Side By Side

11

Warnings:
-None

Clay's POV

~ The Next Day ~

I sat in the car with my prosthetics next to me. I didn't know how to walk on them yet so I was going to the sports hall to train with them for the first time. Sapnap was coming too, but he was getting along with it decently so far.

I was really excited to start walking with them and when we arrived at the rehabilitation centre, I was lifted in my wheelchair by my father and he rode me inside of the building while Sapnap walked with us.

Sapnap held the door open for us and I was pushed inside, which caused me to look around me at all the things people could train on. I was excited to start too as I heard my doctor's voice.

'Hi, Clay and Sapnap!' he exclaimed after greeting my father. 'There's another therapist coming today so we can give you both the attention you need! Clay is coming with me and this-.'

He turned around and pointed behind him to another therapist. 'She will help you, Sapnap.'

She walked up to us and shook Sapnap's hand with a smile. My therapist pushed my wheelchair to two bars at equal height. I started putting on my prosthetics and he lifted me up, letting me grab the bars.

'I'm very slowly going to move your body back and forwards to imitate a walking movement. You only need to trust me that I won't let you fall and keep your feet on the ground.'

I nodded and held the bars tightly as he moved my body forwards which caused my prosthetic to move slowly. He moved me back again and continued that for a while.

'Alright. Do you think you can try to take a small step forward?'

'Yes,' I answered, focusing on moving my prosthetic leg under my knee forward. I took a step forwards and he smiled softly.

'And step back again.'

I did what he told me to and then he told me to do the same thing with the other leg. I managed to do it, but couldn't figure out how to move the prosthetic knee. He kept training and taught me how to move myself better.

~~~

After I trained for an hour, I sat back down in my wheelchair. I was exhausted after such short therapy with just standing up and stepping forwards and backwards again. I didn't move myself much lately next to training my arms by doing pull-ups and walking with my arms instead of my legs.

I sat down in my wheelchair as I waited for Sapnap to finish too. He looked really happy and it seemed to go really well too. He was moving his prosthetic arm slowly and lifted things up, putting them down again.

He finished quickly after me and ran up to me. 'How did it go? I saw you stand up and it looked really difficult but very good!'

I smiled at him. 'It was pretty good, but I'm really tired now. How did it go for you?'

'Really good! I'm so happy, I could lift some things and move it shortly. I'm really glad that we can finally start recovering now and maybe get permanent prosthetics in a while!'

I nodded happily. 'Did you remember that Karl and George are coming over today? We can show them our prosthetics!'

'Oh, yes. I'm really excited to show them,' he answered with a big smile on his face. 'Let's go to your dad.'

'Our dad, please,' I corrected him which made him turn quiet.

'Really?' he whispered, looking at me with big eyes that were filling up with tears. I noticed his lip was shaking a tiny bit because he was fighting against the tears from rolling down his face.

'Aww, come here,' I giggled as I opened my arms.

Sapnap walked closer with slow footsteps and then hugged me tightly, sniffing softly. 'I love you so much, Clay. You make me so happy.'

'I love you more, brother,' I smiled, pressing a kiss on the top of his head. He stood up again and shyly stared at the ground.

'What would happen if I would call him "dad"?' Sapnap asked. 'Would he get mad at me?'

'No, he would like that, because he sees you as his son.'

Sapnap glanced up and then walked to our father with very slow footsteps. 'Dad?' he started with a scared voice. He immediately looked away again.

'What's up, Sap?' he smiled, standing up. He wrapped his arm around Sapnap's shoulders. 'How did it go?'

Sapnap didn't answer and a big smile filled his face. He looked at his feet with dark red cheeks and then stood still. He looked up and turned to our father. He didn't say anything and then leaned in to hug him.

'Thank you for being so sweet to me. I'm going to cry because this means so much to me. I love you-... dad.'

'And I love you too, son,' he replied, ruffling his hair up. 'Want to go home?'

We both nodded and he walked up to me, riding me outside to the car.

~~~

We arrived at home and noticed George and Karl were already here. They lived really close to us so they just went here by bike.

We walked in and George ran up to me with a big smile. I pulled my prosthetics off to show them to George and Karl. 'Look! We got our prosthetics!'

'They look amazing!' they both exclaimed. George picked me up from my wheelchair and carried me to the couch, putting me down with a smile. 'How did rehabilitation go today?'

'Really well! I could stand and he taught me how to step forwards and how to move my knee and such!'

'And I could move my arm and pick up things,' Sapnap added as he sat down next to me. 'I'm really happy because they also call me their son and it makes me feel very valid. I really love everyone here.'

I rested my head on Sapnap's shoulder and Karl and George sat down on the other couch. We started talking about our days and Sapnap was just constantly smiling from happiness. He had never had a good life and finally had a family for the first time in his life.

1058 words