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title : stay alive fandom : stranger things oc / pairing : stuart johnston and clarence stevens (stevenston) trigger warnings : mentions of blood and gunshots
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It wasn't the sound of the gunshots that scared Stuart, nor the blatant southern anger from both parties shooting at each other. He's been around to see enough shootouts in his lifetime.
It was Clarence bleeding out on the floor. It was Clarence, the man that he fell in love with almost a year prior, seemingly about to die in the Carver household that scared the shit out of him. He couldn't lose two people that he loved. He just couldn't.
He risked getting the other's blood on his hands and on his shirt trying to help Clarence, tears running down his face. He was frantic. Clarence, however seemed calm. Way too calm for Stuart's liking.
"What the hell we're you thinkin'?"
"Stu─"
"I have never thought you to be an idiot! A shootout? Seriously?!"
"Stuart─" Clarence starts, but Stuart just keeps rambling on, trying to help him.
"And never in the nine months that I have known you, I have never thought you would shoot at anyone!"
"Stuart Johnston, listen to me!" Clarence finally blurts out. This makes Stuart stop talking.
"It's okay," Clarence says softly to him, "Stop freakin' out. I'll be fine."
Fine? He was not fine. Stuart knew that. He knew that Clarence hadn't been okay. He had came here demanding to know where his son was. He's had a very hard year, and even though they weren't talking to each other, Stuart deeply cared about him. He wanted Clarence to live. He didn't want him to die.
"Just let me go," Clarence told him.
Stuart shook his head immediately. "No. Absolutely not, I am not letting you die, you hear me?"
Clarence felt tired. He felt cold. He could hear the sirens from the distance, and so did Stuart. That gave the lawyer a glimpse of hope. But looking back down at his somewhat lover, noticing that he was giving out.
"No. No, no, no, Clarence," Stuart says gently, "Stay awake for me, okay? Alright?"
"I'm so tired. . . " He says quietly.
"I know, sweetheart, I know. But please stay awake just a few more minutes they're on their way. Keep talking to me, okay?"
"I can't. . ."
"Yes you can! You can, c'mon," Stuart told him, tucking a strand of Clarence's hair behind his ear.
Quiet. He heard nothing. Stuart slightly shook his head, denying everything. denying the slight reality that he could be dead. Before he could say anything, the door opens and he sees the paramedics.
"What happened?"
"My ... friend. My friend he got shot─"
"Sir, I'm gonna need you to move," One of the paramedics told him.
Stuart didn't want to leave him. He hesitated to even move.
"Sir─"
"He's still got a pulse," said the other paramedic.
"Sir, you need to move so we can get him to the hospital," The first paramedic told Stuart again, "You can get on the ambulance with us but we have to get him there as fast as we can, okay?"
Stuart gave a slow nod, finally moving away from Clarence so the paramedics could put him onto the gurney. He was right behind them, rushing to the back of the ambulance with them. While sitting there with him, he held onto Clarence's hand the whole way to the hospital.
