Sweeter Than Fiction | ✓

Chapter Twenty-two

[a/n:] before you read most of you might be freaking out bc you swear you've already read chapter twenty-two. I took it down a couple of weeks back bc i hated it so here it is again. Sorry for the confusion i may have caused!

Warning: slightly unedited, don't judge me. 

and chapter is still dedicated to firefights bc they are observant to my very obvious build ups and realised who attacked Rudy last chapter. love ya

Chapter Twenty-two

The sound of sirens, the buzz of police radios and the chatter of bystanders filled the alleyway. Rudy sat beneath an open ambulance, blanket draped around his shoulders and head hung while a thing mist of rain sprayed down on the scene, matting his hair to his head, making it droop over his face and casting a dark shadow as he sat motionless.

The police had already talked to him, took his vague statements as he responded all he could manage with the sirens still echoing through his head, Kelly's screams in his head, his sisters cries.

There was a claw at his chest and he felt numb, he felt like he did five years ago. Things were flashing through his mind, too fast too recall, too quick to pinpoint.

Voices. So many voices. The sounds. The screaming. The cries.

The glint of a knife at the back of his mind.

A car.

A crash.

A scream.

A knife.

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, "Rudy!" Miles voice broke through, a frantic and almost hysterical voice. Rudy barely had time to stand and look before he was tackled by a mess of dark hair and crying eyes. The impact of the smaller boy made him stumble a little, taking Miles with him and he fell back onto the step of the ambulance. "Oh God," he heard Miles sob beneath him. "Rudy, Jesus. You can't just send a text like that to someone!"

That's right. Rudy had sent out a text to Miles once everything had happened. Half thinking about how Miles was supposed to meet him after work, half worried. He couldn't even remember what it was about. Something short, something about the attack.

"I thought- I thought you were... I heard about the knife and the- fuck."

Miles looked up at him, eyes shining with tears but narrowed into a glower while he searched Rudy's face, fists clutched onto his shirt. His hands then followed his gaze, cupping Rudy's face in the warmth of his palms. Rudy let his eyes flicker a little and lean into the touch, taking the comfort. He heard the exhale of Miles' breath.

"I'm fine," he managed to croak out, trying to assure the smaller boy, his voice rough and unconvincing. He didn't dare open his eyes to the violent green of concern of Miles' eyes, just continued to feel the warmth; as if he could just take it all in and let it fill his whole being. Let it fill his mind and take away the ice- the bitter darkness.

Instead he made his hands find there way to Miles' face, cradling the same way he was to Rudy and brought their heads together, foreheads knocking. His mind stopped for a moment, taking in Miles once more before starting back up, a little less worse than before.

The screams still swarmed around him, the buzz of the scene around him. The glint of the knife. The crack of bone. The rain. The wind. But Miles was there now. Miles shone like the sun, blocking out everything around him, surrounding him with comfort.

"I'm still mad at you," Miles said when they parted a little, Miles hands finding themselves winding around his neck, holding onto small sections of his damp hair while Rudy's hand stroked lines around the collar of yet another hideous jumper. A frown on his face and a storm in his eyes. "You can't send me a text like that and don't answer my calls Rudy. I thought you were hurt. I thought you were- I thought..."