Trauma - Shudderkin au

Chapter Three - And Larrikin is a Mess

"Welcome to my nightmares, 
of fire, blood and darkness.
The void of sky above, 
like my soul, endless and starless."

~

It had been a week since his first session with Larrikin. A week entirely uneventful. Although he was on the lookout for a job, Anton could find nothing that would suit him. He needed something to do with himself. He was getting bored out of his mind and didn't know how the others managed with so much free time. Well, Erskine didn't have much free time, But Dexter and Saracen had way too much on their hands.

It was a typical Friday morning in the share house. Ghastly in his workshop, Erskine at work, and Dexter and Saracen playing video games with Donegan and Gracious, two of their best friends. Shudder had tried to sleep in again. He didn't get very far. He was awake and eating breakfast by 8am, welcomed downstairs by the sound of the blokes yelling at Mario kart.

Shudder got half way through eating soggy oats before giving up on food. He didn't have much of a stomach for it lately and he'd had a particularly bad nightmare that night. He sighed and put his spoon down, taking his bowl over to the sink. He scraped the sloppy semi-solid into the basin and turned the tap on, letting the water wash his porridge down the drain. He put the bowl and spoon in the dish washer and went back upstairs to shower and get dressed.

~

Larrikin woke up to the sound of Billy Joel. He sat up and stretched, the worlds 'We didn't start the fire' carrying from the lounge room. How was Hopeless up before him? That never happened. He fumbled for his phone on the wooden bedside table and checked the time. "Well fuck." He mumbled to himself. It was already 10am. Then realisation sunk in. It was 10am. His first patient of the day had cancelled but he had Anton Shudder at 10.

He leaped out of bed and rushed to pull on some clothes. He went into the bathroom and let out a quiet scream at the sight of the mess atop his head that was supposed to be his hair. He struggled for a solid minute with a comb and gave up, running out of the bed room and into the kitchen. In his panic, his socked feet slid across the tiled kitchen floor and he ended up in a heap after hitting his head on the pantry. Limbs twisted around each other, Larrikin cried out for help.

"Hopeless you useless piece of shit, come here!"

Already on his way after hearing the loud thud as Larrikin ran into the pantry, he looked down at the ginger and crossed his arms.
"Well aren't you an idiot."
"Did you not think to wake me earlier?!"
"I thought you needed the rest. I also thought you had already gone to work."
Larrikin let out an exasperated sigh as he reached up a hand for help. The taller man helped him up and sat him on the kitchen bench.
"Now, I know you are late for work but your head is bleeding. You must have hit it pretty hard. So I'm going to play doctor and patch you up. I'll ring your work and say you've had an accident and all will be good."
Larrikin groaned, resting his head in his hands. This was going to be a long day, he just knew it.

~

Shudder sat with one leg crossed over the other. He was in the waiting room of the psychologist organisation hub. He had arrived ten minutes early as he was supposed to, and filled out the survey the receptionist handed him. That was thirty minutes ago now and he was wondering whether he'd gotten the day wrong. He wouldn't be surprised if all the days of doing nothing was making him mix things up. But he was sure the appointment was for 10am on Friday and it was now twenty past... He sighed.

Just then the receptionist came over. She was a tall beautiful women with long black hair and startlingly pale blue eyes.
"Apologies, Mr Shudder, but Larrikin is running late. He has run into an accident at home but he shouldn't be too much longer."
Shudder nodded and the woman went back to behind the desk. She was probably supposed to be doing things at the computer but she picked up a very old looking book and began reading.

Ten minutes later, the short, freckled, ginger man ran into the room. He had a bandage around his forehead and his hair was sticking up at odd angles around it. He must have hit his head. He slowed down as he reached the receptionist. "China, I am soooo sorry I am late. It won't happen again." And before she could even respond he was in front of Shudder.
"Anton, why don't you come this way? I'm very sorry I'm late, I'm not normally like this."
He nodded and stood, following the frantic Larrikin into his office.

The shorter man placed his bag on his computer chair and grabbed a notepad and pen. He quickly took a seat on the purple couch.
"So, Anton, before we get started, is there anything you'd like to mention? Any questions or queries you might have?"
Shudder walked slowly over to the couches and took a seat on the orange one. "Nothing comes to mind." He said quietly, taking in the sight before him.
Larrikin had put his shirt on inside out. The collar was sticking up on one side and on the other it was half tucked into the shirt. Somehow the man had managed to do up his buttons with the shirt inside out, but he hadn't managed to do up his fly. Yet Shudder was the one here with problems and Larrikin, with his hair sticking up haphazardly, was the psychologist.

"Okay. Good, good. Let's begin. So how has your week been?" He asked, cracking his knuckles and picking up the pen.
"Your shirt is inside out." Shudder noted, his voice low and deep like usual.
"That sounds like fu- Wait what?" He looked down at himself. "Oh..."
Anton watched with a small smile as the psychologist cursed at himself and struggled to undo his buttons.
"How the heck did I even manage to do these up in the first place?" He grumbled to himself. The taller man chuckled quietly. "Your fly is undone also."
Larrikin, his face now a deep shade of scarlet, quickly did up his fly before returning to trying to get his shirt off.
"Maybe you should do that in the bathroom? I don't think it would be professional to strip in front of a client." Shudder was having too much fun. A grin spread across his face as he watched the man scurry out of the room quickly.

As Larrikin was gone he took the opportunity to get a better look at the room. He noticed the whiteboard, things only half erased, and stood up, going over to it. There was a little spray bottle of whiteboard cleaner and he used it and the eraser to clear the board sufficiently. He sat back down but noticed the papers and folders on the coffee table in front of him. It was a mess. He gathered them into one big pile and straightened them before putting them down on the table again. That was better.

Beforelong the ginger man returned, his shirt the right way around and his collarsitting nicely. He sat down and let out a sigh.
"Okay. Where were we?"
"You were asking how my week was."
"Ah. Yes. How was your week?"

~

[ And I gave up with the poem references within the chapter but hey, at least there is a poem? That isn't really related to the story....]