Dreamless In Early Graves
1/1
Kellin plopped down in the seat across from Vic, placing two margaritas on the table in front of the two musicians. He leaned forward, a large smile playing on his lips, his legs knocking into Vic’s as they bounced under the table.
Vic arched a thick eyebrow at his eccentric little boyfriend, he could practically smell the excitement rolling off the mop headed singer in the same way animals could smell fear. He reached a toned arm out and grabbed one of the drinks, pressing the rim of the glass to his lips in wait.
Kellin must have realized that Vic wasn’t going to say anything so he inched a little closer and shouted over the music. “You have to dance with me after we finish our drinks!”
Vic sipped on his drink watching Kellin’s eyes dance under the flash of the lights coming from the dance floor. He loved the sight of his boyfriend so excited and hated to break his heart. “Kelli-bear, you know I love dancing with you at shows, but this is different.”
Kellin deflated like a tattooed balloon, letting his head drop onto folded arms. He looked up at Vic, pushing his bottom lip out and squinted his eyes, letting them water ever so slightly.
Vic smacked his hand on his chin and looked at Kellin, refusing to bend to the puppy dog look. Kellin cranked it up a notch by hiding his head in his arms. Vic pried his eyes away from the pouting twenty-eight year old and used Kellin’s eyes being off of him as an opportunity to down his margarita.
Kellin lifted his head up slightly and peaked up at Vic from under his floppy black locks. When he saw Vic’s eyes on him he ducked back down, slumped his shoulders, and started mumbling to himself that all he wanted was for his boyfriend to dance with him.
“Kellin,” Vic warned sitting up a little straighter.
Kellin proceeded to make himself even smaller in the booth than he already was, which caused Vic to get squirmy. He grabbed Kellin’s drink and started sucking it down too. Kellin looked up at him, letting his lip wobble.
Vic choked on the alcohol and sputtered when he saw and that was all it took. “Godd***it, Kellin, you win! You win, I’ll dance with you! F***!”
Kellin jumped up, nearly knocking the table over, and planted a sloppy kiss on Vic’s cheek. “Yay! I love, love, love, you! Come on!” he cheered pulling Vic’s arm.
Vic clinched his jaw and followed behind the little faker. “Kellin Quinn Bostwick, you’re a filthy little f***, you know that?”
Kellin turned back, smiling at his boyfriend, and winked. “I know.”
Vic muttered under his breath, something along the lines of if Kellin wasn’t so good in beat he would beat his a**. Kellin just tightened his grip and picked up his speed. He pulled Vic into the center of the dance floor among the mass of sweaty gyrating bodies.
The song changed to one Vic was familiar with and Kellin made a squeal-y noise and started shamelessly grinding on him. Vic snorted and started swaying his hips in beat with the music. He didn’t really like dancing to this kind of music, especially not in front of people, but there was enough alcohol in him and Kellin was so pouty, that it didn’t really matter. It’s not like anyone recognized him anyway.
Kellin molded himself to Vic so that their cheeks were flush against each other, giving Kellin the perfect vantage to sneak in a quick alcohol influenced smooch. It wasn’t supposed to draw attention it was supposed to be quick and secretive. But it wasn’t.
“Dave, look!” Ahw two little boyfriend’s k-i-s-s-i-n-g! Makes me sick!”
A spikey haired, Abercrombie & Fitch wearing, moron shouted to his group of friends, narrowing out one specific person. The back roared with laughter.
Kellin’s face flushed read and he stopped dancing. Vic’s face flashed red for another reason entirely. “F****** hilarious,” he snapped, crossing his arms.
“Brad, teach that mouth fag a lesson!” The one called Dave shouted over the music, thumping the one called Brad on the back.
Brad puffed out his chest and stepped towards the two musicians. Vic tried to edge in front of Kellin anticipating a fight, but he wasn’t quick enough. The pecker head caught Kellin’s elbow and tried to spin him out of the way, but the smaller man struggled causing Brad to send him flying into Vic head first.
Kellin’s eyes went wide and stumbled backwards, whining as he held the back of his head.
Vic stepped around his boyfriend, ignoring the twin pain in his own head, and launched himself at Brad.“Shut the f*** up!” Vic shouted. He could feel the pounding behind his temples as further rage consumed him. He started to shove against Fitch-for-brains when Kellin grabbed his arm and yanked him back.
“I don’t have to take this from a punk a** faggot. I’m outie,” Brad announced to his pack and wheeled away from the two lead singers, posse in tow.
Vic stared after him, fists and jaws clenched, trying to decide whether or not to chase after him and punch him in the back of the head a few dozen times. But before he got the chance Kellin started speaking in a soothing tone.
“Vic, listen to me, Victor. It’s okay, it’s just one guy. We get hate from thousands of people online all the time. It’s not that big of a deal. I’m okay. Everything is all right. Breathe,” Kellin murmured in Vic’s ear, and started rubbing small circles on his muscular upper arms.
Vic took a few Lamaze-class-worthy deep breaths and relaxed a bit into Kellin’s touch. He knew that Kellin was just trying to down play what had happened to calm him down, so he decided to humor him and actually follow his advice. There was nothing he could do about it anymore, plus if he did jump the guy his friends would surely jump in. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to argue his point. “Kellin, he put his hands on you, trying to get to me. It was not the same as cyber-hate. And that’s not okay with me.”
“I know, Vic, but you can’t just go getting into a fight every time someone brings out hate. You’ll get yourself arrested,” Kellin insisted, still playing it off.
Vic frowned Kellin had gotten so shaken up when the prick had grabbed a hold of him and he could tell that Kellin was going to have a nasty knot where their heads clanked together. He knew that the guy didn’t have any intentions of actually hurting Kellin; he was just showing off for his friends. But no matter what the d***heads intentions were no one put their hands on Kellin.
“We wouldn’t want that would we,” Vic murmured to satiate the pale faced boy beside him.
“Of course not, besides I’m okay, he just scared me.”
Vic used his index finger to rub circles into his temple and used his other hand to pull Kellin to him in a one armed embrace. “I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have known to keep him away from us when he first said something. I just didn’t think he’d be brave enough to pull something like that.”
“You couldn’t have known. Just stay here and order us some more drinks and I’ll get you something for your head, okay?”
Vic was going to protest, but before he knew it Kellin was pulling the jacket he had borrowed from Vic closer to him and darting through the bar. Kellin was going to the convenient store; it was just across the street, he would be fine. Vic again humored the younger man and ordered two more margaritas and took them back to the little booth he and Kellin had been sitting at before the incident.
Kellin knew that Vic would object to him going alone to the gas station, but it was just across the street and the truth was he needed it too. His head was killing him, he was sure there was going to be a knot where the stupid f***face threw him into Vic.
He darted out of the club and played frogger across the street. He slowed down once he got into the parking lot, breaking into a slow jog. He walked through the door, noting the ding, and smiled at the girl who greeted him from behind the counter.
He headed toward the isle he thought might have the acetaminophen in it and took in all of the snacks and goodies lining the shelves. He decided that he would bring Vic back there if they go the midnight munchies later. But the more he thought about it the more he realized Vic would probably be too drunk to eat.
He found the acetaminophen and headed back to the front of the store where the checkout was. He stood in line for what felt like forever until he made it to the counter.
“Hi, will this be all for you,” the girl asked smiling at Kellin.
He swiped his hair out of his face and replied, “Yes, thanks.”
“So, you’re not from around here are you?” she asked ringing Kellin up. “What brings you to Indiana?”
“Is it that obvious?” Kellin asked handing over a few bills, and the girl nodded grinning. “I’m here on tour.”
The girl looked down to bag Kellin’s purchase, and to hide her surprise. “So are you in the Pierce The Veil band or the Sleeping Sirens one?”
Kellin chuckled, her accent and ignorance to his music genre was cute. “I’m from the Sleeping With Sirens one, my boyfriend is in the Pierce The Veil band.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re a gay? But you’re so cute and tattooed!”
“So’s my boyfriend,” Kellin replied with a wink.
He was turning to leave when he heard another ding from the door. Out of curiosity his eyes followed the noise and he saw the guys from earlier stumbling in. “Oh, s***,” he mouthed and ran outside.
Running only drew attention to himself and they started chasing after Kellin. He ran through the parking lot and stopped, looking both ways, before darting out into the road.
The pounding in his head prevented him from hearing the car coming up on him. He felt its presence and turned to look at it, his eyes flashing open before he was plowed into.
He saw something before he blacked out though; Jaime behind the wheel, glaring at him.
Vic stirred his drink with the umbrella that was in it absentmindedly, wondering what was keeping Kellin. He should have gotten back before Vic even managed to get the margaritas, but he had already drunk half of his and Kellin still wasn’t back yet. All of the sudden it was like someone flipped on a switch in Vic’s mind and he realized that something was very wrong.
He jumped up out of the booth and dashed out of the bar, leaving all of their belongings behind. He made it to the sidewalk when he saw the most horrendous thing anyone could ever witness.
Kellin, who hadn’t been paying attention, was running, bags in hand, away from the guys who had been messing with them earlier, and then out of nowhere a blue sedan waylaid him and kept speeding along as if nothing had happened.
Vic didn’t have time to think or react on his own, his legs propelled him out into the now abandoned street and he collapsed at Kellin’s seemingly lifeless body.
Vic hadn’t spoken to anyone about what happened, yet. He just sat in the hospital waiting room staring off into space in shock. His, usually so tough, mind refused to let him process what happened. He wasn’t really aware of his surroundings after collapsed beside Kellin in the road.
Mike had just happened to be pulling into the clubs parking lot to meet Kellin and Vic like he was supposed to when it happened. He didn’t get the license plate on the car, but he did call an ambulance and stand there with his brother waiting. He pulled Vic out of the road and loaded him into the car and drove right along behind the ambulance. He even stayed to explain what had happened once they got to the hospital, but eventually he had to leave, he was falling asleep. And as much as he had hated leaving his unresponsive brother alone, he knew couldn’t convince him to come with him so he left around four in the morning.
Vic eventually fell into some sort of limbo between barely conscious and unconscious around five and then around seven he was shaken awake by a nurse, the doctor who had been taking care of Kellin behind her.
“Are you here for Kellin Bostwick?” the man in the green scrubs asked.
Vic nodded struggling to remember how to make words. The doctor looked tired and pale. Like whatever he had to do to Vic’s Kellin it wasn’t good and that worried Vic, it worried him a lot.
“I’m sure you know that Mr. Bostwick has suffered a substantial amount of damage from the accident,” the doctor paused waiting for Vic to nod. “I was able to patch him up, and stop the bleeding, but he hasn’t woken up from the anesthetics and that is troublesome.”
“Bleeding,” Vic croaked, realizing he must have meant internal. “What does that mean? Is he going to be okay?”
The doctor sighed, running his hand through his hair, trying to prepare for the news he was about to deliver. “Usually we try to stir a patient in this condition to see what kind of neurological damage is done, then we gauge the amount of pain they are in and if it is severe enough, we place them under a medically induced coma; it seems as if Mr. Bostwick has beaten us to the punch. Only time will tell whether he will wake up or not, but I have stabilized his injuries and they will not affect him making it through the day.”
Vic couldn’t control the movement of him placing his head in his hands, it just happened on its own accord, just like he couldn’t control the question that sprang out of his mouth. “F***, what am I supposed to tell Cope?”
“Excuse me?”
Vic looked up at the scrubs clad man. “Copeland is his daughter, how am I supposed to explain to her that her daddy got hit by a car because of me?”
The nurse, who Vic had forgotten was still there, spoke up, “It’s not your fault, sweetheart. You couldn’t have done anything about it, that car was going way too fast.”
“I let him go to the convenient store alone. I should have gone with him. It’s all my fault.”
“That’s not true,” the woman disagreed pulling Vic against her and rubbing his back slightly.
Vic swallowed back all the emotions and responses running through him, and asked in a voice that wasn’t quite his own, “Can I go see him?”
The doctor spoke over the nurse, “Yes, you may, but keep in mind that he is in the ICU for a reason. If you cause a scene you will be ejected immediately.”
Vic shot a puzzled look at the nurse, but just nodded at the doctor who in turn walked away, instructing the nurse to take Vic to Kellin.
They walked in silence for a while until they reached the ICU. The nurse turned to Vic with sympathetic eyes. “Some people don’t react well to seeing their loved ones in poor condition,” she warned sliding the door to Kellin’s room open.
And she was right. Vic, who had kept his eyes dry the entire time, sank to his knees and started sobbing when he saw Kellin lying up in the bed hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires.
The nurse spoke up, “I’ll be just down the hall, if you need anything please feel free to come and get me.”
Vic nodded, keeping his eyes on Kellin, and the nurse left the two lovers alone. Vic wiped his eyes and edged a little closer to Kellin. He looked almost like the male embodiment of Snow White, but something told Vic that true love’s kiss wouldn’t break his lover’s curse, only time and a miracle could.
“Are you heading to the hospital again?” Mike asked, popping his head into the doorway.
Vic nodded rolling deodorant under his arms. Mike tapped his fingers on doorframe, drawing Vic’s eyes to him.
“You just got back; don’t you want to rest in your own bed for a while?”
Vic sighed and tugged his shirt on. “It’s a hotel bed, and I don’t care if he wakes up I want to be there. I just needed a shower and a small break.”
Mike rolled his shoulders before looking at Vic with all the sincerity in the world and said, “Not if. He’s going to wake up, and he’ll probably be a lame a** and apologize for being away from you for so long and then you two will be sappy little f**** and all will be well in the world.”
Vic smiled briefly at the image his brother so clearly painted, it definitely sounded like something that would happen. But the smile disappeared quickly, because he couldn’t get his hopes up like that, not if Kellin didn’t wake up, so he changed the subject. “I still can’t believe in three days they couldn’t nail down the driver.”
“No one got the plate, but when Kellin wakes up he will tell us. He had to have seen who it was, he looked straight at the car before..” Mike trailed off.
“Yeah, I saw that too,” Vic remembered, looking at the white tiles beneath his feet. “Well, I’ve gotta get going. You can stop by later if you want. I’ll probably be there most of the day.”
Mike nodded and moved out of Vic’s way as he walked out of the on suite and the hotel room.
The cab ride to the hospital was quiet, Vic just sat there with his head leaned against the window, watching the blur of farm land roll by. He hadn’t been thinking much lately. It got to painful when that happened, because his mind either went back to that night before the accident, how Kellin pouted his way into dancing, or to the times when the two were still denying their feelings for each other. Either way it was too much.
Vic ghosted through the all too familiar halls of the hospital, passing nurses he was starting to know by name; things like that tended to happen when you spend nearly three days in a place. When Vic got to Kellin’s room there was a nurse changing out the various bags hanging on the IV wrack. He just took his regular seat and waited until he was alone.
Vic waited a second for the nurse to be far enough down the hall so that she wouldn’t hear him and to gather the strength to speak. “Kellin, they are going to stay a couple more days. The fans are disappointed we had to cancel more dates, but they are more worried about you than anything. They’ve been blowing up my Twitter wanting to know if there was any change. I tell them that you are working hard on getting better for us.”
Vic scratched his neck, thinking about what he was about to say next. “I got to Skype with Cope and Katelynne for a few minutes before I got in the shower today. Katelynne says she’s going to bring Cope tomorrow to see you. She would have brought her sooner, but like I said before she’s just afraid it will scare Copeland if she sees you like this. But Katelynne agreed that it could help you come around,” Vic had to stop for a moment, his throat getting thick, “because you always said she’s the reason you get up in the morning.”
Vic put his head in his hands and took deep breaths telling himself not to cry, he promised Kellin he wouldn’t cry anymore if he would just wake up. Three days doesn’t sound like a lot to most people, but when it’s three days of not knowing whether your whole world won’t open their eyes another time it’s an eternity.
Kellin’s doctor bustled into the room after a while and after checking Kellin’s vitals stopped to talk to Vic. “I see you’re already back here.”
Vic nodded; he couldn’t find his voice for a conscious audience.
“Well, I have good news and bad news. Bad news first, if Mr. Bostwick doesn’t wake up in the next twenty-four hours we’ll have to assume that brain damage was done,” the doctor stated, but was cut off by Vic.
“To what extent? Will he still make it?”
“We won’t know to what extent until he wakes up. Yes, I believe he’s a fighter. If he wasn’t going to make it, well, he probably wouldn’t still be alive now.”
Vic took in a shaky breath; if they were depending on Kellin being a fighter then they were screwed, unless fighting his feelings counted. “There was good news?”
The doctor looked surprised as if he had forgotten something. “Ah, yes, well it seems as though Mr. Bostwick had some voluntary movements after you fell asleep last night. Which reminds me, you aren’t supposed to lie in bed with him, you are lucky I like you, Victor, that could get your visiting privileges limited to supervised.”
Vic didn’t care that he got called out for breaking the rules. Kellin had moved on his own the first time Vic had really touched him, even if he was asleep when it happened it was still fantastic news. The doctor stared at Vic long enough for him to realize he was supposed to reply. “I had bad dreams about him, that he kept looking for me for help, but couldn’t find me. That was the best way I knew to console him,” Vic explained looking down at the pair of jeans he had borrowed from Kellin; he needed to be close to him.
Kellin’s doctor just nodded and left Vic alone. It’s all anyone ever seemed to do. They were too afraid of being around Vic for too long, they didn’t want to be there when he started breaking. He was so close, but hearing that Kellin had voluntarily moved last night pushed him back from the edge for just a little while longer.
Vic started talking to Kellin again, but it wasn’t about anything that was going on currently. It was things that Vic would never tell anyone while they were conscious, things that felt good to say out loud. It was also plans for the future, where he wanted to take Kellin after the tour. He talked for so long his throat felt raw, but it didn’t matter he kept talking because he hated the silence, in the silence he could hear the monitors beeping.
But eventually Vic had to stop, his throat was too raw, he glanced down at the time on his phone and realized two things, he had been there for six hours already, and that the nurses were switching shifts. He looked back up at Kellin and determined that it wouldn’t hurt if he went down the hall to get a drink.
Vic was only gone for three minutes, but when he got back the whole atmosphere of the room had changed due to the frenzy of beeps coming from the monitors, the most concerning one was Kellin’s heart monitor. It was flat lining.
Vic dropped his half empty Pepsi bottle and ran to Kellin, not caring what the doctor had said early, and crawling quickly onto the bed. He hit the nurse call button and started shouting for help. His cries for help were gurgled by his tears; he looked frantically between the hall and Kellin. He panicked and did the first thing that came to his mind, mouth to mouth.
Only it wasn’t really mouth to mouth, he was too shook up, it was more like a last ditch effort plead for life. And then it wasn’t really that either because Kellin’s lips were moving against Vic’s.
“What the f***?” Vic asked through his tears sitting up a little so that he could look at the man lying beneath him.
Kellin’s voice was scratchy from days of disuse. “I could ask you the same, I didn’t think there was kissing or swearing in Heaven.”
Vic didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or jump out of the nearest window. He just started at his boyfriend, his living breathing boyfriend. But the noise of the monitors crept into his mind again. “Baby, you’re still flat lining though?”
Kellin gave a sort of half smile. “It must have come unattached when I was dreaming about going to New York with you for the fourth of July.”
“You heard me? How much did you hear?” Vic asked feeling like a frog had just jumped up in his throat.
“I drifted in and out,” Kellin hummed. He reached up with his hand that wasn’t broken and touched around his feeding tube. His eyes widened. “How long have I been.. asleep?”
Vic barely had time to answer before a team of doctors and nurses flooded into the tiny room.
Vic arched a thick eyebrow at his eccentric little boyfriend, he could practically smell the excitement rolling off the mop headed singer in the same way animals could smell fear. He reached a toned arm out and grabbed one of the drinks, pressing the rim of the glass to his lips in wait.
Kellin must have realized that Vic wasn’t going to say anything so he inched a little closer and shouted over the music. “You have to dance with me after we finish our drinks!”
Vic sipped on his drink watching Kellin’s eyes dance under the flash of the lights coming from the dance floor. He loved the sight of his boyfriend so excited and hated to break his heart. “Kelli-bear, you know I love dancing with you at shows, but this is different.”
Kellin deflated like a tattooed balloon, letting his head drop onto folded arms. He looked up at Vic, pushing his bottom lip out and squinted his eyes, letting them water ever so slightly.
Vic smacked his hand on his chin and looked at Kellin, refusing to bend to the puppy dog look. Kellin cranked it up a notch by hiding his head in his arms. Vic pried his eyes away from the pouting twenty-eight year old and used Kellin’s eyes being off of him as an opportunity to down his margarita.
Kellin lifted his head up slightly and peaked up at Vic from under his floppy black locks. When he saw Vic’s eyes on him he ducked back down, slumped his shoulders, and started mumbling to himself that all he wanted was for his boyfriend to dance with him.
“Kellin,” Vic warned sitting up a little straighter.
Kellin proceeded to make himself even smaller in the booth than he already was, which caused Vic to get squirmy. He grabbed Kellin’s drink and started sucking it down too. Kellin looked up at him, letting his lip wobble.
Vic choked on the alcohol and sputtered when he saw and that was all it took. “Godd***it, Kellin, you win! You win, I’ll dance with you! F***!”
Kellin jumped up, nearly knocking the table over, and planted a sloppy kiss on Vic’s cheek. “Yay! I love, love, love, you! Come on!” he cheered pulling Vic’s arm.
Vic clinched his jaw and followed behind the little faker. “Kellin Quinn Bostwick, you’re a filthy little f***, you know that?”
Kellin turned back, smiling at his boyfriend, and winked. “I know.”
Vic muttered under his breath, something along the lines of if Kellin wasn’t so good in beat he would beat his a**. Kellin just tightened his grip and picked up his speed. He pulled Vic into the center of the dance floor among the mass of sweaty gyrating bodies.
The song changed to one Vic was familiar with and Kellin made a squeal-y noise and started shamelessly grinding on him. Vic snorted and started swaying his hips in beat with the music. He didn’t really like dancing to this kind of music, especially not in front of people, but there was enough alcohol in him and Kellin was so pouty, that it didn’t really matter. It’s not like anyone recognized him anyway.
Kellin molded himself to Vic so that their cheeks were flush against each other, giving Kellin the perfect vantage to sneak in a quick alcohol influenced smooch. It wasn’t supposed to draw attention it was supposed to be quick and secretive. But it wasn’t.
“Dave, look!” Ahw two little boyfriend’s k-i-s-s-i-n-g! Makes me sick!”
A spikey haired, Abercrombie & Fitch wearing, moron shouted to his group of friends, narrowing out one specific person. The back roared with laughter.
Kellin’s face flushed read and he stopped dancing. Vic’s face flashed red for another reason entirely. “F****** hilarious,” he snapped, crossing his arms.
“Brad, teach that mouth fag a lesson!” The one called Dave shouted over the music, thumping the one called Brad on the back.
Brad puffed out his chest and stepped towards the two musicians. Vic tried to edge in front of Kellin anticipating a fight, but he wasn’t quick enough. The pecker head caught Kellin’s elbow and tried to spin him out of the way, but the smaller man struggled causing Brad to send him flying into Vic head first.
Kellin’s eyes went wide and stumbled backwards, whining as he held the back of his head.
Vic stepped around his boyfriend, ignoring the twin pain in his own head, and launched himself at Brad.“Shut the f*** up!” Vic shouted. He could feel the pounding behind his temples as further rage consumed him. He started to shove against Fitch-for-brains when Kellin grabbed his arm and yanked him back.
“I don’t have to take this from a punk a** faggot. I’m outie,” Brad announced to his pack and wheeled away from the two lead singers, posse in tow.
Vic stared after him, fists and jaws clenched, trying to decide whether or not to chase after him and punch him in the back of the head a few dozen times. But before he got the chance Kellin started speaking in a soothing tone.
“Vic, listen to me, Victor. It’s okay, it’s just one guy. We get hate from thousands of people online all the time. It’s not that big of a deal. I’m okay. Everything is all right. Breathe,” Kellin murmured in Vic’s ear, and started rubbing small circles on his muscular upper arms.
Vic took a few Lamaze-class-worthy deep breaths and relaxed a bit into Kellin’s touch. He knew that Kellin was just trying to down play what had happened to calm him down, so he decided to humor him and actually follow his advice. There was nothing he could do about it anymore, plus if he did jump the guy his friends would surely jump in. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to argue his point. “Kellin, he put his hands on you, trying to get to me. It was not the same as cyber-hate. And that’s not okay with me.”
“I know, Vic, but you can’t just go getting into a fight every time someone brings out hate. You’ll get yourself arrested,” Kellin insisted, still playing it off.
Vic frowned Kellin had gotten so shaken up when the prick had grabbed a hold of him and he could tell that Kellin was going to have a nasty knot where their heads clanked together. He knew that the guy didn’t have any intentions of actually hurting Kellin; he was just showing off for his friends. But no matter what the d***heads intentions were no one put their hands on Kellin.
“We wouldn’t want that would we,” Vic murmured to satiate the pale faced boy beside him.
“Of course not, besides I’m okay, he just scared me.”
Vic used his index finger to rub circles into his temple and used his other hand to pull Kellin to him in a one armed embrace. “I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have known to keep him away from us when he first said something. I just didn’t think he’d be brave enough to pull something like that.”
“You couldn’t have known. Just stay here and order us some more drinks and I’ll get you something for your head, okay?”
Vic was going to protest, but before he knew it Kellin was pulling the jacket he had borrowed from Vic closer to him and darting through the bar. Kellin was going to the convenient store; it was just across the street, he would be fine. Vic again humored the younger man and ordered two more margaritas and took them back to the little booth he and Kellin had been sitting at before the incident.
Kellin knew that Vic would object to him going alone to the gas station, but it was just across the street and the truth was he needed it too. His head was killing him, he was sure there was going to be a knot where the stupid f***face threw him into Vic.
He darted out of the club and played frogger across the street. He slowed down once he got into the parking lot, breaking into a slow jog. He walked through the door, noting the ding, and smiled at the girl who greeted him from behind the counter.
He headed toward the isle he thought might have the acetaminophen in it and took in all of the snacks and goodies lining the shelves. He decided that he would bring Vic back there if they go the midnight munchies later. But the more he thought about it the more he realized Vic would probably be too drunk to eat.
He found the acetaminophen and headed back to the front of the store where the checkout was. He stood in line for what felt like forever until he made it to the counter.
“Hi, will this be all for you,” the girl asked smiling at Kellin.
He swiped his hair out of his face and replied, “Yes, thanks.”
“So, you’re not from around here are you?” she asked ringing Kellin up. “What brings you to Indiana?”
“Is it that obvious?” Kellin asked handing over a few bills, and the girl nodded grinning. “I’m here on tour.”
The girl looked down to bag Kellin’s purchase, and to hide her surprise. “So are you in the Pierce The Veil band or the Sleeping Sirens one?”
Kellin chuckled, her accent and ignorance to his music genre was cute. “I’m from the Sleeping With Sirens one, my boyfriend is in the Pierce The Veil band.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re a gay? But you’re so cute and tattooed!”
“So’s my boyfriend,” Kellin replied with a wink.
He was turning to leave when he heard another ding from the door. Out of curiosity his eyes followed the noise and he saw the guys from earlier stumbling in. “Oh, s***,” he mouthed and ran outside.
Running only drew attention to himself and they started chasing after Kellin. He ran through the parking lot and stopped, looking both ways, before darting out into the road.
The pounding in his head prevented him from hearing the car coming up on him. He felt its presence and turned to look at it, his eyes flashing open before he was plowed into.
He saw something before he blacked out though; Jaime behind the wheel, glaring at him.
Vic stirred his drink with the umbrella that was in it absentmindedly, wondering what was keeping Kellin. He should have gotten back before Vic even managed to get the margaritas, but he had already drunk half of his and Kellin still wasn’t back yet. All of the sudden it was like someone flipped on a switch in Vic’s mind and he realized that something was very wrong.
He jumped up out of the booth and dashed out of the bar, leaving all of their belongings behind. He made it to the sidewalk when he saw the most horrendous thing anyone could ever witness.
Kellin, who hadn’t been paying attention, was running, bags in hand, away from the guys who had been messing with them earlier, and then out of nowhere a blue sedan waylaid him and kept speeding along as if nothing had happened.
Vic didn’t have time to think or react on his own, his legs propelled him out into the now abandoned street and he collapsed at Kellin’s seemingly lifeless body.
Vic hadn’t spoken to anyone about what happened, yet. He just sat in the hospital waiting room staring off into space in shock. His, usually so tough, mind refused to let him process what happened. He wasn’t really aware of his surroundings after collapsed beside Kellin in the road.
Mike had just happened to be pulling into the clubs parking lot to meet Kellin and Vic like he was supposed to when it happened. He didn’t get the license plate on the car, but he did call an ambulance and stand there with his brother waiting. He pulled Vic out of the road and loaded him into the car and drove right along behind the ambulance. He even stayed to explain what had happened once they got to the hospital, but eventually he had to leave, he was falling asleep. And as much as he had hated leaving his unresponsive brother alone, he knew couldn’t convince him to come with him so he left around four in the morning.
Vic eventually fell into some sort of limbo between barely conscious and unconscious around five and then around seven he was shaken awake by a nurse, the doctor who had been taking care of Kellin behind her.
“Are you here for Kellin Bostwick?” the man in the green scrubs asked.
Vic nodded struggling to remember how to make words. The doctor looked tired and pale. Like whatever he had to do to Vic’s Kellin it wasn’t good and that worried Vic, it worried him a lot.
“I’m sure you know that Mr. Bostwick has suffered a substantial amount of damage from the accident,” the doctor paused waiting for Vic to nod. “I was able to patch him up, and stop the bleeding, but he hasn’t woken up from the anesthetics and that is troublesome.”
“Bleeding,” Vic croaked, realizing he must have meant internal. “What does that mean? Is he going to be okay?”
The doctor sighed, running his hand through his hair, trying to prepare for the news he was about to deliver. “Usually we try to stir a patient in this condition to see what kind of neurological damage is done, then we gauge the amount of pain they are in and if it is severe enough, we place them under a medically induced coma; it seems as if Mr. Bostwick has beaten us to the punch. Only time will tell whether he will wake up or not, but I have stabilized his injuries and they will not affect him making it through the day.”
Vic couldn’t control the movement of him placing his head in his hands, it just happened on its own accord, just like he couldn’t control the question that sprang out of his mouth. “F***, what am I supposed to tell Cope?”
“Excuse me?”
Vic looked up at the scrubs clad man. “Copeland is his daughter, how am I supposed to explain to her that her daddy got hit by a car because of me?”
The nurse, who Vic had forgotten was still there, spoke up, “It’s not your fault, sweetheart. You couldn’t have done anything about it, that car was going way too fast.”
“I let him go to the convenient store alone. I should have gone with him. It’s all my fault.”
“That’s not true,” the woman disagreed pulling Vic against her and rubbing his back slightly.
Vic swallowed back all the emotions and responses running through him, and asked in a voice that wasn’t quite his own, “Can I go see him?”
The doctor spoke over the nurse, “Yes, you may, but keep in mind that he is in the ICU for a reason. If you cause a scene you will be ejected immediately.”
Vic shot a puzzled look at the nurse, but just nodded at the doctor who in turn walked away, instructing the nurse to take Vic to Kellin.
They walked in silence for a while until they reached the ICU. The nurse turned to Vic with sympathetic eyes. “Some people don’t react well to seeing their loved ones in poor condition,” she warned sliding the door to Kellin’s room open.
And she was right. Vic, who had kept his eyes dry the entire time, sank to his knees and started sobbing when he saw Kellin lying up in the bed hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires.
The nurse spoke up, “I’ll be just down the hall, if you need anything please feel free to come and get me.”
Vic nodded, keeping his eyes on Kellin, and the nurse left the two lovers alone. Vic wiped his eyes and edged a little closer to Kellin. He looked almost like the male embodiment of Snow White, but something told Vic that true love’s kiss wouldn’t break his lover’s curse, only time and a miracle could.
“Are you heading to the hospital again?” Mike asked, popping his head into the doorway.
Vic nodded rolling deodorant under his arms. Mike tapped his fingers on doorframe, drawing Vic’s eyes to him.
“You just got back; don’t you want to rest in your own bed for a while?”
Vic sighed and tugged his shirt on. “It’s a hotel bed, and I don’t care if he wakes up I want to be there. I just needed a shower and a small break.”
Mike rolled his shoulders before looking at Vic with all the sincerity in the world and said, “Not if. He’s going to wake up, and he’ll probably be a lame a** and apologize for being away from you for so long and then you two will be sappy little f**** and all will be well in the world.”
Vic smiled briefly at the image his brother so clearly painted, it definitely sounded like something that would happen. But the smile disappeared quickly, because he couldn’t get his hopes up like that, not if Kellin didn’t wake up, so he changed the subject. “I still can’t believe in three days they couldn’t nail down the driver.”
“No one got the plate, but when Kellin wakes up he will tell us. He had to have seen who it was, he looked straight at the car before..” Mike trailed off.
“Yeah, I saw that too,” Vic remembered, looking at the white tiles beneath his feet. “Well, I’ve gotta get going. You can stop by later if you want. I’ll probably be there most of the day.”
Mike nodded and moved out of Vic’s way as he walked out of the on suite and the hotel room.
The cab ride to the hospital was quiet, Vic just sat there with his head leaned against the window, watching the blur of farm land roll by. He hadn’t been thinking much lately. It got to painful when that happened, because his mind either went back to that night before the accident, how Kellin pouted his way into dancing, or to the times when the two were still denying their feelings for each other. Either way it was too much.
Vic ghosted through the all too familiar halls of the hospital, passing nurses he was starting to know by name; things like that tended to happen when you spend nearly three days in a place. When Vic got to Kellin’s room there was a nurse changing out the various bags hanging on the IV wrack. He just took his regular seat and waited until he was alone.
Vic waited a second for the nurse to be far enough down the hall so that she wouldn’t hear him and to gather the strength to speak. “Kellin, they are going to stay a couple more days. The fans are disappointed we had to cancel more dates, but they are more worried about you than anything. They’ve been blowing up my Twitter wanting to know if there was any change. I tell them that you are working hard on getting better for us.”
Vic scratched his neck, thinking about what he was about to say next. “I got to Skype with Cope and Katelynne for a few minutes before I got in the shower today. Katelynne says she’s going to bring Cope tomorrow to see you. She would have brought her sooner, but like I said before she’s just afraid it will scare Copeland if she sees you like this. But Katelynne agreed that it could help you come around,” Vic had to stop for a moment, his throat getting thick, “because you always said she’s the reason you get up in the morning.”
Vic put his head in his hands and took deep breaths telling himself not to cry, he promised Kellin he wouldn’t cry anymore if he would just wake up. Three days doesn’t sound like a lot to most people, but when it’s three days of not knowing whether your whole world won’t open their eyes another time it’s an eternity.
Kellin’s doctor bustled into the room after a while and after checking Kellin’s vitals stopped to talk to Vic. “I see you’re already back here.”
Vic nodded; he couldn’t find his voice for a conscious audience.
“Well, I have good news and bad news. Bad news first, if Mr. Bostwick doesn’t wake up in the next twenty-four hours we’ll have to assume that brain damage was done,” the doctor stated, but was cut off by Vic.
“To what extent? Will he still make it?”
“We won’t know to what extent until he wakes up. Yes, I believe he’s a fighter. If he wasn’t going to make it, well, he probably wouldn’t still be alive now.”
Vic took in a shaky breath; if they were depending on Kellin being a fighter then they were screwed, unless fighting his feelings counted. “There was good news?”
The doctor looked surprised as if he had forgotten something. “Ah, yes, well it seems as though Mr. Bostwick had some voluntary movements after you fell asleep last night. Which reminds me, you aren’t supposed to lie in bed with him, you are lucky I like you, Victor, that could get your visiting privileges limited to supervised.”
Vic didn’t care that he got called out for breaking the rules. Kellin had moved on his own the first time Vic had really touched him, even if he was asleep when it happened it was still fantastic news. The doctor stared at Vic long enough for him to realize he was supposed to reply. “I had bad dreams about him, that he kept looking for me for help, but couldn’t find me. That was the best way I knew to console him,” Vic explained looking down at the pair of jeans he had borrowed from Kellin; he needed to be close to him.
Kellin’s doctor just nodded and left Vic alone. It’s all anyone ever seemed to do. They were too afraid of being around Vic for too long, they didn’t want to be there when he started breaking. He was so close, but hearing that Kellin had voluntarily moved last night pushed him back from the edge for just a little while longer.
Vic started talking to Kellin again, but it wasn’t about anything that was going on currently. It was things that Vic would never tell anyone while they were conscious, things that felt good to say out loud. It was also plans for the future, where he wanted to take Kellin after the tour. He talked for so long his throat felt raw, but it didn’t matter he kept talking because he hated the silence, in the silence he could hear the monitors beeping.
But eventually Vic had to stop, his throat was too raw, he glanced down at the time on his phone and realized two things, he had been there for six hours already, and that the nurses were switching shifts. He looked back up at Kellin and determined that it wouldn’t hurt if he went down the hall to get a drink.
Vic was only gone for three minutes, but when he got back the whole atmosphere of the room had changed due to the frenzy of beeps coming from the monitors, the most concerning one was Kellin’s heart monitor. It was flat lining.
Vic dropped his half empty Pepsi bottle and ran to Kellin, not caring what the doctor had said early, and crawling quickly onto the bed. He hit the nurse call button and started shouting for help. His cries for help were gurgled by his tears; he looked frantically between the hall and Kellin. He panicked and did the first thing that came to his mind, mouth to mouth.
Only it wasn’t really mouth to mouth, he was too shook up, it was more like a last ditch effort plead for life. And then it wasn’t really that either because Kellin’s lips were moving against Vic’s.
“What the f***?” Vic asked through his tears sitting up a little so that he could look at the man lying beneath him.
Kellin’s voice was scratchy from days of disuse. “I could ask you the same, I didn’t think there was kissing or swearing in Heaven.”
Vic didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or jump out of the nearest window. He just started at his boyfriend, his living breathing boyfriend. But the noise of the monitors crept into his mind again. “Baby, you’re still flat lining though?”
Kellin gave a sort of half smile. “It must have come unattached when I was dreaming about going to New York with you for the fourth of July.”
“You heard me? How much did you hear?” Vic asked feeling like a frog had just jumped up in his throat.
“I drifted in and out,” Kellin hummed. He reached up with his hand that wasn’t broken and touched around his feeding tube. His eyes widened. “How long have I been.. asleep?”
Vic barely had time to answer before a team of doctors and nurses flooded into the tiny room.
