As Matt and Brian descended the stairs, remorse-filled faces, and tear-stained cheeks greeted them once they were both in the living room. Hand-in-hand they took a seat on the plush sofa, identical masks of confusion adorned their faces as they surveyed the room. Gone was Riley, nowhere to be seen. Brian looked around the room, thinking that maybe, she was simply upstairs in her room. But, there was something which made him think otherwise.
“Where’s Riley?” Matt asked; his voice strained with difficulty, his mind automatically taking a turn for the worst, coming up with the most horrific scenarios possible. Once no one answered him – afraid of his reaction – he grew angry, Brian sensing the change in mood and the oncoming slaughter which would definitely happen, he placed a warm hand on his thigh, squeezing gently as he murmured things which he knew would calm Matt down. “Someone better have some fucking answers right now or so help me-”
“Fucking go and Hulk out somewhere else, Matthew,” Zack sighed, his face contorted into multiple shades of pain, “we found Riley face down in the bath this morning…” He trailed off, silence overwhelming him as he tried not to cry, again. Apart from Matt, he was one of the closest to her, considering the brunette as his sister, and vice versa.
“She’s not… surely she’s napping," Matt mumbled - despite the expressions on the other guys' face - he was just murmuring shit, not really believing half of what he was saying. "She can't be..." Matt shook his head from side-to-side, leaning to Brian's embrace, not reciprocating it, just wanting to be held.
"If this is some cruel April Fools prank I'll slaughter you all myself," Brian spoke lowly, his long fingers running through Matt's hair, massaging the younger man's scalp, soothing him. He never once took his eyes off of Matt, but the group knew that he was being deadly serious.
"Are you fucking insane, Haner? Did you not hear me? My best friend is fucking dead! This isn't a fucking joke, asshole!" Zacky was livid; his hands - clammed with his sweat - were shaking. "Think of others apart from yourself and your fucking bum-buddy!" Zacky snarled- he was like a caged beast. Stalking towards the front door, he wrenched it open and stormed out, slamming the wooden door shut behind him. The echo of the slam still bounded around the room.
Johnny pressed his lips to Jimmy's softly before walking out after Zacky, knowing exactly how emotional the snake-bitten man gets. He decided it was best that he went, to talk Zacky down and calm him before he rid himself, like everyone else knew he'd be capable of doing now that Riley was gone.
"Zack, you fucking idiot, come back here," Johnny called out, his short legs pumping as fast as they could, running after the dark figure that was Zacky, "I'm serious... I'll rethink our Supernatural season 9 marathon if you don't." It was that last statement which had Zack stop to slump against a tree-stump. Chuckling to himself, Johnny walked over to him, brush the excess debris off the log and sit down.
Zacky just scoffed his tone slightly strained, but still playful, "you wouldn't even dare, Seward. You love me far too much to leave me to watch the sexual tension between Cas and Dean by my lonesome." A light punch was delivered to Johnny's shoulder before he went silent. Tears dancing along the lids of his eyes as he thought about Riley and Evelyn, both were innocent had nothing to do with anything. Unless... It was Matt. The thought had Zacky sit up-right, his face contorted into a mask of betrayal, hurt and anger.
"What is it, Zee?" Johnny murmured, turning his head slightly to the right to properly look at him.
Zacky's lip curled upward, disgust flooding his whole body, "it's all to do with Matt." Zacky spat, his arms folded tightly over his chest. He made a noise that sounded like a whine when Johnny began to protest. "Think about it! Evelyn was his girlfriend and when she found out about Matt and Brian, she was found dead. Then, Riley is his best friend! It's foolproof."
"That's insane, Zack. Matt has nothing to do with this at all... there's something else which connects Riles and Ev. I don't know what, but there's something." Johnny replied softly, his hand resting on Zacky's shoulder, rubbing the joint soothingly.
The tears overflowed and ran down Zacky's cheeks in tiny rivulets, the older man sniffling and wiping at his nose and eyes to stop them from falling. "So, what do you suggest we do?" He sobbed; his whole body was thrown into Johnny's as the former stained the surprised man's shirt.
"We all stay together. The ex-tutor-now-physcho-killer is obviously targeting our group and our group alone for whatever reason. We just group up wherever we go... so that means no fucking fighting, numb-nuts."
Zacky just sighed and nodded, knowing that Johnny was right, no matter how crazy that he sounded.
* * *
"James, your fucking boyfriend has gone crazy!" Brian yelled from the closed bathroom door-way. After relieving his bladder, Brian pressed the smaller button on the top of the back of the toilet and the fly on his jeans was zipped up before he made his way over to the sink. "This whole 'you're all not to leave each other' nonsense is just that.... nonsense." He washed his hands with soap and water, feeling extremely uncomfortable that his best friends had to listen to him pee. Once he pulled open the door - which was unlocked upon the insistence of Johnny - Jimmy stumbled slightly as if his head were pressed up against the wood, listening. "Were you fucking- never mind." Brian mumbled, knowing better than to question Jimmy's antics.
Scoffing, Jimmy tried to look deadly serious, but the grin which was tugging on the corners of his lips, gave it away. "Pfft... No... But you pee really loudly and by god, do you have a fucking bottle of water stashed in your pants or something, because you piss so much!"
