Chapter Text
Johnny starts his day by dragging himself out of his bed and onto the wheelchair sat next to his nightstand. His wrinkly sphynx cat yowling in his ear, demanding for food like he was starved. “Chill out Tusk!” groans the man, sleepily pushing himself into the kitchen to fill the cat's food bowl and prepare a breakfast salad for his other spoiled animal- a bearded dragon named Slow Dancer. Said dragon is already crawling around the living room, climbing through the blinds unceremoniously, and bobbing her head at the students outside the dorm who dare come near her property. While Tusk devours his food, and the dragon loudly crunching on a piece of squash, Johnny finally has a minute for himself. He putters around his large dorm, with one bedroom, his own bathroom and kitchen and enough space for his wheelchair to get around. The short man hurriedly gets dressed, gives up on fixing his hair and puts on his star beanie, and munches on a granola bar before he has to leave for his first class. “Okay Tusk, don’t be so loud today, I will be back for lunch,” Johnny warns his obnoxious cat, nervous about a RA finding out about the pets he smuggled in. He knew he wasn’t allowed to have pets, but seeing a sad looking, ugly little cat out in the rain, crying, broke Johnny's cold heart, and he had to take the poor fellow in. Slow Dancer was later found in a local pet store, bobbing her head violently at the reflection of herself in the reflection, while employees didn't care about the stress she was under, and the poor care she was in. Right then and there he knew he had to call up a buddy to lug in a suspiciously large cage into his dorm under the RA’s nose.
Johnny finally exits his dorm, and starts his trek to his only class that day. He meets up with his strange acquaintance, HP, their true name is unknown to all, kept a secret like what lies inside Area 51. They stop into a student run coffee stand inside the main building, HP ordering a black coffee, and Johnny getting a drink so full of redbull it would burn the stomach lining of lesser men. The side eye thrown at Johnny would also destroy lesser men, but they continue to their shared classroom, arriving only 10 minutes late, the earliest they have ever gotten into a class. A second glare is thrown at him by the professor, stopping the lecture to watch the two find open seats in the front row. He clears his throat and continues on with the lesson, and when the class finally comes to an end, he scolds the two friends about continuously being late. “Professor, the lack of accessible ways to get into school really slows me down. I can’t help it, HP has to help me get up the ramp and help open doors for me. We really do try to get here on time.” Johnny answers, taking a slow sip of the last of his drink, and giving the older man his strongest puppy eyes. “Ugh, just try and leave earlier tomorrow.” Professor Valentine responds while spinning on his heels and returning to his desk, where a gaggle of students hover, giggling and blushing over the teacher. Johnny grimaces and the two are off to return to his dorm, “He’s the worst, how does everyone else like him?” Johnny complains. “Maybe we are just immune to his charm.” comes HP’s reply.
Retreating back into his dorm, HP makes a beeline to pet the cat, who has climbed into Slow Dancer’s cage, laying under the heat lamp without a care in the world. The dragon peers up at the two from inside the cage as well, laying on the chubby cat's exposed stomach. HP lets out a single chuckle and starts taking dozens of photos of the two animals. Johnny rolls over to the barren fridge, and sees only beer, expired yogurt, ketchup, and an unknown substance growing an evolving ecosystem in the depths of an ancient tupperware container. A shiver racks through him at the sight of horrors beyond comprehension, and hurries to snatch the beer before he can think too much about the thing inside the fridge. HP sends a concerned look at the disheveled man, but he can only shake his head, not wanting the other to know what has disturbed him. Johnny and HP quickly open their beer cans, and sip at them while watching a shitty medical show. Time flies by, and as the Dr on screen delivers his line with the skill of a toddler, Johnny’s phone goes off, a reminder he has work soon. Groaning, he grabs his uniform, changes his beanie to his work cap, and throws on a shirt with the logo for a local supermarket, and numerous unknown stains, and slowly makes his way to the door. “I can drop you off at work, it's on my way back home” HP kindly offers, they live off campus in a tiny apartment shared with their boyfriend, who Johnny despises. They make their way to HP’s dinosaur of a car, Johnny hops into the passenger seat as HP folds the wheelchair and puts it behind his seat. Soon they arrive at Johnny's work, he skillfully folds the chair back out, and thanks his friend as he gets situated. As HP drives off, Johnny can only wonder what led him to this moment in his life. After a short existential crisis, he enters the store, and wanders to the back room to get clocked in.
Most of his shift is boring and repetitive, awkward small talk, strange guys looking at him weird, and a lady swore on her life that she didn't change the price tag on an expensive item, hoping to get it for a few dollars. Sighing and staring at the clock, hoping it can jump forward another hour to free him, he is startled by a sudden cart full of mangos, and a strange looking man pushing it. Johnny prays to whatever gods will listen to grant him a miracle, then puts on a forced smile, greeting the man. “Hello, did you find everything today?” He asks in between his clenched teeth, the strange stranger lets out an obnoxious laugh, and replies, “Nyo-Ho! Yes I have! Have you tried these things? I can't get enough of them!” Johnny tries his hardest not to slam his head onto the counter at full velocity, and instead chooses to reply with, “Mangos? Yeah they’re fine I guess.” He prays that the conversation will end at that, as he is only a third of the way through scanning the bulk amount of mangos. He wonders if the man can get any odder, he is purchasing about 80 mangos at 8:23 pm, he is wearing a hat that can only be described as utterly useless with the amount of holes decorating it, a strange patchy beard, and a golden set of grills adorning his teeth. Johnny can only wonder if the man is on strong amounts of mushrooms, because a man like that can never exist normally, right? “We don’t get these a lot over in Italy, Johnny!” The man chuckles again, and Johnny is horrified about how this man knew his name, before he remembers the name tag that is proudly displayed on his shirt. “Oh, wow.” Came his monotone reply, “Yeah! It's my first day in the states! Oh, my name is Gyro, its nice to meet you!” The man who now had a name enthused. Why he felt like the conversation was still going is beyond Johnny. “Oh, uh nice to meet you?” He scrambles desperately to finish ringing up the mangos, hoping to continue to sulk over being at work. “You too Johnny! Say, do you know how to get to Steven Steel's hospital? I start my residency there tomorrow!” came another, almost more enthusiastic reply. “Um, it’s down the street, a few buildings down on the left” at that, Johnny rushed and finished bagging the items, Gyro paid with another “Nyo-Ho!” and was on his way with his 6 bags of mangos. The only positive thing, Johnny figures, is that the man, Gyro, distracted him until the end of his shift. Clocking out, saying goodbye to his coworkers, and making his way home and into bed. Johnny can only think about the strange man he met today. Thankfully, he thought he would probably never see him again, he falls asleep thinking about the enthusiastic man, and pulls Tusk in a little closer to cuddle.