Chapter Text
When she got the incoming call at 2 am there was only one person Chitoni knew would call at this hour. She searched blindly for her phone on the side table eventually she found it and was assaulted by the bright light of her phone screen. The contact's name read ‘Jabber’ she sighed deeply as her finger hovered over the answer call button; she was hesitant to answer she could only imagine the trouble he’d gotten himself into.
Before she could second guess the call anymore, she answered “You do realize what time it is? Ya know one day I’m not gonna answer”, she said groggily into the phone the other line was quiet for a moment and she almost thought that jabber had called her by accident until she heard a shaky breath on the other side before letting out a weak chuckle “Can’t a guy call to catch up with his best friend”, he said “Jabber, it’s 2 am”, she said firmly she knew he needed something, he only called when he truly needed her help
“Is it?", he said “Where are you”, she asked as she got out of bed pulling on a jacket and shoes, he was silent on the other end before speaking “you don’t-”, he started “I won’t ask again”, she said as she searched for her keys
There was a deep sigh on the other end before Jabber spoke again telling her where he was, she finally found her keys and told him to stay put, that she was on her way, before the line went dead, his phone must’ve died.
The drive was short as she pulled up to the 24-hour 7/11 she spotted him instantly, a tall lanky frame illuminated by the neon lights of the convenience store, pacing back and forth biting at his nails. Locs wild and flowing down his back, the clothes he wore much too big for him, the outfit consisted of a faded deep purple hoodie with a mystery stain on one of the sleeves, baggy sweatpants, and no shoes only socks, she wondered if he’d sold them. Jabber smiled big at her “Nice ride Chi, looks like that social worker gig is paying off”, he said, she knew it was supposed to be a lighthearted compliment, but she wasn't exactly in the mood for his compliments. She got out of the car “Come on, get in I brought you a sandwich “, she said “Really? A sandwich, how nice of you chi”, he said as he strolled towards the car.
Once in the car she got a good look at him, tired eyes scanned the car as his shaking hands struggled to open the sandwich bag she’d handed him His one prized possession a set of 10 silver rings still sat on his fingers that was the one thing he’d never pawn off, after some struggling he was successful in freeing the sandwich from the bag and took a large bite letting his eyes fall shut and head fall back against the head rest, he savored the ham sandwich like it was a steak dinner
Neither of them spoke, the car was filled with the soft music coming from the radio and jabbers chewing “slow down or you’ll choke”, she told him as she handed him a water bottle which he happily accepted and chugged once he had food in his stomach he knew chitoni would start to question him, so he decided he’d beat her to it
“I know your just dying to know what I want this time”, he said “I wouldn’t say dying”, she said and he chuckled at her dry humor “I called ya cause I need a ride”, he said “jabber, for the last time I am not your personal Uber", she said and he laughed “Ah man chi, you are hilarious, never change”, he said “I’m serious, get outta my car”, she said “Nah chi just listen…look I am serious i called ya cause I do need a ride; to the cleaners”, he said and she looked at him with a look of disbelief “Jabber, the cleaners is-”,she started but he cut her off “I know”, he said “Are you being serious this time? Or is this just you talking big game before you back out like the last time you said you wanted to get clean, cause I’m not going to waste my gas taking you just for you to change your mind", she said
“nah”, he said his face turned serious as she looked deep into his magenta eyes, searching for a hint of a lie but she didn’t find one “I’m serious this time chi, I’m done, I wanna get clean for real this time", he said, and she stared at him hard and he smiled back at her, she sighed as she started the car
They’d done this song and dance before, jabber would call and say he needed her help and that he wanted to get clean, time and time again she believed him and offered to take him, but when time came to actually go, he was gone with the wind nowhere to be found. But something about what she saw in his eyes told her he was serious this time, she didn’t dare ask what it was that was different this time. They drove in silence as his leg bounced anxiously.
She was nervous he’d make a break for it, he’d done it before opening the car door while it was moving and jumped out, scared her half to death. But he didn’t reach for the door handle, and when the cleaners rehab center came into view he didn’t beg her to pull off they parked and jabber got out all on his own though he did look slightly hesitant but none the less he still walked towards the door and she trailed behind him a pang of hope hit her deep in her chest, he was serious this time.
When they walked into the reception area a tall brown skinned woman looked up from her magazine her name plaque read ‘Semui, receptionist’ “Evening, can I help you?”, she asked speaking more to chitoni than jabber, she assumed it was chitoni who was bringing him in, not considering that he’d been the one who wanted to come “uh yea…I uh..”, he struggled to get the words out his confidence on this decision seemed to be slipping, or maybe it was his pride that kept him from saying the obvious reason of what he was doing there he glanced over at chitoni
Semui noticed his struggle and his jittery body language “it's alright if you can’t find the words, just fill this out, alright?”, she said as she handed a clipboard to chitoni to fill out for him, jabber was thankful that Semui didn’t force him to try to find the words this was hard enough as is , he trusted chitoni to fill out the forms, she’d been doing it long enough for him anyways once she was done she handed him the clipboard and he took it into his trembling fingers all he had to do was sign his name, that was it, it was so simple and yet he found it harder than walking through the door.
His hand hovered over the dotted line as he looked at chitoni, suddenly he was regretting this ‘“jabber, it’s okay”, she said trying to reassure him and he looked back at Semui as she watched him with careful eyes she gave him a reassuring smile and then he looked back at the paper all he had to do was sign it ‘just sign it, it's not that hard’ he told himself he gripped the pen and moved to sign but his fingers wouldn’t write and he felt chitoni step a little closer to him, she was nervous, he knew she thought he might bolt. He took a deep breath ‘you can do this, just sign the fucking paper’ he shouted at himself and finally he sloppily wrote his signature. And handed the clip board over to Semui and chitoni patted his shoulder in a reassuring way. “Someone will come to walk you back shortly”, said Semui and jabber nodded as he sat down in one of the plush chairs in the lobby chitoni sat next to him
She said nothing, but she didn’t have to; her silent support was enough. After about 5 minutes a tall blonde man came through the double doors, and he had a distinct scar across his right eye. His scrubs were white and he wore a light green undershirt, he gave jabber a warm smile “Hi Jabber, I’m Gris it's nice to meet you if you're ready I can take you back now”, he said and jabber turned to chitoni “it’ll be alright, call me tomorrow when you get settled ”,she said and he nodded as he stood and wiped his hands on his pants and followed gris through the double doors, they walked down a long hall way as gris hummed before they stopped in front of a door and gris opened the door the light flickered on and revealed the room it had a bed, with a desk where a welcome pamphlet sat, it reminded him of his college days while it was a brief time in his life he’d never forget that tiny dorm, and to his delight there was a small personal bathroom. Jabber was already taking a step towards it, he wanted nothing more than a hot shower he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had one. “I have to inform you that it is within our policy for your safety that while your showering you have to leave the door open, it’s just until your fully detoxed, we wouldn’t want you to fall and hurt yourself”, said Gris , while he hated the idea of having a semi supervised shower the thought of hot water outweighed the discomfort of it. “Aight, but no peaking", said jabber in a playful tone, but gris didn’t find it funny he did try to humor jabber with an awkward chuckle
Gris was respectful enough to busy himself with getting fresh linen from the closet while jabber undressed, as he did so he allowed himself to glance at his body, skin drawn tight over exposed ribs and ugly purple bruises greeted him, he didn’t dare let himself look any longer as he stepped into the hot shower he let out a sigh of relief as the water washed over him he let his head tip back and water ran down his scalp, he reached for the soap and scrubbed at his sore limbs and dirty finger nails.
Moving on to his hair next, they didn’t have proper shampoos and conditioners for his hair type, but who was he to complain, he couldn’t be picky, as he lathered shampoo into his scalp massaging his scalp and repeated several more times until he was satisfied with the cleanliness of his locs. He stood under the hot spray of water a few minutes longer before he shut off the water and stepped out he found a towel and a fresh pair of clothes, gris must’ve set them there, as jabber quickly dried himself off since the other man was very much still in the room, he quickly dressed in the sweatpants and shirt and wrapped his locs in the towel and then stepped into the room now wearing a new pair of slippers that gris had also set out for him.
Gris looked up from the chair he’d sat himself in “feeling better?”, he asked “better doesn’t even describe it", said jabber as he flopped down on to the freshly made bed Gris smiled as he rose from his seat “I’m sorry that I can’t let you go to sleep just yet, I’ve got to take your vitals, usually upon admission we do a full checkup and you’d meet with the head physician Dr.Corvus, but while we are a 24 hour clinic even doctors need sleep”, said Gris as Jabber spotted the mobile vital cart he’d rolled in while jabber was showering and Jabber suddenly had the urge to tell him to fuck off and let him sleep but he had to remind himself that he willingly put himself in here and he needed to play nice if he wanted it to work.
“Will it be quick, cause my heads pounding like a bitch right now”, said jabber “I’ll be as quick as I can”, said gris as he was already in action taking jabbers arm and wrapping the blood pressure cuff around it, and gris was true to his word he was quick but still precise with every step, once done he gave jabber a small smile “thanks for being so patient, you can get some sleep now also just to let you know I did take your old clothes to wash them but you’ll get them back so don’t worry", said gris “right, sure man, whatever”, said jabber as he fought to keep his eyes open “well goodnight, someone will be back in the morning to take you to meet with Dr.Corvus”, said the blonde as he rolled the medical cart out and shut off the lights
Jabber got comfortable under the covers, letting his eyes fall shut; he knew that soon his body would become a death trap, destroying itself and then rebuilding. There would be many sleepless nights once he went into withdrawal, it was already starting, his trembling hands and restless legs were only the beginning.