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[reformingfury]

Dave wakes up groggy and sore in the infirmary the day after Halloween. He barely remembers what followed after the shed. How he got here, if he was brought by a friend or if he walked in in a near-catatonic daze after he emptied his stomach, not even who bandaged up his burnt and scratched up skin. Looking around him, he hopes that he’ll at least know that Maxxie and the rest are fine. And that whoever he talks to can tell him that he wasn’t wrong in what he did. That it wasn’t real. That what Dave did was just in self defense and an accident. That he isn’t actually a killer.

Comments

[first_pink_lady]

She paused by the door, leaning against the doorframe, not quite committing to going inside. Her face was pale and blank, stunned by the things she'd seen around the Island the day before. She'd given in to the stress of it all, and fallen off the wagon. None of it had gotten personal for her, but that didn't mean she was blind to the chaos for others around the island. She was still hungover, but wasn't wearing her sunglasses - not in the infirmary, where people were far worse off than her own weakness and lack of self-control.

Like Dave, who, last she saw, was being dragged off by a bunch of knuckle-headed jocks. She looked over at him, wondering if he was awake. When she'd heard he was here, she couldn't help but want to know what happened after they pushed her aside.

[reformingfury]

Groaning, and unaware of Rizzo's presence, he tries to get up. Maxxie was with him in the caves when they were trying to get to safety. And he clearly heard his captors beating his boyfriend in the darkness. Dave can feel his heart pounding in time with his head.

"Shit, Maxxie..."

[first_pink_lady]

"Jesus," she muttered, then was in the room and pushing a hand on his shoulder to shove him back down onto the bed.

Maxxie. She looked around, but didn't see blondie anywhere, and pushed an apparently irritated - but was actually anxious - hand through her curls.

"Park it, Davie-boy. He'll be here." She didn't have the faintest idea where he was, or whether he'd be here. But whatever the hell happened after she last saw Dave, she hoped Maxxie wasn't worse off than Dave was - she hadn't seen him in the infirmary.

[reformingfury]

He grunts and still looks around him, wanting to get back up so he can find the other boy. "We met up... tried to find some place to hide together by going through the caves. But we lost light and I could hear them beating him before I was dragged away."

Dave looks at Rizzo with worry. "Please, if I'm fine," he lies. "I gotta find him and make sure he is, too."

[first_pink_lady]

"He ain't here." She said, blunt, because white lies she could do, but she wouldn't lie about this, but her eyes betrayed the softness behind her blunt words.

"And he ain't gone, either - there's only one fella who didn't make it through all that shit, and he's not Maxxie." She kept her hand on his shoulder after pushing him horizontal.

[reformingfury]

"Please," he urges on. "Someone has to make sure he really is. If he's not here with me, and he's still hurt, I can't..."

Dave recalls exactly what was about to go down in the tool shed. What did end up happening. "I'm... fine. I need to be sure Max is too."

[first_pink_lady]

"You ain't goin' anywhere, sweetheart." Rizzo said, and she'd sit on his chest if she had to. "A whole lotta weird went on, but he lives with people, don't he? The fuzz's done a search-light of the whole damn Island; they'd've found him if he was lying about somewhere."

[reformingfury]

Her insistence doesn't please Dave in the slightest, but he can tell that Rizzo is not going to let him go anywhere. He gives.

"Fine. But if Maxxie is as hurt as I think he is and he's upset that I didn't go right away to find him when I woke up, I'm pinning this on you."

[first_pink_lady]

"Pin away, I always thought I'd make a good pin-up." She said flippantly, but she didn't waver. "What'd they do to ya?"

[reformingfury]

Dave presses his mouth in a hard line, thinking about what went down after being dragged away from his beaten boyfriend.

"The guys... one of 'em was my best friend. They beat up Max and dragged me up to the tool shed, right next to the Compound. Locked me in. And my dad was there."

He can feel his throat tighten up as he tells Rizzo this, and he second guesses finishing the story.

[first_pink_lady]

"And I'm guessin' dear ol' dad is a peachy keen bundle of roses." Rizzo said, lightly, but she didn't move.

[reformingfury]

Snorting, he nods and continues. "Told me he was gonna 'fix my problem' or some shit. While going through the tools as if he were some mobster looking for some answers."

Dave realizes then that doesn't want to vocalize what he did at all. Not fully. He can't say it yet. So he skips over the specifics. "I think I was running entirely on adrenaline when I got myself out of there. Barely even remember checking myself in."

[neither_a_nor_b]

It had been easier to hide. Maybe not braver, but enough people had told her to keep away and given last Halloween, it had all just been easier. And when she'd come out of hiding, it turned out everything had gone to hell anyway.

"Hey there, buddy," she said, knocking on the wall to announce herself.

[reformingfury]

Dave sits up a little straighter when he sees his best friend at his door, trying to not wince at the stiff pain in his bruised sides as he does so.

"H-hey. You stayed safe last night, then?"

[neither_a_nor_b]

"Yeah. Kind of hid out like a kid."

Bay hooked a chair with her ankle and sat down next to him. "So what happened, big boy?"

[reformingfury]

"Thank god. If someone else got hurt..."

He swallows hard, trying to think of where to start. Dave typically doesn't hold things back from Bay, but he has no idea how to tell her what happened at the end of last night.

"I tried to look for Maxxie when I thought no one was coming for me after all. Or at least not yet. When I got back, they were waiting for me, and there was Max and... he started saying some shit and it wasn't the real him. The real one came out and helped me get away from the hockey teams that were going to beat the shit out of me, and we tried to run to the caves, but the lights went out, and... Shit."

Maxxie. They beat up on Maxxie before he got dragged off to the shed.

[neither_a_nor_b]

She'd never been very good at comforting but Bay reached out anyway, taking his hand. There were no easy platitudes that Bay could drag out while she searched for something more meaningful to say, so she was just quiet for a minute.

"It sounds really messed up," she attempted. "All of last night was."

She wanted to say that it wasn't his fault–and she did really believe that–but that didn't seem to be the time to say.

[reformingfury]

"It was." He rolls up a sleeve, showing bandages over some of his burns. "This shit wasn't even from the guys from Lima. They're from some fucked up plants that tried to kill me when I was looking for Maxxie."

Dave covers up his injuries again, squeezing Bay's hand in case that was the wrong thing to show her.

"You... didn't happen to see where Maxxie was coming in to see me, did you?" He's scared to hear the answer in case it's negative. What if she didn't see Max somewhere else in the clinic? Would she have just missed him? Or was he lying in the caves, still injured and alone after he was dragged off to confront his dad?

Or did he somehow find out what had gone down in the shed and decided to not visit him, now that he's a killer?

[neither_a_nor_b]

The best description for the sound that Bay made was a squeak. She tried to bite down on the sound and pretend like it wasn't alarming--it wasn't like she'd never seen an injury before--but it wasn't pretty.

"I...haven't seen him, not yet. But I think everyone's got kind of a collective hangover right now."

[reformingfury]

"Fuck," he chokes out. Dave moves to get up and out of the bed, but he winces from the soreness from his bruised sides. "Help me up? I gotta find him. Those guys that dragged me off in the caves... they got him before separating us."

[neither_a_nor_b]

Bay frowned, hands on her hips as she weighed the options. Dave was hurt and there was no way that he should go traipsing around without the first clue on where to find Maxxie. On the other, there was no way he was going to recover when he was sitting here worrying.

"Are you sure he's not just somewhere. Um...safe?"

[reformingfury]

He shakes his head. "Last place I saw him was the caves. I have no clue where he could be, and I think he would have gone after us if he was fine after the others got to him..."

The doubt is now in his head, though, and he feels something new twist in his gut. Part of him hopes that if he was fine and capable of going after him, that Maxxie had simply decided to listen to what he said and stay safe. Maybe even try to send out help?

But none came for Dave when he got out of the shed. He got to the clinic on his own.

"Please. If I can't go, I need you to check. See what happened and make sure he's ok."

[neither_a_nor_b]

Without giving it a second thought, Bay held out her hand, little finger crooked out for a pinky promise.

"I'll do everything I can to make sure he's okay. You take care of you, okay, big guy?"

[reformingfury]

Just about every bit of Dave would rather see Maxxie is find himself, but he knows logically that he can't move out of bed right now. Not if he doesn't want to hear it from Bay. She's doing this to calm him down, give him more certainty about everything. So he reaches out his own hand and links their pinkies.

"I think I take care of myself a little too well now, after last night. But if I can't check on him, I know you can."

[neither_a_nor_b]

Bay held up three fingers, hoping that Dave never thought to ask if she'd ever been a scout because the answer would have been a resounding no, touched with absolute failure.

"Scout's honor."

[reformingfury]

"Like you were ever a scout," he says with a brief and tiny smile. It felt strange but comforting that he could at least manage that little bit of banter.

"Thanks, Bay."

[just_dance_it]

Much as Max wanted to stay by Dave's bedside, there were a lot of factors working against him. The clinic had been busy and chaotic when Maxxie finally came to and dragged himself upstairs from the caves. Adding another body to the fray seemed like a bad idea. Plus, Maxxie needed bed rest himself. Once he had gotten himself quickly checked over and assured himself that Dave was in good hands, Maxxie had collapsed on his own bed.

Every inch of him is sore the next day, and it takes a while to push his bruised body up the stairs of the Compound. He does have a slight smile on his face when he walks into the clinic though, because the sight of Dave awake -- if worse for wear -- is a great one.

"How are you feeling?" he asks before he's even through the door.

[reformingfury]

Dave's attention snaps right up to Maxxie's face, looking him over as best as he can from where they are. He was scared of how bad Az and Nick might have gotten him, given the silence from the other boy before he was dragged away by his former teammates.

"Like shit... Think they really bruised my ribs. But surprisingly not broken. And alive." He tries to get up, but when the pain in his side doesn't allow for much movement, Dave gestures for Maxxie to come closer to him. "You? Fuck, I was fees king out for you so much."

[just_dance_it]

He doesn't need the gesture of invitation. It's only the ache in his own side that stops Maxxie from jumping forward immediately to keep Dave laying back in his bed. Gingerly Maxxie grabs a seat on the edge of the mattress.

"I'm alright," Maxxie reassures him. He's tired and aching, but he is in one piece. "It wasn't me they were after," he points out. His attention focuses on Dave, gaze sharp with concern as he gives him a good look over.

"What happened? I don't remember-- They found us in the caves, I got that. But it's all black after that. I woke up in the passage, and when I came up here someone'd already brought you in. Did you fight 'em off?"

[reformingfury]

Dave's frown deepens as he shakes his head. "They beat the crap out of me and threw me into the tool shed."

He glances at Maxxie's hand, wanting to take it more than anything, but unsure if he could continue telling him about what happened if he does. Contact right now might just make him break down and want to forget what he did.

"My dad was waiting for me. Gonna beat the gay out of me or something. But I... I flipped. I got up and fought him instead, and..."

Thinking about what happened makes his stomach turn again, so he skips over how that ended.

"When I got out of the shed, I just walked here in a daze. I can't even remember who treated me and shit."

[just_dance_it]

Maxxie's stomach twists and turns uncomfortably as he listens to Dave speak. He can't imagine fighting his dad, not physically, not for any reason. There's times he gets Max so frustrated that he does want to take a swing at him, but he never does and he never, ever would. He can only guess what it must have been like for Dave, and assumes that fighting his dad off -- and having to, knowing his dad wanted to beat him probably to death -- is enough to shake him up something awful.

He scoots closer on the bed, reaching out to take Dave's hand and lean in to give him a kiss. "You're alright now," he says, hoping that helps. "It's over. It's done. You're safe, kay?"

[reformingfury]

He feels a little of his tension slip away under the feel of Maxxie's lips, sighing heavily at knowing that at least both of them are safe now.

"Jesus, Maxxie, I was so fucking scared. I thought he was going to kill me, and I didn't know what happened to you in the caves and all I could think was how I didn't want any of us to be dead because I'm a fucking coward..." Dave's breath hitches and he stops babbling to get himself back in order.

"I didn't want it to end that way, though. Fuck, I have no clue how else I could have ended it after I was locked in, but that was." He looks up, trying not to completely lose it and start sobbing in front of his boyfriend.

"I think I killed him, Max."

[just_dance_it]

He's still for a long second, way too long to try and play it off as nothing, like what Dave's said hasn't completely floored him. But would anyone have believed it if he tried to brush past this? That's not the kind of statement anybody can hear with calm.

"It wasn't really him," Maxxie blurts out. His hand tightens on Dave's. "It was a nightmare, yeah? Like a really there nightmare, but it wasn't really your dad. You were just fighting a monster, like.. like anybody would do."

[reformingfury]

Dave swallows hard, trying still to hold back tears as he nods almost manically. "Yeah. Yeah, I know, I just... Jesus fuck l, when his head banged like that, all the blood was just--"

He stops goin on as soon as he realizes he's lost his control and feels his years runnin down his face.

[just_dance_it]

It doesn't matter whether it was a dream or not, does it? Dave still saw what he saw: his own father coming after him and his own father falling and not getting back up. Maxxie's stomach turns at the thought -- at how messed up he would be if that had happened to him -- but he still holds to his first response.

"It wasn't real," he repeats, softer this time. He shifts and scoots, settling himself beside Dave so he can slip an arm around his broad shoulders. "It's alright. It's all alright now, okay?"

[reformingfury]

His nodding and tears continue even as he leans into Maxxie's loose but supporting embrace. Dave buries his face into his boyfriend's neck, snuffling and willing his crying to just stop. He always feels terrible and weak when he cries, and while he knows Maxxie won't think badly of him for showing this side, it doesn't make him feel any less pathetic.

"I'm never going to get that image out of my head. Fuck, I just..." Groping around he reaches for Maxxie's hand and holds him close, kissing his hand and taking refuge in the fact that he still has Maxxie. He might be broken- both of them in different degrees- but they're alive and there together. He can hold on to that.

[just_dance_it]

He tightens his arm around Dave when the other boy moves into him, happy to offer that little bit of physical support. He's not a shrink or great with words; hugs, however, he's pretty experienced with.

Squeezing Dave's hand, Maxxie presses a kiss to his forehead and holds him. "Keep telling yourself it's not real. Don't let it get at you. You can do that. I know you can, yeah?"

[reformingfury]

"Yeah. Yeah, I can." It's going to be hard, and he knows that there will be nights like the ones they've been having over the past month to come. But he knows that he can do it now. Maxxie's here, still holding him, believing in him. Reminding him of what was real and what isn't so that they can keep moving on. As long as he has that, he'll be fine. And the reason for that is even more overwhelming than it was before when they were running in the caves. So much so that the words just pull themselves out of his mouth.

"I love you."

[just_dance_it]

The words knock the breath right out of him and Maxxie can't respond for a second. He doesn't have the physical ability to, though there's really little doubt in his head. It's just been such a long 24 hours, a long month, a long year, that his body can't keep up with the rest of him sometimes.

"I love you, too." He has to force the words out, his voice rough and not so smooth at all, but he means them. It's scary and he means them. "And I know you're gonna be alright."

[reformingfury]

Dave brushes his lips against Maxxie's temple again and tries to not think how much this sucks. He's happy that Maxxie love him too. He didn't really doubt that at all after last night, though there was the fear of him leaving after telling him how it all ended.

But this shouldn't have been the sort of circumstances in which those words were said. They should have been just elated to be alive and relishing the feel of one another in his head, but that's not at all what happened. It's as if the weight of everything that happened dragged down this moment and he hates it so much.

It makes him feel even more exhausted.

Dave gives Maxxie's hand another squeeze and leans back against the bed. "I think I'm going to try to sleep again. Body still feels like shit, and maybe it would do us some good. ,,,Will you stay here with me?"

[just_dance_it]

It's not going to be the most comfortable fit in the world, the clinic bed not made for two people, but there's no place else Maxxie wants to be than curled up against the warmth of his boyfriend. He nods silently and kisses Dave's temple before settling in properly at his side.

"I'll be here," he promises. "Until you feel better."