1935
The car was driving way past the speed limit, cutting around tight corners, the cold wind of mid to late February biting at the passengers skin. Johnny sat in the middle of the back seat with a girl, named Milly, on his left and a boy, Rob, on his right, a lit cigarette held loosely between the fingers of his right hand. Johnny leaned over to kiss Milly on the lips before moving his arm from around Rob's shoulders to take a drag of the cigarette. The radio was blasting the top hits of that month into the air. Lacey, who was sitting in the passenger seat, and Milly both yelled out in joy as the driver, Beck, went around another tight corner, the car getting dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.
Lacey reached down and grabbed a bottle of beer, opened it and turned round to face the back as she took a sip. ‘Here ya go Johnny.’ the girl giggled, passing it to him. Johnny removed his arm from around Milly to take hold of the bottle leaning in to give Lacey a kiss, who giggled even more in response. She had just turned 21 and had supplied the alcohol for tonight, seeing as she was the only one of age. Johnny didn't particularly like Lacey, he didn't like the fact that she always went for guys that were at least four years younger than her, which seemed to make 17 year old Johnny a perfect target. He was appalled with the fact that just last week she got with 14 year old Billy Mack. He could barely stand her half the time, but she was somehow popular and Johnny himself was popular so it was almost impossible not to hang out. They hadn't shared anything more than a kiss here and there, but sometimes she looked at him in a way that made her look all like the predator that only Johnny seemed to know she was making his skin crawl.
Taking a sip of the beer Johnny then shared a kiss with Rob, handing him the beer, Rob greedily taking a gulp before passing it over to Milly, and took another drag of his cigarette. The thing about Johnny is that he was probably the only openly queer person that could walk down the street without getting beaten up and the simple reason for it was that he was popular, so popular that there weren't many people in Brooklyn who didn't know who he was. Yes he still got into fights about this fact, but they deserved being beat up in a fight if they really thought that was a reason to get in a fight with anyone.
Beck swerved the car around another corner, the car drifting more this time because of some ice. The girls screamed in delight again, something about that turn made something in Johnny lurch making him get up to lean over and give Beck a kiss on the cheek. Beck had been very adamant on not wanting to do anything romantic or sexual with Johnny, saying he wasn't some “poofter”, but every now and then Johnny could sneek in a kiss to the cheek or a quick dance at the bar and sometimes if he was extra lucky and Beck was feeling extra sappy, he would let Johnny sit on his lap. He had once gotten Beck to give him a kiss on the lips, it was one of his greatest accomplishments.
Sitting back, Johnny was now in Rob’s lap, who had strategically moved himself so Johnny would have no choice but to, not that he was complaining. Rob was a very attractive guy, who was only a couple months older and if it wasn't for the fact that Johnny was trying really really hard to win Beck over to the gay side, he could definitely see himself with Rob. It helped that Rob was also the biggest gentleman Johnny had ever met, other than maybe Bucky, who really knew how to treat someone right. But unluckily for everyone involved no matter who he ended up dancing with, he was usually wrapped up in Johnny’s twin brother, Steve's arms by the end of the night, acting like a weighted blanket for Steve.
Johnny felt Rob brush his lips against his neck, startling a giggle out of Johnny, Rob silently asking for permission to kiss him there. Johnny felt himself nodding even though over time he had figured out that his neck was overly sensitive and depending on how it was touched and/or kissed could leave him either laughing or moaning. Fortunately for Johnny, Rob was also a really great kisser, a breathy moan escaped his lips. Johnny took another drag from his cigarette and another and another to try and calm himself, because Rob was a really great kisser and Johnny had a sensitive neck.
To distract himself from the feeling in his neck he motioned Milly to come forward so he could kiss her. She immediately did so, the beer bottle being discarded on the floor of the car. Sparing a glance he saw Beck roll his eyes in the rearview mirror and if Johnny didn't have his tongue down Milly's throat he definitely would have stuck it out at Beck.
He wasn't sure what happened next, but Johnny could have sworn he saw Lacey lean over to kiss Beck, clearly upset at the lack of action and attention. Something that over the past 3 years Lacey hadn't seemed to catch onto the fact that it was always Johnny that was the centre of attention. But before he knew it the car was swerving in a way Johnny knew wasn't Beck trying to be a hot show off. Milly quickly pulled back to sit properly, a scream escaping her lips as the ice made them head straight towards some building that Johnny could have sworn had never been there before.
Gunshots woke Johnny, not remembering when he had passed out. Getting to his hands and knees, Johnny instantly pulled his right hand up, to see blood and glass and some sort of orange liquid decorating his palm. Johnny forced himself to move towards the nearest wall, leaning against it he pushed himself to take off his bomber jacket, hyper aware of it hoping that it wasn't ruined. That bomber jacket was his pride and joy, something that Mama Sarah had gotten him when he was 10, a jacket that was way too big for him at the time but didn't stop him from wearing it. Johnny had spent the last 7 years collecting different patches from tones of different big brands that all now covered the brown leather. There wasn't a time where he wasn't wearing it, he just wasn't Johnny Rogers without that jacket.
Johnny had suddenly become aware of just how much pain his body was in after he had removed his jacket. He sucked in a breath, looking down at his bloody torso that was also covered in the orange liquid. Johnny lifted up the white button up and undershirt to see the damage, only for his heartbeat and breathing to pick up as he saw all his veins standing out against his skin in bright orange. A pained scream left Johnny's lips as such an intense and burning pain overtook his body, completely forgetting to be quiet.
Hands had wrapped around his arms before he was aware of what was going on and started to drag him. Getting his bearings Johnny only just realised that whoever was dragging him was taking him to the cliff. Panic set in terribly quickly when Johnny saw Beck's body being chucked over the edge and he couldn't stop himself from struggling, his pain practically forgotten. ‘Get the fuck off me! Let me go! Stop! No no no no no no! NO! STOP!’ Johnny was over the edge of the cliff before he really had a chance to fight.
He passed out before he hit the water; the orange glow of his veins disappeared once he was submerged in the freezing water. Surrounded by the dead bodies of his companions for the night.
The knock on the door the next morning startled Steve and his mama got up to answer it. When he didn't hear Sarah’s scolding voice, starting to lecture Johnny for not being home before dawn, unease settled in Steve's stomach as his mind began to run overtime. He was pretty sure he had left their bedroom window unlocked, at this point Johnny used the window in their bedroom more than he did the front door.
With a pit in his stomach, Steve got up to see who was at the door and stopped in his tracks when he saw a police officer standing in the doorway. Steve felt his world collapse around him when his gaze landed on the bomber jacket covered in big brand patches that was unmistakably Johnny Rogers. It took all of Steve's strength to listen to what the officer had to say. How they found Beck's car washed up at the beach and when they went investigating they found Johnny's jacket up at the cliffs. With trembling fingers he grasped the jacket and pulled it close.
God he wished this was a dream, any moment now he was going to wake up from this shitty dream and whoever did knock on the door would end up being Johnny. And Ma would start to lecture him but Johnny wouldn't be listening and would make his way into the living room to pretend to be mad at Steve for locking the window into their room but ultimately was more mad that he had to do more walking than necessary than the fact Steve had locked the window. And Johnny would snuggle up to him on the couch to pass out for a few hours while Steve drew whatever came to mind then Bucky would swing by after work so the three of them could walk around Brooklyn for a while and maybe catch a movie.
But no, everything about this seemed too real and when Steve brought the jacket up to his nose even his blocked nose could smell blood. His body moved on impulse, pulling the jacket on for maybe the fifth time ever in the past seven years Johnny had it and moved around the officer telling his Ma that he had to go find Bucky, he couldn't wait, he needed Bucky now. His brother was gone, his little twin brother by four months was gone. Steve had been a premature baby caused by the stress of Sarah losing their dad, fortunately the second baby hadn't seen it time to be born and exactly four months later Johnny was born.
Johnny was his entire world and Johnny was gone.