December 28th, 2023
Day Five
Sitting and staring at the clock was painful, but JJ couldn't think to do anything else at the moment.
12:13 AM. This gave the him the realization of how long he'd been unconscious originally, since the whole ordeal today couldn't have been longer than two hours - two days ago he'd hit his head, and when he'd woken up, it'd been in the middle of yesterday. An entire day; more than twenty four hours.
"This universe is doing anything in its power to make me suffer. First that, and then Mikey was nearly killed? If I were to lose him, I wouldn't be able to hold on for the remaining days I have left. He's the only thing keeping me together."
He blinked slowly. He didn't feel tired, and additionally, he was waiting for Mikey to get out of the bathroom so they could lay together. He didn't need sleep right now.
"Besides," He tried to edge the images out of his mind as he thought about it. "No sleep, means no nightmares. I've already dealt with enough today."
Speaking of Mikey, he'd been in the bathroom for a suspiciously long time. Deciding to go check up on him, JJ got out of bed and knocked on the door.
From the inside, JJ started to hear unusual noises. At first he didn't know what it was, but soon enough, it became slightly more clear - Mikey seemed to be breathing in an unstable manner.
Suddenly concerned, JJ entered without asking beforehand. Then, he saw Mikey hovering over the toilet bowl, seemingly resisting throwing up. He was shaking intensely, almost as if he'd already had, but JJ couldn't see any evidence of it.
Mikey didn't seem to have noticed him yet. Despite this, JJ leaned down and embraced him; although he didn't know what exactly was wrong, he didn't like to see him like this.
"I guarantee it was those drugs." JJ thought, frustrated that even though he'd disposed of the people that caused this for Mikey, the effects of their actions were still present. Meanwhile, Mikey stopped everything that he was doing at JJ's touch, and eventually, his eyes started to water as he began to shiver again.
"The feeling will pass." JJ murmured, guiding Mikey's head so that it layed against his chest. After a few seconds, Mikey failed to hold his emotions in and started to cry, and attempted to push back against his hold. JJ didn't understand why he was doing that, but he kept Mikey there and tried waiting for him to calm down.
"You- you-" Mikey started blubbering. "Why did- t-those people tried to run! You chased them down, a-and you killed them! You cut their throats right open, and I could hear it! I could hear it- everything- them screaming, the slash of the knife, the gargling noise of choking on blood- t-the- the screaming- it was so loud-"
JJ pushed him back slightly and forced Mikey to look at him once he realized what this was really about.
"You're out of it, Mikey. If you were in the right state of mind, you'd know that I did that to protect you; those people were a threat, and that was the only way to get them to back off."
"They weren't threats. They knew they would strave if they were left behind, and even with that, they still backed up the moment you attacked the first person. You chose to try and kill them, and for what? S-Some sort of thrill? Do you enjoy killing people that didn't even-"
"That's enough." JJ interrupted firmly, agitated that Mikey was making him out to be the bad guy in this situation. "We can discuss this further when you're feeling better. In fact, there won't even have to be a conversation when that happens, because you'll already know that I did this with the intentions to protect you from danger. Let's go; it's late. We have to get some sleep."
JJ forced Mikey to stand up, but as he started to lead him out of the bathroom, Mikey gripped onto the edge of the door to stop himself.
"Not yet," He said. "I need to stay in here in case anything happens. I can't stomach any of this, I just can't. I've been on the verge of vomiting ever since we got back."
JJ continued to force him away.
"Just sleep everything off." He essentially forced Mikey to lay down. "You'll feel and think better in the morning."
"Please, just let me have some space to myself for a little bi-"
"Sleep."
Afraid to contradict him any further, Mikey listened and tried to focus on sleeping. JJ got in bed and slept beside him, and as much as he wanted to enjoy the time he finally got to be next to him again, he was feeling way more tired than he expected. Just earlier, he didn't think he was drowsy at all, but now? He could hardly keep his eyes open.
As he let himself fall asleep, JJ suddenly remembered what would happen if he did. He didn't know how long he'd spent on the verge to sleep, but it was long enough to where when he tried to tell himself to wake up, it was difficult.
But when he did finally open his eyes, he noticed Mikey wasn't in bed with him anymore.
"What? Where did he-"
It didn't take long to find where he was. In the short time that JJ hadn't been watching him, Mikey was already out of bed and trying to open the door as discreetly as he could. JJ felt the urge to confront him right then and there, but he resisted. He'd originally assumed what Mikey meant by "having space to himself" was to go back into the bathroom, but seeing him trying to leave the room itself so late at night intrigued him, but of course, not in a good way. So JJ pretended to still be sleeping, keeping his eyes just barely open. At one point Mikey looked back at him to make sure he wasn't being seen, and once he decided he was in the clear, he exited the room and closed the door behind him without making a sound.
Just after he did that, JJ sat up. He didn't know where Mikey was going, but he needed to find out.
"Doing anything besides spending time with me is instantly questionable. Nothing is more important than making me feel better. If I catch him doing something completely useless and unnecessary, I'll have every right to be mad."
Getting out of bed, JJ went to follow him.
