Romeo just kinda stared after Gavin after he shut his bedroom door. Well even if Tiki was the kind of cat that kept herself clean, she certainly wasn't going to keep her prey clean. Gavin sighed and only sneezed once more before the medicine kicked in and then took the garbage bag with the dead animal in it. As long as it wasn't in the house by the time the medicine wore off then he'd be just fine. He really hoped that Gavin wouldn't keep Tiki locked away, not now that she had all the extra room. He just decided to let it go for now and explain what he meant tomorrow.

Romeo stripped off his shirt and headed for the bathroom. First day together and he already felt like he was doing something wrong. He shook his head and looked in the mirror, twisting his mouth in odd positions, trying to figure Gavin out. He jumped in the shower and spent his time in there more analyzing his entire day while he went through the motions of getting himself clean. He couldn't think of anything he could have done to make the situation better. He sighed and shut off the water.

He decided he'd just have to apologize for the lack of supper with a big breakfast in the morning while he was drying his hair. He slipped on some boxers and was about to set his alarm for extremely early, but then remembered Gavin's preference for waking up late. He didn't have anywhere to be, tomorrow was one of his few days off. He let himself drift to sleep without setting any kind of alarm.

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He didn't even have to have his alarm set. Sleep-deprived or not, he always seemed to wake up a lot earlier than he wanted to. He stretched his muscles, which ached a little, and got out of bed. He wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep even if he wanted to. He yawned rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, getting up to pull a silk robe out of his closet. He decided he was going to wait until half past ten before he started cooking anything. Wouldn't want any of it burnt. He picked up Breakfast of Champions and started reading it again.

Sometime during the morning, nightmares seeped into Gavin's subconscious. Around nine in the morning, though, they became loud. He let out a shout in his sleep, rolling off the bed with a loud crash.

He whimpered quietly, reaching up to rub the bump forming on the back of his head. He tried to move his toes but couldn't; though that happened to him after a hard impact to the back since his injuries as a child.

Romeo didn't even bother finding a book mark once he heard the shout. His page was lost the moment he discarded the book on the floor, jumped to his feet and sprinted from the couch to the guest bedroom. He would have opened the door, but he didn't know how Gavin slept and the idea of seeing him in anything less than the clothes he wore every day made a blush rise like a flash fire across his face. He shook his head and knocked on the door.

"Are you ok? Do you need any help?" He paused for a moment. "If you don't respond soon, I'm making the assumption you're unconscious and coming in anyway."

He opened his mouth to try to reply, but the pain in his back sucked the strength from his lungs and he was unable to speak loudly enough to reply, instead, his words coming out as a quiet wheeze.

He slept in a black sleeveless shirt and dark gray cotton pants, though his shirt was bunched up a little from his fight with the blankets before his fall, exposing his stomach a bit. He tried to move his toes again, but couldn't tell if he had or not due to the increasing numbness in his legs.

Romeo could tell that Gavin was conscious by the wheeze that followed his last sentence. He opened the door to find Gavin on the floor in what looked like horrid amounts of pain. His eyes widened and he sat down beside him on the floor, afraid to touch him for fear that it would make whatever he was going through worse. His eyebrows furrowed in consternation and he bit his lip hard.

"Do I need to call an ambulance? Where does it hurt?"

"I'll be okay..." he breathed. "Tell me if my toes are moving..." He continued attempting to wiggle his toes, though failed at it.

Romeo looked over at Gavin's toes and frowned. He looked back up at his face, the lines of concern only deepening. "No... that's not good. Does this happen often? Is there any way I can help at all?"

"It's because I took a heavy impact to my back," he breathed with a weak attempt at a reassuring smile. "My legs go numb and I have trouble moving them after I fall on my back... It's happened before..."

He lifted his arm a bit. "Help me sit up on the bed."

Romeo nodded once and helped him to his feet by taking his extended arm and gently moving him back onto the bed. He sat down on the bed beside him and pulled his legs up underneath him, adjusting himself so he was at Gavin's back. He started massaging his back slowly, getting all the tension out of it. He started up at his shoulders and started to work his way down.

"I want you to tell me when this hurts."

"I have a high pain tolerance in my back, but my tolerance for pressure isn't quite as high. If you're too hard on me you're going to make it longer before I can use my legs." By now he was managing to get his foot to shift back and forth.

"I get the feeling that I'm going to have to wear my leg braces today..." he sighed.

Romeo couldn't help it... he had to. The opportunity was just too perfect. He pulled the hair back around Gavin's right ear with one hand and whispered to him. "Don't worry, I'll be gentle." He laughed and continued to massage his back, easing up a bit so it would still feel good without making it take longer for him to use his legs. "One of these days I fear my mouth is going to get me in trouble." He started talking more softly, almost to himself. "Then again, that same mouth has been able to get me out of trouble too."

"I'm not sure I really want to hear this," he sighed, petting Tiki as she rubbed up against his side. He slowly lifted both his legs off the floor, then set them back down, alternating legs each time.

"I'm getting control of my legs back. I'll be okay. Just gotta get my leg braces on."

"That's good." Romeo unfolded his own legs and used them to stand up in a swift movement. "I didn't mean that Tiki was setting off my allergies last night. The rat..." He shook his head. "It hardly matters. You can keep her in here if you want to, but I think she'd be happy with the extra space. I wanted to make up the lack of supper by cooking you a good breakfast before you woke up, but I guess I'll just have to settle for cooking it now that you're awake." He looked at Gavin and cleared his throat. "I'll let you get dressed if you feel like it." He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him and went to start on breakfast in the kitchen.

About half an hour later, Gavin was dressed and left his room, his walking very stiff and a soft 'clink' with every step he took. "You don't have to cook for me," he said, picking up the book Romeo had dropped earlier.

His movements were stiff and took a bit more energy than they should've.

"Ahh dear sweet Gavin, you forget. I like to cook."

The gravy was already on the stove, biscuits in the oven almost ready to come out and there was half a plate of bacon already cooked and set on the side of the stove on top of a plate lined with a paper towel to get the extra grease off. He pulled off another set and put it on the plate before turning around and getting out some eggs. He put that off long enough to grab two glasses from the cabinet and poured them each a glass of orange juice.

"If you would rather have milk, just let me know. I love this stuff so much I could probably drink the entire carton by myself."

"I prefer orange juice, actually," Gavin said with a wince, sitting down at the table. He had to lower himself into the chair carefully. "How do you think I've survived this long? Orange juice was one of my meals a day. It gets the blood sugar back up without actually having to eat anything."

"And it's got plenty of good vitamin C in it too." Romeo chuckled. "Though as long as you're living in my house, you're going to be eating three meals a day. Like it or not. You don't have to finish what you take, but you at least have to not be hungry when you leave the table. Feed what you don't want to Tiki or throw it in the garbage disposal, whatever. I might even eat it if I'm that famished, but that usually doesn't happen unless I've been on one of my fitness runs."

He was almost finished with the bacon and between flipping them over he had cracked the eggs and mixed some milk, pepper and salt in them. He took some graded cheese out of the fridge and threw it on to the counter top. Once he finally got done with the bacon, the timer for the biscuits went off and he pulled those out of the oven and set them on the back burners. Then he got out another skillet for the eggs and set the pan for the bacon in the sink, while putting another paper towel on the bacon to soak up the extra grease.

"You can't just expect me to change my eating habits right away," he said, leaning back in his chair. "There's a lot of things for me to overcome. I've been living like a mouse off of crumbs for several years now. I can't just tell myself that food is plenty and start eating to my fill. It's going to take a while for me to adjust physically and emotionally."

"I know this." Romeo looked at Gavin if he had glasses and were looking over them. "I'm not saying you have to eat a great deal. But the more small meals you eat, the bigger your stomach will get and the better you'll be able to handle a full meal. I'm never going to get angry or sullen if you can't eat what I cook for you. I know how the human body works..."

Romeo frowned and finished up the eggs, sprinkling the cheese on top of it. Then he turned the fire off from under the gravy and started bringing everything to the table. There was so much there that even if Gavin was up to eating a full meal there would have been over enough for just the two of them. But Romeo's cleaning lady was coming today and she would appreciate some food. He set a plate and the orange juice in front of Gavin, letting him get whatever he wanted. He started serving up his own portion of breakfast.

"And I know you have a lot to overcome. But the healthier you are the easier it's going to be to make those steps. Just know that if you have any needs at all I'll be here to help you with them. That includes new clothes, entertainment or whatever you think you need, all right?"

"I need to check with the bank, see if there's any money left in my medical fund," he said, putting some food on his plate. "I think a screw in my leg is starting to come loose. I'd like to get it checked just in case."

"Well if there's not enough then I'll cover whatever you can't. We can take care of all that after breakfast if you want to. If you'd rather go alone, I understand, but I'd like to come with you..."

Romeo started on his breakfast and he was almost certain that any conversation that followed would be delayed by chewing. He hadn't bothered cooking a meal this good in a long while and he really missed it. He yawned a little, the lack of sleep starting to catch up with him. He looked at Gavin and smiled a little between mouthfuls while waiting for a response.

"If that's what you really want," he said, eating a piece of bacon.

The next day, Gavin lay on a table in a doctor's office with the doctor using an ultrasound machine to take a diagnostic image of Gavin's ankle. He made a slight hissing sound, biting his lip.

"You're going to need surgery on this," he said with a sigh. "Your plate is coming loose. If you keep walking on it you're going to tear your leg up. I need you to stay off it until you can get it operated on, alright?" the doctor asked, looking at Gavin.

"Great," Gavin sighed.

"We're also going to need better images of exactly what's happening inside your leg for the surgeons to work with. I'll go put your name on the list in the imaging wing. I'm sorry, it might be a bit of a wait."

"It's fine," Gavin replied, staring blankly up at the ceiling. "How much is this going to run me?"

"I'm not sure. You'll need a consultation first, and imaging isn't exactly cheap, I know you're already aware of that."

Gavin nodded a little bit, seeming in a daze. "And there's no way that walking around on crutches for a few weeks is going to solve this problem, is there?"

"I'm afraid not, though you're going to need crutches until you can have it operated on. Then a wheelchair for a couple weeks, just because you can keep your leg elevated in a wheelchair and you can't while on crutches. I'm sorry, Gavin. I know what a setback this is for you." He gathered up a few things and left the room to put Gavin's name on the list for imaging.

Romeo had been leaning up against the wall listening to everything that was going on. When the doctor left, he pulled one of the chairs in the office around and sat with his legs stradled on opposite sides of the back of it, looking straight at Gavin. He pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment before trying to put his best face on the situation.

"The good news is... surgery usually means that they're going to be fixing the problem so it doesn't happen again. I could always take out a loan, pay it off piece by piece. That would be easier, anyway. That way we still have enough to live in in the interm. Though I might not be able to take you out to fancy restaurants for a while." He smiled slightly.

"Don't be obscene," Gavin sighed, sitting up and gently rubbing at his ankle. "I'll figure out a way to take care of myself. I still have a couple strings I can pull."

Romeo nodded, almost to himself. He looked Gavin straight in the eyes and smiled softly. Shaking his head a little and letting out a small, soft laugh. "Well I'm here for you if you need me." He pointed to Gavin's ankle. "Does it hurt bad enough for pain medication?"