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“No, I can get them, it just takes me a little longer. Doc says I need to keep moving and not let my hip stiffen up. Every time I bend, I’m reminded of Gramps when he gets out of his rocker.”
“Grumbling curses under his breath about his aching bones?” Rusty supplied.
“Exactly.”
“Just remember there are tiny ears around here, so get creative with any swearing you want to do, understood?”
“No problem.”
“I hope not. I’d hate to have to bounce you back to your hospital bed.”
“Not funny,” Flame groaned as he finally reached the first lace. “I was so happy to get out of there I forgot there was a flight of stairs between me and my room over the garage.”
“Did you forget about the elevator?”
“Until I was six steps up and torn between whether to keep going or turn around.”
“What did you end up doing?”
“Finished the climb and remembered to use the elevator after that,” Flame admitted. “By the time I got to the top, I was so out of breath, I leaned against the wall for at least five minutes before shambling the rest of the way to my room. As soon as I got inside I hobbled to the couch and stayed there until I had to take a piss.”
“Crass as ever.”
“Would you have me any other way?” Flame asked, smirking as he peered up at him.
At least the accident hadn’t knocked all the snark out of his brother.
“Absolutely not,” Rusty said, resting his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I was worried about you. Scared shitless, if I’m being honest. Don’t ever pull that shit on me again.”
“And you’re warning me about swearing? If there is a jar around here, you probably owe it a billion dollars by now.”
“There isn’t one. There is not gonna be one because it’s rare that I slip up like that these days. Seriously, bro, I was freaking out in the waiting room, a lot of us were. You might be a pain in the tail some days, but I love you.”
“I know, man, you’ve told me every day since I woke up.”
“Give me another month and I’ll probably get tired of it,” Rusty admitted. “Until then, you’ll just have to put up with me.”
“Fair enough,” Flame grunted as he finally got the second lace undone.
It took time, groans, and something that sounded an awful lot like a son of a flea-bitten butterfly, but it was certainly creative, so Rusty chuckled.
By the time they made it to the den, Roark had the pups situated, with Wren in the middle and Bowie and Acer sitting against their sides.
“Uncle Flame!” Wren said, waving as soon as he stepped into the space to join them. “I drew you another picture.”
“Thank you,” he replied, using the walking stick to help him lower himself to the cushion on the floor. “All the ones you drew for me while I was in the clinic are now covering the living room wall of my apartment. I even found frames for them.”
“Really?”
“Sure did,” Flame replied. “Did you know that there was nothing on my walls until you drew those pictures for me? I can’t wait to add a new one to the collection.”
Wren beamed. Rusty had to hand it to Flame, he was turning on the charm today, without worrying about who might see him being anything less than the asshole many around Comet Lake knew him to be.
“I’m going to draw you lots and lots of pictures then,” Wren replied. “Empty walls are boring.”
“They sure are.”
“How are things?” Flame asked, turning his attention to Roark.
