Side By Side

10

Warnings:
-None

Clay's POV

~ A Few Weeks Later ~

Sapnap and I were excitedly waiting for the doctor to arrive. We would get our prosthetics today and I was so incredibly excited to see how it felt and how they worked.

He still came to my house since I didn't have legs and it took me a lot of effort to go to the rehabilitation centre. Once I knew how to use the prosthetics better, I was going to train there which was way easier and more effective.

These last few weeks, I fully got my hearing back. The doctor did multiple tests and stated that I had been getting my hearing back for weeks now, but it had been going so slow that we didn't notice it at first.

My hearing got better and better and I heard seventy percent with one ear and eighty-three with the other. They were still improving and it made me so happy since my dream of joining the army again got bigger and closer now I was also getting my prosthetics.

Sapnap rested his head on my shoulders as I had my arm around his shoulders. My parents had been calling him son and I called him my brother a lot which made him so incredibly happy that he just cried about it.

George and Karl visited a lot and he was alone with them for a second. I heard them talk and he was telling them about us and that he was so incredibly happy. I felt so happy when I heard how happy he was and kept calling him my brother to see him smile.

'Clay?' Sapnap asked with a soft voice. 'Maybe this is dumb... but I'm a bit scared to get the prosthetic arm in a minute. I'm scared it will hurt me a lot or not fit.'

'I promise you that it will be alright,' I comforted him. 'They measured it all and the doctor will make sure you won't have pain!'

He breathed out and nodded slowly, waiting for the doctor to come.

~~~

Sapnap opened the door for the doctor who walked in with a big smile. 'Are you ready?'

I nodded heavily as he walked in with all the things he needed. 'Can you help Clay first? I'm just a bit scared.'

'Of course. Alright, we have these prosthetics now but you might eventually want to make the choice to get permanent prosthetics which is also called an artificial implant. Since you need to rehabilitate firstly for months to years, this is usually the best choice for now.'

I nodded as the doctor lifted one of my prosthetics up. 'This is the one for this leg, the other one has a knee part which is difficult to get used to.'

'Okay,' I replied as he showed me some things.

He put a sock kind of thing around my stump and lifted my shorts up, pushing it up. He grabbed the prosthetic and let me push my leg in it. Sapnap helped me stand up to make sure it fitted and the doctor showed me the other steps as I giggled softly.

He checked everything and made me sit down. 'And? How does it feel?'

I couldn't stop laughing from happiness and I lifted my hands up to my face as I felt tears in my eyes. The doctor and Sapnap made me sit down again and I looked down as he was putting on my other prosthetic leg too.

I started sobbing softly, wiping my tears away. It didn't help much because they kept streaming down from happiness. The doctor put the other leg on too and put my shorts down again, lifting me up.

'How does it feel?' he asked with a smile, holding me really tightly since I had no idea how to move myself yet.

'Good,' I whispered, hitching a breath. 'I'm so happy.'

'I'm really happy for you too, Clay,' he answered. 'Do you have pain? Is there anything uncomfortable?'

I put pressure on both my legs and shook my head. 'I don't think so for as far as I can know right now.'

He held me tightly as he moved my body around so I could feel it better. After that, he made me sit down again and smiled. 'Is it good? If you're completely sure we can start rehabilitation tomorrow!'

'I'm sure,' I smiled. 'I don't know how to move yet, but I hope I will learn that soon! Am I eventually going to get permanent prosthetics or would I have had to choose for that before getting these?'

He shook his head. 'This is to recover and these prosthetics will most likely have to be replaced in six months to a year because you're really active and I heard you want to train for the army again. We can choose to replace them with implants which are permanent prosthetics before that time too, but it will cost a lot of money. I'm pretty sure the insurance covers a lot, though.'

I nodded heavily and sat on the couch, looking at the prosthetics with a big smile on my face. He went to Sapnap and started the process with him as well as I couldn't stop looking at my legs. I was so happy now I had them on and I couldn't wait to start training and maybe even get surgery for permanent ones.

I knew it would cost a lot of money, but luckily my parents had really good jobs and my grandparents used to be rich so my father got a lot from them as well.

After looking at them for minutes, I looked at Sapnap who had his prosthetic arm on. He was also smiling really brightly and looked at it, tapping it with his finger to feel how it felt. He tried to move his arm a bit and giggled softly as he sat down next to me.

'I'm so happy too now, I'm so glad we finally got them and maybe we will get permanent ones one day. I'm so happy you gave me the chance to be here because otherwise I would have never gotten this.'

'You're my brother, my family and my parents' son. If they help me get prosthetics, they will help you too. You're just as much of a son to them as I am.'

He hugged me tightly with the biggest smile I'd ever seen.

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