Everything Clicks - An AJR Music Video Fic

V - I'm Not Famous (Ryan)

"Ryan-"

"And then what if we're caught? Will they drug us up more? Torture us again? Kill us-?"

"Ryan!"

Finally, Adam's message got through to me and I stopped thinking out loud. His expression told me that he didn't seem angry, just exasperated.

"I think we should do it," He concurred. "But maybe we should, you know, wake up our brother and make sure he's okay with it?"

"Oh. Right."

We stood up and turned to look at Jack, who was still fast asleep on the floor. His face still wore the bruises of last night's events. I almost didn't want to have to wake him up, being asleep was better than having to experience anything that went on in this place. But on the contrary, getting out of here was vital. If we didn't, God knows what would happen.

I approached Jack, being cautious not to step on him or startle him unnecessarily. He lay with his head tilted to one side, disconnected from everything around him. I sat on my knees and pushed on his shoulder gently.

"Jack?"

He didn't respond to my delicacy. I began to fear the worst and felt my stomach tying itself into knots. I hoped it wasn't a repeat of the taxi ride the other night. Adam rushed over to his other side and shook him more aggressively.

"Jack, wake up..." His voice trailed off.

There was still nothing. Then, a slight movement of the eyelids. Adam and I gasped and glanced at each other.

"Jack...?" I repeated.

Jack's eyes fluttered just barely open in reply. He uttered a quiet groan. I thought nothing of it.

"How're you feeling?" Adam asked.

Again, no response. Jack seemed as if he was struggling to keep his eyes open. His chest was hardly rising and falling.

Something wasn't right. Not at all.

"Maybe we should sit him up," I suggested.

Adam gave me a single nod, and we each took to a side. Jack didn't even try to fight us. He was limp, every part of him just felt like dead weight. What had happened over the course of the night that had made him so frail?

Eventually, we managed to lean him against the wall. Just like last night, his head fell to his chest. Only this time, the difference was he couldn't control it. Now I was really scared. Adam hesitated for a moment, then gently held his head up. His eyes were a bit more open, but they were rolled back in his head. His breathing was staggered and wheezy. Adam brought his hand away slowly and Jack's head slumped down again almost immediately.

"Oh god...this is bad," He said, running a shaky hand through his hair.

"Yeah, no shit," I blurted, jumping up to my feet.

We both paced around the room, panicking and trying to come up with something.

"What do we do?" I caved in after a minute of anxious worrying.

"We don't have a choice," Adam concluded, "we have to go on with the plan whether he's right-minded or not."

"I..." I looked back to Jack, who hadn't moved in the couple of minutes he'd been up. "Adam, he can't even hold the weight of his own head. That's suicide. We should..." I realized the absurdity of what I was suggesting, but I was going to defend it anyway. "We should wait until he's okay."