@ailesswhumptober Day 21: "You really think they're gonna look for you?"
Teen | 422 words
Fandom: All Eyes On Nigel (Shoot From the Hip)
Tags: Missing Scene, Character Exploration, Hurt No Comfort, Nigel is his own warning
TWs: Captivity, Psychological Torture, Mentions of Police
AN: More obscure improv comedy fanfiction, because fuck you! Also, check out the other's I've posted while catching up.
On the first day of his capture, he had been unsettled and waiting. Surely, any minute now, his uncle would force his way into the building and take Andrew home. The second day… well, things happen! He probably had to get permission first. Plan what to do. The third has him wavering, but he tried to hold strong. Patience, Andrew, he thought. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day. Or two.
Then four, then five. By the sixth day—his third without food—he was begging to waver. Was his uncle coming for him? Or had he deemed Andrew a waste of time? A failure, unworthy of coming back for.
Nigel didn't help. The man was a constant, haunting presence, even when he wasn't there. His simpering voice slipped into Andrew's head at the briefest sign of doubt.
As if the Devil, even the mere thought of him seemed to summon the man. He wandered into the room and clicked on the TV set Andrew knew was behind him, but couldn't see. The news played, and there wasn't a single mention of him at all. The most interesting story was about a local festival later this month.
(It was a nice reminder. Some days, in the dark of the room, it was easy to think that months had passed with him stuck there.)
"Tell me, Cadet… how does it feel, to be less than a footnote in the local news cycle?"
Andrew tried to straighten his back and set his jaw. He didn't deign him with a response. That just seemed to make Nigel laugh, though.
"Come now, Cadet…" Nigel's voice slowed, tracing over every syllable of Andrew's title—one he had held so proudly before, as he chased after his Uncle in every facet of life. "Do you really think they're coming for you?"
He had to, was the thing. Andrew had to believe that his uncle was coming for him, because if he didn't? If he didn't, what point would there be to anything? He would be stuck in this room, with Nigel, and no hope of ever escaping. At that point, how was it better than—
Andrew cut himself off from that train of thought. He couldn't think that way. Of course his uncle was coming to get him. His Uncle Sam would never let him down like that!
And if Andrew could see behind him, he would know that Nigel knew exactly what he was thinking. And that he believed it just as little as Andrew did.
