"Stay at home this week, Spud, alright?" Ethan tells him, a strange glint in his eyes as he runs his fingers through Spud's limp blond hair. "Everything'll be fine, I just have some business to handle at the event tonight."
Spud purses his lips. He can guess, since there's been rumblings online of Ethan replacing him with someone tonight. "Fine, sir," he relents with a sigh. "I'll stay home." He hates it, it's obvious in the clipped words as he spits them out, but Ethan looks relieved at this.
"Thanks, Spud. I'll see you soon." He drops a quick kiss to the top of Spud's head before grabbing his bags and leaving.
Spud stands at the door and watches him go before shutting it tightly behind him. He leans against the door and closes his eyes, shaking his head unhappily. He doesn't want to stay here with nothing to do, no one to distract him from how his life is falling apart around him. "Bullocks," he mumbles, pushing away from the door and going to get dressed.
Ethan can't be mad if he needs some air... and ends up at the TNA offices to film something more for I'm With Spud Wednesdays. Right? Either way, he thinks, standing next to his car and looking around, paranoid and a bit on edge that Ethan might have someone watching for this very escape attempt, he's a grown man and he can't be expected to stay inside the entire time Ethan is gone. So he drives to the offices and stares up at the building that he felt at home in, had fallen in love with, had enjoyed working at the entire time he was Dixie's chief of staff.
He walks into the building, feigning confidence and superiority as he takes the elevators up to TNA's floor, just to smack into the door when it refuses to open at his touch. He blinks hard and looks at the flashing red light at the security panel. He returns to it, swiping his ID again. And again, and again when it just flashes warningly at him. Realization washes over him, cold and painful, and he reluctantly gives in. Addresses the cameras and advertises the show tonight, mentioning Ethan's replacement for him, before tossing his ID aside and pulling his pink tie and matching jacket off. Throwing them away, he gets back on the elevator and announces the end of I'm With Spud Wednesday before scrubbing at his face as the doors shut, blocking him from the camera's view.
Spud barely pays attention to anything, driving back to the house and settling on the couch in front of a TV, burying himself in a blanket. When he realizes that TNA's on, he turns it on and turns exhausted blue eyes to the screen, waiting for Ethan to come to the ring to announce his replacement. It's a sharp kind of pain stabbing up his sternum when Ethan finally appears, Spud missing him and hating being alone here right now. He expects Dixie to come out of any corner and attack him with little warning, but somehow nothing happens as he lays there and watches grimly.
Tyrus, of course, is Spud's replacement, large and strong and just in it for the money. Perfect for Ethan. Exactly what Dixie would choose for her nephew. He presses his face into the pillows and listens as Tyrus has his first match against Shark Boy. "Ugh," Spud mumbles into the pillow as the match only lasta as long as it does because Tyrus seems to be enjoying brutalizing Shark Boy. Spud sighs when Tyrus is declared the winner, imagining how ecstatic Ethan is afterwards.
He falls into an unsettled, nightmare-laden sleep, tossing and turning anxiously against the couch cushions, gasping and sweating as the night passes slowly. "Ethan," he mumbles, kicking his blanket off and then shivering as cool air brushes against his body.
-x
After taking the private jet home, too impatient and worried to wait for commercial flights, Ethan stands outside of the airport, watching the stars twinkling overhead slowly winking out as daybreak approaches. He'd seen the minute long video Spud had uploaded, burying his face in his hands and shaking his head at Spud ignoring his suggestions and barreling on ahead publicly flouting everything his aunt wishes. Not that he would take Dixie's side over Spud's ever, but still. It had to led to this situation where Spud's humiliation of his clearance getting stripped is now visible to the entire world.
He takes a detour on the way home and manages to catch one of the janitor, who is bringing the trash cans down to empty out in the dumpster in the back. "Hey, hang on a second!" he calls out, jogging up to him. "Can I have a second?" At the man's confused look, he motions to the garbage and the man shrugs, putting it down.
"Whatever you say, Mr. Carter." He walks a few steps away and looks up at the sun as it rises even higher in the east, Ethan gingerly digging through some of the trash within just to realize- there's no obnoxious pink anyway. He pulls back and starts to approach the janitor when another man runs up to them.
"Hey, Carlos, look what I found in that other trash can!" Ethan's eyes lock on his hands as he waves around the bright pink suit jacket, purple ilning reflecting in the sunlight, and he exhales hard. There's no question. It's Spud's. "My kid's gonna get such a kick outta this!"
"Liam-" Carlos glances over at Ethan before facing his colleague.
Before he can say anything else, Ethan slips between them, claiming the other man's attention. "Hey, I think a friend of mine lost these clothes earlier. Do you mind if I look at them...?" He inspects them quickly- no stains, no rips or tears, all and all they look pristine, as if they hadn't just been in a trash can outside of fairly busy offices for a good sixteen hours. He wavers, unsure how to handle this from now on. Digging in his pocket, he pulls out a couple hundred dollar bills. One gets pressed into Carlos' hands and the other into Liam's. "Thank you."
He doesn't want for them to react, turning and walking back to his car. When he arrives at the house, he's not surprised to find Spud asleep on the couch, looking chilled and miserable as he grits his teeth and writhes away from whatever nightmare he's trapped in. Ethan swallows hard and kneels by the couch, touching Spud's face and smiling a little when he leans into the touch, relaxing with a shiver. "I'm home," he says softly before collecting the blanket and hoisting Spud up, tucking him into its folds carefully. He carries him to their wing of the house and settles him into bed, brushing some hair out of his eyes before folding Spud's dress jacket and laying it on a chair next to the bed, putting his bowtie on top of it. "At least you didn't throw the pants out," he says with a small smile, quirking an eyebrow at the garish pink fabric visible where the blanket's slipped off.
He adjusts it to re-cover him and sprawls out next to Spud, lightly rubbing a hand up and down his arm. "Everything's gonna be ok," he says quietly, kissing Spud on the forehead. "I promise." He feels Spud's phone digging into his hip through the pocket of his dress pants and rolls his eyes, pulling it out to set it aside when his fingers brush a button and it lights up in his hand. He pauses, not wanting to impose on Spud's privacy, but wondering- and sure enough, when he looks, it's to find one of Dixie's tweets from earlier in the day on the screen, calling Spud a tiny little man and his suits tacky. Ethan pinches his nose and grimaces, loading a browser on the phone and muting Dixie so Spud won't have to see her tweets unless he absolutely wants to, none of them showing up on his timeline, even ones including his twitter handle. "That's a little better," he says softly.
It won't keep Spud completely safe from Dixie's vitriol, but, Ethan thinks, as he looks down at Spud, who's now sleeping a lot more peacefully, lips parted and hands curled into the folds of the blanket, it's definitely a good start. He rolls over and sighs, closing his eyes as Spud shifts and presses his face into Ethan's chest. "G'night, Spud," he mumbles, wrapping an arm around him and finally falling asleep as well.