IT WAS CHRISTMAS DAY WHEN IT ALL WENT DOWN. They had celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, just by themselves, like they always did. Diana had dropped by briefly, but other than that, it was just the two of them. Christmas Day was never as big of a deal as it was for other people, so it was just like any other day, really.
That meant, regular day occurrences, like sitting in the living room and waiting for the inevitable attack from a man who can manipulate time.
"I hate to say it, but I kind of want him to just show up so we can get this over with," Rhett sighed, a bowl of popcorn on his lap as the two merely sat in silence, Nicky going over patient files while the other man merely existed.
"Where's your boyfriend, maybe he can give you something to do," Nicky asked absentmindedly, frowning at his notes, "What does this even mean?"
Rhett sighed and pulled out his phone, texting Steve.
to: "Grant" (9:25 am)
You okay?
A response came not even a minute later, which worried him more than he wished it had.
from: "Grant" (9:25 am)
Fine
He frowned, sitting up, worrying on his bottom lip. There was no harm in making sure, even if it did show how afraid he truly was.
to: "Grant" (9:25 am)
Is this Sawyer Collins?
Sawyer Collins was the name Rhett used when checking to make sure that the person on the other end was really Nicky or Steve. If they said, 'no, wrong number, try the deli,' it was them. If they said anything else, then it wasn't.
from: "Grant" (9:26 am)
No, it's Steve
"Nicky," Rhett all but shouted, a guttural sound he wasn't sure even came from him.
"What?" Nicky asked, raising his head and frowning at the sudden shift, "What's wrong?"
Rhett's hands shook as he struggled to breathe, his heart racing faster than it ever had before. "He has Steve."
º º º
"Rhett, I need you to breathe."
They were in Nicky's room, the man typing furiously on his computers, muttering to himself. Rhett was sitting on the edge of the bed, head between his knees as he struggled to stay calm, his mind racing and his heart pounding. He couldn't think, he couldn't focus, he was terrified.
"I can't!" he shouted, raising his head, "He got to Steve, but he doesn't even know it, I—"
"Hey," Nicky said, turning in his chair to almost glare at him, "Listen to me. That's good. If he doesn't know it's Steve, he might not react as badly. I mean, who knows, he might hold some grudge against him, if he think Steve is just your boyfriend, you have some leverage, he's going to want to use him to lure you out."
"How is that good?" Rhett demanded, "He has Steve."
"But that means he's going to stay in one spot," Nicky pressed, motioning to his screens, "And I have a tracker on him, which I'm currently searching for as we speak. I was gonna put a tracker on Steve, but my morality got the better of me."
"Do you have one, I can jump back and put it on him, then get back here," Rhett asked, eyes brightening.
Nicky frowned. "Did you not just hear about what I said about morality? Look, Rhett, I got this. Just try to breathe, because nothing is gonna happen to Steve, not while we're still hiding out, okay?"
"How do you know we're still safe?" Rhett breathed, looking around the room, the windows barricaded.
"When we moved in, I got one of the others to help place something around the building, keeps us undetected from everything and everyone, not as major as what was put on the complex, but the same idea," he explained, now back to typing, tone clipped and shoulders stiff.
"Okay, so we're undetected," Rhett said, taking a deep breath, "So what are we gonna do? Track him down and try not to die?"
"That's what we did last time," Nicky sighed, "Um, is there anything you can use as leverage over him? I mean, you all lived together, you must have been friends or something, you have some stories about his family. I mean, he was never able to see them again, at least from what I understand."
Rhett shook his head, biting his lip. "I can't—I can't remember anything."
"Try to think," Nicky whispered, "Seriously, just try. I'm gonna need some time with this, just try and think. You say the silence doesn't help you think, so just stay here, lie down."
Rhett swallowed thickly, moving so he was lying on top of the sheets. "I finally got him, I can't have him taken away. I can't lose him."
Nicky paused his movements to look at Rhett who had his eyes closed. "You won't. I won't let it happen."
○ ○ ○
"You're Reiser, huh?"
Rhett paused his movements to turn his head, finding a man—boy, really—just around his age, looking at him from his cot. He fiddled with the baseball in his hands, glancing around the room; he was new to this whole thing, they all were, and he wasn't sure how happy he could act around anyone.
"Yeah," he replied, "You?"
"Hyde," the man introduced, reaching out to extend his arm, "Christian Hyde."
"Where you from, Hyde?" he asked, pushing himself up to lie on his side, propped up on one arm, still cradling his baseball.
"Jersey, you?" Christian asked, leaning back on his hands, an almost challenging look on his face, though there was a friendliness to it.
"Brooklyn," he replied, smiling almost ruefully, "Yup. Shoulda told by your accent, really."
Christian snorted softly. "Shoulda told by yours."
"Hey, fellas, how're you doin'?"
The two turned to find a well-built man, around their age, smiling at them. His brown hair gleamed in the sunlight and there was an all-American vibe to him that had them both at ease immediately.
"Good. 'm Rhett Reiser, that's Christian Hyde," he introduced, holding his arm out loosely. He was surprised by the firm grip he received in return, and it seemed that Christian was as well.
"Martin Walden," he replied, "Glad to be here."
Christian scoffed softly. "You'd be the first."
Martin's smile fell slightly. "I'm sorry?"
"He means that no one wants the war," Rhett explained, "I'd rather not have some freak thinkin' he's better than anyone else, but if this is what we gotta do to make sure we don't get another guy like him, so be it, ya know?"
Martin nodded in understanding. "Yeah, of course. But I'm glad we'll be able to do something about it, if the time comes, I don't think it will, but if it does, I'm ready to help."
Rhett had to agree with that statement and said as much, earning a winning smile from Martin. He found that he wanted that smile directed to him again; it was one he wouldn't mind seeing all the time.
"That's not what I meant," Christian said, causing the two to look at him, frowning.
"What did you mean?" Rhett asked, glancing over at Martin who shrugged minutely, arms now crossed, one hand up to his chin.
Christian didn't answer.
º º º
"Hey, Marty."
Martin raised his drink up in greeting, though he was devoid of a smile, or any jovial expression at all. Rhett didn't blame him, they had just lost another one; the seventh. The fact that he and Martin survived was something that still shocked him, but he wasn't complaining.
"Here, I already ordered you one," Martin sighed, pushing over a glass. Rhett took it, trying not to focus on the way his heart leapt at the idea of Martin thinking of him, immediately chastising himself; now was not the time, for more than one reason.
"Whose turn is it next?" Martin asked with a sigh, dropping his chin into his hand.
"We got Bailey and Vanderbilt, both at the same time. They're pretty sure they'll get it right by the time they have to go in," he replied, sighing as he took a drink, "Then it's Hyde."
Martin sighed. "You know, as much as I want us to win this war, I don't want it here. I mean, we won't even be needed, the fact that we're losing all these men for no reason other than these guys wanna play god, it doesn't sit right with me."
"If we don't do it, they'll find someone younger who will," Rhett replied, "Be happy you're alive and hope for the others, that's all you can do. Imagine if your younger brother was in your place."
Martin's eyes darkened. "Don't say that to me, Rhett, that's not fair."
He sighed. "None of this is. Just try not to let them hear you."
Martin held out his glass towards him, a bitter smile on his face. "To staying alive. May all of us find the better fate."
Rhett smiled as well, raising his own glass, clinking it against his. "Amen."
º º º
"We need to be out there, we have all this power, it can't just go to waste."
Rhett sighed softly as he tried to hide his face in Martin's side, the two squished onto his cot. It was for no other reason than brotherhood as the two claimed whenever asked, and Christian didn't seem inclined to say otherwise, shockingly enough.
"We're only reconnaissance and so far there's no reason for us to jump anywhere and get anything," Martin said, his hand reaching out to stroke Rhett's hair.
"Why don't we jump back, prevent the battles from happening, save lives?" Christian demanded, throwing up the hand that had been running through his own hair.
"Because that's too much of a risk, we can't do something that large," Martin sighed, "You know this."
"Shh..." Rhett whispered, reaching out to grab his wrist, warning him not to speak.
"You're just as good as me at what we do, aren't you tired?" Christian demanded, moving towards them.
Martin didn't seem fazed. "One, we are all very good at what we do. Two, I'm tired of this war, I just want it over. If they can win without us, I'd rather it be like that. Better that than something worse."
"But we can make it better," Christian argued, coming to crouch at the side of the cot.
"You don't know that for sure," Martin replied, "Just let time work itself out."
Christian scoffed, storming out of the room. "We are gods of time, it bends to our will, not the other way around." With that, he slammed the door, leaving the two men alone.
Rhett lifted his head. "Marty, you can't keep feeding him like this, you gotta just ignore it."
"Aw, c'mon, I have faith in Rogers, he can do it," Martin said, flashing him his usual smile, pulling him close.
"Me too, but you gotta be careful with what you say around Hyde," he sighed, crawling up to rest his head against the man's shoulder, "He's scaring me. One day, he might go too far."
Martin rolled his eyes, casting a glance to the door before turning and planting a light kiss to the man's temple, a mere graze of his lips. "I'll always be here. Don't you worry."
Rhett wanted to believe him. He really did.
○ ○ ○
Rhett dreamt exclusively in memories. Nicky was similar, but Rhett never had dreams unless they were memories, though they never went to his teenage years nor his time in the army; it seemed that his brain wanted to protect him at all times.
"You okay?" Nicky asked, turning in his seat, "You were out for a few hours, I've almost got him, I think."
Rhett coughed, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. "God, I just...I just relived my entire time with Hyde."
"Seriously?" Nicky gasped, perking up, "You know, I hear that some coma patients dream an entire life for themselves, only to wake up and find that everything that they thought they went through wasn't real."
"Yeah, well, I just looked at my past life, not my future," Rhett groaned, standing up and making his way to the back of Nicky's chair, trying to make sense of what were on the screens, "Let me tell you, not much has changed."
"Did you have a blond lover back then too?" Nicky joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Rhett sighed. "His name was Martin Walden. He was from Westchester, can you find where he's buried, I...I forgot about him."
Nicky turned around in his chair, completely serious. "When we get Steve back, I promise we'll take a trip to Westchester. Right now, can you tell me if you've got anything you can use as leverage over Hyde, he sounds to be emotionally unstable, that's what I got from the last time we saw him."
Rhett nodded. "Yeah, yeah, he told me a lot about his life, I..." he paused, gasping as a memory fluttered to the top of the pile, "I know what I can use."
A loud beeping caused the two to look up, Nicky turning in his seat and starting to type, fingers flying over the keyboard, pulling up a map. He sighed, leaning back as security feed appeared, aimed at a familiar building.
"You can't be serious," Rhett breathed, placing his hand on Nicky's shoulder, "You don't have to come with me."
The man stood up stiffly, grabbing the vial and making his way to the closet, pulling out what seemed to be a modified dart gun. "Yeah, I do."
He tossed the gun over to Rhett, nodding. "You said that all you had when you were a soldier was a gun you never shot outside of preliminary training. Figured you'd appreciate the symbolism."
Rhett glanced down at the gun which bore a striking resemblance to the one he had been trained with. He laughed shortly, nodding to himself.
"Let's finish this."
º º º
They reached the buildings between the apartment complex which used to exist despite seeming like it didn't. Now, it did not exist at all, but Christian Hyde didn't know that. All he knew was that there were two buildings between those the complex and that was all he needed to get an upper hand.
"He's just trying to shake us both, don't let him," Nicky sighed, his arms crossed as they made their way to the buildings.
"I won't. Don't let him get to you, either," Rhett whispered, bumping their shoulders, "Seriously, I don't like that you're here, it's not safe."
He shook his head. "No way, Rhett. I'm not leaving you. Besides, he made it personal the second he brought us here. I mean, we moved away to make sure he wouldn't know where we were, but here he is, exactly where we used to live. He's taunting us."
"Maybe he had stalked us beforehand, checked up on us after the first time," Rhett suggested, "I mean, we had been living away from here by that point, it's not impossible."
Nicky sighed, tilting his head up towards the dark sky. "I don't care anymore, man. I don't. I just want this over so maybe you can actually get some sleep."
"Fun way to spend a Christmas, right?" Rhett tried. If they weren't going to make it out, he at least wanted to hear Nicky laugh before it all went down.
Nicky did laugh. A short laugh that didn't satisfy him at all. "Yup. Off to fight a man who can stop time. I'm gonna die a virgin, this is so great."
Rhett reached out and stopped him, frowning and blinking wildly. "Wait. You're a virgin?"
"God, I shouldn't have said that," Nicky groaned, tilting his head up to the sky, "God, if I die, I better get a great place to stay."
"Why—how—" Rhett stammered, stopping to just stare at him, "Nick, c'mon, you knew a lot of people—"
"Shut up, I have my reasons and they sound stupid to everyone else, but they're not to me, so let's just drop it, yeah?" Nicky snapped, his face red and his entire body tense, "Let's just get this over with so we can either go home and forget about it or die and forget about it."
"I like the first one," Rhett said, throwing an arm over Nicky's shoulder, the two crossing the street towards the buildings, "Don't be so pessimistic, I'm sure this'll be fine."
Nicky shook his head, making his way towards the fake building in between the two real ones. The thing about the original apartment complex was that it existed, but didn't seem to, a system in place for people to just naturally not want to go anywhere near it. After it had vanished, the system was still in place, only there was nothing inside save for the ground.
"I miss him," Nicky whispered, standing just in front of the faux door, "And for the record, that isn't a weapon, it's basically just an exaggerated needle. Like I said, we don't use weapons. Even when I give them to people, they don't work in the end. We use other means to help."
Rhett nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, c'mon, I want my boyfriend back."
With that, he stepped forward, breaking the barrier between reality and illusion, finding himself standing on plain dirt, the building around him reduced to a set-like structure, the showings of a wall and a watery illusion of the front of the building, Nicky still on the other side, only to step forward a moment later.
"It's been a while, Reiser."
He sighed and turned to find Christian smiling at him, standing next to Steve who was sitting perfectly still in his chair, his body bound. Rhett wondered why he didn't just break free, but decided not to point it out, just relieved he was safe. It wasn't until a moment later that he noticed the nasty bruise just underneath the part of hair that had fallen in to his face.
"If you hurt him—" he started, only to be cut off by Christian's harsh, biting laugh.
"I gotta say, Marty would be pretty upset," he taunted, motioning towards Steve, grabbing him by the chin before shoving his face away a moment later, "Threw him out for another model. Though Captain America, I gotta say, never thought your little crush would get anywhere."
Rhett stiffened at the mention of Martin, taking a deep breath which he tried not to show. "Don't call him that."
Christian raised his eyebrows in mock confusion. "Call who what?"
He grit his teeth, stepping forward, trying not to glance over at Nicky who was fiddling with his gadgets in the corner; Christian hadn't noticed him yet, and it was imperative that he never did. So he just stepped forward and tried to keep his breathing even.
"Marty," he spat, "You don't get to talk about him or call him that—"
"Because only you can?" Christian scoffed, turning towards Steve who just continued to stare far and hard, not wavering even when Christian grabbed him by the chin and pulled him close. "Did you hear that, Rogers? Reiser's still hung up over that whiny bitch. Glad he's dead, really."
"Don't touch him!" Rhett spat, his resolve breaking, "Don't look at him, don't touch him, he has nothing to do with this! And Marty...you were his friend. We were friends, you shit, I trusted you. We trusted you. You drove a knife into his throat, you don't get to talk about him."
Christian reached out and grabbed a fist full of Steve's hair, wrenching his head back to stare at him. Rhett watched as Steve's arms tightened, his hands no doubt balling into fists behind his back. He saw him swallow thickly, his jaw set. Christian cooed, pouting mockingly.
"Rhett doesn't want me touching you..." he whimpered, "He afraid I'm gonna ruin his little toy?"
"I swear to God, Christian!" he practically screamed, surging forward, stopping before he got too close, "He didn't do anything."
"Neither did you," Christian scoffed, "Rhett." He said his name like it was poison oozing from his tongue, spitting. "You didn't do anything. You just sat there and waited. A waste. We could have ruled together."
"We couldn't have ruled anything, Hyde," he sighed, running a hand over his face, "You and your god complex—this is why they didn't want you to work anything, you were too unstable."
"You were too weak," he countered, starting to shout, waving his hand only to hit Steve right across the cheek. Rhett started, but stopped himself at the last second, his blood boiling. "You were just their little pet, like all the others. Couldn't think for yourself."
"I just wanted to go home," Rhett called, throwing up his arms in defeat, "Like everyone else, I just wanted to win the war and go home, I wanted," he sighed, looking over to Steve who was the picture of calm, almost a smug calm, "I wanted my life back."
"What life?" Christian laughed, "You were never going to amount to anything, Reiser, you said it yourself. If you just worked with me, imagine what our lives would've been like."
Rhett shook his head. "Work with you to kill Marty? You never even asked me to work with you, you always said I wasn't as good as you, why would you want my help, not Marty's?"
"Because he was too stupid," Christian drawled, "How hard is that to get?"
"Keep him talking, Rhett, almost ready," Nicky whispered, his breath hot next to his neck, too quiet for Christian to hear.
"A lot of it is hard to get, actually," he called out, stepping forward so he was even closer to the man, trying not to let his bold move look too suspicious, "I don't think you get the fact that not all of us think as stupid as you do."
He began to walk around Steve, causing Christian to pull away from him, mimicking his movements. "Poor Reiser. Is that the best you can do? 'Think stupid?' Aren't you a teacher now?"
"What do you know about it?" he asked shortly, glancing over to Steve who was looking at him, waggling his free hands from behind his back.
"Okay, we're ready," Nicky whispered again, much more tense, "Tread carefully, man."
Christian mistook Rhett's look towards Steve and the way he stiffened, his grin feral as he made his way over to the man, standing in front of him rather than behind, a true miracle. Rhett started instinctively, trying to keep himself calm despite the panic that everything could go wrong. Steve shifted ever so slightly, just as nervous, and that only made Rhett more afraid.
"What is it with you and blonds?" Christian asked, reaching out to stroke Steve's cheek, an affectionate gesture with nothing but mockery and malice behind it, "Is it because of your ego? You're so self-absorbed you can only fuck the ones that look like you?" Steve ripped himself away from Christian's touch, clearly struggling to not just jump to his feet and pummel him.
"Shut up," Rhett scoffed, rolling his eyes, "Talk about your ego, didn't you name your son after you?"
Time seemed to still. It didn't, of course, Rhett would have felt it with such close proximity, but it might as well have. Everything seemed to come to a standstill. It was as if a vacuum had come and sucked out all the noise, the air, the tension, leaving only the two men staring at each other.
"What did you say?" Christian whispered, stepping towards him, his back to Steve.
"Your son," Rhett repeated, his tone even and strong, despite himself, "Don't you remember? Your cute little kid that your girlfriend had just before you went away? You used to write to him every night, don't you remember?"
Christian shook his head, almost as if he were in pain. "What? No, I—you shut up."
"Can't remember, Christian?" Rhett taunted, stepping forward, "That's a shame. But with all your jumping around, I figured you'd forget. We all forget something if we jump too far. Aw, but you. You forgot about your little baby, how sad is that? What about your girlfriend, what was her name?"
"Shut up," he snarled, and suddenly he was in front of Rhett, five feet away from where he had been standing a split second ago.
Rhett startled back, heart racing; that was his mistake.
A slow smile crept onto Christian's face. "What's wrong? Can't do what I can?
Rhett gasped as Christian disappeared, only to reappear behind him, a hand wrapped around the back of his neck. He shuddered, his blood boiling as Christian leaned close to whisper. "Does this turn you on?"
He whirled around, ready to kick him in the chest, only to stumble forward, his foot colliding with nothing. He turned to find Christian standing next to Steve who had freed himself while their backs were turned, but hadn't gotten out in time. Rhett inwardly cursed, sighing and looking away.
"Smart move, Captain," Christian drawled, a knife pressed against his throat, "I'm surprised you didn't get loose sooner."
"Let him go, Hyde," Rhett called out, now pleading, "Please. Let him go, and I can take you to where your son is buried."
Christian paused, pulling the knife away ever so slightly, but Steve stayed put, still in the same position, gripping at his other arm. Rhett wanted to nod towards him, but that would give them away. Instead, he maintained eye contact with Christian, letting the man know he heard what he said.
"I-I don't," he groaned, clutching at his head, "I—"
"You starting to remember?" Rhett asked, stepping towards them, glancing towards Steve for a moment while Christian was looking away, "You remember the picture that your girlfriend sent you? Yeah, your little baby, you always kept it with you. Where's the picture now, Hyde?"
"I don't have a picture," he spat, now crouched down, head in his hands. Steve didn't move, instead staring down at Christian, waiting for a signal.
"Yeah, you do," Rhett whispered, crouching down to be level with him, "You did back then. Did they take it away?"
"Shut up," Christian spat, but there was too much bite to be threatening, too desperate and pained, "Shut up."
"What was your girlfriend's name?" Rhett pressed, glancing over to Steve, then to the knife that was now on the ground, right by Christian's foot, "Do you even remember? Do you think they remembered you? I mean, they never did see you again, probably found someone new—"
Everything was a blur. For a brief moment, Christian was coming at him with a knife, the blade already beginning to pierce his stomach, but in a flash Rhett was behind Steve who had grabbed the knife from behind, but was now frozen in place, standing perfectly still, a death grip on the knife. Christian was standing, but couldn't touch Steve, unable to push him over like he had planned.
Rhett couldn't catch any of the thoughts racing in his mind and his heart was beating so fast it had practically stopped. His eyes couldn't stay focused, they were darting around the entire room, always coming back to focus on Christian. His legs, which had stopped moving, immediately jumped back as the man stalked towards him.
"Good job," the man said, "I'm impressed. Didn't think you could do it, Reiser."
"Yeah, neither did I," he coughed, hand reaching up to clutch his chest, "Does-does it always hurt like this?"
"You get used to it," Christian hummed, moving so he was standing right in front of Rhett, waving his fingers to show he had no other weapons, "Gets the blood pumping. You and your boyfriend probably planned this, huh," he spat, motioning towards where Steve was still at a standstill, clutching the knife, "You know, everything that we're not touching when he stop comes to a standstill and we can't mess with them. We have all the power in the world."
Rhett took a deep breath and sighed. "Exactly. Nick!"
Before Christian even had a moment to react, the gun was being shoved into Rhett's open hand and a large dart was piercing his clothes and skin, right into his abdomen. He groaned, falling onto his back, Rhett falling as well, taking deep breaths as he watched Christian shake, his screams filling the empty room.
"Gotta say," he groaned, past his shouts and gasps, "Never thought...you'd had it...in ya."
Rhett stood over him, shaking his head as his hands shook, unable to slow his heart. "For the record, you never had a picture. You burned it after Sally sent you her last letter, saying she found someone new. No wonder you forgot."
Christian spat, coughing harshly. "What do you get out of this, Reiser? I'll always be here. And you'll never amount to anything. What do you get?"
Rhett shook his head, turning to look at Steve and Nicky who were already on the phone, calling for people to come pick them up. He looked back down at Christian Hyde. The man who chased him through time for no reason, consumed by power too much for him to handle. He had no anchor, nothing to keep him grounded. That was his undoing. His past, present, and future, nothing mattered. The man had made his life a living hell. Seeing him on the ground, for the first time ever, it filled Rhett with a morbid sense of hope.
"I finally get peace."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
( 01.15.18 )
The second to last chapter, here we go! I'm sorry this was so dialogue heavy and a majority of it were flashbacks, but this story was never really anything too action heavy, it was always about talking and remembering and I don't know? Having them fight with their powers seemed right, but only if Christian was able to use his and Rhett could only stop time at the last second, you know? Also, I hate this chapter so much, I'm so disappointed in myself.
Also, the title of this chapter is based off the song "My Boyfriend's Back" and while there are many versions that I love, I think the one that really fits the action-y and also male vibe is this, so listen to it if you are so inclined
Also, just to clear some stuff up neverland_moonstone had made a comment about how Rhett jumping around would lead to him forgetting more things. I had initially scrapped that idea, but I decided to actually use it, but with very specific guidelines. You don't forget anything major unless you jump too far and expend too much energy. For Christian, he'd been jumping in and out of various decades and time periods, he would have forgotten a lot, except for the things that fuel his revenge and rage. Rhett jumped and he forgot his adolescent years and part of his time in the army, but his childhood stayed intact.
And I love my demisexual son Nicholas Green, that was what he was talking about when he said he'd never had sex with anyone, all the people that he had like a close relationship with weren't interested.
I'm super sorry for this chapter, but it's all I could put out and there's really no way of rewriting it, it has to go down like this, I'm sorry I didn't do as much of explaining why Rhett and Christian's dynamic in this chapter is a callback to their old times together, I'm sorry, but...
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed even a part of it.