Alr, it's 1981, I think my official fav year!
Anyhow, I don't own these amazing sexy Duke boys, and by sexy I mean Bo.
The boys'd been out working all day, and Bo was starting to have trouble breathing. He didn't see any reason to tell Luke just yet, as he was still alright. Luke, however, didn't agree with Bo. He'd been hearing him breathe more laboriously than necessary for the past few minutes, and he could smell the asthma attack coming.
"You okay?" Luke asked him in passing as they worked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Bo panted.
"I ain't gonna fight with you, Bo, jus' admit it: you ain't alright." Luke took him by the arm and dragged him into the shade, sitting him down on under a tree.
Bo wanted to shoot a wise crack back, but he could only cough, and then cough some more.
Luke didn't even bother with the "I told you so's": being mean or witty just didn't seem like fun when he could hear pain in every cough that came from his cousin's lungs.
Luke knelt next to Bo and waited for him to stop coughing. "Ya alright?" Luke didn't know why he even bothered to ask, he already knew that Bo wasn't alright.
Bo didn't saying anything: he couldn't breathe, much less speak.
Luke didn't waste anytime finding an inhaler in Bo's jean pocket and putting it up to his mouth. After a brief struggle with the inhaler, Bo collapsed onto his back, panting desperately.
"I know." Luke put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Luke let him lay back for a minute, then he eased him back up to a sitting position.
"C'mon..." Luke put the inhaler back in his mouth. Bo took the inhaler several more times, then he coughed a few times. Finally, he took one big breathe and let it out, the sign that the attack was over.
"You okay?" Luke helped him lean against the tree that they were under.
"Yeah." Bo sighed. "Sorry."
Luke didn't know how many times he was gonna have to tell Bo that none of it was his fault, that he couldn't any of it control it. What he could control though, was wether or not he copped to needing help, which he didn't often do. That was the only thing about the whole thing that frustrated Luke: Bo'd hardly ever admit that he needed help.
"Don't be sorry." Luke patted his shoulder. "Let's get on to Rhubottom's, take a break from this work, huh?"
"Alright." Bo sighed as Luke helped him to his feet.
The boys began walking back to the house.
"Ya know, we shoulda driven out here, with it bein' so hot." Luke remarked as he watched Bo struggle to breathe.
"Yeah." Bo kept his words short.
Luke was about to demand that Bo take his inhaler again, but Bo beat him to it, and took it a few times himself, rather nonchalantly, not mentioning it.
They got back to the house and cleaned up a bit before they hit the road fer town. Luke noticed that Bo wasn't driving like his normal, well, Bo self.
"Somethin' botherin' ya?" He asked.
"Jus' havin' a bad day." Bo sighed.
Luke didn't even have to ask what he meant by that: it was his asthma, again, dang it all. He'd had that attack out in the fields and almost had another one on the way back to the house.
"It's hardly fair." Bo continued. "I can't jus' go about my day without having to worry about if I can breathe or not. Its such a simple thing, breathing." he huffed.
Luke opened his mouth to speak, but Bo interrupted him: "I know, I know, you're gonna say that other people have bigger problems. I'd like to see you try to live with asthma!"
First off, he wasn't gonna say that to poor Bo, and second, he'd probably not better say anything now, 'cause Bo might hit him.
They both sat in silence during the rest of the drive.
"Hey, Bo, Luke." Mr. Rhubottom greeted when the boys came into the store.
"Howdy." They waved.
Once they'd brought everything up to the counter, Luke pulled the money Jesse'd given them out of his boot.
Luke was trying to mind his own business and leave Bo alone to let him calm down so, he didn't notice that Bo was struggling to stay on his feet behind him.
Bo fell forward and grabbed Luke's shoulder to steady himself.
Luke turned at the sudden weight. "Bo?"
"Gonna be sick..." Bo kept a firm grip on Luke's shoulder.
"Okay, alright..." Luke slung Bo's arm around his back and helped him walk outside to the alley, where he crumpled to the ground and started throwing up. Luke knelt next to him, offering as much help as he could give, which wasn't much more than being there.
After managing to stop the heaves for a minute, Bo coughed a few times before saying: "Go on 'an finish up in there... I'm okay."
Knowing that the mood that Bo was in didn't have any space for arguing, Luke went back inside.
As soon as Luke was gone, Bo went back to throwing up. He felt terribly ashamed about yelling at Luke in the General earlier and now requiring help: Luke shouldn't have to help him all the time, especially when Bo felt he didn't deserve to be helped.
Luke put the grocery bags in the General and came back to Bo, who was just getting control over the throwing up.
"You okay?" Luke asked, kneeling next to him.
"Yeah..." Bo managed between coughs.
Luke would help Bo to his feet, but he could tell from the vibes radiating off of Bo that he didn't want to be touched, that he wanted to be left alone.
"Go wait, I'll be there..." Bo panted, spitting the taste of bile from his mouth.
Luke hated leaving Bo alone in a dirty alley, obviously in pain and having trouble breathing, but he also didn't want Bo to feel more angry and embarrassed.
"I'll be in the General if ya need ant help." Luke reluctantly headed off to the General.
I need help now. Bo sighed to himself. He felt he couldn't ask though, after saying he'd wished this on Luke earlier... damn how he regretted saying that. He'd never wish such an awful thing as asthma on Luke.
Bo tried to take deep breaths and compose himself, but the coughs just kept coming. He pulled his inhaler from his pocket and took it religiously for several minutes. Once he was all put together, Bo got up and walked over to the General.
"Sorry I took so long." He mumbled as he climbed in the passenger side.
"That's alright." Luke had a very sympathetic tone to his voice, one that Bo wouldn't expect to hear after what he'd said to him earlier.
"You, uh, you know I didn't mean that earlier, what I said 'bout-"
"I know." Luke patted his shoulder.
Bo felt terrible about saying what he'd said, he also felt bad about giving Luke a hard time that day.
Luke on the other hand, felt bad for Bo, that he had to go through what he goes through.
They both remained quiet for the whole ride home.
By the time the boys got back, it was almost time for dinner. Daisy'd just gotten home from the Boar's Nest so, she put the groceries away while they went to do the last of the chores.
That night, neither Duke boy could sleep: Bo because he couldn't breathe, and Luke because he could tell that Bo couldn't breathe. Bo however, was half asleep, not fully aware of his pressing condition.
"You alright, Bo?" Luke asked, rolling over. Bo didn't respond, he was almost alseep, beyond the point of talking.
"Bo, jus' answer me, I jus' wanna know if you're alright..." Luke continued. Getting no response from Bo, Luke became worried, that maybe he couldn't respond. He snapped on the lights and rushed to Bo's bedside.
"Bo?" Luke touched his arm.
"Hmmm?" Bo moved his head slightly.
"You ain't breathin' so good..." Luke started sitting him up.
Bo started waking up all the way when a coughing fit overcame him.
"Easy, easy..." Luke fished through the drawer for an inhaler. Once he could get through the coughs, Luke helped Bo with the inhaler. Luke'd caught the attack early, and it wasn't a very bad one so, it cleared up quickly.
"Three attacks in one day?" Luke sighed in sympathy as he laid Bo back down. Then he began running his fingers through Bo's hair.
"Thanks, Luke, thank you..." Bo mumbled.
"Ain't no trouble. Now you hang in there..." Luke soothed him off to sleep.
That's all I have for tonight, or whenever you are reading it, but it's currently 5:12 AM, so technically it's morning, not night. lol, XDXDXD!
