Rev slowly opened his eyes and groaned as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looked around to find himself in his old bedroom. He looked around and noticed that his room had remained more or less the same as he'd left it since he was last at home. The only things missing were the things he'd brought back with him to HQ after the Robo-Amigo fiasco.
As he looked around, he started to remember what'd happened earlier. His mom came out into the living room and helped him up to his room. He was too tired at the time to change into his pajamas, so he just laid down on his bed and Harriet draped the blanket he'd been using in the recliner over him to keep him warm.
Rev tossed the blanket off and stood up, stretching his arms out in front of him and slowly raising them up over his head, stopping only after he felt a sharp pang in his shoulders. "Ow… dang it," Rev winced, "Whelp, I guess I may as well get into some… cleaner clothes." Rev slowly got up from the bed and made his way over to his dresser and pulled out a fresh change of clothes before carefully walking to the bathroom.
Meanwhile, Ralph hung up the phone as he wrapped up a call with one of his office workers. He let out a heavy sigh as he leaned back in his chair and pinched the space between his eyes. "This world's going insane, I swear." Ralph lamented. His feathers twitched as he heard the unmistakable sound of the upstairs toilet flush. "Hup, sounds like Rev's awake… finally."
Ralph tidied up his desk and put all his papers away before heading out of his office and making his way up the stairs. "Son, you up here?" Ralph called, knocking on the bathroom door.
"Don't come in!" Rev peeped. "How you feeling this morning?" Ralph asked as he leaned up against the wall next to the door. "Uh… I'm doing a little better," Rev droned, "My joints are still really achy, though." "Well, while your mother and your… friend are out running errands, perhaps you'd like to take a walk around the block with me?" Ralph asked, "Get your blood moving, get some of that CO2 out of your system."
"Gee, I don't know, Pa," Rev groaned, "Yesterday took so much out of me, I'd really rather just relax today as much as possible. Honestly, just getting from my bedroom to the bathroom was enough of a chore, I'd hate to think what might happen if I tried walking to the end of the block." Ralph just sighed and shook his head. He jumped back a bit as the bathroom door swung open and Ralph's eyes widened in shock at Rev's outfit.
Rev wore long dark blue leggings and a pair of white low-riding shorts; he had on a light purple hoodie sweater that was left open, revealing what appeared to be a black sports bra that wrapped around his chest firmly. Rev took a deep breath as he walked out into the hall, zipping up the hoodie sweater and putting the hood up.
"I didn't know you still used the binder," Ralph said, trying to be polite. "I haven't had a need to for a while," Rev explained, "But since my feathers started growing back, everything's been feeling a bit… uneven. Hopefully everything will start to even out when I get my next major molt, but at least now I don't look like I've got a B-cup bust." Ralph just rolled his eyes and followed Rev down the stairs; Ralph sat down in his recliner while the younger roadrunner let out a sigh of relief as he settled down on the sofa.
"Why don't you take off that hood?" Ralph asked pointing to his head suggestively, "It's not like it's cold in here." Rev looked to his father with an exhausted expression, giving an uncomfortable sigh before reaching up and slipping the hood down, pulling it around his neck like a scarf before folding his arms and slumping down a bit in his seat.
There was a long, awkward pause where the two cocks just sat in silence, exchanging glances at each other as Rev scanned the room looking for the remote control. Eventually, Ralph realized what Rev was doing and cleared his throat to catch his attention. Rev looked to see Ralph holding the remote in his hand as he turned on the television. Rev's eyes lit up as the screen activated to show a Nature documentary on Nature Net where a pair of exotic-looking wild birds where in the midst of what he could only assume to be a mating ritual or dance.
Just as the birds were about to begin mating, the screen switched to static for a split second before changing to the Sports Network where the Acmetropolis Rangers were in the middle of a heated match against the Razeroids. "Ah, there we go," Ralph said as he leaned back comfortably in his recliner, "Some real entertainment. Right, son?"
Rev just sighed as he leaned back on the sofa and said, "Sure, Pop… I guess." Ralph arched a brow as he turned to look at Rev who was just zoned out watching the TV, though he didn't look too interested. "Strange," Ralph thought, "I thought he loved Basherball."
"Ow," Rev winced, clutching his stomach. "You hungry, Rev?" Ralph asked, "I know you haven't had breakfast yet." Rev shook his head and said, "I am hungry, but that's not what's wrong here. My medicine; I need to take my pain meds."
"Where do you keep them? I'll go grab them for you." Ralph said standing up. Rev looked around and spotted his tote bag next to Ralph's recliner and pointed to the bag saying, "It should be in there in a small paper bag. It'll have a sticker on it listing the different meds and near the top it'll say, 'prescribed by Dr. Lila Ketch'."
Ralph bent down and rummaged through the tote and pulled out the small paper bag, jumping as Rev's small, crocheted tarantula tumbled out with it. "Holy! What is that!?" Rev laughed and said, "That's just David. Dr. Ketch's wife made him for me." Ralph rolled his eyes and said, "Aren't you a bit old for stuffed animals?" Rev groaned and took the bag from his dad, reaching in and pulling out two bottles of orange prescription bottles and a third bottle of what appeared to be vitamin capsules.
"I'm going to need some water," Rev said standing up, "Or better yet, a bit of milk." Rev paused and walked over to pick up David, placing him on the arm of the sofa next to where he was sitting, patting it on the head before walking into the kitchen. Ralph followed Rev into the kitchen and watched as Rev poured a tall glass of milk and took two tablets from one of the orange bottles and one from the other, as well as one of the vitamins.
"Son, you know I was just joking back there." Ralph started, "But, real talk, you're never going to get yourself a mate like this. Hens want to have kids, not marry kids." Rev paused and turned his head slowly, glaring at his dad with an aggravated expression. "Pop, have you taken a good, long look at me? I am a literal mess!"
Ralph stepped back as Rev's voice echoed in the mostly tile kitchen; he wasn't used to Rev being so short with him. "More than half of my feathers are gone, and my comb and tail plume is just now starting to recover. Girls aren't going to give two hoots about how I act if they can barely stand to look at me! And even if that wasn't the case, I'm in constant pain! Sue me if I find hugging something soft that was gifted to me to be a nice, comforting distraction from the sheer agony that is my entire being right now!"
"Son," Ralph said gently, "All I meant was," "I know what you meant, Pop," Rev snapped, placing the cup on the counter and rubbing his temples to calm down, "Listen, Pop," Rev said taking a deep breath, "I appreciate the concern, but right now the last thing that's on my mind is finding a mate, let alone siring a flock. Right now, all I want, all I should need from you is to cope and to help me cope with just being alive. Okay? Please, dad?" Ralph's eyes widened at that; his kids rarely addressed him as 'dad', so he knew that this had to be serious.
Rev winced and hobbled over to the kitchen table, plopping down in one of the chairs and groaned, burying his face in his arms as he let out a heavy sigh. Ralph dashed out and grabbed David off of the sofa before zipping back into the kitchen, placing a gentle hand on Rev's shoulder and handed him the stuffy. Rev's beak turned up into a smile as he took the toy and nuzzled it.
Rev turned to Ralph, pulling him into a hug and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, Pop." Ralph slowly wrapped his arms around Rev to return his embrace, gently patting his back and nodding. "You'll get through this, son." Ralph said gently, "And I promise, I, we – all of us – will help you however we can to get better as fast as possible. So if you want to just… cope right now, than fine. We will cope together."