Work Text:
“God, what was WITH that guy?”
“Hm?”
“Dude, are you telling me you didn’t see that? You had to have seen that. I mean, this guy comes out of nowhere without even a damn… turn signal before he merged? He could’a killed someone!”
They were headed to the satellite clinic owned by Black Mesa in the city proper- Gordon for an appointment and Benrey for emotional support.
Benrey wasn’t driving, because even in his current agitated state, Gordon being the one to do it seemed to help. His job was just nodding along and saying enough little nothings to keep the stream of conversation up. Whenever there seemed to be a lull, he’d ask Gordon what he’d just said, giving him a chance to both re-complain about whatever he’d been complaining about, and to complain about Benrey not listening, too.
Medical appointments made Gordon nervous, so he needed it.
Well, a lot of things made Gordon nervous. So many things that Benrey tended to forget the more obscure ones, which pissed him off. At first, when he didn’t even know or anticipate them all and each new outburst from Gordon came as an unwelcome surprise, he’d been pissed a lot more, and they’d had a lot more arguments.
But now, he’d learned. And he was working hard to memorize all of them, so they could talk more productively and shit, too.
The shocking part was that it was working.
In the time since his “well I still exist” revelation- and the same revelation for the rest of them too, they’d found a rhythm to life, albeit a very tentative one. Gordon was off work, obviously, but he’d been paid quite a sum of hush money, and the science team was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be silenced in other ways. Benrey wasn’t so sure, and tried to spend as much time with him as possible.
He was still working, actually- but he’d been moved to part-time; medical on other satellite sites, and allowed to keep his benefits despite it- something he suspected gman had a hand in. He wouldn’t hurt too badly from the lower pay, and the time with Gordon was worth it.
So whatever, fuck alien motives. If it weren’t for his health insurance he might just quit!
But then again, maybe not. Being coded to be a raid boss even if you didn’t even have a reason to sucked shit. But it kind of gave him a new perspective on boring shifts that alternated between standing around, and arguing with some idiot who thought they could talk their way out of whatever infraction he was watching them commit, or some asshole who was convinced they were above giving this petty grunt their ID, or et cet-er-a. The boring was nice. Normal.
And it was nice to be able to be next to Gordon again, too. He'd missed that complaining kind of a whole lot.
-----
Gordon had never been afraid of going to the doctor, and a little proud of that fact. It was a necessary thing that he was lucky to be able to get. But now, he hated the smell of the place. The decor- everything. It reminded him of all the places he’d been trapped in, with monsters and dead coworkers- dead or dying, or turned into one of the monsters too. All of the shit he was supposed to be recovering from. It was a nasty feeling to have even the pattern of the couches make him feel a little nauseous with anxiety.
But he wasn’t about to skip out. This was mandatory, and he was a little surprised he was being hushed up instead of killed, so he wasn’t going to fuck that up. Fighting as hard as he had to survive only to get merked by his own employer where it happened was about the shittiest way to go he could think of.
So he set his jaw and pushed open the door, secretly glad of Benrey beside him. He let the conversation with the secretary and insurance card stuff wash over him without absorbing it, then sat stiffly in a chair as far into a corner as he could. Benrey settled beside him, much more solidly in his own seat, leaning over towards Gordon. For some reason, he was wearing a work shirt and tie, not the more casual wear he usually hurried into as soon as he was off shift. But maybe he had no clean laundry, and Gordon wasn't going to judge in any case. They sat like that for a while, Gordon trying to keep his brain as close to turned off as he possibly could. Benrey was playing honest to god candy crush beside him, and as much scorn as Gordon had for the choice of game, it was something familiar and less unnerving to focus on at least.
He’d been baffled when he’d seen Benrey first playing phone games, but when he’d asked why he liked them, since he didn’t seem the type, he’d just scornfully responded that “he couldn’t take his PSP everywhere.” Gordon had no idea what the hell that meant, since that was supposed to be the point of the ‘portable’ part, but he didn’t want to try asking for the logic of what places did and did not warrant a PSP, so he left it there.
Finally, a nurses’ aid came out of the back office. “Freeman?”
Gordon managed a smile (the relief helped) and stood immediately. “That’s me. Here, I’ve signed the intake papers.”
The man took them, looking them over. But after flipping through he hesitated, humming a little, thumbing at the front page.
“Gordon, huh? Wow, didn’t think we’d see you here.”
Gordon felt his relief dissipate into further anxiety.
“Uh, well, I am.”
Still holding onto his things just out of reach, the clerk leaned in to look him over. Gordon suppressed the urge to lean away in response.
“You got a scar under there? Heard you did.”
“Heard… Uh, where?...”
“I mean, medical had to deal with all the internal cases- the ones that didn’t die, anyway. Couldn’t not hear about how big you fucked everything up considering that.”
The anxiety turned to ice water.
-----
Benrey had been watching Gordon from the moment they’d left the car; he’d been playing candy crush for just that reason (it was loud, but boring, so he didn’t need to pay much attention to it to look like he was absorbed). So he saw the set of his jaw change. His whole face, really; Gordon was a man who’s emotions were never hard to guess from his body language and expression. Benrey didn’t care much for this particular set of tells. He turned his attention to his new target- the man still speaking at Gordon as if he hadn’t noticed he was upset at all.
Blithely unaware of the storm headed his way.
Benrey put away his phone and pulled out his work badge from where he'd shoved it into his shirt pocket. "Back up plan: step off my man", activate.
-----
Gordon was trying to think of a way of avoiding talking about himself fucking everything up without yelling at the clerk or bursting into tears when movement caught his eye. A guard- no, Benrey? His benrey?
It most certainly was his benrey.
He came over and sort of vaguely inserted himself into the situation- not explaining, or asking permission, or giving anyone a chance to object. He was wearing his badge- with the shirt he’d worn here, it made him look completely official save for the lack of armor.
Had he planned that?
“Hi-” Benrey made a show of looking the man over. “Hm. You, uh, got credentials?” His voice was so overly bland that it almost surprised Gordon to hear- he realized he hadn’t heard that tone of voice in a while. Since they left Black Mesa hell, maybe. Maybe it was Benrey’s customer service voice- a tone that invited no real discussion was a benefit when you were a guard.
A good NPC voice , his brain supplied. He shook the thought off.
The clerk seemed caught off guard. “Uh, what? I mean... yeah, duh. Gotta swipe in.”
“I’d like to see em, then? Your name.” Benrey plowed ahead. The clerk actually looked a little annoyed, but he didn’t seem to notice nor care.
“Why aren’t you in all that riot gear y’all wear?”
“Bouta go to lunch… don’t mean I get to ignore people umm. Breaking rules and stuff. Credentials?”
“I’m Tristan, here.” He all but shoved his keycard at Benrey. “Was that all you wanted?”
Benrey looked at it mildly. “Oughta wear this where people can see it, man.” He gave it back. “Passport?”
“Oh. Uh. Yeah, I got one.” The annoyance was suddenly replaced with shiftiness. He tried to turn back to Gordon, but Benrey scooted a little to get between them.
“Cool can I see it then.” It wasn’t even a question, he’d said it so flatly- not so much as pausing for a semblance of human rhythm.
“I mean… come on. It’s obvious I work here.” ‘Tristan’ said, looking down at him with disdain.
Benrey was unfazed.
“Then you should keep your passport on you, even if you don’t need it to open the door. Cuz, uh. What if security picked you for a random check and you didn’t have it, huh?”
“What-”
Benrey cut him off. “And you got written up for that, huh? Cuz the guard that caught you was… was about to go to lunch and not in the mood t’let you off? That would suck, right?”
The asshole clerk shuffled petulantly. Gordon had no sympathy for him. “Oh come on . Do you really need to see both of them?”
“Uh Idunno, do you really need to work here?”
The clerk stared at Benrey wordlessly for a moment, looking as furious as Gordon often had when they’d first met. It was weird seeing it all from the outside. Benrey stared right back with the pliability and emotion of a brick wall; complete, impossible to ration with, blandness.
For the first time, he was getting an idea of what Benrey’s general work life was like, and he felt a little like he was in the twilight zone.
After a short silence in which it became agonizingly clear that Tristan wouldn’t get anywhere by arguing, he huffed childishly.
“Fine. I’ll go get it.” He turned to go, but Benrey lightly caught his forearm- the first time he’d touched him.
“Gonna make this patient here just sit and wait on your mistake, or are y’gonna giveim back his papers, huh? Seems like he remembered his . Thank you, please.”
And Gordon suddenly had his things shoved back into his arms, and then the man was gone. He blinked a little in shock that he’d avoided that.
Well. That Benrey had saved him from it.
He looked down to thank him, but he was already being pushed towards the office doors by Benrey, both hands on his back.
“Yo get a move on, before that guy realizes I’m off duty and not just- not on lunch.”
“Thank you.” He managed, still surprised and being shoved bodily through a door.
“Yeahyeah no one fucks with my mans, go.” Benrey responded all in a rush, and then the door was closing behind him.
He turned to meet the gaze of a nurse clearly confused by seeing a patient shoved into the back office by Black Mesa security.
“Dr. Freeman?” she asked tentatively.
“Oh, um, yes. Sorry about that. Here, I have all this filled out now.”
----
On the way home, Benrey drove. They had the windows down, and Gordon was facing his so the wind blew right in his face and whipped his tiny mullet-ponytail like crazy, glasses off, as if trying to wash off every molecule of scent from the doctor’s office. The air smelled like almost nothing but New Mexico heat. It was probably a relief for Gordon, but Benrey wished he wasn’t wearing a tie.
“Yo uh, you wanna get Froyo?”
Gordon leaned out of his windstream and turned to him to hear better. The sun lit his eyelashes up at that angle into a glowing fringe and fell on his eyes like a movie scene- the sight made Benrey’s heart jump a little. “Froyo?”
“Yeah.” He sounded a little dumb, but who could blame him?
“Man, you like that stuff? What’s the point?”
“Uh, maybe I wanted to give ya the healthy option, huh? Think of that? Tryina give my bf a treat and be considerate and look how you shoot me down for it.”
Gordon just waved a hand. “It’s not that much better than ice cream for you, you know.”
"Oh. Yeah?”
“Mmhm. Not worth the sacrifice, if you ask me.”
Benrey threw the turn signal. “Nice. Ice cream it is then.”
Gordon laughed. (First time that day- score!) “You can be a real bastard, you know that man?”
“Only when I need to be.”
Gordon supposed that was true. They rode in silence the rest of the way to the shop.
------
When Benrey had parked, pulled out the keys and went for his door, though, Gordon placed a hand on his leg to stop him. He turned to look at him and ask what was up, and then-
Gordon was kissing him.
His lips were a little chapped and his beard rubbed slightly against Benrey’s face, and it was like a dream. He batted off his surprise as fast as he could so that he could kiss back, awkward angle and one foot still out of the car be damned. The kiss was better than seeing his eyes glitter in the sun, and that was saying something.
Gordon broke the kiss, still so close that Benrey thought deliriously that he must be able to feel the heat off his face from his blush. His hand was still a light, barely-there touch on his knee.
“Thank you, for earlier. And for coming along today. It actually really helped a lot, and.” He paused. Benrey let him. “I appreciate how thoughtful you were with the whole...outfit thing.”
Benrey felt his face split into a wide grin at his work being acknowledged.
“Uhhh, if that’s the case I’m gonna need another thank-you kiss for the ice-cream, please?”
Gordon laughed before leaning back in. “How about I pay ahead?”