Chapter Text
Robby stared into the dark sky, wondering how he had gotten to this point in his little road trip.
He had been low on gas, when he pulled into the petrol station he felt his stomach let out a grumble. He hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday morning, driving for hours and only stopping briefly to sleep when his body demanded it. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a year, he had barely gotten 4 hours of sleep before he awoke with a gasp, sweaty from the nightmare. He shook his head trying to forget about it, he didn't want to think about it. He parked the bike, getting off and standing next to it as he filled up the tank.
Once the bike had a full tank, he opened the door and headed inside, he walked towards the counter to pay before rethinking and turning towards the aisles of food instead. He quickly grabbed a bottle of raspberry Fanta, a KitKat and a small bag of plain chips he headed towards the counter. He placed the items on the counter, grateful that the cashier didn’t seem to want to make small talk either - he didn’t look older than 19 and barely had eyebags better than Robby’s, he felt for the kid.
He looked to the side, staring out the window. He thought he saw movement out by his bike but by the time he had blinked again it was gone. He squeezed his eyes shut rubbing his face, the sleep deprivation was really getting to him. He paid for his item, thanking the cashier he moved towards the door.
The cold air made him shiver despite the hoodie and long sleeve shirt he had on. He ignored the gut instinct that told him that something wasn’t right as he walked towards his bike. He had barely grabbed the handlebars of the bike when he felt himself get pulled by the back of his hoodie, he was shoved against the wall of the alleyway next to the petrol station.
He heard the crunch of his head meeting brick before he felt it, he clutched his head groaning in pain. He slowly slid down the wall, he heard footsteps, he looked up but his vision was too blurry to really see anything. He could see someone crouching in front him, the man gripped his shoulders pulling him back up before punching him again. His head whipped to the side and he felt as blood started to run down his chin from his nose. He crumbled to the floor when he was kneed in the stomach, all he could feel was pain as the guy kept beating him. He tried his best to protect his, holding his arms over it but he felt the guy get a few solid kicks in regardless. He could feel the blood soaking his shirt under his hoodie.
Finally, after a few minutes the guy stopped kicking him. Robby thought that he was going to walk away, however, he felt as the guy again grabbed his shoulders forcing him into his back. His breath hitched in fear as his arms were forced to the sides of his head, his attacker leaned down sniffing his neck. He felt like he was about to throw up as a tongue trailed down his neck, he only had a second to realise what was about to happen before he felt teeth clamping down on his neck. He tried screaming but found that he couldn’t. He felt the tears rolling down his face as the man roughly pulled away - taking a chunk of Robby's skin with him. He stared up at the sky, he could hear retreating footsteps heading towards the direction of his motorcycle. He turned his head just in time to see the guy grab his bag before walking towards the street, disappearing into the darkness.
Blackness was slowly taking over his vision, his last thought before the darkness overtook was that the blood loss must have been the final straw.
He woke up gasping in pain, he looked around confused before realising with a dawning horror that last night had not been a dream. He slowly pushed himself up using the wall, wincing at every movement as it pulled on the cuts and bruises already wrapped around his body. He limped towards his bike before he remembered that the man had stolen his backpack which had his phone, wallet and clothes in it. He reached into his, relieved to at least have his keys still.
He carefully lowered himself onto the bike. He put his keys into the ignition, turning the bike on, he started to drive having no idea where he was going, just knowing he had to get out of there. He slowly started to come back to his body, realising that he had to slow the bike down having no idea where he was. He looked around slowly, recognising parts of the street. He was surprised when he realised that he was on Jacks street, nearly at his house. He was a 5 hour drive from Pittsburgh when he had stopped at the petrol station and he had no memory of the drive here.
He parked the bike in Jack's driveway, he didn’t want to bother Jack but he had no idea where else to go so reluctantly he got off the bike, cringing whenever his clothes rubbed wrong on his aching skin. He wobbled towards Jack's front door, glad that he didn’t have to worry about stairs, he didn’t think his legs would support him if he went up stairs at the moment.
He lowered himself onto the chair doing a mental inventory, he definitely had at least 3 bruised ribs. He carefully peeled his hoodie off leaving him in the long sleeve shirt, he pulled his shirt up getting a look at the damage. His skin was a canvas of red and purple, he sighed at the dried blood on his torso, he could see a couple of cuts, he could've sworn yesterday that they would have needed stitches but looking now luckily, it seemed like he would be able to get away with none. He pulled his shirt back down looking out into the distance.
He lost time again, he had only come back to himself when he could see Jack walking on the sidewalk. Robby had no idea how long he had sat there waiting but he didn’t particularly care so he ignored that problem. He could see Jack had his head down, Robby watched glad for that he could see Jack happy and relaxed before he looked up and saw Robby sitting in his chair beat up and bloody.
Jack finally looked up, freezing as soon as his eyes landed on Robby. Robby could see Jack's breathing stutter before he snapped out of it, rushing towards Robby. He went to set his hands on Robby’s face, pausing when he noticed the subtle, barely there flinch. “Brother, what the fuck happened?" Jack's voice trembled as he took in the bruises he could see, swallowing when he saw the blood on his neck. Robby shook his head, tears filling his eyes before he blinked them away. “I don’t wanna talk about it right now, can I please just come inside?” Robby mumbled “yeah, of course, always” Jack ignored his need to know what the hell had happened to Robby for now, caring for him right now was what mattered most.
He unlocked the door, resisting asking what happened to Robby’s keys and instead leading him towards the bathroom. Robby sat on the toilet, limp, looking as though he was a puppet whose strings had just been cut. He kneeled down in front of Robby trying to get his attention before he realised that Robby wasn’t mentally there at the moment. He looked into Robby’s eyes “Hey brother, reckon you can have a shower or bath to clean off all the filth on you?” Jack asked. When he got no reply, he sighed “okay, I’ll help you shower then” Robby had done the same for him after his wife died and he was too depressed to move let alone shower, he would do this for Robby with no complaints.
He slowly pulled Robby’s shirt off, looking at the bruises colouring his torso he winced in sympathy. He checked to make sure that Robby wasn’t still actively bleeding before reaching for his belt, looking carefully to make sure Robby didn’t flinch away or look like he was overwhelmed. After pulling Robby’s belt off, Jack unbuttoned his pants and manoeuvred him around making sure not to aggravate his wounds anymore until they were fully off. He left Robby in his boxers for now before pulling his own clothes off and turning the shower on. He turned back towards Robby seeing that while he still wasn’t fully there, he was somewhat aware of what was happening now. “C’mon Mike, I’ll help you” Robby nodded his head once before Jack helped him up, taking his boxers off for him and helping into the shower. He hated that Robby winced at every movement but was powerless to do anything to help.
He cleaned Robby's cuts and the grime off of him as quickly as he could, not trusting Robby to stay standing for long even if he was helping him. Once they were done in the shower Robby was mostly back to himself, they got out, Jack giving him a towel that he wrapped around himself as quickly as he could with his battered body.
He sat back down on the toilet watching as Jack left the room, he came back dressed in pyjamas using his crutches. He grabbed the boxers and pyjama pants that Jack handed him, getting dressed he watched as Jack turned around grabbing the first aid kit he had stored in his bathroom as well as a bowl of warm water and a washcloth. Jack turned back around seeing that Robby was already dressed again and sitting on the toilet. He grabbed the water and cloth, he carefully cleaned the cuts that he could see on his torso and opened the kit, grabbing out the antibiotic cream and gloves.
He barely hesitated before applying the cream to Robby’s cuts, after he had covered all the cuts in cream till he was satisfied he grabbed some of the gauze, taping it to the few cuts that he had. He packed up the kit, setting it aside “okay you’re done for now” Jack reported as he looked in Robby’s eyes, glad to see that he was fully there now. “Thanks Jack” Robby said “no problem, any time” Jack joked, getting a tiny chuckle out of Robby before he winced.
“Okay, time for bed” Jack stated as he helped Robby up, He walked Robby to his room watching as he wobbled because Robby insisted “I’m not 3 years old Jack, I can walk by myself”. He stayed in the doorway watching as Robby cautiously lowered himself down on the bed. Once he was sure that Robby didn’t need anymore help he turned off the lights calling out “goodnight, Mike” as he made his way down the hallway to his own room “night Jack” he barely heard Robby reply.
Tomorrow he would definitely make Robby explain what the hell happened to him. Showing up at Jack’s front door a few weeks into his sabbatical, beaten to hell but tonight he was just glad that he knew Robby was safe.