And They Were Roommates

|6|

October 30, Sunday Evening
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The treehouse painting sat on the table, hopefully he would be able to take it down with him during visiting hours. He was glad they had it today of all days, though it didn't make him feel completely better it did certainly help him enough. That's all that matters, right? At least he could muster up the will to talk and do small things.

"Your turn." Philip placed a card on the table. The only thing to do besides the usual was playing from a deck of cards. Simple time waster that does what it needs to do. Larry cockily smirks, placing one of his cards on the table quickly.

"Damn it."

"You suck at this man." Larry laughed along with the others at the table as Philip lightly punched his shoulder.

"Knock it off over there. Drink." Dr. Brown said, not caring about the groaning.

Turns out everyone was found to be dehydrated after the blood test results came in, so no more juice, only the disgusting water. Something was definitely off about it, it made everyone feel woozy. Even more so than usual. Even so the game resumed.

"God damn it! Ugh I will literally stab you with this pencil." One of the people joked as Dr. Brown left the room.

Following the snickers, the door opened again, Dr. Brown came in the door with none other than Travis. Larry barely noticed it, but he could almost see something off about him. He saw Dr Brown gestured towards the group and Travis shaking his head pointing to the empty chair at the back of the room. Larry stopped caring after that and continued his turn.

At the end of the fifth round, Larry was the majority winner with two wins, the other three wins from different people. Casual conversation ensued until it hit the designated time.

"Alright guys, I need Stephanie, Jason, Larry, and Kyle to come with me you have people who came to see you. Everyone else stay here, let's get you guys down there.

"Hey, can I bring my painting? I want to give it to my mom." Larry quickly said, another person following up with a 'same here'.

"Yeah, be quick."

They got their things and went to the cafeteria, this wasn't the first time he had come down for visiting hours. His mom came in every time she could and called as well when she wasn't working. He saw her and quickly ran up to her as she hugged him tightly.

"Hey Larbear, how's it going." She let go of him sitting down.

"It's going." He chuckled tiredly handing her the painting. "I made this during art therapy.

"It's beautiful! I swear everytime you paint I can only see you improving."

"Heh, thanks mom. How are you? You haven't been working too too hard, have you?"

"You worry too much, everything's going to be okay. There's much work to do, but it's okay." She grabs his hand and gently rubs her thumb over his knuckles. He looks her in her eyes, he almost wants to cry right there and then, but he holds it in as well as his other feelings. Larry grips her hand back, avoiding her gaze for the rest of the little time they had.  Talking about life in and out of the hospital, catching up, etc. Then way too soon, it was time to go, and just as always, Larry was internally scared. Though he still hugged her goodbye until he was told to come back.

All that was left for the day was finishing the goal sheets and taking medicine. Which thankfully went by quickly, God knows how tired he was. He didn't bother to change still, lying on the bed until Travis walked in. He didn't say anything, not even looking at him. He just swayed his way onto his bed, curling up into a ball. Larry wasn't going to lie, it was very strange, he also was curious about what happened. They had Travis is that room for almost a day and a half. He kept quiet though, letting his body take over as he fell asleep.