Chapter Text
soft clouds spread through the thick heavy realm that was ollie bearman’s half asleep mind, shifting into sheep and back to clouds that spread in his semi open eyes. faint repeated beeping cut through his daze, becoming stronger with each sound, it couldn’t be the fire alarm, because he wouldn’t be breathing if it was, and obviously he was.
Maybe Arthur forgot the fridge door open again…he’s been so hyperactive the last couple of days you would think something exciting was happening, though it never did. as he slowly came to, he realized the noise was closer than expected. Finally opening his eyes and adjusting to the sunlight slipping through the curtains of th...his bedroom he looked to his left to see the o2 machine screaming at him for a refill. Fuck. he never runs through it this quick, after all he has been only asleep for 8 hours, but as he looks at the clock on the opposite of his bed and focuses his eyes enough to make out the number 12, he realizes he seriously fucked up.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and got up, careful to not completely jostle his heart and make himself pass out, because he already slept enough. Getting off the bed and grasping the wooden nightstand just to make sure he truly wasn’t about to faint he slowly straightened up and took a few steps to reach the white dresser, clearly chafed from years of kids using it and probably cracking their head open passing out on it if the rubber baby proofing was anything to go by.
He opened the top drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers, hoodie and his favorite black sweatpants. Swinging them over his shoulder he walked into the the white tiled bathroom he shared with two other boys, matteo and alexander, or alex as he preferred to be called, they both have been here longer than him, but most people here were.
He put his clean clothes on the rubber covered plastic hanger on the door to his room that apparently has gotten a very unfortunate makeover before he moved in because according to matteo “some idiot decided banging his head into a door would make his headache go away and ended up spraying blood out of his skull”, as he so delicately put it.
Alex’s stuff was in the shower; anti-bacterial soap he no doubt stole from one of the nurses again after they took his, his face wash and shampoo, all organized in labeled plastic bottles he bought last time they were out and made ollie refill after washing his hands because he doesn’t know if anyone in the store “has a contagious disease that will kill me” at least he doesn’t think ollie is contagious anymore.
Ollie strips out of his Gingham PJ pants, he doesn't need to take off his shirt because well, he doesnt wear one to bed. He stopped doing it a couple of years ago for what his doctor called “easy access” but he called it a very good recipe for choking him. Luckily this house has proper isolation, unlike the last one where they had to have someone in his room while he slept to make sure it didn't burn down from the heating.
He steps into the shower and turns on the dial, trying to find that perfect temperature that won’t be too cold for his lungs, won’t make him pass out either, and not feel like absolute torture on his skin, it was something he perfected over the last couple of years, after he was finally allowed to shower without a nurse sitting near the shower.
The water falls out of the shower head onto the silicone ducky stickers on the shower floor and splatter as they do, dancing around on the granite and jumping onto Ollie’s legs as he steps into the stall and closes the glass doors behind him. He feels the stuffed cotton in his brain slowly loosen up,allowing some thoughts to nudge their way in. the drops drip down on his forehead, slipping to his eyelids and catching on his eyelashes before drip down his cheek and landing on his lip. He lets it fall on the yellow plastic and down the drain.
his mind drifts off, the rainy sounds numbing his brain, dragging him down back memory lane and suddenly, he’s 7 again. Standing in front of the monkey enclosure as his teacher spoke about the baboon’ courting habits as a drop lends in his palm and drags some dirt as it does, as the rainfall quickens, his classmates start running to find cover, a couple of girls yelling. But ollie doesn’t mind, the rain comes down on his hair and clothes and he can hear his teacher yelling for him to get inside, but right now, nothing else matters.
Opening his eyes, he realizes the water is starting to make him dizzy. He steps out of the shower, dripping all over the mat, and goes to grab his towel, it smells a little off, but he doesn’t really care, he’ll throw it in the laundry later. He sits on the plastic stool and pulls on his boxers and pants before pulling on his hoodie and walking out into the hallway barefoot.
The corridor smelled of hardwood cleaner and a light tang of sage that juana, the head nurse of the house and an overly superstitious woman uses to cleanse its aura. Ollie paces out of the door frame, scraping the light wood with his fingernails.
He walks past the book cabinet filled with kid’s stories and cheap tacky ornaments meant to give a homey feeling and past the carpet clad stairs. Matteo was on the large sectional, watching his favorite show, “house M.D” which was ironic considering his Lupos. “Look who it is, sleeping beauty is awake. Did you have a nice nap Principessa?”. Oh that asshole, like he doesn’t sleep 14 hours a day. “Fuck off Matteo” he walks over to sit on the large plush chair near the wall and sighs as he does, taking notice of Yvette in the kitchen as she tries to keep Alex from touching the medicine cabinet because he wants to test everything for lead yet again. Yvette is a pretty young nurse, she's about 23, and has been in the house since just before Ollie arrived, Matteo admitted to them about a month ago that he has a huge crush on her, and since then, they’ve all been teasing him nonstop. After she finally managed to get Alex to leave the ibuprofen alone and sit down next to Matteo she turns to the chair that Ollie is sitting on and smiles at him. “Hey, how are you feeling buddy? You slept for a while huh?” ollie lifts his head off his socks he was trying to focus on in order to throw up. “Yeah, feeling freaking fantastic” god, even he's sick of the sarcasm. “I can see that, I'll get you your meds and I'd like you to eat something then you can go back to bed if you'd like, or stay here, Genevieve and Arthur are supposed to be back soon.”
Yep, meds again, eating when he feels like throwing up, that's the life.