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You can't hide anything from a Recon Marine, that's a well-known fact. People think that it means spotting enemy positions and such, but a platoon of bored out of their mind guys with military training is the worst place to be if you have secrets. The gossip is worse than Pappy's hometown, and that's saying something.
It doesn't bother Pappy that much, though, mainly because for all their training they know shit all about how he and Rudy are really like. He fools people, with his smiles and his frilly coffee drinks and the way he talks about Tao and health food, lulls them into forgetting that he's the hardest motherfucker to ever come out of the Marine Corps. And Pappy likes that, he really does, but sometimes he wishes he could just stick the guy in bed before work, tell him to stay put and be sure he's in place when the shift's over. He sighs at the sight of the neatly-made bed and dials Rudy's number.
"Why aren't you in bed?" He asks as soon as it connects. He can hear Rudy's breath over the phone, raspy and uneven.
"Running." Comes the curt answer. Pappy opens his mouth to rip the man a new one; when he left in the morning Rudy was running a fever like nobody's business and was too busy hacking up nasty white-ish goo to even see Pappy to the door. Now the guy was running.
"Can't talk right now, man. See you in twenty." Rudy says before Pappy can start saying his piece. He sounds well enough on the phone, but Pappy's not buying it for a minute. He heaves another sigh after Rudy disconnects the call. No use calling back; there was no human alive on Earth that could make Rudy stop doing something when his mind's made up.
Pappy changes from his uniform and goes into the kitchen. Just like he thought, the pills he fished out of the medicine cabinet in the morning sit on the counter untouched, and there's some herbal goo in the sink. Rudy leaving anything out of place in the kitchen is a bad sign. Pappy cleans it with a frown.
He is still frowning when the front door opens. Rudy enters, a smile on his face and red high on his cheeks. He looks normal enough, but Pappy only folds his hands over his chest.
"Oh, come on." Rudy pats Pappy's flank as he walks past him into the kitchen. "I'm fine."
He goes up to the sink and washes his hands, then splashes some water on his face. His t-shirt is drenched with sweat, and unless he doubled his workout that's not supposed to happen.
"You were hacking up a lung just this morning." Pappy says with a heavy look.
"And then I felt better, so I went for a run."
Rudy sounds reasonable, but his point is lost when he casually clears his throat, and then launches into a coughing fit that bends him in two and makes the spice shakers rattle. He grabs for the counter but Pappy gets hold of his hand instead.
"Shouda stayed in bed." Pappy grumbles as he pushes the man towards the bathroom. Rudy catches his breath and looks at him pointedly.
"You know I don't feel right when I don't exercise." Pappy sighs. He knows, and he knows everyone deals with shit they brought home in different ways, and he knows Rudy's way is to take control and 'be the best man he can be'. Doesn't mean he has to like it.
"Ain't anything right about how you feel now either." He rubs Rudy's back between his shoulder blades. "Come on now. Shower, then straight to bed."
"Oh, I'm always ready to go to bed with you, Pappy." Rudy grins and waggles his eyebrows like some kind of cartoon character. Always trying to diffuse the situation. Pappy gives Rudy's ass an affectionate pat that sends the guy towards the bathroom.
By the time Rudy's finished with all his post-work-out routines he looks about ready to drop dead, and definitely not up for any sort of 'getting in bed' with anyone but the literal one. Pappy's not surprised: he's got the bed ready, the blanket pulled away. Rudy sends him a tortured glance but complies and gets in. Pappy gets in next to him, even though it's barely past six, and pulls him in.
"I'm going to make you sick." Rudy resists, but Pappy only snorts.
"Ain't nothing your civilian germs can do to me, Reyes."
Rudy snorts at that too, and pokes Pappy in the ribs, but settles in against Pappy's chest. Of course, it only lasts for a few moments, then he raises his head again – his damp hair is sticking up everywhere now – and buts his forehead against the side of Pappy's jaw.
"We could watch a movie." He suggests, even though he looks exhausted.
"Sleep." Pappy raises his hand and presses Rudy's head back to his chest where it belongs. "Gotta have your strength for the weekend."
Rudy complies for a few seconds, but then shoots up on the bed with a wild expression on his face.
"Your mother's coming to visit on the weekend." He says in a grave, stunned voice.
"Yeah. Didn't I tell you?" Pappy could have sworn… Was a long time ago, though.
"Of course you told me." Rudy rubs his forehead, then pushes his hair away from his face, ruffles it again. "It's this weekend? I thought it was the next… I'm sorry, it's just…"
It's just been a hard few days, Pappy finishes for the man silently. Rudy tries to appear fine all the time, and Pappy tries to go along with it, mostly, but they both know when things get bad. Isn't any rhyme or reason to that. Pappy would wager though, this time the damn bug probably didn't help.
Rudy sighs, a momentary flash of panic gone from his eyes already, and settles back in against Pappy.
"I guess I really should sleep, huh?" He murmurs quietly. Pappy nods and, even as he feels the man's body relax slowly next to him, he puts his palm over Rudy's head to keep it down. Just in case.
***
Of course, nothing's ever half-done with Rudy Reyes. He devotes the next two days fully to getting better. He gets enough sleep, he takes vitamins, he brings his work-out routine inside. On Friday evening he even takes the meds Pappy's been trying to make him take and goes to sleep early. Of course, it only means that he's up at an ungodly hour, and Pappy's up soon after because teaching Rudy to cook quietly is something even the toughest drill sergeant wouldn't have been able to do. Pappy wanders into the kitchen after a loud metallic crash announces to the world that Rudy took out the big pan from the cupboard.
"What's it gonna be?" Pappy asks absent-mindedly as he makes his way to the coffee that's set out for him on the counter furthest from the AO. Rudy opens his mouth to answer, but instead sneezes loudly into the pan. His face is the picture of torment as he looks at the tiny drops of saliva he sprayed right onto the shiny metal.
"Tomatoes sauteed in common cold?" He grins after a moment, puts the pan away into the dishwasher and grabs a paper towel to wipe his nose – but not before sneezing two more times. Pappy sighs.
"Do you have directions?" He asks as he intercepts their second-largest pan before Rudy can sneeze on that too. "I'll make it."
Rudy's answering look of skepticism makes Pappy roll his eyes.
"Sit down and wipe your nose, genius. And tell me what to do."
***
Rudy gets into it after a while, full-on cooking guru mode. Pappy would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying it either; it's hard not to enjoy learning anything when you have someone cheering for you that way. In the end the salad is made, what needs to be simmering is simmering and what needs to be baking is baking. Rudy hovers over the oven and checks the time several times to make sure he remembers it right. They're both bursting ridiculously with pride at their accomplishments. Pappy puts an arm around Rudy's waist and pulls the man closer, then runs a hand absent-mindedly across his back. Frowns. Rudy's back feels tense, and he keeps worrying the hem of his shirt. He's been looking forward to this visit for a while and now it all went… well, not according to plan would be a generous assessment.
"You're tense." Pappy informs the man conversationally. Rudy smiles and shrugs his shoulders.
"Just a bit nervous, I guess."
Pappy shrugs too. "I'm not."
He's really not. He already had the boyfriend talk the last time he was in North Carolina, and his mom seemed to take it well. Eventually. Now that things settled down the only thing that can go wrong would be his mother not liking Rudy, and that's just impossible. He tightens his hold on the man for a moment and nods towards the bedroom.
"Go lie down."
"My, my, I wonder what you're going to do with me." Rudy drawls with a wide smile on his face. Pappy snorts.
"I'm gonna give you a goddamn massage, that's what I'm going to do. I said go lie down."
Rudy complies, but not before leaning in and kissing Pappy behind his ear. The fucker.
***
"Man…" Pappy huffs as he digs into the muscles in the middle of Rudy's back. He's been doing that for a while and he's enjoying the process. "I could shove a lump of coal up your ass and we'd have a diamond by dinnertime."
Rudy chuckles into the pillow.
"Hey, my ass is magic, brother, and you know it."
"Sure is." Pappy runs his hands down Rudy's back and lower; the touch makes Rudy shift on the bed and push into Pappy's hands more. No time for that, though, and it seems like Rudy realizes it too: he raises his head to look at the clock on their bedside table and Pappy can feel him start to tense up again.
"Don't." He puts his palms on Rudy's shoulders and presses his lips to the back of the man's neck. "She's going to love you."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Rudy sighs into the pillow. Pappy knows what's happening; he watches patiently as the man pulls himself together.
"Okay then." Rudy finally pronounces. "Of course she's going to love me. I'm amazing."
He squirms on the bed again, reaches back and his hand lands on Pappy's thigh. The touch is awkward at this angle, so Pappy lifts up and Rudy flips over. His mouth is slightly open and his eyes are smiling. He goes for Pappy's pants immediately, and then they're kissing and pulling their shirts off, pressing their bodies together.
Traffic is a bitch this time of day on a Saturday; still plenty of time for both of them to properly relax… Rudy shoves his pants down to his knees while Pappy does the same with his, both of them already half-hard just rubbing against each other… Rudy reaches to the bedside table for the lube and Pappy grins down at him as his long fingers close over Pappy’s cock. Makes him even harder, watching Rudy slick it up so thoroughly.
Of course, this is the time the doorbell rings.