Silver Lining
"Joey?"
The crack in Kevin's voice made Joey pause as he slid out of bed. He cursed silently, he'd been so sure that he'd managed to untangle them without waking Kevin up.
"Shhh, baby." He skimmed a hand through Kevin's hair, careful to avoid the stitches. "I've gotta go out for a bit, I'll be right back, I swear." He bent down, pressing a kiss to the soft spot behind Kevin's ear. One, two, three kisses, lips trembling slightly as Kevin's eyes drifted open. Joey leaned up eyes roaming over Kevin's face before he skimmed a hand over the bruises dappling the side of Kevin's cheek. "I'm going to stop and get your meds filled too. You're going to need some more Darvocet."
"I hate taking that stuff." Joey put a hand in the center of Kevin's chest, gently pushing him back down as Kevin struggled to get up.
"Richardson. You have a broken wrist, a sprained ankle and let's not even get into your knee." Joey glared Kevin down, hand fisting at his side. "And if you think for one moment I'm going to let you be in a second more's pain than you are now, well."
Kevin reached up, taking Joey's hand and squeezing slightly. "I'm going to be fine, Joey. You heard the doctors." Kevin's lips twitched. "All ten of them you badgered."
"It wasn't ten," Joey countered, wrinkling his nose at Kevin. "More like"
"Ten. I counted." Kevin shifted a little and Joey reached down, helping Kevin sit up a bit. "It was kind of funny."
"I live to amuse." Joey glanced around the room. "Ok, there's water on the table, you aren't due for another pain pill for another hour and I'll be back by then." Joey tossed the remote on the bed. "You have the remote, do you want the paper, some books, though really, you should sleep."
Kevin's sigh sounded loud in the bedroom. "I've slept more in the last day than in the last week. Now go. Do whatever big important thing it is you have to do."
Joey nodded, worrying at his lip before pressing a kiss to Kevin's forehead. "I'm sorry, but I really do have to do this. I'll be back soon. You can reach the phone, right?"
"Yes, mother." Kevin rolled his eyes and Joey backed out of the room, grinning.
"It's the Italian, baby. I'm a slave to my genes." Joey smiled at Kevin's snort, the smile dropping from his face the second he was out of the apartment. He pulled out his phone as he headed down the hall, steps quick and angry. "Johnny? Yeah, they finally catch that bitch?" His finger stabbed the button for the elevator as he listened to Johnny's response. "I don't particularly give a flying fuck what her issues are, you weren't there. She nearly fucking killed him." Joey stepped into the elevator, absently noting it was empty. Good. At least he could scream to his heart's content.
"You weren't the one standing right next to him when she yanked him down." Joey closed his eyes, starting to shake as the image burned into his brain flickered before his eyes. "You didn't hear the sound when that fucking cab hit him." He shook his head angrily as the elevator stopped at the lobby. "I don't want to hear a damn word about what it looked like with me at the hospital. Shit, I thought his neck was broken." He paused, nodding to the doorman as he patted his jacket pockets, making sure he had his wallet. "Let people talk. I sure as hell don't care any more. Johnny." Joey stepped through the door, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light. "She was trying to kill him. It's a miracle she didn't. I don't care what people say." He snapped his phone shut, cutting Johnny off mid-tirade.
Joey waited as Dre fell into step behind him before heading down the sidewalk. It had been too close. Way too damn close. Maybe they had gotten used to the near anonymity of New York, the put upon sophistication that meant that even when recognized they weren't bothered. Maybe they should have been more conscientious about security and the rest of it, but damn, it had been good to be able to simply head out his door with his boyfriend for bagels on a rainy Sunday morning. It had been wonderful to know that he could call up and say "meet me at that little Italian place" and there Kevin would be, standing next to the door, face lighting with a smile when Joey stepped out of a cab. Fine, so maybe they had gotten caught up in the fantasy that they were just another couple living their lives. They hadn't been stupid about it, they rarely touched in public and even then only in the acceptable ways. But possibly they should have thought about security a bit more. Joey ducked into the coffee shop on the corner, the one that made the muffins Kevin liked so much, stepping into line and pretending that he didn't have a 300 pound wall at his back. That didn't make what happened right.
Joey started as his phone trilled and he pulled it out of his pocket, letting out a breath when he checked the id. He let the voicemail pick up. Chris would understand if he called him later. It had been hard enough convincing AJ not to fly out from California the night before. He wasn't up to taking on Chris. The line moved quickly for a change and Joey placed his order, drumming his fingers on the counter. He smiled apologetically when the guy next to him glared, but he couldn't manage to stop. His nerves were still strung taught and all he wanted to do was get this shoot over so that he could get back to Kevin. It had been awful the night before, watching as Kevin shifted, trying to find some comfortable way to sleep with the cast on his wrist and the wrap around his ankle and the brace on his knee.
Joey took the small bag, handing a large cup of coffee to Dre as they headed out. He wasn't sure who slept worse, Kevin from the pain or himself as he watched, listening closely to every breath Kevin took. He simply wanted to stay in and hold Kevin and try to distract him from the pain and the thoughts and the realization of what nearly was. Neither of them had fully grasped it yet.
Joey took the top off his cup, blowing across the coffee as he waited to cross the street. He couldn't stop himself from glancing down the block. There. Right there. They had been standing right there less than 14 hours ago, Kevin trying to explain to Joey the intricacies of some fine point of environmental regulation, Joey smiling to himself as he watched Kevin's hands fly, when wham. A blur, a flash, a glimpse of blonde hair and some shrieking noise and then there she was. Some freaked out girl, arms wrapped around Kevin's neck as she shoved them both into traffic. Then the squeal of brakes and that sound.
Joey flinched as he headed across the street. He knew he would never forget the sound of their bodies hitting the cab. Then it was all a blur again, he remembered screaming as the girl tore down the street, the babbling of the cabbie about how it wasn't his fault. The shocking whiteness of Kevin's face in the glow of the headlights, the blood garishly red on his face.
Joey took a deep breath, trying to compose himself before he pushed open the door leading to the stairway for the studio. Kevin was fine. Ten different doctors told him so. Actually, Joey considered as he ran up the stairs, it had been twelve. Kevin had been unconscious for the other two. He drew in a deep breath then slipped into the room, his best professional smile creasing his face. If it had been anything other than something for AMFAR he would have cancelled but he knew Kevin would smack him if he did. And he was fairly certain that cast would hurt.
He shook hands with the photographer, made small talk wtih the caterer, flirted with the makeup girl, all standard procedure. He hoped they didn't notice the way his hands had been shaking when he handed the bag over to Dre to hold.
"So, how's Kevin?" Joey shrugged a bit, picking at his jeans as Donna worked on his makeup. Another nice thing about being back in town was that there was a good chance that at least one person on a crew would be someone he'd known since birth.
"Broken wrist, sprained ankle, he's probably going to need surgery on his knee. He's pretty banged up." Joey kept his voice low. He was sure everyone knew, it had been one of the lead stories on the late night news, but that didn't mean he had to feed people's curiousity.
She shook her head, cupping Joey's chin lightly. "But he's fine, Joseph. And I know you're taking care of him."
"Yeah." He smiled up at her. "I'll tell him you asked."
"You do that." She snapped her case shut. "And when he's better we'll have to have you over for dinner, my mother wants to show off for the two of you."
"For your mother's cooking? He'll be up and about tomorrow." Joey grinned when she flipped him off, laughing easily for the first time that day.
The shoot went quickly for which Joey was thankful. One tiny favor today. That and the fact that he didn't have a show. He'd wondered about that, about the timing of it. If it had been just a few weeks before he and Kevin wouldn't have been out then. He would have been at the theatre performing and Kevin would have been back home working or at the gym or possibly back stage. They wouldn't have been wandering back from dinner and the bookstore, just another quiet Wednesday night in the simple pattern his life had recently taken on.
He wondered about that as he headed back down the stairs. It hadn't been some random fan, he'd known that right away. Whomever she was, she must have been watching and waiting. He felt a shiver work its way down his spine at the thought. It was one thing to know that there were people who could be stalking them in theory, it was something quite different to have it suddenly become fact.
The sudden fury of sound when reached the sidewalk startled him and he reflexively jerked back, Dre shifting to block him.
"Joey, Joey, is it true that had to give him CPR on the scene? What were you two doing out together? Are you really living together?"
He fought his way through the throng, not even bothering to say no comment. There was no point really. He sped up his pace, dodging around the rest of the people on the sidewalk, trying to ignore the scrum. Then one voice loud and clear penetrated through the haze of anger surrounding him. "Do you think this poor girl should be thrown in jail instead of getting the help she so clearly needs?"
Joey spun on his heel, vision narrowing to the smirking face of the reporter. "That poor girl purposefully shoved Kevin into traffic. She was trying to kill him, if her continuously screaming 'time to die' was any hint. You'll forgive me if I think jail is exactly where she belongs."
"But clearly she is disturbed, punishment isn't the best"
Joey cut him off. "I'll do whatever I can to make sure that she stays behind bars. No one lays a hand on my partner and gets away with it."
The screams got louder then. "Partner? Partner? Are you together, are you gay, are you coming out?"
Joey simply turned his back, dashing down the street, heart pounding. He darted into the pharmacy, ducking down an aisle then resting hands on his knees.
"You know, I don't think that's quite the way you meant to do that." Joey saw Dre's shoes out of the corner of his eye.
"Shit. Oh fuck." Joey leaned up, running a hand over his face. "He's going to kill me."
Dre shook his head, then turned to the pharmacist, grabbing the prescriptions from him. "You know he's not."
"He so is. I mean. Shit. Oh shit." Joey grabbed for his phone as it rang, nearly dropping it when he saw Johnny's number come up on the id. "They can't have called him all ready."
"Probably." Dre dropped a hand on his shoulder and Joey glanced up. "You were going to do this anyway."
"Yeah, but." Joey swallowed convulsively. "You know, planned and not, oh man."
Dre steered him to the back of the store, leading him out through the alley entrance. "It'll be fine. You've got yourself a good one."
"Probably not for much longer." Joey looked around, amazed at how Dre was always on top of things. "I didn't realize this ran to the back of our building."
"Yup. Remember this in case you need to make a fast getaway." Joey picked his way around the trash, trying to ignore the smell. Not nearly soon enough they were at the delivery entrance to his building and Joey retrieved the bag with the muffins along with the bag from the pharmacy. "Thanks. For everything."
Dre shook his head. "Don't. I just wish."
"Don't. No point in starting that now." Joey squeezed his forearm. "We're staying in for the rest of the day. See you tomorrow."
Joey slowly took the stairs up to his floor, trying to figure out what to say. "Hey, babe. Here's your meds. Oh by the way I seem to have outed us. Sorry about that. You did tell your mom, right?"
He leaned against the apartment door, collecting his thoughts before slipping the key in the lock and stepping inside. The apartment was perfectly still and Joey felt a wave of panic hit.
"Kevin? Kevin, are you?" Joey raced into the bedroom, pausing when he saw Kevin on the phone.
"I really don't have anything more to say about that other than that I'm thankful for Joey's quick actions in getting medical attention. I'm damn lucky to have him in my life." Kevin thumbed the phone off as Joey sank onto the bed. "So. You do anything interesting this morning?"
"Kevin, God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, there were all these reporters and this guy was being an asshole and"
Kevin tugged Joey close with his good hand. "It's fine. I understand."
"You aren't mad?" Joey brushed his lips across Kevin's.
"Nope." Kevin smiled, reaching behind Joey for the bag on the table. "Did you bring me muffins?"
"Yeah." Joey settled in behind Kevin, looping an arm around his waist. "I'm a good boyfriend."
"You certainly are." Kevin waved the muffin in the air before taking a bite. "And now the world knows."
Joey smiled into the back of Kevin's neck, listening as Kevin hummed happily as he ate.