dira | Love by the side of the road. But not in a country song way.

iuliamentis was in a car accident recently. I waited two whole days to check if it was okay before writing her car-accident themed comfort fic, and here it is, darlin'. Wish I'd been there for you.

This is hockey-AU-verse, set around 1981.

Ray stood in the snow, blinking, and tried to remember which way he'd been walking. He looked around. Uphill was the road. Downhill was...

Gardie's car lay flipped over in the snow, one fender gone, roof half caved in. "Gardie!" he screamed, scrambling back down toward it, and before he'd gone two steps there were arms holding him back, dragging him down to sit in the snow.

"Easy," said Gardie's voice just behind him. "Easy, easy, easy, Ko, I'm right here, I'm okay."

"What happened," Ray asked, looking from the car to the road, the torn-up ground exposed under the snow, "Gardie, what happened?"

"I dunno," Gardie said, and Ray realized he was half in Gardie's lap, sitting between his legs in the snow. His ass was cold and wet and he squirmed around so he could get closer, though Gardie was cold and wet too. "I think we hit some ice."

"But I--the car--"

"Hey," Gardie said, and Ray could feel fingers walking along his forehead, "fuck, you're bleeding."

"S'nothing," Ray said, reaching his own fingers up to poke at the spot. They came away dark with blood and he wiped them in the clean snow. The cut stung, and beneath it his head throbbed. "Nothing. Back on the ice as soon as they stitch me up."

"Oh yeah?" Gardie said, and his arms tightened around Ray. Ray tightened one arm right back around Gardie. "What's your name, smarty-pants?"

Ray let out a breath and watched it steam. "Stanley Raymond Kowalski, Gardie."

"Where are we?"

Ray looked around, even though it made his head hurt worse. "In New Brunswick. In the snow. Somewhere between the bar and the boarding house."

"Okay," Gardie said, and tightened his arms.

Ray sat still a minute, and then said, "We should go get the Mounties or something."

"Yeah," Gardie said, "or why don't we just sit awhile? Somebody'll find us."

Ray shook his head, then blinked as blood ran down into his eye, and struggled free of Gardie. He almost fell over before he was even all the way on his feet, his vision going dark and his head spinning. "Yeah," Gardie said, sounding far away, though his arms were close. "So why don't we just sit?"

When he could see again, he was right back on the ground, and one of Gardie's legs was wrapped around his waist. His hands hurt with cold. "My gloves are in the glove box," Ray said, trying to burrow closer to Gardie, but he was already as close as he could get, with Gardie's arms around him, bleeding onto Gardie's coat. "I'll go get them, I--"

"No," Gardie said, holding him still, "no. Stay with me, Ko. Stay right here. I know you could go over to the car, but I don't want to sit in the snow all alone, okay? Stay with me."

"Oh," Ray said. He couldn't leave Gardie alone. They were buddies, so they had to stick together, even if Ray's fingers fell off from the cold.

"Here," Gardie said, and Gardie let go of Ray a little bit, using one of his hands to undo a couple of buttons on his coat. "Here, turn."

Ray didn't understand, but Gardie's hands pushed him around till they were facing each other, Ray's legs splayed awkwardly over Gardie's.

"Okay," Gardie said, his arms going around Ray again, "Put your hands in my coat so they stay warm, all right? Then you don't have to go anywhere."

"Okay," Ray agreed, sliding his hands into the warmth of Gardie's coat, resting his head carefully on Gardie's shoulder. "I won't leave you." His hands scrambled toward Gardie's warmth, fumbling under sweater and undershirt until they laid on the skin of Gardie's belly.

He felt and heard Gardie suck in a startled breath at the cold touch, and then Gardie's hand was going up and down his back, holding him close. "That's good," Gardie said, "that's good. You stay with me now, right? You stay."

"Yeah," Ray said, "I'm good. Back on the ice soon as they stitch me up."