#and a husband who needs to eat over 4K cals a day

[6ebe]

Was listening to a rugby podcast and Dan Cole goes “I come home after 8 weeks away for the 6 nations and my kids weren’t even happy to see me” tongue in cheek as a joke like dude why would you even admit to that on a publicly available podcast omg

[gotboredwrote]

Role Reversal // GL!JFM

Pairing: Gardner Langway x Fem!Reader Word Count: 4K Style: Sequel (Part Two of Anchored, But Irradiated) Warnings: Broken bones, so much fluff you might feel sick by the end of it Summary: Y/N and Gardner go on that date they talked about, but something happens to Y/N and there’s only one person qualified to help her out. He isn’t qualified on the medical credentials, but he’s the only one who could do the job. Permanent Author’s Note: To clarify, I write because I get bored. Nothing is meant to be professional in any way, nor is meant to offend, cause anxiety, cause anger, cause sadness, or promote disagreement among readers in any sort of (semi)permanent way. A/N: Request from @took-me-hours-to-steal-those​ ! The first unprompted request I’ve ever gotten! So, I’m very thankful for you, hon! I hope this is what you hoped for! ALSO – if you have not read part one of this, this may not make sense at first. There’s buildup to this point and background there, so I highly suggest you give that a read first, friends.

Masterlist // Part 1

~

It was hard to tell if Gardner truly understood what an actual “date” was, because the two of you had gone on his route while he was in his cast together almost every single day. But nonetheless, it was special. It was special because it was Gardner, and he was happy that you kept your vow to remain close to him. You could tell it made him happy – he was not really good at hiding his feelings, but you found that extremely endearing.

Regarding his emotions, he was not super happy when you were assigned a new person to take care of in the way that you did for him. To you, it meant proof of a steady job and some money, which you needed pretty bad, just like most people in the world. To Gardner, though, it meant less time to spend with him. He wanted to keep spending time with you like you had when he was injured. He wanted to keep cooking in Calvin’s kitchen. He wanted to keep sharing his nuggets of wisdom about each crack in the sidewalk with you. He wanted to show you his newest stamps, and most of all, he wanted to tell you how much you meant to him.

And if it was not for Nettie, he could have done all those things.

Knock knock.

…

The pastel pink door to the small cottage slowly creaked open revealing a small, gentle older gentleman of about 85 years of age. Standing there in your olive-green scrubs, you offered him a large smile, which he reciprocated in his own, less-exuberant way.

“Mr. Thompson?”

“Hello there, dear. Would you be Y/Wrong/N?”

“It’s Y/N, but yes, I am here from the hospital to help your wife, Nettie, right?”

“Oh, my apologies, dearie. Yes, Nettie. Took a nasty fall, hit her head. Has trouble doing anything without getting dizzy right now and my muscles aren’t what they used to be. Not what attracted her to me, at least.” You offered him a laugh, and he stood to the side of the door as if to let you in. “She’s upstairs waiting for you, please come in.”

You thanked him, and you walked past him into their home, which was all painted in pastels and had knickknacks all around from the years of travel it appeared they did. He pointed you to the kitchen where you dropped off Nettie’s paperwork and your personal bag, taking your medicine bag upstairs. Your medicine bag was actually a gift from Gardner. He had a retired doctor on his route, and he constantly saw Gardner walking with you in your scrubs, so he offered his old-fashioned house-call bag to him to give you. You had not stopped using it since the day he gave it to you.

No longer in the presence of her husband, you made your way up to their bedroom where he told you she would be. You knocked gently, but heard no response. You knocked again. Hearing no response again, you lightly pushed the door open to see Nettie sitting on one side of their shared bed, not facing the door, seemingly looking out the window.

Had you noticed the hearing aids sitting on the bedside table, you would have never done what you did. Alas, you did not notice them and grabbed her shoulder to get her attention. It was the first genuine mistake you had made as a nurse.

“Miss Nettie? I’m here to—”

Then you felt a large pressure on your wrist, and the next thing you knew, you were doubled over on the floor next to the foot of her bed. You were half moaning, half screaming at the searing, sharp pain radiating through your wrist and shooting up your arm. Somehow, this 80-something old woman had gotten so riled up by you touching her shoulder all of a sudden that she mustered up the strength to shatter a handful of bones in your wrist. His husband heard the commotion coming from the bedroom, which now included yells from Nettie herself, and as fast as he could made his way into their bedroom.

“What’s going on?”

“Reggie, who is this woman? Why is she in our house? Did you know she was here?”

“Nettie, it’s okay. This is Y/N, she’s the nurse who’s going to be helping you balance while you try to do things around the house and in town.” He looked down at you, still whimpering on the floor from the pain that did not seem to get any better. “Well, I’m not so sure she’ll be helping you now.”

~

Whenever you work somewhere, you never really expect to be on the receiving end of the situation. Especially you, because you worked at a hospital, so if you were on the receiving end, that meant something was wrong. You had visual proof of that looking down at your light blue cast – a color you had admitted you chose for Gardner’s sake. Your supervisor and all your nurse friends crowded in your room and looked at you sheepishly.

“What? How was I supposed to know an 80-year-old lady had the strength to latch onto me, let along break my wrist?”

The x-ray tech came in and placed the shot on the viewer. Everyone in the room winced at how shattered your wrist appeared to be.

“Well… somehow that lady managed to grab you in a way that broke all but one of the bones in your wrist. I think you know the drill for how this goes. Don’t get the cast wet, have someone help you as much as possible, and if you decide to come into work, you’ll be with someone who can help you do stuff. Do you know who can help you?”

“Yeah, I think I know someone.”

Carefully, you drove your car home, considering you only really have the use of one hand because your cast went from your hand to your elbow. Once home, you never even went inside. You walked through your neighborhood about 4 blocks or so until you saw the familiar boat that made you all too warm inside. You were about to walk up to the side of it and knock on it, when a familiar voice called out to you.

“He’s on his route right now, won’t be back for a while!”

Calvin, in his robe, pan with something sizzling inside it. A familiar site, considering your days with Gardner before usually were about 12 hours or more.

“Woah, what happened to our favorite nurse, girlfriend? Oh, well maybe I shouldn’t call you that. Gardner might question what it is you two have.”            

“We’ve been on one date, Cal.”

“Are you denying that you want to be his girlfriend?”

“…” You had not really thought about it. Well, you had, but the one time you went on a date with him, it just felt like you were back at work again because you had to do that while he was injured. You refused to put any thought into the idea that you and Gardner could date until after the work situation was over. And here you were, standing on his doorstep about to ask him to do the exact same thing you did for him.

“Well, I can see you’re pretty lost in your thoughts right now, girly. Did you want to come inside for some breakfast? You can stay here and wait for him to come home, we have tons of movies you could watch.”

“I wouldn’t be intruding?”

“Absolutely not. I’ll be at the shop all afternoon, despite it being Saturday, but you have my cell number, so you can always call me if there’s something you can’t find or need.”

“Thanks, Cal. This means a lot to me.”

“Again, it’s no trouble. And I’m sure Gardner will be thrilled to see you.”

You walked into the all-too familiar home, memories of the showers and sponge baths you gave Gardner flooding into your mind. You felt happy thinking about them, at peace. Not even recognizing the pain in your wrist. Endorphins rushing through you at a mile a minute. Calvin fixed a plate for you, one that consisted of what you remembered were his favorites – bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and an everything bagel. He always made a sandwich, you remembered, so when you asked him to make you one just like he always did, his eyes lit up. It made him happy that you did not just pay attention to Gardner, that he mattered just as much.

You ate the sandwich as best you could with one hand, using a fork to eat the remaining bits that fell. Calvin cleaned up after both of you, and scurried upstairs to change, pointing you in the direction of their living room so you could get comfy. You chose a couple movies they had on DVD, a couple you had not seen before, and choosing an old favorite – Jurassic Park. The little boy, Tim, reminded you of Gardner in some ways. He looked a bit like him, too.

Before you could get up to grab yourself a drink and put a movie in, you heard Calvin sprint down the stairs and nearly fall down the last 5 steps.

“Don’t you dare get up – I’ll get what you need before I leave. Whatcha looking for?”

“Just a drink, thank you.”

“Water or some other beverage?”

“Tea, if you have it, actually.”

“Coming right up.”

With that, you settled back down into your comfortable position on the couch, snuggled in a blanket they had draped over the back of the couch. After about 3 minutes, Calvin came back into the living room and placed the mug down next to you. A USPS mug of all things. He saw you had some DVD’s picked out, Jurassic Park on top, so he popped that in for you and started it. As he started walking out the door to go to the shop he turned around and told you something.

“Gardner actually brought that mug home for you. For you to keep here. He really wants you to spend time here, you know. He really likes you, Y/N.”

You felt your face flush but did not turn to look at Calvin. All you did was listen to the sound of his voice fade out and the classic sounds of John Williams fade in.

~

You did not have a guess as to when you fell asleep, but you were gently startled awake because you heard the door opening. You expected Calvin to walk through the door, but when your eyes adjusted to the light entering your eyes, you saw a lot of blue and a large bag slung over a shoulder. You also saw a safari cap of sorts.

It was your favorite mail carrier.

And he looked so terrified that you were just sleeping on their couch. He had so many questions about the situation, but he pushed them aside. He walked over to your side and watched as you stretched and smiled gently up at him.

“Thanks for the mug, Gardner.”

“What?”

“Calvin told me you brought this here for me to use. Thanks. And I accept the invitation to come over more often. Especially now, because I actually have a pretty large favor to ask of you.” Your arm was still hidden underneath the blanket, so Gardner had no idea what he was about to see. When you raised your arm from behind the blanket, Gardner’s eyes went wide with concern and instantly he dropped to the floor by your side, grasping your arm a little bit more roughly than he should have. He heard you wince in pain and instantly retracted his arms.

“Sorry, s-sorry…”

“It’s okay. This is actually what I wanted to ask you about, Gardner. I kind of…need us to switch roles for a few weeks.”

“You want to be a mail ca—”

“No lovebug, I need you to take care of me like I did for you while you had your cast on. Think you can do it if I walk you through it?”

Gardner simply nodded his head, and then the two of you looked to the door which was opening to reveal an exhausted looking Calvin. He just waved at the two of you and trudged upstairs to shower, so he could then move on to making dinner. After watching him make his way up the stairs, Gardner broke you from your thoughts.

“Have you been here all day?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I didn’t know you were coming.”

“I was thinking it was Sunday and you would have been home. I forgot what day it was and…”

“And?”

“And… I was really hoping you would help me.”

Gardner looked at you funnily. “I already agreed to—”

“I know you did. But I don’t know if you’re grasping the intensity of what I’m asking you to do. You’re going to have to do practically everything I did for you, with the exception of pushing me around in a wheelchair.” Now Gardner looked nervous, and instantly you felt horribly guilty. “Gardner, I can ask one of the nurses, I’m sorry. I just thought it would be a good excuse to hang out with you again.”

“I can do it.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can do it.”

You felt warm. Giddy. Thankful that Gardner walked – well, tripped – into your life.

~

Calvin, despite how tired he was, managed to make a really good dinner for the three of you. Afterwards, you began to realize that Gardner was taking what you said to him very literally. Gardner insisted that you stay with him on the boat because you stayed with him when he was hurt. He insisted that he be the one to help you with anything involving your hands. Which translated into needing a shower. You had worked a night shift before having to go over to Nettie’s house this morning, which felt like a lifetime ago already, so you felt grimy. But you realized all your stuff was at home, Gardner did not drive, and you smelled.

“Hey, Gardner?”

He poked his head around the wall from the kitchen where he was making you another cup of tea. He had made sure you were sat right back where he found you after dinner so you did not exert more energy than necessary.

“I, uh… I need to shower. And I need pajamas for tonight and clothes for tomorrow.”

“I’ll wash your hair, and you can borrow my stuff for tonight. I still have those clothes you wore that first night. When you wanted less laundry to do.”

You just looked at him and hoped that he either could not see how hard your heart was beating, or that he was just as nervous as you.

The latter was true.

For some reason, this felt way more intimate than the first time, the minute you walked into his bathroom. A familiar room. You should not feel this nervous. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you were going to have to take the top layer of your scrubs off in front of him. Maybe it was the fact that he was going to be yanking on your hair – something you realized you might like because of the way he reacted when you did it to him. Maybe it was the fact that the two of you had gone on a date but had not yet established what this relationship of yours really was. Or kissed.

Gardner had a very good knack for taking you out of your thoughts, because the water from the spicket started cascading into the tub, loudly. And instantly your skin was red hot. Gardner was kneeling beside the tub checking the water, waiting for you to tell him what to do. You shakily unbuttoned your scrubs top and let the fabric fall from your shoulders. You were staring right at Gardner while you did so, and he was doing the same. All you had on now was a white tank top. He watched as you loosened your hair from how you had it, letting is cascade down just like the water. Then, before you realized it, you could feel the cold ceramic of the tub on your upper back, head hanging over the side of the tub. You looked up at Gardner who was as stiff as a piece of plywood. You reached up to hold his face and turn it to yours.

“Hey, hon, it’s just me. We’ve been in this position before. This isn’t weird, okay? All you have to do is wash my hair like you would wash your own. Think you can do that?”

He nodded his head, eyes shining and boring right into your own. There was something behind those eyes, you just could not place it.

“Plus, it’ll be kind of funny – I’ll smell like you because of the shampoo!”

Gardner pried his eyes away from your own to start letting the water run down your hair. It felt nice to have someone do this for you. You had not been to a hairdresser in a long time, so this was as close as you were going to get.

Gardner watched as the droplets of water streaked down your hair, now a couple shades darker. It was mesmerizing to him, how smoothly they moved. Then he looked to your face – completely at ease, no tension, just enjoying the warmth. Almost…blissed out. Then he realized that your hair was far beyond being drenched enough, so he carefully placed the showerhead down into the tub and reached for his shampoo. Initially, he only put the amount he would use on his hand, ever so literal he was, and then he made up the difference for your much longer hair.

“I’m… going to start putting the shampoo in.”

“Mmm.” All you could offer was a hum. You genuinely felt like you looked. As soon as Gardner had started the process, your nerves faded. His on the other hand, were just getting worse and worse.

Then, his hands were working the shampoo from your roots to your ends. At first, he quite literally just used his flat hands and moved from the top to the bottom, but then he realized that is not exactly how one washes hair. So, he began to use his fingers a little bit more carefully. Running them through, detangling.

Pulling.

And your suspicions were confirmed. A noise left your lips that were so desperately terrified would escape, and instantly Gardner’s hands retracted. He held his hands up like he had a gun pointed at him, not caring that they were dripping all over himself, and looked at you widely.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No, hon…feels good.”

Somehow, the manner and tone with which you said that urged him to keep going. After all, the soap had to get out sometime. He worked the remaining streams of shampoo into your hair, and then rinsed off his hands so he could wash out your hair. All the meanwhile small huffs of air escaped your lips with every pull and stroke down your hair. You understood now how Gardner could not control his reaction – you were doing the exact same thing. All the while wondering to yourself ‘what is this that we have?’

Then you heard the water shut off, and Gardner reached back for a towel. He was sitting back on his knees waiting for you to sit up, with the towel placed gingerly over his hands which were extended in front of him.

“Oh, look at you, lovebug! I didn’t even have to tell you what was next.”

He continued to look right at you with determination and… that other thing you still could not pinpoint. Regardless, you sat up and leaned straight against the bathtub. You looked at him wistfully, somewhat tired from the warmth, and he took that as a cue to toss the towel over your head. He was not quite sure how to properly towel-dry hair, but he did his best. Something he did, though, earned him another noise. One much more intense than the others. It stopped him dead in his tracks. The towel had been covering your face, so he did not get to see the face you made before, but slowly he removed the towel from your face and leaving it atop your head.

You were either embarrassed or turned-on, Gardner could tell that much. He was not experienced but he knew those two emotions. He had felt both when he was in your boat a little while back. In a very unlike Gardner move, he just decided to hope that it was the latter of the two options.

Soft. That was the first thing you noticed about them. They were relatively plump for someone like him, and very soft. They also moved against your own like they had more experience than they let on, but you knew from previous conversations with the boy that he had no real experience other than a childhood one when he was about seven.

So, you could not help but wonder, where in the world did this massive smacker he was currently laying on you come from? And why?

Not that you minded, of course.

At first, he was still. Clearly unsure of whether or not you were kissing him back, or if you hated every millisecond of this. His eyes were pressed shut so tight he was starting to see those little colors you see when your eyes go berserk. But then he felt it. Motion not coming from his own mouth. You were kissing him back.

He had no idea what it was to do, so he let his natural instinct take over. His mouth started to move with yours, against your motions, trying to feel every single inch of space your lips had to offer. After a few moments, it became more than just lips, mouths barely opening to simply feel more of each other. He was still holding onto the towel – you could tell simply because the pressure on your head was increasing with each passing moment, signaling to you that he was holding onto it for dear life. Then, the pressure moved away. His hands moved somewhere else. But it was not your body.

He had placed his hands onto the edge of the tub to ground himself and give him somewhere to balance. You could feel his body shift. He moved over top of you, your head leaning back a bit from the height difference. And the feeling on your lips was more intense. More passionate. Deeper, slower. He was putting every fiber of his being into this kiss as if it were the only time he would ever get the chance. You placed your good hand into his hair, lightly pulling just the way you learned he liked, and instantly he melted into you.

So much so that the hands that he had on the tub had finally realized they had water under them and decided to slip backwards into the tub. Now with nothing to hold him up, Gardner’s entire body came crashing down into yours, the only exception being that you got your hands up to his face in time so your heads did not collide.

Both of you were breathing in heavily, right into each other’s ears and necks. But, ever the silence-breaker, you heard his breathing hitch before hearing his voice.

“That cast feels funny.”

You simply pulled your head back to look at him and playfully smirked at him. His eyes were blown black, and his cheeks were bright red. It was a sight you loved. He spoke again.

“Can we go to bed now?”

“On two conditions.”

He simply gave you a questioning look.

“You have to promise to show me that new stamp you were telling me about when we get down there, and you have to promise to do exactly what you just did for a long time.”

Permanent Taglist: @bensrhapsody @chlobo6 @gardnerlangway @xtrashmammalstefx @bohemiandeakyy

Gardner Langway Taglist: @gardnerlangway

Request: @took-me-hours-to-steal-those

// If you want to be added to either taglist mentioned above, or the one for another character I’ve written for, send me an ask here! //