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Jonah found the heels, black and strappy and surprisingly in his size way in the back of the costume closet. Whether GPC had ordered them in his size or the ship had just wound up with a pair that could fit him Jonah didn’t know, but both options seemed weird. He turned the heels over in his hands, brow furrowing. Was he expected to wear a pair of heels at some point? If he kept looking, would he have found shoes in all sorts of sizes in the depths of the closet? Why would he need heels, anyway? He supposed Crow might try to write another play and he could find himself in need of them then, but still.
His confusion over why he would ever end up in a pair of heels only seemed to make it so he had to try on the heels, and then once they were on, of course he had to try and walk in them, didn’t he? When would be his next opportunity to have a pair of heels that actually fit him?
He finished securing the straps while seated at the kitchen table before attempting to stand, steadying himself by pressing his weight against the back of his chair until he was sure he had a better sense of balance. He stood for a moment. He didn’t feel significantly different, besides a few inches taller, but then he looked down, turning his ankle to get a proper look, and alright, fine, he felt cute.
He attempted to take a single step forward, then another. He glanced up at the kitchen counter just a few feet away and wobbling, he began to step in its direction. Tom and Crow entered the kitchen: Crow seemed relatively unimpressed by the sight of Jonah in heels, but Tom was a little more supportive.
“Looking good, Jonah!” Tom said. “Although your posture could be better.”
Jonah snorted, stumbling a little as he took another step forward, straightening. He was glad that Joel was working in the other room: he didn’t like the idea of Joel catching him doing something stupid like this. He shot Tom a look. “What do you know about posture and heels?”
“He’s been watching a lot of America’s Next Top Model,” Crow replied. “You should too, if you want to get any good at this.”
“You guys don’t even know what this is.”
Crow shrugged. Tom asked, “So what is this, Jonah?”
“I’m just… trying some things out. I don’t know. Could be useful in the future, to know how to walk in heels. Maybe. Oh, whatever- either leave the room or sit down so I can keep trying, alright?”
To his surprise, they sat down at the table, interested enough at the prospect of Jonah either succeeding or falling to the floor and embarrassing himself. Definitely that latter thing.
Jonah successfully crossed the kitchen with minimal stumbling, placing his hands triumphantly on his hips as he reached the doorway connecting the kitchen out to the hall, leaning against the frame. “How about that!”
Crow looked, if anything, annoyed. “You’re doing the same thing you’ve been doing for fifteen minutes. Change it up a little if you want to impress me.”
Jonah scowled. “I’m getting better! Isn’t that impressive enough?”
Tom chimed in before Crow could answer. “Well, you look great, Jonah! Once you figure this out some more, we’ve gotta stick you in a dress and have you compete in the Miss America pageant.”
“Oh, I’d do horribly,” Jonah replied, crossing the room again, his eyes trained on the floor. “I’d be terrible at answering their questions. I don’t think fast on my feet when put on the spot.”
“Yeah, we know,” Crow replied a little too quickly, and Jonah shot him a look. Crow rolled his eyes. “C’mon, do something interesting! This isn’t fun anymore, you’re not doing bad enough.”
“What do you expect me to do?”
“Do a flip!” Crow exclaimed, eyes brightening.
Before Jonah could answer, Joel called out from down the hall, “Don’t do a flip!”
“I wasn’t going to!” Jonah answered back, narrowing his eyes at Crow. Through gritted teeth he huffed, “Stop trying to make me look like an idiot!”
“You do that fine on your own.”
“I’ll show you looking like an idiot,” Jonah replied, lunging at Crow, stumbling as Crow escaped his grasp, yelling as he ran to the other side of the kitchen island. Jonah gripped the edge of the countertop and projected himself forward, slipping a little as he reached out, Crow’s net just barely out of reach.
Tom continued to watch on from his spot at the table. “Ooh, nearly got him, Jonah!”
“You’re not helping,” Jonah snapped back, staring Crow down as they both played chicken with the other, guarding their own sides of the counter. Jonah towered over Crow, more so than usual, and Crow looked terrified. Jonah stared him down, watching as Crow’s eyes jumped around the room, searching for an escape path. Crow glanced over at the doorway out into the hall, barely glancing back at Jonah before making his attempt, throwing himself in the direction of the hall.
Jonah rushed after him, the lack of traction in the heels causing him to slide around the corner of the countertop. Crow was barely out of reach, just skirting out of his grasp, and Jonah pushed forward, stumbling towards the hall-
Thwack!
By the time the pain had faded enough for Jonah to realize his head had come into contact with the top of the doorframe, he found himself sprawled on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. The ‘bots were standing over him, yelling for Joel. Jonah was vaguely aware of Tom crying, and as much as he wanted to reach out and tell him it was alright, his head was really hurting.
The ‘bots left his side, or at least Jonah assumed such, since they were no longer in his peripheral vision and his head stung too much to be lifted to look around. Within seconds, Joel came into view, standing over him, eyes wide. “What happened?”
“Heels made me too tall,” Jonah answered. “Door frame.”
Jonah’s vision began to swim and he shut his eyes for a moment.
“Oh Jonah,” Joel said as Jonah opened his eyes, “what am I going to do with you?”
Joel sounded very far away, which Jonah found weird since Joel was kneeling right next to him. Where were the ‘bots? Weren’t they just in the room with him? Jonah squinted at Joel, finding that everything was spinning.
“Why are there two of you?” Jonah asked, watching as Joel’s eyes widened and uh oh, that didn’t seem to be the right question, because Joel’s hands were immediately on him, prodding at his head and moving a finger in front of his eyes.
“Jonah, look at me,” Joel said, and Jonah found that it was growing increasingly hard to keep his attention on Joel. “Jonah, don’t pass out. You’re bleeding a little but it’s not too bad, alright? You’re fine, just don’t pass out on me.”
Jonah snorted, rolling over as he made an attempt to stand, his ankles struggling to find balance in the heels as he started to right himself. “I’m not gonna pass out-”
And that was the last thing Jonah remembered saying before he came to in the room Joel jokingly referred to as “MedBay,” which was a table and a cabinet that held all the ship’s first aid supplies. Jonah groaned, sitting up on his elbows, partially reclined. He was on the table, his legs half hanging off of it. He was still wearing the stupid heels, and his head ached something awful. Joel was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello?” Jonah called out, exhaling sharply as a stabbing pain shot through his head from turning his neck too quickly. He settled back on the table, shutting his eyes and raising a hand to gently press at his head. He could already feel a huge welt forming. It would likely be purple and hideous by tomorrow morning.
Jonah didn’t like how quiet it was. Normally he’d at least hear the ‘bots from across the ship.
“Joel?” Jonah tried again, louder this time. The light was beginning to bother him, and he shut his eyes tight. “Hey, Joel, get in here, I think I’m dying.”
“You’re not dying,” Jonah heard Joel say, opening his eyes just in time to see Joel enter the room, holding a bottle of Tylenol and a glass of water. “You’re just mildly concussed.”
“You’re a terrible doctor, leaving your patient on his own,” Jonah quipped, attempting to sit up again. A wave of nausea struck him and he groaned, laying back down. “How’d you get me up here, anyway?”
“I had GPC to help with that,” Joel replied. “And Tom and Crow are hiding away in their room. I think they think you’re dead, which obviously isn’t a good thing, but it means they’re out of our hair for now, so…” Joel shrugged, trailing off. “Anyway, don’t move around too much, I still need to clean up the cut on your head.”
“How long was I-ouch!- out?” Jonah asked as Joel ran an alcohol wipe across his forehead.
“Not that long. I only left the room to search online for what to do with someone that’s concussed, since we don’t exactly have an ER around here.”
“Maybe the next guy Kinga sends up here will have some proper medical training,” Jonah replied, and Joel snorted.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’ll happen.” Joel removed his hands from Jonah’s head to root around in the cabinet, leaving Jonah too aware of the fact that Joel’s hands were no longer touching him. Joel pulled out a large bandage and opened the wrapping, flinging it carelessly to the floor before stepping back to Jonah’s side. Joel placed a hand at Jonah’s hairline to hold back his hair, and for a moment Jonah shut his eyes, appreciating the warmth of Joel’s palm against his stinging forehead. Joel secured the bandage then removed his hands once more, and Jonah tried not to pout.
“Let’s get you some water, alright? The website I was looking at says you need fluids.”
Jonah tried to roll his eyes, stopping halfway with a wince. “I can take care of myself now, Joel. You don’t need to force me to drink anything.”
Joel frowned. “You’re going to drink something so that you can take some Tylenol. And the website said I need to stay with you for a while, so I’m not going anywhere.”
“Well, I’m just warning you now that I’m a terrible patient. Seriously, expect days straight of whining and bitching.”
“Oh, like I don’t already deal with that on a daily basis?” Joel said with a smile, missing Jonah’s pointed gaze as he turned his back to grab a Tylenol and the glass of water he’d placed by the cabinet.
Jonah sat up enough to pop the Tylenol into his mouth and take a long swig from the glass before he passed it back to Joel and settled back against the table, groaning. He glanced down at his feet again, still in those damn heels, and he huffed, raising a hand to hide his eyes from the light. “You seriously couldn’t get these stupid things off of me before getting me in here?”
“Someone sounds grumpy,” Joel said under his breath, walking to the other end of the table. “Believe it or not, it wasn’t exactly one of the top things in my mind when you passed out on me.”
Jonah winced, both from guilt and from the stabbing pain that shot through his head again. “Sorry. Can you get these death traps off of me? I’m pretty sure that if I tried to walk out of here still wearing them that I’d just get myself concussed again.”
Joel did as he was asked, immediately giving his attention to the straps at Jonah’s ankles. “You probably shouldn’t have been showing off to Tom and Crow.”
“I wasn’t showing off,” Jonah said hotly. “I was… I was testing them out. At first. It’s not my fault that they decided to watch me, and it’s definitely not my fault that Crow decided to antagonize me. But that wasn’t showing off to them. That was for me.”
“Well, whatever your reason, I hope you learned not to jump around unless there’s nothing in the way,” Joel replied.
Jonah grumbled out, “I looked good, though,” and Joel laughed, removing the second heel. He let it drop to the floor, rounding the table.
“I’m sure you did,” Joel said, leaning down to gently kiss the top of Jonah’s head, his touch so soft that his lips barely met Jonah’s skin.
Joel’s face lingered close-by, and Jonah stared up at him, swallowing hard. There was a pause where neither of them said anything: Joel’s hand gently covered Jonah’s own, his thumb rubbing small circles. Then, Jonah cleared his throat. “Can I get off the table now?”
Joel grinned down at him. “Yeah, lemme help you down. We should probably tell Crow and Tom that you’re alive before they do anything rash like start planning your funeral.”
“Well, as long as they don’t play any Enya, I can rest easy,” Jonah replied. Joel offered him a hand and Jonah accepted it, allowing himself to be hoisted into a seated position, his head swimming from sitting up too fast. “Ugh. I think I need to go lay down in bed.”
“Then I’ll walk you there now,” Joel replied, helping him down from the table. Jonah clung to him, shutting his eyes for a moment before he was sure that he’d gotten his balance. Joel hummed softly. “That’s right, take it slow. Don’t push yourself.”
Never in Jonah’s life had the bedroom felt so far away. By the time they reached the room, he had a pounding headache and he wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the floor and sob, but Joel pushed him onward, making sure that when he finally stopped, it was because he had reached the bed.
“I just want to sleep,” Jonah murmured, reclining. “The lights are killing me.”
“I think sleeping is okay,” Joel replied, although he sounded unsure. He frowned. “I think I’m supposed to wake you up every two or three hours, though. I’ll be completely honest, Jonah, I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Jonah waved him off, his head settling down on his pillow- his wonderful, soft pillow. “You’re doing great. And if I die, at least you tried something.”
“That’s not very funny.”
Jonah closed his eyes. “Sorry. Get the light, will you? And maybe tell the ‘bots I’m alive… for now.”
“Still not funny!” Joel replied, standing. He switched off the light and Jonah listened as Joel left the room, walking down the hall to speak with the ‘bots. Jonah couldn’t make out anything that Joel said, but he could hear some back-and-forth conversation between him and the ‘bots. The sound soothed him. It had taken a long time for the Satellite of Love to feel real, and it had taken even longer for Jonah to feel like he could relax here, like it was his home. But now, he wasn’t sure if there was anywhere else that he would rather be. Not away from the ‘bots, and especially not away from Joel.
Jonah heard footsteps nearing and his eyes fluttered open just in time for Joel to enter the room, pausing in the doorway. “You’re not asleep, are you?” Joel asked, and Jonah snorted, wincing as it caused a sharp pain to shoot through his skull.
“If I was, how would I be able to answer your question?”
Joel chuckled. “Well, thought I’d check. The ‘bots have been informed of your survival.”
“Look, I know you said no more jokes about me dying-”
“I don’t like where this is going.”
“-But don’t you think it would be a little funny if I died? Just to really freak them out?”
Joel sat down on the edge of Jonah’s bed. Jonah could make out Joel’s glare, his eyes having adjusted to the dark. Joel shook his head, beginning to kick off his shoes. “Okay, new rule: no more jokes about dying, at least not for the next twenty-four hours while I play babysitter.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Jonah replied.
Joel gently nudged him over until there was room beside him for Joel to lay down. “I’m going to stay here and make sure you’re okay, alright?” Joel said, ignoring Jonah’s last statement. “If you start to feel worse, or start feeling something new, let me know. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
Jonah’s instinct was to quip back at Joel, but as he stared back at Joel’s expression, twisted with worry, all Jonah could do was nod. “Thanks, Joel.”
Joel leaned over, kissing his shoulder before he reached down and grabbed hold of the end of the blanket, bringing it up over them. Joel’s body was warm, and Jonah fought the instinct to spoon him, fairly certain that laying on his side, putting pressure on the cut, would only make him feel worse.
Under the covers, Jonah felt Joel feel around for his hand, grasping it firmly once he found it. “No more running around in heels,” Joel said softly.
“I’ll be sure to learn the basics first, instead,” Jonah replied, feeling sleep begin to encroach upon him.
There were thousands of thoughts in his head attempting to be made sense of with his tongue, things he wanted Joel to hear and know. He didn’t like to worry Joel, but he loved how dearly Joel cared for him and helped him when Jonah was in need, and the sensation building in his chest was one of a deep, enveloping love that, were Jonah not falling asleep and dizzy still from his injury, would have terrified him. But now, with Joel by his side, Jonah felt fine. Jonah felt loved.
Any words Jonah had wished to say remained unsaid as sleep overtook him, and he would forget all of these thoughts by the time Joel woke him hours later to make sure that he was fine, his hand still held tight in the grasp of Joel’s hand.