Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” Joel asked, still nervous about leaving Jimmy alone. Especially for such a long period of time.

 Jimmy nodded and gave Joel a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine Joel. Besides, going to class with you is one thing. But going to the store seems…a bit much.”

 Joel let out a sigh but he could see Jimmy’s point. “Yeah, that’s fair. You would just be in my pocket the whole time too, which probably wouldn’t be very fun for you huh?”

 “Yeah, not really. At least here I can explore your house some more.” And Jimmy was excited to do so. He hadn’t even gotten through half of Joel’s room before he had come back with dinner the night before, so he was excited to see the rest of it. And maybe even the rest of the house.

 “Alright. Just be careful.” Joel said and then headed toward the door. Before opening it though, he looked back at Jimmy again. “I should be back in a couple of hours.”

 “Have fun!” Jimmy said with a wave and then watched as Joel quickly opened the door, walked out, and closed the door. He did it fast, just in case one of his parents were walking by. He heard the footsteps leave and then Jimmy was alone.

 Jimmy stood up and stretched for a moment, before getting out his rope and stabbing it into the nightstand. He then shimmied down the rope and decided to keep it there just in case he wanted to go back up later. Jimmy figured he would mostly be sticking to the floor anyway, so no reason to take it with him.

 He looked around the room, taking in his options. He had already explored underneath the bed, the nightstand, and the dresser that Joel had pushed up against the wall. So, it seemed his next exploration was to be the closet on the opposite side of the room. Thankfully, the closet door was already open, so he wouldn’t have to worry about squeezing through the bottom of the door or anything like that.

 Jimmy made his way toward that direction, walking casually and taking in the sights around him. If he was being honest, it was a little weird being back in an actual house. He hadn’t stepped foot in one since…well, since Jimmy had left home when he was 12. It brought back a lot of memories.

 It was different from the dorms, in the sense that it had a more homey feel to it. It felt more lived in, more cherished. Many college students may have lived in the dorm buildings but none of them saw it as permanent. It wasn’t supposed to be. But this house…this was permanent. Joel had lived here with his family since he was little and while Joel may move on, his parents were sticking around. And Joel would always see this house as his, in one way or another.

 Jimmy didn’t have that. His childhood home was long gone. He didn’t even know where it had been. He never had a reason to pay attention to something like that before. And he was in too much of a bad head space when he decided leaving was best for him to pay attention to how far the college was from the house. 

 Jimmy shook his head. That was not a bundle of memories he wanted to get into right now. It had been a long time since he had thought about his old home, of his parents, but it seemed being in a house again was making everything come back.

 Jimmy focused back on the task at hand, which was exploring the closet. He had made it to the opening, staring up at the darkness that awaited him. It was a walk in closet, so plenty of room to explore. Jimmy squinted his eyes to try and see into the darkness. Ever since becoming friends with Grian and Joel, and staying out of the walls, his once keen night vision was all but gone. Grian said it had something to do with getting used to the light, that his eyes had soaked up too much of it and was now more similar to a human’s than a borrower’s.

 Jimmy missed it less than he thought he would have but at times like these, he did wish his eyesight was back to how it used to be.

 Still, the longer he stared into the darkness the more his eyes began to adjust. It still wasn’t as much as he could see before but it was better than nothing.

 He made his way into the closet, looking around for anything interesting. There were some shelves above him but they were much too far up for Jimmy to reach even with his hook. So he focused on the floor, seeing something back in the far corner of the closet. It appeared to be a small box, small enough that Jimmy should be able to open it and look inside. Maybe he would find some old trinkets of Joel’s or maybe just some clothes but Jimmy was excited to find out.

 He walked towards it, staying close to the wall as he did so. But as he got further into the closet, the darkness became too much again. The light from the room not quite reaching as far back. Jimmy blinked, trying to get used to the darkness once more but as he took another step, his foot caught on something and he tripped.

 Normally, a trip like that would be no big deal. Especially with the carpet to break his fall, it was more embarrassing than painful to trip like that. But something was different this time. As Jimmy fell, it was not the softness of the carpet that met him.

 Jimmy landed with a strange squelching noise, his body landing on top of some sort of pasty substance.

 Jimmy landed in a way where both his arms were up at an angle and his head was tilted to the side, the right side of his face getting the brunt of the fall. The rest of his body lay flat on the mystery surface.

 Jimmy groaned, the impact more surprising than painful but still. Jimmy sighed and moved his arms to get himself up. Except…they didn’t move. Jimmy blinked and tried lifting his head to see what was wrong but he didn’t get far. His head was stuck too and the only thing that happened was his skin and hair got pulled, causing a sharp pain that made Jimmy yelp and stop what he was doing.

 Jimmy laid there for a moment, processing what was wrong and why he couldn’t move.

 And then it hit him.

 This was a glue trap.

 A deep sense of panic overtook Jimmy’s entire being as he realized this. Glue traps were awful, one of the worst traps that could be set up. They were dangerous, so very dangerous. If a borrower got stuck in one, then there was no way out. Either the human found you or, what happened a majority of the time, you died. You were completely and utterly stuck until you eventually just died.

 And that was if you had fallen into the trap the ‘right way’. Jimmy had heard a few stories when he was younger from his parents, of borrowers who had unfortunately fallen into the trap face first. They had suffocated to death in just a few minutes. But his parents had told that story with the underline of how lucky those borrowers had been. 

 Despite what his parents had thought, Jimmy was very happy that he hadn’t fallen face first.

 But still, he didn’t have a way out. The more he pulled, the more he stuck and the more painful it was to even try. Jimmy had no choice but to still and try to control his breathing as much as he could. 

 The only thing keeping him from truly panicking was the fact that, unlike other borrowers who had found themselves in this situation, Jimmy actually did have someone who could help him.

 The only problem was Joel was still gone and would probably be gone for at least another hour. But Jimmy didn’t have another choice. He was stuck . He just had to wait and breathe through it. He couldn’t let the panic that still festered deep in his gut to take control. He would be fine . Joel would get him out. He wasn’t going to die here.

 He just had to wait.

 Jimmy perked up as soon as he heard the bedroom door open close to an hour later. He had managed to keep his breathing steady but his heart still raced and now that the very fragile calm had been interrupted, the panic was coming back.

 “Jimmy? I’m back. Where are you?” Joel called out into the room after closing the door behind him. His eyes scanned the room, refusing to move until he saw where Jimmy was. He saw the string dangling from the nightstand so he could only assume he was somewhere on the floor, but Joel didn’t know where. 

 Suddenly, his entire body tensed and panic replaced every other feeling as he heard a faint but clear voice.

 “Joel! Help!” Jimmy screamed, trying to be heard from where he was in the closet.

 “J-Jimmy?!” Joel yelled back and Jimmy wanted to cry in relief that Joel had actually heard him. “Where are you?!”

 Joel was rapidly scanning the room now, wondering what kind of trouble Jimmy was in. Was it a spider? A rat ? He needed to find him, to save him.

 Jimmy took a deep breath. “I’m in the closet! I-I’m stuck!”

 “Stuck?” Joel’s gaze went to the closet and he finally allowed himself to move to get over to it. He stopped at the doorway and turned on the light, scanning the floor, looking for Jimmy or anything else out of place. His eyes widened as he finally saw where Jimmy was.

 “Jimmy…” Joel said softly, gently moving so he was now kneeled down on the ground next to where Jimmy was stuck in a glue trap of all things. He held his hands out, like he wanted to reach for Jimmy but he kept them frozen like that, unsure how to even start going about this. “Oh gosh, are…are you alright?”

 Jimmy winced. “I’m…not hurt.” Jimmy decided to go with. Because otherwise, he was very much not okay.

 “Okay…okay, okay.” Joel couldn’t believe this. “I’m…I’m so sorry, I had no idea this was in here. My parents must have--”

 “I know, Joel. I know.” Jimmy said, cutting Joel off. “Just please, get me out of here.”

 “Right! Right. Uh…” Joel looked at Jimmy stuck in the trap, trying to figure something out. Finally, he reached out his hand, hovering it over Jimmy. “I’m gonna touch you, okay?” Joel wouldn’t normally announce something like that but with how this situation was, and with both of them panicking, he thought it would be a good thing to do.

 Jimmy hummed in response and shut his eyes tight. Joel slowly let his fingers grip the side of Jimmy’s body and he carefully tried to pull him up and out of the trap.

 As Joel started to pull, Jimmy’s eyes widened in pain. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” Jimmy suddenly and loudly screamed. Joel let go of Jimmy faster than if something had burned him. Joel’s eyes widened, guilt crowding his features. 

 “Sorry, sorry!” Was all Joel could say, moving his hand far away from where Jimmy was. Jimmy took some deep breaths, trying to calm his panic and let the pain subside.

 “Let’s…Let’s not do that again.” Jimmy said after a moment. Joel only nodded, feeling incredibly bad for having just hurt Jimmy. He had never hurt the borrower before, even when they first met he tried his best to be careful. He never wanted to hurt Jimmy and now he had . 

 Jimmy tried to shift a little, of course not getting very far. “There’s gotta be another way. Right?” Jimmy asked after Joel didn’t speak for a moment, worry etching his features.

 Joel blinked and shook himself out of his little funk. Jimmy needed him right now, he needed to focus. “Yeah, I can google it. Hold on, let’s get you off the floor.” Joel hesitated slightly but reached out his hands again. “I’m going to pick up the trap.” Joel warned before doing so, making sure to avoid the parts with the actual glue on it. The last thing he needed was to get his hands stuck right along with Jimmy.

 Jimmy braced himself as Joel lifted up the trap and Jimmy along with it. Joel was careful to keep his hands steady as he stood up and walked over to his desk. “Okay, setting you down now.” Joel said, warning Jimmy again before he gently placed the trap down on top of the desk. Joel let out a little breath and then decided he needed to sit down for a second, so he took the seat at the desk and then got his phone out to try and figure out how to get Jimmy unstuck.

 Jimmy was faced toward Joel and so he couldn’t help but look up at the human like this. After being with his humans for months now, he was used to strange angles and different perspectives. But it was different this time. Jimmy was being forced down, unable to move himself, forced to look at Joel from an angle that still made Jimmy’s heart race, just a little bit.

 He felt helpless, for the first time in a long time.

 Jimmy closed his eyes, trying to stop his tears from falling. He took in a shaky breath, trying to ease his mind. Unfortunately, after months of being around Jimmy, Joel noticed and looked away from his phone for a moment to show concern for the borrower. “Jimmy? Hey, it’s okay. I’m gonna get you out of this.”

 Jimmy sniffed and opened his eyes, doing his best to meet Joel’s. “I know.” And he did. He was sure Joel would get him out. It was just…being put in this situation in the first place was really not doing good things for Jimmy mentally.

 Joel looked like he wanted to ask him something else, catching onto the fact that there was still something wrong. But he decided the best thing to do was get Jimmy out of there and so he just nodded and went back to searching it up.

 “Okay, I got it.” Joel said a minute later, reading the instructions carefully. “I need to get a few things though.” Joel looked down at the borrower with a slight wince. “I'll be right back, okay?”

 If Jimmy was being honest, he really didn’t want Joel to leave him. But he knew that wasn’t possible right now. “Okay.”

 Joel nodded and left, being as quick as he could in collecting the things he needed. It was a bit difficult with his parents there but he managed to hide the fact he was taking the cooking oil from the kitchen. The last thing he needed was his parent’s questioning him on why he was taking it up to his room.

 He was back in less than five minutes, putting everything he had gathered onto the table. “Right, so it says rubbing oil on the parts that are stuck will help it to unstick.” Joel explained as he put on the gloves. “Ready?”

 Jimmy hummed and Joel grabbed the bottle of oil. He hesitated for a moment before squirting some on the edges of Jimmy’s body, as well as some extra on his gloved hands. Jimmy shut his eyes, the oil feeling weird against his skin and hair. Once Joel had poured out a generous amount of the oil, he put it down and switched to gently rubbing it in. Carefully moving his fingers in gentle motions across Jimmy’s tiny limbs.

 Jimmy opened his eyes briefly, seeing Joel’s face in deep concentration. Jimmy let out a deep breath. He couldn’t even let himself get lost in the familiar touches of Joel’s hand, because the glove was a foreign thing that almost made Jimmy jump in a panic at being touched by it. He reminded himself that it was Joel though and tried to keep himself relaxed.

 Slowly, but surely, the glue started to come off and Jimmy felt himself be able to lift his arms up. Joel took the opportunity to get some more of the oil underneath Jimmy’s body, where the majority of him was stuck. It felt like hours but really was only about ten minutes before Jimmy felt the rubbing stop.

 “Okay…I’m gonna try lifting you up again.” Joel said and Jimmy nodded, something he could actually do now. Joel lowered his gloved hand, gripping Jimmy’s sides gently between his fingers. He went slow, incredibly slow, giving Jimmy plenty of time to tell him if it was starting to hurt again. But Jimmy didn’t say anything and so Joel continued until he was able to fully lift Jimmy up and off of the glue trap. 

 Immediately, Joel switched his hold on the borrower, moving so he was now holding him in cupped hands. Jimmy was still dripping in oil and covered sporadically in leftover glue, but he was out. Jimmy let out a small sigh of relief.

 “There we go.” Joel said, smiling in relief himself. “That wasn’t…too bad.” He winced at his own words and very quickly continued. “Uh, come on. I’m sure you want to get cleaned up.”

 Jimmy just nodded, not trusting himself to speak yet. Joel held him close as he opened his door, checking for his parents before quickly making his way to the bathroom. Once in, he carefully set Jimmy down on the counter and set up the sink so Jimmy could take a bath in it, just like he had done the night before when Jimmy had made a mess with the chocolate cake.

 Once the bath was set up, Joel left some soap and a hand towel on the counter and then glanced back down at Jimmy. “I’ll be back in a bit with some clean clothes for you. Okay?” Joel asked. When Jimmy just nodded, Joel frowned sadly. “Okay.” Joel said again and then left the bathroom.

 As soon as Joel left, Jimmy wasted no time in taking off the glue crusted and oil covered clothes. He left them on a pile on the counter, though he wasn’t sure they could be saved. Jimmy didn’t have a lot of clothes but he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to even try and wash them.

 Jimmy dipped into the tub and immediately started scrubbing with the soap Joel gave him. Thankfully, with the oil mixed in, the last bit of glue came off easily and the oil wasn’t far behind. As Jimmy moved onto his hair, there was a brief knock on the bathroom door before it opened, Joel coming in with a hand in front of his eyes. “It’s just me. I’m not looking.” Joel said and Jimmy couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

 Joel’s hands were now free of any gloves and he held a small pile of borrower sized clothes in his hand. He blindly set them on top of the counter. “You almost done?” Joel asked.

 “Yeah, just gotta finish my hair.” Jimmy said. “Give me ten more minutes?”

 Joel nodded and then left the bathroom once more. Jimmy finished up quickly, rinsing his hair out and double checking he got all the glue off. He seemed all clean, thankfully, so he hoisted himself out of the sink and dried off.

 Joel knocked on the door just as Jimmy finished getting dressed. Joel opened the door a little bit. “All good?”

 “Yeah.” Jimmy replied and only then did Joel walk in. He sent Jimmy a small smile, glad to see him cleaned up and looking a bit better. Though Jimmy’s mood was still down. He glanced over at the pile of dirty clothes and motioned to it.

 “What did you want to do with these?” Joel asked and Jimmy frowned as he followed Joel’s motion over to the pile of clothes. Jimmy quickly turned away.

 “You can just throw them away.” Jimmy said, not wanting to look at them anymore. They were ruined anyway.

 Joel bit his lip. Jimmy never threw things away, it was against a borrower’s nature, according to Jimmy. Grian and Joel always had to convince him to throw certain things away. But, after what Jimmy had gone through, Joel couldn’t really blame him. “That’s fair.” He settled on and then quickly lifted the clothes and dumped them in the trash. 

 He washed his hands after touching the oily clothes and then gently scooped Jimmy up in his hands, taking him back into his room. As they entered, Jimmy noticed the glue trap was already gone and he couldn’t help but be very thankful for that.

 Joel walked over to the nightstand and started lowering his hand to set Jimmy down but Jimmy scooted back, further onto Joel’s palm. Joel looked at him confused and Jimmy looked down with a slight blush on his cheeks. “Can…could you hold me just for a bit longer, actually?” Jimmy asked, not making eye contact with Joel.

 Normally, Joel would jump on the chance to tease Jimmy about this. But he knew this situation was delicate and he couldn’t help but feel warmth blossom in his chest at the thought that Jimmy wanted his comfort like this. And honestly, he hadn’t wanted to put Jimmy down anyway. “Yeah, of course Jim.”

 He brought his hand back up, closer to his chest, and then glanced around the room, his eyes falling on his laptop. “Do you wanna watch a movie?”

 Jimmy hummed. A movie sounded nice, though he wasn’t sure if he would really be paying attention to it or not. Joel grabbed his laptop with his free hand and then climbed into bed, leaning back against his pillow and headboard as he set up his laptop on the bed right in front of his crossed legs. 

 Jimmy stayed in his hold, soaking up the warmth and comfort of Joel’s uncovered hand. As the movie started, Joel’s hands moved a bit lower, resting on his lap as he added his other hand to give Jimmy more room.

 Jimmy had been right, he didn’t pay too much attention to the movie. Wasn’t even sure what they were watching. He was too focused on the way Joel’s finger rubbed up and down his back in a steady and grounding way.

 “Joel?” Jimmy said, glancing up at Joel.

 “Yeah, Jim?” Joel said, already looking down. It seemed Joel was having a hard time focusing on the movie as well.

 Jimmy bit his lip and let out a small breath. “Thank you. I don’t…I don’t know what would have happened if…” Jimmy couldn’t even finish the sentence. He was lying too, he knew exactly what would have happened if Jimmy didn’t have Joel. It was those thoughts, paired with the overwhelming feeling of helplessness in that situation, that was causing him to be so down.

 Joel blinked and looked down at Jimmy sadly. Even though Jimmy didn’t finish, it wasn’t hard to guess where Jimmy had been going with it. “Of course. I’m just…I’m so sorry that that happened to you.” Joel let out a sigh. “I’m gonna talk to my parents tomorrow. Make up a story about the glue trap. Maybe saying I stepped in it? Found a mouse in it? I don’t know yet, but I’m gonna try to convince them to get rid of all of them.”

 Jimmy nodded. “That…Yeah. That would be great. Thank you, Joel.”

 Joel nodded, he was going to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. To anyone. 

 Joel brought his hands up a little, bringing Jimmy to eye level. “Are you okay?” Joel asked again, now that everything was over.

 Jimmy took in a shaky breath…and then shook his head. Joel’s eyebrows knit together in concern but Jimmy spoke before Joel could say anything. “I’m really not.” Jimmy blinked back a few tears. “But…I will be.”

 And as Joel brought him to his chest and they shared their own version of a hug, Jimmy knew that with Joel, and Grian, by his side, he really was going to be okay.

Chapter Text

 Jimmy woke up slowly, shifting slightly as he opened his eyes. He didn’t remember falling asleep last night. The previous day's events must have made him more tired than he thought. He yawned and snuggled deeper into the surface he was on, not wanting to get up quite yet. There was a steady, rhythmic beat underneath him and Jimmy opened his eyes again to see that he had fallen asleep on Joel’s chest.

 He noticed a gentle pressure against his back and Jimmy turned his head to see Joel’s hand, covering him and acting like a blanket. Jimmy turned back forward and looked up, seeing the underside of Joel’s chin. He appeared to still be asleep.

 This was not the first time Jimmy had fallen asleep on one of his humans. He had done it a few times before with both Joel and Grian. Jimmy would never admit it but it was his favorite way to sleep. Not only did he enjoy being close to them but he felt the safest there. It was easy falling asleep when he knew nothing could happen to him.

 Jimmy smiled a bit, enjoying it while Joel was still asleep. But then he began to think back to last night, to getting stuck in that glue trap. He shivered, that helpless feeling overwhelming him once more at just the memory . 

 Before he could think too much more about it though, Joel started to stir. A low groan escaping his lips. The hand on him curled around him a bit more, acting as a protective shield as Joel continued to wake up. Jimmy didn’t say or do anything, just let his mind focus on watching Joel wake up. It was a good distraction from the memories of the previous day.

 Joel opened his eyes and they immediately glanced down at Jimmy. Jimmy blinked at him and Joel closed his eyes again with another small groan. “...Morning.” Joel said, stretching his free arm. 

 “Morning.” Jimmy replied back. Joel yawned, turning his head away as he did so. He blinked his eyes open again, this time keeping them open, and pulled himself up a bit so he was now sitting up. The hand around him applied just enough pressure to keep him pressed against Joel’s chest so that he didn’t slide down and fall.

 “We must have fallen asleep during the movie last night.” Joel said, noticing the laptop still open at the end of the bed. Of course, the screen was black now, having lost power hours ago. “Not surprising though, considering…well.” Joel stopped himself from saying anything more. He looked down at Jimmy and maneuvered him gently so he was fully cupped in his hand and then moved said hand away from his chest to get a proper look at him. “Are you…doing okay?”

 Jimmy simply shrugged. Not really feeling like getting into it very much. “Better.” Not a lie. “Just…kind of trying to ignore it.”

 Joel hummed. He couldn’t blame Jimmy for that. “I’m gonna talk to my parents about it today.” Joel said once again. “It’s never going to happen again.” Joel was confident in that statement, leaving no room to argue.

 Jimmy believed Joel, it was hard not to when his tone was that sure. He knew Joel would protect him, especially now that he knew about those sorts of dangers. “I know.” Jimmy said, a small smile tugging on his lips. His smile fell a moment later though. “We don’t have to worry about the dorms. I’ve never seen any sorts of traps set up in them.” Jimmy said, thinking to mention that to ease Joel’s mind a bit. It had been so long since Jimmy had to worry about traps that he had almost forgotten that they were something he had to worry about. 

 “That’s…good.” Joel said, though Jimmy isn’t sure why he said it like that.

 “Joel?” Jimmy asked and Joel sighed.

 “It’s just…you shouldn’t have had to worry about it here either.” He looked away, eyes downcast. “My place was supposed to be safe. You were supposed to be safe here.”

 Jimmy felt guilt crawling through his gut despite having no reason to. “I am safe here.” Jimmy said, trying to reassure Joel. Trying to reassure himself . “I didn’t…I’m fine now, right? You got me out of that thing and now we’re here and I’m okay .” His words were for himself as much as they were for Joel.

 “Still…you shouldn’t have had to go through that. I can’t even imagine …” Joel trailed off, shaking his head. 

 “It was the most fear and panic I’ve felt in a long time.” Jimmy revealed despite himself. Joel’s eyes snapped back to Jimmy, wide with surprise. “Since…you know.” Since meeting Joel and Grian for the first time. The words were left unsaid but both still heard it. “But even then…I knew you would get me out of there. There was no doubt in my mind about that.”

 Joel swallowed and Jimmy couldn’t help but watch the small lump go down Joel’s throat. It was hard to meet Joel’s eyes right now, with him being so open and vulnerable about everything. “Well…I’m glad I could.” Joel said quietly.

 Jimmy nodded and they both fell silent. Joel’s thumb came over to him and lightly nudged his side and then moved over to press gently against Jimmy’s chest. It was reminiscent of their first meeting, though a lot less overwhelming now. Since then, Joel liked to do this, in order to feel his heart beat. Joel never said anything about it, but Jimmy suspected it was to bring Joel some comfort, in knowing that Jimmy was okay. Jimmy’s long since seen the gesture as comforting himself.

 After a few moments, Joel removed his thumb and broke the silence. “I say we spend the day in bed today. I can’t be bothered to get up and move around.” Joel said, his voice teetering back toward normalcy, a bit more booming, a bit more Joel. Jimmy found comfort in the fact that Joel was acting how he normally would.

 “I mean, it’s your vacation.” Jimmy said with a shrug and a small smile. Joel looked down and smiled back. “You do what you want.”

 “It’s our vacation Jim.” Joel said. “But yeah, I think I will.” He sunk back into bed and held Jimmy closer to him, bringing his other hand up to cup both of them around the borrower. “And I’m dragging you into it because otherwise I would be bored.”

 Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Right, of course.” He chuckled and leaned into the warmth of Joel’s hands. “...Thanks.”

 Joel simply smiled, a softer one this time and Jimmy knew Joel got what he meant by it. “Wanna watch some youtube videos on my phone?” Joel asked, since the laptop was a bust for now. 

 “Just as long as it’s Mumbo Jumbo we’re watching.” Jimmy said with a grin, as Joel turned to his side and set Jimmy down on the bed in front of him. Jimmy sat and leaned back against Joel’s chest, looking up at him as Joel reached over and grabbed his phone off the nightstand.

 “Of course.” Joel said with a roll of his eyes. “But we’re definitely watching some of those miniature cooking videos after.” Those kinds of videos had started off as a way to tease Jimmy, and they still were, but it was also really cool to watch too.

 “Ugh, fine.” Jimmy said, pretending to be annoyed but he enjoyed those videos too.

 Joel smiled and pressed on the newest Mumbo video before holding it out in front of both him and Jimmy, settling in to watch for the next few hours at least. As the first few minutes played, Joel’s free hand came up next to Jimmy, not touching him, just being close. Jimmy was the one who moved even closer, leaning against the hand before turning his attention back to the video.

 Though Jimmy still felt the unease of helplessness at the thought of what happened yesterday, it no longer threatened to overwhelm him. He was okay. He was here. And with Joel, he was safer than he had ever been.

 He was going to be okay. And he knew that for certain.