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It was bad.

No.

It was absolutely heartbreaking.

The way he cowered in the corner, no words coming out of his mouth, only silent tears that trailed down bloodied skin, it made Ohm's flesh crawl.

The way he shook when he heard the smallest sound, body quivering, a leaf of a human. His fragility ever present, vulnerability overflowing.

The way he bowed his head in defeat, hands cold and pale against his lap as they picked at fingers, scabs formed and peeled away, nails caked in dried blood and dirt, chipped and broken in all the wrong places.

This wasn't the Wildcat he knew.

The man that usually stood at 6'5 with a teasing smirk and a witty remark to every jab poked at him, the man who almost always smiled in every situation, the man who was their best interrogator and gunman (the latter argued by Delirious, of course), was now nothing but a shivering shell crumpled in on himself,  almost devoid of life. And it fucked Ohm up to see him like that.

Wildcat was his best friend, his ride or die. And he had been for years. The second they met, they hit it off. Probably because Ohm was extremely useful with weapons (specifically knives) and his own interrogation experiences were on Wildcat's level, and it impressed the younger. Or maybe it was because of Ohm's soft spoken and shy, but friendly demeanor that harshly contrasted with Wildcat's own that drew him in.

Whatever it was, they were always paired together on heists, mainly because Ohm could calm down the rage within the younger man that came with the jobs they pursued. Only Ohm could get him to stop blaming himself when things went sideways. And only Wildcat could bring Ohm out of his panic attacks that happed every once in a while, only Wildcat could get him to celebrate with the rest of the gang at the nearest club, which was one of the hardest missions at all, considering Ohm's introverted ways.

They protected each other, had each others' backs, and promised nothing bad would happen to the other.

And Ohm broke that promise.

The evidence was sprawled out before him, written in blood, sweat, and tears.

He wasn't there for Wildcat when he needed him the most. And now his best friend was practically unrecognizable.

Ohm stepped the smallest bit closer, kneeling down and reaching out for the chains around Wildcat's feet. He pulled the keys out of his back pocket, also covered in blood, and was quick to unlock them, half releasing his companion from the metal that bound him.

Wildcat wouldn't look at him, whether that be from trauma or disappointment, Ohm didn't know, but it didn't stop him from unlocking the younger's hands and fully freeing him from his prison.

When Ohm found out Wildcat had been kidnapped, taken on the way back from a supply run in the middle of the day by a rival gang, he was furious, erratic. Ohm was usually pretty contained and rational, but when it came to his best friend being in danger, he lost it all. He had gotten into fight after fight with Vanoss, their leader, claiming they weren't trying hard enough to find the man with piercing blue eyes.

He drank himself to the brink of death and cried in Wildcat's room every night. He missed out on training and meetings, just to sit at his laptop and go over evidence gone over a thousand times before. And when he did show up to said training and meetings, he was still hammered and useless to the gang. He slept with Wildcat's helmet on his nightstand, staring at it until his eyes hurt and his mind was forced to sleep.

And when they finally found Wildcat's location after 3 1/2 week's of endless searching, Ohm was the first to go in. Delirious told him to wait, that he would need backup, but Ohm went that night, blood boiling and on a murderous rampage, to the abandoned building across the city they were keeping his best friend, their hostage.

He slaughtered almost everyone, with the exception of the gang leader, some green eyed pretty boy who wanted leverage on Los Santos' most feared gang. With him, Ohm watched him suffer, watched him try to run after putting a bullet in his leg. Watched him cry tears of pain as he drove a knife through his hand. And finally, watched him choke on his own blood after Ohm slit his throat.

When the rest of the BBS gang got to the scene, Ohm was in the middle of the room, covered in blood, surrounded by corpses.

And now he was here, coaxing Wildcat out of the corner while his other friends brought a car around front and guarded the perimeter, just in case.

He knew Vanoss would scold him for the suicide mission, but he also knew he did what had to be done, and, in his current state of mind, their leader wouldn't dare berate him. After all, Ohm did get Wildcat back, and that was the whole point of the mission.

Ohm held out his hand to the timid man, hoping for him to reach his own bloodied digits out to grasp onto the equally colored one. But what he got in return was a shaky inhale and a man pressing himself further against the wall.

It was almost incomprehensible to him. Wildcat was one of the strongest, both physically and mentally, in the gang. He had been tortured before, that Ohm knew, and never did he even break a sweat. Yet here he was, scared of everyone and everything, even his own best friend, because of something this other gang did to him.

He sighed, staring into those blue eyes he had learned to appreciate and rely on. The blue eyes that now held nothing but cold fear and dull life, anything good pushed far back into the locked parts of Wildcat's mind.

Ohm didn't know what to do.

And that was a first.

He was known in the gang as the planner, the one who had A to Z, and who always knew the right call. He saved their lives countless times and could redirect the original plan into a new one in seconds. Vanoss let him lead half the time, the other times he stayed as the right hand man, giving the owl masked man his thoughts and inputs every so often as they began a heist.

But right now? He was clueless.

He couldn't carry Wildcat, the man was a good 6 inches taller than him and had a lot of muscles that weighed a bit too much for Ohm to all carry.

His only hope was for Wildcat to trust him....

And by the looks of it, that wasn't happening.

Ohm tried to rely on his voice, his harsh, strained voice that he did his best to turn calm, but it came out choppy and unsure.

"Wildcat?"

The taller man hid his face in his own shoulder, wrapping his body up in his arms, shaking when Ohm spoke his name.

So, code name was out of the question.

"....Tyler...?"

That made Wildcat peek, but only ever so slightly. He wouldn't reply to anything Ohm did or said. And it made the smaller man even more concerned than he already was.

Ohm placed a hand on Wildcat's knee, which prompted the younger to jump, pushing himself away from his friend, scooting back until he was against a completely different wall. New tears streamed down his face, and he brought a hand up to cover his features, as if to hide himself from Ohm.

The hazel eyed man stood, walking over to the opposite wall Tyler now claimed as his own, grabbing the hand in front of the tortured face and pulling it into his own. He expected a smile or a bit of trust, but Tyler's eyes widened in pure terror, his breathing became erratic, and he desperately tried to pull his hand out of Ohm's grasp. The standing man's eyebrows furrowed in worry, but before he could comprehend what was going on, Tyler's body went completely limp, his head hitting the dirt ground with a small thud.

Ohm's own eyes now widened, and he quickly pulled out his phone, calling Vanoss while checking Tyler's pulse.

He was still alive, thankfully.

"Ohm? Where the hell are you? Do you have Tyler?"

Vanoss picked up on the second ring, and Ohm was quick to respond.

"I have him. We're in the room next to the main office...it's uh, got a guy against the wall, he's missing an eye. Wildcat, he passed out. I can't carry him myself, send someone in?"

It was silent for a few moments on the other side, but then Ohm heard a shuffling and his leader's voice rang through his cell.

"Yeah, no problem, I'm sending in Delirious......Ohm?"

"Yeah?"

He heard Vanoss sigh.

"Good work."

Ohm would've smiled had he not been sitting next to an unconscious Tyler, but he did respond with a small "thanks" before hanging up the phone and focusing on sitting Tyler upright.

A few minutes later and Delirious was helping carry the unconscious Wildcat out of the building, Ohm on the right and the other masked man on his left, both of Wildcat's arms over their shoulders, his feet dragging behind them as they pulled him into the van Moo had running in front of the building.

As soon as Tyler's body was in the car, laying in the back seat, Ohm felt the wave of relief hit him. Wildcat was alive. He wasn't okay, but he was alive, and all the pain, the fear, the anger, it sunk out of Ohm's bones with one big sigh, and not five minutes later, Ohm was dead asleep against Delirious' shoulder, body heavy with exhaustion and mind finally giving in with the discovery of his friend.

———————————————————————

Three weeks after Wildcat's return, things were off. There was still no curse filled laughter, no loud complaining about how unfair games are, no smart ass comments when Vanoss asked for something to be done.

For the first week, Tyler had been in the infirmary with their medic, Brock. He needed treatment for the multiple injuries sustained, but Brock could only help the physical ones. After a week, Tyler was released and allowed back to his room, which hadn't had anyone in it , other than Ohm , since his disappearance. After that, he barely came out of his room. The guys saw him once in a while, coming out of the bathroom or grabbing something from the fridge, but other than that, he was a ghost to them.

He didn't come to meetings or training, didn't go on heists or help celebrate when they were a success. Nobody knew what he was doing in his room, nobody except Ohm.

After Tyler had gained consciousness in the infirmary, Ohm was the first one by his side. In fact, Ohm hadn't moved from the side of his bed for days. Tyler was terrified at first, that Ohm could tell. His heart rate would speed up and his eyes would go wide with intangible fear, but Ohm would gently remind him he was home, with his friends. The danger was gone and no one would hurt him anymore.

Tyler would nod and lie back down, breathing slowing as Ohm spoke careful reassurances to him. It got to a point where Tyler allowed Ohm to touch him. Whether it be just a brush or a fingertip or a full on hug, Tyler would let it happen. And that was the progress Ohm desperately needed.

From those little infirmary touches came Ohm sleeping in a chair in Tyler's room, Tyler fast asleep in his bed. Sometimes Ohm would stay up and make sure Tyler was sleeping okay, or just to confirm Tyler was there. In his own way, Ohm was mentally damaged from Tyler's kidnapping, it ruined him.

And then, one night, Tyler motioned for Ohm to lie next to him, and Ohm, of course, complied. He could never say no to his best friend. So, as he crawled into the surprisingly comfortable bed and felt Tyler's arms across his chest, he couldn't help but smile, his own hand grabbing on to the one against his shirt, fingers running along knuckles, a way to reassure both of them that they were real, Tyler was there.

Now, Ohm was skipping out on training to talk to the mute man. This was the fifth session he had missed in favor of helping Tyler with his return. He missed his voice so much, it kept him up at night just thinking about his laughter.

Tyler had his back to Ohm, staring out the window at the night sky, playing with his hands in his lap as he stayed seated on his bed, going through memories and traumas from just three weeks ago. His eyes held a tired fear, one that Ohm had come to recognize, and his features were riddled with untold stories from his time away.

Ohm found himself sitting in the chair near the bed, a good couple of feet away from his best friend, staring at the back of Tyler's wild brown hair and contemplating what to say to start the one sided conversation he was about to have.
He settled on something simple, yet so deep.

"I miss your voice."

He saw Tyler's back straighten at this, and soon after, Ohm found himself losing his filter, everything pouring out in one long set of words that he put his heart into. He couldn't stop thinking about this, about Tyler, and he'd be damned if he didn't tell his best friend everything.

"I miss your voice. Your sarcastic comments that made me snicker, your wheezing laugh that came so unexpected and at the complete wrong times, like when we were on that one Heist and Nogla did something stupid and you gave away our hiding spots because you started wheezing so hard,"

Ohm smiled as he said that, it was a fond memory he went over often, one of his favorites.

"I miss how you'd call me a dumbass for taking the last cookie, but it was halfhearted and I always ended up sharing it with you anyway. I miss how you helped me prepare for interrogations, how you let me fake interrogate you and it always ended up with me asking if you were as gay as you sounded. I miss the stupid jokes that made everybody laugh, but made me laugh the hardest because my best friend was such an idiot,"

Ohm ran a hand through his hair, tears pricking his eyes as he continued his little avalanche of emotions.

"I miss you constantly trying to convince Evan to let you get a dog, a Dalmatian you'd say, and you'd name him Kino and he'd be a living meme who you could bring on Heists, but he'd wait in the car because no way you'd ever send your little meme into any danger,"

Tyler's body turned slightly at this. He never realized how much Ohm really listened to him, how much he truly paid attention, and it was endearing, it made his heart clench and beat loudly in his chest. His best friend knew so much.

"I miss how you'd talk about the kids you were gonna have someday, but you didn't think you'd ever meet the right girl, so you'd jokingly ask me if I'd have your babies, and every time I would say yes, but part of me wasn't joking because, I know it's not possible, but I'd do anything to have little WildOhm hybrids running through the safe house,"

Ohm felt a tear slide down his cheek at this. He didn't mean for all of this to come out, but it was. He was so overwhelmed and in need of his best friend's soothing voice, he needed Tyler's reassurance.

"I miss how you'd hold me when I cried from the loss of an innocent, how you'd passive aggressively call me a little bitch, but I could always feel the tears that fell onto my head, the ones that came from your eyes, because you were just as upset as I was. And I miss how you'd take my hand and put it over your heart during my little....episodes, and how you'd whisper to me and tell me you were real, it was real, this was all real and I was okay and not alone anymore,"

Tyler inhaled slowly, deeply, his mouth so dry and unaccustomed to what was flying out of Ohm's own. It was terrifying and exciting all at once, and he found himself turning to face Ohm, noticing his best friend was staring at his lap, picking at the fabric of his gray sweater, the one Tyler had gotten him for his birthday a couple years ago, the one with the bunny ears he had custom made and attached.

"I just...I miss your voice Tyler, I miss you. I miss my best friend and at this point, I don't know if I'm ever gonna get him back and it hurts so much. I'm not used to being the strong one, I'm not used to seeing you like this, and it hurts so bad. I just want, no, I need, some part of you to hold onto. I need you, I need my best friend so fucking bad and it hurts, it makes me feel so useless and helpless and-"

"Ryan...."

The voice was achingly familiar, mixed with fear and something Ohm couldn't place, almost like need, like an emotional need, and he could feel goosebumps raise on his flesh. And when he looked up, Tyler was standing above him with both his arms out, tears streaming down his own face, melted together by a small smile that had Ohm shaking in his seat. And as Tyler's arms wrapped around Ohm's shaking, overwhelmed, shocked body, he realized something.

Ohm once again, didn't have a clue what to do.