Fall (LGBT) ✅

Part 4

4.

Saturday was an early morning day.

The pain in Jeremy's leg had roused him and he, in turn, had given Duke his own wake up call so he could get his medicine. And maybe that was selfish but he didn't want to suffer through it alone and it helped having someone else there to distract him, stroking his fur and speaking in a soft, kind tone.

It felt awful, due to his low pain threshold, and he couldn't stop the whimpers from escaping. He'd obviously overdone it with the walk the day before.

"I think I'd be okay with amputating my leg if that would make the pain go away." He hissed, sinking his claws into the couch and raking at the material. "I'm not even kidding, I would do it in a heartbeat."

Duke shushed him, hands smoothing his fur, "Just a little longer, Jeremy, the meds will kick in soon."

"I think you should give me more. Those ones were faulty. I'm serious, they're not working at all."

It took a while, only a few minutes if Duke was telling the truth, but the pain faded in the way all pain seemed to, slowly and without him realising at all. It was only when he was catching his breath, clutching close to the couch, that he realised he couldn't feel the throbbing in his leg anymore and then life didn't seem so bad, after all.

"Huh," he said, "I suppose those meds worked in the end."

"I take it you're feeling better, then" Duke said.

"Yeah, much."

It was too early in the morning for any good TV and since they'd been mostly neglecting their revision, it seemed as good a time as any to catch up on it. That meant reviewing the slides on Blackboard and watching youtube videos delivered by other lecturers because they were both visual learners and just reading had never been as helpful as other methods. They were feeling pretty productive and took a break for toast and cat food which was, of course, when Callum came downstairs.

"Why are the lights on?" he asked, switching them off. "You don't need them when it's so sunny outside."

"We've been up for hours," Jeremy said, feeling like they should be cut a little slack, "and it wasn't as bright then."

"You woke up early on a weekend to study?"

"Hey! What's with that disbelieving tone?"

"I'm just surprised." He shrugged. "I didn't know you had it in you."

"It's summer exams," Duke chimed in, "and those are surprisingly motivating, even when you want to do anything but study. Also, Zoe is terrifying and we're behind on her timetable so we're playing catch up."

"How would she know if you were studying or not?"

"It's a Saturday which means she's going to be coming over later today to check on us. And she will check."

Callum frowned. "But you were supposed to come with me when I visited Thom."

Of the two options, that one sounded infinitely more enjoyable. They were adults, though, and they did have to be responsible for their own learning and that meant occasionally turning down invitations to do stuff in order to revise. It was something they'd found difficult in first year, given the opportunities and socials and the fear of missing out, but they were getting better at saying 'no', especially when they knew they couldn't afford the time wasted.

"We'll visit them another time," Jeremy decided. "We still have the whole of the Easter holidays."

Callum took their decision well, "I'm glad you're being responsible for once, that's the first good excuse you've given me in a while."