Work Text:
Danny stood next to the furnace, rapidly tapping his foot as he waited to grab the last bar of carbon steel he needed for a commission. It wouldn’t take long to finish, but he still didn’t have much time left.
Lately, he’d been finishing things last minute and turning them in late—there was no in-between. No one had commented on it so far, but he didn’t want to take the chance. Plus, he knew Higgins would manage to find out about it eventually, and then he’d never hear the end of it.
He shook his head. He had to get this done as soon as possible. He wanted to get it done by yesterday, but it took longer than expected to gather the materials.
So he watched the smoke rise from the furnace as the sun began to set behind it, painting the sky in soft shades of pink. The summer air grew cooler around him, but the heat from the burning metal kept Danny from enjoying it.
He didn’t notice Gust until the wooden creek of the gate made him glance over. He’d taken off his gray suit jacket and slung it over his shoulder, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
“Angel, what are you doing?” he asked, walking over and planting a kiss on Danny’s forehead.
Danny looked back at the furnace, “Waiting.”
“Waiting?”
“Waiting.”
“... For what, exactly?”
He sighed, “If I don’t get the materials fast enough, my current commission is going to be last-minute again, so I want to grab the steel bars as soon as they’re ready.”
“Right, well, I’m sure whoever it’s for won’t mind as long as it gets done,” said Gust, reaching for Danny’s hand, “Let’s go on a walk while you wait.”
“I can’t. What if it’s ready before we get back? I’d be wasting time that I could’ve spent working.”
“Or you could spend that time bonding with me. You know, your loving and devoted husband?”
“You’re the one who always told me to spend my time on things I “actually need to do,” Mister Loving and Devoted.”
Gust scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest, “That was before I knew you better, it doesn’t count.”
“Riiiiight, anyway, you could still keep me company while I wait,” said Danny, smiling warmly at him.
“Okay, fine. Maybe for a few minutes.”
He grinned, standing on his tiptoes and planting a kiss on Gust’s cheek, “Thanks, Honeypie.”
He looked away, his cheeks tinting pink, “Yeah, well, it’s nothing.”
He turned back to the furnace, this time listening to Gust talk about his day and timing the burning of the metal in his head. The flames from behind the grated hatch radiated warmth, but the cool air had quickly settled into cold as the sky went from pink to a darkening blue. He glanced between that and the furnace, abruptly grabbing Gust’s wrist to check his watch.
He snatched his arm away before Danny could read the time, “Were you even listening?”
“Huh? Yeah, of course. Can you tell me what the time is though?”
“Does it matter if we’re just going to keep standing here? Look, Angel, I know you want to be punctual and all but staring at the machine isn’t going to make it work faster. We could at least do something more interesting while you wait,” he suggested, brushing a stray hair out of Danny’s face and smiling gently.
He glanced back at the furnace. It’d been long enough, right? It had to be done by now.
“Yeah, alright. Let’s do something else.”
“Great. Come on, let’s go for a walk before it gets too dark.”
“Hold on just a sec,” he said, opening the small hatch and peaking in, “I think it’s finished.”
Gust sighed, “Seriously? Right as we’re about to leave?”
“We can just stay here.”
“That’s not the point, though, Angel. Can you at least look at me? It’s like you’re married to your work instead of me.”
Danny gasped, turning to stare at him, “What? You know you always come first!”
“Then can we spend some time together where you aren’t obsessing over a commission, please?” he asked, crossing his arms again as a frown started to bloom across his face.
“I’m sorry. Yeah, we can, Blondie.” But he was still looking at the open grate and the hot metal between the flames. Maybe if he took it out now and set it to cool, he could have time for both Gust and his work. Right?
“Cool. Let’s go then.”
“Wait, actually—”
“Again?”
“I know, I know, but I think if I take it out now… maybe…”
He barely heard Gust beginning to rant as he unthinkingly reached into the furnace bare-handed, skin meeting hot flames and burning metal. He screamed, yanking his hand out and falling to the ground as an intense pain bloomed in his fingers and palm.
“OW OW OW. FUCK.”
“Danny!” yelled Gust, rushing to his side, “What did you do?”
He inhaled sharply, the blistering pain causing tears to gather in his eyes. He clutched his hand to his chest and curled up into a ball on the ground, trying and failing to endure the searing burning sensations without coming undone. He knew Gust was saying something, and pretty loudly at that, but it didn’t matter. It fell into the fuzzy, tear-stained background with everything else.
He knelt at his side, a frazzled look on his face, “What were you thinking? You know that stuff is boiling, why didn’t you put on gloves first? You know what, it’s not important. Everything’s fine, okay? It’s fine. Danny, hey, baby—everything’s okay.”
He blinked up at him as Gust gently wiped his tears with his thumb. He could barely pick up on anything that wasn’t the sensation of hot pin needles being used to melt his skin off, but he tried to focus on Gust’s face anyway.
His eyes are emerald green, his cheeks are covered in freckles. My hand is falling off, his hair is a gorgeous, sunshine blond—it was all he could do to hold it together, but it didn’t last.
“Let me see, Angel. I’ll be gentle,” he said, his expression getting progressively more worried when Danny only responded by making weak sobbing noises and letting his hand go limp into the grass.
He saw Gust cringe when he saw it up close but didn’t say anything, only pulling Danny’s shirt sleeve away from the burn.
“I’ll carry you to the Clinic, okay?”
He nodded vigorously, trying to focus on his breathing and anything besides the still-burning pain. He leaned right into Gust’s chest as he scooped him up and held him close, muttering something about Dr. Xu and doing his best to be comforting. “You’re so reckless,” and “you’re okay,” and “you’ll be alright, my love.”
Danny didn’t form a single word as he carried him through town, preferring to bury his face into his shirt and fall apart instead.
Luckily, Dr. Xu was still at the clinic when they arrived. Danny distantly heard Phyllis asking what happened before Gust beat him to it, quickly explaining the details while placing him on one of the beds nearby. He was still trying his best to keep it together, but he was sweating profusely and struggling to think straight.
“I ran as fast as I could,” said Gust, stepping aside as Dr. Xu stepped closer.
“Hmm, well I’m glad you did, molten metal is no joke. Can you move your arm a little closer, Danny?”
Danny didn’t speak but did as he was told, expecting to wince as Dr. Xu held it with his gloved hands, but instead felt nothing. He still couldn’t bring himself to look at it though. He couldn’t feel Dr. Xu’s touch, but the pain was still raging in his fingers and palm, where he had briefly touched hot metal. He didn’t want to know what the skin looked like now.
"Alright. Good news and bad news," he gestured at Phyllis, who walked over to a table full of different tools, “The burns on your hand and wrist are 1st degree and should heal within the next few weeks with some extra care to avoid scarring."
"Great!"
"The bad news is that I can't say the same for your arm. Did you have multiple pieces of metal in the burner, by any chance?"
Danny thought to himself, "It's possible."
"Hmm, then it's highly likely that this portion of skin came into direct contact with the molten metal as well.”
Dr. Xu let go of his hand, stepping back and addressing both him and Gust.
“Luckily it’s only a small area, so you won’t need any sort of skin grafting—”
“But? I’m assuming there’s a ‘but’ here,” cut in Gust, crossing his arms over his chest. His expression was hard to read, but Danny swore that he saw concern in his eyes. He took a deep breath.
Dr. Xu continued, “But you’ll likely still require a burn debriding for it to heal properly. We’ll also need to remove scarring tissue and dead skin cells as soon as possible, but after that, it should be fine.”
Danny tried his best to conceal the frown taking over his face, looking away, “Oh.”
Dr. Xu gave them both an apologetic look, "I understand that's not what you were hoping for, but I can assure you that it shouldn’t take long. Phyllis and I can perform the debridement now, even, but it is a separate procedure and will require some paperwork beforehand.”
Danny stared into the air, processing all of this. He was grateful for Gust’s presence then as he found it hard to speak.
“Right, well—I suppose it would be more beneficial to get it taken care of. How long does this kind of thing usually take?” he asked, placing a hand on Danny’s shoulder.
“About twenty to thirty minutes, not long at all, I assure you.”
Gust hummed in thought before finally turning back to Danny. His voice was even and calm, but his eyes betrayed him. He looked at him with both concern and frustration, and Danny immediately knew that he’d never hear the end of it.
He blinked, trying to hide the emotions that were swirling inside of him.
“Huh? Oh, yeah—yes. Now is good. Might as well, since I’m already here,” he said, forcing a disarming laugh that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Dr. Xu gave him a sympathetic chuckle, nodding.
“That settles it then. Phyllis will get the paperwork in order for you and get everything situated.”
Gust gave him a quick thanks as he left the room. Phyllis walked over with everything they needed, passing the clipboard to Danny’s good hand with the necessary papers attached.
She excused herself after that, giving them a few minutes to fill it out while she gathered everything for the procedure.
Danny snapped out of his daze as the door shut behind her. Gust sighed heavily.
“What were you thinking?? Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You’re lucky it wasn’t worse! You’re lucky you don’t need a skin graft, for God’s sake. Honestly, I can’t even begin to understand what’s going on in your head, you should’ve known better than to have put yourself in harm's way! What’s gotten into you lately? It’s like nothing else matters to you but that wretched job,” he ranted, pacing up and down the small room they were in.
Danny had half a mind to tune him out, but the only other thing he had to focus on was the mistake he’d made, and that wasn’t very good either.
Gust continued on his solo-tirade, shaking his head and squeezing the bridge of his nose, “This is exactly the sort of thing I was afraid of. You know, this wouldn’t have happened if you’d just taken a break and left it alone like I’d asked. I truly don’t get how you could’ve thought that was a good idea. Honestly, Danny, how could you be so reckless? It's like you don't even care!—"
"Can you stop??" Danny snapped, unable to help himself. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. "Do you think I did this on purpose? I just wanted to do something right for once. Lately, everything I do isn't good enough no matter how much effort I put into it! I can barely get anything done, and when I try to, I miss out on time that I could’ve spent with you. I was so tired of choosing and I just thought… if I could hurry up with work, that maybe I could get ahead of it all, but whatever. As long as I'm rushing to get it done, it'll always be flawed, and now with the way I fucked up my hand—who knows if I’ll ever get anything right.”
A beat of silence followed, with no sound other than Danny sniffling. Gust tried to look at him, but he couldn’t meet his eyes.
"Angel…how long have you felt like this?"
He sighed, "Long enough that I thought I was used to it. Wrong again, I guess."
Gust didn't respond right away, but when he did, it was with a softness that Danny wasn't used to.
"No, you're right. I'm sorry, Angel, I shouldn't have snapped at you. It was…" he exhaled, "It was uncalled for. I know you didn't plan for this to happen, and I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I guess I get worked up sometimes when it comes to your safety because I don't know what I'd do without you. I know you can take care of yourself, but I don't want anything bad happening to you. I really care about you, that's all."
Danny looked at him. Gust was staring at the floor, avoiding his gaze as his cheeks turned pink. It was the most open he'd seen him be in a while and it made his heart feel full. He liked—no—loved, this version of him.
"You're also incredibly talented, regardless of whether your workshop is number one. Something like that can't measure your true skill anyway.”
Danny couldn't help the grin splitting across his face, "You mean it? Even after I nearly burned my hand off, you still think I'm good at this?"
He smiled gently, "Somehow, I do. You can take as much time as you need to heal, by the way, I'll take care of you until you're ready to work again. I'll take care of you if you decide to stop altogether, too."
“I won’t, but thank you,” he set the clipboard aside and reached for Gust’s wrist, “I forget how lucky I am.”
“Lucky?”
“To have someone like you, who stays even after I do stupid shit like this.”
Gust didn’t speak, only planted a gentle kiss on his forehead, something Danny had come to know as his own way of saying all of the soft things that were hard for him to express. Sometimes it meant “Be safe,” other times it meant “I missed you.” Somehow, Danny knew that this time it meant something along the lines of “I love you even after you do stupid shit,” and that was more than enough.
The injury still ached and stung, but he got the sense that everything would be okay, even if his workshop stayed at the same ranking forever. Even if he lost his hand. Even if the burn scars never healed.
Gust tapped him on the shoulder, "Can I kiss you, Angel?"
"On the lips?"
He rolled his eyes, "Where else?"
Danny smiled playfully, shrugging, "Where do you think?"
"Danny."
"Okay, okay, ‘course you can. Come here.”
He rolled his eyes again, but still cupped Danny’s face in his hands and pressed their lips together. He expected it to be short and sweet but didn’t complain when Gust kissed him again, this time applying more pressure and delicately tracing his thumb along the curve of Danny’s cheekbone.
He leaned into the touch as he kissed him back, wrapping his uninjured arm around Gust’s neck and pulling him closer. He slowed down, kissing him softly enough that Danny could easily pick up on how warm his mouth was, how rough his fingertips felt on his face, and how it all sent a pleasant wave of heat straight to his gut.
As Gust started to pick up the pace again, pressing into his mouth with more desperation and roughness, the gentle heat quickly turned into a boiling fire. He pulled away, resisting the urge to tell Gust to stop cupping his face so he could crawl into his shirt and hide.
“Everything okay?” he asked, trying to catch Danny’s gaze as he took a breath.
Danny nodded, “Just got a little… overwhelmed.”
“Ohh, right,” he gave him a quick peck, “We can stop then.”
“Well yeah, but—”
The door in the back abruptly swung open, followed by Phyllis’s voice and Gust dropping his hands from Danny’s face. He didn’t really want to stop just yet, but the decision had been made for him, so he hurriedly detangled himself from Gust as Phyllis walked in with the necessary medical equipment.
If she noticed the difference in their energies, she didn’t say anything.
With Gust’s help, Danny quickly filled out the paperwork and handed it to her with a smile.
The process went by fairly quickly after that. He got changed into a hospital gown and moved to the operating room in a matter of minutes. He was hardly awake as the procedure took place, only vaguely aware of the pain in his injured arm.
He wasn’t surprised when Dr. Xu later told him how long he’d have to go without working, but it still made his heart squeeze in a silent panic.
“Six weeks? Six weeks??” he repeated, lying back in the hospital bed with a groan, “I’m going to fall so behind.”
Gust chuckled beside him, sitting on the edge of the bed while flipping through a book of poetry. He looked so smug, Danny half-expected him to say “I told you so” and start ranting again, but his eyes softened at the sight of him.
He pressed a kiss to his forehead and spoke against his skin, “Don’t worry, Angel, it’ll be alright.”
He let out a long sigh, but just like earlier, Danny got that same feeling.
Even if he couldn’t work, even if his hand was bandaged to his elbow, that one small kiss from Gust told him everything he needed to know.
Despite the state he was in, he smiled and responded with ease.
“With you by my side, it will be.”