- Chapter 103 - Somebody please see the part that looks like a My Fair Lady reference -
Warnings: injuries, exasperated/exhausted Specs, mentions of East Side, getting soaked/hurt, drugged, abuse, burns
Third Person POV
"You still need to be very careful and you aren't allowed to walk very far until you've-"
"Healed more, I know, I know." Race rolled his eyes fondly. "Just let me get up! I want to walk without that stupid crutch!" He grinned.
Specs raised an eyebrow at him. "Would you like to walk?"
Race pursed his lips. "Yessssssss."
"Then shut your trap and let me finish."
Race rolled his eyes fondly. He gestured as if to tell Specs to continue.
"As I was saying, you can't be very active—specifically, no running or long-distance walking—until you've healed more," Specs informed Race. "You have to get the okay from me or Cloth before you can do that stuff."
Race groaned. "Great."
Specs ignored him. "You also need to be super careful, and I mean this, Racer. I know you think you're unbothered by the cold, but you were seconds away from getting hypothermia and dying when you were pulled out of the water," Specs reminded him sternly. "You need to be super careful when you're out in the cold again, selling or just for fun. Your immune system is weak."
Race raised an eyebrow at him. "All of me is weak, what's the difference?"
Specs sighed deeply. "Racetrack."
Race sighed. "I hear ya, Specs," he muttered, playing with his curls.
Specs nodded. "Good." He paused for a moment, before sighing. "If you want... you can now try walking."
Race beamed. He instantly stood up, swaying a bit. "Woah." He grimaced. "That hurt more than I expected."
Specs shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "What a shocking realization," he muttered sarcastically to himself.
Race held onto the wall to keep himself upright, his eyebrows furrowed. "Why does this feel so hard?"
"Because you haven't walked in over a week without the crutch, and I don't know how much you walked in East Side," Specs answered. "You were carried to Central Park, remember?"
Race rolled his eyes. "Painfully," he muttered.
Specs pat his shoulder lightly. "It will get easier, I promise," he assured him. "Your body is just adjusting. Your knee is still wrapped in bandages."
Race looked down at his knee. "You'd think it would be stronger," he commented. "It's been stepped on before."
Specs paused. He looked at Race for a moment. "Race, I-" he stopped himself, taking a deep breath.
Race looked at him. "What? My body got used to the burns," he reminded him. "Why can't it get used to being stepped on?"
"Oh my god." Specs pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know what? You said you wanted to visit Spot and Snowflake, didn't you?" he questioned. "Let's go do that."
Race grinned, instantly forgetting about their conversation. "Let's go!" He started leaving the room.
Specs didn't move for a moment. "God help me. This kid doesn't understand why his body won't get used to being stepped on," he muttered to himself. "And I wonder why it's so hard to keep him from getting hurt." He shook his head.
In the room where Snowflake was, Spot was sitting on the bed next to his sister, who was laying down.
They were both just talking quietly; catching up.
There was a knock on the door, causing them to both look at it.
"Come in," Snowflake said.
Race pushed the door open, grinning. "I'm allowed to walk!" He wanted to jump up and down, but was quickly reminded that that would be painful and his knee would probably give out.
Spot smiled, happy to see him more like himself. "Good for you, Racer."
Snowflake pouted. "Lucky."
Race stuck his tongue out at her.
Snowflake glared at him. "Just you wait, Racetrack Higgins," she told him. "I'll get back at you."
Race smirked. "Sure you will, sweetheart."
Snowflake grimaced. "That was gross."
"I am aware." Race shook his head to get rid of the feeling of saying it. "It will not happen again."
Snowflake nodded in approval.
Spot chuckled. He looked at the doorway, where Specs now stood.
"We went over restrictions and everything," Specs informed Spot, gesturing to Race. "Keep an eye on him. I have to go talk to Jack and then complain about stubborn leader-children to my boyfriend as I play with his hair and his head is in my lap," he informed him. "Goodbye."
Spot blinked. "Bye?" He looked at Race. "What did you do?"
Race shrugged, then winced in pain. "I dunno. I was just talking about my knee, then he muttered for god to help him," he informed his boyfriend.
Spot stared at the blond boy in front of him. "Okay... I guess."
Race turned to Snowflake. "When are you allowed to walk?"
Snowflake shrugged. She instantly regretted this action as pain shot through her. "I don't know. I guess when it hurts less?" She frowned. "It's been a pretty not-great day, but London is coming later, so I'm happy about that."
Race smiled. "That's always nice."
"Racer, why don't you sit down?" Spot suggested, getting up and gesturing for Race to take his spot.
Race raised an eyebrow at him. "But I'm allowed to be up again."
"But you're not supposed to strain it."
"Who said I'm straining it?"
"Me, and Specs would probably agree with me."
"But Specs isn't here."
"Racer." Spot sighed. "Just sit your cute butt down," he told him, gesturing to the seat on the bed again.
Race's cheeks flushed. He grumbled in annoyance, but complied and sat down.
Snowflake snickered.
Race looked at her, pouting. "What are you laughing at?"
Snowflake smirked. "How adorably you try to stand up to Spot and he's still the flirty one in control of your relationship," she answered.
Race pouted. "He is not."
Spot raised an eyebrow at him.
Race ignored him. "I bet London's the one that makes you blush," he responded.
Snowflake chuckled. "She is not... usually," she said. She paused for a moment as she thought. "We both kinda are, I guess."
"I can make Spot blush, too," Race defended himself.
The siblings looked at him, both of them raising their eyebrow at him.
"Racer," Spot chuckled, "we've been through this."
Spot quickly pulled him back, Race's back against Spot's front and Spot's arms around his waist.
Race puffed out his bright red cheeks and crossed his arms, glaring at Hotshot. "It didn't work," he grumbled.
Hotshot snickered. "That's cause someone told him," he informed him.
Ace chuckled, his arms crossed.
Race groaned. "Who was it?" he asked Hotshot. "I promise I'll only kick them a little bit."
Hotshot chuckled.
Spot pulled Race a little closer to him. He kissed his forehead, letting his lips linger their for a moment. "And that's why we aren't telling you," he murmured in his ear.
Race grumbled Italian curses under his breath.
Race pursed his lips. He rolled his eyes. "I will show you..." he paused for a moment, "...some other day. I'm really tired." He laid his head down on the bed, his feet still dangling off.
Spot chuckled. "Mhm. Sure, you will." He crossed his arms and sat down in a chair by the bed.
Snowflake chuckled, playing with Race's hair gently. His head was laying on her legs. She looks at her brother. "You two are really cute."
Spot smiled. "I love him." He watched Race, who's eyes were closed.
He wasn't sure if Race was pretending to sleep or was actually asleep, but if he was just pretending, he wasn't listening and probably wasn't going to be awake much longer.
Snowflake smiled. "He loves you too."
Spot's smile grew.
1364 Words
I did what iwantaferret_ said and I wrote another chapter (also because I didn't want the last chapter to be on an odd number (although, five would've been fine)). Thank you for your help, Ferret.
The next chapter will be the last chapter (minus bonus chapters), so I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and have enjoyed the book. It's almost done lol