Paramus

He and Elliott had become friends almost from their first meeting, which hadn’t been too long before this whole apocalypse mess had started. They had gotten close much faster than Sebastian normally allowed. But there was just something about Elliott. Sure, at first, Sebastian’s motives had been impure, but soon, a lot sooner than he cared to admit, the time they spent together had nothing at all to do with the fact that Elliott was attractive and single. Hell, he wasn’t even trying to sleep with him anymore. Maybe that was because of the apocalypse putting a major damper on everyone’s sex lives, but maybe it wasn’t. This was all uncharted territory for Sebastian.

Elliott was a great guy, much better than Sebastian when it came to dealing with people in a nice, respectful way and making morally sound decisions. He was so open, so down-to-earth, and so caring, which was stuff Sebastian didn’t even realize he valued as much as he did. And he was so much fun to be around, even if all they did was talk. He saw the walls that Sebastian kept up, and he removed just enough of the metaphorical bricks to work his way in. He had practically made Sebastian become his best friend, and Sebastian, somewhat uncharacteristically, had let him.

He didn’t fucking deserve this. Sebastian knew life wasn’t fair, and the end of the goddamn world certainly wasn’t fair, but damn it! Why Elliott’s family? Why Elliott? Was that really fucking necessary? Sebastian shook his head. Who the hell was he even asking? God? Until recently, Sebastian had been sure God didn’t exist. Now, he honestly didn’t know what to believe (or not to believe) anymore.

--

Suddenly, Elliott stopped, causing the rest of them to stop and almost collide with each other. He seemed to come back to himself, at least a little bit. “Where are we going?” he asked.

They all looked at each other. No one knew the answer. Finally, Adam replied, “Away.”

Kurt looked around. “Where are we?” He tried to consult his maps, but they didn’t have a city map of Paramus, so Sebastian really didn’t know what good that was supposed to do.

Their map of Paramus stared down at the pavement with unseeing eyes. Sebastian placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him an inquisitive look. “Do you have any idea where we are?”

Elliott looked around. “I-I think… if we keep heading north—I think we’ll end up...out of town.” It was clearly hard for him to talk after all of the crying he had done and with his mind still evidently fucked up.

But they needed to keep him talking. If for no other reason than because Sebastian needed an answer to the question that had been haunting him almost since they’d left the horrible place that had once been Elliott’s home. “So, what now?” he asked.

“Hm?” Elliott was confused. He looked so out of it.

“Where does this leave us? Where are we gonna go? What are we gonna do?” He hated to interrogate Elliott right now in his current state, but they needed to know.

Elliott seemed to consider this, struggle with it. “I don’t know,” he confessed, “I—I really don’t…” He looked like he was thinking about it some more. “I-I think… I think I—I wanna go with them… with Kurt and Adam, t-t-to Lima.”

The question “are you nuts?” was at the tip of Sebastian’s tongue, but as he continued to watch Elliott something inside him told him to be gentle. It was the same part of him that hurt because of how badly Elliott was hurting. So, instead, he softly asked, “Are you sure?”

Elliott nodded and bit his lip. He sniffed. “There’s nothing here for us… There’s nothing back where we came from either.” He paused, and Sebastian could tell it was still hard for him to speak.

So, he spared him from any further explanation. “Okay,” he said, putting his hand back on Elliott’s shoulder. Elliott placed a hand over it, and something about that gesture tugged at Sebastian’s normally guarded heart. He still wasn’t so sure of the plan, but in that moment he decided he was as sure of it as he was anything else. After all, nothing was certain anymore, was it?