time au.

[pincurls]

“I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break.
It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem.”

Comments

[unbreachable]

He smooths a hand down Chuck's back, and lets him adjust in Raleigh's lap.

"Nothin'. Just thought you'd like to see something besides white walls."

[simplepuzzle]

"It's good to be out of there."

He's still got a hand gripping Raleigh's sweater, still leaning into him. He's not sure what's going on here but he can take peace in his presence right now.

[unbreachable]

Telling Chuck he did it seems like overload. This is good enough for now.

"Yeah. I figured."

He keeps his arms comfortably around Chuck, and his cheek pressed against his head.

[simplepuzzle]

Yeah that might freak him out. He's really enjoying this time out and he's enjoying Raleigh but--

--he's not sure what Raleigh wants. He'd said he just wanted to get Raleigh out of the hospital and then he kissed him and then he called him babe and Chuck isn't sure if Raleigh knows what he's doing. Finding out that Raleigh arranged the fireworks just for him would...well if it was his Raleigh, if it was home, he'd laugh at him for being a romantic weirdo and then kiss him a lot. Here...it sort of comes off as odd.

Chuck relaxes against Raleigh, breathing out slowly.

[unbreachable]

Raleigh doesn't know what he's doing anymore. He doesn't know if he's helping or hurting but he does know he liked bring around him, likes kidding him, likes him.

It's a strange situation that he's not commenting on right now.

[simplepuzzle]

Chuck feels fragile, and not just because of his leg. He hates feeling this vulnerable, hates that it's because of the person he thought he'd count on most.

Hates that he can't even be mad because Raleigh's not doing this on purpose.

"You broke my nose the first time we met," he mumbles almost dreamily.

[unbreachable]

Raleigh smiles, and rests his cheek on Chuck's head.

"Why would I ever do that?"

Because Chuck is a mouthy little shit, probably.

[simplepuzzle]

"Something about not liking my face, I think."

and Chuck is a mouthy little shit.

[unbreachable]

"Oh, I dunno. I like your face."

He pretends to examine it, tipping his chin this way and that.

"Yeah, it'll do."

[simplepuzzle]

Chuck snorts and pushes Raleigh's hand away, curling his fingers around it after a moment's hesitation.

"Okay we might've just gotten into a bar fight." With each other.

[unbreachable]

"Oh?" When Chuck's fingers curl around his he squeezes back and smirks.

"C'mon, tell me a story."

[simplepuzzle]

"It's got plenty of violence, and a little bit of sex," Chuck promised with a smirk.

"Mako set us up, only neither of us knew what the other looked like, and neither of us knew it was a date. Mako talked about you so much I thought you were dating." He makes a face that might be embarrassed.

[unbreachable]

"Sounds like my kinda story."

It's interesting though, these memories Chuck's got and he wants to hear more.

"Sounds like she didn't do a very good setup job. So why'd I hit you?"

[simplepuzzle]

"I...said something you didn't like." He tilts his head back to smirk at Raleigh.

"Though, you hit me because you're unfamiliar with Aussie vernacular. Thought I meant something I didn't."

Sensitive American.

[unbreachable]

"Uh huh." He passes a hand over Chuck's head, smoothing his hair back. "Not surprising. I'm not familiar with it at all."

[simplepuzzle]

Chuck nearly purrs and leans into his hand, eyes sliding to half.

"But you followed me there anyway," he says softly.

[unbreachable]

"Yeah?"

He smiles, and rests his head against Chuck's.

"Did I apologize?"

[simplepuzzle]

"For punching me in the face?"

Chuck settles more comfortably against Raleigh.

"Don't think you did."

[unbreachable]

"No?" He hums quietly, tightens his hold.

"Kind of an asshole thing to do, don't you think?"

[simplepuzzle]

"Maybe a little." He leans his head into Raleigh some more, tucking his head under his chin.

"I think by the time we realized you should apologize, we were both in pretty dee," he murmurs. "Seemed irrelevant."

[unbreachable]

"Yeah. Guess by then...didn't matter, huh?"

He sort of curls himself around Chuck, holds him close, warms him up and rests his head against his.

It's nice. He wants this.

[simplepuzzle]

He can have this.

...Chuck wants this too. It's just a new world, new terrors, new loss. He can't promise to understand what's happening, but Raleigh's like a comforting oasis of comfort.

[unbreachable]

He'll do what he can to help Chuck, knows that it's hard, that it's the hardest thing he'll ever have to deal with, but he wants to help him. He may not have what Chuck remembers, but he wants to build his own set with him. He wants to get to know him, talk to him, get Chuck all under his skin like he's apparently under Chuck's.

He brushes his lips against Chuck's forehead, and holds him close.

"It's gonna be okay."

[simplepuzzle]

Chuck doesn't believe him.

It's not that he doesn't think Raleigh's going to try and help him, and it's not that he's not grateful, but he's pretty sure Raleigh's only kissing him now because of Chuck's memories. He punched him in the face not too long ago, after all.

And his mom's been dead for years and Pentecost's gone and Yancy too...

It's not going to be okay.

[unbreachable]

Raleigh knows Chuck doesn't believe him, but -- Raleigh really wants it to be alright. He doesn't know why Chuck's memories are so vastly different, why they remember two completely different things, but he'd like to help him figure it out, help him solve the puzzle.

Or just -- be there for him to lean on when it's overwhelming.

He wouldn't have ever thought he'd feel like that about fucking Chuck Hansen, but he does.