Cold Water

The Appointment

Dec waited impatiently at Stephen's door, oddly nervous about the hospital appointment they were almost going to be late for. That was his own fault, of course, although he was tempted to blame Stephen for trusting him over Ant, wanting to make a joke that might set the younger man at ease.

He sensed it had been hard for Stephen to ask for some company to his first check-up and speech therapy session since he was discharged. The message had come across as meticulously thought out, as if he'd sat for some time trying to get the wording right. In comparison, the instant agreement Dec had replied with had been the easiest possible message to send.

Stephen appeared at the door after about a minute, a backpack hanging off one shoulder and his keys in one hand. Dec smiled easily, unsurprised to get a tense expression in return.

"Sorry I'm a bit late," he said in lieu of a proper greeting. It made Stephen's mouth flicker though, a gleam of something teasing in his eyes. Dec stepped off the doorstep, letting the younger man out and waiting for him to lock up. It was only when his back was turned that he continued speaking. "How's your head feeling? Ant said you had a migraine or something a few days ago."

"Better," Stephen replied, dropping his keys into his bag and turning back around. He flashed a wonky sort of smile, almost trying to be reassuring. Dec's chest did the funny sort of clenching thing he'd started to associate with Stephen and his attempts to turn the attention back on other people when he was clearly still struggling himself. And it was enough motivation for Dec to step forwards and tug him into a brief hug, forcing himself not to linger just so it could convincingly remain a friendly, casual gesture.

"Right, we better get moving," he said, back to slight sheepishness. Maybe it was simply out of sympathy for the younger man but he didn't want to push too far - to let slip just how worried he was. Stephen would only react to that news with guilt and apologies - two things that Dec had been on the receiving end of far too often recently.

"Don't worry," Stephen said, falling into step with him. "We'll just be on t-time, n-not ten m-minutes early."

"Like Ant would have been?" Dec asked amusedly.

"A-A-Ant would have been th-thirty minutes early," Stephen retorted, shaking his head. "There's no in between with – with you t-two."

"I'll come ten minutes earlier next time," Dec replied, quietly hoping that this was going to be a regular arrangement. After all, Stephen wasn't allowed to drive given the hospital's concerns surrounding his concentration and he wasn't exactly surrounding himself with other people. "Tell me your appointments are ten minutes earlier than they actually are and we'll be fine."

"I'll t-try that," Stephen joked, his voice quickly turning thoughtful, "N-Next time."

Dec was satisfied that his unspoken offer to be a regular taxi service to the hospital had been noted by the other man, now only having one more point on his agenda to get through for the rest of the afternoon.

Stephen was quiet as they started to drive, although he was often quieter now so Dec tried not to read into it. He was also aware of the younger man's disdain for speech therapy and it was easy to attribute the nerves he could sense to Stephen's upcoming session. Still, he wanted to get him talking.

"Are you going to tell them about the headache thing?" he asked, keeping his eyes on the road to give Stephen all of the space he needed to reply. His gaze only drifted when he heard a slight sigh, worried for a moment that he was overstepping some unspoken boundary.

"Yes," Stephen said patiently, like a teenager having his parents nag him over something. Dec could easily guess where that mindset had come from.

"Ant's already messaged you about that, eh?" he asked, smiling slightly. "You'd rather only one of us was on at you at once."