Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

His phone screamed at him from its charging place next to couch, another reminder telling him to wake up- Ignored in favour of rolling over and covering his ears.

The third hangover of the week; it was how he measured days- this being the third, meaning it was a Wednesday. He lay there, waiting for the alarm to shut off, knowing it wouldn’t bother him again.

He always set an alarm, even though he knew he would ignore it. It was just his daily reminder that his life had been going downhill since he hit thirteen, and hell he was only twenty-one now.

The alarm had just shut off and he was just about drifting back into a fitful sleep; but his phone started up again, a very different noise, which he hadn’t heard in a very long time, ringing.

Somebody was calling him, he assumed it was Heather, she would ring once every three months or so; he had stopped answering her a year ago, and she hadn’t rung for six months. He didn’t think anyone else even remembered him.

He rolled over to face his phone and scowled at the unfamiliar number that decorated the cracked screen. His curiosity peaked, and he hit the answer button. He poked weakly at the loudspeaker button, and groaned quietly, as a greeting- he guessed.

“Come on Will, pick up, pick up.” The voice at the other end mumbles.

Will groans louder to make his presence known.

“Oh, thank God, you picked up.” Will didn’t recognise the voice quite, he knew he’d heard it somewhere before, but he couldn’t place it.

“Listen, it’s Tunny. I was wondering how you were doing?” Will recognised the name Tunny, his former friend, who had left him in Jingletown three years ago.

“Okay silence, so you’re either hungover, or already too drunk to know how words work. Listen- I’m coming over next week, and I’m bringing company- so you better take a shower before we arrive.” Tunny stated.

Will would rather die than see either of his old friends, but he wasn’t going to admit that.

“I sent a text to Heather too, but she didn’t respond. I’ll see you in a week.”

Will opened his mouth to respond, to either tell him to not bother coming, or that Heather had left.

The phone beeped, signalling that Tunny had cut off the call.

Will had wondered why Tunny had specified he was bringing company, but not indicating that said company was Johnny.

Maybe him and Johnny had a disagreement, or something like that.

The week dragged on, as Will awaited the arrival of his old friend…

A knock at the door awoke Will from his nightmare, a full hour before his alarm would normally do so. He had forgotten all about Tunny until he shuffled over to the door to open it.

Tunny was on crutches, and one his legs was amputated just above the knee. Will stared at him, unable to believe that this was what his ex-friend even though it had only been three years.

“Will, it’s nice to see you again, how have you been?” Tunny said, Will blinked- taking a moment to process the words.

“Okay, I guess.” He replied.

“How’s Heather, is she at work or something?” Tunny asked, straining his eyes to look around the dark apartment for the aforementioned woman.

Will looked down at the grubby wooden floor.

“She left, about two years ago- she took the baby with her.” He sighed.

“So, you’ve been alone? For the last two years?” Tunny questioned. Will nodded.

“Will, I can’t believe you didn’t call me or Johnny-” Tunny hesitated.

“Okay I can’t speak for Johnny, but I would have dropped everything to come help you. You know that don’t you? Will, we’ve known each other for eight years- I wouldn’t have said no.” Tunny spoke with an air of confidence.

Will shook his head.

“You were away, I thought you were having the time of your life. I wouldn’t pull you out of your dream for my sorry excuse of a life.” He replied flippantly.

“Will, I’ve been indebted to you for all those times you called me at three am to make sure I was okay. I can’t believe you thought I would up and leave, and not even come back when you needed me- fuck Will, I shouldn’t have left in the first place, I knew Heather was no good!” Tunny exclaimed, his eyes begging Will for forgiveness.

Will coughed awkwardly, remembering that Tunny had explained he was bringing company.

“Would you, and this mysterious company, who you never explained like to come in. Uhm, excuse the smell, and the mess.” Will said, stepping away from the door.

Tunny entered, and a woman followed. He wasted no time flicking the light switch, it revealed the floor, which was littered with bottles, cans and stubbed out cigarettes.

Will hissed at the sudden light- whilst shielding his eyes.

“So, I take it that you have a hangover.” Tunny noted- looking displeased, it was clear the touching moment at the door was gone.

“I’ve had a constant hangover for the past seven years Tunny, what did you expect?” Will mumbled.

“I expected you to be pulling your weight as a Father.” Tunny responded, completely straight faced. Will clearly looked bitter at that comment, but chose to ignore Tunny’s sarcasm.

“Well what about you-” Will began.

“-You’ve clearly been through it.” He motioned to his friend’s leg before dropping onto the couch.

“Joined the military, about five months after we left for the city. I got shot, ended up with a pretty nurse and half a leg.” Tunny explained.

“So, I guess that’s who this is?” Will asked gesturing to Tunny’s company.

She nodded once.

“I’m Alana, nice to meet you.” She stuck out a hand.

Will cautiously shook it.

“I’m sorry my apartment is such a mess-” Will smiled sadly.

“-I haven’t really had much company these last two years.” He sighed.

“Did Johnny not come back?” Tunny asked.

Will just shook his head.

“I thought he was with you the whole time.” Will admitted.

“He must still be in the city, I hope he’s well.” Tunny said offhandedly.

Alana looked at the two of them.

“Maybe you should give him a call?” She suggested.

Will grabbed his phone and dug through his contact list.

“I hope Johnny didn’t change his number.” Tunny commented as Will clicked Johnny’s contact.

He put the phone on loudspeaker.

The phone beeped once, signalling somebody answered.

“Hello- Johnny? Is that you?” Tunny spoke towards the speaker.

“This is detective Buchanan. We have this phone as evidence in a suicide case.” A clear voice spoke back, Will felt his breath catch in his throat.

“Suicide?” Will repeated back to the person on the other end.

“He killed himself six months ago, with no form of ID. His phone had no trace of his name and no contacts. We couldn’t figure out who he was. But guessing by the name you used, his name is Johnathan- Correct?” He explained.

“Ye-es.” Will said, his mouth felt dry. Johnny had killed himself. He had been mad at Johnny leaving. He had argued with Johnny before he left. Johnny thought he was an asshole and now he was dead.

“Could you help us with the case by giving us his basic details?” The man said.

Will couldn’t speak, and he looked at Tunny, hoping he’d step in.

“His name was Johnathan Edward Hughes. He was twenty-two years old. He was an aspiring musician from Jingletown, we haven’t seen him for three years, in fact me and Will are only just seeing each other again since I was discharged from the army.” Tunny explained calmly.

“I see- I’ll make sure I take your number down, I’ll call you if there’s any developments.” The man replied.

“Why would there be developments, you just said it was a suicide.” Tunny said, before the man was assumingly going to cut the call.

“He killed three people before he killed himself. Two women and a man.” The man replied.

“Who? Do they have names? If it’s Johnny who killed them we should apologise to their families.” Tunny said.

“I’m telling you this in confidential okay, not many civilians know this happened. One of the women appeared to be a prostitute, she has no ID- and we don’t know who she is. The other woman has been identified as Heather Peterson-” The man stated.

“No that can’t be right!” Will yelled, Tunny caught on a few seconds later.

“Sir, I can assure you that the woman we buried was Heather Peterson, her parents identified her- she had a proper funeral.” Detective Buchanan spoke over the phone, trying to calm Will, and it wasn’t working.

“What about her son? What happened to her son? Is he alive? Is he- please tell me he is.” Will basically screamed at the phone.

“Sir, how did you know she had a son?”  The detective asked.

By that point Will was inconsolable.

“Detective Buchanan, Heather was his ex-girlfriend-” Tunny chose his words carefully.

“-That child is his, it’s his son sir.” Tunny finished.

“Sir, could you give me your address, I’d like to come over.” The detective said.

Tunny gave the man the address.

“I’ll be there soon.” The detective assured. The phone clicked after that, telling the three of them the man had hung up.

Chapter Text

Will didn’t know how to feel- his head was reeling- his mind was screaming at him- his hands were shaking.

“I- I but- Heather didn’t deserve this.” Will mumbled, whilst reaching for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

His shaking hands were barely able to open the box.

Alana looked at the straights with a glare- she’d fix that later, but for now the man clearly needed his vice.

Will numbly flicked his lighter- watching it spark up.

He lit up one of the cigarettes, and stood up from the couch.

His eyes flicked briefly to Alana- she looked so much like Heather, Heather used to sit in that chair, Heather sat just like that, Heather had knocked that chair over before she left.

He opened the window slowly, leaving it just wide enough for him to lean out of slightly. He took a drag- before blowing the smoke off into the wind.

Tunny was also processing what the detective had told them- he had forgot to ask after the man who was dead, but guessed since the detective was coming over that he could ask then.

Tunny looked over to Will- they’d been friends since they were thirteen, and yet Will didn’t think he’d come home when Will was alone.

He had failed Will as a friend, and had broken the promise they had made when they were fifteen, a year before they met Johnny.

The summers in Jingletown had always been hot- and Tunny had noted even when it was clear Will was sweating buckets, he never once took off his hoodie.

Tunny asked over and over, but Will always grinned and just said he wasn’t warm- even though Tunny knew he was lying.

One day, Tunny had begged Will to take off his hoodie, so desperately afraid that Will would have a heat stroke.

Tunny could’ve kicked himself for how obvious it actually was.

Will had tried convincing Tunny that he wasn’t going to get heat stroke- but complaining about a mild headache was the last straw for Tunny.

“What are you so afraid of Will? Why won’t you just take it off?”

Tunny cringed- the words he’d used back then sounded so harsh.

Will stared at him dejectedly- slowly lifting the hem of his hoodie.

Tunny watched as his friend pulled off the item of clothing, so painfully slowly.

It came as a shock to him, just how thin his friend was- maybe thin wasn’t the right word.

His arms had been another shock- the bruises, the scratches, the scars.

Tunny knew what this meant- well he knew what the scars meant anyway. His friend had hurt himself because he didn’t know how to control his life.

He could guess about the bruises too, even after two years he’d never been to Will’s house- but Will would come over to his house every day. He finally realised why Will always called his own parents by their first names, and always called Tunny’s parents mum and dad.

He saw them as his real family.

“Will- I-”

“I don’t want anything to change between us Tunny.”

“Well then take this as an unrelated promise.”

“Tunny what-”

“For as long as I’m alive, I’ll never leave your side. I won’t let this happen again.”

Will’s parents were locked away for a long time…

Tunny was sent spiralling back into reality after a knock at the door.

Alana looked at him then stood up.

“I’ll let the detective in.” She said, and without another word she headed towards the front door.

By the look of the stubbed out cigarettes on the window sill, Tunny would have guessed that the cigarette in Will’s hand was his fourth.

Will stubbed out his cigarette as the detective entered, and slowly walked back towards his space on the couch.

“So that woman was the mother of your child?” The man said calmly.

Will nodded softly…