O U T | The Group Chat

CHAPTER 11

Larry sighed and pressed the button on the blender that set the blades to work which in mere seconds turned all the fruit he'd stuffed inside into a smoothie. He stopped the machine and moved to look for a properly large cup that he could fill with the mixture when a soft groan resonated from the couch still sitting in the corner of the room. As he poured the smoothie into the glass, making sure to scoop out anything remaining inside with a wooden spoon, he watched Tanner from the corner of his view.

The taller scrambled up to sit on the edge of the couch and slowly began raising his arms up and down, wincing softly.

"Does it still hurt?" Larry asked while putting the blender into the sink and turning on the faucet.

"After I wake up. But only a bit" the taller said and stretched out cautiously "I'm just a bit afraid to move them in full range"

"That's reasonable" Larry hummed. He doubted the other wanted to go through basically laying down for days with only minimal movement of his arms as his muscles stitched themselves back together all over again. The shorter had to admit it was still impressive and a tiny bit scary how well the other's body handled the whole procedure seeing that after a week he was already able to walk and move his arms almost normally.

Tanner stood up and stretched again, rolling his shoulders in a testing manner, looking almost surprised when evidently no pain shot through his nerves.

"How does... Overall, how do you feel?" Larry finished washing the blender and let it rest on a paper towel before he shook his hands to get rid of most of the water still clinging to them. He then moved to dry them with a cotton cloth he kept hanging on the handle of the oven.

Tanner knew that beside basic care, Larry's question held an underlying layer of concern regarding their plans — the day to meet up with Yumi came. To be quite honest he felt... good. It was a bit scary even to him, just how quickly his body patched itself up together. Still, despite the odd, uneasy feeling it brought onto his mind, he forced himself to think positively — he was free, he was fine and he was finally ready to go out there and see what the world looked like. No matter how shitty the circumstances were, he remained somewhat excited.

"I'm good" he stood up and smiled stiffly "Are you?"

Larry sighed looked at the glass of fruit smoothie standing on the counter in front of him "Yeah... I'm just— It's weird. I kinda feel bad for coercing Yumi to follow me into literal fire... I... I don't want any of them to get hurt, you know?" He glanced at the taller who hummed thoughtfully.

"We're just going to talk. If he still doesn't change his mind after that we let go. I don't see this as a bad thing, really... But I guess I see destroying that fucking place as an innately good thing so anyone who thinks otherwise is a bit of an idiot in my opinion" he cracked a deivilish smirk.

Larry looked to the side "I get him..." — he truly did. He understood what it meant to be scared, truly scared. Fear was the most apparent factor that drove him back to the lab again and again in the first place... He sighed "But whatever. You're right, we'll do what we can and that'll be that. Besides, that's a perfect excuse to finally go the fuck outside" he chuckled somewhat bitterly and began downing his fruit smoothie.

Tanner smiled "Yes sir it is" he moved to the couch where both his and Larry's outfits were laying prepared since yesterday. He eyed the T-shirt he was provided and looked at the shorter. Since he's been walking around the house mostly shirtless this was in fact the first time he would be putting something on himself without... his wing getting in the way. He touched and felt the fabric between his fingers before he finally pulled the shirt over his head and adjusted it on himself. He swung his arms back and forth almost as if testing if the cotton wouldn't suddenly tear completely in him.