Chapter Text
1
Johnny was lying on the couch with one arm covering his eyes to shield them from the light. He was utterly exhausted. Nothing particularly bad had happened, it was just one of these days. He could barely remember how he managed to teach his class, pushing his body through it somehow. Miguel had probably helped as well, but his mind was too clouded to know for sure.
His thoughts were dark and his body felt heavy and numb. He didn’t even shower after training, just went home and crashed on the couch. Beds were overrated anyway. Johnny tried to control his breathing, but it was difficult and needed more focus from him than he could muster at the moment.
He was tired and wished he could just fall asleep and wake up with more energy and a better mindset, but the way his mind was racing, he knew sleep was completely out of question. Johnny felt a little nauseous and couldn’t help but wonder when the last time he ate something was. He had a buttered toast and a fried egg in the morning, but other than that? He didn’t feel hungry though. And the fridge was empty anyway. Even if he felt like eating, he had nothing at home and everything else required effort – calling the delivery service or even going out to get something. The latter sounded impossible in his current state.
Johnny groaned and moved his arm from his eyes to the table next to him, fishing for his smartphone. There were a bunch of messages from Daniel sent throughout the day, all unread so far. He scrolled up to the first one, sent in the morning, wishing him an energetic day. He sighed. This message didn’t age well.
In the next few texts Daniel was complaining about a very annoying customer he had. The little story concluded with a happy end at least. The guy had actually decided to buy a car even though Daniel would have bet that he only wanted to waste both of their time and then go to a different dealership.
A few hours after that, Johnny had received a message with a single question:
‘Are you alright, Johnny?’
But since he hadn’t responded, Daniel continued to ask if he could do something for him, if he needed anything, even offered to stop by after work. Johnny hoped he wouldn’t. He hated letting Daniel see this side of him. It wasn’t pretty. It was vulnerable. And he despised it, even knowing full well he could let his guard down with Daniel if he wanted to.
Daniel’s last message said:
‘Please contact me after training, okay? I’m worried about you.’
Johnny didn’t want Daniel to worry about him. He worried about a lot of things on a daily base already, he didn’t want to add himself to that list. He knew he already did and that Daniel didn’t mind, but Johnny tried his hardest not to be a burden.
He had started typing a short response, when the doorbell suddenly rang. It almost made Johnny jump. For a terrifying second he thought it could be Daniel, but if it was him, he would simply use the key Johnny had given him a while ago. Johnny didn’t want to see anyone right now and didn’t expect anyone either, so he decided to ignore the sound, even when it rang again. If it was really important, they would leave a message for him or come back another day.
Johnny tried to focus on his phone again and the text he wanted to send, when another message from Daniel showed up on the small screen in his hand:
‘It was the delivery guy. I told him to leave your dinner on the doorstep in case you’re not opening. Please eat something.’
It was the please that hit Johnny the hardest. He swallowed thickly. He was in no position to take care of himself all the time and Daniel knew that. He had sent food over, because he was worried he wouldn’t eat or replace dinner with his favourite cheap beer. The joke was on him, because Johnny was out of beer and out of energy to buy more. He appreciated the sentiment regardless.
Slowly he got up from the couch and walked to the door. He opened it only a crack and peeked outside, half expecting the delivery guy to be still standing in front of it. But thankfully there was no-one to be seen. Only a brown paper bag at his feet with a note that stated ‘Paid’.
Johnny took the bag inside and placed its contents on the table, settling back on the couch. For the first time today, his lips curled into a half smile. It was sushi. A while ago, Daniel had introduced him to the wonderful world of raw fish and rice and Johnny ended up liking it. It was too expensive for its own good, but oh so tasty. It was also cold food, because not even Daniel could know when Johnny would find the energy to pick it up. A very smart move, he had to admit.
He still didn’t feel very hungry when he started eating, but at least he felt a bit more energized which was definitely a good sign. Johnny was almost proud of himself when he realized he had eaten almost all of the sushi rolls. Wasting expensive food was a crime, so he tried not to commit it.
Johnny’s eyes found his phone again and he remembered that he still hadn’t messaged Daniel at all today. He suddenly had a much better idea than a normal text response. He grabbed a pen from the table, crossed out the ‘Paid’ on the note from the bag and scribbled a ‘Thanks’ underneath it. He even added a little smiley face, because it was true. This small gesture had made his entire day. He took a photo of the note and sent it to Daniel.
The response arrived almost immediately:
‘You’re very welcome. I’ll be coming over in the morning with breakfast. Have a good night. <3’
Johnny had to tilt his head to understand the meaning of the odd smaller than three emoji that was added to the message, but that didn’t stop him from smiling at it when he finally understood it. He felt lighter than the whole rest of the day and with the knowledge that Daniel would be there in the morning, he could even let himself believe that tomorrow would be a better day.