Matt came round to Zacky's as soon as he could the following morning. As he pulled his car into the large gravel drive he spotted his friend stood waiting for him on the steps of his house, smoking a cigarette. Zacky looked warn out, his bloodshot eyes and shaking hands confirmed this to Matt. He got out the car and walked towards the door.

"Came as soon as I could".

Zacky nodded, blew the last of the smoke out his cigarette and snubbed it out in a near by plant pot.

"Did you tell Val?" Zacky bought his dirty green eyes up to Matt's.

"No, I managed to sneak out the house before she woke up, she'll think I went to Brian's or something, it's nothing to worry about".

Zacky led him inside to the main living room and gestured him to sit down, whilst picking up two recently brewed cups of coffee off the side counter.

Matt thanked Zacky as he took the cup off of him and took a long sip "where is he now? And more importantly...have you removed all sharp objects from the house".

Zacky didn't really like Matts tone with him, it felt intrusive and as if he hadn't thought of all these things. "He's asleep now, the pain medication that the nurses gave him knocks him out cold plus I think he's pretty exhausted by the whole situation. And yeah, I hid everything".

Matt took a moment to take this all in, taking long sips from his coffee. "How did you find him?"

"On the floor in his shitty apartment, surrounded by blood and beer cans. I knew where he lived and I got a text at around 05:40am asking for help, looks like I just got to him in time".

Matt stood up and began to walk up the stairs as Zacky called after him.

"Don't wake him up! I need to think what to do before I talk to I'm properly".

Matt ignored Zacky's instructions and opened the door to Johnny's bedroom. There he was, wrapped in a plain white duvet, face pressed deep into the massive pillows, snoring slightly. Matt backed slowly out the door and turned to find Zacky standing close behind him.

"He's still asleep, I didn't wake him".

Zacky nodded and went back down stairs and into the kitchen, pulling himself into a chair at the table. "I'm worried I can't help him, I'm worried that its too late and that perhaps he'll never get better again".

Matt leant against the counter top, his muscles flexing slightly as he held up his weight. "Perhaps you could have. But it's too late to think like that now, all Johnny needs is for his friends to be there while he gets better, if not in person but..."

"You mean like put him in a mental institution for someone else to deal with?" Zacky quickly questioned.

"Maybe, look I wouldn't want him to go there myself but it won't allow you to be under the pressure to help him, it's not your sole responsibility".

Zacky understood completely, he had considered it before but hearing it come from someone else frightened him. He gazed around the room looking for an answer.

"There must be another way, I mean......let him stay here until he's improved slightly...and then..."

"What, let him go live back in that horrible place and deal with everything, yeah sure Zacky, lets make him arms look better but not deal with he emotional side of things"

Zacky felt the tension in the room rising slightly, he didn't enjoy being pressured by Matt to think quickly. "I don't know what to do...that's why I called you, Johnny's always talking about you, he looks up to you".

Johnny suddenly appeared in the frame of the kitchen, still half asleep with the duvet wrapped around him.

"Were you talking about me?"

Matt and Zacky looked at each other and then down at the table.

"Yeah...yeah we were" Zacky was suddenly ashamed, surely if he wanted Johnny to get better, he would talk to him directly about his problems.

Johnny shuffled around on his feet and pulled the duvet tighter around him, feeling the onset of the Autumn chill.

"Can I have a grilled cheese sandwich, I'm pretty hungry".

Suddenly all the men burst into hysterics. Johnny may not be feeling well but at least his attitude hadn't changed. Matt leapt up from his chair and pulled him into a tight, long hug.

"Sorry, Zacky told me" Matt finally said pulling away slightly and brush Johnny's limp brown hair out of his face. Johnny gazed towards Zacky, watching him begin to prepare the sandwich.

"It's okay, thanks for coming".

Johnny pulled fully away from Matt and sat down at the table, duvet still firmly wrapped around him. A few moments later Zacky placed the food down in front of him. Johnny starred at the sandwich and finally unravelled the duvet to reveal his arms.

Matt couldn't help but gasp slightly at the sight of the bassists arms. He watched intently as Johnny ate, taking in the sight and the seriousness of the incident.

It was at that point that Matt decided how he would help his friend.

Notes

Filler chapter! Sorry it's mover dialogue than I wanted but I need to introduce Matt more to the storyline.

xx