Chapter Text
When he was violently woken up he’d expected it to be Bria or her bitch girlfriend, he glanced at the figure briefly, still in throbbing pain and winced when said figure brought a hand up to his face and shined some kind of light at him with the other, the touch was tender, soft, familiar enough to startle him and force him to squint at who the figure was until he regained his sight enough to see it was Augustus, a very frightened looking Augustus. He was saying something. But Matt wasn't really awake enough to know what. crack. crack. break! ‘Oh hey would you look at that I’m free,’ Matt noted in his head, stretching out his hands and observing them as if he’d never noticed they were there. Gus hugged him now, and even though it hurt he hugged him back to the best of his ability. Then he started talking again, something bruises, something something reckless, something something thank goodness. Matt only squinted at the boy and occasionally nodded. Gus took a long deep breathe and released it slowly, then tried again,
“Can you hear me Matty?” he asked, rather calmly, Matt looked at him a second, those were the first words he’d heard clearly
“Mhm” Matt hummed, quieter than he meant to but Gus heard it and made a face Matt couldn't describe,
“Good. Lets get you home,”
-
It wasn't hard to find him. Willow and him were driving around looking for something, anything, when all the lights in town went out and Willow pointed out where the first lights shut off, from there they drove to the stadium and Gus left her in the car the moment it came to a halt, taking the hammer with him, much to his struggle as he went. He didn't hesitate in breaking the handle when he discovered it was locked. He couldn't see a thing so he pulled out his phone and clicked on its flashlight, walking slowly into the big empty stadium. At first he didn't see him, but he wandered a bit, deep onto the field, flashing his light around as he went, making sure to look around the entire stadium, it wasn't until he’d almost reached the other side that he spotted the boy. He ran to him the second he spotted him, dropping to his knees in front of him. Unthinkingly he grabbed his face in both his hands, after taking a moment to examine the unconscious boy before him his hands moved to his shoulders and he shook him roughly, Matt stirred awake and Gus let out a large shaky breath.
“Youre so fucking stupid,” Gus spoke softly, his voice cracking,
After a moment of consideration he slipped off his mask, revealing the boy underneath, said boy squinted up at him, seemingly flinching slightly when Gus shined his phone light to look at his face, placing a hand on it to hold his head, turning it side to side more and truly trying to pay Matt’s odd expression no mind.
“What're you looking at me like that for huh?” Gus tried, letting go of his face, venom unwillingly lining his tone.
Matt blinked up at him, his mouth stayed shut but his eyes seemed to communicate concern, as if he should be concerned about anyone but himself. Which only made Gus more angry as he picked up the hammer. He swung hard at the rock encasing his friend, once, crack, twice, crumble. Gus let the hammer slam to the ground, observing Matt as the boy stretched his fingers out, opening and closing them into his palm as if testing his ability to move. Gus hugged him then, and to his surprise Matt’s arms came to his waist in an attempt to hug him back.
“Okay,” Gus spoke, voice still shaky,
“We gotta get you out of here, you've got a ton of bruises Matty,” He frowned as said boy just cocked his head to the side
“You don't even know what I'm saying, do you.” He breathed out, more of a statement than a question,
“You're so reckless. Why couldn't you have just listened huh? Thank goodness you're not hurt worse,”
Matt nodded along as he spoke, a look of concentration on his face. Gus knew full well he was out of it, but the fact he was trying anyway made him smile a little. He attempted to calm himself, taking a deep long breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, then he tried again,
“Can you hear me Matty?” He asked, voice even and low, Matt’s eyes seemed to widen slightly and his ears twitched
“Mhm” came the weak response,
Gus frowned slightly, unsure of what he'd expected his friend to act like,
“Good,” he muttered, then he looked at Matt, attempting a smile,
“Let's get you home.”