Chapter 5 – Aggressive Recovery Techniques

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Chad was shaken awake far too soon, his eyelids feeling like heavy, immovable objects that he had to struggle to open, eyes objecting to being exposed to the soft light of early morning.

He blinked when he realized it was Jane who had woken him up; blinked again when he recognized the two small pills she had in her hand.

"You're going to need to take these," she whispered, handing them over. A second later, she handed him a glass of water. "Before the injection wears off."

"Thanks," he whispered, voice thick and heavy with sleep. He could have swallowed the pills dry, but it was kind of Jane to get him the water, so he used it to follow them down.

He passed the cup back to Jane when he felt slightly more awake, blinking at his surroundings. He was back in his room, which was weird - usually they handled these things in Jane and Lonnie's room, since they had better security. Doug was a familiar form burrowed into his covers, but Carlos was definitely a new addition, the small teen curled in a ball at the foot of Doug's bed, watching the exchange with sleep-heavy eyes.

"Lonnie prepared another bath," Jane whispered, and Chad knew it was necessary but he couldn't help wince. That was not the way he had wanted to begin his Saturday, but such was the way of things. "Can you walk?"

"I'm fine," Chad muttered, conscious of Carlos' presence. He slid out of bed carefully, taking Aziz's arm for support. Jane took his other side without saying, and the three of them made their way down the hall and up the stairs, Chad aching with marginally less pain this time.

Still, it was a relief to get back to Jane and Lonnie's room.

Aziz sighed as they navigated their way back into the bathroom. "Yesterday could have gone better."

"But it also could have gone worse," Chad said, trying to be practical. "Come on, let's get to ice bathing."

"You're lucky I like you," Aziz grumbled, but at this point, their connection was a necessity of survival. Aziz was, after all, the son of a 'street rat'. Lonnie wasn't even a real princess. Jane didn't have a father, and was considered an abomination by a lot of the old schoolers.

Things like that bonded you together. And they weren't lucky for that, but they were lucky to have each other.

Small blessings.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Despite the pain killers and spending most of the weekend lying around in Jane and Lonnie's room, the first day back to classes was slow and steady torture. Chad's muscles ached, making sitting and standing a tedious affair, and not for the reasons most people would assume if they by chance caught his half-hobbled status. Lonnie had forwarded a note from the doctor that excused Chad from Tourney practice all that week, but by the time he'd gotten back to the front of the dormitories, the effects of his morning pain pill had mostly worn off, and the idea of climbing the few steps to freedom seemed like a horribly unfair trial.

Somehow, he managed.

He was panting by the time he got back to his room, ready to abandon all pretense of being polished and poised. He stumbled towards the secret compartment in his dresser and pulled out the pill bottle, popping another pain pill to get him through the evening with some amount of grace. He hurt. Everything hurt. Fuck.

"Um…" Belatedly, Chad registered Doug's presence beside him, the other teen hovering with a quiet sort of nervousness. "I um- prepared an ice bath for you."

"What?" Chad blinked. He had already abandoned the idea because Jane and the others would be too busy and walking was just- not going to happen for him, and as much as he hated the dumb things the prospect of getting one to mitigate some of the pain made things seem more manageable.

"I thought you might need one?" Doug asked. "I can empty it-"

"No." Chad said, readjusting his enthusiasm to something that would startle Doug slightly less. "No, you're fine. You're good. Thank you, Doug. I'm just gonna-" He limped into the bathroom before he could change his mind, closing the door behind him so he wouldn't do something stupid like ask Doug to join him.

Struggling out of his school clothes was a- travesty, but eventually Chad got there, managed to half-slide, half-flop into the tub until he was swallowing down a broken cry, his head falling back with a pained groan.

"Chad?" Of course Doug would be listening; of course he'd talk through the door. "Are you okay?"

"P-peachy," Chad muttered, exhaling sharply so he could surrender to the numbness, setting a mental timer so he could achieve maximum benefits without damaging himself further.

Getting out of the ice bath was substantially harder than getting into it, but Chad managed that too, managed to dry himself off, slather on some of that super-secret ointment, and wrap himself in a robe before stumbling out of the bathroom to collapse on his bed. There. That was it. He was not going to move another step.

"Thanks, Doug," he mumbled into his pillow. "Sorry about my clothes-"

"It's fine," Doug assured him. "I'll put them in the hamper."

"You are too good to me," Chad muttered, and then tried to will himself unconscious.

He was maybe half successful around the time he heard the window creak open, and it probably should have been less of a surprise to see Carlos' concerned face pop into view. "Dude, are you okay?"

"Sure," Chad managed, letting his eyes fall shut. "I mean, as I can be."

"He already took his pain meds," Doug said, seeming unsurprised by Carlos' sudden appearance.

"Is there anything else you have to do?" Carlos asked, still just- crouching next to Chad's bed.

Chad really wished they'd let him sleep. "Besides sleep? Nope."

"Hold on," Carlos said, and then he was nudging Chad into a more comfortable position, staring at his bare legs before dragging Jane's quilt over him as another measure of protection.

"Thanks," Chad sighed, because as little as he'd liked it, the repositioning helped. Between the ointment and the ice bath and the pill, the roaring ache had dulled down to bear tingles that Chad could live with.

"You're welcome," Carlos said and then just- flopped down beside Chad. "Want to see a video of Jay tripping over a bench from Tourney practice?"

Chad blinked. "When would I not want to see that?"

"As I suspected," Carlos drawled, holding up his phone so they could watch the hilarity of Jay's determination to win get him taken out by a bench he'd failed to spot.

They then spent the next thirty or so minutes watching videos on Carlos' phone, things that ranged from Evie working on a new dress to Mal decimating a bowl of strawberries in like, five minutes, glaring at the off-screen commentary but notably not pausing in her quest. There were videos of Carlos and Jay making fun of Ben and Chad from a distance, each of them supplying high pitched 'royal voices' to improvise their conversation. Carlos's Chad impression was brilliant, and had him laughing so hard he cried, especially when Carlos's Chad managed to verbally decimate Jay's commendable but weak Ben impression.

"I'm so glad I got you phones," Chad huffed between videos, wiping tears from his eyes. At some point, Doug had joined them on the bed, bracketing Chad's other side despite the fact that Chad was very close to naked and he was right there.

"Check this out," Doug said, and then he offered up a video of Evie destroying Audrey in a game of speed chess, and the slow look of frustrated rage on Audrey's face was a majestic sight to behold.

"Hey, everybody," Mal chirped from Carlos' phone, sporting a hooded jacket Chad had thought he'd misplaced weeks ago, almost getting swallowed in its confines. "I'm Chad Charming! I have good hair and I'm really nice and Jay thinks I'm the prettiest boy in the world-"

"Shut up, Mal," Jay hissed from off-screen, prompting a series of giggles from off-screen Evie.

"I annoy Audrey just by existing!" Mal continued, spinning in the large jacket. "But that's understandable because Audrey's a 'bitch ass hoe' and obviously has bad taste."

"Except in boyfriends!" off-screen Evie cheered.

"Did she just-" Chad croaked, rubbing at his eyes. "Bitch ass hoe." Yes, he was so glad he taught her that.

"Well, obviously." Mal slipped back into her regular voice with a roll of her eyes. "But if anything that like, just proves Ben has poor taste in girlfriends."

"I mean, it seems like his taste has improved," Evie mused. "Right, Jay?"

"Shut up," Jay repeated, trailing off with a few choice mutters that Chad didn't discern because did that- that mean?

Had Ben finally decided on getting a new girlfriend?

It was inevitable, of course. And not a surprise. Just- Chad thought he'd have figured that out. He hung out with the guy all the time. Until his stupid 'illness', he had a practice date planned for that week.

Maybe Ben was taking his time? Really working out the kinks of his admittedly weak dating game? He did have a reputation to maintain.

"Do you think Chad will be upset you took his coat?" This was the first time cameraman Carlos had spoken up, but Mal was quick to dismiss him.

"Please. Chad would give us the coat off his back if he thought we looked cold. Oh hey, Evie-" She skipped over towards where the princess was cutting out fabric. "You should make Chad a new coat. Something that says 'I am a cutie patootie and yes these are dimples and no you can't touch them'."

"That's a lot of words for a jacket," Carlos deadpanned.

Mal waved him off. "If anyone can do it, Evie can."

"I'll get to work on it now," Evie said, and then the video ended.

"She's almost done with it," real Carlos said. "But you have to act surprised when they give it to you."

Chad blinked. He hadn't actually expected anything to come from that. "What?"

"The coat?" Carlos nodded to the screen. "She made you one. Well, has almost made you one. It's a work-in-progress."

"Oh." Chad wasn't sure what to say, though the most prominent was that Evie didn't need to do that. Didn't have to waste fabric or time on him.

There was a firm knock on their shared door before Chad could stumble through something though, so Doug went to answer it, seeming, for whatever reason, slightly reluctant.

"Hey, Doug." It was Ben. Of course it was Ben, who else would it be? Jane and the others all had keys and the VKs only used the windows.

The prince's gaze widened when he stepped into the room, taking in Carlos flopped next to Chad. His eyes seemed to fixate on the sliver of chest evident from the loose ties of Chad's robes, likely noting the impropriety of the situation, but Ben was nice enough to move on, carrying the tray he had brought with him over towards the bed.

"I got you some soup and crackers," he explained, setting the tray in Chad's lap while Carlos helped the blond prince get into a sitting position. "Figured you wouldn't want to leave you room again."

"Oh, wow," Chad whispered, staring down at the savory feast, because he'd resigned himself to not eating until breakfast. "I- thanks, Ben."

"No problem." And for Ben, it really wasn't. "Are you sure you should be back in class already? You still seem a little under the weather."

"Nah, it's fine." Chad shook his head. If missing half the Tourney game had gotten him black and blue, missing class because of the ramifications of his punishment would be nothing less than unacceptable. "Doug and Carlos have been helping me out."

"Have they?" Ben asked, for whatever reason, because it wasn't like he didn't know the helpfulness of Doug. Like, Carlos might have been a surprise if he was an asshole, but Ben wasn't an asshole, so- whatever.

"I must say, Carlos does a great me-impersonation," Chad continued, scooping up a spoonful of soup and blowing on it. "Jay's impression of you could use some work, but I feel like he has the basics down."

"All he did was say 'I don't know, I'm dumb' like, five times in a row," Doug said, brows furrowing in confusion.

"Exactly," Chad chirped. "The basics."

"That's not the- excuse you," Ben sputtered. "Now I want my soup back."

"What? No. My precious." Chad shoved a spoonful of it in his mouth and immediately regretted it because hot. "Fuck. Shit- ow." He coughed, holding his mouth open to try and breathe some air on it.

"Cripes," Carlos muttered, dragging a hand across his face. "Ben's not actually going to steal your soup."

"Not if I eat it first," Chad pledged, and then they spent the next twenty minutes trying to coax him into eating at a manageable pace between laughs.

All-in-all, it was a nice way to spend an evening.

And it was a repeated pleasure, it seemed, like they'd agreed upon it without consulting Chad. Doug and Carlos would always be there first, Carlos ducking out of Tourney practice early in order to help Chad settle in before sending off a message that released the figurative floodgates. After that, either Evie, Mal, or Jay would show up with Ben and food, and they'd work on their homework and eat or watch videos until Chad was filled with a warmth he could barely contain, drunk off a level of happiness he felt mostly terrified by. And yet, he yearned for more, was desperate for it, and never turned their attention away.

The evenings where Jay visited were almost guaranteed to be a little more rowdy than usual, so it didn't come as a surprise when Chad inevitably ended up with soup all over the front of his robe.

That evening's delight had come courtesy of Evie and Doug because their usual soup supplier, Ben, was stuck in a council meeting. Jay had been sure to reward this commitment to his civic duties by sending Ben as many pictures of them having fun without him as possible. Somehow or other, all of the VKs had ended up in the room that night, which made Jay and Carlos' spontaneous wrestling match more inevitable than anything else. Chad just wished his soup hadn't ended up as collateral damage.

"Jay," Evie snapped when she realized what'd happened, rushing to help Chad blot up the mess to the best of her ability. "Both of you, off. You could have ruined Jane's blanket."

Once Evie realized the quilt was a product of Jane's handiwork, she was especially protective of it, likely giving respect from one creator to another. Chad may or may not have arranged for an order of quilting supplies to be delivered to her room, along with some basic pattern books after she'd expressed an interest, the two of them spending an evening watching quilting tutorials on her phone that were progressively more and more complicated.

"Sorry." Carlos was quick to disengage, scrambling off the bed and helping Evie pull the blanket out of the potential spill radius.

"Hey, don't sweat it, guys." Chad said, dabbing at his chest. "I think my robe took most of the hit. It's okay."

"Still," Evie huffed, and across the room Chad realized Mal and Doug had paused from doing their homework to watch the exchange with looks of concern and amusement. "You should be resting, not worried about getting soup all over yourself. Here-" She reached for his robe. "-I'll just get this cleaned up."

"Um." Chad shot a frantic look to Carlos, who was just sort of blinking in surprise and not helping. "It's okay, Evie. Little soup won't hurt anyone."

Evie shot him an unimpressed look. "I'm not going to let you sit around in a dirty robe because Jay and Carlos couldn't keep it off the bed."

"Seriously, I don't mind." Chad may or may not be panicking.

Mal got an unfortunately perceptive look on her face. "Why are you freaking out?" She paused. "Carlos, why are you freaking out?"

"Um." Carlos' cheeks flushed dark.

"Look." Chad shoved a hand against his face. He may as well come clean at this point. "Usually after class I just- take a bath and then I don't have much energy for anything besides getting to bed, so-"

Mal blinked, struck by a sudden realization. "Are you naked under that?"

"I didn't expect this to become group hangout time," Chad hissed, because they'd literally never done that before. Realistically, the robe was a practical move that allowed the ointment to settle in, and Chad was already uncomfortable enough with that soft fabric, he didn't want to try out pajama pants.

"What?" Jay, of all people, seemed particularly affected. "Do you mean-?" He looked between Chad and Mal, fixating on the dip of Chad's collar, before stalking over towards the window. "I've got to go."

"Idiot," Mal muttered as Jay disappeared out onto the lawns, but that didn't matter because Doug and Carlos were still embarrassed and Evie had a pale blush on her cheeks and Mal was cackling.

"Can we just agree not to tell Ben about this?" Chad asked, rubbing a hand across his face. "Because he'll be a baby about it."

"I think we can all agree that Ben doesn't need to know about this," Mal declared, all foreboding for some reason, and that seemed to be enough to snap Doug out of his weird funk.

"Here." The dwarf-kin scrambled off his bed and dug through his own closet, returning with his bathrobe. Like he was going to give Chad his- "We'll trade them out."

"Guys," Chad groaned, because they were trying to kill him. "It's fine. The soup is nothing."

"Says you," Evie challenged, and that was how Chad knew he was resigned to a fate of holding Jane's quilt tight against his waist while he traded out robes, very much naked in a room of attractive people with only a padded quilt between him and their gazes, and yet somehow things still got worse when he slipped into Doug's robe, because it was Doug's robe.

"You okay?" Carlos asked when Doug and Evie disappeared into the bathroom. "You look a little flushed."

"You look a little shut up," Chad hissed, burying himself under the covers while Mal laughed.

Of course, Carlos was a little shit and burrowed his way beside Chad, which was how he came to spend the night even after everyone had left, cuddling into Chad's side and being the best while also being the worst and Chad's abused groin did not deserve this.

And yet, here it was.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Friday was – not a good day. Or, to be specific, it was not the best day. Coach hadn't wanted to put Chad on the field after being out the week previous, but Coach was also susceptible to good old-fashioned bribery with an application of puppy dog eyes, so Chad was able to trudge out onto the field to compete in a sport he didn't really care about for the sake of maintaining his image.

He was sweaty and shaky and probably looked nothing close to charming by the time they were done, but they were done and Chad hadn't died so he considered it a win. Waiting for the others to finish showering before even contemplating the effort was an exercise in frustration because Ben seemed determined not to leave without him, as did Carlos, but Chad reminded Ben of his royal obligations with herding the others for the lake meetup and then just- begged Carlos to leave, and eventually he got through that too.

Aziz was nice enough to guard the door to the showers despite the fact that his parents had actually come to this game, so it was only with minor hurdles that Chad got clean, into his dumb swim ensemble and then hired a car to take him to the lake, because he sure as shit wasn't going to make it there on a Moped.

Chad didn't swim so much as float and suntan, trying to ignore the worried looks Carlos and Doug would occasionally shoot his legs, like they were worried they were going to fall off, or something.

It was a bit of a relief to finally pile into Ben's car and trudge into the dormitory kitchens for celebratory sundaes, even if Chad couldn't actually have any of them.

It was all going well until it wasn't.

"Okay, what's up with you?" Mal broke in with this non-sequitur halfway through sundae creation, leveraging an unimpressed finger at Chad. "You didn't eat anything at lunch, you didn't eat at the lake, and you're not eating now, so what's the deal?"

"Granted, he never gets his own sundae," Doug spoke up while Chad was processing the fact that Mal had been watching him, bringing the few that hadn't caught onto Chad's shenanigans up-to-date with a few blinks. "But you usually eat off of Jane's. Now you're not even doing that."

"Excuse you," Chad huffed. "It is not easy maintaining this physique. Sometimes sacrifices must be made."

This current sacrifice had to do with the repercussions from last Friday, along with his grandfather finally catching onto Chad's extra dates and therefore, extra food sources and to 'counteract his childish splurging' – as of that day Chad had been put on the fun 'eat nothing until you feel like you're about to pass out and then eat a cube of cheese' diet. It would last a few days until he'd be weaned back onto a strict version of his already strict diet until things were back to bland normality, but until then, he got to pretend the cramps in his stomach were from working out so hard.

Ben aimed a tragically disappointed look at him. "There are healthier ways to do that, Chad, especially since you're getting over an illness. You can't just starve yourself."

Chad was about to shoot back a perfectly airheaded and witty remark when Jane muttered, "No, but his grandfather can."

Which just- "Jane," he hissed. The traitor.

Jane was not apologetic, even in the wake of everyone else's obvious concern or outrage. "No, it's stupid."

"Wait," Ben cut back in. "Is your grandfather making you do this?"

"He has some kind of arrangement with the kitchen staff here," Jane answered for Chad. "He's worried about Chad's health."

"He has a right to worry, he's my grandfather," Chad shot back, but Doug was getting that look on his face that Chad always hated, because it meant he was going to lose an argument no matter how hard he tried.

"He doesn't have a right to do this," Doug pressed. "It doesn't matter who he is, it shouldn't be happening in the first place."

"Guys," Chad huffed. "You are making a big deal out of nothing. Things will go back to normal in a couple of days-"

"This happens for days?" Ben didn't seem like he could process this, but at least Chad knew what he was feeling. The VKs seemed unreadable, having fallen into contemplative silence, though Jay looked distinctly unhappy. "Chad-"

"It's fine, you schmucks," Chad sighed, then decided to make an exit. His head was feeling a little fuzzy as it was. "Sometimes you have to sacrifice things for your image. That's life."

"Food should not be one of those things." Doug was not backing down on this front, though Chad really just- wished he would. A lot.

"Well, it is for me." Not that Chad liked it, but this was just- life. He was used to it. "I'm not complaining about it, there's no reason you should be."

"I haven't been conditioned into accepting this as normal," Doug shot back which just- low blow.

"News flash," Chad said with a flourish of his hand. "I'm not normal. And now-" He pointed towards the door. "I am leaving."

"Chad-" Ben reached out, likely to do something horrible like squeeze Chad's shoulder and he just- couldn't, right now. Not between the hunger and the yearning and muted pain that didn't stop.

"Peace out, homedogs," Chad shot over his shoulder, half-hoping the lingo would confuse them and mostly hoping he could make it back to his room without collapsing. He would see, one way or another.

-:-:-:-:-:-

He didn't make it back to his room, mostly because he realized if he retreated there one of those stubborn individuals would find him and try to either reason with him or force feed him or talk about how awful his grandfather was, and since none of those were particularly helpful, Chad redirected and hid out in Jane's closet for the weekend, because it couldn't be said he wasn't classy.

Of course, he arranged for a car to show up to the school and leave for Sardinia, so in the off-hand chance Ben or Carlos tried to trace his movements they would think that he'd gone home for the weekend (as though he'd ever willingly spend time there) and texted Doug an update saying as much before shutting off his phone completely. It was the only way he could keep himself from responding to Doug's texts, if he sent any, and so that was how Chad came to spend a weekend huddled in a nest of old blankets typing out plans on the tablet he stored in Jane and Lonnie's room, trying to feel productive but mostly feeling hungry and sad.

On Monday he spent his lunch in the library because it would be where he was least expected, and then it was off to Tourney practice before he could go back to his room and collapse in a puddle of despair. He'd be back to small portions tomorrow, and that would be a glorious day. A glorious, cheese-cube free day.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Chad refused to feel pathetic as he tried to stretch out consuming his cheese cube as long as he could. He was tucked behind the far side of the fieldhouse, and while he knew he should probably wait until after practice to eat his allotted snack, he also knew if he didn't get any energy soon he wasn't going to last through the practice. At least this way he'd burn off the calories.

He wasn't expecting company, but that didn't stop him from being surprised when Jay slinked around the corner, sticking to the shadows until he could settle down next to Chad.

"Here." Jay shoved an energy bar in Chad's lap, refusing to look at him. "I'll take the wrapper when you're done."

"Can't." Chad shook his head. His grandfather would know, somehow. He didn't know how, and that was something that frustrated Chad to no end, but he would find out. "Thanks, though."

"Don't thank me," Jay muttered, finally turning to look at him. "You're either going to eat this or I'm going to make you eat it. You get to choose which."

"Assault is bad," Chad reminded him, then found himself blinking at his empty hand because Jay had snatched the cheese cube out of it and hurled it into the woods. "Hey!"

And then he was pinned against the wall, Jay looming over him as he tore the energy bar open with his teeth. The bar was prodded against Chad's lips a moment after. "Eat."

"I'm not- ugh." It was like a less successful version of their practice feeding because Jay wasn't gentle about this. He was insistent and crafty and refused to let Chad out of it, making him eat every last bite until he was licking crumbs off the other teen's thumb.

Fuck, he had forgotten what it was like to eat things that weren't cheese cubes. He missed them.

"I'll bring something to your room tonight," Jay continued like this was a casual exchange, still pinning Chad to the wall and looming dangerously close. "And you'll eat that too."

"Without context, those words are kind of suspect," Chad muttered, and then he was greeted by a brilliant flush that made Jay scowl.

"Shut up," he hissed, backing away. "I'll see you tonight."

"Not looking forward to it!" Chad lied, because Chad's body enjoyed being pinned and told what to do and also eating.

It was just- so unfair.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Jay did sneak in through the window when Doug had been pulled away to Carlos' room and Jay did pin Chad to the wall and force him to eat because, to quote, "It would give him plausible deniability" because Chad's grandfather couldn't be angry at Chad for someone forcing him to eat, could he?

The answer was that he could and very much would because his grandfather wasn't super reasonable, but his body didn't care because Jay was tall and shoved him into place easily and Chad really did enjoy eating food from such clever fingers, even if they seemed half determined to choke him.

"We should do this on the bed next time," Jay murmured as he allowed Chad to suck the last of the meat juice off his fingers.

And Chad didn't groan, though he really wanted to.

"There will be no next time," he huffed, even though it was lie and he knew it.

There was definitely a next time.

Jay pinned him to the bed like it was nothing and force-fed him grapes and it was wonderful and terrible and Chad was just really glad Ben or Doug couldn't dream up such aggressive tactics on their own or else he'd be done for.

Little blessings.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed last chapter! Your feedback and questions are always a wonderful delight for me, and I am grateful for all of them ^_^

Story notes:

Because you know, you *know* if Carlos and Jay were given phones, they would use them for their own nefarious purposes ;D

The cube of cheese diet is definitely from 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

Until next time :)