Work Text:
Jake woke up and immediately hissed in pain. There was a pulsing, throbbing ache in his legs that he knew was going to make his day a living hell.
He turned over, untangling himself from the comforter and placing his feet on the floor. Feeling the chill of tile rather than the expected soft rug beneath him momentarily shocked him enough to forget about the pain; he kept forgetting he wasn't in his house anymore.
He looked around for his crutches, spotting them against the opposite wall. His apartment bedroom was small, all he could afford with his parents leftover money, but in that moment it felt like the greatest distance he'd ever had to cross.
He stumbled to his feet, muttering a curse as a jab of pain shot through him. It felt like his legs were burning (no. No. Bad word choice). With shaky steps, he made his way to his crutches, leaning against them for support.
Not that it helped at all, his feet rebelled against every step he took, even leaning nearly all his weight onto the crutches wasn't enough to stop pain pulsing from his aching limbs. He bought his crutches over to his bed, leaning them there as he lay flat on his back in hope it would help.
It did not.
Jake groaned, rubbing at his face angrily, of course his body had to give up on him today. The day he had planned to get his pending assignment done, the day his best friend was supposed to come over and hang out, just the two of them.
Rich. He would have to tell him to cancel. There was no way he would be any fun like this.
He turned to his bedside table, spotting his medicine bottle sitting innocently atop it. That shit was supposed to stop days like this from happening. ‘Treatment’, yeah right. With a huff, he reached for his phone, purposefully upsetting the bottle and letting it clatter across the floor. Good riddance.
The screen thankfully didn't hurt his eyes as he opened up his messaging app; the last thing he needed was a headache on top of all of this.
JakeyD: hey dude, raincheck on the hangout today
WTFRichard: aw shit seriousky? I was waiting for this all week
Jake felt a stab of guilt.
JakeyD: yeah man, sorry. My legs r acting up today
WTFRichard: oh shit
WTFRichard: im coming over
JakeyD: to do ehat??
WTFRichard: ?? to spend time with my best bro whos having a crappy day???
Jake felt a smile unfurl across his face against his will. His best friend was too stubborn for his own good. He glanced around the room, it wasn't the cleanest it had ever been but it wasn't too messy either. Rich had seen worse. Rich lived in worse.
With a shrug, he swiped off the messaging app, content to doom scroll until Rich got there. He had a spare key, Jake figured he would let himself in.
He had lost track of time when a knock sounded from the hall, followed shortly by the sound of a door creaking open. As he assumed, Rich made his way to his bedroom unannounced. “Hey” he greeted, standing in the doorway.
“Hey” Jake said, closing the stupid dog video he was watching. Rich glanced around, noting the crutches leaned against the bed and the medicine bottle rolled halfway across the floor. He didn't ask about a wheelchair. He knew Jake's pain flare-ups made it difficult to move in general, regardless of what aids he had on hand.
Instead, he held up the satchel on his shoulder, displaying a laptop case “You wanna watch a movie?” He offered “I can order pizza for breakfast”.
Jake sighed, smiling, feeling the most normal he had felt all morning “Yeah” he replied easily “Thank you”.