Jay went out like a light as soon as he had dropped his luggage and practically passed out on one of the beds. One quick scan of the room told Brian that Tim hadn't bothered unpacking either. Luckily the room they'd rented had a small, uncomfortable-looking sofa, so Brian knew he would have at least a place to lie down and pretend to sleep.
Tim didn't seem to be putting any effort into hiding his still-present animosity toward his old college friend but so far Brian had avoided reacting to his passive aggressive behavior. The reasons behind it were doubtless a particular topic in a sea of uncomfortable topics he would frankly rather stay away from for as long as possible.
Brian was hungry in a vague sort of way, in the sense that he was so used to being hungry now that he knew he could go another day or two before going off to look for something substantial. Besides, he couldn't think of a non-awkward or non-passive aggressive way to broach the subject to Tim. There was also the small issue that he had no supplies at all – no money, no food, nothing aside from the small handheld he kept with him. He didn't think Tim would take kindly to the fact that he'd been living off stealing for the past couple months at least. It had gotten hard to keep track after a while.
Regardless, Jay was asleep now, which meant Tim was probably going to grab some rest soon too. Tim locked the door and seeing as he hadn't given Brian a key to get back in, Brian knew he might as well be a prisoner. He didn't understand why Tim was going to all the trouble - now that they'd found him and uncovered his identity, there was no point int going back into hiding now.
"Hungry?" Tim asked unexpectedly. He sounded less ruffled than yesterday. "Usually Jay and I grab something before checking in for the night."
Brian only shrugged. "I can go another couple days myself. You?"
"Right now?" Tim scrubbed at his tired face with his hands. "I just want to sleep for a week." He looked over his shoulder at Jay, who was curled on top of one of the beds. He hadn't even taken off his shoes before crashing. "I guess that's not an option, though."
"We can take shifts," suggested Brian. "I swear I won't run off…for however much that promise is worth."
"Look, Brian." Tim's body language said he wanted nothing more than to avoid this matter of discussion. Brian felt the same, but it was a rather large elephant in the room that they'd had trouble evading since day one. "I want to trust you. I wish I could, but –"
"I get it." Brian pulled the black ski mask from his pocket. "There's this."
"Yeah."
Pause. A long pause, filled with the awkwardly scratching the backs of necks and the inspecting of fingernails to avoid making eye contact. Brian knew they would have to address it sooner or later - there was no way they would ever be able to work together properly if they didn't - so he took a deep breath and tried his best.
"Look, I…I don't know how to explain everything, and I think you think I know a lot more than I actually do."
Tim frowned. "Um, what? Brian, it's almost midnight and I haven't slept or eaten in the last ten hours. You're going to need to be a little more coherent."
"Uh…I don't know as much as you think I do?"
"Then start by telling us what you do know. We're all in this together now, so you might as well."
"You're acting like I know what's going on here. I don't. I was caught up in this just like you were, and I've been going it alone ever since."
"Why alone, though? Why not just come out and find us instead of hiding behind a mask all the time?"
"I don't know!" Brian's voice got perilously near breaking point. A vicious mixture of frustration, regret, and weariness was surging through him and he had no idea how to articulate it. "Because I was scared? Alex found out who you were behind the mask and look how that turned out for you!" Brian jabbed a finger at Tim's leg. He saw Tim shift uncomfortably, doubtless recalling the surging pain that came with waking up in his car miles from home with a headache, a bloody nose, and a severely broken leg. "I was just trying to help in the only way I knew how. Eventually it stopped mattering. Alex found out anyway."
"So why didn't you just tell us?"
"I…" Brian suddenly found his shoelaces to be much more fascinating. He scowled at the black ski mask he still held limp in his hands. "…he didn't want me to."
"And you let him have his way?"
"There's a lot going on up here, okay?" Brian rapped at the side of his head with a clenched fist. "And it's hard to think straight if there's too much happening at once. Sometimes I need to make compromises to keep everything quiet. It's the only way we can work together."
Tim subsided into dejected silence. As the minutes dragged on without comment, Brian thought he would just end the conversation and be done with it.
But then Tim looked at Brian dead in the eyes and asked one question Brian would never have expected him to ask:
"Do you think Alex can be…you know, saved?"
There were a lot of aspects to the answer to that question. Brian never considered that Tim had ever particularly cared about what happened to Alex. After all, it had only been a few days prior when Tim had been swearing he'd kill Alex if he laid a finger near Jay. Even before any of this had started, Tim and Alex had never been close. They'd just happened to meet through Brian, and even then they didn't always get along. Brian remembered Tim complaining about the "genius" of Alex's script.
It felt so long ago.
And it had been long ago. It had been before faceless monsters, before cameras and tapes and pills and endless running. It had been before all of this. Brian had been in the middle of "all of this" for so long it felt as though he had done nothing else his whole life.
It seemed more and more likely that Alex Kralie was to blame for all of this, and it had all started with Tim complaining over Alex's stupid movie script.
If Brian had never introduced the two of them…
He cut that line of thought off at its head. He didn't want to think about it. It wouldn't make any difference now. Besides, Tim was still looking at him expectantly.
Brian couldn't think of an answer. He'd debilitated too long for him to avoid answering the question, so he decided on the truth.
"I don't, uh…I don't think so."
Tim nodded a bit to himself. He'd probably assumed as much. His eyes flicked back up to meet Brian's, and there was an undercurrent of fear in them this time.
"What about Jay?"
Again, Brian was at a loss for words.
"What?" he stalled.
"Is Jay gonna be okay?"
Again, there were several possible responses to that one, but Brian couldn't imagine that Tim would like any of them. The note of desperation in the other man's voice as he'd asked – but not demanded – for the answer, the way his voice had almost cracked as he's said it, gave Brian pause. Tim had already been broken a dozen times since they'd last parted ways. He was already so close to breaking again.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think so."
So Brian decided to lie.
end
