Give Sparrow a happy memory. Or a happy occurrence. Like something goes right, he’s free and has a good day. Maybe cuddled up by the fire just quiet and content. Or he has a social success after being freed. I want to see him smile.
Thank you so much for this! I had a ton of fun writing this and it made my heart warm seeing my boy be vulnerable and not rejecting the help he needs. This piece is so sweet and I can't get enough of it! Thank you so much as well for the use of your characters Ben and Zoe from your Bother's Keeper series @darkthingshappen! I can't wait to see more of Sparrow and Ben (whether they're having good moments or traumatic ones hehe).
TW: implied and briefly mentioned past torture and abuse, past injuries that are still healing, mentioned past captivity (if I missed any, let me know!)
Repaying the Favor (A Warehouse Drabble)
The doctors told him it would do him good if he got up and walked around every few hours. To build up his strength and stamina again, they had said. Despite it being a bit of a struggle at first, Ben told himself that it would help in the long run.
Walking the halls of the hospital floor he was on was his safest option. It also felt like his safest option. Plenty of doctors to help if something happened, as well as still being close to his brother. Ben wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if something happened to Jake and he wasn’t there for him.
The Adkins brother was barely ten minutes into his walk before he passed by an open hospital room. The sounds coming from the room had him on edge and before he continued on so he wouldn’t end up panicking, he realized it sounded familiar.
Hesitantly, he approached the open door, kicking it gently as a form of knocking to alert the person inside so he wouldn’t hurt his hands. The figure’s head shot up from his spot on his bed, anger and fear plastered on his face before he recognized Ben, his expression softening slightly.
“You alright, Sparrow?” Ben asked, leaning gently on the door frame to catch his breath.
Sparrow shook his head slightly as he averted his gaze from the other, trying to get his expression to level out. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. What are you doing out of your room? I thought you couldn’t walk around much.”
“The doctor’s told me that it’ll do me good to walk around every few hours. B-Build up my strength again.” He paused, looking Sparrow over. His hair was messy and disheveled, heavy bags under his eyes, his arms had red hand prints in spots where the other probably squeezed them as tight as he could, the blankets on his bed all shoved to one end, and several different items littered across the room as if he had thrown them. “Y-You sure you’re alright?”
Sparrow nodded in agreement to the explanation before letting out a soft grumble. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Ben didn’t believe it, not with what he saw. When he saw Sparrow the other day, he looked just as tired, but he seemed to be holding up well enough. He had come to visit Jake in his room and the two talked for a bit. His brother still wasn’t awake, but the doctors had told him that things were improving and that he should be awake within the next few days.
As he continued to look around Sparrow’s room, an idea blossomed in his head. When he had first run into Sparrow here, he had learned that Sparrow couldn’t read on his own. Upon having more conversations, Ben had learned that Sparrow enjoyed listening to books, especially fantasy. Sparrow had explained that Dr. Sharpe had introduced the genre to him with the help of audio books and that they helped take his mind off of everything. Why Sparrow wasn’t listening to a book right now, Ben didn’t know, but he thought it might help him since it didn’t look like Sparrow was going to seek out help on his own.
“I have to go grab s-something,” Ben told him, but Sparrow gave little to no reaction to the statement, merely pulling his legs up to his chest before placing his forehead on his knees.
He turned and started back to his room again, and while it took a bit to get back, Ben found exactly what he was looking for when he entered his room on the side table by his bed. A day or two ago, Dr. Sharpe and Ben had been talking about trying to find healthy distractions while he healed from everything he had been through and Ben had mentioned how much he had missed reading. The conversation switched to how much he wanted to read, but with his injured hands, it was extremely difficult to hold books, so Dr. Sharpe had come up with a temporary solution while his hands were still healing.
A couple hours after their session, Alex went and visited Ben’s room and gave him an iPad with a case that had a shoulder strap on it filled to the brim with books from the different genres Ben liked to read. He had been overjoyed when Alex gave it to him and he had already read through several of the books on there.
Zoe was on one of the chairs in his room when he came back and she looked up from her phone, a bit surprised to see him back so soon.
“You doing alright?” she asked, setting her phone down on her lap.
“Yeah,” Ben responded, still a bit out of breath. “I just wanted to grab the iPad. I passed by Sparrow’s room and it looked like he wasn’t doing so well, so I thought I’d read to him for a bit.”
Zoe’s expression softened more and Ben mirrored it. He could never get enough of her smile, it always warmed his heart to no end.
“That’s very sweet of you, Ben. Are you sure you’ll have the energy?” she asked.
He nodded, carefully slinging the strap over his shoulder, resting his forearm along the side of the case to ensure the strap wouldn’t fall off his shoulder. “I think so, and I believe he needs it. His room is down near the end of the hallway before the nurses station if you need it.”
Zoe tilted her head to the side a bit, letting out a small content hum, “Alright. Your mother said she’d be by later to bring us something to eat that’s better than hospital food. If you’re not back when she comes by, I’ll come grab you.”
“Sounds good,” Ben said, giving her a soft smile before making his way back out into the hallway.
It took him a little longer to make it back to Sparrow’s room, pausing every few minutes to catch his breath, but once he reached his door, he knocked gently again with his foot. Ben heard a soft groan from inside and he took that as his invitation to enter the room, letting out a breath as he leaned against the door frame.
Sparrow hadn’t changed positions from when Ben had first left, lifting his head from his knees at the sound before giving Ben a bit of a sour expression as he looked the Adkins brother over.
“I brought something that might lift your spirits,” Ben said softly, trying his best not to take the bitter look to heart.
“There isn’t much you can really do to help,” Sparrow mumbled, laying his head back on his knees.
Ben let out a small hum before making his way over to Sparrow’s hospital bed, pausing before he sat down. “May I sit?” he asked.
The other lifted his hand and gestured beside him, Ben smiling slightly before taking a seat. It took him a moment to scoot himself backwards so his back was against the wall, but once he was settled, Ben gently swung the iPad onto his lap.
Sparrow paid him no attention, letting out a few mumbled words here and there while Ben unlocked the iPad and scrolled through the books, trying to find the right one.
It pained Ben a bit to see Sparrow like this. He had come to learn things about the other over the past week or so that he never thought he’d learn and it had brought new light to how he saw Sparrow. Despite how awful his own captivity had been, Ben couldn’t help but feel bad for Sparrow’s go of things. He couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like to grow up in such an awful system and still come out of it twenty-one years later with the same fighting spirit he had when he first got there. If it had been him, Ben would have been a hollow shell with nothing left of him after a few years.
Ben’s face lit up when he found the book he was looking for, opening it before glancing towards the other. His head was still buried in his knees, but his hands were starting to go white with how tight they were gripping the sides of his arms.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,” Ben began, trying to keep his voice level and light.
At the start of the book, Sparrow lifted his head in confusion, looking over to Ben. Seeing the iPad on his lap while Ben read clued Sparrow in that he was reading. To him. At first, Sparrow’s immediate reaction was to tell him to stop and leave so he could be by himself, but that didn’t last long. The more Ben spoke, the more Sparrow became interested in the story.
A very light blush flooded his cheeks as he listened to Ben read, part of him embarrassed that the other was reading to him. Sparrow hadn’t even thought of finding his iPod to listen to any of his books. It truly showed how tired and on edge he was.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ben could see Sparrow perk up, how he scooted closer and stretched out his legs, peering over his shoulder to look at the screen. It made Ben smile, spurring him on even more to continue.
Sparrow didn’t know how to outwardly explain why he enjoyed fantasy books so much. It had been one of the first books Alex had read to him before the doctor had given him the iPod, and it all just sounded so interesting. They made him feel safe in a way as he lived the life of the main character. It was something different and it took him out of the real world and into a much different one. It was magical.
At one point as Ben continued to read, the different voices he was attempting as each character spoke started to make Sparrow feel drowsy due to the lack of noise in his head. His entire focus was on Ben’s voice and the words seamlessly flowing out of his mouth, allowing both his mind and body to finally start to relax.
Ben had read these books countless times as he grew up but each time he returned to the series, it was like he was reading them for the first time. His attention was so focused on the book that he nearly startled when Sparrow leaned against his side as he looked over his shoulder. It made Ben smile once the initial startle wore off, continuing on without pause.
It only took a few more minutes before Ben felt Sparrow’s head gently fall on his shoulder, the older man letting out a heavy, relaxed sigh as he continued to listen to the book. The slight pressure against his side brought back awful memories for Ben, but they were short lived as he thought about it rationally. Sparrow wasn’t going to hurt him and after a bit, the feeling felt rather calming. It was gentle and the only movement came from Sparrow’s breathing, which Ben could tell was slowing down to a relaxed rate.
At the end of the second chapter, Ben paused, slowly trying to turn his head to look at Sparrow, and with what he could manage without hitting Sparrow’s head with his chin, he saw that the other was asleep, light breaths leaving his nose every other second.
Ben couldn’t help but smile softly at the sight, recalling a memory from several months ago when Sparrow had offered him the same kind of comfort back at the Warehouse. He had stayed awake and promised to look after him and Jake while they slept until Damon and Volkov returned the next morning, allowing Ben to rest against him in the exact same way that Sparrow was now. He was honored that he could repay the favor after so much time.
After another moment, Ben flagged the second chapter in the book before he continued reading out loud, hoping to provide some ambient noise for Sparrow while he slept so he didn’t have any nightmares. Ben got so wrapped up in the book, he didn’t even realize how much time had passed until Zoe gently knocked on the door.
His head shot up at the noise, Ben trying his best not to jostle his body much as to not wake Sparrow.
“Hey, your mom is here with the food,” she said, walking into the room a bit. Ben raised his right hand, doing his best to bring a finger near his lips.
“Shh, try not to be too loud. He fell asleep a while ago and I don’t want to wake him. He looked like he needed the rest.”
Zoe gave Ben a heartwarmed smile at the sight and it made his heart swell seeing it.
“I’ll go tell your mom you’ll be a bit then. You’re still doing okay though?” she asked, her voice now in a whisper.
Ben nodded softly, looking over to Sparrow, who was still asleep on his shoulder. “Thank you, Zoe.”
Zoe gave him a smile in return before she waved goodbye and left, leaving Ben and Sparrow alone so Ben could continue reading. After a few seconds, Ben picked up where he left off and he could have sworn that the moment he started again, he saw Sparrow smile a bit out of the corner of his eye.
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