The Bond that Saves Us

When Matt woke he knew that it wouldn’t be a very pleasant day. He was going to be the one to deliver the divorce papers to Brian’s wife and his father. He slid out of bed carefully and got dressed, he grabbed the two envelopes and left Brian a note before leaving.

The first stop he made was to Michelle. He knocked on the door and waited a minute, when she didn’t answer he rang the bell a few times. He slid the envelope though the mail slot and decided to give up on pleasantry’s.

It was almost eight when he arrived at Gary’s house. Once again he knocked and rang the bell; his father answered the door looking more than a little drunk.

“Whada-ya want?” He grouched, Matt pulled out the envelope and held it out to his father. “What’s this? A present for dear old dad?”

“No, divorce papers from my mother.” Matt didn’t miss the clench of his fathers jaw at his words.

“Oh yeah, well the little whore can go die for all I care.” He spat at Matt and got ready to slam the door on his son.

“My mothers not a whore, and she’s a better parent than you have ever been. A better human being for that matter.” Matt saw the clenched fist fly at him but he was a split second to slow to dodge it. The fist connected to his jaw. “Yeah a violent fuck like always huh Gary, that’s all you ever will be. I hope you rot in hell, unhappy for the rest of your days because you ran off everyone you love.”

Matt’s father watched as he climbed into the car and drove off. A scowl on his face. As far as he was concerned he didn’t even have a son, in his mind the ‘little faggot’ had taken everything away from him. Made his wife leave him and his daughter hate him.

When Matt got home Brian was awake, feeding Kaden at the kitchen table. Brian looked up from his food and saw Matt’s face, he stood up and headed toward the fridge.

“What happened to you?” Brian grabbed an icepack and brought it over to Matt, holding it over the red mark on his cheek.

“Gary didn’t take the news well.” Brian shook his head and pulled the icepack back to look at it again.

“This needs cleaned up, go sit down and I’ll grab the stuff.” Brian walked out of the room and came back in with the medical kit. He grabbed the peroxide and a cotton ball, he poured a little bit on the cotton and held it up to Matt’s cut cheek. “Did he get you with his ring?”

“Probably,” Matt hissed from the sting and pulled back a little bit causing his hair to fall in the way. Brian brushed the few strands of hair behind Matt’s ear once more and applied more peroxide letting it work out the dirt for a few more seconds. He then put healing cream on it and a Band-Aid. He grabbed the icepack and handed it to Matt again before cleaning up his mess. “What would I do without you Brian?”

“Be lost in some far away land.” Brian joked, not realizing that his best friend was being serious. He saw the taught expression his friend had on his face and rethought it. “You would be just fine.”

“I’ve thought about that question a lot since Jimmy. I honestly cant see my life without you guys. Now that I’ve lost one of you I don’t even want to think about loosing another.” Matt held Brian’s gaze and the guitarist nodded. “You guys are my family, my mom and sister are of course but you guys are the ones I can tell anything to and I know you guys will always have my back.”

“After Jimmy, I started to feel like something was missing. I’ve searched so hard to find that little piece of happiness but it’s just gone. I don’t think it will ever be coming back.” Brian answered from across the kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Maybe we have to focus on new happiness. Remember the old but find something else that makes us happy as well.” Matt finally looked down at the table.

“Like what M? I’m so sick of searching for something to fill that gap.” Brian felt tears start to burn his eyes.

“I don’t know Brian. Maybe we shouldn’t be searching for something to fill the gap. Maybe nothing will fit and that’s why we can’t find it.” Matt blinked his eyes quickly a few times to hold back the tears. He stood up from the table and made himself a bowl of cereal. Breakfast was silent when Brian joined him and the baby at the table.

They both settled into cleaning for a few hours. Brian decided to deep clean the kitchen and bathroom and Matt started on the living room. Just as Brian was finishing up the kitchen the doorbell rang. Matt was the closest, he looked through the peep hole before answering the door.

“Hello Michelle.” He greeted, she huffed and shoved his shoulder as she walked past him. Her belly was so big she looked like she was ready to pop but Matt knew she was only eight months along.

“Brian fucking Haner get your ass out here!” She screeched; a few seconds later Brian walked out drying his hands on a dish towel.

“How can I help you Michelle?” It took all Matt had not to laugh at the sassy lifted eyebrow look he shot at his wife. It looked like he was silently saying ‘what the hell do you want’.

“What the fuck is this Brian?” She threw the envelope at his chest, Brian didn’t catch it and let it fall to the floor.

“Divorce papers.” Brian stated blandly, crossing his arms over his chest. He watched as Matt made his way out of the room to give them privacy.

“Why would you give me these?” She went from angry to teary eyed in a split second, her lip trembling. “I’m your wife and I’m pregnant with your baby, I thought you wanted to have a family.”

“I did, until I caught my pregnant wife cheating on me in a night club.” Brian shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. “I don’t even know if the kid’s mine!”

“She’s yours Brian. There’s no chance of her being anyone else’s. I’ve never cheated on you once baby please believe me.” Michelle pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Maybe it was Val that you saw. Please believe me.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit.” He snarled “ I saw you, pregnant belly and all. You were giving head to some guy in the back room of Heat! I saw your face!”

“It was just that once baby please, don’t leave me.” Brian shook his head at her, he picked up the papers and held them out to her.

“If you don’t sign these I will have them delivered to you legally and I will take you to court over it, I know we’ll wide up there eventually but I can take this to a judge if you refuse. I’ve got you on camera committing infidelity, I’m sure they’ll side with me.” She took the papers with big tears in her eyes.

“Please don’t do this! You are my life! My everything!” She nearly screeched at him.

“Then you should have been faithful.” Brian walked over to the door and opened it for her.

“So what now, you just move in with the faggot? You do know that’s what he is don’t you? Is that how you want people to see you Brian?” She snided, Brian clenched his fist around the door knob.

“Get the fuck out of this house Michelle. I don’t want to see you right now especially if you have to go so low as to attack someone outside of our marriage to feel better about our divorce.” She walked toward the door and started to walk out, half way though the door she turned around.

“You are his little bitch aren’t you?! You’ve never been anything other than that, and you probably wondered why found other men.” She smirked and walked the rest of the way out, Brian slamming the door right behind her.

Brian ran a shaky hand through his hair, tugging at the tips for a second, staring at the door. How the hell could she just lie to his face like that and expect him to believe it. If Brian had honestly been her everything she should have been messing around on him. A hard ball formed in Brian’s stomach. He really didn’t want to have to ask for a paternity test but he was going to have to now. He honestly hoped the baby would be his, even if that meant that he would have to deal with Michelle for the next eighteen years.

What did she mean about him being a bitch? Brian had never been anything but a loving husband toward her. She had been cold and calculating through their whole marriage. Maybe she’d meant that he lacked masculinity. Brian would be the first to admit that he did have his feminine traits about him. He wore his hair long, he liked eyeliner and didn’t really have that much of a dominant personality. But did that honestly make him a bitch?

The door to the kitchen swung open as Matt came out of the room carrying Kaden. Brian just looked at his best friend and shook his head, not knowing really what to say about the situation.

“You okay?” Matt asked, Adel jumped up on the arm of the couch and put her paws on Brian’s stomach. Brian ran his hand down the cats back thinking about it for a second.

“What the hell did she mean, that I’m a bitch?” Brian asked, Matt honestly didn’t have an answer for him.

“She was trying to hurt you Brian, don’t dwell on it.” Brian let out a long breath, seeming to deflate a little bit. He shook his head, and walked around to sit on the couch, propping his feet up on the table. Grabbing the remote he switched it to an old movie channel, he was done with everything, not wanting to think about anything for a little while. Matt understood, he settled in next to his friend. They watched the movie together in a comfortable silence while Kaden played around with the toys in his toy-box, babbling to them every once in a while.

“You look tired,” Two hours later Kaden walked up to Brian, they had finished the movie and were now watching Scooby Doo reruns.

Kaden shook his head, wiping his eyes. Brian had switched positons, his feet were up on the couch and he was propped up on his elbow. Kaden climbed up in the space in front of his chest and cuddled his back against Brian’s chest. The guitarist had to stretch his legs a little bit further so Kaden wasn’t so squished up. His arm lightly laid over the little boy’s side.

Matt smiled from his place on the end of the couch. His son had never really been one to cuddle with people except Matt. He watched as the pair slowly fell asleep. Kaden went first, his little eyes drooping and popping back open a few times before finally closing. Brian just simply closed his eyes and started to breathe evenly.

Getting up off the couch Matt grabbed the blanket from the armchair. He covered them up and watched as Brian stretched out a little more, finally fully laying down.

For the next few hours Matt made himself busy. He eventually wrote a note and pulled on some clothes, heading to the store. While he was shopping he grabbed a few breakfast items they were running low on, cereal was a must have for Kaden and Matt really wanted bagels. He wasn’t too sure what Brian’s favorite breakfast food was so he picked up a few other odds and ends. It took him about an hour in the store, he’d picked up about a weeks worth of food, by the time he was in the check out lane it was already dark out.

Matt was walking out of the store when he was blindsided. A figure in dark clothing pinned him face first into the side of his car. Matt could see the glint of a gun through the window before it pressed to his head.

“Scream and I shoot.” The person felt around in Matt’s pockets and grabbed his wallet and keys. Matt stood still, knowing that this person could shoot him at any moment. The guy pulled away, grabbing Matt by the back of his shirt, forcing him backward over his foot. Matt landed on his butt, seconds later the guy was round the other side of his car and taking off with it.

Matt let himself calm down for a minute. He didn’t even stand up, he stayed where he was. A few people passed by him but no one really cared about what had happened. When he finally felt ready to get up Matt was on shaky legs. Matt felt for his pocket, his phone was gone too.

“Excuse me” Matt said to the next person to walk by, the woman’s eyes widened a little bit and she hastily walked away. He tried to get the attention of a few other people when finally a guy recognized him from being in Avenged Sevenfold. He handed over his phone with a smile on his face when Matt asked to make a couple of calls.

The first thing Matt did was call Brian and told him what happened, the guy listened in but Matt didn’t even care.

“Brian, I need you to come get me. I got mugged at gun point, someone took off with my car, wallet and phone.” Matt heard Kaden start to cry in the background. The crying got closer as Brian spoke.

“Are you okay?” Brian’s voice sounded slightly panicked, the crying was right next to his ear, Brian shushed the toddler while he waited for Matt to respond. “Shh, it’s okay buddy, let me see it.”

“I’ll be fine, is he okay?” Matt asked, even though he had just been mugged the only thing the singer could think about was why his baby was crying.

“He’s okay, he pinched his finger in the cabinet. I asked him to stay away from it but he insisted on getting into it when I turned around for a second. I’ll be on the way in a second, just getting his shoes on.” The cries had gotten a bit quieter but the little boy was still whining in the background. “Did you call the cops.”

“Not yet, I don’t even want to think about it.” Matt shook his head, the guy was watching intently. “I guess I should, I’m going to hop off here and report it, I’ll see you guys soon. The extra car seat is in the closet by the front door.”

“Thanks, we’ll be there soon.” The other line clicked off and Matt pulled the phone away. After he made the call to the police Matt smiled at the man and handed the phone back to him.

“Thank you, honestly you have no idea how much you just helped. I’m sorry I feel as if I’ve been very rude, what’s your name?”

“David, I already know who you were so the introduction didn’t seem so important.” The guy chuckled to himself bashfully. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, my friend is going to be here soon. The thing I’m not looking forward to is reporting this, its going to take forever and all I want to do is go home, eat dinner and forget that this crap ever happened.” Matt sat down on a curb next to where his car had been parked.

“I understand that, something really bad happened and now you want to forget it.” David sat down next to Matt and they chatted for a little while. When Brian’s car pulled up Matt stood up. He hadn’t expected Brian to park right next to him, jump out of the car and pull him into a hug.

Brian pulled away just enough to look him over, he even made Matt turn around so he could make sure he was okay. Matt rolled his eyes at his best friends antics but allowed him to be comforted knowing the singer was okay. Brian pulled him into another hug.

“Please don’t ever scare me like that again. I already lost Jimmy I cant loose you too.” Brian murmured next to his friends ear. Brian’s eyes locked onto a cream colored pair over Matt’s shoulder and pulled away from his best friend. The last thing they needed was more publicity about this. No doubt it would be in the papers the next day. ‘Famous singer gets mugged, his best friend, a man, comforts him with a rather sensual hug.’ He could see the bullshit already.

“Oh, Brian this is David. He let me use his phone and kept me company until you got here.” Brian shook the other mans hand. Matt watched in amusement when David’s eyes lit up as he shook Brian’s hand. The guy was awestruck and trying not to show it. He was doing pretty good at it too, Brian didn’t notice.

After the introduction Brian grabbed Kaden out of his seat and carried him over to them. He tried to hand the baby over to Matt but Kaden kept his arms around Brian’s neck and clung on saying ‘no Bwian, no down.’

Brian lifted his brows, looking over at Matt. The singer smiled and rubbed his sons back. Kaden lifted his head and turned his head, noticing his dad, his eyes lit up and he practically jumped out of Brian’s arms and into Matt’s.

“Hey buddy, did you have fun with Brian?” For the next few minutes Matt got to hear how Brian and Kaden had played with LEGO’s and Brian had made him a sandwich. Apparently they’d built a big house with a red thing sticking out of the top. “I heard that you also smooshed your finger doing something Brian told you not to.”

The little boy looked bashfully away from his dad. He turned his attention back to him and showed him his little bruise.

“This is why you listen to Brian when he says not to do something isn’t it. So you don’t get thes owies.” Matt kissed the store finger and watched as the little boy nodded.

“Yes Dabby.” Kaden wrapped his arms around Matt’s neck and hugged him.

When the police came on the scene Matt handed Kaden back to Brian and gave his report. The singer was surprised that they didn’t have to go to the station, they just took his statement and left. Reminding Matt that he now needed to file for a few drivers license and cancel his bank cards.

Matt once again thanked David and let him know that if he ever wanted to hang out just give Brian a call now that Matt’s phone was gone. One more thing he’d have to get new.

When they got home Matt got online and canceled his bank cards, reporting them stolen. He could go pick up a replacement in the morning, but it would take two weeks for his specialized card to come in the mail.

Brian unloaded the groceries that Matt had bought, the one thing that the robber hadn’t taken, and put some dinner in the oven.

It was a quiet night, they ate on the couch and eventually retired to their respective rooms.

Brian woke in the middle of the night, a loud bang and a scream echoed in his ears. He met Matt in the hallway and they both ran toward Kaden’s room. Glass broke around them as the windows shattered as bullets rang through the windows.

Kaden was screaming and crying when they got to him. The toy shelf above his bed had fallen on his leg when it had been hit by a bullet. A bullet whizzed by his head and he pulled Brian down to the floor with him, they crawled to Kaden’s bed and lifted the shelf off of him. Matt pulled the little boy off the bed with them and crawled out of the room. The shots were still going and things like vases kept breaking as they made their way down the hall.

“Take him,” Matt quickly passed Kaden over to Brian and opened the hall closet. Inside was a safe, Matt’s gun safe. He grabbed his shotgun and a few of the pistols he had stored inside as well as bullets for them, he quickly loaded them and handed Brian one of the hand guns. He stuckthe second in the back of his pants and grabbed the shotgun.

They made their way down stairs, having to use things like the couch for cover when the glass window in the back of the house had exposed them.

“Get to the garage, I’m going to make sure there is no one out front when we take off, ill knock on the garage door, open it and ill get in with you.” Brian nodded, holding on to Kaden, ran for the kitchen, grabbing his keys, wallet and phone off the counter. Remembering the glass door that was between him and the garage Brian ducked and looked around the corner of the counter. There were three people in the back yard, none of them seemed focused on the glass door so Brian ran for it. A second after he made it into the hall that led to the garage the glass door got shot out.

Brian flung open the garage door and pried Kaden off of him. The boy was screaming as he sat him down but Brian couldn’t do anything about it. Looking around Brian saw a work bench, he used every bit of muscle he had moving it in front of the door so they couldn’t push it open. It wouldn’t do much to help them but fucking hell it would do enough to slow them down if they were on foot.

Brian loaded Kaden up in the car and turned it on, he knew that it was dangerous to start the car in a closed garage, the fumes could kill them if they stayed in them but Brian didn’t have time to think about it as bullets came through the door leading to the inside of the house.

He realized that he didn’t have a garage door opener and the bullets were getting closer to them. He pushed on the gas and the car shot forward, breaking through the garage door. Matt looked at him wide eyed from the edge of the garage door. Brian had been really lucky that his best friend wasn’t in the way when he’d done that but he had to do something. He wasn’t going to let his best friends baby get killed.

Matt opened the door and got in, before he even had his belt on Brian sped down the road toward town. Kaden was still crying when they got half way to town. Matt looked back at the little boy and noticed that his leg was a deep shade of purple and was bent funky.

“Brian get us to the hospital.” Brian looked at him with wide eyes for a second, turning his attention back to the road he spoke.

“You okay?”

“I think that shelf broke his leg.” It took some time but Matt maneuvered himself into the back seat. Matt unbuckled his son and pulled him into his arms to comfort him, the poor little guy had to be in so much pain.

“We’re not being followed,” Brian stated checking in the mirror once again. “We can call the cops from the hospital.”

“Shh its okay buddy. I know it hurts I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Matt whispered to his son, Brian watched his best friend though the mirror when they came up to a stop light. Matt’s eyes were watery and he was gently rubbing Kaden’s back.

“There’s nothing you could have done Matt.” Matt nodded at his friend thankful when the light turned green and Brian could drive once more.

When they got to the hospital the doctor admitted Kaden immediately. They had to take him in for surgery, it wasn’t just a simple break, Kaden’s leg had shattered near his ankle. It was nothing life threatening but it could affect the little boy for the rest of his life.

In the waiting room Brian called Matt’s mom and the cops. He knew that while Matt was with the little boy in surgery he could get almost everything sorted. They would still need Matt’s statement but that could wait a few days.

The last thing Brian remembered before he fell asleep in the chair, when everything had been taken care off, was seeing Matt laying on his sons bed beside him; Kimberly holding both of their hands.

Notes

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