-“ Clay grabbed his shirt and lifted it for him. A barrage of black and purple bruises littered his stomach and chest. A couple of shallow cuts lined his side, too. And Clay thought he could make out a boot print of one of the bruises but couldn’t bring himself to keep looking.
“Hurts. So fucking much, h- hurts” Justin whispered. He reached out his hand and grabbed onto Clays wrist in desperation. How could this happen? Why didn’t he call? Clay began to wonder and his mind raced, but he couldn’t let that stop him from helping his friend.
“Okay I need to get you to a hospital. I- shit. Alright we’re getting up and getting into my car, c’mon” Clays mind was racing. He was weighing up the time it would take an ambulance to get to their house versus the time it would take him to drive to the hospital- the hospital was a lot closer than the fire station.
“No. No doctors, n- no” Justin mumbled.
“Unfortunately this is not up for debate. Now sit up” Clay juggled supporting Justin with one arm to sit up in his bed and his phone in the other hand, dialling a lifeline.
“Clay you promised. Now I know you keep your promises so this better not be another one of your crazy conspiracy spirals or I swear to god-“ his phone was on speaker, the distinguishable voice ringing out into their flat.
“Can you meet me at the hospital? I’ll be in the ER. It’s urgent, Tony. It’s Justin.”
“Holy shit what happened?” Tony asked, his tone changing.
“No time, meet me there as soon as you can” Clay hung up and started to help Justin stand.
The clamber to the car was not pretty, nor coordinated. Clay was wondering if it was a better idea to call an ambulance or ask Tony to come to his house. But he knew both would take longer. Justin curled up in the passenger seat of the car and winced, moaned and groaned. Every bump, corner and traffic light brought new pain as the shifts in motion made his body move.
“Make it stop, Clay. I don’t- I c- can’t-“ Justin’s voice was a whisper now. The pain was overwhelming, unbearable. Clay wished he could call his parents and have them swoop in to save the day, but he couldn’t. They were out of the country, on a well-deserved vacation to an island somewhere. In their words ‘adults deserve summer too’. They were only gone for a week and due back in 2 days time. Clay would call them at the hospital and fill them in.
What the fuck had happened?