Chapter Text
It had been fifteen years, almost to the day, since Dave and Hal had first met in that cold computer room in the R&D lab at the heart of Shadow Moses. There were so many more milestones over those fifteen years as well.
One-hundred thousand miles traveled together, from one side of the United States to the other and back again, in their beat-up 1995 Honda Odyssey, (god rest her soul.)
Forty-five individual large-scale missions run together, with the majority having taken place in their younger days and a handful more after Philanthropy had been laid to rest.
Twenty-three stabbings, thirteen bullet wounds, and a slew of other medical emergencies which included a particularly dramatic case of appendicitis that Dave would not soon forget.
These days, though, their milestones were much less eventful, but still just as important.
Seventeen dogs, lovingly fostered by Dave in his retirement, that had found their forever homes.
Ten semesters down since Hal had begun teaching at the local community college.
Seven A’s on Sunny’s report card in this year alone.
Then finally, the last and most recent milestone that was soon to come.
Two wedding rings.
It’s about damn time, Dave thought to himself with a smile as he climbed into the driver’s seat of his pickup truck, pulling on his gloves against the February chill.
It wasn’t like he’d never thought about marrying Hal before of course, quite the opposite. In fact, Hal had brought it up himself once, shortly after Dave had finally finished with the grueling and exhausting gene therapies that had turned his few remaining days into the rest of his life.
He had been stretched out on the couch, head in Hal’s lap and eyes drifting closed as Hal carded a hand through the gray at his temples. Sunny had been in bed for hours, and an old sitcom was playing softly in the background. Dave was halfway asleep when Hal spoke.
“Hey,” he’d said, and Dave had slowly cracked an eye open and hummed to indicate he was listening.
“Have you ever thought about getting married?”
Even in the present, years later as it were, Dave deeply regretted how that conversation had gone. Hal had been so sincere, admitting shyly that he wouldn’t mind getting married to the man he loved, when Dave, for all his intelligence, had immediately shot the idea down.
“What’s the point in getting married,” he had mused aloud, “when we’re in it for the long haul regardless?” Even after the passage of time, Dave hadn’t forgotten how stiff Hal had gotten, how he’d quickly muttered, “you’re right, sorry,” before turning back to the television. He’d never brought up the subject again.
Today was a new day, though, and Dave was finally ready to admit that yes, he wanted that too. He still believed the entire institution of marriage was old and antiquated and unnecessary by today’s standards, and that the wedding industry was just an elaborate corporate ploy to sell overpriced cakes to poor smucks too drunk on their love to notice or care.
Hal wanted it, though. Not because he wanted the tax breaks or the attention or any of the things that most people associated with engagements and wedding ceremonies. He didn’t even want it because it added an extra layer of legitimacy to their decades-long relationship. He simply wanted it because he loved Dave, and wanted to share that sentiment with the world.
Hal wanted it, and after years of quiet contemplation, damn if Dave didn’t want it too. The very thought of being able to call Hal his husband sent pleasant shivers up his spine.
With these thoughts and memories to spur him on, Dave hummed to himself as he put his keys in the ignition, checked his rear-view mirror…
…and yelped at the unexpected sight of his gangly thirteen-year old daughter in the back seat. He whipped around to face her, heart in his throat.
“Jesus Christ! Sunny, what did I say about sneaking up on me like that?!”
Sunny thought for a moment, swinging her legs lazily against the backseat.
“Not to?”
“Damn right! What if I had been armed?”
“You don’t carry a gun when you go out, though. Cause Uncle Hal says that we’re not… um…”
Dave slowly let out the panicked breath he had been holding and chuckled softly with an exasperated shake of his head.
“Paranoid Republicans,” he laughed, amused at the things Sunny picked up from them. “Fair, but still, don’t sneak up on me.”
“Don’t sneak up on me, please.”
Dave raised an eyebrow. Her newfound sassiness already had him missing the stutter of her elementary school years. He quickly checked the time on the truck’s stereo, noting that he would be late for his appointment at the jewelers if he didn’t hurry.
“Did you need me for something or…?”
“Where are you going?”
The sounds of her little snow boots swinging against the backseat were beginning to fray his nerves.
“Grocery store,” he lied.
“Cool, can I come?”
“No.”
“Aww, why?”
He checked the time again, tapping his fingers anxiously on the seat, then put a hand on her knee to stop her legs from moving.
“It’s cold, go back inside.”
“Why are you going to the store today? It’s Saturday. You only ever go on Tuesdays.”
Touché kid. She was too observant for her own good.
“Are you getting a surprise for Uncle Hal cause you forgot to get him something for Valentine's Day?” she continued. Dave paused a moment too long.
“I knew it! Let me come! I’ll help!”
“No. Go back inside, I’m running late.”
“Late to the grocery store?”
Oh shit. He was caught, wasn’t he?
“Where are you really going?”
Dave sighed, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair nervously. He looked Sunny dead in the eye, and she scrunched her face up to parrot him.
“Sunny, you can absolutely not repeat what I’m about to tell you. Do you understand?”
“You’re having an affair with Mrs. Johnson down the road!” she exclaimed, clearly joking but catching Dave off-guard all the same.
“No, I’m… wait, Mrs. Johnson is like ninety years old, Sunny, how old do you think I am?”
“You were that old like six years ago,” she reminded him. He groaned.
“We’re getting off-topic. I’m serious, you cannot tell anyone, especially Uncle Hal, okay?”
“Okay!” she chirped, and Dave got the impression she wasn’t taking this seriously, but he continued in the interest of time.
“I’m going to the jewelry store to get rings because I’m going to ask Uncle Hal to marry me.”
Sunny stilled, clearly processing his words, before suddenly gasping and leaning forward into the space between the front seats.
“Really?!” she squealed happily, “you guys are getting married?!”
Dave quickly brought a finger to her lips.
“Shhhh! Hal’s still asleep in the house and your voice carries when you’re excited.”
“Oh, like he’s gonna wake up before noon on a weekend,” she scoffed.
“That’s why I need to get going, so will you please go back inside and…”
To his dismay, Sunny pushed Dave aside and climbed into the passenger seat. She was fastening her seat belt and plugging her phone into the stereo before he could get a word in edgewise. Up-beat J-pop filled the air, and Dave cranked the volume down with a groan.
God, she’s so much like Hal, he thought, equal parts fond and annoyed.
“Let’s go!” she exclaimed, pointing to the road beyond. He sighed and put the truck into drive.
“This is just like a mission!” she squeaked in excitement as gravel cracked underneath their tires. “I need a code name!”
Dave snorted as he pulled out of the driveway.
“Code name, huh?”
“Yeah! Like Snake and Otacon. OH! I know! Call me…” she looked out the windshield seriously, “…Blue Rose.”
“Aw,” Dave replied, feeling touched by the gesture.
Blue roses. Artificially created. Making the impossible possible. Like Dave.
“Yeah!” she exclaimed, “like Blue Rose from Tiger and Bunny!” She struck a dramatic pose, hands out like guns. “My ice may be cold, but your crime has been put completely on hold!” She mimicked shooting from her finger guns, and Dave deflated, betrayed.
Oh. The anime she and Hal won’t shut up about. Of course.
“You know Uncle Hal’s ring size, right?” Sunny said as she watched snow-covered trees pass outside their window. Dave nodded.
“Mmhmm, as close as I could get without telling him what I was up to.”
“What sort of rings are you going to buy?” she asked with a shiver as she fiddled with the heater. Dave reached behind her and pulled the hood on her winter coat over her head. She lightly swatted him away.
“Was thinking something simple. We’re not the kind of guys who need all the bells and whistles.”
“Unless it’s Uncle Hal’s computers.”
“Obviously,” Dave replied with a laugh. “How else is he supposed to dox strangers on the internet for disagreeing with him?”
“Oh you don’t need bells and whistles for that,” Sunny replied, and Dave turned to her with a horrified expression.
“I don’t want to know how you know that,” he said, slowly returning his eyes to the road, “but anyway, I was thinking the rings will be silver, and I was wanting to see if I could get the Philanthropy kanji engraved on the underside.”
“Ooooh I like it!” Sunny piped up, “that’s perfect!”
Dave glanced at her from his periphery and smiled. They drove in comfortable quiet into town, Dave drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and Sunny singing along to her J-pop quietly. The fact that she could pick up the Japanese lyrics so quickly at age thirteen, while Hal still couldn’t at age thirty-nine, would never stop amusing Dave.
“Uncle Dave!” Sunny chirped when they pulled into the parking lot. “How are you going to propose?”
Dave parked the truck and hopped out, Sunny at his heels.
“Was planning to do it at home, just the two of us.”
Sunny scoffed.
“Ugh, boring!”
Dave stopped with his hand on the jeweler’s door.
“Really? You think so?”
“Yes!” she said, scowling. “Where’s the romance in that?”
Dave thought for a moment.
“Do you…” he started slowly, dumbstruck, “do you honestly think he would want something more than that?”
“Duh!” Sunny replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Who wouldn’t?”
Dave had his reservations on the matter. He’d known Hal for fifteen years now. He'd never been known to enjoy being the center of attention, or to be made a fuss of, but…
…this was a once in a lifetime event, right? Dave would only have one shot to make this something special, something that Hal would look on fondly years from now.
Maybe Sunny was right. Maybe he would need to think harder about this.
She broke him of his thoughts when she tapped on his arm.
“You need my help!” she stated with finality. Dave nodded in agreement as he opened the door and ushered her inside.
“You might be right.”
————————————————————————
The two of them successfully picked out the rings and ordered them with the kanji to be engraved on the underside, and were told they’d be ready in time for Dave’s planned proposal. They made the trip home, Sunny chatting animatedly the whole time.
“When are you going to pop the question?” she asked, and Dave scratched at the scruff of his beard in embarrassment.
“February 28. The anniversary of when we met.”
Sunny cooed loudly, looking at Dave with stars in her eyes.
“Awwww! That’s a good start! Very romantic!”
“Glad you approve,” Dave replied with amusement, but she wasn’t done yet.
“Okay, so proposal ideas. How do you feel about flash mobs?”
“I am absolutely not doing that,” Dave replied immediately, and Sunny sighed dramatically.
“Aw, you’re no fun. Fine, then how about…” she scrunched up her face in thought. “Oh! How about you take him on a scavenger hunt?”
“Scavenger hunt?” he repeated as he took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and brought one to his lips.
“Yeah! It’s like a game! You make clues that lead to other clues and then at the end is the proposal!”
“Huh…” He lit the cigarette and cracked the window, blowing smoke into the frigid air outside.
“I’m not very creative, Sunny, this is kinda beyond me.”
She simply waved him off.
“Good thing you have Blue Rose to help you then!”
Dave just shook his head and chuckled.
“I suppose.”
Sunny clapped her hands together and sat up straighter in her seat.
“Okay, so! I can make the scavenger hunt clues for you, and decide where you should take Uncle Hal!”
Dave raised a curious eyebrow.
“What will I do then?”
“You,” she punctuated her point by lightly punching his arm, “will build the area where you’ll actually propose!”
“I… what,” he mumbled around his cigarette. “Wait, what am I supposed to be building?”
Sunny sighed dramatically.
“You gotta build an arc, all decorated with flowers and stuff! Then you gotta have flower petals leading to it!”
“It’s the middle of winter, Sunny. In North Dakota.”
“Oh, yeah. Well you can use candles and fairy lights instead then!”
Dave flicked his cigarette ashes out the window.
“This is getting kinda complicated, isn’t it?”
“Uncle Dave,” Sunny said seriously, gripping him by the shoulder harder than a girl her size should have been able to. “You’d take a bullet for Uncle Hal, wouldn’t you?”
“I…” Dave paused, feeling her intense stare on him. “Yeah, of course. I have before.”
“You’d kill for him? You’d die for him?!”
Dave turned to her slowly, cigarette almost falling out of his gaping mouth in shock.
“Hell, Sunny, you know I would…”
“Then! You! Will! Do! This!” she exclaimed, punctuating each word with a little shake of his shoulder. They locked eyes, and when she didn’t disengage he gave her a tiny, disbelieving salute.
“Yes ma’am…”
————————————————————————
True to her word, Sunny planned the route that Hal would take for the scavenger hunt, complete with heart-shaped notes from her personal stationery that would point the way to his each destination. Dave was working on building the arch in their garage when she skipped inside, bundled in an old hoodie of Dave’s with Iditarod 2005 emblazoned on it, and offered the notes proudly for him to inspect. He set down his hammer and pulled a face as he read around the nail in his mouth.
“The sun goes down, but it always comes up again. No matter how dark, no night lasts forever, so start again one step at a time… by walking twenty paces into the backyard!” He turned to her, cocking his hips to the side.
“Sunny, I don’t want to bite the hand that feeds here, but these sound like they came straight out of a manga.” She smiled.
“Oh they did.”
Dave sighed.
“Yeah, walked right into that one.”
Sunny stomped one foot impatiently.
“Uncle Hal will love it!”
Dave handed the notes back to her as he picked up his hammer.
“Shouldn’t I be the one to write these?”
Sunny crossed her arms and scowled.
“Are you going to be cute and romantic about it?”
Dave just rolled his eyes as he set back to his woodworking task.
“I’m not cute or romantic.”
“Then no!” she shouted, clearly fed up already. “You need to make this nice or Uncle Hal will say no!”
Dave paused, hammer raised over a nail on the joint of the arch, and sat back on his heels. He hadn’t really considered that Hal would say no. Was it possible that he could have changed his mind after the last time he had brought it up?
He shook his head to clear the thought and began hammering again. If Hal were going to say no, it wouldn’t be because he didn’t use manga quotes in his proposal.
“Uncle Hal and I have been together for fifteen years, Sunny, he’s not going to expect cute or romantic from me.”
Sunny threw her hands up in exasperation.
“Okaaaaay, fine, I’ll rewrite them then. Be back in a bit.”
She strode off back into the house, before doubling back to yell at Dave.
“Uncle Hal will be home in an hour! Don’t forget!”
Dave gave her a thumbs-up as she closed the door. He sighed, and his breath came out as fog in the winter chill. It was cold as balls and his knees were definitely not agreeing with the work he was doing. He was just about to grab another nail when he saw a pink, heart-shaped note forgotten under the workbench. He crawled to pick it up, reading it as he did.
“You make me feel like I’m flying, like nothing can hold me down! So drive down to the airfield, get in a helicopter, and fly to the location marked here!”
Dave cringed, at both the wording and the implication that she believed Hal could just… what? Ask nicely if he could borrow a helicopter? Dave didn’t think that Hal had ever legally obtained a pilot’s license, anyway. He was going to need to talk to her about these plans…
He made to stand up, forgetting for a moment that he had knelt under the workbench, and slammed his head against the underside hard enough to rattle the drawers. He immediately saw stars behind his eyes, and dropped in a heap on the floor.
Only one last thought crossed his mind before he lost consciousness.
I don’t know which will be worse: if Hal finds me first, or Sunny.
————————————————————————
“Dave! David!”
Dave bolted upright, almost whacking his head on the workbench a second time. He could hear Hal suck in a breath.
“Jesus! What happened?”
Dave laid back on the cold concrete, eyes closed, and groaned.
“Hit my head.”
“Yeah, I can see that!” Even without being able to see him, Dave knew Hal was probably gnawing at his thumb nail nervously. A habit Dave had never been able to break him from.
“How many fingers?”
Dave gingerly lifted his head, glanced over at Hal, and immediately vomited to the side. Hal yelped in alarm.
“Oh my god!” he shrieked, and Dave fell back against the floor with a thud. He could hear Hal scramble to his feet and yell into the house.
“Sunny! Dave’s hurt, I’m taking him to the emergency room!”
Dave grabbed onto the sides of the workbench and slowly slid out from underneath.
“M’fine Hal,” he slurred, and Hal gave him one of his patented, incredulous laughs from their Philanthropy days that said no you aren’t mister.
Sunny shouted something from the house, and Hal yelled back.
“I think he’s got a concussion! Call Jack and Rose if you need anything!”
She yelled back again, unintelligible to Dave’s scrambled brain, and he heard Hal give a frustrated groan.
“For god’s sake Sunny, order pizza then! You have a phone!”
He returned to Dave’s side, grabbing his dropped keys from the ground hastily. The jingling sound grated straight through Dave’s head, like sandpaper against his skull. Hal latched onto Dave’s arm.
“Okay, can you stand?”
“Yup,” Dave replied, quickly sitting up and immediately regretting it. He slumped over into Hal’s arms, head against his chest where he could feel how fast his heart was beating in panic.
“Nope,” he mumbled against his winter coat, and Hal swore.
“Shit. Uh, okay, you’re gonna have to work with me a little or I’m going to have to call an ambulance.”
“Hrrrng,” Dave mumbled ineloquently, “How will we send Sunny to college?” Hal secured an arm around his back, preparing to help lift him, and huffed out an exasperated laugh.
“Scholarships. Kid’s a genius, she’ll be fine.”
Dave pressed his head to Hal’s sternum, willing the world to stop spinning.
“Hack the gov’ment…for funds…”
“Absolutely,” Hal replied absently, brushing Dave’s fringe from his forehead, then, “you are scaring the shit out of me right now.”
“Not th’ first time.”
“I need you to work with me,” Hal repeated urgently, tugging hard on Dave’s shoulder. “You’ve got like fifty pounds of muscle on me.”
Dave made to stand, leaning too much of his weight onto Hal and making him stumble. Once they were both upright, Hal began slowly walking him to his car parked in the driveway.
“Too skinny, Hal,” Dave mumbled incoherently, “like th’ guy. From Sunny’s thing.”
“What thing?” Hal said, breathing heavily with the effort of supporting too much of Dave’s weight.
“Game,” Dave replied, trying his hardest not to throw up again.
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Skinny guy. Slender guy.”
Hal snorted next to Dave’s ear.
“Slenderman?”
“Mmhmm.”
Dave could feel Hal’s shoulders shaking with barely suppressed laughter.
“Thanks, sweetheart. Love to know what you really think of me.”
“S’ok,” Dave said as Hal helped him into the car. “S’hot.”
Hal paused, shook his head and quickly buckled Dave into the passenger seat.
“Hmm. Okay we’ll unpack that one later,” he replied with a click of the seatbelt and a light kiss to Dave’s temple. He slammed the door, and the sound made Dave want to die. Hal reappeared in the driver's seat a moment later, and it felt like both a second and an eternity had passed.
“Wh’re to, Otacon?” Dave asked, head resting against the passenger side window uncomfortably. Hal laughed as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road.
“Oh, you know. Date night at the hospital. The usual.”
Dave just hummed as he slumped further over in his seat. For how cold it was outside, he was already beginning to sweat against the window, leaving little foggy patches behind. Hal kept glancing at him nervously out of the corner of his eye every time Dave shifted uncomfortably.
Dave closed his eyes, trying to unsee the way the trees and traffic whizzed by his window in one big blur. He was halfway to sleep when the sound of the horn jolted him back.
“Nice drifting there, dumbass!” Hal shouted, honking one more time for added effect. “Fucking idiots don’t know how to drive in the snow, I swear to god.”
Despite the pounding in his head and the churning in his guts, Dave couldn’t help himself from smiling.
This is the man I fell in love with, he thought to himself fondly.
“Gonna get us shot one day, Hal.”
Hal just chuckled sheepishly at his side. He had long stopped pretending to feel bad for his poor driving habits, unlike he had when they’d first hit the road with Philanthropy. However, he seemed to regret it just then.
“Sorry,” he apologized quickly, “the horn is probably murder on your head right now.” Dave just groaned lightly.
“S’fine.” Then, as an afterthought, he said, “Watched Sunny play Mario Kart with John th’ other day.” His voice was pained, and Hal wrapped a hand around his and squeezed.
“Oh yeah?” he answered, voice low but intrigued. Dave continued.
“Yeah. Kept yelling at him, stuff like ‘woah slow down there speed racer’ and ‘smooth moves Tokyo drift.’”
Hal snorted loudly.
“Oh my god, did she really?”
“Mmhmm. Guess th’as what ‘appens when you grow up with someone with ‘ermanent road rage an’ creative ‘nsults.” Hal just groaned.
“God, that’s embarrassing. You should probably be the one to teach her to drive in a few years.”
“Was plannin’ on it.”
There was a brief moment of silence, before Hal began laughing again.
“Did she beat John at least?”
“Oh yeah, kicked ‘is ass good.”
“Atta girl,” Hal replied with pride.
He squeezed Dave’s hand again, rubbing a thumb softly over his knuckles.
“You’re slurring really bad, Dave. I’m one-hundred percent sure you’ve got a concussion.”
“Not th’ firs’ time.”
Hal just sighed.
“Unfortunately not, but hey! No C4 this time at least! Just… home improvement project? I think?”
Hal seemed to lose himself in thought for a moment, and Dave could feel himself nodding off again.
“What were you doing anyway?”
In his right mind, Dave would have come up with a particularly believable lie or a distraction so clever that Hal would completely forget he had even asked. However, Dave was very much not in his right mind.
“None’ya business,” he replied ineloquently at last, and Hal snorted again.
“Pffft fine, forget I asked then!” he teased. Dave wouldn’t realize until the next day how lucky he was to have gotten away with that.
They arrived at the hospital shortly after, and Dave was already wishing he was back home in bed, or anywhere that wasn’t there, really. They took a seat in the waiting room, Hal filling out paperwork as his leg bounced with anxious energy.
“Oh fuck,” he whispered, laughing nervously as he crossed out something on the form.
“Wha’?” Dave slurred, and Hal blushed.
“I, uh, forgot the last name we gave you. Again.”
Over the years, they had cycled through many surnames for Dave, mostly to cover their tracks, but in his retirement they had settled for the generic “Smith” for lack of anything more creative. However, through his blurred vision, Dave could have sworn Hal was crossing out “Emmerich” on the medical questionnaire. Dave chose not to comment on Hal’s slip of the hand, but would be lying if he’d said it hasn’t made him feel something warm and fond inside.
He leaned his head on Hal’s shoulder and watched him write, the sounds of his pen drowned out by the happenings of the hospital all around them. Hal paused at the section for Dave’s medical history and began to laugh, a full body thing that left him shaking. He took off his glasses and wiped at his eyes.
“I never know how honest to be at this part,” he admitted.
“Might wanna leave out… mos’ of it,” Dave replied warily. Hal just continued to chuckle, lightly pinching Dave’s cheek.
“Maybe stop getting hurt so much. You’re retired.” Dave just hummed thoughtfully.
“It’s… w’as the kids say?” Hal turned to him curiously.
“Hmm?”
“You only live once.”
Hal rolled his eyes and laughed.
“Yeah, well maybe, but also my heart can only take so much.”
Dave’s chest gave a painful little squeeze at that. He truly had put Hal through the wringer over the years.
“Sorry…” he mumbled quietly into his shoulder. Hal just lightly kissed the crown of his head.
“Nothing to apologize for.”
Hal continued to work on Dave’s paperwork quietly while Dave became fixated on the television in the waiting room. A reality show of some sort was on, where a woman was trying on wedding dresses at a fancy boutique. A chorus of family and friends oohed and awed while occasionally peppering in passive aggressive comments about the cost of the dress directly to the camera.
Despite how utterly uninterested he was, Dave couldn’t tear his eyes away. He never watched shows like this at home, as he preferred dramas and thrillers, so he was just going to chalk it up to the head injury.
In the next scene, the show played a clip from the bride-to-be’s wedding proposal, where friends and family kept handing her notes with clues on it. They led her to a candle-lit path on the beach, where her fiancé stood before an ornate, home-made arch adorned with flowers…
Hal chose that exact moment to look up, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“Done. Just need to wait for you to be called.” He followed Dave’s gaze to the tv, where he watched for a moment and then scoffed.
“Really? And she still said yes?”
Dave froze, then began to laugh nervously.
“Oh yeah, interesting way to get engaged, huh?”
Hal joined him in laughing, completely oblivious to how uncomfortable Dave was now.
“Right? Super tacky, if you ask me.”
Dave was mentally kicking himself. He was going to have words with their daughter when they got home.
“I mean,” Hal continued between laughter, “he might as well have been asking her to prom with that setup. Good Lord.”
“Oh yeah, true,” Dave replied with a forced chuckle, eyes fixed intently on his hands in his lap. Hal excused himself for a moment to return the clipboard to the receptionist, and Dave suddenly felt very thankful and very frustrated at the same time for this stupid show. When Hal returned, his eyes flicked back to the tv screen.
“Now, what he should have done…” he began, and Dave immediately perked up. He listened closely, hoping for a new proposal idea straight from the source, when…
“Mister David Smith?” a nurse called from the waiting room door, and Dave wanted to scream.
“Oh hey, that was fast!” Hal said cheerfully as he looped his arm with Dave’s and pulled him to his feet. They followed the nurse into the emergency room proper, where they spent the next few hours.
————————————————————————
They finally left the hospital at ten pm, toting a prescription for some painkillers and a doctor’s stern advice on what to avoid while Dave recovered from his head injury. They walked through the dark parking lot in silence, and once they sat down in the car they both sighed in unison.
“Well…” Hal exhaled tiredly, “could have been worse. Went better than the time Sunny broke her wrist, at least.”
Dave just scoffed as he fumbled with his seat belt.
“Right? Love spending so much time and money to be told to just take it easy for a few days.” Hal groaned as he pulled out of the parking lot.
“Are you mad that I dragged you here?”
Dave hesitated briefly before blowing a loose strand of hair out of his face.
“Nah. Suppose I should just be thankful that we have the luxury of going to the emergency room these days.” Hal snorted.
“Yeah, seriously. Ah!” he looked wistfully out the windshield, feigning fondness. “Remember the good ol’ days of buying counterfeit painkillers off the black market and just kinda hoping for the best?”
Dave nodded, then winced when it jarred his head.
“Yeah, that and ameteur surgery hour every couple of months.” Hal laughed.
“No kidding. Feels like I should have an MD after my name after all that.”
Dave leaned his head back against the headrest with a little huff, shielding his photo sensitive eyes from the headlights of oncoming traffic.
“You took your share of the injuries too,” he mumbled quietly, not enjoying the memories that followed.
Gunshots ringing in his ears, followed by the scent of blood coming off of Hal in waves. Shock written in his posture as his knees buckled and he pitched forward…
A panicked, emergency codec call turning quickly to static, leaving Dave with no idea where Hal was or if he was even still alive.
Waking up in the middle of the night to find Hal rocking back and forth on his side of the bed, crying quietly in his sleep as he labored through another nightmare…
Hal grimaced as he quickly glanced over at Dave.
“Mmhmm, won’t dispute that.”
They both sighed again, shoulders sinking.
“Can’t say I miss it,” Dave said at last, wishing desperately for a cigarette. Hal worried his thumb with his teeth as he turned onto the freeway.
“Me either,” he agreed, before quickly adding, “not that it was all bad.” He smiled warmly, momentarily locking eyes with Dave before returning his gaze to the road. “We had a lot of really good times, too.”
“Yeah,” Dave whispered, leaning across the gear shift to take Hal’s hand with a gentle squeeze. “We did.”
Somehow, despite the head injury and the proposal attempt that died directly out of the gate, Dave couldn’t find it in himself to be all that upset. Afterall, he and Hal had all the time in the world.