WHO Blue Sargent & Gansey (aka Bluesey~) WHERE The Barns WHEN A couple days after everyone returns from the Vallo Dark WHAT Gansey has the best bedside manner for taking care of his girlfriend. STATUS Complete! WARNINGS Nothing but endless fluff and bee bandages!
Laying around was not in Blue Sargent's wheelhouse. She needed to be actively doing something, which was incredibly hard to do when her right leg was wrapped in thick white gauze and ached ferociously. There was also the problem where it itched even worse as it healed. She needed distraction, to get up and move around and be busy so she didn't think about the badass scar the wound was going to leave when it finally managed to fix itself.
Inside the snowglobe—ugh, she couldn't believe they were inside a snowglobe—had been testament to her perseverance and survivability. There wasn't a moment where she wanted to give up or throw the towel in. Getting home, getting back to Gansey, had been a priority. But that had only been for five days. She wondered how much faith people had, being there for weeks. Blue was thankful for the same strong and aggressive commiseration with Ronan to get her through.
Now though, Blue thought if she closed her eyes she would forget everything that happened. A silly wish, but she tried anyway. A dying Cabeswater, an abandoned Barns, a world without Gansey. That was nightmare Vallo. When she opened her eyes again, it was still the same exposed beam ceiling of the living room. Stairs were not Blue's friend and it was starting to get embarrassing to be carried to bed.
The squeak of a floorboard caused Blue to divert attention toward the doorway, and there was her endearing boyfriend with mugs.
"Did you make me tea?" Blue asked, sounding surprised and pleased. She awkwardly sat up, readjusting the pillows under her leg, so that there was room for Gansey on the couch. She reached her hands out to him once he was closer. "Gansey, I could get used to this."
It had been a week, a harrowing, insomnia filled week that had been downright easy for Gansey in comparison to Blue and Ronan. So with them back, and with it came the relief and the need to support. They had all gotten sleep now, at least, but Blue was hurt and Gansey was determined to be right there as needed for both of them.
For now, it included keeping up on bandage replacement, making tea or ordering dinner. Or going through the endless amounts of baked goods and frozen meals Bitty had sent their way.
It still didn’t feel like enough, but it was what he had for now, coupled with an easy smile and hair falling in his face with no way to push it out. Gansey offered her the mug carefully, and set his own down on the coffee table before snagging the extra items he’d put on a table nearby. “I didn’t even make it in the microwave.” He pressed a kiss to to the top of her head before moving around to take a seat next to her, careful to not bump her leg. Gansey shook the little pill bottle in his hand. “I have your pain meds and bandages, too. It’s been six hours.”
Blue eagerly took the mug of tea, and started drinking. She nudged him with her foot (on her good leg.) "You do not need to mother me. I actually have my own mother here who will do that, who will probably come by this evening," Blue said, knowing it sounded hypocritical. She enjoyed being waited on—the tea in her hands not made in the microwave was evidence of that—but only to an extent. The healing process was where she drew the line.
"Just sit for a second with me. We're home now, you can relax. A little bit. Like, the tiniest amount." She twisted, albeit awkwardly, to put her own mug down on the side table behind her. She wanted both of her hands free as she reached out to Gansey.
Five days had been too long. Just because she was in a horror movie version of Vallo, Blue knew instinctively that Gansey had probably suffered through his own sort of hell here. One was not worse than the other.
She let out a long breath. "And I'm maybe stalling because I don't want to get grossed out looking at it when you change the bandages."
Gansey met her halfway, all too happy for the physical touch when it was offered. The only time he had actually truly slept - instead of just dozing into a lucid dream - was when Adam and Opal forced him into a proper bed and they managed to doze for a few hours. The comfort of having another person nearby was what made Gansey’s brain quiet.
Blue, however, wasn’t going to get away from the bandage changing that easily. Even if he knew Maura had a leg-up by being her actual mother, he was firm in his resolution.
“I’m not mothering you, I’m just following doctor’s orders. I set a timer and gave you an extra ten minutes.” Okay, maybe he was mothering just a little, but no one in the house was going to blame him. Except Blue. He put a warm hand on the outside of her thigh to rub soothingly, an apologetic smile ghosting his lips. “You can just close your eyes? Or I can turn on the National Geographic channel.”
"A whole ten minutes? Now I'm spoiled," Blue teased, squeezing his hand. She had missed this, missed him a stupid amount. With Ronan, both of them riled the other up, Blue frustrated and determined and tired. She forced herself to be sensible in the situation, but nothing about the situation in the snowglobe had been fair. Most of her practical approach had gone swiftly out the window that first morning when she and Ronan swiftly threw themselves out the window.
But with Gansey she was calmer, with Gansey she would have been calmer. He would have poked at all the magical elements that Blue didn't think about.
Blue let out a long low breath, steeling herself for whatever came next—despite knowing exactly what would come next. She closed her eyes, straightened out her shoulders, and said, "Okay, you can do it." She lifted her leg so that he could get a better angle.
"You don't have to turn on the TV, just—I don't know, talk to me. How much yogurt is left in the fridge? What new thing did you figure out when we were gone? I'll go first. Matthew's room is the best escape route from the second floor if the stairs are blocked."
“Very spoiled,” Gansey agreed with a gentle grin. He was teasing right back, even as his fingers went delicately along her leg, and around the edge of the bandage. This wasn’t the first time he’d done this, or even the dozenth time he had rebandaged something - hunting a dead welsh king had it’s adventures - so he went to work very quickly and efficiently, with a sure touch.
Only when it came to Blue, he was always so far from sure. But he could fake it, and he did, that presidential head tilt and square of his shoulders came well into play just for her.
“Is it? I’ll have to put that on the emergency escape plan information.” Which wasn’t something he actually had, but now they would. “Did any of his lacrosse gear come in handy?” The bandage was off, now, folded and set aside, and Gansey couldn’t hold back the wince that came every time he saw the wound. How much would it take to get one of the magical types to heal this?
Blue was desperately not trying to think about the wound on her leg. But her mind had slipped to Gansey's hands on her, which always made her stomach do strange, butterfly-like flip flops. And those hands were undoing the bandages. Focus on his voice, she told herself, answer his questions. Then she wouldn't have to think about the sting, the ache, or be tempted to open her eyes to stare at it.
Her face scrunched up, bracing. "No lacrosse, which was an absolute shame. I know how to use that to my advantage. I imagine whoever managed to clear out his room took it. I had a bat for a while though. Not as good as an ax and—oh, I felt you wince. Did you just wince? Is it terrible?" Blue asked, cracking one eye open and regretting it.
She trained her attention on Gansey's face instead. For all of his put-togetherness and soft nerd demeanor, he was much tougher than he let on. That was why Blue loved him, and so she reached across the space to push that piece of hair that had fallen into his face earlier out of the way. It fell right back.
"If you ever got a really nasty injury from being trapped inside a scary snowglobe version of here, I would change your bandages and make you tea."
Gansey softly chuckled and tried to hide his wince again, just for her sake. He knew how Blue could get, the rush of words and panic that could grow so swiftly if not rerouted as quick as it came. He tried to be fast, as if he was wrapping a bandage around an ornery animal. He wouldn’t make that comparison out loud, even as fond of a thought as it was, he valued his life.
It helped that he loved that fire in her. “It’s certainly going to ah-- make a formidable scar. In my extensive medical opinion,” He tried to sound impressive, as he most certainly had no real medical knowledge. “It looks …. Good? Like a good wound.” There wasn’t any tell-tale signs of infection, at least, and it was clean. So he called that a win and went to work gently dabbing with the antibiotic ointment the clinic had passed along.
He did make sure to have Blue’s foot secure in his hand before his next reply, though. “I believe you. And can I just make a future request that it’s not one of your mother’s mixes?”
"A good wound," Blue said, smiling at his attempts to soothe the situation. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you could be good at this. Bedside manners and all that." She immediately wanted to take the compliment back when he applied the ointment. It stung something fierce, and it took every ounce of willpower not to jerk her leg away from him. It wasn't his fault that she had this injury. Technically it wasn't her fault either, it was all the running from clawed beasts as they chased them from the Barns property that did it.
Gansey was lucky that he was holding her foot at the mention of her mother's teas. She almost did kick him just for that comment. But the moment passed and her expression grew somber.
"I can't believe my mom was there," Blue said, as her eyes drifted to her leg. "I know we do a lot of really dangerous stuff, and there's so much magic we have never and probably will never deal with, but I don't know if I could watch someone I care about not blink twice when running into it. Her own child, ugh."
Blue made a noise of displeasure, watching Gansey. "Am I going to start mom-friending everyone? Is this where it starts?"
Gansey’s laugh was quiet and forgiving, he understood that feeling. He’d had it when Helen had briefly shown up here, not wanting to introduce his family into this world of theirs, and he had it every single time his loved ones did dumb things.
Which was often, as they loved to do dumb things.
“I don’t think being worried about something perfectly legitimate makes you a mom-friend. You’ll have to start pressuring Matthew to eat more vegetables and Ronan to stay hydrated more for that.” He was teasing, even if it was partially true and something Gansey himself did. But it was easier to have a little control over his life if he was able to help people, when the others around him had an arsenal of skills at their disposal where Gansey lacked.
After the gauze was laid out gently over her wound, he pulled out the yellow bandage roll and brandished it like it was something special. “I don’t think I’ll take this up as a day job, but I did get you bandages that have little bees on them.”
"Those are lost causes, Gansey," Blue said, leaning in to watch him bandage her leg up. It seemed less terrifying, less gruesome, when Gansey's deft hands made quick work of cleaning it up. This wasn't his magic, but Blue was certain that he held command over this wound to heal faster. She'd bet good money on it.
"I was alone with Ronan a lot in that snowglobe and getting him to do anything for his health, like I don't know, sleep, was impossible." She said the last part a little pointedly, knowing that Gansey was just as culpable in the lack-of-sleep department. But she hadn't been here to drag him to bed for much needed unconsciousness. Blue didn't want to admit that she worried how the Barns were surviving without her pragmatic views on bedtimes.
Blue smiled though at the wrap, the bright yellow (very her) and the bees (strangely, very him). "I have to admit, you're very good at it. I'd hate to take away this quality time we spend together, but—" Blue leaned in, her fingers tightening into the front of his shirt to pull him closer to kiss. "I'm willing to hear other options about healing. As long as the bee bandages stay. Those are a nice personal touch that I don't want to give up."
“Still worth trying,” Gansey muttered under his breath, though he knew it was loud enough for her to hear easily. That wasn’t the point, and he also didn’t bother detracting from the faint blush on his cheeks. They all knew full well sometimes he could very well be the mom-friend of the group, but that was only before his sense of adventure had kicked in and he was doing something dumb.
At least these days kissing his girlfriend wasn’t dumb. He still always saw it coming, always felt his breath hitch just a little. There was something weirdly adventurous about a kiss, always with the possibility of death attached. No matter how much he trusted Blue - explicitly - there was always the chance that Vallo would throw in a wrench, but it never stopped Gansey. He met her halfway, laughing as their lips connected.
When he pulled back, he tsked quietly and finished wrapping the bandage. “I told Regina I’d give you a little time before putting pressure on healing, but you already know it’s your choice up until the doctor says it’s infected or something of the sort.” He ended up with a hand back on her leg, just a gentle touch to sooth. “I just wish there was more I could do.”
"You are very considerate. I want to be mad at you about it, but I'm finding it incredibly hard to gather up the annoyance," Blue said, teasing and soft, unrecognizably her when she was with Gansey. She could be loud, and strange, and unpredictably aggressive, but Gansey was different. Her joking was always half-serious—a third serious—because she knew Gansey's whole heart was generous in ways she had too quickly dismissed when they met.
Obviously, now things were different. Blue wanted to keep kissing him, but there was an awkward position and bandage getting in the way. When he placed his hand on her leg, Blue rested her hand on top of his. "This is enough," Blue said, her brow furrowing. "Don't get it all twisted up in your head that it isn't. I may be down to one good leg, but I can absolutely still tackle you and there's nothing you can do about it."
A threat, always a threat. But she did it with love, so much unending love for him. "It's not every day I let just anyone take care of me, when I could probably do all this stuff myself." Blue gestured generally to her propped up leg, the tea, the pill bottle, everything. "Because of you I probably won't end up with a scar, you're that good."
She squeezed his hand, and ducked her head down to catch his attention. "Anything more would be short of taking the injury on yourself, and I'm not about to let you do that, even if it was possible."
Blue’s threat rolled right off of him, he lived for threats like that, because much like Ronan, they both showed their affection in their threats. He knew each and every tone they both had for them, when anger hit hard and when Ronan’s desire to punch something was just that and not code for “shut up I love you too”.
That’s what made him smile, coming out of his quiet thoughts and picturing a bandaged Blue launching herself at him. “Anything but the tackling,” quiet and unassuming, as if he wasn’t already going to sleep with that image on the front of his thoughts. That was the Gansey tone for thinking too much, but trying not to. He knew it was a slippery slope, that Blue was right about him getting twisted up in his head.
He could, however, lie and push past with the best of them, for the sake of not putting any focus on himself. “I’m not looking to injure myself, we don’t have to worry about that. I am looking to make it easier on you, however. Escape routes, yarn delivery, favorite meals.. Anything else?” He leaned in for another kiss, now that he was done with the bandage and had his hands free.
Blue thought about launching herself at him, just to prove a point; she was still dangerous even at her weakest. But the superficiality of the statement was quickly fading away. All she really wanted to do was curl up with Gansey on this couch, in their bed—god even inside the Pig—and let the rest of the world fall away. Not just for herself, but him too.
"Nope," Blue said, popping the p, and smiling as she met Gansey halfway. Another sweeter kiss, so much softer than her usual weird abrasiveness. It was easier to be gentler with Gansey, not because he required it, but because she didn't need to always have her defenses up around him. It was a dynamic that she craved, especially in the moments of high chaos or listlessness.
When she pulled away, just enough that she could look at him without his features going out of focus, Blue bumped his nose affectionately. "You? Can I ask for just you? Everything else can come second."
Gansey smiled against her lips and bumped right back, comforted by one of the main things that kept him moving forward, one step at a time. Blue had always been able to make the world around him quiet, to let his focus drift away from his own insecurities.
And he did love to tease her. “Well, I’m glad you asked,” He kissed her again, quickly, before leaning back and reaching for the TV remote from the table. “There’s a new documentary about a series of cursed objects that were found in Vallo a decade ago, if you wanted to watch with me…?”