Chapter Text
“You up, princess?” Slash pulled his jacket up over his shoulder. That guy wasn’t talking to him.
“Come on, babe. You flinched! We know you can hear us.” He was on his feet before he even realized. Everything felt so slow. Fuck, he was still off it.
“What the fuck are-” He was sizing up the guys blocking him in. They were both his size, two built-looking white guys. One of them was taller than him. He already felt fucked.
“Shh. Just come with us, sweetheart. Make things easier on everyone.” Slash hit the hand off his arm. He was waking up fast. This… This was bad. Real bad.
“That’s it.” The taller one kicked his knees in so the shorter one could get him in a headlock. He tried to fight back while they dragged him off. His arms wouldn’t work right.
Slash still came out swinging when they shoved him up against a wall in the alley. That just got him slugged in the jaw. Stunned. He stopped fighting when one of them pulled a knife. This wasn’t worth dying.
Even when the hands all over him made him sick. This wasn’t worth dying over.
*****
Slash pushed himself up against the wall behind him. His head was spinning, everything felt wrong. He hurt in places people shouldn’t ever hurt. Didn’t know where his car was. Did he even have his keys when he left?
His chest was heaving. Throat hurt, too. Bad. He coughed, then spit out a mouthful of blood. That was really, really, really fucking bad. He… He needed someone. Not- He couldn’t call a hospital. People would find out. No one could know about this.
He wrapped an arm around his middle and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Just wanted to be warm.
Slash closed his eyes for a second. He couldn’t call anyone, could he? Every one of these numbers would be all over him and he- He couldn’t talk about this. No one could find out-
Axl.
That… was not the worst idea he’d ever had. Axl would… he would understand, right? He’d-
Slash coughed again. He couldn’t think too long. He just needed to get out of there.
God. If Axl ever changed his number, he was fucked.
“Hello?”
“Axl?” Slash could hear the surprise from over the phone. Fuck, he should’ve opened with- “W-Wait, please. Just-” He sniffed. Everything was getting worse.
“What’s wrong?”
“I-I need- Somethin’ happened. I just need…” He couldn’t think. Everything was just wrong. He was so tired of being cold.
“Slow your fuckin’ roll, man. You haven’t said shit to me in a decade and now, all of a sudden you need something? Nah. I’m gonna need a few more details than that, since we’re askin’ for things.”
Slash pulled his knees up closer to his chest. His stomach hurt. Everything hurt. “I got- Someone -” He couldn’t use that word. “I got hurt. It- It’s bad.”
“Well I-” Axl stopped dead. Slash could hear something in his voice change. Was that good or bad? “Hurt h- No. No, don’t answer that. You sure there wasn’t anyone else you coulda called.”
He shook his head. “Uh-Uh. Everyone else- Please. I just wanna feel like crap in peace for a couple hours. Please.”
“Why can’t you just go home?”
“I just- Can’t. Look too bad, don’t wanna deal with the fourth degree.”
“How bad? Or… bad how?” Axl sounded weird, now. Slash wasn’t sure if he was making progress or not.
He tightened his hold on his stomach. Why was his lip quivering? Things weren’t that bad! It… It was just a fight. That was it. “Just… I got beat up, a-alright? I look like death, my shirt’s… Just, please.” Slash took a few shaky breaths, before he coughed out more blood. “I-I’ll make it up to you, somehow, Promise.”
There was a pause. The silence was too much. Axl was gonna hang up, he knew it. He shouldn’t have even tried.
“Where are you?”
“Really?” Slash squinted at the street signs yards down. He read off the name and said that he was near the park, in an alley, because things were going great for him right now.
“Mhm. I’ll be ten, twenty minutes, alright? Don’t do anything stupid til I get there, okay?”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Just… sit tight, okay? Everything’s gonna be alright.”
Slash sighed when the line cut to silent. He was cold, alone, and he didn’t have any fucking reason to think Axl was actually gonna show up. Things were looking really, really bad.