Fictober 2024

Day 26 "you were the first"

Rusty has some nice things to say to Andy, only if he's not here to hear them.

a very big thank you to TheShadowsEdge who beta'd this one :)

We're (finally) arriving to the end of that fictober who moved to november. I thought i would not make it, not by like of ideas but time. Next week are my finals so my goal is to be finished before. ahah.

Hope you still have as much fun as i do writing these silly moments

So this was in my draft since... a while... The last few weeks have been incredibly busy and now im in holidays at my parents so not sure how the updates will go but my goal is to finish this challenge, at some point ahh

Zone d'ombre

Rusty looked at the unconscious man and sighed. What was he supposed to do there, with him?! Of course, he agreed the second Sharon asked him to take over. How could he not?! He had seen what a toll the whole ordeal had taken on her. He was sure he'd remember until the end of time the moment they entered Andy's ICU room. That stupid ass Dr Liu had not prepared them for that, at all. She just said the procedure went well and that they could visit him for a little while. When the sliding door opened, Sharon's knees just buckled and he had to grab her before she fell. Andy was pale as a sheet. He was intubated and connected to a billion wires and machines. He looked … he looked dead.

Rusty completely understood his mother's reaction, he too was shocked beyond words. And the doc ranting "What did you expect? Mr Flynn sitting and eating after a gigantic blood clot was taken out of his carotid artery?!" Good thing that a nurse ran to them and explained that Andy had been cooled down before Sharon could touch him. He was sure she would have had a heart attack. Even knowing, she couldn't hold her tears when she touched his hand. "He's so cold." She muttered. Rusty was surprised to see his mother confide in the nurse, telling her how Andy was her personal furnace, that there's nothing she loves more than feeling his hot soft hands holding her. It all felt so intimate, so heavy. He wondered for a moment if Sharon considered the possibility of Andy passing, or not coming back as he was. The staff had told them the whole cooling thing was to keep his brain as intact as possible while they poked around in his neck.

The next day, here they were. Sharon, after spending the night by Andy's side, texted him and asked if he could stay with the lieutenant for a little while. He was glad to be able to help like that. Sure, he would have preferred to see her go home and sleep rather than go to church and pray. To each their own… He knew how his mother was and doubted she could sleep anywhere else than by Andy's side as long as his prognosis was uncertain. Now, they had started to warm him up and it felt good to see his cheeks turn whitish pinkish instead of that horrible gray complexion he had since yesterday.

So he sat by his side, like instructed. He felt awkward and didn't really know what to do. Was he supposed to talk to him? Hold his hand like his mother did? What an uncomfortable situation. An unhealthy curiosity made him grab Andy's hand. He wanted to see how bizarre and cold it was. God it was horrible! He moved his hand off right away. He had never touched a cadaver but he was pretty sure that's what it would feel Like. Oh poor Sharon, he thought.

He waited a few seconds. He bit his impulse to grab his phone and play with it. The nurse entered the room and smiled at him. "Oh, your mom left?" She asked kindly while attending to Andy's bags and machines. He shook his head yes, not knowing what to say. "You know, you can talk to your father. Lots of research shows that comatose patients can hear us. Plus what harm could it do?" She smiled one more time and with a spring in her step, she left the room. Rusty shook his head and found her to be way too jovial for this depressing environment.

He looked at Andy. Ok, what harm could it make?! Surely he could do that for the dude?! He forced himself and started saying random things that came to his mind : "Hi Andy, it's me, Rusty. Mmh. Mom, Sharon, went out for a while. She went to church, you know, praying for you. I know you'd prefer that she go to bed too. I really don't know how you make her do things," he laughed sadly. "Well you don't always manage. I guess we're quite the same on that point. She has us wrapped around her little fingers. You know she loves you, right? So don't hurt her, ok?!" He shut up, shocked by his own words. Here he was threatening an unconscious man…

"Sorry Andy. I know you always try your best, I should do the same. I know I've been an ass to you, and Sharon, since you two started dating. It's not against you. You're really fine. It's just… it's just that I had a lot of bad experiences with my other mom's boyfriends. You were the first though." He noticed his use of the past tense and blushed furiously. "You are the first, so far, that has never been a threat neither to me or my mom. You're so… sweet, I guess that's the word? I can't believe you always ask about my day and you bring me little things you know I like and you let me spend time with Sharon. How do you do that? You're never mad when she tells you she needs to go with me to a chess tournament or go shopping? You don't even try to come with us. I like that, I really like that, when you let us have our time together."

Rusty took a deep breath, before abandoning another subject that really made him uneasy. "I… I like too that you're mindful of how you … how you express your feelings towards mom when I'm around. You don't know it but that means the world to me to not see you… you know, touch her or paw her. I have so many many bad memories with my other mom. It's really a wonder how I am gay because I've hated men for so long. You were the first to show me that not all dudes are like that. You're so nice to Sharon, and to me. Sometimes I feel you come from another era. I've never seen anyone pull doors and chairs, I've never seen anyone dance like you do. It's anything but dirty. You just seem to hug her and protect her. Yeah, I'm really glad you're here for her. And for me too. I'm always a little shit when we play chess but you know, you're not half bad. You're even better than most of the players in my club." Faraway, he heard heels clicking. His mother was back. Before she reached the room, he moved closer to the old man and said "So you have to get better and not pull a Schumacher, ok?! We… we love you Andy." As soon as the door hissed, he pulled away and acted innocent.

A week later

Andy was out of the icu. He was still suffering from dizziness but for those who had seen him intubated and cold as an icicle, it was such an improvement. As they were all eating their dinner together, Sharon brought for the three of them sandwiches and soup to the hospital, Andy said : "You know guys, they must have really given me drugs after the surgery. I have the weirdest dreams about that time. I have that memory of you Rusty holding my hand and telling me what a great dude I am. You even told me you loved me, can you imagine?!" He said jokingly, with a big mouthful, looking at the young man.

"Yeah, imagine that." Sharon replied, casting a glance to her son knowingly, a smile from ear to ear.