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HT100 Oz Flash Fiction Challenge #2 - Storytelling - "Watching"
Title: Watching
Prompt: Flash Fic Challenge #2: Storytelling
Timeframe: Season 4, before the fight but after the kids are kidnapped.
Word Count: 818
Authors Notes: So I should disclaim this and the following fics I'm posting by saying I haven't actually written fic in over 10 years. And even then it was only one fic. So...yeah. Kind of a newbie prag here. Be gentle. Many, many thanks to the amazing RileyC for beta'ing and just being generally made of awesome, and to Trillingstar who offered.
Takes place around Grey Matter. (818)
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"I don't mean to be a dick. I know you're just trying to help."
Chris leaned closer to the top bunk where Toby sat, tears staining his shirt and snot rolling down his nose. He squeezed Toby's calf as if to tell him, I know.
"You shouldn't have to go through this. Maybe you should request to move, or I should, just until I can get through a night without waking up screaming."
"You're right. I should."
Toby was a bit taken aback at his quick acceptance of the idea. Chris tilted his head and raised his eyebrow, still rubbing Toby's calf.
"Don't bait me, Toby. I'll always call you on it."
Pause.
"Why are you here?"
Chris raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"It's gym time. You always work out. And yesterday, you stayed with me through dinner, just sitting there reading," he sighed. "Nothing's going to change. So why are you hanging around me? Go work out, go eat," Toby said restlessly, sniffing loudly and rubbing his temples.
Chris looked stricken. Toby saw it immediately and raised his hand.
"I didn't mean… I know you love me and want to help but, you just… you can't. There's no point in you hanging around feeling awkward because you can't do anything. I won't think worse of you," he explained. He wiped his nose with his shirt sleeve. "You can go. I give you the day off Toby-Watch."
Chris stared at him for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. He stepped backward and held on to the sink while he looked at Toby thoughtfully.
"Before my glamorous life of robbing convenience stores," he said with an embarrassed sigh, "I used to work this shitty job cleaning cages at the zoo." He crossed one foot in front of the other and leaned against the sink comfortably. "It was the worst job I ever had. I can't describe the smell. I'd go home and Bonnie wouldn't let me near her until I'd scrubbed off 2 layers of fuckin' skin in the shower. The smell of shit and hay and more shit… it just stuck to me," he said, shivering visibly at the memory.
"There was this old lady who'd come in- she'd pay the 10 dollar fee every fuckin' day- just to sit by the lion cage. She'd sit there for about 2 hours talking to this lion. I mean, she was having full-on conversations with the fuckin' thing, sweet-talkin' it and giggling. She'd go to the cafeteria and get lunch and bring it back to her seat in front of the cage and she'd stay a while longer," he said, huffing. "I tell ya, I started feeling bad for the fuckin' lion after a while."
Pause. Toby leaned back against the glass.
"One day I was in a really shit mood. Me and Bonnie fought the night before and I was generally being a dick to everyone who came around. So I see that lady and she's there, talking up this fuckin' lion as usual, and the lion's lookin' at her like he's gonna slit his own throat from boredom. So I go up to her and say, 'I hate to break it to ya, lady, but he's not your therapist. He doesn't know what your fuckin' sayin' and if he could, he'd rip your fuckin' head off and eat it.'" Pause.
"'He doesn't sit around, waiting for you to come back every day. He doesn't need you here.'"
Toby raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure that went over well," he said, fidgeting with his hands.
"Well I was expecting her to go all nuts and tell the manager about me, I'd loose another fucking job and I'd start over. But she just looked at me and said, 'I know.'"
Chris leaned forward and walked back over to where Toby sat cross-legged. He ran his hands over the bed on either side of Toby's legs, coming up and settling on his knees.
"So I say, 'Why the fuck do you bother then? What's the point if you're never gonna get anything out of it?' She looks at me and says, 'I just like watching him. I just want to be around him. That's all I need.'"
Chris crossed his arms on the bed and rubbed his mouth softly over his arm, looking at Toby.
"That's it? That's your answer?"
"Yep."
There was a silence in the pod as Toby closed his eyes and looked down at his hands again. He shook his head as if trying to shake the thoughts from his mind that had been plaguing him for two weeks about his kids. He looked at Chris, and squeezed his eyes closed for a moment before looking back up at him, trying to find strength.
"Okay."
Chris nodded his head resolutely and squeezed Toby's knee a final time.
"Okay."
Prompt: Flash Fic Challenge #2: Storytelling
Timeframe: Season 4, before the fight but after the kids are kidnapped.
Word Count: 818
Authors Notes: So I should disclaim this and the following fics I'm posting by saying I haven't actually written fic in over 10 years. And even then it was only one fic. So...yeah. Kind of a newbie prag here. Be gentle. Many, many thanks to the amazing RileyC for beta'ing and just being generally made of awesome, and to Trillingstar who offered.
Takes place around Grey Matter. (818)
--------------------------------------
"I don't mean to be a dick. I know you're just trying to help."
Chris leaned closer to the top bunk where Toby sat, tears staining his shirt and snot rolling down his nose. He squeezed Toby's calf as if to tell him, I know.
"You shouldn't have to go through this. Maybe you should request to move, or I should, just until I can get through a night without waking up screaming."
"You're right. I should."
Toby was a bit taken aback at his quick acceptance of the idea. Chris tilted his head and raised his eyebrow, still rubbing Toby's calf.
"Don't bait me, Toby. I'll always call you on it."
Pause.
"Why are you here?"
Chris raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"It's gym time. You always work out. And yesterday, you stayed with me through dinner, just sitting there reading," he sighed. "Nothing's going to change. So why are you hanging around me? Go work out, go eat," Toby said restlessly, sniffing loudly and rubbing his temples.
Chris looked stricken. Toby saw it immediately and raised his hand.
"I didn't mean… I know you love me and want to help but, you just… you can't. There's no point in you hanging around feeling awkward because you can't do anything. I won't think worse of you," he explained. He wiped his nose with his shirt sleeve. "You can go. I give you the day off Toby-Watch."
Chris stared at him for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. He stepped backward and held on to the sink while he looked at Toby thoughtfully.
"Before my glamorous life of robbing convenience stores," he said with an embarrassed sigh, "I used to work this shitty job cleaning cages at the zoo." He crossed one foot in front of the other and leaned against the sink comfortably. "It was the worst job I ever had. I can't describe the smell. I'd go home and Bonnie wouldn't let me near her until I'd scrubbed off 2 layers of fuckin' skin in the shower. The smell of shit and hay and more shit… it just stuck to me," he said, shivering visibly at the memory.
"There was this old lady who'd come in- she'd pay the 10 dollar fee every fuckin' day- just to sit by the lion cage. She'd sit there for about 2 hours talking to this lion. I mean, she was having full-on conversations with the fuckin' thing, sweet-talkin' it and giggling. She'd go to the cafeteria and get lunch and bring it back to her seat in front of the cage and she'd stay a while longer," he said, huffing. "I tell ya, I started feeling bad for the fuckin' lion after a while."
Pause. Toby leaned back against the glass.
"One day I was in a really shit mood. Me and Bonnie fought the night before and I was generally being a dick to everyone who came around. So I see that lady and she's there, talking up this fuckin' lion as usual, and the lion's lookin' at her like he's gonna slit his own throat from boredom. So I go up to her and say, 'I hate to break it to ya, lady, but he's not your therapist. He doesn't know what your fuckin' sayin' and if he could, he'd rip your fuckin' head off and eat it.'" Pause.
"'He doesn't sit around, waiting for you to come back every day. He doesn't need you here.'"
Toby raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure that went over well," he said, fidgeting with his hands.
"Well I was expecting her to go all nuts and tell the manager about me, I'd loose another fucking job and I'd start over. But she just looked at me and said, 'I know.'"
Chris leaned forward and walked back over to where Toby sat cross-legged. He ran his hands over the bed on either side of Toby's legs, coming up and settling on his knees.
"So I say, 'Why the fuck do you bother then? What's the point if you're never gonna get anything out of it?' She looks at me and says, 'I just like watching him. I just want to be around him. That's all I need.'"
Chris crossed his arms on the bed and rubbed his mouth softly over his arm, looking at Toby.
"That's it? That's your answer?"
"Yep."
There was a silence in the pod as Toby closed his eyes and looked down at his hands again. He shook his head as if trying to shake the thoughts from his mind that had been plaguing him for two weeks about his kids. He looked at Chris, and squeezed his eyes closed for a moment before looking back up at him, trying to find strength.
"Okay."
Chris nodded his head resolutely and squeezed Toby's knee a final time.
"Okay."