egodeath

18

3rd person
Zak woke up early. He blinked a few times before realizing there was someone next to him. There was Darryl, curled up. Zak smiled down at his sleeping friend knowing he'd been given all the blankets last night. He got up as slowly as possibly and place the mound of comforters and blankets over the other before tiptoeing out of his room.

The sun was barely rising. his anxiety never slept though, sinking in rapidly. Zak knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help but think he needed to do something to even out the fact that suddenly he was being forced to actually eat. He hated himself for letting his mind become what it was now.

He heard the sound of rats collar as she rant up to him to say hello. Zak slipped his shoes on and threw a hoodie on knowing it must be cold out so early.

One step out the door and he could already see his breath circle and disappear in warm clouds against the crisp air. The little blades of grass shimmering with frost. He looked into the pretty pinks and purples of the clear sky as he shivered and for a moment get at peace while he took a deep breath in.

     He picked up pace and started running, soon rounding around a curve and onto a longer street with sparse houses and many trees. It was pretty peaceful. He finally felt in control of something. He really appreciated that Darryl was trying to make sure he ate right to recover but he felt like he couldn't explain to him how much it hurt him when his head wouldn't shut up and his chest tightened at the thought of it. Maybe this way it would be compromise with his mind. Maybe if he ran every morning he could be less harsh with himself and Darryl wouldn't even know so he couldn't feel bad.

     Zak let himself zone out and before he knew it the sky had gone from quiet purples to the vibrant yellows, telling him it was time to turn around before his friend woke up. If he remembered how to even get back to the house. He ran through somewhat familiar streets, until eventually, somehow, he reached the front door and carefully tiptoed back in. He bent down to give Rat some scratched behind her ears so she'd hopefully be quiet and now wake up the other.

     As quickly and quietly as possible, Zak ran into the shower across from his room to freshen up. He smiled as he let the cool water wash all the sweat away, along with some of the old scabs on his wrist that he just scrubbed off which kinda hurt but didn't really bother him. If anything just looking at the now tanner lines left on his skin made it itch, but he just tried to ignore it for now at least.

     He stepped out of the shower and cursed himself for forgetting to bring in new clothes with him. He wrapped the towel around himself and opened the door to find a pair of sleeping green eyes looking at him from his bed.

     "Zak?" Darryl groggily said, squinting as if to check if that really was him.

     "Hey man, I-"Zak laughed awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, "I forgot to bring some clothes with me."

     Darryl, still half asleep just nodded, but continued to stare at him, zoning out, almost looking like he was about to doze of again as it was still rather early. Eventually he shook his head, seemingly snapping out of it, "Shoot, sorry." He said flustered before turning around to face the wall and window so Zak could get his stuff.

Zak just shook his head and laughed. He dropped his towel and quickly got into some comfy black sweats and a really large hoodie, the extra fabric pooling everywhere.

     "You can turn around now." Zak hummed. Darryl flipped over and smiled at his friend.

     "You okay? Usually i'm the one waking you up." Darryl said rubbing the crusty sleep out of his eyes.

     "Yeah I just woke up early today I guess." The younger responded while toweling his dark wet hair. Darryl just hummed and nodded, too tired for an actual response.

     "If you wanna go back to sleep I can make us some breakfast." Zak suggested, to which the other just looked up at him and smiled, before curbing back up into the bed and closing his eyes. Zak laughed at his friends sleepiness and walked into the kitchen.

It was weird seeing a kitchen so full. His old place looked so barren compared to this. He looked around the place and scrolled through a bunch of different recipes on his phone before landing on a simple looking omelette. It looked good, but not complicated enough to where he might burn his friends house down. That would be very unpleasant.

     He cracked some eggs while the oil heated in a pan. With the leftover veggies from their dinner yesterday he scrambled the eggs in the pan and when it looked like a pancake, he threw the greens in the middle and folded it over. He let it sit for a pic while he picked two plates and soon slipped the contents of the pan onto a plate.

     Zak froze for a second, suddenly regaining the control he so desperately desired. The house fell quite as he stopped to listen for signs of his friend being awake. He scrapped the egg that was stuck to the edges of the pan and some fallen vegetables and dropped them on the other plate. He moved them around thoughtfully creating his work of art. When it was believable to his satisfaction he set it at the bottom of the sink and sighed.

He didn't like lying to Darryl. But surely it would hurt more if his friend knew what he was doing. At least this way, he was rejecting his help subtly. Darryl thought everything was peachy and Zak could keep his mind quiet enough. It was a win win in his book.

A few minutes massed and he decided it was time to wake the other up. Darryl groaned as Zak shook his shoulder.

"What do you want, Zak?" He said in a scratchy barely-alive voice.

"Ah, grumpy now are we." The younger teased.

"No never, what makes you think that?" Darryl's worded laced in playful sarcasm as he slowly woke up more.

"Come on." Zak pouted, gently pulling his friends arm, coaxing him out of bed, "I made omelettes and your kitchen is still intact!"

"Riveting."

Zak playfully punched him, and he finally agreed to get up, no longer being able to hide his smile.

"Thank you, Skep!" Darryl said as he was met with the plate of surprisingly good looking food, awaiting him at the table.

The two sat down and Zak waited for the other to begin, but he didn't.

"And your food?"

"I already ate, i just didn't want to wake you up." Zak said as confidently as he could.

Darryl eyed him cautiously.

"No really, my plates in the sink you can check."

Darryl sighed and replaced the concern with a smile. "Alright, I believe you. I'm proud of you Zak."

Zak swallowed the lump of guilt in his throat and nodded toward the plate, signaling his friend to eat.

"This was really good." Darryl said scooping the last bit of egg onto his fork and into his mouth.

Zak smiled, but internally felt jealous as he studied his friends features. Calm and content. Never once did Darryl's brows furrow or eyes cloud over in concern during the meal. Of course not Zak, he's functional, unlike your dumbass self, he mentally slapped himself. It was an odd jealousy of seeing how easy such a mundane task like eating a meal was for his friend. Unlike his own mind which became a gruesome battleground every time food was even brought up.

     "You cooked so i'll wash dishes." Darryl smiled at his friend who nodded, while standing up to put his plate in the sink as well. He saw the other plate in there and for a second felt bad for doubting him. Once the dishes were spotless they walked over an sat on the couch.

     They settled on watching a movie to pass some time. The days were slowly getting brighter as warmer weather approached but it was still pretty chilly. Darryl noticed Zak shiver so he rushed to rip the coziest blanket from his bed and wrap it around Zak like a burrito. Who just smiled and happily snuggled up. They chose a movie and watched it together as the light outside got brighter, staying all bundled up together on the couch.