Falling Asleep on a Stranger

"Spongebob, you incompetent fool, how could you let this happen?!"

"I'm sorry, Squidward! I was just trying to help!"

Ugh, god, was my childhood invading my dreams? No, I could tell, this was reality. But why was Spongebob, of all things playing on the TV?

"Wake up, sleepy-head," Tony mumbled against my forehead and kissed my nose. I groaned and turned over onto my back, squinting my eyes open and taking a deep sigh. Mornings were never my forté and I was already a tired person, so we just didn't get along.

"You're tired," Tony commented and I felt like socking him in the face, if I had the energy.

"No shit, Sherlock." was my ingenious retort. "Can I ask why you're a 19 year old watching a show made for seven year olds?"

Tony just stared at me for a second and then sighed. "Spongebob is classic comedy! Doesn't this bring you back to the days when it was easier, when all you had to worry about was what cereal you had in the morning? I don't know about you but Spongebob is part of my childhood and I miss that sometimes." he smiled softly after, and I just laughed at the way he turned this into something deep and meaningful.

"What?" he asked. I just shook my head and stood to walk to the bathroom. A shower was necessary and if I was being honest, I didnt want to watch Spongebob. It got predictable.

While I stood in the shower, washing my hair, it got me thinking about last night. Despite it being one of the best nights I'd ever spent with someone, it still left room for questions; were Tony and I together? Of course, we'd never had a real break up and he probably didn't realize I was seriously thinking about it, but everything had been so complicated, and we got stuck in the middle. I didn't know if I wanted that or not. Would a relationship even work for us? Before it was just school, but now... I'd have to make note to talk to him later, around lunch or dinner or something.

When I was done with my shower I went back into the room, Tony still in the same spot on our bed, laying down. His eyes were glued to the television and a small smile was playing on his lips, and every so often he would toss things into his duffel bag during the commercials. I went to lay down on the bed next to him and he scooted over without a word, draping his arm over my shoulder in the process.

~

"Do you have everything?" he asked as I was getting my suitcase completely packed up.

"Yes, yes, I got all my stuff. Check the bathroom, get the towels and soaps and stuff. They don't do that added charge thing here," I said, while Tony gave the room a once-over. He walked into the little room and I continued shoving stuff into my bag.

"Tone, 9:45, we gotta go!" I yelled, since checkout was at ten and we had to be out of the room soon. He didnt reply, just came back with all the stuff and shoved it into his and my bag. We'd need all the random things we could get, because neither Tony nor I knew how long finding Vic would take.

At 9:54 we were rushing out the door and down the stairs to the front desk. It was quick, just getting out of there and into the car. I was glad we paid up front, because I didnt think we would have had time.

Tony flipped the radio on as soon as we left the parking lot, trying to find something good to listen to. Unfortunately, we didn't know the area too well and consequently, the stations too. I was counting on having some CD's or a dock for my phone, but no such luck. So right now, all we had was Katy Perry and "The Biebs". He shut it off after a little while, and the silence, although comfortable, was quite tense and a bit aggravating.

"Tone, I gotta ask you something," I said, unable to hold off on my question.

"What's that?" he replied, playing with his shirt sleeve.

"Um, well," I began, "Like, what's going on? Like, what are we doing here, with us?" he looked over at me, I could feel his eyes digging into my skin and his lack of answer was making me uncomfortable.

"Well," he finally sighed, "What do you want it to be?"

Well, if we were playing it that way, I had no idea. I explained my thoughts from before, in the hotel, about how we got stuck in the middle of my brother and Jaime's escapade, and I didn't know if a relationship could hold under that. But the comfort would be nice, reassuring, hopeful, even. He nodded after my speech, a small smile on his face.

"You know what, Mike, i'm not sure what this is, but I like it." and I felt his hand brush over mine, and then his fingers falling in between mine, and I knew I wanted this. I wanted him to be mine, whatever that meant.

I was thinking later that day, after a ton of driving and sincerely hoping Vic was alive and okay. If he wasn't, then all this money and driving and stuff would go to waste, and then Jaime would have a lot of hell to pay.

~~ No one's POV; 3rd person

"Jaime," Vic gasped, out of breath, "Why don't you just kill me now, put me out of my misery?"

Jaime laughed maniacally, dismissing Vic's question with a wave of his hand and walking over to his hanging body, putting his face inches from the other man.

"I wouldn't do that to Mike, now would I?" he asked. "Oh, if I killed you now, he'd be upset, sure, but wouldn't it be better if he saw it in person? Tony has probably already told him about this place, i'm rather predictable, according to him. But Vic, wouldn't you like to see your brother before your death?"

Vic's eyes went wide in shock at what Jaime was proposing. "No! You can't do that to my brother!" he yelled. Jaime cackled and smirked at his victim, bruised and hanging by his wrists in shackles. He hung from the chains, helpless against the cellar wall and cried, begging for his captor's mercy. Jaime took a step closer, looking Vic straight in the eyes.

"Just try and stop me."