Chapter Fifteen
He wasn't even quarter way down the street when his name was called.
Rudy quickly turned, still moving but not running as fast as he had before.
Miles.
Miles was running towards him, obviously had left just as Rudy had from the store. After him. For him, still in that ridiculous uniform shirt that Rudy was in, already out of breath. Miles hated running.
He finally caught up with him. "What... Ever... Is going...on, I'm with...you. JesusIcan'tbreathe!" He took a long gulp of air, his cheeks red with the exertion. Rudy wasn't making it any easier, using the whole span of his legs to walk, making Miles move faster than his legs had ever done as he tried to keep up with Rudy and his freakish, long-legged genetics straight to the bus station.
Rudy kept glancing at the boy beside him, still struggling to match Rudy's stride and concentrating on his legs and his breathing. Rudy hadn't said a thing but still Miles was here with him every step of the way.
They got to the bus station, and found Rudy's bus quickly before jumping on, Miles struggled to find change in his shallow work trousers. Rudy was grateful Miles never asked him what was happening until they were sitting down, even then it was hard. The strain of their relationship from the past few weeks couldn't exactly disappear with a few exchange of words, even if Rudy was talking about how Legolas ran away.
Miles was sympathetic and worried, more about how Rudy was reacting than anything else. He saw the guy that was so composed and quiet usually was freaking from the inside and out.
Miles didn't say anything though, he just sat beside him and listened, placing his thigh against Rudy as the bus jolted and hissed and didn't make a move to separate them. Neither did Rudy.
Rudy had been swiping fingers over his phone again and again, waiting on some update from Rosie. He was getting nothing.
Rudy didn't even know where to look once he got down there. Whenever he had took out Legolas he'd always been on a leash and even then, the stupid thing begged to be carried most of the time so it could gnaw at Rudy's hoodie toggles because it was an annoying little shit.
Rudy's hands started to shake again. He didn't know if it was in anger to himself or fear.
"Hey," Miles suddenly said, looking at Rudy's hands and taking them in his and then lifting his head so blue met green,"you're going to find him. It's going to be fine."
Rudy was simply amazed how Miles could make him feel a lot better and worse all at the time. He squeezed Miles hand, not letting go of it for a second. Not even when some women gave them looks as they passed to sit at the back.
When they got off the bus, Rudy all but ran down the street, tapping into his phone as he went, calling Rosie. She wasn't crying any more but her voice was rough and teary as she said she had looked from the corner shops down to the park and had even roped Mrs Dormar into helping look. Still no luck.
"So," Miles said as Rudy got off the phone, seeing Rudy's face as a sign that the small dog was still missing."Where to?"
Rudy didn't know. He looked from Miles to down the road and back again before making a decision to go down the road, letting Miles follow. He didn't really know where he was going. He looked down alleys, stopped at every bark and was calling Legolas' name as he went. Miles was even stopping a few people at a time if they had seen a small dog, yanking Rudy's phone out his hand to show his lock screen of Legolas crawled up on the sofa, sleepy eyes peeking out just as the camera went off. Rudy didn't even know how Miles had known about his lock screen. Even so each person they came to would shake their heads at the picture or tell them to piss off.
They searched everywhere and Rudy was getting desperate. He kept getting updates from Rosie who seemed to be having the same amount of luck they were having. They were passing a street they'd been down twice already his eyes were burning and his t-shirt was sticking to him front he sweat produced both from running around and nerves. He still hadn't found him.
He ran across the street, not looking where he was going when a car appeared from around the corner. A horn blazed and tires screeched as it came to a hault just in time before the hood of it could collide with Rudy. The woman inside was shouting, her fist raised in anger after she got over the abrupt stop. Rudy stared at her, yet didn't see her at all as he started to feel something building inside of him; it was thick, angry and was clawing his chest, striking through till it was reaching his head and blurring his eyes. He moved on auto pilot, limbs feeling heavy as he stepped over the the pavement.
Crash.
Car.
Blood.
Loss.
Miles was saying his name, his form moving in front of him, but something was making him unable to move himself, unable to breathe. Really breathe. Something was blocking his lungs, something was escape in his head, pressing down on his senses till his vision started turning black. He tried to move, tried to return Miles' grip on his jacket. He was falling into a void that he was never going to come out from.
His head was going to explode. He was going to die.
"-breathe, Rudy, C'MON!" Miles voice rang out clear through the numbing of his hearing and suddenly his eyes let out the black to the green of Miles' eyes that were sharp and wide as he pulled onto Rudy."Look at me Rudy, it's okay. Breathe with me, okay? Stay with me and breathe. You can do it, c'mon. 1...2...3... c'mon Rudy just breathe as I breathe. It's okay, it's okay."
Slowly, but surely, Rudy was breathing normally again. He slumped against the wall behind him, spent and exhausted and hot all over despite a cold, shaky feeling vibrating through his entire being.
"W-what was that?" he asked, wincing at how small his voice was. He now shaking all over, not just his hands any more.
"A panic attack." Miles said simply, still clutching onto him but not looking at him any more but at the ground instead.
Rudy finally took in their surroundings, releasing that they weren't in the street any more but  in an alley that Miles must've dragged him into once it had started. Rudy rubbed his chest, slightly relieved that it hadn't somehow flattened under whatever the hell that was. He'd never experienced something as horrible as that before. He honestly thought he was going to die.
"How did you know what to do?"
Rudy remember nights years ago when he struggled to breathe, didn't know if he ever would again. Â He never told Rosie.
Miles huffed, giving a bitter smile, finally looking at Rudy with narrow eyes before huffing again, as if in defeat. "My mum... after my dad left us, my mum started drinking and basically just went a really dark place. It affected me quite a bit. You're lucky, that you didn't have to go through that alone."
Rudy stared at Miles. Out of of everything he imagined Miles to be he would have never expected him to go through anything like that in his life. Miles was too lively, too happy in himself to have went through anything like that. or maybe... Rudy just wasn't letting himself move on.
"M-my parents...," he took a deep breath, his lungs still feeling like they didn't belong to him. " five years ago now... five years ago today, actually, they died in a car accident."
"Oh. "Miles exclaimed before clamping his hands over his mouth and turning red." I mean- I'm sorry? Crap! I mean- uh, I- Â I really don't know what to say, I-"
"You don't have to say anything," Rudy said, leaning his head back against the wall. He wasn't feeling any less shit to be honest but it was good, he decided, it was good to let it out to someone. Rudy found Miles eyes from where his head was angled. "Just... just thank you for being here. Thanks for helping me with Legolas."
Miles smiled at him and moved so that he was sitting beside him, shoulder to shoulder and took his hand once again. Their fingers laced until Rudy was completely calm again. They didn't say anything after that, the revelations that both of their lives were particularly crappy was nice. Nice to know that someone could understand.
"Let's go find my dog," Rudy said with unwavering determination once his heart settled back into its proper place. He stood with a little groan, using his hands to push himself up off the ground, letting go of Miles hands. he felt the smaller boys eyes on him. He dusted his hands off on his trousers and looked down just as Miles was ready to get up, avoiding Rudy's gaze. Rudy held out his hand.
Miles looked at it, then him and grinned brightly."Let's." And he took it.
A/N: i have no idea what i'm doing. i planned all my chapters and these stupid jerks keep messing it up with their feelings. I hope that this was okay? Any criticism is awesome, but not like mean comment bc dude i will take you down so hard.
plz comment and vote. it's what i live for
dedicated to Mad_Android for leaving such lovely comments and being awesome in general, thank you!