more tumblr cross posting (BBC Uncle, Val, no ships in this one)

[Sitruuna]

I started writing this back in 2022 but I finished it at some point last year and posted it on tumblr and AO3 back then. But since I figures I could maybe possibly post more of my stories here as well, here I am, with considerable delay. This is the first thing I wrote for Uncle and I started writing before I decided to use alternating pronouns for Val so in this story I use exclusively he/him pronouns. I still think Val's too punk for gender and all that.

x

The bar is empty when Gwen comes in. You'd expect the whole club to be empty so early in the day - after all it's hours until they open for the night - but knowing her dad, Val is likely to be found in the back. Gwen walks across the floor to get to the backroom, hangs her bag on the wall and shrugs off her jacket. Val isn't there either, but the backroom isn't where she'd expect to find him anyhow. Gwen makes her way through the room to a small hallway in the back, walks past the employee bathrooms and to the small office Val has in the back. She opens the door without knocking and, sure enough, Val's sitting by his computer with some papers spread out on the desk in front of him, reading glasses on. His nails tap on the keyboard, a hard clack clack clack as he types. 

 

"Hi, dad", Gwen greets him, mostly to announce her presence when Val doesn't indicate having noticed her. Val barely lifts his head to look at her over his reading glasses.

 

"Hi, Gwen. Did you sleep well?" Val asks. Gwen can’t help wincing at the sound of his voice, which has gone from unusually gravely to barely there since the end of the previous night’s shift. He looks exhausted, too, with his face still bare and all the signs of his illness very much visible. Shadows under his eyes, nose red with the edges of his nostrils looking raw, the scarf around his neck and the cardigan he's chosen to wear only accentuating the unwell look. He looks and sounds terrible, like the cold he has been managing for the past few days has finally decided it won't be ignored out of existence. 

 

“I slept all right”, Gwen answers, letting her own gaze linger on Val’s face for a moment before countering his question with her own: “Did you sleep?”

 

"I slept", Val says, "until I woke up and couldn't anymore." 

 

Val reaches for a coffee cup carefully placed at a safe distance away from the computer and takes a sip. The way his glasses fog up for a moment tells Gwen the drink is still warm, and from the way some of the lines of discomfort ease on his face she can assume it's a relief on his throat. Val coughs lightly, wincing just a little, and takes another sip. Now that Gwen is paying attention to it, there is a smell of coffee in the air. Coffee mixed with a touch of mint. He could probably use a few more hours of sleep more than a cup of coffee.

 

"So you came here." 

 

"There's paperwork I need to do." Val shrugs. 

 

There's a moment of silence between them. Gwen considers suggesting Val to head back home - and heading home would definitely be the most reasonable thing for him to do - but before she can make up her mind about it, Val speaks again. 

 

"So, did you want something or did you just come say hello?" 

 

"I just wanted to check if you are here", Gwen says. "But Casper will be here in an hour and–" 

 

Gwen cuts herself off when Val's features twist in itchy irritation. But even as he reaches to pluck a couple of tissues out of the box on his desk, Val gestures her to go on. 

 

"--he's going to bring some early dinner with him. So. What do you want to eat?" 

 

Val listens to her with an increasingly sneezy expression and snaps forward into the tissues with a couple of thick, desperate sneezes the moment she stops talking. Discomfort lingers on his face as he straightens his back, tissues still in place as he coughs - harder this time than before, revealing a strong touch of productivity that the light, little cough earlier hadn't - and blows his nose.

 

"I'm not really hungry", he says, his voice subdued to barely a whisper in the aftermath of the sneezes. He clears his throat and reaches for the coffee again.

 

"Dad." 

 

Val looks at her, meets her hard stare with a look of exhaustion and pain.

 

"Anything you want is good", he says and offers her a small smile. 

 

-

 

An hour later Val emerges from the office and joins Gwen and the just arrived Casper in the bar. It feels like barely a moment has passed since she last saw him, but Gwen swears he looks all the more miserable. While his steps are as certain as ever, his posture betrays his waning energy, his lips are parted for air and brows drawn together in a look of discomfort and he's holding the cardigan close. He takes a seat by the table Gwen and Casper are standing by.

 

"Oh, wow. Gwen wasn’t lying when she said you look like shit", Casper says, earning an angry look from Val. 

 

"Is that what she said?" Val says, managing to find an irritated and mocking tone despite his voice still being barely there.

 

"No, she said you look terrible and sound even worse and that she should ask you to leave her in charge while you go back home to nurse that cold." 

 

Gwen smacks Casper's arm and gives him a look, but she isn't truly angry. Casper smirks at her in response.

 

"It's not that bad, really", Val tries even as he leans his arms against the table and buries his face in his hands, rubbing hard before planting the heels of his hands right above his eyebrows and resting his head there. "I don't feel as bad as I suppose I look or sound to you."

 

It's an obvious lie and his unusually subdued self expression is clear evidence of that, but Gwen thinks it's better to let Val process the idea by himself for a moment before pushing the subject. She gives Casper another look that she hopes gets as much through, and takes a seat of her own. She grabs the take away bag on the table and takes out the containers of food, giving Val his share and keeping her own. Casper sits down next to her and grabs his own meal and thankfully lets the matter of Val's presence be in favour of telling her about some peculiar person he had ran into on his way there. 

 

They eat and chat for some time before Val speaks up. He takes a deep, shuddering breath and sighs, poking at his food with his fork. 

 

"There's no way my voice will carry over music tonight, or even a chattering crowd." 

 

Both Gwen and Casper grow silent as they turn to look at him. His eyes are nailed on his food, which he continues to poke at and push around idly. He gnaws on his lower lip, suddenly looking all vulnerable and like he's holding back tears. And he is, Gwen realises when he raises his left hand to wipe off an errant tear. It's a weird thing to get all emotional about, but Val is Val and the club means a lot to him. Even so it's not exactly like him to cry over something like this which, combined with his general state and the way he still seems chilled under his cardigan, likely means he's getting a fever if he isn't already running one. Gwen and Casper share a look and Gwen gets the impression Casper caught on it as well. 

 

"Maybe you should go home. Sleep, and rest your voice", Gwen says. 

 

Val's brows furrow and for a moment it looks like he's going to argue, but then he pulls a crinkly tissue out of his sleeve and sneezes into it. He sniffles and sneezes again, and again, has a proper little fit of drawn out sneezes. With the tissue still pressed firmly in place and eyes closed, Val swallows a couple of times with a pained expression.

 

"Can–" the word comes out as a strained, raspy whisper that catches in Val's throat. He swallows once more and clears his throat, then tries again: "Can you get me a new tissue?" 

 

Val gestures at the general direction of the bar. Casper's up before Gwen can really even think about it, walking towards the bar with long steps. Val opens his eyes, eyelashes wet with tears, and carefully wipes his nose. He folds the tissue and gives his nose a small blow that's enough to render the tissue useless. Casper's return is well timed, an open box of tissues and a glass of water appearing in front of Val just as he puts the previous one - now balled up and definitely past its usefulness - down on the table. Val thanks Casper and grabs a fresh tissue, giving his nose a better blow.

 

"So. Do I take the lead here while you go home and rest for at least this night?" 

 

Val makes a face that, this time, is not because of an itch in his nose but a reaction to Gwen's suggestion. He's clearly reluctant to give in even if he's already taken a big step towards it. Val lifts his scarf to cover his mouth as he coughs, then drinks water and lets out a sigh. 

 

"You'll be in charge", Val says. "We'll see about the rest." 

 

It's Gwen's time to make a face of disapproval but she chooses not to argue. As tough as she may be, not afraid of confrontations and brought up to be a bit of a rebel, Val's the one person she still feels odd talking back to sometimes. After all, who is she to tell her own parent how to live. So she purses her lips and draws her brows together as she stares at Val, who matches her stare with a look that dares her to challenge him. She doesn't, and they both turn their attention back to the food in front of them.

 

"I still have some paperwork to finish. I trust you got it all covered here", Val says as he stands up. He's shivering a bit now, pulling the cardigan tighter around himself again.

 

"Yep, all covered", Gwen says. 

 

Val's about to leave, halfway turned away from the table, when seems to reconsider things and turns back around to grab a handful of tissues from the box. 

 

"Thanks for the food." 

 

With that Val walks off if only to stop after a few steps to muffle a few sneezes into the tissues. The wet sniffles that follow are loud enough to be heard over the sound of his heels as he disappears behind the backroom's door. 

 

"I'll have to deal with that later, don't I?" Gwen groans once it's just her and Casper. 

 

"Unless you want me to have a talk with him instead…" 

 

"Nah. He's my dad, I'll handle it", Gwen says, leaning her head on Casper's shoulder. She's really not looking forward to that conversation. "He's a handful to deal with for sure but I'm still his baby girl and all that." 

 

Casper hums and gives her a one armed hug, presses his face to her hair as a sort of kiss. 

 

-

 

A little over an hour later, Gwen is standing behind the door to Val's little office space. She's gone through the conversation she's about to have with him in her head several times, steeling herself to Val's ridiculous stubbornness and reluctance to leave the club in anyone else's charge. It's a weird situation to be in, really, considering how many times she's seen her dad work through illness or injury when he could have very well taken the night off. On the rare occasion he hasn't been able to be there in the past, they haven't been open at all. But that was in the past, many enough years ago for Gwen to have been too young for the responsibility and for Val to not have known anyone else he would have trusted with the job. Everything is different now. Gwen is older and more experienced, and there's Casper to offer her another pair of hands, so she should be the responsible one when Val's being too much of a workaholic to go home despite a bad cold turned laryngitis.

 

Gwen opens the door without knocking again but halts when she sees Val. He's put on a wig and some make up, but it's not a look for going in front of the crowds and spending the night there. It's more simple and plain, just a touch to make him look more like his usual self in the passing but not enough for longer looks. And he still looks miserable and definitely sick, largely due to factors he anyhow wouldn't be able to hide with make up and wigs and clothes. There's a spark of hope in Gwen's mind that maybe she doesn't have to argue too much to get him to go home and rest, but that's the only good side to the sight in front of her. 

 

"Dad?" Gwen asks, voice careful and gentle. Val touches a knuckle to the corner of both his eyes, seemingly pulled out of thoughts by her voice. Now that she thinks about, he looks like he might have been crying not long ago, or maybe he was on the verge of starting to cry. 

 

"Don't tell me you were crying", Gwen says and squints her eyes at him. She tries to make her voice neutral, to sound like her words aren't meant to judge him, but she still seems to trigger something in him. Whoops. 

 

"I really don't want to go home, you know", Val says. This time he dabs at his eyes with a tissue he has balled up in his hand rather than his knuckle but the tears still threaten to escape him. Okay. Okay, this is a crying matter, then. 

 

Gwen steps all the way inside the room and closes the door behind her.

 

"Hmm, I think you <i>do</i> want to go home", she says and crosses the room, half sitting down on the edge of Val's desk, "but you don't want to <i>not</i> be here to oversee things."

 

"I suppose", Val says. He takes a shuddering breath and tries to gently clear his throat. "I just feel like I should be here. It's my responsibility, I've created this all."

 

There's a moment of silence as Val picks at the tissue he's still holding while clearly trying not to cry. 

 

"Your safety is my responsibility. What if something happens when I'm not here?" 

 

Val looks up at Gwen and he can't hold back the tears any longer. He tries to dab them off before they can roll down his face but there's too many for him to keep up. It's always difficult to see Val like this, so open and vulnerable when Gwen is used to him being a rock to rely on, a tough hardass who's ready to threaten and rough up anyone who hurts her. Val can be soft with her, but he rarely cries. Fevers tend to bring that out, though, and this isn't the first time she has had to deal with her dad when he's running one. 

 

"Oh hush", Gwen says and moves a little closer still so that she's able to pull Val into a hug. "We'll be alright, you know. You didn't bring me up to take bullshit from anyone, and if someone gets out of hand, we have security. That's what we pay them for." 

 

Val takes a shuddering breath in and sighs it out, but doesn't stop crying nor does he respond. Gwen holds him there for as long he wants to stay, drawing slow circles on his back in a way she knows to be comforting.

 

"Come on, then. Home", Gwen says when Val finally moves away from her. He grabs a tissue from a box on the desk to wipe his eyes dry and to blow his nose. He looks almost pitiful with his eyes puffy after crying and tear streaks running down his cheeks, sniffling as he keeps dabbing the tissue to his understandably running nose. 

 

"You'll call me if something goes wrong?" Val asks as he gets up, looking at Gwen with an expression that matches the tired desperation of his voice. 

 

"Yea, sure. Of course I'll call you", Gwen answers. She probably won't, even if she knows Val will be angry and disappointment if she doesn't. 

 

"And you call me if you need something, or if you start feeling a lot worse. Ok?" Gwen says. Val hesitates but gives a small nod in response, and Gwen escorts him out of the club. 

 

-

 

Casper almost misses the sound of a familiar ring tone as he enters the dressing room. He's on his way to the back to grab some cleaning supplies to take care of a mess a customer made, but he stops to locate the ringing phone. Gwen's bag is hanging on the wall and he makes a beeline for it, opening it to see who's calling. He normally wouldn't, it's not his bag and Gwen isn't there to give him permission to dig through her stuff, but she must have forgot her phone there, and it's unlikely anyone would be calling her in the middle of the night while she's working if they didn't have a real good reason for it. The caller ID says "Dad", and Casper can't help the twinge of worry in his chest.

 

"Val? It's Casper", he says as he answers the call. 

 

"Casper?" Val says and Casper has to listen really carefully to be able to hear him over the sounds carrying from the club. Shit he sounds terrible, worse than before if possible. "Is Gwen alright? Where is she?" 

 

"She's good, no worries. Working. Her phone was in the backroom and I happened to be passing through." 

 

"Oh. Okay." 

 

Val falls silent and Casper waits. And waits, but it seems all he's getting is a constant stream of sniffles, small coughs and shaky breathing. 

 

"Is everything all right? Do you need something? You sound kinda… upset", Casper says when the silence drags on. He doesn't know if Val has spaced out or fallen asleep or otherwise forgot he called for a reason, or if maybe he's so out of it he actually called just to hear Gwen's voice. That last thought is disturbing and concerning, but thankfully it seems like he might have had a reason of some kind to call. 

 

"I'm out of tissues", Val says with what Casper swears is a sob. Judging by the wavering quality of Val's voice when he continues, that's probably what it was. "It's fucking gross. There's toilet paper in the bathroom but, again, gross."

 

Running out of tissues hardly sounds like an emergency, or an urgent enough issue to make a call to Gwen not long after the club has opened, but Val sounds so miserable, so overtaken by his emotions that Casper can't really question his judgement on the matter. Or tell him to get by with the toilet paper or whatever else he may have at hand until the morning. 

 

"I'll be by in a few minutes with a pack, okay? Just need to go grab some and then I'll be on my way", Casper says. Val sniffles sharply. 

 

"Okay." 

 

Val ends the call without another word and Casper pockets the phone (better take it to Gwen before he leaves, she usually has it on her person at work in case of emergencies) and grabs the spare keys to Val's apartment from Gwen's bag, and goes to get a pack of tissues from the supply room. Maybe he should go buy some instead but that would take more time and it's only one pack, and besides, doesn't Val technically own them anyhow? Casper stuffs the keys into the back pocket of his jeans and throws on his jacket and goes looking for Gwen. 

 

"Your dad called", Casper yells over the loud music when he finds her. Gwen looks him up and down with mild confusion that turns into worry at his words. "Said he was out of tissues. He sounded so upset I said I'd bring him some." 

 

"Oh. Okay. Thanks", Gwen says. She looks a little surprised when Casper hands her her phone, patting the pocket she normally keeps it in, and takes it with another thank you. 

 

"I won't take long." 

 

Val's apartment is right around the corner and it takes Casper maybe two minutes to get there when he half runs the distance. The apartment is mostly dark save for a dim floor lamp Val has set beside his sofa, and the not as dim light of the TV screen. Val turns to look at Casper when he enters the room and he definitely looks like he's been crying. 

 

"Got you the tissues", Casper says and shows him the box. 

 

"Oh, you are a treasure. Thank you", Val says. He sits up to take the tissue box, immediately opening it and pulling out tissues to blow his nose into. He coughs afterward, small and gentle and careful and still painful on his throat, and drops the wad of wet paper in a trashcan.

 

Casper can't help but stare a little. Val looks so unlike his usual self, with his face bare and hair a mess, dressed as much for physical comfort as Casper's ever seen him. There's a glass of water on the coffee table together with an empty pack of tissues and a half eaten mandarin, tissues scattered around the trashcan. Even in the dim light, Casper can see all the red on Val's face: the feverish flush of his cheeks, the rubbed raw skin around his nose and his puffy, bloodshot eyes. He looks miserable and so subdued compared to normal it's hard not to squirm in discomfort at the sight. 

 

"Are you all right?" Casper asks. Val gives him a look that's both tired and done so Casper ads: "Sick, obviously, but you seem… upset, I guess?" 

 

Val snorts, then sniffles and grabs another tissue to wipe his nose before burrowing back into the nest he has built for himself on the sofa. 

 

"Yea, fine. It's just…" Val gestures at the TV. It seems like he's watching some kind of a nature documentary. "They follow this wolf who lost her pack and then got accepted into a new one and–" 

 

Val sobs, tears glistening in the TV's flickering light. He grabs yet another tissue to dab them away and to blow his nose again. Casper can see why he had ran out of tissues before and makes a mental note to bring him more in the morning. 

 

"She just had puppies but now she's dying from some fucking disease." 

 

Casper turns his attention from the crying Val to the TV for a moment. The narrator is, indeed, talking about how the local human population is spreading new diseases to the area with their free running dogs. Val sobs and mumbles something about "fucking humans". 

 

"Yea. Is there anything else on? Something a little happier you could watch?" Casper asks. He glances around but can't see the remote anywhere. 

 

"No", Val sounds so defensive, almost offended, that Casper can only assume he wants to watch the documentary. Then he sneezes and whimpers when it no doubt tears painfully through his throat. 

 

"Or maybe you could turn that off and try to catch some sleep. Most people are asleep at this hour." 

 

"I'm not sleepy." 

 

Val coughs and sniffles, frees one hand from the blanket cocoon he is buried in to grab the water glass and take a drink. He ends up downing the whole glass. Caspers hastily moves to take it from him. 

 

"Let me fill that for you", he says. Val lets him take the glass, and Casper makes his way to the kitchen to fill it. A quick look into the cupboards and the fridge reveals Vall's just about as not stocked on anything you might like to have in your kitchen when down with a bad cold. There are more mandarins and some scraps from an earlier meal in the fridge, at least, and a bottle of lemon juice and a jar of honey Casper could use to make a hot drink of some kind with. No tea, though, or any food Val can easily fix when the scraps and the mandarins are gone.

 

Casper takes out a mug, fills it with water and sticks it in the microwave to heat it up. Not too hot, but hot enough for the fridge cold lemon juice and room temperature honey to not immediately cool it down to lukewarm. He spoons in honey and adds some lemon juice before grabbing a spoon and mixing it. A quick taste test reveals it tastes exactly like hot water with some added honey and lemon, but it's neither too sweet nor too tangy so it'll have to do. 

 

Val's staring at the TV through half lidded eyes with a wad of tissues held loosely against his chest when Casper returns. 

 

"I fixed you something warm while I was at it", Casper says as he sets the glass and the mug down. Val sits up and takes the mug, giving it a congested sniff before taking a sip. 

 

"Oh, you should have added some rum", he whines even as he melts into the warmth. He takes another sip. "Thanks. It's nice." 

 

"No problem", Casper says. He stays standing near the sofa for a while, not knowing what to do with himself. He doesn't have anything to do at Val's anymore, he came to bring some tissues and he's already done more than just that, but it feels wrong to just leave when Val's so sick. He knows Val can take care of himself, and he isn't in any way responsible for Val, but Casper's got enough caretaking instincts to feel bad about leaving him be. He knows he should get back to the club, though, as bad as it hurts him. 

 

"Do you need anything more or shall I..?" Casper gestures towards the door. Val shakes his head and waves a hand at him. 

 

"No, I'm all good. Go."

 

And so Casper leaves, feeling awkward and uncomfortable even as he knows there's little more he could do for Val but to go back to the club where he is needed.

[justlogan]

I really like the way you portrayed Val's sickness as it progressed and their growing emotional state from the fever just made me smile. A few times actually, especially during the nature documentary xD poor thing. Looking forward to your other stories if you decide to share them 😷

[Sitruuna]

8 hours ago, justlogan said:

I really like the way you portrayed Val's sickness as it progressed and their growing emotional state from the fever just made me smile. A few times actually, especially during the nature documentary xD poor thing. Looking forward to your other stories if you decide to share them 😷

Thank you 😊
I have another Val thing I might post at a later time, and plenty of other stories as well that I didn't think to post here when I wrote them so we'll see. I proooobably will share more.