Chapter Text
People had a tendency to look down on garbage collectors, but as far as Sid was concerned, it wasn’t a bad gig. He was basically paid to work out all day and really only had to interact with his driver and the foremen. Yeah, it was dangerous and didn’t smell too good, but Sid enjoyed the adrenalin rush and showers were certainly helpful for getting rid of the nostril burning scent of garbage.
It was Thursday, and the blue spring sky was mercifully cloud free. There had been rain not long ago, and it had weighed down the garbage in the cans so much that Andy, Sid’s boyfriend, had practically chased him down with a bottle of ibuprofen after his shift (and only rolled his eyes a little when Sid called him “Nurse Andy”).
The massive truck came to a stop in front of a driveway and sighed like a tired animal. Sid hopped off, feeling the energy of Slayer’s “Criminally Insane” thrumming through his oversized headphones and into his veins as he picked up the metal can. This one wasn’t too heavy, so it didn’t take Sid long to dump it into the back of the truck. As Sid put the can back down at the curb with a metallic thump, he thought he heard something. He pulled off his headphones, rested them around his neck, and listened, hoping that his mind wasn’t messing with him again. It wasn’t.
“Hey,” shouted his driver, Mike from the open window of the truck’s cab, “isn’t that your little boy-toy over there?”
Sid looked over at the sidewalk across the street, and there was Andy, his chestnut hair bouncing against his neck and scalp as he jogged. His long, freckled legs (and phenomenal ass) were on full display because of the shorts that he was wearing, the tiny blue ones that he was pretty sure Andy had bought to torment him. Sid momentarily wondered why he was seeing Andy this early in the day, but then he remembered that Andy only had one night class on Thursdays, and all the time in the world to run where he knew that Sid would see him.
Sid couldn’t stop staring as he moved to climb back onto the truck’s step, a mistake that he would pay for. His foot missed the step, and Sid flew forward, knocking his forehead against the lever that activated the hydraulic paddle. Though the pain was intense and disarming, Sid was able to react and grip the safety rail on the side of the truck, breaking his fall and allowing him to land feet-first on the pavement. Minimal damage. Sid could hear Mike scream-laughing and frowned. Asshole.
“Sid! You okay?” said a familiar voice. Sid looked back and saw that Andy had jogged up behind the truck to check on him, his ocean colored eyes wide with worry.
“I’m good,” said Sid, trying and failing to sound casual.
“You sure?” asked Andy, reaching up to pull Sid’s deep brown hair and camouflage baseball cap aside and inspect the damage, “looks like it’ll bruise pretty bad.”
“No shit,” replied Sid, not unkindly, “don’t worry, babe, I’ve hurt worse.”
“Yeah, I just didn’t expect to, like, get you hurt. Sorry,” said Andy.
“I knew you wore those shorts on purpose, you always do. You know your ass is deadly,” said Sid.
“You don’t look dead,” said Andy, “but I’m sorry I distracted you.”
“Hey, quit sayin’ you’re sorry. I wasn’t paying attention and I fell. I’ll be fine,” said Sid.
“Hey lovebirds, we gotta get to the next house,” shouted Mike from the cab, a hint of laughter brightening his gruff voice.
Sid turned around and shouted “Jesus, Mike, I’m coming!” Then he turned back to look apologetically at Andy. “Guess I gotta go.”
“Yeah,” said Andy, “I’d kiss you, but you kinda smell like that truck right now, no offense.”
“None taken,” said Sid, “kiss me later, after I’ve had a shower.”
Andy grinned, he had the most pure, sunny smile that Sid had ever seen in his life. He hoped that he could make him smile like that every day for the rest of their lives.
“I’ll do that and more,” said Andy, a hint of mischief hiding between each word that came out of his mouth. Sid could feel his ears turning pink at the edges. He wished his shift could be over already.
Mike honked his horn as a warning and Sid scrambled up onto the step and pulled the lever to compress the garbage.
“See ya this afternoon,” he said.
“Can’t wait!” replied Andy, his joy free and genuine.
Sid was pretty sure he was going to marry that man someday.