A/n: Boredom on a Saturday night led me to write this. It's probably going to be fairly short, but eh, it's 11:30 PM. What more can you ask from a lazy student?
Enjoy.
Xxx
In the two years Novak had lived in America, everything had been alright.
He had a job at a café, was doing pretty well in his college studies, and had a decent social life. It was nothing to flaunt, but he got by. And that's all he cared about, really. Back in Serbia, opportunities were hard to come by. In America, things were just a bit easier; though he knew his luck would run out eventually.
Living in a city like Findlay, there was no reason to be afraid to walk on the streets at night. The sidewalks, dusted lightly by the snow that had fallen earlier, were rarely places where people would get hurt. Unless they tripped and fell on their face; Novak's friend Alfred never failed to remind him of that. Running to class in the rain wearing shoes with little grip on the ground; not such a smart idea.
It was around midnight; Novak was heading home from his boyfriend's apartment. His boyfriend, a Croatian with American citizenship, had taken the courtesy of walking him home. Andelko was a nice guy; a college graduate working as an ER Nurse. Novak found it kind of funny; typically Serbians and Croatians did not get along. But, seeing that Andelko had lived in the United States for nineteen years, Novak didn't really care. Andelko had long lost his accent, seeing that he hardly ever spoke Croatian. Andelko, admittedly, had forgotten a lot of his native tongue.
As they turned a corner and went down the street, passing a bank, Andelko looked over his shoulder.
"Something wrong?" Novak asked, looking to the other man.
"No… Just thought I heard something." Andelko muttered, shaking his head.
"You probably just heard a bird or something. Couldn't have been a car; the streets are dead tonight…" Novak replied.
"You're probably right…" Andelko said, letting out a sigh. After a few moments, a loud clanging noise was heard by both men. They turned around.
"Who the hell…?" Andelko trailed off, glancing around. "Is someone there?"
A hooded man appeared out of the alleyway between the buildings next to Andelko and Novak. The man was heavyset, and carried a metal baseball bat. The man was light-skinned, and had a beard by the looks of it.
"I want your money and I want it now." The stranger demanded. Andelko stood firm, as did Novak.
"You call this a robbery?" Andelko asked, raising an eyebrow. "Come on, hit me with that bat. See what happens."
The man raised the bat like he was going to swing for Andelko's head, but instead, aimed the bat at the Croatian's leg, swinging with force that was enough to make a resounding crack come from Andelko's surely broken leg.
Andelko crumpled to the ground, clutching his leg. Novak tried to stop the robber, but received a metal bat to the head, thus earning the robber ten points for knocking out a Serbian with a not so durable skull.
Novak wasn't sure what had happened. He woke up, and he was still lying on the sidewalk. Andelko was shaking him, trying to wake him up. There were police arriving, as well as an ambulance.
Novak reached up and placed his hands on his pounding head; he surely had a concussion.
"Hnn… What… What the hell happened, Andy?" He asked the Croatian.
"We were both assaulted and robbed… Both of us got knocked out…I just woke up not even five minutes ago; are you okay?" Andelko asked.
"I just remember… Taking a hard hit to the head by God knows…" Novak trailed off, looking to the sidewalk. There was blood on it, forming a small pool where Andelko, assumingly, had been lying unconscious.
"I-Is that blood?" Novak asked.
"Yeah… From the side of my head." Andelko muttered, turning his face and showing Novak his injury. There was a gash in the side of Andelko's head, just above his ear.
"Oh my… Are you… Are you okay?"
Andelko wasn't able to answer, seeing that they were approached by two policemen.
"Which one of you called nine-one-one?" One of the policemen asked.
"That would be me, officer." Andelko replied, making an attempt to stand, but miserably failing when he remembered and now felt that his leg was broken.
"Whoa, whoa. Sit down, sir. Your leg isn't exactly okay."
Andelko sat down with a frustrated sigh, shaking his head. Paramedics approached with a gurney, loading Andelko onto it first, putting his neck in a brace.
"We don't want you moving around too much, sir. We don't know the extent of your injuries." One of the paramedics said to the Croatian. A different paramedic went over to Novak, lying him down on the rather cold ground and holding his head steady.
"Just stay still, sir. Another ambulance is on its way to pick you up and take you to the hospital." She informed. Novak breathed slowly, crisp morning air not helping to clear his pounding head. Every movement caused his head to spin; he knew he had a concussion. Andelko most likely had one too.
"… What… What time is it, ma'am?" Novak asked quietly. The female paramedic checked her watch.
"Eight-twenty." She replied.
"… Shit… I'm going to miss my classes…"
"I think your health is a bit more important than your classes right now, sir."
Novak sighed heavily and closed his eyes, attempting to recall the robbery. He knew he and Andelko had been robbed due to the fact that he no longer felt the presence of his wallet in his jeans' back pocket. The man who robbed them; what did he look like? Novak could remember that he was a heavyset Caucasian man, but that could have counted for quite a few Americans, sadly.
When the other paramedics arrived to take Novak to the hospital, they loaded him onto a gurney and put a brace on his neck; who knew what kind of damage had been done to him when he had taken a baseball bat to the skull.
In the hospital, a CT scan of his head was taken, revealing a small fracture that would likely heal on its own. They concluded that, of course, Novak had a mild concussion. There was no other damage than that. He was going to be kept at the hospital for a few hours while they calculated his bill, which inevitably would be through the roof. Being assaulted wasn't something that could be free, even in the United States. Andelko would probably pay for both of their hospital bills; the Croatian was a generous man and Novak knew he had no problem paying for what had happened.
In the time that Novak was spending in the hospital, two policemen came in to question him.
"Good morning, sir." One of the officers greeted.
"Morning…" Novak muttered.
"So can you tell me what happened last night? Or at least what you can recall?"
"Well… Andelko was walking me home around midnight… Streets were dead at the time… We were walking by the parking garage next to the bank and…. Andelko thought he had heard something… We shrugged it off and kept walking, but then we heard a…. a clanging kind of noise, like a bat hitting the ground…. We both turned around and Andelko asked if anyone was there…. A hooded man walked out of the alleyway… Said he wanted our money… Andelko kind of… challenged the robber, asked him if he called it a robbery… Told him to hit him with the bat and see what happened… The guy made a move to hit Andy… Just nailed his leg… Andelko went down, and I tried to stop the robber from hitting him, but… That's when he hit me in the head and knocked me out…" Novak explained.
"Do you remember what your assailant looked like?"
"… Heavyset, white-skinned… He had a beard…. That's all I know…"
"Alright. What is your name, sir?"
"Novak Novkovic…"
"Can I ask you where you are from?"
"Serbia… But I've lived here in the states for two years."
"Alright. And what about your…" The officer trailed off, obviously unsure of Andelko's relation to Novak.
"Boyfriend." Novak finished the sentence.
"Yes. What about him? Is he from the Unites States?"
"He's lived here for nineteen years, but he's from Croatia… He has American citizenship though."
"Alright. We will keep you informed on any information that comes up."
"Thank you, officers."
"You're welcome." The two officers left the room, most likely heading off to wherever Andelko was to verify the story Novak had just told them.
After a few hours of waiting around, Novak and Andelko were released from the hospital. Andelko was on crutches, and the side of his head was stitched up. Novak merely had a square bandage on the left side of his forehead. The two were both a bit lost; their wallets were missing and they had no clue if their assailant would get caught.
What made things worse for them, was that they had to go all the way across town to get to either of their residences.
"You have your cell phone, right Andy?" Novak asked. Andelko nodded slightly and reached into his pocket, pulling out the device and handing it to Novak.
"Who're you going to call?" Andelko asked.
"A classmate. He'll be happy to give us a ride to my place." Novak replied, dialing the number in Andelko's cell phone and holding it up to his ear.
"Hello?" Answered the familiar voice on the other line.
"Hey Alfred; its Novak."
"Oh, hey man. I heard about you getting assaulted; it's all over the news! Are you alright?"
"I guess… My boyfriend and I are outside of the hospital right now; it's quite a distance away from either of our places. I was wondering if you could come pick us up and take us to my apartment."
"Yeah sure. Just stay where you guys are; I'll be there in a few."
"Thanks Al."
"It's not a problem."
Novak hung up and handed the cell phone back to his boyfriend, who put the phone in his pocket once again and sighed, shaking his head a bit.
"I can't believe this happened…" He muttered.
"Neither can I, Andelko… But it could have been worse; we could be dead." Novak replied.
"True… Hm… You missed your morning classes because of this, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did… I should probably be okay to head to class tomorrow morning, huh?"
"I don't know. You do have a concussion, Novak. Take a few days off of class and work until you can actually coordinate yourself properly. I know I'm going to be off work until my leg heals."
"I guess I should… But I don't want to miss class; it's pretty damn important…"
"It'll be an excused absence. It's not like your professor is going to penalize you for it; Alfred said that it's all over the news. Anyone who doesn't live in a box should have heard about what happened to us by now."
"Yeah…" Novak let out a stressed sigh. "I'll have to make up any assignments that he gave out today and for whatever days I'm gone…"
"Don't worry, Novak. You're a smart man; I know you'll get your work done."
"Don't flatter me, Andelko… I'm not that intelligent."
"Sure you are, Novak. You know a whole hell of a lot more than I do."
"Oh please, Andelko. You're a college graduate."
"I may be, but you're like a walking history textbook. You know the histories of many, many countries and know many different events and people that changed the world. I couldn't even tell you the history of America or my own nation Croatia to save my life."
"And yet you somehow managed to become an American citizen."
Andelko chuckled. "It wasn't that hard, really. I got citizenship when my parents did. I was fifteen. Three more years in the states and you'll legally be able to apply for citizenship."
"Three more long years… I'll still be in college."
"Yeah. What do you have, four more years left until you get your degree?"
"Yep."
"Looks like our ride is here." Andelko said, motioning to the car that was pulling up in front of them. It was Alfred.
Novak and Andelko got in, Novak taking the passenger seat and Andelko taking the back seat so that he could fit his crutches in the sedan.
"Hey guys." Alfred greeted.
"Good afternoon, Alfred." Novak muttered, leaning his head back on the seat. It hurt. Concussions weren't exactly fun.
"You guys look like hell." The American driver commented as he starting heading down the street. "When I saw what happened on the news, I was like; holy shit, that's Novak and his boyfriend. You guys had me worried."
"Could have been worse." Andelko replied.
"No kidding. What did he take from you guys?"
"Our wallets. Didn't have too much cash on me, but he did take my credit cards and my ID." Andelko said.
"Same here." Novak muttered.
"Well damn. They better catch that guy soon. Your financial securities are in jeopardy." Alfred informed.
"You think we don't know that? That's why I, personally, think we're fucked."
"We can easily deactivate the credit cards we had, but… As for him having our IDs, that's the worst that could happen. He has all the information he needs… Let's just hope he's not smart enough to do any significant damage…" Andelko uttered.
"Anyone stupid enough to assault two guys with a baseball bat probably won't be smart enough to know what to do with two IDs." Alfred stated.
"Let's just hope you're right…" Novak's voice, though quiet, was full of concern. This was a stressful situation.
Later that day, Andelko and Novak were lying on the couch at Novak's small apartment, resting. Andelko was asleep underneath an awake but tired Serbian, whose mind was far too active for sleep.
A vibration from Andelko's pocket stirred Novak out of his thoughts; he reached into his boyfriend's pants pocket and pulled out the cell phone, looking at the caller ID before answering for the Croatian.
"Hello?"
"Hello. Is this Andelko Begovich?"
"No, this is his boyfriend."
"I suppose this message pertains to you as well. This is the Findlay Police Department calling to inform you and Andelko that the man who assaulted and robbed you turned himself into police. Your belongings have been returned; if you stop by the Police Department we will have them for you."
"Seriously? Oh, thank God…"
"Mnn… Novak, who the hell are you talking to…?" Andelko mumbled from underneath Novak. The Serbian man moved the receiver away from his mouth to answer the Croatian.
"It's the police department. The guy who assaulted us turned himself in." He informed.
"Seriously?" Andelko asked, sitting up.
"Yeah."
"We'll be waiting for you in the building, sir. Just walk in and an officer will approach you with your things."
Novak returned the receiver to its place in front of his mouth. "Thank you, sir. We'll be there in a little bit."
"You're welcome."
Novak hung up and stood from his place between Andelko's legs, handing the other man his cell phone.
"Let's get going so we can get our things back." He said.
"Sounds good to me." Andelko replied, grabbing his crutches off the floor and standing. The two went out to the car and were soon at the Police Department.
The walked into the building and were approached by an officer, who was holding their wallets.
"Here you go, sirs." The officer said, handing the two their wallets. Novak smiled at the officer.
"Thank you." He told the woman.
"It's not a problem. Have a nice day." She responded.
"You too." Andelko said before he and Novak made their exit.
During the car ride to Novak's place, Andelko sighed.
"That was a big scare… I'm glad the guy turned himself in…" He stated.
"Yeah, me too…" Novak replied, reaching over and grabbing the Croatian's hand. Andelko smiled.
"So glad we both survived… I don't know what I would have done if something really bad had happened to you…" He commented.
"Same here… Love you, Andy."
"Love you too, Novak."
"You know, even with a concussion, I'm not a half-bad driver, am I?" Novak asked, looking to the Croatian.
"Eyes on the road before you get us killed, please." Andelko said. Novak chuckled a bit and turned his eyes back to the road.
What an eventful day.