Quinn couldn't believe that Gerard had the balls to call him and say, "Could you come get him?", like Bert was a kid misbehaving at school. When he got to their bus, Gerard was sitting on the couch looking tired, and Bert was pacing on the other side of the room, screaming his voice hoarse, blood running down his right forearm.

"He did it to himself," Gerard said, gesturing to the broken window behind him.

"Shut the fuck up," Quinn said. He grabbed Bert by his clean arm. "Come on, Bert."

"Lying shit!" Bert was shouting. "You cheating fuck!"

"Come on," Quinn said with a more insistent pull. Bert hesitated, staring at Gerard, as if this was his last chance to do real damage, and Quinn stopped pulling, because Gerard deserved it.

But Bert's voice lowered to a strained whisper. "Change your mind," he said.

"I'm sorry," Gerard said.

Bert spit on the floor, and they left.

Back at their hotel room, Bert fell apart, crying like Quinn hadn't seen since he detoxed from meth. He fell on the bathroom floor and put his hands over his face. He rocked back and forth, getting blood in his eyes and tears in his wounds, as Quinn filled the bathtub.

"It's okay," Quinn said. "Tomorrow we'll get Branden and Jepha and we'll go kick all their asses." They both knew it wasn't true, since Branden wouldn't fight if his life depended on it, Jeph was too friendly with My Chem, and they couldn't do that to Brian anyway.

Quinn helped Bert to his feet, peeled off his filthy, bloody clothes, and helped him into the bathtub. He considered getting into the tub himself, but he didn't want Bert to think he was coming onto him. Bert had had enough men fuck him and leave him for one day.

Bert winced as his cut hand hit the hot water, but he allowed Quinn to wash it without complaining. When the wound was clean, Quinn leaned in to pull Bert into a hug.

Bert was still sniffling, his face covered with blood and dirt and snot, but Quinn didn't care; he just wanted to pull Bert into his body where he would be safe forever, but he was afraid he'd never be strong enough to protect them both.

"Thank you for coming to get me," Bert said into Quinn's shoulder, and Quinn almost laughed, because it was nothing. Driving to the fairgrounds and picking up Bert was nothing, and he wanted to do more, to kick Gerard's ass and Bert's dad's ass and make everyone love Bert.

But he was afraid he'd never be strong enough to give Bert everything he deserved. So he just knelt over the side of the bathtub, his knees sore from the tile, with a promise of love and the taste of Bert's blood on the tip of his tongue.