Title: Hopeless And Devoted (3/?) Author: Flameboi Pairing: J/SB Rating: Pg-13/R for language, I swear NC-17 coming soon Archive: Yeah! Feedback: Please, sure. Disclaimer: Kevin Smith and Miramax owns all the characters, I own nothing, so don't sue me. Summary: you know, if you've read the other parts :) Setting: Sometime after Dogma --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hopeless And Devoted Jay was there when Bob woke, the next afternoon, having been home just long enough to shower, shave, and unwind a little with a bong, after the doctor had told him Bob was doing well, considering, and that the bullet had, luckily, missed any vital organs; the doctor on duty called him in after Bob, now off the ventilator, actually spoke out and asked for him insistently. Bob was already trying to sit up in his hospital bed, as if nothing much had happened, and he stared at Jay almost plaintively, as if asking Jay to get him out of here already. "Shit Lunchbox, you took a bullet.You have to, recuperate and shit," said Jay, as Bob gave him a frustrated but patient look, accepting that, "I mean, I thought you were fucking DEAD, Tubby! You scared the FUCK out of me!" Jay's eyes looked suspiciously damp, and the monitor tracking Bob's heartbeat suddenly beeped as his pulse soared up; a nurse looked in to tell Jay to keep it down and not get Bob over excited. Bob just smiled a little, though, and Jay's voice was softer, anyhow, as he went on, "You saved my fucking life, Bob." Bob nodded, and looked almost thrilled with that, well, as much as he could before wincing in pain. Jay fidgeted, and squirmed, not able to stand still, and Bob just watched him; Jay opened his mouth to speak a few times and shut it just as quickly, as if he didn't know what to say now. Far too soon, despite Jay's inner turmoil, the nurse was back to usher him out, and he left, telling Bob he'd be back the next time he was allowed to visit; Jay went down to the cafeteria to see if he could score something resembling food, even though his throat was too closed to possibly allow him to eat, unaware of the conversation above in Bob's room. The nurse checked Bob's pulse, and took his temperature, adjusted his IV feeds, changed the bandages, and gave him another shot of pain medication; she couldn't resist commenting, "Your brother certainly does care for you, doesn't he, such an excitable boy." Bob's eyebrow shot up at the suggestion that Jay was his brother, and he smirked half dopily, but she, being someone who'd been in the people care business for years, thought she knew what he meant, and she smiled down at him, "He's not your brother, is he?" Bob's response was a half shrug that brought another wince, and she patted his shoulder, "There there, stay still, honey. It's all right. I didn't think he was, really, but I won't tell anyone. You two have been together for a while, haven't you?" Bob nodded sleepily, and the nurse smoothed down his hair, not intimidated at all by his size, she smiled, "Well, you love each other, anyone can see that," as Bob's eyelids drifted south and closed, while Bob thought hazily, 'anyone but Jay', and drifted off into the arms of morpheus. Jay found nothing he wanted to attempt to choke down in the cafeteria, and, restless, began wandering the hospital, once being kicked out of the cardiac care unit for fiddling with some machine left sitting in a corridor, and completely by mistake, wandered up to the obstretrics wing; realizing where he was, seeing all the preg bitches sitting with their swollen bellies, he turned to go, not in the mood to crack jokes, when he realized that one of the women, hugely bulging out in front, was Bethany; Bob and he had stayed tight with her since she'd chosen to settle in Red Bank, and, she looked up right then, too, and smiled, the smile that meant, 'I'm glad to see you though I don't know why' along with some confusion in her eyes as to why he was here; she waddled over and greeted him with a comment about wasn't he going to ask if he could 'do' her now. Jay just shook his head no, and soon found himself pouring out the whole story to her; Bethany listened with a sort of shocked horror to the story, and said she'd be down to see Bob as soon as her appointment was over, she asked how he was coping, and Jay nearly lost it, wondering since when his emotions had become so surface and and raw. Bethany looked at him, long and hard, and then murmured, "Well, you should just tell him, you know." Jay gave her a 'what the hell?' look, and she smirked, "Tell Bob how you feel, Jay. Or are you planning on waiting until someone actually does die? He loves you too, you know." Jay's mouth popped open to deny it, and Bethany knew she was right on, but didn't get a chance to do more than say, "See you later," and laugh a little at Jay's expression, as the nurse announed for Ms. Sloane to come back. Jay dragged himself back downstairs, and found himself outside the hospital, and, walking away fast, muttering to himself and yelling at himself mentally, denying hardcore; well, sure, he loved Bob, as a friend and all, but, no way! I mean, just because he fantasized about the tubby motherfucker when he was wacking it didn't mean... Jay stopped in mid stride, and spoke outloud, "Holy FUCK I am in love with Bob!" sounding astonished. Unfortunately, he had also chosen to stop in mid stride in the middle of a crosswalk, and nearly ended up going back to the hospital in a much worse way than he'd left, except the Hyundai managed to swerve around him, the driver yelling something about 'get out of the road asshole!', and Jay turned around, and walked back the way he had come.