#80 - Clumsy

Role-Reversal

Segment Notes: So I really need to do more Kalin hurt/comfort. I wondered how Radley would handle a shower rescue scenario. (And no, Kalin wasn't really clumsy, even though he describes himself as such to have fallen.) Radley's current status in town was first explored in an RP with Amber2002161.

It had been a long and exhausting day. The townspeople had seemed to all choose today to have problems that they insisted required the intervention of the town sheriff and his chief deputy. From trying to straighten out a problem of watering rights between Mr. Michaels and Ms. Victoria and their animals to rescuing Mrs. Rickshaw's cat from the roof of the boarding house and coping with a rock slide outside one of the mine's entrances, the day had been a disaster.

Both Kalin and Radley were exhausted and wanted to sleep by the time everything was cleaned up, but they both wanted to shower first. Radley offered to let Kalin go ahead of him since he had been at it even longer than Radley had, and Radley thought for not the first time that he really needed to build a second bathroom. One had been fine while he had lived alone, but that hadn't been the case now for some time and only having one bathroom had caused several problems since then.

He was reading a magazine in the living room when he suddenly heard a slide and a crash. He leaped up, hurrying to the bathroom door. "Kalin?!"

Not receiving a response, he tried the knob and found it unlocked. He pushed it open. "Kalin, are you alright?!"

Still nothing. Radley approached the shower curtain, his eyes filled with concern. "Alright, I'm going to open this," he warned. When he still didn't hear a reply, he pushed it to the side.

Kalin was laying unconscious on his side, facing Radley, his head up near the drain. The water was beating down on him, but he didn't react. It looked like the beginnings of a bruise on the left side of his forehead, mostly hidden by his hair.

Radley bent down, gripping his shoulder. "Kalin!"

Not even a moan. At least Radley could feel he was breathing, but this was bad.

He hurried to the cupboard, taking out a towel. He draped it over Kalin and then lifted him enough to fully wrap the towel around him. Kalin fell limply against him.

"Oh Kalin, what happened?" Radley said softly.

He drew a shaking breath and steeled himself before getting an arm under Kalin's knees and the other around Kalin's back and trying to lift him. He still didn't know how Kalin lifted him with such ease when they were almost the same size. Super-strength was not one of Radley's talents. But he forced himself to get Kalin into his arms and stumbled up.

It was exhausting and draining to take Kalin out of the bathroom and into his room. Several times Radley had been sure his arms would give out and they would fall to the floor. But somehow he managed, and at last he laid Kalin on his bed. After taking a moment to recover, he gently brushed Kalin's hair aside to better see the bruise. It looked very painful, already purple.

"Oh Kalin. . . . I'm going to call the doctor if you don't wake up," Radley threatened in concern. "In fact, I should probably call him anyway." He took out his phone.

Kalin groaned, running a hand into his hair. Well, that threat had certainly been enough to penetrate his consciousness.

Radley set the phone aside for the moment. "Kalin?! Can you hear me?!" He leaned over his friend.

Kalin squinted up at him. "Radley. . . . What . . ."

"Do you remember what happened?" Radley asked in concern.

Kalin grimaced. "I was clumsy. . . . Fell in the shower. . . ."

"Anyone can slip on that surface," Radley objected. "Are you dizzy at all? You were up for so long! I told you you needed to stop and go to bed when we were still dealing with the rock slide!"

". . . I guess I did get dizzy," Kalin admitted. "I think I started falling asleep standing up."

Radley sighed in exasperation. "Maybe I should have gone first. Then you could have fallen asleep on the couch while you waited."

"I'm alright." Kalin squinted at the room. "How did I . . ."

Radley smiled a bit. "I carried you here."

Kalin stared at him. "You . . . ?"

"It wasn't easy," Radley wryly told him. "I don't have your talent." He sighed again. "I was going to call the doctor, but . . ."

"I'm alright, really," Kalin insisted. "I just need to rest. Here at home," he added.

Radley sat down in a chair, not fully convinced. He swiftly jumped up again. "Oh, you need your clothes," he realized. He went to a drawer and took some out.

Kalin reached up for them as Radley brought them over. "Thanks."

"Can you manage?" Radley asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Kalin set the bundle next to him and undid the towel before starting to wrestle with the boxer shorts.

Even though Kalin didn't appear to care if Radley saw, Radley turned away to give him some privacy. "You know, Kalin, we could have let the Bunch handle more of what was going on than we did," he said. "They're all deputies for when they're needed! And they were needed!"

". . . You're right," Kalin conceded. "Maybe we can use them more next time."

"There's probably going to be a next time," Radley sighed in exasperation.

"I guess the town always had problems like this?" Kalin remarked.

"Yes, and they'd usually come to me to handle it," Radley said. "So things haven't changed much."

"Maybe you should have been mayor," Kalin said. "You fought for the town a lot longer than I did."

"I was happy to let you be mayor," Radley said. "And sheriff. As your chief deputy, I can be with you every day."

Kalin smiled a bit. It was strange how they had come to want that arrangement. He had used to want nothing more than to get away from Radley each night, and the more he had hurt Radley, the more Radley hadn't liked being with him either. But all that had changed when Kalin had finally got his mind clear. He had realized at last that Radley was a good person, a kind person, and that Kalin had really started to like him before but hadn't let himself recognize it. It chilled his blood when he remembered finding Radley laying dead and how that could have been the end of everything, with Kalin finding the truth too late and Radley never knowing it.

"Kalin . . ." Radley had sobered again. "Please try harder to be careful. I can't lose you. You mean everything to me!"

"I know," Kalin assured him. "You can turn back now."

Radley did. Kalin had managed to get into his clothes and was sitting up on the bed. He balled up the wet towel and threw it across the room at the clothes hamper.

Radley chuckled to himself, but sobered and said, "Sometimes I still wonder if you really know," he said. "You do things that could hurt you and talk about doing others." He still hadn't forgotten Kalin suggesting he might have to sacrifice himself during their misadventure with the ghosts of Crash Town. That had badly shaken Radley at the time, and he still didn't like to remember it.

"I need you to keep me grounded," Kalin said. "I always was reckless."

"Oh, as if I or Yusei or anyone can stop you when you get an idea in your head," Radley said.

"Sometimes you can." Kalin laid back on the pillow and smiled up at his friend.

Radley sat back in the chair and placed a hand on the bed. "Well, I guess that's something."

"It's a lot," Kalin assured him. He rested a tired hand on Radley's and then sleepily held it and gave it a squeeze.

Radley smiled a bit. "You must be in pain," he said. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

"I think I just want to sleep," Kalin said. "You're right that I've been awake for too long." He got up and then pulled the quilt back, swiftly crawling under it.

Radley stood and gently tucked him in. "Alright then. Goodnight."

Kalin smiled a bit and soon dozed.

Radley straightened, smiling down at him, and quietly slipped out of the room.