Fictober Day 1: Searching
Hey look, I got a post out! Cool, so hereās my fic for day one of fictober, even though Iām like a week late haha. Itās a Saints Row fic for an au that @trippingshadow and I have where our bosses, Ted and Honey, co-lead the Saints from day one. Ted took the coma way worse than she did and heās a littleā¦ not okay. Iām cross-posting this on @theteddybearboss too!
He remembers this street, but he doesnāt remember it intersecting that other street, nor does he remember all these shops being here. This used to be a fast food joint, not an upscale boutique. Since the accident, itās gotten harder for him to find his way around town on his own.Ā
Johnny is worried, obviously, but he canāt very well stop Ted from wandering off; itād be easier to try and stop a freight train than stop him when heās got his mind set on something. Honey is worried too, but gang matters have her busy and she needs her right and left hand men in tip-top shape, but Ted isnāt getting any better.
Ted stares for a long, long while at the store front. Since when did this chain have stores in Stilwater? Freckle Bitches were the mainstay, or they had beenā¦ He canāt remember what happened yesterday let alone five years before. All his memories feel scrambled up and foggy. What he can remember doesnāt do him any goodā hospital lights and fire and maybe Honeyās voice. When people start to stare and whisper, he moves on, stalking down the street in broad daylight the same as he would after dark.
Itās not that Johnnyās worried heāll get hurt. Heās a big-ass mother fucker. Nobody would fuck with him, even if he didnāt have the Saints tattoo on his neck like a brand. Ted can very well take care of himselfā¦ But heās mute and probably confused and definitely disoriented. Stilwater had changed drastically in the years heād been out and brain damage wouldnāt make coping with that any easier. So Johnny, tired of waiting for his boy to maybe find his way home, snags a car from the garage and goes out looking.
The street turns and suddenly heās in a whole new neighborhood he doesnāt remember existing. Everything is shiny and modern and he hates it with a strangely intense passion, the same way he hates the church that he used to spend so much time it. The sleek, sterile buildings make his skin crawl with the way they remind him of hospitals and doctors and too much time spent angry and in pain, barely able to communicate how frustrated he was with how slowly his recovery was coming until he finally snapped and hurled a weight through a window just to make his point. His muscles were just fine. It was his brain that was fucked.
Johnny turns up the radio as he scans the streets, listening for anything that might come across. Ted was on the run, after all. It wouldnāt be a surprise if he attracted a few cops trying to take him down for the good of the community. He just hopes that maybe it wonāt come to that. Tedās strong, but bullets are deadly to pretty much everything.
Walking is slow going and heās starting to limp. Ted decides that he needs a car. Any car will do, he doesnāt really care. He canāt be a picky thief. One passes by, driving slow enough for him to step up to the door, pop the handle, and reach in to haul the driver out. Sure, it would have been easier to pick a stationary car, but then he would have had to fuck with hot-wiring the damn thing and he wasnāt about to waste that much time.
Johnny doesnāt have a chance to react when a massive arm yanks him from his seat behind the wheel. He yelps and goes to grab for the pistol tucked into his belt but stops short when he realizes who the fuck just tried to steal his car.
āTeddy, what the fuck?ā He snarls, shaking Tedās hand off his shoulder. Ted stares at him for a few uncomfortable seconds, his head tilted ever so slightly like heās trying to process what just happened. A stupid coincidence sure, but Johnny couldnāt believe that he didnāt realize it was him. āIāve been lookin for you everywhere, asshole! You just up and disappeared and didnāt tell anybody where you were going.ā
Tedās lip curls up in a silent snarl, and just from his expression Johnny can tell whatās heās thinking. If heād been able to, he would be absolutely tearing into him for being overprotective and worrying too much, but as it stands heās not saying a word. Slowly, he raises a middle finger and pushes Johnny to the side. Heās not dealing with him being shitty. Heās not in a mood to handle Johnny being a little bitch. Heās tired and scared and more than a little confused and he wants to go home, but only if he can do it himself.
āNuh uh.ā Johnny shoves his shoulder and turns him around, pushing his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose so he can look up and meet Tedās eyes. āYou arenāt in any shape to driveā you got lost outside the old neighborhood, kid! C'mon, get in. Weāre going home.ā
Is this the old neighborhood? He canāt see the church anywhere, or is it that clean, off-white museum looking thing up the street? Tedās eyes narrow and he flips Johnny off with both hands this timeā¦ He has a good point. Tedās lost. He canāt find his way out of the labyrinthine streets and alleys and new developments on his own, even with his old home as a landmark, so he slowly slinks around the car and flops into the passengerās seat like a petulant child.
The drive back to Purgatory is silent. Ted looks between Johnny and the radio but doesnāt switch it on. Johnnyās glad, almost. He thinks that music just might set him off, make him really blow up on Ted. Itās not the kidās fault his brain is fucked up. He doesnāt deserve it, but Johnny really wants to lay into him and scream about how worried heās been, about how Ted is being stupid and not helping and putting himself in more danger than he should, but the he catches sight of him all balled up like he is and it softens him up a little. Heās still an idiot, but heās a scared idiot whoās entire world changed overnight, and plus, heās Johnnyās brotherā¦
āLook, Tedā¦ā He finally breaks the weird silence when they pull up in the parking lot. Ted glares at him over his shoulder but doesnāt undo his seat belt. āLook. You really canāt go fucking around like that right now, cause the city isnātā¦ the same as it was before you got blown to hell and back. A lotās changed, and you canāt even talk man, how are you gonna ask for directions to get anywhere if you canāt fuckin talk?ā
Ted shrugs. He hasnāt thought of that. He hasnāt thought of a lot of things, but especially not that.
āWhat Iām sayin is that you should probably take somebody with you is all. Me or Carlos or Shaundi or Pierce or whatever, right? Just so you donāt end up getting your ass kicked out there.ā He smiles and punches Tedās shoulder lightly, finally getting a half-hearted smile from him. Ted nods once, like heās resigned to being chaperoned in his own city. It must feel awful, having to have a guide just to navigate streets that he grew up on.
āItās just for a while til you get back in shape. Then you can go off and do what the fuck ever without anybody. Cool?ā
Ted nods again. Heās trying so hard to fix himself, but itās taking so fucking long that it doesnāt feel like heās making any progress.
āCool. Letās go see what Honeyās doin. Said she was planning a little surprise for Maero. Something about nuclear waste in his shitty tattoo ink? Whatever it is, Iām fuckin down.ā
