musesandlyrics | 5.10. Russian Proverb
5.10. "A mere friend will agree with you, but a real friend will argue."
Russian Proverb
Co-written with texas33forever
SPOILERS FOR FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SEASON 4 FINALE
The temptation to think that some higher power was trying to tell them something was strong. It was taking all of Jason's effort and energy, both of which he had very little left of, not to let his mind jump on that route and stick there. 'Disaster' couldn't even begin to describe what Jason and Taylor's intended wedding day had turned out to be. It had to go beyond the realms of disaster just for the sheer laughability of how much went wrong. At the end of the day, all they could do was write the day off and go to Plan B... if they even had a Plan B. One doesn't exactly anticipate needing something like a Plan B when you're trying to pull off the best day of your life.
It all started on Friday. After trying to contact Tim for no less than four days to try and get him to confirm he would be there to step into the Best Man shoes for Sunday, Jason finally received a call from his best friend that he was about to divorce for good this time right in the middle of having sex with Taylor. Tim always did have typically wonderful timing, and being cut off well put Jason in a bad mood. Or worse mood, rather. He was already about ready to tear Tim a new one for leaving him hanging. He had promised he would be Jason's Best Man, only to suddenly become impossible to contact, and Jason never had much patience with Tim's antics anymore. He had been burned too much, and if Tim couldn't even make it for his wedding, it really would be the burning death of their long friendship.
But the call came, only it definitely was not the call Jason had wanted. Tim was in jail for running an illegal chop shop, but he had been granted bail and needed Jason to come bail him out. Billy had no money, and there was no one else to help. Without Jason coming to his rescue, Tim would be stuck in jail until his trial. Jason had literally been speechless, and that was a mean feat for the ex-quarterback. It wasn't often Jason Street got rendered speechless. But with all the stress of trying to get their wedding day on track that coming Sunday - Valentine's Day - his patience for anything to do with Tim Riggins was threadbare. In fact, he called Tim a bunch of horrific names and hung up on him. It took half an hour for him to cool off and call the Dillon police station again, after Taylor talked him around and pointed out that it had been Tim that had driven to New York to get her, so maybe they should just return this one last favour for him. Despite the anger, and despite the weather warnings of a snow storm pending, Jason got in his truck and drove to Dillon with Silas to bail Tim out of the slammer.
Jason appreciated the company of Tyra's boyfriend or he probably would have gone mental he was so pissed off. Tim couldn't even keep his shit together just long enough to be by Jason's side for his wedding day. He was furious, but he knew Taylor was right. Without Tim, there wouldn't even be a wedding day. Silas' presence turned out to be a godsend, though, when Jason's truck broke down. They were stuck on the side of the road for three hours until Silas decided to walk to the nearest town to get some help. Another two and a half hours, he was back and they got towed to a garage where the mostly minor problem was fixed, but they didn't make it to Dillon until one am Saturday morning. Of course, no cop shop was going to process bail at one am, so Jason and Silas slept in the truck in the police car park until business hours the next day. Only, being a Saturday, no one was in any particular hurry and they got kept waiting until after lunch. Jason's patience was non-existent by this point, and when the bail order was finally signed and stamped, giving Tim his somewhat freedom (no leaving Texas until his court hearing), it was four in the afternoon.
The drive home was icy, and that wasn't just the atmosphere in the truck. Now that Tim wasn't in the slammer, he was able to head to Austin for Jason and Taylor's wedding. But with Jason absolutely seething and unable to even look at Tim without turning bright red and growling, and Silas being Tyra's current boyfriend while Tim was her ex, it didn't exactly make for a rosy road trip. The weather outside just matched the room, pouring with rain the whole trip back and adding a good hour on the already five hour trip. They got back to the house in Austin around eleven pm... the night before Jason was supposed to get married. He was exhausted and in a worse mood than he had been in a long time, maybe ever, especially considering he had used his and Taylor's honeymoon spending money on Tim's bail. The snow was setting in as they arrived, and the only silver lining of the whole thing was that the girls (and Saracen) had a huge feast of Chinese takeout waiting for them that just needed to be reheated. There was also a slight hint of smugness in Jason when he saw how floored Tim was to not only discovered Saracen staying there, but hand-in-hand with Sam. Awkward, very awkward, but the bastard was just going to have to deal with it. It was karma for consistently dragging himself out of the loop to get into piles of shit, like running illegal chop shops when he was supposed to be getting his life on track.
They all sat down to an extremely late dinner, Taylor managing to calm Jason down by keeping a hold on his hand through the meal. There had been plans for her, Sam and Tyra to stay at a hotel that night for the whole traditional not seeing the bride before the wedding thing but Taylor cancelled it. Tradition had been the least of her worries when she was anxious about the boys driving all that way back from Dillon in the bad weather. She wanted to be here to make sure her husband-to-be was in one piece, especially knowing how angry he was. She was just trying to stay optimistic. They were getting married the next day! Finally! As far as she was concerned, nothing could stop her being ecstatic about that.
Boy was she wrong.
The snow storm hit overnight, but no one realised that initially. No, they were all too busy trying to battle a group bout of food poisoning. Every single one of them, in differing degrees, had been taken down by the Chinese feast. The bride and groom were right up on the list. In a small house with that many bodies in one space, it was a nightmare. The whole wedding party hit. Karma couldn't even be blamed. It was only a short time later that the string of phone calls and text messages started. The storm was huge, and hit a lot of Texas. Not only were they snowed in, but just about all of their nearly 100 guests were in the same boat. They weren't going to make the wedding. Not that there could even be a wedding without a bride and groom.
So, coming down with a crashing thump of disappointment, Jason and Taylor, curled up in bed in a miserable, vomiting, nauseous mess together, came to the realisation that they weren't getting married that day. Yet again, life had come to bite them on the ass and ruin the little happiness they were trying to clutch onto together. And they didn't even have the energy to be upset or angry. They just felt plain tired and drained, and instead of excitedly getting hitched after years of chemistry, they spent that Valentine's Day buried in bed together wishing to God that their stomachs would stop revolting on them. It was a Complete Disaster. Yet another notch for Jason to inevitably rack up on his bed post of life biting him on his numb ass.
It was now the evening after. Monday night in Austin with Valentine's Day well and truly gone. The house was quiet, the various couples still holed up in their respective bedrooms together sleeping off the tail end of the bout of food poisoning. After checking that Taylor was okay as she slept, Jason weakly dragged himself into his chair and wheeled himself into the living room where Tim was crashing on their sofa for the moment until he figured out what he was supposed to be doing next. He got there for the Best Man duties just by the skin of his teeth, only to not have his services required afterall. He was sprawled on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table, uncharacteristically a bottle of ginger ale in his hand in place of the usual beer. He looked up, raising his eyebrows when Jason appeared. "Six," he drawled. "Ya' alive, dude. Ya' looked wrecked."
"Yeah, just," Jason mumbled in reply, flicking the brakes on his chair once he was set in a position beside the sofa where he could see Tim easily. "How are you feeling?" he added and rested back in the chair tiredly. He might have stopped vomiting, but he still felt like he had been hit by a bus. He knew he drew the short straw as a quad when he got something like food poisoning. It took it's toll probably a lot heavier than it would on a non-disabled person. He didn't have the mobility for it, and just had to deal with it, even if it wasn't pretty. Taylor had helped the best she could, but every time he started vomiting, she had gone out in sympathy. The whole thing had been exhausting.
Tim held up the bottle in a slight toast before taking a swig of the soda. "Ain't like I'm unfamiliar with pukin'," he reasoned with a shrug, glancing at the TV for the football score of the Cowboys game re-run he had been watching since he woke up awhile ago. "Didn't really get hit with it as hard as the rest of ya'. Got a gut of steel. Ya' alright, dude? I'm sorry 'bout the bail shit. There was just... Billy ain't..." He stopped, a frown on his face as he wet his lips briefly. "Sorry ya' couldn't get hitched, dude. Know it was real important for ya', finally."
"You're lucky I'm too friggen wrecked to yell at you right now, Riggins," Jason growled and rubbed at his eyes with his wrists. "I don't even wanna know, alright? As soon as you can, you're getting a fucking job and paying me that bail money back. It was for our honeymoon, and ya' ain't cheating Mac out of something she deserves. I don't care if you have to clean friggen toilets. I want that money back."
Tim was still frowning as he nodded. "For sure," he grunted and then took another sip from the bottle. "How's Mac?" He felt a heavy dump of guilt fall on him when Jason mentioned her. He knew it really sucked how it all went down, and that he had promised Jason to be there for his wedding but when everything went down with Billy and the cops, Tim just had to do what he had to do. He didn't regret the choice he made, and knew he could still end up in jail for a long time. Billy needed to be with his family, though. That's all there was to it. If Jason knew, he would get it.
Jason had been watching Tim's demeanour closely, now frowning himself as he tried to connect dots that he couldn't even see clearly. It had been awhile since he had properly spoken to Tim. Weeks, really, or even close to months. It was a miracle they were probably still friends after everything that had gone down with them. But Jason couldn't shake on his loyalty. He had still grown up with Tim since they were in diapers, and they had been through a lot together. He would never profess to know Tim anymore. He really didn't. Tim had always been hard to read, but these days, Jason couldn't even begin to understand him. Far too much had changed. On the face of it, Tim seemed to be the same person, but those who knew him and had known him for a long time could see that he had changed... a lot. "She's doing a lil better. Tired, disappointed... sad. I'll take care of her, though." He narrowed his eyes a little, contemplating the youngest Riggins brother. "What ain't you telling me?" he finally added. "C'mon, Timmy. You owe me at least that much."
"Told ya' everythin'," Tim responded automatically. Flatly. "Was runnin' the chop shop. Needed cash. Wanted t'buy that land, an' it paid out. Ain't nothin' else to it." His eyes were planted firmly on the TV. He swore Jason had this way of looking into his brain when he made eye contact. It was getting easier, anyway. The more he said it out loud, the more he could believe it. It didn't matter whether it was him or Billy who had run it, all it mattered was that Billy needed to be where he was, and Tim didn't have anything to lose taking the fall. Billy had looked after him for years when their parents walked out, so this was the least he could do.
Jason held his hand out, gesturing around the room. "Ain't anyone else here, dude. Whatever you tell me won't go beyond these walls. Because you see, even though I ain't sure who you really are anymore, Timmy, I still know when something ain't right with you. I can't buy Billy knew nothing about what you were doing in his own business. I remember the copper wire shit, dude. I remember everything else that Billy got you caught up in and that you just went along with because he was your brother. You're far from a saint, but I ain't ever known you to just get in the shit for the hell of it. It's only ever when shit it outta your control. Does Billy know you took the fall for him?"
Tim dragged his eyes away from the TV screen to glance at Jason, but then they went right back. He remained silent for a long time, finishing off the soda and then letting the bottle rest heavily on the arm of the sofa, his thumb picking at the loose corner of the label. Fucking QB insight, it always gave Tim a headache. He glanced around the room, almost as if he was contemplating the four walls and their capacity. He didn't want anyone to know. It was too risky if they did, and his whole cover would be blown and Billy would go down any way. But the burden of it all suddenly felt too heavy to hold up on his shoulders and he cleared his throat roughly. "Yeah," he grunted. "He ain't asked me t'do it or nothin'. I did it. Still gonna do it, so don't bother tryin' t'talk me outta it or nothin. I appreciate ya' bailin' me out, Six, but ya' ain't gonna change my mind. Billy's gotta be with his kid. His kid ain't deservin' to grow up without a father like we did. S'all there is to it."
Jason rubbed a hand over his face with a heavy sigh, not quite believing how much of a fucking mess Tim had managed to get himself into this time. And completely innocently, too. Jason tried to put himself in Tim's shoes, but it was just too hard with him still feeling sick and exhausted. He could, however, put himself in Billy's shoes. He probably would do anything for his own kid, which is the part Jason just couldn't wrap his head around. "Why the goddamn hell did he get wrapped up in that shit with a kid on the way, anyway? How could he be so fucking stupid?"
"Medical bills," Tim mumbled and tosses the bottle into the overflowing trash beside the coffee table. "Mindy had loads of 'em. Somethin' was wrong with the pregnancy in the later days an' Billy didn't have the cash to pay for 'em all, so this is how he got it. He was just tryin' t'take care of his family. He didn't think he was gonna get caught or nothin'. J, I need ya' help. Ya' tell anyone any of this, an' I'll fuckin' kill ya', Six. I need ya' t'just back off on this one, alright? And not tell anyone. Not even Mac. Especially not Mac."
Jason scrunched his face up, now rubbing at his temples with his thumbs. But he nodded, letting out another heavy breath. "Alright... okay..." He took the brakes off his chair again and gestured over his shoulder. "I gotta go back to bed before I spew again. Just... if you need somewhere to stay for awhile, we've got another room about the size of a shoebox out back behind the laundry. It's full of shit. If you move it all out into the garage and get a bed... mattress... whatever... I'm sure no one will mind if you crash there. And if they do, I just really don't have the energy to care right now, so you can take it up with them. I have a not-wife to go make sure is okay and I'm pretty sure if I sit here any longer, I'll smack you in the face again, even if I... get on some level why you did it all."
Tim just listened to Jason's ramble, waiting for him to finish. Then he nodded, watching his friend. "Thanks, Six. If Mac or ya' need anythin'-"
"I'll ask Sam or Tyra," Jason cut him off, shooting him a wry look. He sighed again, shaking his head as he pushed himself out of the room. Now if only he could come up with some sort of way to dig them all out of the mounds of shit Texas seemed to keep heaping on them. Forever.
All muses referenced/used here with permission
Word Count | 3,085
Russian Proverb
Co-written with texas33forever
SPOILERS FOR FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS SEASON 4 FINALE
The temptation to think that some higher power was trying to tell them something was strong. It was taking all of Jason's effort and energy, both of which he had very little left of, not to let his mind jump on that route and stick there. 'Disaster' couldn't even begin to describe what Jason and Taylor's intended wedding day had turned out to be. It had to go beyond the realms of disaster just for the sheer laughability of how much went wrong. At the end of the day, all they could do was write the day off and go to Plan B... if they even had a Plan B. One doesn't exactly anticipate needing something like a Plan B when you're trying to pull off the best day of your life.
It all started on Friday. After trying to contact Tim for no less than four days to try and get him to confirm he would be there to step into the Best Man shoes for Sunday, Jason finally received a call from his best friend that he was about to divorce for good this time right in the middle of having sex with Taylor. Tim always did have typically wonderful timing, and being cut off well put Jason in a bad mood. Or worse mood, rather. He was already about ready to tear Tim a new one for leaving him hanging. He had promised he would be Jason's Best Man, only to suddenly become impossible to contact, and Jason never had much patience with Tim's antics anymore. He had been burned too much, and if Tim couldn't even make it for his wedding, it really would be the burning death of their long friendship.
But the call came, only it definitely was not the call Jason had wanted. Tim was in jail for running an illegal chop shop, but he had been granted bail and needed Jason to come bail him out. Billy had no money, and there was no one else to help. Without Jason coming to his rescue, Tim would be stuck in jail until his trial. Jason had literally been speechless, and that was a mean feat for the ex-quarterback. It wasn't often Jason Street got rendered speechless. But with all the stress of trying to get their wedding day on track that coming Sunday - Valentine's Day - his patience for anything to do with Tim Riggins was threadbare. In fact, he called Tim a bunch of horrific names and hung up on him. It took half an hour for him to cool off and call the Dillon police station again, after Taylor talked him around and pointed out that it had been Tim that had driven to New York to get her, so maybe they should just return this one last favour for him. Despite the anger, and despite the weather warnings of a snow storm pending, Jason got in his truck and drove to Dillon with Silas to bail Tim out of the slammer.
Jason appreciated the company of Tyra's boyfriend or he probably would have gone mental he was so pissed off. Tim couldn't even keep his shit together just long enough to be by Jason's side for his wedding day. He was furious, but he knew Taylor was right. Without Tim, there wouldn't even be a wedding day. Silas' presence turned out to be a godsend, though, when Jason's truck broke down. They were stuck on the side of the road for three hours until Silas decided to walk to the nearest town to get some help. Another two and a half hours, he was back and they got towed to a garage where the mostly minor problem was fixed, but they didn't make it to Dillon until one am Saturday morning. Of course, no cop shop was going to process bail at one am, so Jason and Silas slept in the truck in the police car park until business hours the next day. Only, being a Saturday, no one was in any particular hurry and they got kept waiting until after lunch. Jason's patience was non-existent by this point, and when the bail order was finally signed and stamped, giving Tim his somewhat freedom (no leaving Texas until his court hearing), it was four in the afternoon.
The drive home was icy, and that wasn't just the atmosphere in the truck. Now that Tim wasn't in the slammer, he was able to head to Austin for Jason and Taylor's wedding. But with Jason absolutely seething and unable to even look at Tim without turning bright red and growling, and Silas being Tyra's current boyfriend while Tim was her ex, it didn't exactly make for a rosy road trip. The weather outside just matched the room, pouring with rain the whole trip back and adding a good hour on the already five hour trip. They got back to the house in Austin around eleven pm... the night before Jason was supposed to get married. He was exhausted and in a worse mood than he had been in a long time, maybe ever, especially considering he had used his and Taylor's honeymoon spending money on Tim's bail. The snow was setting in as they arrived, and the only silver lining of the whole thing was that the girls (and Saracen) had a huge feast of Chinese takeout waiting for them that just needed to be reheated. There was also a slight hint of smugness in Jason when he saw how floored Tim was to not only discovered Saracen staying there, but hand-in-hand with Sam. Awkward, very awkward, but the bastard was just going to have to deal with it. It was karma for consistently dragging himself out of the loop to get into piles of shit, like running illegal chop shops when he was supposed to be getting his life on track.
They all sat down to an extremely late dinner, Taylor managing to calm Jason down by keeping a hold on his hand through the meal. There had been plans for her, Sam and Tyra to stay at a hotel that night for the whole traditional not seeing the bride before the wedding thing but Taylor cancelled it. Tradition had been the least of her worries when she was anxious about the boys driving all that way back from Dillon in the bad weather. She wanted to be here to make sure her husband-to-be was in one piece, especially knowing how angry he was. She was just trying to stay optimistic. They were getting married the next day! Finally! As far as she was concerned, nothing could stop her being ecstatic about that.
Boy was she wrong.
The snow storm hit overnight, but no one realised that initially. No, they were all too busy trying to battle a group bout of food poisoning. Every single one of them, in differing degrees, had been taken down by the Chinese feast. The bride and groom were right up on the list. In a small house with that many bodies in one space, it was a nightmare. The whole wedding party hit. Karma couldn't even be blamed. It was only a short time later that the string of phone calls and text messages started. The storm was huge, and hit a lot of Texas. Not only were they snowed in, but just about all of their nearly 100 guests were in the same boat. They weren't going to make the wedding. Not that there could even be a wedding without a bride and groom.
So, coming down with a crashing thump of disappointment, Jason and Taylor, curled up in bed in a miserable, vomiting, nauseous mess together, came to the realisation that they weren't getting married that day. Yet again, life had come to bite them on the ass and ruin the little happiness they were trying to clutch onto together. And they didn't even have the energy to be upset or angry. They just felt plain tired and drained, and instead of excitedly getting hitched after years of chemistry, they spent that Valentine's Day buried in bed together wishing to God that their stomachs would stop revolting on them. It was a Complete Disaster. Yet another notch for Jason to inevitably rack up on his bed post of life biting him on his numb ass.
It was now the evening after. Monday night in Austin with Valentine's Day well and truly gone. The house was quiet, the various couples still holed up in their respective bedrooms together sleeping off the tail end of the bout of food poisoning. After checking that Taylor was okay as she slept, Jason weakly dragged himself into his chair and wheeled himself into the living room where Tim was crashing on their sofa for the moment until he figured out what he was supposed to be doing next. He got there for the Best Man duties just by the skin of his teeth, only to not have his services required afterall. He was sprawled on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table, uncharacteristically a bottle of ginger ale in his hand in place of the usual beer. He looked up, raising his eyebrows when Jason appeared. "Six," he drawled. "Ya' alive, dude. Ya' looked wrecked."
"Yeah, just," Jason mumbled in reply, flicking the brakes on his chair once he was set in a position beside the sofa where he could see Tim easily. "How are you feeling?" he added and rested back in the chair tiredly. He might have stopped vomiting, but he still felt like he had been hit by a bus. He knew he drew the short straw as a quad when he got something like food poisoning. It took it's toll probably a lot heavier than it would on a non-disabled person. He didn't have the mobility for it, and just had to deal with it, even if it wasn't pretty. Taylor had helped the best she could, but every time he started vomiting, she had gone out in sympathy. The whole thing had been exhausting.
Tim held up the bottle in a slight toast before taking a swig of the soda. "Ain't like I'm unfamiliar with pukin'," he reasoned with a shrug, glancing at the TV for the football score of the Cowboys game re-run he had been watching since he woke up awhile ago. "Didn't really get hit with it as hard as the rest of ya'. Got a gut of steel. Ya' alright, dude? I'm sorry 'bout the bail shit. There was just... Billy ain't..." He stopped, a frown on his face as he wet his lips briefly. "Sorry ya' couldn't get hitched, dude. Know it was real important for ya', finally."
"You're lucky I'm too friggen wrecked to yell at you right now, Riggins," Jason growled and rubbed at his eyes with his wrists. "I don't even wanna know, alright? As soon as you can, you're getting a fucking job and paying me that bail money back. It was for our honeymoon, and ya' ain't cheating Mac out of something she deserves. I don't care if you have to clean friggen toilets. I want that money back."
Tim was still frowning as he nodded. "For sure," he grunted and then took another sip from the bottle. "How's Mac?" He felt a heavy dump of guilt fall on him when Jason mentioned her. He knew it really sucked how it all went down, and that he had promised Jason to be there for his wedding but when everything went down with Billy and the cops, Tim just had to do what he had to do. He didn't regret the choice he made, and knew he could still end up in jail for a long time. Billy needed to be with his family, though. That's all there was to it. If Jason knew, he would get it.
Jason had been watching Tim's demeanour closely, now frowning himself as he tried to connect dots that he couldn't even see clearly. It had been awhile since he had properly spoken to Tim. Weeks, really, or even close to months. It was a miracle they were probably still friends after everything that had gone down with them. But Jason couldn't shake on his loyalty. He had still grown up with Tim since they were in diapers, and they had been through a lot together. He would never profess to know Tim anymore. He really didn't. Tim had always been hard to read, but these days, Jason couldn't even begin to understand him. Far too much had changed. On the face of it, Tim seemed to be the same person, but those who knew him and had known him for a long time could see that he had changed... a lot. "She's doing a lil better. Tired, disappointed... sad. I'll take care of her, though." He narrowed his eyes a little, contemplating the youngest Riggins brother. "What ain't you telling me?" he finally added. "C'mon, Timmy. You owe me at least that much."
"Told ya' everythin'," Tim responded automatically. Flatly. "Was runnin' the chop shop. Needed cash. Wanted t'buy that land, an' it paid out. Ain't nothin' else to it." His eyes were planted firmly on the TV. He swore Jason had this way of looking into his brain when he made eye contact. It was getting easier, anyway. The more he said it out loud, the more he could believe it. It didn't matter whether it was him or Billy who had run it, all it mattered was that Billy needed to be where he was, and Tim didn't have anything to lose taking the fall. Billy had looked after him for years when their parents walked out, so this was the least he could do.
Jason held his hand out, gesturing around the room. "Ain't anyone else here, dude. Whatever you tell me won't go beyond these walls. Because you see, even though I ain't sure who you really are anymore, Timmy, I still know when something ain't right with you. I can't buy Billy knew nothing about what you were doing in his own business. I remember the copper wire shit, dude. I remember everything else that Billy got you caught up in and that you just went along with because he was your brother. You're far from a saint, but I ain't ever known you to just get in the shit for the hell of it. It's only ever when shit it outta your control. Does Billy know you took the fall for him?"
Tim dragged his eyes away from the TV screen to glance at Jason, but then they went right back. He remained silent for a long time, finishing off the soda and then letting the bottle rest heavily on the arm of the sofa, his thumb picking at the loose corner of the label. Fucking QB insight, it always gave Tim a headache. He glanced around the room, almost as if he was contemplating the four walls and their capacity. He didn't want anyone to know. It was too risky if they did, and his whole cover would be blown and Billy would go down any way. But the burden of it all suddenly felt too heavy to hold up on his shoulders and he cleared his throat roughly. "Yeah," he grunted. "He ain't asked me t'do it or nothin'. I did it. Still gonna do it, so don't bother tryin' t'talk me outta it or nothin. I appreciate ya' bailin' me out, Six, but ya' ain't gonna change my mind. Billy's gotta be with his kid. His kid ain't deservin' to grow up without a father like we did. S'all there is to it."
Jason rubbed a hand over his face with a heavy sigh, not quite believing how much of a fucking mess Tim had managed to get himself into this time. And completely innocently, too. Jason tried to put himself in Tim's shoes, but it was just too hard with him still feeling sick and exhausted. He could, however, put himself in Billy's shoes. He probably would do anything for his own kid, which is the part Jason just couldn't wrap his head around. "Why the goddamn hell did he get wrapped up in that shit with a kid on the way, anyway? How could he be so fucking stupid?"
"Medical bills," Tim mumbled and tosses the bottle into the overflowing trash beside the coffee table. "Mindy had loads of 'em. Somethin' was wrong with the pregnancy in the later days an' Billy didn't have the cash to pay for 'em all, so this is how he got it. He was just tryin' t'take care of his family. He didn't think he was gonna get caught or nothin'. J, I need ya' help. Ya' tell anyone any of this, an' I'll fuckin' kill ya', Six. I need ya' t'just back off on this one, alright? And not tell anyone. Not even Mac. Especially not Mac."
Jason scrunched his face up, now rubbing at his temples with his thumbs. But he nodded, letting out another heavy breath. "Alright... okay..." He took the brakes off his chair again and gestured over his shoulder. "I gotta go back to bed before I spew again. Just... if you need somewhere to stay for awhile, we've got another room about the size of a shoebox out back behind the laundry. It's full of shit. If you move it all out into the garage and get a bed... mattress... whatever... I'm sure no one will mind if you crash there. And if they do, I just really don't have the energy to care right now, so you can take it up with them. I have a not-wife to go make sure is okay and I'm pretty sure if I sit here any longer, I'll smack you in the face again, even if I... get on some level why you did it all."
Tim just listened to Jason's ramble, waiting for him to finish. Then he nodded, watching his friend. "Thanks, Six. If Mac or ya' need anythin'-"
"I'll ask Sam or Tyra," Jason cut him off, shooting him a wry look. He sighed again, shaking his head as he pushed himself out of the room. Now if only he could come up with some sort of way to dig them all out of the mounds of shit Texas seemed to keep heaping on them. Forever.
All muses referenced/used here with permission
Word Count | 3,085