#dave budd

Never seen this picture before but it looks like Richard is spilling some MAJOR TEA 🍵

Absolutely no one:

Not a single fucking soul:

A/N: This fic was written in collaboration with the lovely @miyaluvvsyou💜

Summary: Taron and his kids are always happy to invite Richard into their house. After some rough shoots Taron gets sick and due to the absence of his wife, Richard stays with him and the children.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2791

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“And cut!” Dexter shouts and interrupts the silence between the two men in front of the cameras. Both men just ended the scene, a beautiful performance and two people falling in love. “Well done guys. We’re gonna wrap it up for today.” Dex turns away and speaks to one of the cameramen.

Taron grins at his best friend sitting beside him on the wooden stairs. He takes off his glasses and puts them in the pocket of the patch covered jean jacket, standing. Richard stands and stretches, letting out a sigh of relief. It has been a long day on set and they are exhausted. Dexter comes up to the two and lays his arms around them. “You two were brilliant today! I’ll see you here again tomorrow at 6pm.” And with that, they headed off.

Richard opens the buttons of his dark suit and looks at Taron, who is checking his phone. They make their way to their trailers, laughing and talking about their recent shoot. Taron slowly stops in front of his trailer and turns to his friend. “Rich, you wanna come over today? The kids would love to see you again.”

Richard smiles softly and agrees. Taron’s wife has been traveling for work and their children stayed with his mother whenever he was on set. Since she was away often, they spent most days chilling on the sofa after a long day on set. Taron did get quite lonely in the evenings when he had no one to talk to. Richard sensed it and visited when his best mate needed it.

Not long after, Taron finds himself driving to his mother’s house. His vision blurs slightly as he zones out, quickly pulling himself back with a sigh. He was exhausted and his throat was sore from singing “Tiny Dancer” live on set repeatedly for the last 2 hours. He gets out of the car and stretches, hearing his back crack and pain slowly creep in. As he pressed the doorbell, he could hear the pattern of his daughter’s footsteps. A sudden sharp pain shoots to his neck, him letting out a painful moan. His body is breaking down.

He puts on a smile when the doors opens and his beautiful young daughter is standing in front of him. “Hello cutie. You alright?” He asks laughing as she hugs him tight. Angelina nods and looks up at him. He stares into her big dark brown eyes, identical to her mother’s but framed with his babygirl’s face. Her brown hair is tied into a ponytail and she’s in a light blue dress. Taron’s heart just melts looking at her.

The seven year old takes his hand and pulls him into the house. His mother greets him with a warm hug and watches him carefully. “Hey mum. I hope these two weren’t too nerve wrecking.” He says smiling gratefully at her. Taron was glad that there was someone he trusted to watch his children.

“Don’t worry about us, son. Hard day at work?” She asks, concern hinted in her words. He just nods and tries to hide his exhaustion. The last week has been filled with day and night shoots, leaving him with little to no sleep.

They walk into the living room where his three year old son is playing with his toys. Taron crouches down and and regrets it’s immediately. Pain pulsing through his entire body, urging him to stand up. “Hey buddy. How are you?” He asks the toddler and forces a smile.

Benjamin’s green eyes light up at the sound of his father’s voice and he smiles wildly. “Daddy!” His little boy jumps up and stumbles over to him. Taron pulls him into a hug and gives him a gentle kiss on his head. Angie rests her head on T’s back and wraps her arms around him. He could have stayed there forever, just holding his two children. Nausea begins to set in and he takes deep breaths, calming himself down.

“Let’s get you two home.” He speaks and picks up his youngest child. Angie takes his hand into her tiny one and follows him outside and to the car. He buckles up his toddler in his car seat and Angie settles into the passenger seat. His mother stands in the doorway, watching him with a soft smile. Through her eyes, she could see how her son fought against his exhaustion and hid his pain after a long week of working. Not in front of the children, he tells himself. They shouldn’t see how he truly felt. He wouldn’t let them.

Taron walks to the doorway, a worried expression settled on his face. He doesn’t want to overuse her offer to watch Angelina and Benjamin, but he didn’t have a lot of options. “Mum, is there a chance you could come over tomorrow night and stay with Ben and Angie? We have-“ She cuts him off by pulling him into a tight hug.

“Of course I’ll be there. And you should get some sleep Taron. You may be able to hide from the kids, but a mother knows her children.” She looks up at him with worried eyes but a small smile. She gives him a kiss on the cheek and chuckles when Taron lets out a relieved sigh.

“You’re the best mom. I love you. Goodnight.” He walks back to his car and gets in, driving off into the night.

“Are you gonna be home tomorrow Daddy?” Angelina looks up at her father with pleading eyes. She understood that her father’s job took most of his time, spanning from days to weeks at a time. Taron holds in a sigh, not wanting to break his baby’s heart.

“I’m gonna be home most of the day tomorrow, and then granny is coming over in the evening. Sounds good?” He glances over at her and she nods happily. A day with her father was all she yearned for. Taron relaxes and smiles, the joy in her eyes filling his heart.

Angie hears Ben calling out and turns the radio down. “Daddy, can you please sing for me?” His soft voice perking his father’s ears. Taron focuses on the road, thinking of something to sing that won’t damage his vocal cords completely. He settles on “Tiny Dancer”, his son’s favorite, and starts the first lines. Take 35, he thinks to himself. Taron starts swaying gently, singing with his heart and puts on as best a show as he could for his precious human beings that meant the world to him.

The kids were already in their pajamas when the doorbell rang. Taron changed into a t-shirt and comfy sweatpants. He opens the door and laughs when he sees his favorite Scottish man. Richard wears a hoodie and sweatpants as well, his hair a natural mess after being freed from the wig. “What are you laughing at mate?” Rich ponders with irritation in his voice, stepping into his friend’s home.

“Oh nothing. I just thought you’d be dressed properly.” Taron teases him and closes the door.

Richard stares at him, irritation shining in his bright blue eyes. “It’s 10pm and I’m at your house. Get off my ass!” He shakes his head and sits his keys on the little commode. “And just to let you know, you look ravishing yourself.” He snickers cheekily and smiles.

Taron just laughs and leads his mate into the living room. “Angelina! Benjamin! Uncle Rich is here!” Taron shouts and his children quickly run down the stairs with excited faces. They jump into their uncle’s arms and Rich smiles, tickling them. They adored the Scottish man. Taron watches with a wide smile on his face. But he had to break up this welcome session, realizing their bedtime was now. “Alright kids, time for bed. Say goodnight to Uncle Rich.”

They both give him hugs and kisses and rush back upstairs. He follows behind them, going into Benjamin’s room first. The small child climbs into bed after struggling slightly and lays down under the covers, looking up at his father. Taron tucks him in and smiles, kissing his son on his cheek. “Goodnight Ben.” He smiles and yawns, his eyes closing fast.

He wanders into his daughter’s room, who’s already tucked in and waiting for him. He comes over to her side and pushes the hair out of her face. “Goodnight Angie.” He kisses her forehead and turns out her light, walking out and shutting the door gently behind him.

Taron plopped down on the sofa and let out a sigh. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His stomach was still hurting and he prays he doesn’t get sick. Richard chuckles and stands up, going into the kitchen and getting them drinks. As he comes back, Taron opens his eyes and laughs, an apologetic look in his eyes. “I’m sorry mate, I forgot to get ya something.”

“It’s alright mate. I mean, I already know where everything is.” Richard assures smiling and sits next to his friend. He has visited Taron quite often, enough to know his house like his own. He gives Taron a glass of water and relaxes into the pillows behind him. “You wanna watch a movie?”

Taron agrees but even doesn’t pay attention to what Richard puts on. He sits there, staring at the TV screen without following the storyline at all. His eyes are burning and his whole body starts to shut down. The last thing he remembers is tilting over slightly and resting his head on Richard’s shoulder. Rich lets him rest his head on his chest and puts an arm around him. It wasn’t the first time one of them gave up on the movie and fell asleep in the other’s arms.

Richard carefully changes position, cautious not to wake up his best friend. He puts a blanket over the sleeping man, leaning on him like a child. The Scott tries to position Taron’s head into a more comfortable spot, noticing Taron was in a lot of pain recently. Richard rests his head against the sofa behind him and closes his eyes. He breathes slowly, drifting off into a deep sleep.

He wakes up when Taron sits up and begins coughing roughly, moaning. Richard reaches over for the lamp on the small table beside him and turns it on. “Mate, you alright?” He asks and watches him suspiciously.

Taron shakes his head slightly, which meant a lot because he never showed other how he really felt. But he wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer. His eyes filled with tears as he continued to cough. He was pale and shivering, a fever settling into his body.

“I think you have a fever T. You need to get into bed.” Rich speaks concerned and certain. Taron just nods weakly and coughs again. Richard stands and makes his way to the kitchen. He turns on the boiler and searches the cabinets. “Taron where’s the tea?” He inquires, raising his voice a little and searching another cabinet.

“In the cabinet over the boiler.” Taron responds with a raspy voice. It’s evident he isn’t doing well. He wraps his blanket around his body and slowly walks to the kitchen island where he sits down with a grunt. Rich finally finds it and puts honey into a cup along with the tea packet and boiling water. He hands the cup to his mate, looking concerned. “Thanks mate.”

Richard looks down at his watch and sighs. It’s 5am already. He goes into the downstairs bathroom and gets the thermometer, coming back to Taron, who already guzzled down his tea. He plops the thermometer into his friend’s mouth and waited for the dreaded beep. It ripped through the silence of the house a minute later, making Taron flinch. Rich took it and turned off the sound and looked at the numbers. “Well you’re definitely running a fever mate. 104.”

Taron groans and rest his head on the table. “Shit Richard! I can’t get sick now. Not at a time like this.” He grumbles and coughs. His body aches and his head is pounding. How was he gonna be able to shoot tomorrow night like this?

Rich pats him on the back and helps Taron up, closing the blanket closer around his friend. “We’re gonna get you into bed and then we’ll see how you feel tomorrow.” Taron just nods and lets Rich lead him to the bedroom carefully. He falls into bed as Richard opened windows to let in fresh air. T sets an alarm for 7:30am on his phone, reminding him to get up and take Angelina to school.

Richard watches as his eyes close and he falls into a deep sleep. He grabs his friend’s phone and turns the alarm off. Taron needed his rest and Rich didn’t mind taking Angelina to school in a couple hours. He leaves the room, gently closing the door. He made his way to the kids’ rooms and smiled to see them still deep in their slumber. As they were walking upstairs, Taron, being the clumsy man he is sometimes, ran right into a table, causing the two to stifle their laughter. He chuckles quietly and heads downstairs, getting comfortable on the couch and setting his own alarm to 7:30am.

The alarm blared out hours later and Richard jumped up and groaned. Turning off the noise, he stands and stretches and goes upstairs to wake the kids. As they woke, they were surprised to see their uncle and not their father, but they got ready for the day nonetheless. He helps Benjamin get dressed and carries him and his sister in his arms down the stairs. Angie cuddles into his shoulder and closes her eyes, slipping back into a light sleep. Richard dreaded putting her down, but she had to wake up and eat.

"Have a good day Angie!"

“Bye Uncle Richard!” The two exchanged goodbyes as she walks away waving to her uncle. She seems so small compared to the other children. It was a challenge tying up her thick brown hair this morning but Rich managed. He glances in the backseat at the toddler in his car seat, who’s just dancing to the music on the radio. Richard smiles to himself and drives off, unable to understand how Taron created a mini version of himself.

Richard drove to his own apartment and carried Benjamin inside with him. He sits Ben on the bed with some toys so he can play, and then begins to change and pack clothes in a bag. After finishing up, he looks over at Ben and holds his hand out. “You coming lad?” He says and smiles. Ben reaches out to him and Rich picks him up, carrying him out to the car. They get back to Taron’s at 9am. Richard puts his bag in the living room and sits Benjamin on the floor and walks upstairs to Taron’s room.

As he walks in, he sees his best friend still asleep. Coming closer, he notices Taron’s face covered in sweat, his hair sticking to his face. He gently places his hand on T’s face. His fever still alive and burning. Richard goes and gets a wash cloth soaking it in cold water. He comes back and wipes his face carefully, setting it on his forehead afterwards. His friend was deep in his sleep, staying still during Rich’s actions.

Benjamin and Richard were on the carpet downstairs playing with his toys when they heard pounding on the stairs. Taron is rushing down the stairs with his phone in hand. He looks at Richard with apologetic eyes, his heart racing. “Shit Richard I’m so sorry. I must’ve missed the alarm.” Richard laughs and stands, looking at his friend.

“Taron calm down. I turned it off as soon as you went to sleep. You needed more than 3 hours of sleep. Angie is in school and Ben has been chilling with me.” Richard says in confidence to his best friend.

Taron sighs in relief and smiles. “Thanks mate. I really appreciate you. I was losing my mind.” He sits on the sofa and Benjamin climbs on to his lap, cuddling him. Taron holds him and smiles, but frowns soon after. “But I can’t do the scene tonight. I still feel like shit.” He speaks and looks at Richard.

“Don’t worry about it. I talked to Dex this morning. He’s giving us the week off so you can get better.” Rich sits next to his best friend and pulls Ben onto his lap, not wanting him to sit on his sick father. Taron silently agreeing.

“You’re the best Dickie!” Taron smiles wide looking at him.

"What are friends for?"

Richard at the Premiere of 1917 in London tonight (Dec. 4th).