AnimeCon Harem 16: Bringing Brian Home (Patreon)

The drive back was long and tedious. Stephanie joined them on speakerphone for the first fifteen minutes and Kelly’s mood improved, but after catching everyone up on their current status ferrying Brian, there wasn’t a lot any of them had to say. They missed each other. Post-con depression was real and it was terrible. They wanted to all stay in close contact, but were already having difficulty doing so—Kelly’s phone and Brian’s were both destroyed. Rebecca and Christine were off the grid and out of touch, no one knew how they were doing until they got back into cell service range.

After a drawn out set of exceptionally difficult goodbyes, they ended the call. Kelly crossed her arms and hunched herself up against the passenger’s side door and went still and silent. It didn’t look comfortable, and Emily spared occasional glances at the girl whenever she was done turning to check on Brian. He didn’t look good—his nose was still broken and twisted slightly to one side, the bruising now looked fearsome, and the swelling and abrasions across his face made him difficult for Emily to recognize. It hurt seeing him like this, the hurt made her angry, and she blinked through tears and glared as she drove, trying to focus on the road.

When they were most of the way home, just perhaps fifteen minutes away from the exit she would need to take to pull off the interstate, Emily’s phone started to ring. Frowning, she snatched it and accepted the call before the anime ringtone could startle Kelly awake.

“Tanya?” Emily asked.

“Emily,” Tanya greeted her through the phone. “What are you doing tonight?”

“I’m just driving back from AnimeCon,” Emily said. “With Brian.”

“Brian’s letting you drive?” Tanya teased. “The madman! I thought we weren’t doing AnimeCon this year?”

“No, that’s just what Chloe kept telling everyone,” Emily hissed out in a low voice. “She was all ‘oh, things don’t work out this year,’ and like, ‘I don’t think Brian can even go.’ Brian was always going! His plan never changed. Chloe was just gaslighting everyone. Again. As fucking always.”

“Who all went this year?” Tanya asked.

“Brian went on his own, Chloe followed him,” Emily snarled. “Rebecca and I got there halfway through Saturday. Mark was probably there, I dunno. Didn’t see him.”

“Are Chloe and Brian back together?” Tanya probed. “Becky said that they might—”

“No,” Emily interrupted, feeling the blue spots of color suffusing her body grow cold. “No. They’re not back together. Chloe went full psychopath on him. Tried to get him—us—kicked out of the con. And worse.”

“For serious?”

“Yeah. For serious.”

“Fucking hell.”

“Yeah.”

“Well. You or Brian up to chill tonight?” Tanya asked. “Sounds like you’ve got a whole story to tell.”

“No, I—no,” Emily grumbled. “It’s complicated. Actually, are Michael and Will free right now? Could use their help, we’re almost back to town. Pulling off our exit in a couple minutes, here.”

“Michael’s here playing his Gamestation or whatever,” Tanya answered. “Think Will’s still at work for another couple hours. We were gonna get together an’ have a bonfire tonight, since I had to work all weekend. You guys okay? Is Brian okay?”

“Long, long story there, but no, Brian is not okay,” Emily sighed. “Can you and Michael come by Brian’s apartment for a bit and help me get him inside?”

“Jesus,” Tanya paused. “He’s that bad? I thought Brian didn’t drink?”

“He doesn’t,” Emily scowled. “He’s—well, you’ll see.”

“Okay, we’ll meet you there, then,” Tanya said, and then it was apparent she had turned away from her phone so she could shout. “MICHAEL! GET YOUR STUPID ASS UP, WE’RE GOIN’ OVER TO BRIAN’S! YEAH, HE IS! I DUNNO, ANIMECON, I GUESS? NO—NO, THEY’RE STILL BROKEN UP! Hey, Emily? Yeah, we’ll be there. See you soon!”

*     *     *

“Hey—Kell. Hey. Wake up. We’re here.”

She woke up with a bleary start, jerking into motion and immediately surveying her surroundings in a daze. The passenger’s seat of Brian’s car wasn’t all that comfortable a place to nod off, and her back and neck protested as she tried to get herself moving again. Evening had fallen, showing her she’d slept through just about the entire drive, and they were now parked in front of a row of ordinary-looking townhouse-style apartments. Emily had popped open the driver’s side door, but the petite girl was instead climbing up between the front seats to check on Brian behind them.

“Okay,” Kelly uncrossed her arms, trying to quickly process everything despite how frazzled she felt. “Is he—he’s okay?”

“Yeah, seems like,” Emily confirmed. “You okay?”

“Eh,” Kelly grunted, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll live.”

“Did you wake up feeling like shit?” Emily asked, finally clambering back to drop into the driver’s seat again.

“Yeah, but—” Kelly shrugged. “What do you expect? Didn’t want to put my seat too much further back, ‘cause—”

“No, I mean…” Emily locked eyes with her. “I guess I mean, this past morning, and then now, compared to like… the night before? Sunday morning you said something about it, how we got super perfect rest and woke up all refreshed and energized and how that was probably magic?”

“Oh. Uh,” Kelly considered it. “Yeah. I dunno. Maybe that was a one-time thing? Or, maybe that’s—no, I dunno. Definitely not feeling that right now. Wish I fucking was.”

“Yeah,” Emily nodded, looking pensive as she fidgeted with the wheel. “I just hope it’s not. I don’t know. A bad sign?”

“Could be anything?” Kelly shrugged again, then attempted to roll the shoulder she’d been leaning into the car door while she slept to work out the kinks. “Are we waiting for something?”

“I called some of our friends here, they’re gonna help us move Brian inside,” Emily said. “Should be here in a couple minutes. Michael, and then his girlfriend Tanya. Also wanted to introduce you, and everything. Is that cool?”

“Sure, whatever’s cool,” Kelly said. “Help is nice. Brian’s fuckin’ heavy, we barely got him into the car. Definitely gotta get him moved before the magic spell or whatever the fuck wears off. Are we okay on time?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Emily said. “Two and a half more hours, at least. I’m still feelin’ pretty okay, so I’m ready to charge him up first.”

“Cool,” Kelly said.

Their conversation petered out, and the handful of awkward beats stretched into long silent moments as Kelly ran fingers to comb the mess of her hair back away from her face on the side. She stared at her knees in front of her for a while as they waited, tired and not really thinking about anything, before eventually sighing and opening her door to step out. Stretching helped a lot, and this time when she reached both arms out and arched her back, one of her bones made a slight popping noise somewhere inside of her. It didn’t feel better, exactly, but there was something satisfying about it, like something had shifted back into place.

“Emily?” Kelly asked, looking around the mostly empty parking lot in front of the apartments.

“Yeah?” Emily called.

“Do you think he’ll blame me? Brian.”

“Nah,” Emily got out of the car as well and rested her forearms on the roof and then her chin on her forearms. “He’ll get it.”

“I feel like it’s my fault,” Kelly admitted. It was hard to fight the urge not to peer through the windows and look at him. “Like there were a bunch of choices, and I thought I made the best call I could, but—he wound up paying for it. How’s that fucking fair?”

“I know,” Emily hissed with irritation. “Chloe’s fault, though. Her fault in the first place. Fucking cunt rag. She shouldn’t have been there, she shouldn’t have been trying to fuck us all over, again, and—I dunno. Her fault. I blame her, for everything.”

“You think I shoulda just… you know, left her to her fate?” Kelly asked. “Let her reap what she sowed, and all that jazz?”

“I don’t know,” Emily scowled. “Probably not the one you should ask that question, ‘cause—I hate Chloe’s guts, and I always will. Like, yeah no one deserves to be gangraped. But, also. Why’s it gotta be on us of all people to save her from herself?”

“Not even us, I went and put it all on Brian,” Kelly swore, kicking a loose chunk of gravel across the lot. “I just. I don’t know. At the time, it kinda was just so urgent, and I panicked about a lot of things, and just reacted. There had to have been a better way.”

“Maybe, but—” Emily paused. “Oh. You’re trying to think of what we should send to the next timeline?”

“No,” Kelly frowned. “Yes? No. I don’t know. Not ready to think about that. Not for a long time. I don’t want to think about it, but at the same time, now I have to, and now I have to keep second-guessing everything, and now it’s gonna keep getting under my skin. I hate it.”

“Probably what the Kelly that sent to you was thinking,” Emily murmured.

“Fuck future Kelly,” Kelly spat. “She probably wasn’t thinking about anyone but herself, ‘cause she’s this thoughtless fucking narcissist and everything’s always gotta be about her.”

“Uh, hey, whoa, whoa,” Emily blinked. “Goin’ that far’s kinda—”

“I know,” Kelly waved off her concerns in aggravation. “It’s whatever. Steph’ll take care of it.”

“Yeah, okay, but Steph’s not here,” Emily chided, crossing around the vehicle to approach her. “So, the onus is on me to keep yourself from blaming yourself for everything.”

“Onus? Emily…”

“Yeah, onus. Nice try, but it means responsibility, and I used the word correctly,” Emily said with a smirk. “This time.”

“It’s not even that,” Kelly shook her head. “It’s that you said it at all. No one says onus. Get real. People don’t talk like that. It’s… fuck. It’s just me deflecting again, trying to find something to pick apart, so I can derail whatever we were really talking about, ‘cause for a second there, I thought you were walking around the car to come give me a hug, and Brian was right, I don’t deal with emotional intimacy or any of that weird lovey bullshit. My knee-jerk reaction’s always going to be avoid, avoid, avoid, because the second things start getting serious, I wind up fucking everything up, and then everyone gets hurt, and—”

“Kell. Shut the fuck up,” Emily snorted, jumping up to latch onto her in a big hug. “Seriously, geez.”

“You shut the fuck up,” Kelly huffed, reluctantly wrapping her arms around the girl in return.

“So, apparently you get all rambly when you’re tired,” Emily said, squeezing tight and refusing to let go. “Cool. Good to know. You’re still gettin’ hugged, though.”

“I worked a super shitty day shift, after getting zero sleep,” Kelly growled.

“I know. Sorry, that does really suck,” Emily patted her shoulder.

“And I miss Stephanie,” Kelly added. “Stressed about Brian. About everything.”

“I know. Me too,” Emily agreed, rubbing her hand across Kelly’s back.

“Are you making fun of me?” Kelly started to bristle. “Because if all of this is a joke to you, then you can—”

“I’m not!” Emily protested. “Being totally sincere. I’ve had shitty shifts on no sleep, it sucks ass. I was a waitslave at Lucca Italiano, I know, I get it. With Stephanie and Brian—trust me, I feel exactly the same way you do. You know? We’re in the same boat. Remember? I’m the little tugboat, you’re the big tiddy bimbo liner? Cruisin’ on together, through like these exact same waters.”

“Emily,” Kelly let out a slow sigh, relaxing a bit. “Just—just shut the fuck up, alright? You’re so much cuter when you don’t open your stupid trap and ruin it.”

“No you,” Emily retorted, nestling her face into Kelly’s shoulder.

Kelly felt a little bit touched and a little bit speechless as the pair held each other in the apartment parking spaces. She was no stranger to verbally sparring with other girls, in fact it was something she had always excelled at. Unlike both Stephanie and Brian—Emily might be the only one in her new tangle of relationships that would rise to the occasion and argue with her. But, at the same time, there being no real malice in Emily’s words, even when she was swearing… it felt unusually disarming.

Because she’s not trying to diss me, or prove she’s better than me, or anything, Kelly scowled. She’s literally just arguing to argue; because she’s this stupid mouthy dumbfuck. Her parting shot was even a ‘NO U’, which just lowers the level of discourse to the point where responding AT ALL feels like you’re taking a loss.

“Why do I even like you?” Kelly wondered out loud.

“Because we’re both total fuckups, but like, in complementary ways rather than competing ways?”

“What the fuck?” Kelly made a face. “Did you just come up with that, or is that something you’ve actually been thinking all day?”

“Man, I dunno,” Emily laughed. “Thinking? It just popped out of my mouth. No clue. Sounded cool, though?”

“So—so is this just you bullshitting wildly, or is this you deflecting, now?”

“Fuck if I know. Both?”

“Emily… get off of me.”

They had enough time to get the trunk of the car open by the time Tanya and Michael showed up, with all of the bags they were going to carry in sorted out and arranged in a neat row and ready to go. Emily and Brian’s friends appeared in a low rumble, because the pair arrived driving a boxy old truck that looked to be from the sixties or seventies. It was big and it was loud, the kind of ‘dependable enough’ workhorse that had been serviced and re-serviced until you could just about hear every part of its engine working.

At a glance through the windshield, Tanya was a good-looking girl with her hair pulled up into a ponytail, and she appeared curious but reserved at spotting a newcomer. The Mike guy had a short fuzz of dirty blond hair and was big, maybe even taller than Brian, and his face seemed stuck in a crass grin. Unlike Brian’s trim figure, Michael was bear-like, one of those frat-types who got into weight-lifting but not weight-loss, so he was chubby but also sported brawny arms through the cut-off shirt he wore.

“Well, stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen!” Mike exclaimed as he kerklunked the metal release of his door open. “Who’s this? She looks way too young to be Emily’s mom, right? What was—Anne Garcia? Right?”

“Michael, shut up,” Tanya’s exasperated voice was surprisingly thick with a Russian accent. “Excuse him please, he’s… he’s a dumbass.”

“No? Uhh. Anne Rivera?” Michael guessed. “She looks like a model, or an actress or somethin’, c’mon.”

Actress? Don’t compare me with that monster, Kelly struggled to keep her expression from changing. Don’t even.

“This is Kelly, she’s my new girlfriend,” Emily introduced her. “Kelly, this is Tanya, she’s very nice. Oh, uh, and that’s Michael, he’s a dumbass.”

“No fuckin’ way,” Michael looked completely thrilled at hearing this. “She’s your new girlfriend?! God damn, Will is going to have kittens over this. Can’t wait to see his fuckin’ face. Does he know? Wait—where the fuck is Brian?”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Kelly,” Tanya said, backhanding Micheal’s shoulder with a meaty thwack. Sorry about him.”

“Always said Emily was gonna wind up munchin’ carpet. Didn’t I?” Michael managed to look incredibly proud of himself. “The very day she cut her hair all short, I said it. I been sayin’ it.”

“She’s always kept her hair short,” Tanya scoffed. “Pixie-cut looks good for Emily.”

“Well yeah, but not this short. C’mon.”

“Michael—shut the fuck up,” Emily retorted, but there was no actual anger apparent in her tone. “God. This is why you’ll never get a girlfriend.”

“This is why you’ll never get a girlfriend,” Tanya agreed, nodding.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Michael grinned, jerking his thumb towards Tanya.

“Uh. Yeah,” Kelly gave them a helpless shrug. “Nice to finally meet you guys?”

“Will is going to shit himself,” Michael laughed out loud. “Ho—ly shit, this is gonna be great. All this time, damn. All this time, he was worried ‘bout Brian. God damn.”

“You have a problem with me dating a girl?” Emily’s eyebrows rose in challenge.

“Hell, no. In fact—god damn, Emily! Score,” Michael offered up his fist. “Like, damn. Bro. Bro. I woulda even said she looks like she’s way outta your league, even. Just—what’s with the blue hair? Is this like, a couples thing, or are you goin’ all gender studies on us?”

“All the hair—it’s complicated,” Emily slapped away Michael’s fist. “Don’t ask, alright? Complicated. The thing is—Brian’s in the car, we want you to help us get him inside.”

“Oh?” Tanya blinked in the direction of their vehicle. “And—why didn’t you guys tell us you were doing AnimeCon this year? We all could’ve gone.”

“Bunch of Chloe bullshit, we didn’t exactly plan it all out beforehand,” Emily said. “I found out he was still going, and I uh, I actually no-showed at my job, ‘cause I had to rush out there and see him. It’s. It’s complicated! Kelly; tell them.”

“It’s complicated,” Kelly told them with a wry smile.

“I didn’t find out until just today,” Tanya pursed her lips. “Michael here didn’t tell me.”

“It was in the group chat,” Michael shrugged, his goofy grin remaining unshakeable. “Shoulda seen it yourself.”

“Except your ‘group chat’ is thousands of nonsense messages every single day, and waste of everyone’s time,” Tanya rolled her eyes. “Babble talk and memes. Always just… babble talk and memes. So nice.”

“Okay, okay okay okay,” Emily held up her hands before Michael could launch into a rebuttal. “Anyways, can you help us carry Brian inside?”

“Sure, yeah,” Michael bobbed his head. “What even happened? Brian start drinking?”

The guy finally brushed past Emily and stepped up so that he could see into the car—and he immediately rushed forward and swung the rear door open. With Brian’s figure revealed, the hospital gown was apparent, the bruises across his face dark and obvious, and though she knew he was still because he was in stasis Kelly’s heart still wrenched upon seeing him laid out and unresponsive.

“Emily,” The jovial tone had vanished from Michael’s voice in an instant. “Who the fuck did this to him?”

“He fucking got jumped by a bunch of guys!” Emily all but snarled. “Chloe like, started some shit with these dudes, and they weren’t having any of it, and they had her cornered and… things were looking kinda bad for her. So, Brian saved her ass.”

“Jesus,” Tanya joined Michael to look Brian over. “Where’s Chloe now, then?”

“Rotting in hell, for all I care,” Emily spat. “Fuck that shitwhistle. I’m done with her. Done.”

“It’s my fault, too,” Kelly spoke up.

The sudden unfriendliness in the way Michael looked at her in response to that was almost heart-warming, because it revealed a layer of unexpected nuance to the guy. He wasn’t just some random jackass—or, he wasn’t only some random jackass; he drew firm lines around his friends and then didn’t budge on them. When he’d first laid eyes on her, he had teetered between eyeballing her body and bursting into laughter, presumably at the expense of some other friend Will, whose feelings for Emily were some open secret here. Watching Michael’s eyes go cold on her the moment Kelly staked some blame for what happened to Brian was meaningful, because a guy willing to set everything else aside to be protective of his friend made Michael worthy of being one of Brian’s friends.

“No, it’s not,” Emily shook her head. “Not really, so—”

“Chloe was provoking them, but at the same time…” Kelly frowned. “It’s not like we can just stand by and watch her get gang-raped, or something. I made Brian intervene. So, yes. It is my fault this happened.”

“Gang-raped?” Tanya blurted out. “What the hell was going on?!”

“Fucking hell,” Michael muttered, looking genuinely pissed that he hadn’t been there.

“There were just these guys there,” Kelly gave them an awkward shrug. “They’d been harassing this other girl we know, like they were trying to pull her into this building, when she didn’t want to go. Then, when we saw them again, Chloe was starting shit with them.”

“Because of course she was,” Emily’s expression soured even further. “Fucking twat was hounding Brian all weekend, too. Even tried to get us thrown out of the con! Went and cried rape on him, of all people. When obviously nothing anywhere near that happened between them.”

“She did not,” Tanya’s eyes went wide. “She said that?”

“She said everything she could, and every single fucking word of it was all just fabricated bullshit,” Emily blurted out. “One minute she’s like, I’m pregnant! The next she’s all—okay I’m not pregnant, but Brian hit me. We call B.S. on that, and she’s like, well okay, Brian’s a rapist, then. Yeah fucking right.”

“Chloe completely snapped,” Kelly nodded. “It was just one long series of psychotic episodes. I mean, I’ve only known Brian for one weekend, and I know beyond a doubt he would never ever do anything like that.”

“He wouldn’t,” Michael agreed.

“Brian definitely would not, no,” Tanya said. “She really said all of that?”

“She went off the deep end,” Emily sniffed. “Completely lost her marbles. So—yeah, I’m absolutely through with her. Just thinking about it all makes me so mad that I can’t even… I can’t even think straight anymore.”

“Then,” Michael paused, staring hard at Brian as he rubbed his jaw. “So, if she went and did all that… why the fuck would you try and get Brian to stand up for her? How did, did this wind up happening? Like—what the actual fuck? Jesus Christ.”

“I—I don’t really know,” Kelly answered, not sure what to say. “In the heat of the moment, I guess I just reacted. Brian wound up paying for it, and that’s on me. Maybe it would have been—I don’t know, karma or something, if Chloe had gone around crying wolf on rape and then just. Just blundered herself into these actual rapists. But, then at the same time—I can’t, we can’t just stand by and do nothing and watch someone get gang-raped. Even if it’s Chloe.”

“How did this all happen?” Tanya frowned. “When did this happen? Brian was discharged from a hospital, already? If you were there when all of it was going down in the first place, why aren’t you hurt?”

“Because,” Kelly swallowed as she tried to find words. “Because, I felt like only Brian could have made a difference. Because—I was afraid. Because—there is no real because. More and more I start to just regret it, anything I say is just excuses, in the end. You know? He got hurt when I pushed him to step in, it’s my fault, and I don’t think any amount of fucking sophistry would ever absolve me. Blame’s just on me. It was my bad, and he went and paid the price—and I’m going to make it up to him somehow. Don’t care how or what I have to do.”

“Still mostly Chloe’s fault,” Emily growled. “Don’t fucking care what anyone says.”

“Where the fuck is Chloe, then?!” Michael demanded.

“Well, she didn’t get away from it all scot-free,” Kelly muttered, deciding a plausible story on the spot. “She’s probably still in the hospital?”

“I think Rebecca stuck with her,” Emily made a face. “Rebecca’s the one that drove me out there to the con this time. Rebecca, she just, yeah. Doesn’t give up on people, no matter how shitty they are.”

“How is Brian out of the hospital already?” Tanya asked again. “What are his—what all happened with him? He’s not waking up?”

“Um,” Emily exchanged glances with Kelly. “So, long story, but turns out I was the emergency contact he wrote in, last time he got his license done? There was all this uh, bullshit I don’t even understand, with what his insurance would and wouldn’t cover, when this all happened.

“The gist of it is—he’s completely out of danger and in a stable condition, but, if he stays there in their long term ward thing, his insurance doesn’t exactly cover all of that, and it would maybe be this massive stupidly huge fucking bill he winds up with. So; yeah. Fuck that, right? If we can get him signed out to just recover at home, we’ll do that instead.”

“Emily…” Tanya stared at the girl. “Regardless, is it not better to have actual medical professionals caring for him? Surely there would be a… a legal settlement, with whoever did this to him?”

“Well, they all fucking scattered right when the police showed up,” Kelly explained, hurrying to cover for Emily. “No idea still if they even caught any of the bastards. So, uh, when Emily saw that the bill could wind up being five figures, and Brian might get stuck with it… yeah.”

“Christ,” Michael swore. “Goddamn bastards. Five figure medical bill, and for what? Last time I went in with a broken thumb, it cost me damn near two grand. So, after that, when I think I broke my pinky? Fuck it, just splinted it myself. Hockey tape and a chopstick. Fuck it.”

“It’s a little crooked,” Tanya mumbled under her breath.

“I remember,” Emily nodded, turning their attention back towards Brian’s prone figure with a gesture. “But, so… yeah. Rebecca works in nursing already anyways, she said she could take time off to come and keep checking up on him. The everyday care stuff Kelly and I can handle, I just bailed on Lucca Italiano, and Kelly’s transferring over to the Dollarydoos here in town.”

“Excuse me, but how did you two get together?” Tanya questioned. “Kelly and you.”

“Long story?” Kelly showed them a bitter smile. “Long story, but maybe a pretty great one? Aside from this, obviously. If it’s okay, we’d love to fill you all in, once Brian’s up and about, so he can tell his part in it. Retelling all that craziness will take a whole night. And, I still haven’t even met everyone.”

“Yeah. Yeah,” Emily said. “We don’t wanna like, try to manhandle him inside or halfway drag him in, so—Michael can you help us carry him inside? I’ve got a key, here.”

“Alright, yeah,” Michael said. “Sure. He’s okay to move, and all that? I’ll grab in under his arms.”

“Uhhh, just be careful with his head,” Emily said. “Concussion for sure, but they said he was okay so long as we just get him in and let him rest and uh, keep an eye on him.”

“Wouldn’t it be best for him to just be in the hospital?” Tanya asked again.

*     *     *

With surprising ease they got Brian inside and all the way through Brian’s apartment and onto his bed. Though he was heavy, it was mostly Brian’s height that made him cumbersome to move around, and between the three of them—Emily was excluded from ‘helping’ after getting in the way, and charged with getting the doors—they made it all happen in short order. Tanya had immediately noticed the abnormalities with Brian’s wrist, which thankfully was rigid with spell bullshit and stasis and not too obviously bent or broken.

Still. We’re only KINDA able to play that off, Kelly wanted to cover her face and let out a long sigh.

Her first impression of Brian’s apartment was that it was… nice. Certainly nicer than where she’d been living on Chelsea’s porch. Things weren’t too messy, nor were they too clean. There was a small amount of clutter here and there that made the place feel lived in, and Brian wasn’t some toy collector or into displaying anime posters all over the place. His place suited her tastes just fine, a last few tiny hold-out doubts that had been lingering were murdered in their cradle, and Kelly actually found herself looking forward to living here with Brian.

She just wanted him to wake up so they could talk. About everything.

“It doesn’t look okay,” Tanya insisted. “See? His wrist should just not look like that.”

They were for the moment crowded into the back room, hovering over Brian, and Kelly found herself surprised by how uncomfortable this made her. Emily she trusted, but though she knew these two were also Brian’s close friends, she didn’t know them and simply didn’t want others lingering around Brian while he was in any position of vulnerability.

“They said it was fine when we asked,” Emily deflected. “They did all their x-ray shit already. If he needed a splint or something, they would have gave him one. Right?”

“You should have ask for second opinion,” Tanya frowned, lapsing into a thicker accent as she grew more flustered. “There is no way this is fine.”

“Christ, ease up on it already,” Michael groaned. “You bitched and bitched and bitched about my pinky, too.”

“Your pinky finger is crooked,” Tanya exclaimed, jabbing his chest. “Should not be crooked; is. Because you’re stupid and stubborn. Brian’s wrist does not look okay. черт возьми! Look! See this? Match to his look of other wrist and see how different.”

“We’ll um, we’ll have Rebecca take another look at it,” Emily assured her. “I think she has the folder with the x-rays in it? Yeah, they’re with her.”

“Can Brian still drive forklift if they will break and reset bone and him recover all over again? No,” Tanya argued. “Does his work know about this in first of place?”

“Emily contacted them, right the night it happened,” Kelly said.

“Then, I called them again, and made sure to talk to whatever manager doofus guy,” Emily added. “Supposed to check back in with them again at the end of the week, or have Brian call, soon as he wakes up.”

“When is Brian wake up?” Tanya crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable with everything. “Much better to hear all of this things from him.”

“Well, sorry?” Emily said. “He’s sedated as fuck, and supposed to be resting. After that, it’s over-the-counter painkillers if and when he needs them.”

“Or under-the-counter ones, if he needs them,” Michael grunted. “Just say the word, soon as you know what you need.

“So funny,” Tanya made a face at her boyfriend. “Last thing need is Brian пристрастился к опиатам. Dumbass.”

“Babe. We don’t speak Mexican,” Michael joked without smiling, still not turning away from Brian. “Seriously though, Emily—you guys need stronger codeine for him, just let me know. I know a guy. Alright? No questions or judgment or nothin’.”

“If need, talk to Rebecca, then talk to hospital,” Tanya countered. “Not ever talk to тупица dumbass Michael. Okay? Emily?”

“Hey, it’s Brian,” Emily said, growing defensive. “Everything gets run by Rebecca first. We’re not fucking around.”

“Rebecca said all this is okay?” Tanya asked. “Him home stay? Him staying here at home, instead of in the hospital.”

“We talked all of it through with her,” Emily promised. “She knows. She’ll be by. You can talk with her if you want.”

“You call Brian’s parents?” Tanya pressed.

“Babe,” Michael warned.

“Brian’s parents never ever gave a fuck about him,” Emily hissed. “So; no, no I didn’t call them, because they have nothing fucking to do with him, and if I have anything to say about it, they never will. Ever.”

“Okay,” Tanya gave Emily a long look. “Emily, I’m just… worried. Okay? You’ll take good care of him.”

It was subtle, but Kelly could tell from the way Tanya’s eyes flicked back and forth that Tanya was already skeptical about the two of them being together. Tanya seemed to not even buy much of their story in the first place, but for now was tolerant because she believed Emily would put Brian’s interest first. As an outsider, it was hard for her to tell what Michael thought, as the big guy seemed prepared to roll with whatever bullshit they said, and then probably just ask Brian what the fuck was really going on later.

After another excruciating five minutes of them arguing over the same points and covering no new ground, Tanya and Michael finally gave them reluctant goodbyes, and left. Their nice to meet you again was more strained on its delivery now that they were aware of Brian’s predicament, and though they invited them out to a bonfire at Aunt Mattie’s place, Emily was quick to decline, citing the obvious: they were staying with Brian.

Duh.

“God damn,” Emily blew out a long breath as soon as they were gone. “Well, went better than I expected? Can’t believe they bought it.”

“Emily… they didn’t,” Kelly winced, sitting down on the edge of Brian’s bed and putting a hand on his shoulder. “At all. About anything. They don’t trust me because they don’t know me, and they figured you were just babbling nonsense. They’re probably calling Rebecca right now.”

“What? Nuh-uh,” Emily scowled. “No way. Shit. You’re probably right. Should probably text her a heads up if everyone’s gonna be throwing questions her way.”

“Yeah.”

“But, in the meantime…” Emily knelt down beside the bed next to Kelly so that she could examine Brian close up. “How much fucking longer ‘til we can just magically kiss him all better?”

( Previous: Post-Con Depression | AnimeCon Harem | Next: Cabin Retreat )