Bang and Burn ~ Dreamnotfound + Skephalo

Chapter 20

"Why are your hands so cold?!" Darryl asks as Zak tries to find the hook in Darryl's pants.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but aren't you the one that told me to shove my hand down your pants?!" Zak asks. He gasps with excitement as he says, "I got it!" Zak pulls the hook out of Darryl's pants, but loses his grip and drops the hook in between their chairs. Zak mumbles a swear under his breath, just quiet enough for Darryl not to hear.

"Hey, it's ok. We'll think of something," Darryl says, looking around the room. "Any ideas?"

"My head hurts too much to think," Zak responds.

After a few moments of silence, Darryl whispers, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Zak asks. "You didn't do anything."

"I'm sorry for never being there," Darryl replies. "I should've stayed here today to make sure it was safe, just like I should've stayed with you that night that this place was broken into."

Zak shakes his head. "Darryl, you can't blame yourself for everything, especially that night. We weren't exactly on great terms at the time."

"Just because we broke up doesn't mean I didn't still care about you, Zak," Darryl states softly. "You were the best thing to happen to me. Even if we never became anything more than friends, you would still be the most important person in my life."

Zak bites his bottom lip to hold back his smile, even though Darryl couldn't see. "Oh shut up."

"I'm serious, you muffin!" Darryl says. "I told you that when you said you needed time for yourself for a while." He moves his tied hands around and finds Zak's, then carefully intertwines their fingers together. "I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes. I promise."

Zak closes his eyes. "Thank you, Darryl." He looks down and sees the hook not too far away from his sneaker. "Hey! I may be able to get the hook!" He moves his foot over to it and runs the rubber sole against it until the hook gets stuck on his shoe. Zak then twists his arms and pulls his shoe up, doing everything he could to pull the hook out. After a second of staying in a painful position, he manages to grab the hook.

Zak holds it tightly between his fingers. This hook had blades on it, allowing agents to slide it into restraints and pull up, cutting whatever they were stuck in. While this sort of hook was best used to get out of duct tape, it'd still do the trick for zip-ties.

"Alright, you're going to have to cut yourself free first," Darryl instructs. "Let the hook slide down your wrist and push it into your restraints.

Zak carefully slides the hook into the zip-tie, then turns it so that the blade is caught on the plastic. He then pulls up, and the zip-tie breaks with a small popping sound. Zak quickly stands up but stumbles forward from a lack of balance. He leans on his bed as he groans, "They really messed me up. I can't even walk properly."

"Get me out of my ties and I'll help you," Darryl says. Zak pushes himself up and slowly walks back towards the chairs. He leans on the one he was stuck on and carefully slides the hook into Darryl's zip-ties, pulling up and popping his ties off. Darryl rubs his left wrists with his right hand, noticing that the tie left a ring around it.

Zak takes Darryl's wrists in his hands. "Are you going to be ok?"

Darryl nods. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. It just hurts a little bit." He looks up, noticing how close their two faces were to each other. He blushes and looks away. "I guess we should try to find some weapons, huh?"

Zak grabs his hands and squeezes them. "Only if you help me walk."

"What do you want me to do?" Darryl playfully asks. "Carry you around bridal-style?"