Chapter 339: We get to take home Richard today
Wednesday came like a sledgehammer, smashing through all of the well intentioned plans that they had set.
Andrew barely got any sleep the night before. Not because of anything Maxwell had done, but due to his own nerves. He felt like a nervous wreck. He was so worried about how Richard was going to react once he left the safe bubble that the Doctors had built for him that it had him staring up at the ceiling most of the night, Maxwell curled into his arms.
When Andrew had heard the sound of birdsong at one point, he then got nervous about the fact that he had stayed awake all night. He was only able to talk himself down after a few minutes, and then the cycle would repeat. Andrew was exhausted before the day even began.
Everyone was ready for the day, but also walking on eggshells. The team who had been looking after Richard all this time were worried that Richard was going to have a serious reaction to leaving the safety of the basement with very few scents and moving to another location where it was a free for all.
Every single thought in the world was keeping Andrew up. Was he asking the team who was in charge of Richard too many questions? Were they getting annoyed by him? Had they not said anything because he was Maxwell’s boyfriend and that they all hated him being on the team in any capacity? He knew that his worries were probably nothing, but he really didn’t want to fuck this up.
He didn’t want to fuck Richard up. That sounded the worst outcome to him.
Maxwell was putting on a good show that he wasn’t as concerned as Andrew was, but he was showing it in other ways. He was kind of making the contractor’s lives living hell because he was so on their asses. It was Andrew who would come by and offer food and other things to appease them that was making everything balance out. Not that Maxwell was a monster, or that the contractors were obviously upset, it was just Andrew’s own response to the anxiety he was feeling.
Andrew knew that May and Ford weren’t in a better mental state either. He was laying there, staring at the ceiling when he heard his phone go off. When he reached for it, it was May messaging a group chat that had him, Maxwell, May, Ford, Rose, and Jordan in it. No Richard, since it was about him. Andrew would have laughed if it didn’t solidify that he had a reason to be worried.
Eventually, it was time for Andrew to actually get up, and it was as he was making breakfast that Rose added to the group chat. Andrew would have laughed if he didn’t also get a message from both Thomas and Luis asking if everything was okay if he and Maxwell needed anything to help Richard out.