Love You Regardless

19

CW's:
-Muscle disease
TW's:
-Mentions abuse/bullying
-Panic attack (skippable)

Clay's POV

I was with my brother and Wolly after I went to the llama again. I was just sitting down as I suddenly saw George walking in the distance. I saw him falling down. I stood up and ran to George to hold his hand. I helped George up and smiled.

'Hello,' I said quietly.

'Hi, Clay. Thank you for helping me.'

'Do you want to come to Wolly? I saw a horse and a llama today. And a cow! The llama looked a little bit like Wolly the Llama and I sat on the horse. The horse started walking and I laid down on his back. I didn't sleep well, so I fell asleep.'

'That sounds great.'

'I'm very tired,' I muttered and closed my eyes.

'Why didn't you sleep well?'

I sat down next to my brother and hugged him. 'I had four nightmares.'

'Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?'

I nodded and smiled. 'Look, Wolly.'

George hugged Wolly, but my brother looked at him weirdly.

'Why are you already back from school?'

George shrugged. 'People were mean to me so I just left.'

'Do you get bullied?'

I shrugged. 'Yeah, I got bullied before moving because I was going to move to a farm and I get bullied because I'm weak.'

'Weak?'

George shrugged. 'Leave it, no one believes me anyway.'

'No, tell me about it. I believe you.'

George sighed softly. 'I think something is wrong, I don't exactly know what. I think I might have a muscle disease or something.'

'Oh gosh, why do you think that?'

'I get weaker every day, I'm losing all my muscles and a lot more. I can't run, I can barely walk and everything always hurts.'

My brother lifted his hands. 'Can you try to push my hands to my chest?'

George shrugged. 'You're just going to laugh at me.'

'I won't, I promise you.'

'Okay,' George muttered as he tried his hardest to push my brother's hands away. He didn't even managed to move my brother's hands and gave up as he got tired. 'I know, I'm just weak.'

'But that's not normal, because I noticed you really trying.'

'My dad gets mad at me when I say anything about it and so does my mum. I think it's better to leave it.'

'No, it's not better to leave it at all. Muscles diseases are very dangerous to leave untreated.'

'My dad wouldn't be too happy with me. I'll talk to him. Can we go inside? You can stay here if you want.'

I smiled and stood up. 'I want to be inside with you.'

George's face heated up slightly and we went inside. I sat down on the couch, but suddenly felt my brother grab my hand. 'Come, Clay. Let's sit somewhere else, okay?'

'Why? I like the couch.'

TW PANIC ATTACK

I sat back down as I suddenly saw the fireplace in front of me. Within literal seconds, I felt tears stream down my face and my chest tightened so much that I hyperventilated within a second too. George didn't know what was happening, but he sat down next to me and grabbed Wolly, laying it down on my neck so I could cuddle with it.

He grabbed my other hand, letting me put my thumb in my mouth as he grabbed his phone after.

'Clay, I'm very interested in your fish videos, would you like to show me one?'

I sniffed loudly, but managed to nod. George looked something up and showed me his screen. 'Which one do you recommend?'

I clicked the second video and George carefully scooted closer to me, knowing I didn't like people touching me a lot. He looked at me and smiled. 'Is it okay if I wrap my arm around you and we lay down for a little?'

I nodded slowly and George laid down with me in his arms. I rested my head on his chest and calmed down because of his calm heartbeat while watching the video of the fish meanwhile. I was happy that George didn't find me weird for putting my thumb in my mouth and I curled up like a ball in his arms.

TW OVER

My breathing rhythm went down by a lot and I felt a bit calmer again when I had been watching the video for five minutes. My brother sat down on a chair in front of us and smiled at the sight of us cuddling.

'Clay? Would you like me to tell George about what happened?'

I nodded slowly.

'Would you like to wear your noise suppressing headphones when I talk to him or do you think you will be able to handle it without them on?'

I shrugged and noticed that I was too tired to really reply. I had so many panic attacks and nightmares that it was driving me insane.

Instead of answering my brother, I felt a tear roll down my face and George hugged me tightly as he smiled at me. 'Do you think I can kiss your forehead?' George asked me.

I smiled shyly and George pressed his lips on my forehead, breaking apart quickly after. He wiped my tears away and grabbed my free hand. 'I think you're very strong, Clay. Wolly likes you a lot and he's taking care of you now you're a little bit sad, okay?'

I nodded and hugged Wolly tightly as George let me rest my head on his chest again. I was distracted by the video and clicked on another one as I vaguely heard my brother speak at me.

'Clay, your brother is asking you something. Did you hear him?'

I shook my head and pointed at the fish swimming on the screen.

'That's a beautiful fish! Your brother asked you if you are sure that he can tell me what happened?'

I nodded.

'Do you want your headphones?' George asked me after that.

I shook my head and looked back at the video as my brother started talking to George. I was so concentrated on the video that I barely even heard them speak, which was probably better. I wouldn't panic like this.

1031 words