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Jonathan woke to a sharp, burning ache in his wrists.
He tried to move them, but the rope was so tight it bit into his skin.
The chair he sat on creaked with every shallow breath; one leg was broken, and any wrong movement could send him crashing to the floor.
He wanted to call out—Steve’s name, Will’s, anyone’s.
But the dark tape across his mouth didn’t just silence him; it strangled every attempt at sound.
The adhesive pulled at his skin, pressed into his jaw, and made every trembling sob hurt.
Vecna hadn’t needed words to break him.
He had left Jonathan in a damp, shadow-soaked room, where every corner seemed to watch him.
Jonathan breathed fast and silently, terrified of drawing attention from whatever was still lurking.
“What if they don’t find me?”
“What if this time I don’t make it out?”
A tear slid down his cheek.
The next one didn’t even reach his skin—the tape caught it.
His head dropped forward. He couldn’t scream, couldn’t cry out loud, couldn’t beg for help.
Only the shaking of his body remained, the fear of dying without saying a single word to the person he needed most.
A noise.
Soft.
A step.
Jonathan froze, terrified Vecna had come back to finish the job.
The door burst open.
—“Jonathan!” Steve’s voice shattered the silence like a lightning strike.
Jonathan’s eyes flew wide, overflowing with desperate relief.
He tried to speak, but only a muffled, pleading sound escaped behind the tape.
Steve crossed the room in two strides.
He dropped to his knees in front of him, chest rising and falling fast, like he had run across the whole town just to reach him.
—“I’m here,” Steve whispered, his fingers trembling as they hovered near the tape. “I’ve got you… I’ve got you…”
Jonathan whimpered softly, begging without words.
Steve drew in a breath… and tore the tape off.
Jonathan gasped, a broken cry ripping from his throat.
The pain was sharp, hot, immediate.
His skin was red and damp, but he could breathe, he could speak—though all that came out was a shaky gasp.
Before he could manage a word, Steve cupped his face with both hands, gentle in a way that almost hurt.
—“I’m so sorry,” he breathed. “I didn’t know you were suffering like this… I didn’t—God, Jonathan…”
Jonathan’s eyes closed.
That tenderness shattered whatever walls he had left.
He leaned forward, resting his forehead against Steve’s.
—“I thought…” he swallowed hard, voice cracking— “I thought I’d die without saying your name…”
Steve let out a choked sob.
He tore at the ropes tying Jonathan down until they snapped, and Jonathan fell straight into his arms.
—“Never,” Steve whispered against his hair. “I will never let you disappear like that. Not while I’m still breathing.”
Jonathan clung to him, fingers gripping Steve’s shirt like he was still falling.
Outside, the world was still dark.
But in Steve’s arms… Jonathan finally breathed again.
And for the first time since Vecna took him, he felt safe.