[ I would like one single post notif please. also, I hope you that spam with silly comments and comments bullying Tyler know that you make my whole day ]

☁︎

WHERE'S TYLER?

SCOTT WAS IN A PARTICULARLY GROUCHY MOOD, Javi noticed. Though he didn't dare comment on it for fear of making it worse. He just assumed it had to do with how Kennedy and Tyler had been the night before at the bar — Tyler's lips had been glued to Kennedy's neck when they left, so it was evident how the rest of their night was spent.

As if Scott controlled the weather, it matched his gloomy mood all day. Clouds covered the sun and the wind never stopped blowing, which meant it was easy to find a surplus of storms to chase. There were so many in the morning that StormPAR and the Tornado Wranglers hadn't chased the same one.

But after lunch, Scott and Javi had a semi-good view of Tyler tearing up a muddy field of a farm as the rain came down in sheets, making it a bit hard to see. But the truck was so big and red that they could make them out as they followed at a more cautious speed.

And Scott couldn't help himself as he pulled out his phone, opening YouTube so that he could check on the live. Instantly, Tyler's and Kennedy's faces greeted him, and Kennedy actually looked quite nervous as she held onto the bar on the ceiling. Boone wasn't in the truck today, opting to film from the caravan.

"Ty," she was saying anxiously. "Maybe you should go a little slower."

"Oh, it's fine, baby!" Tyler shouted while laughing. He rubbed his hand back and forth on her thighs, and with her free one, she grabbed ahold of his hand tightly, squeezing it for dear life, a clear sign that the rough weather was scaring her even though they were still far out from the tornado.

Javi scoffed at hearing their voices. "You must really like her if you're watching that shit," he muttered.

"I don't like her," Scott said stiffly, lying through his clenched teeth. "But if we follow them, we might get in front of the tornado this time around."

"Yeah, well — oh shit!" Javi cursed, stomping on the brakes hard.

Some kind of large, broken structure that was ripped away by the wind slammed into the side of Tyler's truck, who hadn't been expecting it. He swerved hard, and Javi and Scott watched as the truck began to tailspin out of control before crashing into a fence, causing the truck to roll over and over again, damaging the cab horribly before it ended back right side up, wheels on the ground.

The video on the live was a chaotic mess of Kennedy screaming and the view spinning as supplies in the truck were thrown around. And because neither of them were harnessed up yet — and Kennedy wasn't even buckled — she was thrown around the truck too.

Kennedy was in a daze, having hit her head hard in the crash. Her world was still spinning even if the car wasn't any longer.

And through the thrumming in her ears, she could hear Tyler shouting. She turned her head to the left and saw he'd already climbed out of the truck, looking at the damage with his hands in his hair and freaking out.

And as Javi sped toward the crash, Scott kept his eyes glued to his phone where the livestream was still going, watching as Kennedy struggled to keep her eyes open as Tyler worried more about the damn truck.

It was a bad look, he knew. Already, the chat was filling with worried comments about Kennedy, who Tyler still hadn't checked on.

As soon as Javi stopped the car, Scott was jumping out and running to the passenger side of the dented and scraped cab of the truck, not caring as the rain soaked his shirt through. He had to tug hard on the damaged door before he could yank it open. Then he climbed up inside, cupping Kennedy's cheeks as her head lolled to the side. There was a small knick on her forehead that was bleeding.

"Kennedy," Scott said in a firm tone, speaking loudly and clearly. "Kennedy, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Kennedy frowned and tilted her head, looking at him through bleary vision. "Scott?" she questioned, trying to make sense of what happened and why he was there. "Scott, what happened? Where's Tyler?"

Where was Tyler?

Tyler was finally realizing that Kennedy might have been a bit more important than his truck as he saw Scott checking on her with Javi right behind him. And the caravan was heading their way too as the others raced to make sure she was okay.

"You're bleeding," Scott said, frowning at the wound on Kennedy's head. She just blinked at him slowly like she didn't even register his words. "I'll—"

"Hey!" Tyler snapped, having run around to that side of the truck. Javi stepped out of his way, a shocked look on his face. All Scott was doing after all was helping. "Get off her."

Tyler tried to pull Scott off, but he was stronger and stayed put as he glared at Tyler. "Go back to worrying about your truck since it's so much more important," he said spitefully. "She needs medical attention, and your vehicle's in no shape to take her."

"Kenny!" Boone shouted, the first out of the caravan and soon followed by the others. He didn't even care enough to cut the cameras in Tyler's truck that were still documenting everything for the livestream.

"Ken!" Lily yelled in sync with Dexter and Dani as they clamored after Boone. "Is she okay?"

They all stood on their toes and craned their necks as Scott carefully hooked his arms underneath Kennedy and gingerly pulled her out of the car. Then they all crowded around Scott, watching Kennedy, who was weakly leaning against his strong chest, her eyes falling shut.

"Keep your eyes open, Kennedy," Javi said, figuring she had a concussion. "Scott, get her in the truck so we can get her to the hospital."

"Hold on," Tyler said with a glare. "We can take her. She stays with us."

"Ty, come on," Boone said. "You can ride with 'em. But she's bleedin' something mighty, and the truck is in no shape — caravan might throw her around too much."

Tyler's chest was heaving as his eyes landed on Kennedy, who was now looking at him through vacant eyes — she didn't even know what was happening, clearly. It felt like guilt was crushing him the longer he looked at her, knowing her state was because of his reckless driving. And he felt even worse given that he'd checked on the goddamn truck before her.

Even he knew it was an asshole move, one that would reflect poorly on him given that the cameras had been rolling.

"Fine," Tyler said begrudgingly. "But I'm carrying her. She's my girlfriend. Let me make sure she's okay."

"Yeah," Scott said stiffly as Tyler moved to take Kennedy from his arms. "'Cause you seemed so concerned before."

☁︎

"How's Kenny?" Boone asked Tyler anxiously as he met everyone in the parking lot of the motel. After Kennedy had been released from the emergency room, everyone headed back.

"She's, uh, she's good," Tyler said with a nervous nod. "Resting up in our room. I'll go back up in a minute to stay with her."

"Good," Dexter breathed out a sigh of relief. "Head injuries are no joke. She's lucky it was just a concussion."

"Yeah, she coulda had worse with how the truck turned out," Lily said. The mechanic was already working on repairs to the truck, Tyler not trusting anyone but her as a mechanic. Then she looked from the dented cab to Tyler. "Hey, man, uh, gotta ask you something."

"Anything, Lils," Tyler nodded while looking over her progress instead of at her.

"What, uh, what was that? The whole not worrying about Kenny thing?" she asked.

All eyes were on Tyler. They'd all noticed but were too chicken to ask.

Dani, who managed the social media, was working overtime as she tried to calm fans down and assure them that Kennedy was okay. But sprinkled in throughout the comments wishing Kennedy a speedy recovery were the nasty ones. The ones furious at Tyler for checking on his truck before he checked on his girlfriend. The ones praising Scott, a total stranger for caring for her more.

She was pretty sure she'd be doing damage control for weeks, not that Tyler really concerned himself with the social media side of things — even though social media content was part of his job.

"I, uh, I was wonderin' myself, buddy," Boone said with a grimace on his face.

"I - I wasn't thinkin'," Tyler said, shaking his head as he looked away shamefully — and he saw the StormPAR guys hanging just a ways away at their own vehicles. "And I didn't know she didn't have her seatbelt on. I don't know what happened — it was like my brain didn't even register that she could've been hurt. I guess 'cause I can't stand the idea of her being hurt. Like I didn't think it was possible."

"Well, she was hurt," Lily said, still eying him. Something in her didn't like how Tyler answered the question even if the others were sated well enough.

"Good thing she's a tough one," Boone said, a grin now on his face. "She'll bounce back after a few days in the caravan."

"I hope," Tyler nodded.

"You should get back to her," Dani said, nodding to the motel. "Concussion victims are 'sposed to be real well monitored, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Tyler nodded. "Night, guys."

With his hands in his pockets and his head down, Tyler made his way up the steps to the second floor. And as he disappeared behind the door of his room, a set of steely blue eyes noticed that he hadn't gone to the very room he'd walked Kennedy back to for four nights in a row now.

Meaning Tyler had Kennedy all alone despite him saying he was taking care of her — and that made Scott's blood boil.

☁︎

Kennedy felt horrible as she laid on her back on the bed, all the lights in the room turned off as she tried to sleep. But her head ached and she felt nauseous from her concussion. And she was scared, having never had an injury like this.

It scared her being alone without anyone bothering to watch over her. She knew the Wranglers would drop everything in a heartbeat to watch her, but she couldn't do that without risking them finding out that she and Tyler weren't together anymore.

But god, her head hurt so much.

So much that she almost didn't hear the knock on her door. Given that she hadn't bothered to lock it, which potentially could've ended in her murder, she just weakly called out to the person.

"Come in!"

She let her head fall to the side, watching as Scott let himself into the room quietly, an unimpressed look on his face.

"It's not safe to keep your door unlocked," he said flatly.

She almost smiled at him because of it. "What are you doing here, Scott?" Kennedy asked quietly.

"Checking on you," he replied while coming closer. Then he held up his hand, revealing a plastic bag full of ice. "Thought this might feel good."

And god, when he perched on the edge of her bed and gingerly set the ice pack on her bruised forehead, she nearly whined from how good it felt — not the ice, but to be taken care of.

"Thank you," she said, hating how tears pricked at her eyes. Scott didn't even know her that well but was here and doing the bare minimum for her.

He nodded and settled against the headboard, kicking his shoes off as he put his feet on the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused as ever.

"Concussion patients aren't meant to be alone for the first several hours," he informed her matter-of-factly.

Kennedy anxiously bit her bottom lip. "T - Tyler's coming back. He just stepped out to talk to the guys."

"Really?" Scott asked, raising a stern eyebrow. Kennedy just nodded weakly. "Funny. Because I saw him retiring for the night in a different room."

Kennedy fell silent at that, her chest tightening as her anxiety levels rose. "Oh," was all she could manage, not in the right mindset to think of a solid lie.

"We can talk about it when you feel better," Scott told her, knowing she certainly wasn't in the right frame of mind to talk about whatever the hell was going on in her relationship. "Tomorrow morning when you wake up."

"You don't have to waste your time coming to find me tomorrow," she mumbled.

"I won't have to find you. I'm gonna stay right here," he said softly. "If Owens isn't going to watch over you, then I will. Someone has to."

"You don't - I don't need your pity or anything, Scott," she said, hating that her eyes were still watering. "I'll be fine."

"It isn't pity," Scott said, selfishly letting himself tuck some of her hair behind her ear. For just a moment, she shut her eyes, feeling his fingertips on her skin. "It's me showing that I care about you, if that's so hard to believe."

"It is, a little bit," she admitted. "But thank you. For caring."

It didn't feel like she had a lot of people that cared about her in her life right now.