RENT: Sounds in the Silence
Title: Sounds in the Silence
Pairing/Characters: Luther (the Man) and Gordon
Word Count: 519
Rating: PG
Summary: Luther never gets a final goodbye, just a moment when he arrived a little too late.
Notes: Written for rentchallenge speed challenge #38.
Disclaimer: I don't own Luther and Gordon, necessarily, but these characterizations of them? Mine.
The nurse didn't need to ask which patient he was there to see. She took one look at him, gave him a sad little smile, and said, "You're here to see Gordon." There couldn't have been any mistaking it, as it was impossible to miss the relationship between them, clearly twins. Luther didn't say anything, just nodded slightly, and the nurse stepped out from behind the desk, beckoned for him to follow, and started down the hallway at a hurried pace.
"He's not much conscious anymore," she said over her shoulder to him. "And when he is he's not all there, you know? Just... as a warning."
"That's fine," Luther said quietly, and ignored the wondering look the nurse gave him, the look that asked why Gordon's brother hadn't come to visit earlier, when everyone knew this had to be almost the end. Some questions were best left unanswered.
He stepped into the room the nurse indicated, and closed the door behind him.
He turned to face the bed, the too thin, too worn, too pale man asleep there - a man who was a mirror image of Luther, or would be if it weren't for the toll the disease had taken on him - and had to bite his lip to keep from crying. The first time in years he'd seen his brother, and this was not the way he wanted to see him.
"Gordon?" he asked softly, just to see if he was awake. Gordon didn't stir, and so with a sigh Luther pulled a chair up to the bedside, hesitantly reaching out to put a hand on Gordon's hand. At least when he was asleep he couldn't send him away, he didn't have to explain how he'd even heard Gordon was here, he could pretend his brother still even tolerated him.
It was silent in the room except for the sound of Gordon's labored breathing, rasping a little in his chest, and Luther tried desperately to think of anything to fill the silence, but he wasn't one for desperate speeches to someone who wouldn't hear them anyway. There was nothing to say.
Gordon's breathing rattled in the silence.
Luther bowed his head and squeezed Gordon's hand lightly, taking a deep breath of his own and half-wishing in a distant, distracted manner that Gordon would wake up for just one minute, and magically forgive him. He knew it wouldn't happen. That wasn't the way things worked for him. He never got a last goodbye, just a moment when he arrived a little too late, after everything had gone wrong, and he never found out why.
Another shallow, rasping breath that made Luther's chest ache in sympathy.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into the silence, and wished Gordon could hear him. He'd said it plenty of times before, before Gordon had ordered him out of his life. He didn't think Gordon had ever actually heard it.
The shallow breaths continued, and Luther sat there holding his hand until, what had to be only minutes later, he realized there wasn't even the sound of breathing to break the silence.
Pairing/Characters: Luther (the Man) and Gordon
Word Count: 519
Rating: PG
Summary: Luther never gets a final goodbye, just a moment when he arrived a little too late.
Notes: Written for rentchallenge speed challenge #38.
Disclaimer: I don't own Luther and Gordon, necessarily, but these characterizations of them? Mine.
The nurse didn't need to ask which patient he was there to see. She took one look at him, gave him a sad little smile, and said, "You're here to see Gordon." There couldn't have been any mistaking it, as it was impossible to miss the relationship between them, clearly twins. Luther didn't say anything, just nodded slightly, and the nurse stepped out from behind the desk, beckoned for him to follow, and started down the hallway at a hurried pace.
"He's not much conscious anymore," she said over her shoulder to him. "And when he is he's not all there, you know? Just... as a warning."
"That's fine," Luther said quietly, and ignored the wondering look the nurse gave him, the look that asked why Gordon's brother hadn't come to visit earlier, when everyone knew this had to be almost the end. Some questions were best left unanswered.
He stepped into the room the nurse indicated, and closed the door behind him.
He turned to face the bed, the too thin, too worn, too pale man asleep there - a man who was a mirror image of Luther, or would be if it weren't for the toll the disease had taken on him - and had to bite his lip to keep from crying. The first time in years he'd seen his brother, and this was not the way he wanted to see him.
"Gordon?" he asked softly, just to see if he was awake. Gordon didn't stir, and so with a sigh Luther pulled a chair up to the bedside, hesitantly reaching out to put a hand on Gordon's hand. At least when he was asleep he couldn't send him away, he didn't have to explain how he'd even heard Gordon was here, he could pretend his brother still even tolerated him.
It was silent in the room except for the sound of Gordon's labored breathing, rasping a little in his chest, and Luther tried desperately to think of anything to fill the silence, but he wasn't one for desperate speeches to someone who wouldn't hear them anyway. There was nothing to say.
Gordon's breathing rattled in the silence.
Luther bowed his head and squeezed Gordon's hand lightly, taking a deep breath of his own and half-wishing in a distant, distracted manner that Gordon would wake up for just one minute, and magically forgive him. He knew it wouldn't happen. That wasn't the way things worked for him. He never got a last goodbye, just a moment when he arrived a little too late, after everything had gone wrong, and he never found out why.
Another shallow, rasping breath that made Luther's chest ache in sympathy.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into the silence, and wished Gordon could hear him. He'd said it plenty of times before, before Gordon had ordered him out of his life. He didn't think Gordon had ever actually heard it.
The shallow breaths continued, and Luther sat there holding his hand until, what had to be only minutes later, he realized there wasn't even the sound of breathing to break the silence.