Don whimpers softly as Marvelous strokes his arms, calming him down with gentle touches and words of comfort as the pain in his ankle subsides. Don would like nothing more right now than to just throw his arms around Marvelous and bury his face in Marvelous’s chest, but he knows he can’t do that just yet. So instead he lies his forehead on Marvelous’s shoulder and clings to his shirt for a minute. “Thank you, Marvelous,” he says, after Marvelous promises to take care of him while he recovers.

“He’ll need to stay off of it for at least a couple of weeks,” says Doctor Sid in response to Marvelous’s question. “I’ll want to do a check-up around then, to make sure it’s healing alright. If it’s going to be a problem for you not to be able to get up, Don, we can get you a set of crutches to use. You don’t have to decide any of that now, though.”

Don nods. “O-okay,” he says. He lifts his head up and looks back at Joe. “Will you be coming for the check-up too, Joe?” He gives Joe’s hand a little squeeze. Please say yes, he begs inwardly. Joe is so nice, and so comforting to be around. Don knows he couldn’t have handled the examination nearly as well without him, and knowing he’ll be around in the future will make the rest of the process much less scary.