"I don't need jack shit from you" + dealers choice
Didn’t include the dialogue but that inspired this //
About two hours into the expo, Jimmy comes to check on Crockett. That’s early. Usually it’s between hours four and six that the artist or their assistant checks on him, if at all, unless he’s visibly distressed or asks someone for help. But it’s only been a couple hours, based on the clock just within Crockett’s vision, when Jimmy comes to hold a straw to his lips and offer him some fruit from the catering table. His voice is so soft when he asks how Crockett is feeling.
“Okay,” he says, and is surprised to find his voice slightly hoarse. “It’s only been a couple hours, why’re you checking on me?”
Jimmy’s face pinches the way it usually does when his practices don’t line up with the industry standards Crockett is used to. “You’ve been in suspension bondage in public for two hours. Of course I’m going to check on you. This isn’t easy and if you’re hungry or thirsty, or you’re hurt, or you need out, I need to know that.”
The tears come without Crockett’s permission. He gets emotional, he knows, especially at expos when he feels most vulnerable- many artists had hated it, some had loved to watch him cry- and it’s hard to resist letting the feelings take over him when he’s so on display.
But then Jimmy wipes his tears away with a calloused thumb and smiles a little. “It’s okay. Do you need out?”
“The expo is still going on for six more hours.”
“Doesn’t matter. Do you feel safe? Are you comfortable? Is anything sore or numb?”
The tears turn into full blown sobs, and the next thing Crockett knows, Jimmy has his pocket knife up and slowly cutting through the ropes that hold the suspension, one by one with his arms around Crockett so that he supports his weight when it falls. They go down to the floor and Jimmy calls over his assistant.
“Find us somewhere quiet? The gallery show can continue, have them turn on the screens to repeat the photos and videos, and tell Connor I’ll make another appearance soon.”
She directs Jimmy to somewhere, Crockett can’t really tell because his face is buried in the warmth of his shoulder as he cries and cries and cries. It isn’t that he was hurt. It was that he was safe, he was loved, and Jimmy still made sure everything was okay and got him out when Crockett needed it but couldn’t put it into words for fear of the consequences.