Feedback on my last chapter was completely overwhelming, thank you all so very much, I really truly appreciate every word I get. And so, in celebration of finishing my 2500 assignment that's been annoying me all week, here's another short and silly chapter for you all as thanks.
This whole chapter is one big metaphor, because I like metaphors, and I've been wanting to do a Rusty chapter for a while. For your own information I'm referencing in this chapter Act4 Scene1 of Much Ado About Nothing, just in case you guys got lost or want to read it for yourself. It's been a few years since I did high school literature, but I still love this play, so you get a crash course in Shakespeare, you're welcome.
Also includes NHas's prompt: 'Sharon has a chance to try Andy's veggie lasagne', if only vaguely.
Only a few more chapters before some resolution, but yes, in response to my wonderful reviews, this is extended foreplay. Doesn't it just make it all the sweeter, though?
As always, I hope you still like it, and let me know what you think of the latest.
Canon
Rusty often finds himself comparing his mother- this figure that raised him- and Sharon Raydor, this woman who has no real claim over him yet loves him all the same. He watches her sometimes, the easy sway of her movements around the kitchen as she's cooking, or the efficient flicking of the sheets as she's changing the beds. She is the diametric opposite of his mother in every way that counts, and sometimes he shocks himself with just how comfortable he's become in a life where he matters.
He's noticed, because he's not blind and he does know her fairly well now, that this difference extends to her romantic relationships. Where Sharon Beck had never felt complete without the love of a man, Sharon Raydor commands her space in such a way that even imagining another person in it is strange, almost uncomfortable. He still can't reconcile that her husband has any kind of claim to her home or her life.
And yet it takes him a while to notice that Flynn has become such a permanent fixture that he's not the intruder Rusty expected.
From his place at the desk he peaks over at them, sitting on the couch with files open in front of them, more files scattered on the coffee table. They're side by side, thighs almost touching, talking through their latest case with practiced ease, finishing each other's sentences without realising.
It's a scene that's become familiar enough that it's comforting. Flynn had come over to make his (apparently) world famous lasagne, and Sharon had indulged in her customary wine, and Rusty had been shepherded off to grab his homework as they settled on the couch to work, preferring the comfort of her home to the stark light and hard angles of a conference room at work.
And yet Rusty senses a tension in the air that wasn't there before; a buzz surrounding them like they're far too aware of each other, and of their proximity, and of every little word that passes between them. They've always been aware of each other in the past, especially in the months since Flynn became a real friend, but this tension feels far more tenuous, and it makes Rusty nervous.
It's not obvious, but he's been around sex- and his mother's string of partners- enough to see that these two would like nothing more than to be making out on that couch.
The thought makes him grin to himself.
The whole team have embraced him as their own, but none more than Sharon and Flynn, together, as a kind of partnership. Rusty has come to acknowledge the great friend he's been to Sharon, and that they have developed romantic feelings doesn't surprise him.
But he has figured out the rules- the things Sharon loves so much- and knows that they prohibit them from being together, and frankly he finds that damn unfair. If anyone deserves to have someone take care of them it's his foster mother; everyone knows she's too stubborn to allow someone to be her knight in shining armour, but if anyone can penetrate her tough shields, it's Andy Flynn.
Rusty thinks it's just sad that the most they seems to be allowed to have is this moment on the couch, the subject of work a convenient cover and the safety of Rusty in the room preventing anything untoward.
"Sharon?" he asks, frowning at one of the class questions in front of him.
She hums in acknowledgement, looking up from the report she's studying. Flynn looks up too, but Rusty doesn't pay much attention.
"What's the significance of the romantic relationship in Much Ado About Nothing?"
A sudden bark of laughter rings out from Flynn, and Rusty's eyes snap up. Sharon's eyes go fractionally wider, and she angles towards him quite comically as she gives a questioning look, surprised by his outburst.
"Something funny?" she asks with a smirk.
"Shakespeare. You'd think they'd have come up with more contemporary writers for schools after all this time"
"Well if it's not broken…" she replies, and then turns back to Rusty, who looks at them both with a lost expression on his face.
No, he really can't figure out why these two don't just get their acts together. Would anybody at work really care if they started a secret affair anyway? Would anybody really notice?
"Which romance do they mean?"
"The main one with Benedick and Beatrice"
She stands up and walks over to the desk, and Rusty sees Flynn follow her with his eyes. He's never seen that look on a person's face before, and certainly never from one of his mother's boyfriends, but he has seen enough movies to know what it means, and he gulps down his embarrassment at having witnessed something so intensely personal.
"Okay" she starts, leaning over his shoulder to read the question herself. "So what are you confused about?"
"Well, they seem to hate each other all through the play, and she mentions that he was a real ass to her in the past, but then at the end out of nowhere they fall in love. I don't get it"
"Okay, so…"
She picks up his copy of the play and flicks it open, reading page numbers as she goes. "This was one of my favourites at school" she mutters, licking her finger and flicking two more pages, finding the passage. Flynn grins from his place on the couch, and Rusty has no idea why it's funny.
"Okay, here. So, you have to imagine they're actors performing this part. Imagine how it would play out"
She hands the book to Rusty and he reads through the passage.
"Yeah, but Sharon, until this bit, they hate each other, and then here- this- 'I do love nothing in the world so well as you', but before that he's-"
"Yes, but if you go back a couple of pages" she says, taking the book and flicking back pages before handing it to him again. "You see he asks if Hero's okay when she swoons. You see his true colours there- he acts like he's above it all and better than her, but really he's very caring. He just doesn't show it"
Rusty reads the page again, and then flicks back to the page featuring the mutual declaration of love, a confused frown on his face. "But then why does she go along with it? I mean, if he was an ass, but he was secretly nice, that's no reason for her to stop hating him"
"Well, he obviously rejected her in the past and was in some way hurtful, and that's why she resents him, but that's not to say she doesn't still have feelings for him" starts Sharon. Rusty is sure she doesn't mean for her eyes to take on that look, but he ignores it and lets her continue her explanation, seeing Flynn shift in his seat out of the corner of his eye. "See here, this whole conversation is about how she's concerned he'll reject her again, and then she puts down men for being the weaker sex because of how badly Hero has been hurt"
She points to the part she's referring to and Rusty reads it again. "So in order to prove to her that he still loves her and he'll do right by her this time, Beatrice tells him he must use his love to start a duel with Claudio, and Benedick agrees"
"Okay" drawls Rusty, nodding along as he processes that part of the story. "But that doesn't explain why they went from hating each other to loving each other in the course of, like, a page"
"Well…" starts Sharon, straightening and cocking her head, crossing her arms to consider the question. They are both a little startled when Flynn speaks, but they listen all the same.
"Sometimes kid, people want to hate each other, or even just ignore each other, and sometimes they really do dislike each other, like really genuinely can't stand their guts. But it doesn't stop them from loving each other too"
He shrugs a little to make his point, and Rusty nods, considering the very confusing human condition that Shakespeare was trying to capture. Sharon is still and silent beside him. "So it's like, when they finally acknowledge that despite their past, they really do love each other, then they actually like each other as people because of love?"
Sharon nods, her lips pursed in a proud smile, and Flynn gives him a soft smile. "Right" he says, point at him for emphasis.
"Well that's just dumb" says Rusty, seeming quite personally offended by the premise. Sharon huffs a laugh at him and Flynn nods his head to the side, admitting his point. "What's the point of being in love if they pretend they hate each other?"
"Well that's where you have this line here" says Sharon, leaning down and again flicking through the play. "Here- 'Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably'. So basically they're saying that because they don't pretend to be all loving to each other when they're not, their relationship will be stronger because they're honest"
"Okay"
"Make sense?"
"I think so, yeah. I still think they're idiots though"
Sharon laughs and squeezes a hand on his shoulder as she steps back, Rusty's head going back to his books.
"I mean, if they love each other, why not just tell each other, you know?"
He doesn't notice the way Sharon's step falters or the way Flynn suddenly looks very interested in the report in front of him. He vaguely registers Sharon walking into the kitchen, but he doesn't notice if she opens the fridge or not, or if she checks the cupboard for something. She walks back into the room a moment later, composed again, and Flynn clears his throat and stands up.
"I think I should head home, Captain. I'll take these with me, but I don't know that they'll tell us much more"
"Okay" she replies with a nod, her arms folded around herself and her cardigan wrapped tightly.
It seems strange to Rusty that Flynn uses her rank and is excusing himself so early; usually he stays and they talk long after he's gone to his room to read and listen to music. His mother would have begged male company to stay, if only to lead them to bed once she thought he was asleep. The men, too, would have tried to stay as long as possible, the promise of easy sex enough to drag the night on. But Flynn stands up and swings his arms back into his coat, picking up a handful of files from the couch and makes his way towards the door, and Sharon doesn't stop him, though Rusty sees a dark look on her face.
"See ya later kid" he calls.
"Bye. Thanks for dinner" says Rusty. He's always grateful for a hot meal.
"Welcome" he replies with a kind smile.
Sharon walks him to the door and opens it, and she barely meets his eye as he approaches, looking at him only once he is level with her.
"Thank you for dinner. It really was great" she says with a smile that doesn't quite meet her eyes.
"Any time" he mutters back, and though Rusty doesn't risk taking a peek behind him, he can almost feel the tension between them again, and feels almost uncomfortable for being in the same room.
He turns back to his play and rereads the scene, and there's a thought niggling in the back of his mind that he just can't place, and he knows it will fall into place later.
When Sharon walks back into the room with a weary sigh he looks up, noticing the tension in her shoulders and the way she absently runs her hand through her hair.
"Are you okay?" he asks tentatively. She's still an unmovable force in his mind. The thought of her being less than okay is foreign.
"I'm fine, Rusty. It's just been a long day"
He stands up with his play in hand and walks slowly over to her, not quite sure why he's doing what he's doing, but feeling the need to make a gesture.
"Why don't you give this another read to relax? You really seem to like it" he offers, holding it out to her.
"You need it to study" she counters with a smile.
"I'm done with those questions anyway. And I can finish the rest tomorrow"
She eyes him for a moment, and then stretches out her hand and takes the book from him with pursed lips and a grateful nod. "Thank you Rusty"
He nods at her once, and then darts over to the desk to clear his stuff. He's getting better at accepting her as the nurturer that she is, but he still feels awkward about it, like it's more care than he really needs or deserves. Still, she's proven that she's not going anywhere, and he resigns himself to getting used to the way she's always looking out for him.
He takes his things to his room, changes into his pyjamas, grabs another book he has to study later in the semester, and walks back out to the living room. She's opened the book to close to where he was studying it, and though he can't see the text he figures she's rereading the last of the hatefulness between the two lovers. She flicks the page to start reading the parts where they actually like each other. He sits on the armchair closest to her, sprawled over its arms, and immerses himself in his own book.
It only later, when he's lying in bed, that it occurs to him what their behaviour meant, and why Flynn suddenly up and left, and why Sharon had looked so wistful when describing this impossible, stupid, iconic love story. He could smack himself for not noticing it sooner, but then, it's not like they'd behaved the way most lovers he'd known behaved. Sharon didn't call him at all hours of the day and night the way his mother had, and she didn't practically have sex with him on the couch, and they were only ever loving and attentive when it came to helping him with homework, or that dance at school, or anything else he asked about.
His mother and Sharon are two very different women, and so he finds himself hoping that Sharon can find a way to let Flynn be there for her the way his mother's boyfriends never were. He hopes that this time it will be different. He hopes it happens soon.