Side By Side

3

Warnings:
-None

Clay's POV

Later that day, I had an appointment with a rehabilitation doctor who came to my house. He was also coming for Sapnap, after my appointment, since he moved in with us for now until there would be another option. Otherwise he would just live with us for as long as he wanted to.

I was laying on the couch like I did almost the whole day and sat with Sapnap for a while, leaning against his body so I wouldn't fall down. He was currently walking outside for a little while to leave me and my rehabilitation doctor alone.

I was waiting for the doctor to arrive, but I couldn't hear the bell ringing so my father was here to open the door for me when he was here.

~~~

My father tapped my shoulder and pointed to a door, making a sign that meant doctor in sign language. I nodded slowly and he walked to the door, opening it as the doctor came in. He knew I was deaf so I figured he would talk clearly so I could read his lips.

He walked in with a soft smile and then lifted his hands up, signing at me. I smiled as I realised he knew sign language and I signed back, grabbing my phone to look up a few signs.

'Hello, doctor. Thank you for coming,' I signed.

He nodded and lifted his hands up again. 'Of course, I'm here to help you.'

I smiled brightly and kept looking at him while he signed more things to me. I had to look up some signs and he showed me which ones he meant by typing it on my phone. Eventually, he started signing while articulating really well so I could either look at the signs or his mouth.

'I'm going to take off the bandage to take care of the wounds.'

I nodded as he sat down on the couch, carefully taking the bandage off. He stopped after one leg and looked at me. 'Tell me if you have a lot of pain,' I saw him say.

I closed my eyes because I wasn't ready to see my legs, it hurt me too much to realise I would never be able to join the army again...

The doctor took care of my left leg first. This leg was completely gone till my hip. My other leg was gone from just a bit under my knee because during the surgery in the hospital, they couldn't save my shin anymore. The bone was shattered, I had such bad burns that it would never heal anymore if they didn't amputate it.

After he bandaged my left stump again, I started sobbing softly. He lifted himself up and looked at me, talking to someone behind me. I glanced up to see who it was and saw my father smiling shortly.

He walked up to me and knelt down next to the couch while the doctor rolled me to my side so he could reach my leg better. My father made me concentrate on him and he started making weird and funny faces.

I smiled softly, he wiped my tears away and pressed a kiss on my forehead, sticking his tongue out to me. It made me giggle softly and he turned around, holding his finger up so I'd wait for him to come back.

He ran off and I laid in silence, waiting for him to come back. It took a short while before he came back and then he knelt back down in front of the couch, holding two stuffed animals up.

One was a very soft bear and another one was a dinosaur with a funny face. He smiled and started playing with them to entertain me. I laughed softly and he handed them to me after making me chuckle a lot.

I grabbed the bear and rubbed my finger over the skin to feel how soft it was while the doctor took care of the wounds. My father pointed at him and rolled me to my back as I looked at the doctor again.

'It's healing well, do you want to practise sitting up?'

I nodded slowly and let myself get picked up. He put me down in the middle of the couch and smiled shortly as he held my arm. I looked at his lips in case he was going to talk to me and he opened his mouth.

'I'm going to let go.'

He softly pulled his hand away, but I immediately fell down to my left side, trying to push myself up. The doctor helped me sit up again and signed to me that I needed to lean to my right side.

I did what he told me to and then shook my head. 'Pain,' I whispered, falling down on the couch. 'I just want to go outside.'

The doctor understood what I said and then smiled. 'Then we will go outside!' I saw him say.

I frowned as he nodded happily, grabbing a wheelchair with pillows on the sides so I couldn't fall down and didn't have to put pressure on the stumps either since that hurt a lot.

The doctor picked me up and put me down in the wheelchair, riding me to the door. I smiled because I was really excited to go outside in my wheelchair. It didn't hurt to sit up now which made me really happy.

The doctor pushed the wheelchair outside as I saw Sapnap sitting down on a bench in the distance. I started waving at him and he stood up with a happy smile, speeding up to go to me.

'I'm sitting!' I told him. He smiled brightly and lifted his hands to sign to me.

'I learnt more sign language. I'm happy for you!' he signed while articulating well so I could look at his lips when I didn't understand a sign he was making.

'Hug?' I signed which caused him to smile. He stepped closer to me and wrapped his arm around me, ruffling my hair up. He looked up after a while and I saw his mouth move, talking to the doctor behind me.

I ignored it because he talked too fast for me to understand. I started playing with my fingers until Sapnap knelt down in front of me, grabbing my hand.

'Do you want to stay outside?'

I shook my head since I was very cold and tired so they took me inside. The doctor picked me up again and laid me down on the couch as he sat with Sapnap to take care of the wounds from his arm amputation.

1109 words