#OTP BlueRocker (no more)

[vince-linder]

And if you die, I wanna die with you

A normal day, with a normal gig. It was nothing special, so Vince went alone, leaving Johnny at the Afterlife as a backup. But somehow today Johnny was nervous. Something felt off. But until now Vince didn't called him in for backup. Johnny nibbed on his drink, tapping on the counter of the table he was sitting at. Other patrons and Mercenaries looked at him, being annoyed by his nervous behaviour. Johnny didn't care. Shouldn't Vince be already done with the mission? Just a quick in and out, right? Than why wasn't Vince back. Johnny took a deep shaky breath. The buzz of his phone let him wince, he fumbled for his phone hasty and nearly dropped it. Vince names was showing on the display, and Johnny hesistates to look at it for a moment. He took another long breath, opening the messenge with a bad feeling in his guts. "Johnny?" "Yes?!" "I fucked up. I could need a bit of help. Please? [Coordinates send] "I'll be there in 5!" Johnny put his phone back in his backpocket and jumped from the chair, running out of the afterlife without explaining a thing to anybody. Patrons looked after him, shaking their heads.

He jumped on his bike and cursed as it won't start at first, a second try and the engine dies down again, Johnny was too nervous. At third try the deep roar finally let the bike start and Johnny headed down the road towards the coordinates Vince send him. Johnny didn't paid much attention to the traffic on the road, cutting edges and going full speed. At the coordinates he stops on a big parking lot of an old Petrochem warehouse. He could see traces of a fight, shutdown alarms and cameras. The usual way Vince was fighting. Johnny draws his pistol and slowly sneaked inside the warehouse. He was on edge, expecting gang members on every corner, but he only found dead bodies of Maelstromer members. Not a living soul around. He headed deeper into the warehouse, hearing a faint coughing sound. Oh no. His steps got faster, following the sound of the coughing. No.

Johnny gulped down as he found the origin of the sound. Vince was sitting with his back to a wall, surrounded by corpses of Maelstromer, and a big puddle of blood. Johnny never saw him down like this, he paces through the blood and bodyparts and kneels down before Vince. "Jesus! What the hell happened here? Vince? Speak to me, please." Vince opens his eyes and takes a sharp breath in "Hi Johnny.". He looks at Johnny with a small pained smile, before he looks down on himself. One hand pressed firmly to his side, were a big amount of blood was leaking. "Yeah... may were a few to many from them, hu?" Vince let his head fall back against the wall and a dark laugh escapes him "Fuck..." Johnny lookes over Vince body and nearly puked as he sees the big wound on Vince' body. "Hold on, Vince. Just... I call Trauma! I am gonna pay for it!", hasty and with quivering hands Johnny pulled out his phone and dialed for Trauma. They didn't were premium costumers, but they were known and rich enough to get on the line. His leg begins to tremble as he waits for the other side to confirm that they are on the way. Finally. The timestamp was starting.

"Two Minutes, Vince! Promise me to hang on for two minutes! Please.", Johnny was tearing up. The lone thought of losing Vince was making him ill to the core. "Dunno, Johnny. Cannot promise, that I have that much." Vince takes a deep, sharp breath, trembling under it. He opens his eyes again, smiling at Johnny "Atleast I can see you again." "NO!" Johnny was pacing around Vince, closely watching him, making sure he doesn't lose his consciousness. "It's gonna be alright! Promise me to stay with me!" "Mmh. It is so good to see you again, sweetheart." Vince trembles with every breath, a pained expression in his face. He looks down on himself once more "Got a bad feeling they got my lungs. Or my heart. Maybe both." Vince closes his eyes again. "You are not going to die! Not today! You will survice, you are a though bastard! You have faced death before! In so much worse state!" Johnny kneels down next to Vince again, taking his hand into hisown. The first tears start to drop, and he feels like his heart was ripped out of his chest. The one person he truely loved, that made him feel the best way, was about to die. Was it all for nothing? All the risks they took against Arasaka to safe both their lifes? "Mmh, I know Johnny, I know. I love you." Vince exhales, slower with each breath. A coughing fit hitting him hard after the last breath. Johnny could only watch, seing Vince like that reminds him badly on the time with the relic. "I love you too, Vince." Johnny voice was nearly breaking and he gulps down the bad feeling, the urge to puke. Suddenly three members of Traumateam jumped through the roof and land exactly next to Johnny, they look at Vince and nod. "Take a step back, Mister.", a sharp voice speak to Johnny. In pure defense he holds up his hands and takes a step back. They injected some medicial first aid into his airway before they picked him up to put him on a stretcher. "You are gonna be alright, kid. Just keep breathing and stay awake." "Yes sir." Vince murmurs with a slight chuckle, his eyes closed. He points in the direction of Johnny "He's gonna come with us. He's my husband."

"You heard him. Come on."

They all got into the AV. Vince was laid down on a platform and Trauma started to work on his overall state. Johnny sat silently next to Vince, holding his hand and hoping for the best. "We'll be taking you back to the hospital where you can get some intensive care. You'll make it. Just stay with us." The flight made Johnny only more nervous, seing the heartmonitor and hearing the beeping of it. It wasn't regular at all. His left legs starts wiping again. Vince took short sharp and jerkingly breaths, but he smiled at Johnny softly the whole way The Traumateam fastly applied the first aid, and soon they were at the Hospital. They picked up the stretcher with Vince and lifting him up to a more transportable version. His body already on tubes and wires. They let Johnny follow them into the operation room. The medics rushed in right away and started to work on Vince. Johnny sat on a nearby seat, watching them. His mind was everywhere, running wild. So much was going through his head. But he had to hold it together and keep Vince together. Vince was the only thing that mattered to him right now. Vince was still bleeding heavy, and already lost far too much blood. The med-team started to apply synthblood to his body, but also start cursing. The operation seems to be much more complex then it seems beforehand. The tech was beeping, loud and alarming, as his body refuses to work with the synthblood. He stays on the verge of collapsing. And if he weren't on the verge of dying, Vince voice was as optimistic as always. His gaze on Johnny and a small smile on his face "Johnny?" His husband was again in pure panic and shock. Watching Traumateam and the doctors try to keep Vince alive, but clearly failing with it. Johnny gulped down and his eyes finally meet again with Vince's "Vince. Please. Don't... don't go." He put a hand on Vince arm and looks pleading at him. The tears start to dwell in his eyes again.The cursing of the team get louder, it get more hectic in the room. They still keep up their long trained routine. But the blood pressure didn't stabilize at all, and his heart rate was sinking on really bad levels "Johnny. Hey, babe." Vince puts his hand over Johnnys and smiled fondly. "I need you to be strong for our son, yeah? You have to protect him, our lil Jackie." "V-Vince." Johnny looks at him, his body shaking from holding back to sob and cry out loud. "No. Please. Don't let me ... I can't... I...." Vince took a long deep breath, collecting the rest of his force to speak to his soulmate. He could already feel how his body was giving in, but he needed a few more minutes. "Johnny. Promise me. Promise me to remember all the good times we had together." Vince slowly sits up on the edge of the bed, ignoring the warnings of the doctors and the burning pain from within his body. His time was up so no need for holding back.

"Hey." Vince smiles softly. He places both hands on Johnnys cheeks and wipes away the tears. "I know it's hard. But I believe in you, babe. You can do it. And I know, it's not fair, god I wish I could do anything against it." Vince takes a long deep breath and grithes his teeth together. A bad wave of pain was hitting him right now. In an attempt to sooth them both, Vince leans forward and puts his forehead against Johnnys, his right hand on Johnnys cheek, his left on the edge of the bed to give himself more stability. Despite all the pain he was in he smiled softly at Johnny, a loving gaze in his eyes. "I don't want this either Johnny. But I am glad for what we had. You remember our time in japan?" "Yes." Johnny was gulping down and his voice nearly breaking. "We had so much... the whole world was ours to take on. We are on the top of Night City, the powercouple we always dreamed off. I ... Vince, please. I can't do this without you." "You can do this, Johnny. You have to. Jackson needs you as his dad."

Vince slowly caress over Johnnys cheek in a circular motion, but his strength was fading and his body trembling. "I love you, Johnny. And I don't regret one minute of our time together. It was truely the life I always dreamed of." "I... I cant.", Johnnys tears were flowing freely by now, his breath hitchy and in a state of denial. "I don't wanna do this. I can't do any of this without you, Vinny."

Johnnys tears subsided slowly, but he was still shaking. His whole world was breaking. He was losing everything he ever fought for. His love, his friend, his soulmate. He had nothing left. He was hollow.

"Vince, you mean everything to me. Please. Don't go." "I know. You are everything to me, Johnny. And I could never forget our time together. You were always like a brother to me and than suddenly it was so much more." A soft but pained laugh escapes Vince on the memories. "I still remember your shocked face when I just kissed you in the middle of the desert." Johnny laughed softly between his sobs. "You were always so unpredictable, it's what I loved most about you." Johnny looks over at the heart monitor and sighs. "So. V. This is it, huh?"

Vince let out a sad sigh, was Johnny was seeing on the monitor was he long feeling. All his organs were about to fail, his body on the verge of finally collapsing.

"Yeah. This is it." He places a small kiss on Johnnys lips "I love you, don't ever forget this."

"I love you too, V. And I will never forget you." Johnny kissed him and this was truely the most painful kiss he had ever endured. A kiss filled with pain and sorrow. His right hand brushes through Vince' hair.

Vince smiles softly "Love you more." The pain skyrockets through his body, the last attempt to stay alive. "See ya in Afterlife, Johnny. I'll wait for you~" "See ya in Afterlife, V." Johnny held onto the bed as he watches Vince take his final breath. The monitor in the back made a loud beeping sound, as his organs died down. Everything was falling apart. Johnny was alone.