Footsteps [Will GrossmanxReader]

6

Will was startled by the sound of his name coming from your mouth. He leaned back away from you, and kept leaning until he tipped out of his rolling chair and fell onto his back with a loud thud.

"Fuck." Will muttered under his breath as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. "Fuckity fuck fuck fuck-" he got to his feet and cleared his throat, "I-it's not what it looks like, I swear! I can explain..."

But when he looked up at you, the combination of fear and confusion on your face made his chest tighten and his throat close up.

"Oh right, the mask." Will said, remembering the creepy thing he was wearing on his face. He took off the old white mask and set it on the desk. "See, I'm not going to hurt you..." He assured you.

"What happened? Where are we?!" Questions started spilling out of you at breakneck pace, "You! You vanished from the hospital! You're a missing person! Was it that clown- oh god, is he here?"

"Chill." Will interjected, trying to calm you down. "I can explain...so like, your house was on fire and I was, uh..." He cleared his throat awkwardly, "..in the neighborhood, so I jumped in to save you, then Laughing Jack warped us here...I told him to take you back, but he's that asshole thinks...he uh, he says he won't take you back now. Since you've seen the place."

Your heart sank as he told the story. It was easy to realize he was hiding things from you, but...right now you just wanted to go home. "I can get back on my own." You proposed, "Just take me to a bus stop or something, I'm sure I'll be able to find help. I won't tell anybody about you, I promise! I'll come up with some story."

"I can't." Will shook his head.

"Why not?"

"There's nothing nearby. We're in the middle of nowhere...we're not even in (your home state/province/etc) anymore."

Your eyes widened. "Then...where are we?"

"In the Rocky Mountains somewhere."

The Rocky mountains?? You couldn't wrap your head around it. So far away from home...how was that even possible? You put your hand to your forehead, the surrealness of this situation hitting you like a brick wall. But this was real, you knew that for certain. You were here, and Will was here, and...oh god.

"I-is that...I-is Laughing Jack here too...?" You asked, your words stumbling over themselves from sheer terror.

"Yooooou betcha~!" Came a voice from across the room. The clown was leaning against a wall, arms crossed and an amused smirk playing across his features. You practically jumped out of your skin.

"Fuckin' hell, Jack! Are you trying to scare her to death??" Will protested angrily.

Jack ignored him and crossed the room to your bedside. Or at least you think he crossed the room. The way he'd hardly moved, it almost felt like the room had moved around him. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, Little Miss (y/n). Don't you agree?" Too anxious to verbalize, you gave a shaky nod of your head, appeasing the supernatural clown. "Gooooood~ Then I hope we can all be friends from now on."

Something told you that the clown didn't care about being friends. He chuckled and took a step back. "Well, I've got places to do, things to be. Wait, scratch that. Things, Places- ah, fuck it. Toodles~!" Laughing Jack said as he took a bow and vanished in his signature cloud of grey smoke.

Will rubbed his forehead and turned his face toward the ground. "Sorry about that jackass...he's always in and out though, so you won't have to worry about him that much...sorry..."

"It's okay," You replied, feeling the need to reassure him, "I'm just a little overwhelmed, is all..."

"So...you're not angry at me?" The blonde asked, looking up at you with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, which had previously only held uncertainty and regret. His face reminded you of the look he had when he first woke up, staring down at you with a gaze of wonder. It brought a small smile to your lips.

"No, I'm not mad. It wasn't your fault, I get that." You propped yourself up on your elbows and tried to sit up. "And who knows...maybe Jack will change his mind eventually."

You could hardly believe the optimism coming from your own mouth. You should be sobbing right now, cracking under the knowledge that you'd be stuck here with a near-stranger and clown monster for an indefinite about of time. But Will didn't feel like a stranger to you. Maybe it was the weeks you spent reading to him, but he felt...safe. Familiar. A little like home. You knew that if nothing else, you had Will on your side. And with that, who knows. You might survive this after all.