A Wall Between

Chapter 27

Cooper had cut his grocery trip short, paid for what he had, and headed for home immediately, a million paranoid thoughts flooding his mind. In cases like these, his extremely active brain did him no favours. It had so many suggestions for what might be wrong with Sasha. Was he angry about something? Had something happened to him? Was he leaving?

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe Sasha had just wanted to hang out and was too shy to say so. It didn't feel like nothing, though.

Cooper jogged upstairs, tossed the groceries into his own apartment for someone else to put away later, and knocked on Sasha's door. The look on Sasha's face when he opened the door confirmed that something wasn't right.

"Um," Sasha said, his hand bunching up the bottom of his shirt. "Can you take me to the doctor?"

"Yeah, of course. Is something wrong?"

Sasha pulled up the leg of the loose sweatpants he was wearing, revealing a wad of tissue taped around his leg. He peeled the tissue off, revealing... was that a bite?

Sasha's balance wavered as he lifted his leg to give Cooper a better view, and Cooper reflexively reached out a hand to steady him. "What happened?"

"Dog," Sasha said. "Yesterday, when you went to get the sauce."

"Fuck," Cooper hissed. "I knew something was wrong. It bit you?"

Sasha nodded. "I should have given it the fish and chips."

"More like someone should have had their dog on a fucking leash." Cooper made himself stop and take a deep breath before saying anything else. He wanted to ask why Sasha hadn't told him about the bite, but he already knew, more or less. Anxiety. Making him explain it wouldn't help anything. "Okay, I'll take you to the doctor. Can you walk?"

Sasha nodded again. "I hobble a bit, but..."

"I'll help. We can take it slow. I'm pretty sure I can carry you if I need to."

"You are very strong."

Despite everything, Cooper found himself smiling. Sasha had a way of saying things that was unlike anyone else. Cooper liked that about him, liked how the way Sasha talked was so unexpected, yet somehow familiar and comfortable to Cooper's brain. It made its own, unique connections.

It hurt Cooper's soul to watch Sasha struggle down the stairs, but he did make it on his own without needing to be carried. Cooper tried not to look impatient as he followed slowly at Sasha's side on the way out to the car. He wasn't impatient, just... anxious. His body wanted to move, to fix the situation, but they had to go slowly.

Cooper helped Sasha into the car and then got into the driver's seat. "Do you have your own doctor you want to go to?"

"I do, but that's closer to my parent's house. It's kind of far from here."

"I don't mind. Do you want to go somewhere closer or to the place you're familiar with?"

Sasha hesitated, his mouth twisting like he was fighting an internal battle. "My doctor."

"Okay." Cooper unlocked his phone and handed it to Sasha. "Search it up for me and I'll call ahead and then drive us there."

Sasha gave a shaky nod, keeping his head down as he tapped on the phone.

After that, Cooper got to work. He had to ask Sasha a few questions so that the doctor's office could find him on their system, but besides that he didn't bother him again for the rest of the drive. Some days being an adult was too much and you needed someone else to step in and pretend to be your parent for a little bit.