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When David wakes up he’s confused. For one his wife is not next to him, their son is between them. His wife looks tired when she eyes him over Shane’s head.
“What happened?” He asks, hearing the small noises from Shane undoubtedly sucking his thumb while facing his mother.
“Sick, he’s sick.” David nods.
“Poor little guy.” He runs his hand in Shane’s hair and pauses, “how high is his fever?”
“One oh two.” She replies, looking gently at Shane.
“Burning up.”
“I have work.” She sounds upset.
“So do I.” They look at each other. Any other thirteen year old they could leave home alone. Any other thirteen year old they wouldn’t have to worry about.
“I have a meeting. At nine.”
“I’ll call in, I’ll stay with him.” David decides, knowing he won’t be the parent Shane prefers, but Shane will have to suffer.
“Thank you.”
“What’s he have?”
“The flu I think. He has head congestion, fever, headache, and a light cough.” She says gently, still looking at Shane.
“Anything need washed this morning?” Knowing his son’s problem with fevers, hell two years ago much to his son’s upset they had to buy another pack of pull ups.
“No, he was dry.” Yuna promises, tracing Shane’s face as she whispers, “he’s growing up on us.”
“Most parents would not sound a little sad about that.” David tries not to chuckle at her. When Shane officially stopped bed wetting regularly they were ecstatic until Yuna realized he didn’t need her as much anymore.
“Shut up. He needs medicine at eight.” He looks up at the clock, its 6:30.
“I’ll call in.”
“Thank you.” She kisses him again as he grabs the home phone they keep by the bed.
“Hey champ.” David is waking Shane up gently at eight. Shane not liking being woken up whines and tries to hide on Yuna’s side of the bed. “Mom went to work, buddy. Come on, you need your medicine.” Shane finally looks at him with some devastation in his eyes.
“Mommy left?” He sounds upset and David is quickly reacting not prepped for tears.
“She’ll be back later, she had work. She just had to work, she didn’t want to leave.” He traces Shane’s eyebrows the way he did when he was young and the way Yuna does now.
“Oh.”
“You ready for some medicine.” A head shake of no before burrowing back into the pillows. “Hey, none of that. Come on, do you want juice?” Shane shakes his head no again. He isn’t like Yuna, Shane often doesn’t budge for him. He sighs and debates something Yuna might kill him for. “How about a cuppie after you take it?” Shane’s head shoots up so fast David is worried he might give himself whiplash.
“Cuppie?” He asks, eyeing David unsure in the offer.
“Only if you take your medicine.” Shane nods rapidly.
“Okay. Okay. Yeah. Please.” Shane looks desperate and David regrets ever agreeing to not giving him a sippy cup again.
“Here, put on something to watch,” he hands Shane the remote, “I’ll go get a cuppie and we can lay in bed today, lazy.” He offers Shane who agrees happily.
They kept two when they purged the sippy cups last year. Away on the top shelf Shane was too short to reach yet, in the far back of the cupboard. So far back Yuna had to stand on the counter in order to reach it. David had to drag a chair over to reach it, the back of the cupboards they said were pointless when they bought the house. He grabs the green one, the spout wasn’t chewed the way Shane did. The two left looked newish even, it made David’s heart clench. It had been a rough couple months as they took them away, a lot of tears after hockey games and a lot of time Yuna spent in the backseat to comfort Shane. Was David going to ruin all that work? He grabs the cough medicine and cold medicine before filling the cup up with juice. He pauses, grabs the second cup and fills it with water.
“Cuppie.” Shane is grabbing for it as he walks back in the bedroom.
“Ah, medicine first.” He hands him the two syringes and Shane whines.
“It’s gross.”
“You have two cuppies, one for each.” Shane huffs, looking at them as if they’ll poison him. “Okay, I’ll go pour this out and call mommy. She won’t be happy you won’t take it for me.” Shane coughs harshly with a surprised look in his face before sighing. He takes both and gags. “Good job!” David hands over both cups in return of the syringes. Shane makes a happy little noise, drinking his juice with his eyes closed.
David has that same feeling Yuna had described when she discussed Shane’s social development. This wasn’t normal, a thirteen year old shouldn’t still come to his parents room when he doesn’t feel good. He shouldn’t still want his sippy cup and he shouldn’t still suck his thumb. When David sees peace on his son’s face he does question how he’s supposed to disagree with his son. He has so much pressure on himself, he’s finally calm in a way David hasn’t seen since his last cuppie over a year ago.
David drops everything when he gets the call at work. Shane had taken a hard hit at practice and they sent him to the emergency room on precaution. Yuna could get there in an hour, but David was fifteen minutes away. He rushed it and made it in ten. When he gets in the emergency room Shane looks a mess. He has big crocodile tears down his cheeks yet and his hair is mused.
“Hey, tough guy.” David says gently when he closes the door behind the curtain and looks at him. Shane’s lip wobbles when he sees him.
“Daddy it hurts.” He can see bruises blossoming on his shoulder and arm, David would put money on his chest having them too.
“I know it does, buddy. I know.” He walks over to hold Shane near his chest and he feels him trying to be held better. How Yuna still holds him David thinks off handedly.
“Where’s mommy?”
“She’s coming as quick as she can. Did they give you anything for pain?”
“No. Said you needed to be here.” He sobs out a little and David is hitting the red button.
“Let’s ask then, hm? You’re okay.” He reassures Shane as he sits on the edge of the gurney to hold Shane better.
They give Shane something for pain and they make him a gooey mess in the process. He keeps trying to suck his thumb and he looks wounded every single time David gently pulls it back out of his mouth. Shane wants held, gets embarrassed when a nurse comes in, and then nearly cries when David doesn’t immediately place him back on his lap. He wonders if every fourteen year old reacts this way to pain medication or if it’s just his boy.
“How is he?” Yuna asks in a rushed voice when she comes in, coming right up to the gurney.
“They put his shoulder back in place, he’ll be okay. Hurting for a couple days, the doctor hasn’t come back in yet.” She looks upset and nods.
“How’s our baby though?” She asks more pointedly, David knows what she means.
“He’s going to be happy you’re here. I was not who he wanted.” David huffs a laugh.
“Sorry, raised a mama’s boy.”
“It wasn’t for the lack of trying on my part.” David laughs. They both look at Shane and Yuna’s smile fades.
“He was probably so scared.”
“He’s okay. He’ll be okay. Here, switch.” She slides into David’s spot easily and he sits on the foot of the bed, he taps his legs a few times. “Hey buddy, mommy’s here.” David says softly as Shane opens his eyes. His face breaks into a smile when he realizes Yuna is the one now holding him.
“Mommy.” He buries himself into Yuna and David smiles softly.
“You were so brave, baby! I’m so proud of you!” Yuna praises him and Shane smiles.
“Hurts really bad.”
“Oh, I know it does.” She cards her fingers in his hair and looks to David.
“You were so brave though buddy.” David adds for comfort.
It’s a long two days before Shane seems to not need the heavier pain medication anymore. Shane sleeps with them and Yuna has that face she makes when she’s not sure. Not sure it’s normal their fourteen year old is sucking at his fingers for comfort. Not sure it’s normal for him to cry out for mommy when she’s leaves too long. Not sure if so many little things Shane has clung to over the years are still normal.
David looks around confused when he feels a weight at the bottom of their bed. They don’t own any pets, but they have a sixteen year old who blushes deep crimson when David makes eye contact with him. Shane has both hands on the bed, mister feathers under his one hand as if he’s trying to climb between him and Yuna.
“What time is it?” David asks, trying to turn to see the clock.
“Four.” Shane whispers, it sounds strained.
“Okay? Why are you standing there like a cat throwing up a hair ball?” David asks as Shane has yet to move. His back still arched some even as he stares at David with guilty eyes.
“Can I sleep with you and mom?” David wants to know if anyone else has their teenager climbing into bed with them.
“Yeah, just, don’t puke on the bedspread.”
“I’m not gonna puke, dad.” Shane laughs like he didn’t almost puke in their bed a few months ago. He’s falling into bed between them before crawling under the covers, stealing David’s in the process.
“You have to share the blankets.” David reminds him. Shane just pouts some, the light from the hallway illuminating the room ever so slightly.
“I had a bad dream.” Shane tells him.
“Yeah? About what?”
“I’m not good enough, I didn’t make the MHL I’m just not good.” Shane sounds beyond upset and David feels his forehead, assuming a fever is the cause for the upset. It’s not.
“Buddy, you’re already being scouted.” He reminds Shane.
“I’m not good enough. What if I’m worse than I know?”
“You’re still being scouted and you have the prospect cup coming up.” David reminds him.
“But like what if I’m not nearly as good as everyone else.”
“Were you up past bedtime watching the other players again?” He asks and Shane’s face is very telling.
“The other guys don’t even have a bedtime!” Shane whines.
“The other guys aren’t in bed waking up mom and dad.” Yuna comments, turning over to see Shane and David. He can hear her informing him Shane is his son before the sun rises.
“No, probably not.” Shane shrinks in on himself.
“Mom didn’t mean that to be mean, she’s sleepy yet. We’re happy you woke us up. We don’t want you alone.” David attempts to rectify the situation, sitting up some and pulling Shane with him.
“Was thinking too loud.” Shane attempts to explain and Yuna is sitting up now too, clearly sorry for her choice of words.
“Don’t be sorry.” David says and smiles softly, his son has decided their bedspread is the most interesting thing in the world.
“How about we go back to sleep? Hmm? We can talk again when we have enough sleep.” Yuna offers and Shane nods, sliding down under the covers more. David feels mister feathers hit him in the face and he sighs, turning in to see his son tuck under his mother’s chin contently.
David doesn’t know how old he was when he stopped waking up his parents. He guesses maybe ten years old, this is good right? That Shane still feels comfortable enough to come to them? To wake them up and be held? Why does he have a suspicion it’s not normal then?