Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Just five days into the apocalypse, Jax was already accustomed to losing things.  

First, half of his favorite bat.  Second, his best friend. 

He’d lost a couple more things as well, including a good portion of his sanity, sleep, his sister (leaving town and not dead, at the very least), and a solid chunk of the baseball team, but nothing could possibly counter that second thing Jax had lost.

Jax knew he’d never been the most… stable individual.  

Okay, fuck you, yes he knew he was objectively unstable, irresponsible, stupid, and whatever else Radio wasn’t.  Fuck off.  

This of course, leads to Jax’s current issue.  Along with losing several other things, he was about to lose his life!

A crystalline hand clawed past his face, as he barely managed to lean back in time.

Shit.

Jax was starting to slow down, his reaction speed getting slower and his mind more sluggish as blood gushed from the wound in his torso.  He swang at the creature with his fucked up bat, thinking about the possibility of simply letting the creature kill him.  It couldn’t be that bad-

He stepped backwards, trying to get out of the grasp of the crombies.  Already feeling weak in the knees, he managed to trip over himself, landing on his ass, eyes wide as the crombies stared him down.  

Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck-

They were freaks of nature, really.  To be fair, most of everything going on was some mass anomaly of nature, but these things were really the kicker.  The one in front of Jax, was a prime example.  It was-probably, at least-a woman in her thirties, taller stature, thin build, wearing a nice pencil skirt and a button up.  She seemed like she would’ve been a normal woman, if not for the large chunk of sharp crystal, stabbing through her shoulder, seemingly piercing straight into her heart.  One of her arms, the right one, had mutated into the crystalline mess Jax had barely evaded moments prior.  There was no sign of life, her eyes milky and unfocused, chest still, unmoving.  Her left leg was a mangled mess, covered in dried blood and some other odd, iridescent fluid, but she continued moving, clumsily stepping towards Jax.  

Jax himself was having a hard time getting up, still dizzy from his fall.  

Maybe he was going to die here.

Thinking realistically, something Jax wasn’t great at, even if he was able to get up (unlikely) he’d have nowhere to run.  He entered the alleyway in hopes of staying away from the freaks roaming the streets (ha!  That kind of rhymed!), at least while he took a breather and attempted to get his bearings. Despite his attempts, though, he somehow managed to get spotted by one of the bastards, who managed to get the jump on him while he had his back turned.  He could probably say something about the Doe family's luck, but Radio would be the only one who’d laugh at that, and they probably wouldn’t laugh anyways.  

So yeah.  Essentially.  Jax was fucked.  

Out of nowhere, he heard the sound of an approaching car.  Jax leaned forward, attempting to call out to whoever was manning the vehicle.  

“HELP!” He yelped, still backing up from the crombie.  

Then, a screeching of tires as the car peeled past the alley, making a sharp turn, the driver jumping out.

Was that-

Jax’s hero emerged from the car, a few familiar flashes, but Jax was too caught on… you know, dying, to really worry about it.  The figure pulled out a… sword???  They swiped their sword at the creature, before dealing a final blow through the skull.  A purple, shimmery liquid poured from what was left of the head.  

“H-holy fuck dude,” Jax whispered, voice gravelly.  Maybe it was his delirious, blood deprived brain saying this, but that was kind of hot.  He looked up, getting a better look at his savior.

The other looked down at him, “Jax?”

“...Juice?”

Maybe he would have preferred death.

–

Saying that Jax even disliked Juice would be a bit of an overstatement.  They met just a few days ago, Jax allowing Juice on the bus while things were going to shit.  On the ride to the school, Juice was incredibly chill, actually.  However, then Jax met the wizard freak and things went downhill. Like, how do you keep hanging out with someone that’s just completely socially inept and also just an asshole?  

All this to say, Jax’s feelings on Juice were… complicated, surely.  

Of course, Juice did save him.  That had to count for something.  Jax chose to make judgments later, though, whenever he wasn’t bloody and bruised and possibly dying(?).  

“Shit, this is definitely gonna need stitches, dude,” Juice grimaced as he gently wiped the blood off of Jax’s side with a wet cloth.

“I’m fine,” Jax grunted, making a face.  He was getting dizzier, now.  

Juice looked down at him, glaring, “You are not fine.  Don’t move.”

It seemed Walrat didn’t have the insight to make the bedding aisle closer to the one with medical supplies.  However, the toy aisle just happened to be nearby, hence why Jax was laid at the edge of the medical aisle on at least three of those life size animal plushies and a rainbow leopard print blanket.  Juice down the aisle, snagging a few items off the shelves before returning.  

“Okay, this should be fine.  I think,” Juice dumped his armful of medical supplies next to Jax’s little bed.  

“ Should ???” Jax lifted his head up a bit, raising an eyebrow.

“I already told you not to move!” Juice said, not really replying to Jax’s concerns.  He instead ripped open a little package of what looked like weird little scissor things?  “You’ve been applying pressure, right?”

“Yeah, I’m not fuckin’ stupid…” Jax muttered.  Jax’s entire body was roughed up, but the worst offender was the gash on his lower torso, which, truth be told, hurt like a bitch.  

Juice ripped some little tweezer looking things from their package as well.  

“Don’t you have magic or something?  Can’t you just… do some healing magic shit?” Jax looking at Juice.  Juice paused.

“Umm…” He looked down to his hands.

“You’re joking.”

“I’m- uh…” Juice trailed off, “I don’t know if I can?  I already gave away all my healing potions.”

“You have fucking healing potions?” 

“ Had, I had them.  But it’s not like we have time to make more right now dude.  I don’t know if we should be testing things out while you are technically bleeding out.”

Juice put the tweezers-things to the side, ripping open another package (a lot of packages today, huh) and pulling out more funky medical shit (again, Jax was lightly dying).

“I’m not like, really bleeding out, dude.  I told you, I’d be fine.”

Juice made a noise of disagreement, but didn’t say much, squinting his eyes in concentration.  He took out the tweezer things, holding them-with slight difficulty-in his left hand.  

“Okay, this shouldn’t hurt that bad,” Juice said, bending down.  

The two sat in tense silence for about as long as either of them could handle (not long), Jax glancing around the room, unsure what to say while his side was getting stitched up by this… acquaintance? kind-of-friend?

“So… um…” Juice started, “What were you doing out…?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be concentrating?” Jax replied, like he wasn’t also looking for something to break the silence.

  “Sorry, dude, I just do better when I have background noise, I guess,” Juice hummed. 

Jax paused for a moment before actually replying, “...Well… I was going on a supply run.  Ms.Ashley said we should be fine on food for a while, but she didn’t want to cut it close and all that.  Plus she’s worried about water actually being cut off at some point. She would’ve driven me, but she had to take care of Cici, and I told her I could handle the trip by myself.”

Juice nodded as Jax talked, listening intently, while very carefully stitching the cut.  

“And you couldn’t drive here?”

  “My sister would probably fucking kill me if they found out I even tried to,” Jax chuckled.

  Juice snorted.

  “Yeah I guess I’m not a good driver, which is totally not true.  I just want tp go fast ‘n shit, it’s not my fault there’s stupid rules about it.”

“That sounds… yeah that sounds right…” Juice snickered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” 

“Nothing dude!  Don’t even worry about it,” Juice said, still smiling.  There was another moment of silence as Juice finished stitching Jax’s wound, this one far more comfortable than the first one.  

“Alrighty dude… I think I’m about done?” Juice pulled his hands back, “You have other wounds though… do you want me to-”

“NO! No, I’m fine.” Jax flailed his arms about, reaching for something to push himself up.

“Whoa, whoa!  Careful, man!” Juice grabbed Jax’s hand, helping him up.  He had a firm grip, but like… kind of gentle…

“You got it?” Juice held Jax’s arm, holding him steady.  Jax shook his head a bit, getting his bearings.  

“Yup!  I’m fine, bro!” Jax stood up, shakily.

“Be very careful, kay?  I don’t want those stitches popping out,”

“I know, I’ve gotten stitches before,”

“Just making sure!  You really need like… not to be kinda mean you definitely need a shower, dude,”

Jax elbowed him.

“Hey!  I’m just saying!  If you’re not careful those could-”

“Get infected, yeah I know,” Jax grumbled, “I’ve heard the spiel before,” Actually, he heard it yesterday, from Ms.Ashley.  But he was busy, and didn’t want to waste water.  

Juice looked him up and down, frowning, but staying quiet.  Jax knew he looked fucking awful.  He definitely had not showered since the beginning of the apocalypse and also reeked of blood (some of which may have belonged to a certain dead best friend but… that’s not important right now).  He knew he needed to change, his baseball uniform ripped and torn, but the uniform was too important, and he didn’t want to take anything that belonged to Riley.  

“Well, man, I can help you get all the stuff you need, and maybe a change of clothes or two, and then drive you home.  Is that okay?” Juice asked, moving to stand in front of Jax and looking him in the eyes.  Jax sighed.

“I guess…” He nodded in agreement.  Juice pumped his fist. 

“Time to raid the Walrat again!” Juice cheered.  

Jax snorted, “Again?” But Juice didn’t explain, instead taking his arm and helping him trek down the aisles.  

Chapter Text

“So um… Jax…” Juice started, as he dumped some cans of beans into the shopping cart.  Despite the Walrat being raided by god knows how many people (including Juice and the champions of course), there was still some food for the two to pluck from the shelves.  

“Hmm?” Jax hummed, picking up another can and throwing it in.  

If Juice was to be fully honest, which he was often, he had kind of been enjoying this trip to Walrat so far.  Jax was a lot nicer than Peck made him out to be, though Peck… didn’t have the best read on character, if Juice was to be even more honest.  

Peck’s statements did make him a little nervous about treating Jax.  Despite being about half a head shorter than Juice himself, Jax was worryingly good with a bat (again, according to Peck), so Juice was a bit cautious.  Despite his worries, Jax was… nice?  A little stand-offish, sure, but not mean by no means (heh, see what he did there?).  That brought Juice back to the other stuff Peck said, though.

“You’re Radio’s brother?  Right?” Juice asked.  He decided that lightly awkward small talk was infinitely better than crushing silence.  Jax huffed, but nodded.

“Yeah, I guess,” He frowned, “Why?”

“Just wondering,” Juice shrugged, “You guys are very similar,”

“I get that a lot,” Jax said simply.

“...Are you like… twins?  Or something?” Juice was attempting to keep the conversation going, though he realized that a certain sister was maybe a sore topic.

“No,” Jax stepped onto the front bit of the cart, lifting his other foot off the floor for a moment, “I’m older by like… a little less than a year I think,”

“Wait, dude, you’re the older one?”

“Ye-Hey!  What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Nothing!  Nothing, just not what I was expecting!  Sorry!” Juice put his hands in front of his face to block an imaginary hit.  

“Pfft.  Yeah, I get it or whatever.  They’re the champion of whatever-the-fuck at 16 years old, and I’m over here getting my ass kicked by crombies in an alley.  Great look, I’m sure,”

“Hey, I mean, it’s not like Radio doesn’t get hurt or whatever, if that makes you feel better.  She got both legs busted by this bigass crystal monster the other day,”

“What?  Is she okay?” Jax’s expression changed from a humor mixed with disappointment to one of worry.  

“They’re fine now, dude, Max has healing spells,” Juice scratched the back of his head nervously, “I gave them most of those potions I was talking about actually,”

“Man, you realize ‘potions’ sounds insane,”

“I mean yeah, but what am I supposed to say?  It’s fuckin magic juice dude,” Juice did jazz hands, as if they would emphasize his point.  

“...I mean whatever you say…”

Juice sighed, perking up again a second later, “Speaking of magic and juice!” He veered the cart down the juice aisle.

“Oh great,” Jax grumbled.  Juice rushed over to inspect a bottle of cranberry juice, then one of apple juice, then another one of fruit punch.

“How do you make them… magic?” 

“I shake ‘em,” Juice replied, looking down at more options.

“Is it really that easy?”

“Well I mean like not actually.  But I got-” Juice looks to the side, “-other people to try my methods and it didn’t work.  I’m just assuming it’s a magic thing,”

Jax nodded. “Yeah, guess that makes sense dude.”

There were a good few moments of silence as Juice evaluated juice labels, and then dumped them all into the cart.  

“Ohhhh wait dude, do you think I should get some Capri-suns?  They could be like little potion bombs!” Juice mimed a throwing motion, “Or like, safer to catch at least.  I’m always worried someone’s gonna drop one of my little potion bottles in battle.” 

Jax’s face twisted into one of confusion for a moment before he muttered something about ‘nerd shit’.  

After a couple more moments of contemplation, Juice made the decision that he did in fact want Capri-suns, dropping a few boxes into the cart as well.  

“You’re gonna take all that juice with you, right man?  No offense, but I don’t think Ms.Ashley wanted… all that.” Jax motioned to the previously stated boxes, along with the gallon bottles of juice.  Juice snorted.

“Yeahhhh… I’ll just keep all that in the car…” He paused, looking Jax up and down again.  And holy shit, Jax looked fucking awful.  “...Why don’t we go get you those new clothes, dude?” He offered an awkward smile.  

Jax crossed his arms- carefully, Juice noted, as to not pop any stitches.  “I still don’t think that’s going to be very helpful.”

“Jax,” Juice looked up to meet steely grey eyes staring back, “Getting you some clean clothes is not a waste of time.” 

Both boys went quiet, engaged in an intense staring battle from their respective sides of the cart.  Jax grunted, giving up.  Juice quietly thanked the stars that he did.  

“Fine, whatever… Let’s make it quick, though.”  He grumbled, sliding out of the cart's way, so Juice could push it to their next destination.  

–

“You’re definitely gonna need a couple of outfits at least, right dude?” Juice pushed the cart into Walrat’s clothing section, Jax walking backwards in front of the cart. “Given you kinda implied you haven’t been able to go to your actual house and all,”

Jax grimaced, looking away. “Yeah, my place is on the other side of the river, the bridge collapsed day one.”

“Ohhh.  Shit, man, that blows.” Welp, now Juice felt bad for asking.

“It’s- it’s whatever, just don’t worry about it.” Jax crossed his arms, turning around.  The other nodded, deciding not to pry.  

“Umm… do you have any, like, clothes preferences?” Juice leaned forward as he pushed the cart. 

“No.”

Okay then…

Juice resisted the urge to groan.  He took back what he said about this guy being ‘nicer than Peck made him out to be’.  How can a guy help when he’s given nothing to work with?

Juice surveyed the aisle before him.  The clothing selection, well… it wasn’t the worst ever.  It was a Walrat, so it wasn’t like Juice had high expectations.  

“Okay… you good with jeans and a t-shirt dude?” He asked.  Jax nodded.  

A low maintenance man, then.  That was better.

Juice surveyed their options, walking towards the clothes for a better look.

“What size are you?” Juice looked over his shoulder at Jax, who had his arms crossed.  He shrugged.

He really wasn’t going to make this easy, was he? 

Juice glanced over his shoulder, taking a good look at his companion.  The boy was shorter than Juice by a bit, about 5’7”?  He was deceptively skinny, pretty normal for a teenager their age.  If one were to pay attention, they would notice that Jax’s shoulders were a bit broader than average, indicating a bit of muscle.  Of course, Juice himself had seen under Jax’s shirt, and yeah, that guy was fucking jacked.  

Wow, that sounded a lot more gay than he meant it to.

Juice did not need to get a crush on the definitely straight dude who just lost his best friend.  That would go poorly.

Juice quickly turned back to the shelves with the shirts, picking up a couple t-shirts and long sleeved shirts in a size that he thought would work well enough.  He snagged a few pairs of jeans as well.  

“How’s this, dude?” He held up the clothes for Jax to look at.  

Jax gave a low effort thumbs up. “Works for me, man. You ready to scram?”

He needed to take Jax home.  Right.  

“Yeah,” Juice chucked the clothes into the cart, pushing it towards the exit. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

“You wanna change before you go…?” Juice climbed into the driver’s seat of the car, keys at the ready.  

“We’ve stayed in the same place for too long.  I’m fine.” Jax was actually extremely uncomfortable.  As Jax had come to learn, dried blood, mud, sweat (a lot of sweat), and overall grossness was not particularly cozy.  He absolutely reeked.  However, Walrat wasn’t guarded, and they were living in the apocalypse.  

“I mean, there’s a gas station down the street I think?  Do you wanna just stop in that bathroom for a bit before we go to your house, dude?”

Juice really kept pushing it.  Though, Jax was getting a ride home from him.  Juice probably didn’t want Jax stinking up his car.  Jax grumbled, but nodded.

Juice grinned, and Jax hadn’t met someone who smiled so brightly. 

…That was really gay.  Anyways.

The car revved to a start as Juice shoved the keys into the ignition.  “Any music suggestions?” Juice passed over a crusty phone, presumably his.  The phone case was one of those good, heavy duty ones, one of the types that advertised itself as being able to survive a 10 foot long drop.  It was clearly not able to survive the apocalypse (or whatever else Juice put it through), because it was being held together by duct tape and a dream.  The screen itself was cracked in at least two places, but surprisingly usable.  

Jax clicked on Spotify, which was apparently Juice’s music app of choice.  

“Holy shit, how is Spotify still working?”

“Dude I’ve got absolutely zero clue.  It’s connected to the car, though!” 

Jax blacked out for a moment, and suddenly ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ was typed into the Spotify search bar, and the car sped off to the gas station.  

“What are you gonna wear?” Juice nodded to the clothing, haphazardly strewn about the back seat of the car, among all the other groceries they had acquired.  

“I dunno, whatever I pull out first I guess?”

“Fair.”

“...”

“...”

“...ummm, you got a favorite drink?”

“Bro, what?”

“You’re a sports guy, you like gatorade, right, dude?”

“I guess?  I mean, water’s kind of The Top Drink, though.”

“Water is your favorite drink?”

“Yeah?  You got a problem with it?”

“No… it’s just a little boring, is all…”

“Dude.”

“It’s Water!  That’s like… the most bare minimum of a drink.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It’s like… if I went back to like, the 1500s or something, and I was like ‘Hey, what’s your favorite drink’ they’d be all like ‘Ah, I quite fancy clean drinking watuh’.”

“Fuck you.”

“‘Fuck you’ isn’t an argument, dude!  I win!”

“No!  No!  Water is like… super important I think!”

“You think?”

“Shut the hell up, you’re gonna miss the gas station.”

“Oh shit!” Juice yanked on the wheel making a harsh left into ‘Kum & Go’.

There was a simultaneous chuckle from both boys after catching a glance at the sign.  They made eye contact.

“Dude.”

“Dude.”

 “Umm, it wouldn’t hurt for me to raid the gas station while you get dressed and stuff, just like… let me know if you need anything, alright?”

Jax nodded, reaching to the back for some suitable clothing items.  A black shirt, a pair of jeans, and some boxers.  In all honesty, Jax did probably need to take a long bath, but this would help with the metallic stench for now.  

He hopped out of the car, Juice quickly starting up another conversation as they both made their way into the building, “Dude, why would they name it Kum and go?  Like they really could’ve gone with the normal spelling of come, I feel like that would’ve been more fine.”  

Jax snickered, “I guess it’s more recognizable?”

“... Really?” 

“I mean, I’m gonna recognize the company that sounds like an accidental cum joke, not the one that just used a boring phrase as its name.”

“Ahhh yeah maybe,” Juice nodded, “I mean it could be a cum joke either way.”

“Yeah but this one’s a lot more purposeful I think.”

There was a light ding as Juice pushed open the door.  He paused.

“You don’t think the crombies heard that, do you?”

Jax grimaced, “I… don’t think so?  Let’s just hurry, I don’t want to find out.”

“Good point.”

Jax quickly scurried off to the bathroom, shoving the door open.  The automatic lights came on with a sudden click, managing to startle Jax a small amount (not that he would say as such).  

It was dingy, the fluorescent lights flickered, making a faint buzzing sound.  The tiles of the floor were sort of off-white, not a nice beige, closer to stained with a nasty bile-yellow.  The stalls were tan, and also pretty gross, though Jax ignored them, choosing to stand in front of the mirror, though trying not to peek at his rough appearance.  

He began to unbutton his baseball uniform, but came to a very quick stop as he noticed the absurd amount of blood staining the white fabric. It was a lot of his own blood, of course, stray cuts and the one rough slash he took to the side littered his skin.  However, what made Jax really think was the amount of blood that wasn’t his.  

How much of the blood on his uniform was Riley’s?

Riley.

Oh god.  Riley.

Jax’s breath hitched.  

“No no no no no,” Jax muttered as he crumpled to the floor, eyes burning.  He had already cried over Riley.  He was fine now.  Riley would want him to be fine.

Jax was not fine. 

The whole world seemed to tilt, as Jax grasped at the disgusting tile floor like it would give him any sort of solace.  It didn’t.  He felt hot tears pour down his face, a sob ripping itself out of his throat.  

He crawled underneath the sinks, to an area where the counter met the walls, and curled up into himself, holding his knees to his chest and beginning to rock back and forth.  The entirety of Jax’s face was starting to burn as he just kept crying.

Riley Moore was dead and it was all Jax’s fault.

Jax ran away during that fight.  He was told it wasn’t really his fault, that that creature-thing had cast a spell on him, but Jax didn’t care.  He should have been stronger, he should have resisted more.  He should have done anything but run.  

But how was he supposed to expect that Riley would be dead (he was dead) when he came back?

He didn’t even get to see his final moments, just the puddle of blood that was left in his wake.  Jax hadn’t realized that the blood belonged to Riley at first, accidentally stepping in it as he asked where his friend had gone.  The blood had gotten all over the bottom part of his uniform’s pants as well, when he’d fallen to his knees after that stupid wizard nerd broke the news to him.  He’d gotten even more of Riley’s blood on his chest after sprinting to the Moore’s house and hugging the corpse like it would come back to life.

Jax began mumbling apologies between sobs.  Maybe Riley would hear him.  

Oh how badly Jax wanted to believe that Riley was alive.  To believe that he would go back to Ms.Ashley’s and see him again and everything would be fine and oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck he was dead he was dead he was dead.  

Then, a voice from the doorway of the bathroom.

“Hey dude, are you good? I heard- oh shit.” 

Jax couldn’t make out much with his tear-filled vision, luckily Juice was a very recognizable person.

The Juice-shaped-blob moved closer. 

“Okay dude, I’m just gonna sit right, uh, here,” Jax wiped the tears from his eyes, but they just kept welling up more, “Um-shit-uh okay.  Okay.  We’re both here, I’m chillin’, just, like… tell me if you need anything…?”

Jax nodded silently.  

It took a while for him to stop crying, which, frankly, pissed him off.  Juice… oddly didn’t seem to mind.  He didn’t really say much of anything.  All he really did was remind Jax that he was there, but he didn’t push.  He didn’t try to give Jax a hug or ask him why he was crying.  It was pretty nice, honestly.

Finally, Jax wiped the final tear from his face, “All good now.”

“Okay.  Do you want me to stay here?”

Jax didn’t know, he said as much.

“It’s completely up to you, man.”

“You can stay,” Jax huffed.  

“Okay.”

And he did.  

Jax shucked off the striped layer of his uniform, picking up the replacement clothes and changing in one of the stalls.  There were no more incidents.  Luckily.

He washed his face and arms in the sink.  There was no doubt he desperately needed a shower, but this would do for now.  As he left the bathroom, Jax turned to Juice.

“Uh, thank you for all that, dude.”

“You’re welcome.  I’m just glad you’re doing a little better.  I know everything’s hard right now.”

“Yeah, you could say that again.  Jesus.”

“You know, I think the slushie machine is still working.  Want one?” Juice grinned tentatively.  

“Sure,” Jax smiled in reply.

Chapter Text

Juice sat in his stolen car (he supposed the car’s owner was dead (hence the keys he found)), filling it with gas at the ‘Kum & Go’, Supermassive Black Hole blaring from the speakers, with an-admittively attractive-guy sitting in his passenger seat.  They were drinking slushies.  This is closer to any sort of game than Juice had ever gotten when the world was normal.  Not that he like-liked that guy or anything!  Though, he hoped that if he was dreaming, he would remember it all when he woke up.

“Man, this is the good shit.” The aforementioned guy said, taking a long sip.  He had his bloodstained uniform sitting at his feet, which Juice thought was a choice to hold onto, but he wasn’t going to judge him for something personal like that.  

Hanging out with Jax, even with the circumstances, was pretty nice!  Really!  They even had the same taste in slushies!  That taste being all of the flavors combined into a cherry-cola-blue-raspberry amalgamation.  When he got slushies with Peck, which they tended to do every summer, Peck made a face at this combination, so Juice was glad someone around here understood.  

“That’s what I’m sayin’ dude.” Juice sucked the last of his slushie out of the cup.  

Jax smirked, but that quickly shifted into something a bit more unsure, “...Do you think these are the last slushies we’ll ever have?”

“What?”

“I mean like, it’s the apocalypse.  Plenty of people have died, right?  Most of my family was fine, but I know a couple guys on the baseball team haven’t answered the group chat for a few days, and I know a couple guys’ families didn’t really make it either.  Things probably aren’t going to go back to normal, y’know?”

“Shit.  Yeah,” He did know.  He was terrified, “I mean, maybe they’ll prioritize slushie machines when we get a… kinda new normal?”

Juice hoped not, he hoped his dad’s health was prioritized.  Was it selfish of him to hope for that?  He wasn’t sure.

Jax chuckled, “Well, I hope this isn’t my last slushie.  But if it is, I guess I don’t mind.”

“I’ll drink to that, dude.”

“Hell yeah.”

Juice put his slushie up, Jax followed in suit.  They tapped them together.

“Hell yeah.”

They slurped simultaneously.  

It was quiet, but only for a moment.  As the two got used to talking, it seemed silence didn’t come as easily.

“I’m thinking about burning some CDs.” Juice spoke again.

“What did the CDs do to you?”

“Burn like putting music on them, not melting them,” Juice sighed, “I want to have some backups in case I don’t have access to the internet for music anymore.”

Jax chuckled, “Ohhhhhh, that makes way more sense.”

“Yeah, a lot of cars have CD thingies, and I have an old CD player or two at home, so maybe if I stockpile batteries for them, I can play my music all I want.”

“Sick!  What songs would you put on there?”

“There’s this one I like, it’s called ‘Smoke with the Devil’, it’s probably my favorite.  It was for this indie film called Blood in the Bayou if you’ve ever heard of it?”

“Uhhh I don’t think I have.”

“It’s like… my favorite movie.  Anyways, ‘cause it was an indie film and all, the soundtrack is on Spotify, but there’s no physical copies of it.  So, I’m probably gonna burn it onto a CD with all my other favorite songs as soon as I can.”

“Cool, dude!  You should totally burn me one of those CDs.”  He said it in a joking manner, but Juice was thinking about it.  

“Would you like me to?”

“Wait- really?” 

“Of course, man!  I have plenty of CDs to go around anyways.  You got any favorite songs?”

“...Just one.”

“I think I can guess.  I can put some other stuff on there too, I’m sure you like other songs”

Jax nodded, “Yeah I just kind of listen to one on repeat all of the time.”

“I can tell.” Juice deadpanned, as Supermassive Black Hole blasted from the car’s speakers.  

“I don’t know man, it’s really good.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s not that bad.  You ready to go, dude?”

“Yeah,” Jax took a final drink from his slushie, rolling down the window, “Hey, you see that trashcan over there?”  

“Think you can make it?”

“I’d bet my spot as baseball team captain on it.”

Jax chucked his slushie cup towards the trashcan.  

[A/N I rolled for this]

The cup missed by at least 6 feet, bouncing off the gas station wall and hitting the windshield of the car.  Juice hissed.

[A/N I rolled a 1]

“...Good thing there’s not really a baseball team anymore…?” He turned on the windshield wipers, knocking the cup off of the car.

“Fuck you.” Jax’s face seemed to turn as red as his baseball cap.  Juice snickered.  

“Alright, let’s go.”

--

“Hey Jax?” 

“‘Sup?”

The two were just a few minutes into their ride to Jax’s house.  The sun was starting to set.  So far the car ride had been full of mostly friendly banter, which was maybe a bit surprising, given Jax had been having a breakdown in the gas station bathroom maybe… an hour ago now?  But Juice knew how touchy emotions could be.  Hopefully the slushie break helped.  

Now, however, Juice had a more personal question.  

“Who did you say you were staying with?  I think you mentioned someone, but I don’t remember.”

“Oh, yeah, just a family friend.  She’s um… Riley’s mom.” 

Oh.  Okay.  That’s great.  

Juice held back his inner thoughts, pausing instead.  

“You could always stay with my family, if you need.  I’ve got plenty of my own stuff going on, but I’m sure my dad wouldn’t mind.”  

That was mostly true.  His dad wouldn’t, his brother might.  

“Nah man, I’ll be fine.  I doubt it’ll take too much longer for the bridge to be built.  Plus, since I’m a little smaller than Riley, I thought I’d fit into his clothes just fine.”

Juice didn’t think anything from that statement was healthy.  Holy shit.  

“You’re staying in his room…?”

“Um……… maybe?”

If Juice were to slam his head on the wheel, they would crash.  However, it was incredibly tempting.  Instead he sighed for the second time during this car ride.  Heavily. 

“Dude.”

“Look I mean-”

“No, you’re fine.  Why don’t you just sleep on the couch or something?”

“I dunno.” Jax muttered.

“I’m not gonna make decisions for you dude, but it might help you to… y’know.”

“Yeah, and I got blood all over his floor.”

God fucking damnit.

–

“Here we are!” Juice pulled into the drive of a small townhouse.  He’d been there before, not long after Riley had died, so he remembered where the Moore’s house was.  The house was nice, nondescript.  A couple bikes in the front yard, some chalk drawings, and lawn mowed relatively recently.  It was just kind of normal.

“I’ll help you with your stuff,” Juice said, “I don’t want you leaving anything.”   

“Thanks.” Jax mumbled. 

The two carried Jax’s sort of stolen clothes to the door.  The activity didn’t require two people, so Juice carried most of it while Jax carried his bloody baseball uniform.  Jax reached for the knob to start heading inside, when the door opened on its own.  

“Jax Nathaniel Doe, where in hell have you been all day?”

Or, not really on its own, as Juice saw a woman in the doorframe.  She was about the same height as Juice himself.  She had dark hair, with a few grey streaks here and there, pulled back into a very messy bun.  Her glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, with a few more scrapes than Juice suspected they’d usually have.  She crossed her arms, scowling. 

This must be Ms.Ashley, Juice realized.

“You left at 8 this morning to get supplies.  Tell me, Jax, why you’re back eleven hours later, and you did not answer my calls.”

Jax made a face, specifically one that screamed ‘Oh god I’m so cooked’ as he patted his pockets with his free hand.  

“Yeah buddy, I already found it for you.” The woman pulled a phone out of her pocket.   

Before Jax could get in any more trouble, Juice chose to butt in, “I’m so sorry ma’am, part of that was my fault.  Jax got in a… bit of trouble and so I helped patch him up…?”

Ms.Ashley stood out of the doorway to allow the boys to make their way into the house.  

“What kind of trouble?” She raised an eyebrow.

“...maybe sort of got clawed in the torso…?”

Her eyes widened, “Jax!”

“He should be fine though, I stitched him up pretty okay.”

Ms.Ashley nodded, though still clearly concerned, “And you know proper medical procedures…?”

“Uh yeah, I’ve done my research.”

Ms.Ashley hummed, “I’ll look over it, make yourself at home for now.”

Juice was glad she didn’t ask him to elaborate, because he really did not want to go into how he’d spent multiple nights researching ways to dress all sorts of wounds, all for the sake of a fanfiction for a show he liked.  Though he would for Jax’s sake.

“Sorry, Ms.Ashley,” Jax said, sheepishly.  

“It’s alright Jax,” She gave him a smile, “Be glad I didn’t alert any of your siblings.  You are gonna have to apologize to Cici, though.”

Jax grimaced.  

“There’s some stuff in the car for you guys,” Juice shifted, unsure of where to put all the clothes, “And this stuff for Jax.”

“Here, uh let me,” Jax grabbed the clothes out of his hands, “I’ll be right back.”

He stormed upstairs, though clearly attempting to be careful as to not harm himself anymore than he had.   

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Uh, oh yeah!  I’m Mason, Mason Porter.  Everyone calls me Juice, though,”  He smiled politely, hoping to make a good impression.

“Juice, hmm?  Interesting nickname,” She chuckled, “Is that some kind of crystal armor in your shoulder?”

“No it’s actually kind of stuck in there.”  Juice pulled back his sweatshirt, which he’d had to cut a whole in to fit the crystal.  He moved his arm around, showcasing its ability to move. 

Ms.Ashley gaped, “Oh my god.”

Juice frowned, “I mean it’s not that bad.”

“Mason, sweetie, I’m a doctor.  In most situations, getting impaled in the arm like this means you’d lose the arm.  Or your life, depending on the amount of blood lost.”

Juice paled, “Oh.  That’s pretty bad.”

“Pretty bad, kid,” Ms.Ashley squeezed his non-crystal shoulder, “I know it doesn’t hurt right now, but how about I check up on your arm after I look over Jax’s stitches.”

“Yeah,” Juice said hoarsely, “Fine by me.”

“It’s getting dark out anyways, why don’t you call your parents and tell them you’ll be staying the night.  I don’t want you going out.”

Juice realized now that he hadn’t called his father or brother all day either.  He probably should  do that actually!  

“Okay, thank you ma’am.”

She snickered, “Just call me Ashley, please.  Also, dinner’s done if you want any.  My daughter should be in her room, so you boys shouldn’t be bothered by her too much.  You can go out on the back porch if you’d like.”

Ms.Ashley motioned to the glass doors by the dining room.  Juice nodded, heading that way and dialing his father.

Ring, ring-”Hello?  Mace?”

“Hey, pa.  How you feelin’?” Juice closed the backdoor behind him.  

“A bit better.  Your brother snagged some painkillers from the CVS down the road, so I’m not feeling any of the hurting right now.”

“He’s not being too overbearing is he?” 

“Well, you know how Mikey can be, especially now that I’m sicker than usual.”

“Ha, yeah.”

“How has it been going at Walrat?  I thought you’d be home sooner?”

“There was this guy I know, he got hurt pretty bad so I went to help him.  He’s having a rough time and stuff, so I’m staying the night.”

“That’s my boy.” Juice’s father chuckled, “So helpful, you and your brother.  You're both good boys, I’m so proud.”

“Pa, c’mon. You're gonna be fine.”

“Can't a father be proud of his sons?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, buddy.  But there’s going to be some hard truths we all have to face in the next few months.  You have to be ready.”

Juice hummed, uncomfortably.  Every so often, his dad would get in a mood like this one.  He started to feel a little nauseous.

“Yeah dad, I get it.”

“We can talk about it more when you get home, alright?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Who’re you stayin’ with, exactly?”

“His friend’s mom.  His family lives on the other side of the river.  She’s a doctor, I guess she’s going to check out my arm in a bit.”

“Good, good.”

“Alright, pa, I guess I’ll be going.  See you tomorrow.”

“Love you, bud.” 

“Love you too.”