Chapter Text
As soon as Kris wakes up, he knows this is not going to be a good day. His back is on fire, and his shoulders hurt like hell. But, as his snoozed alarm reminds him, the school system does not care about that in the slightest.
He spends the next 20 minutes slowly stretching out his sore muscles. After he quickly washes his face, he slowly starts putting on his outfit for the day. He is interrupted by his dog Lena coming into the room. He gives her a quick hug and finishes dressing up. He walks down the stairs and has breakfast, making sure that Lena has breakfast too.
Faster than he would have liked, his phone alarm reminds him it's time to take the bus to school. Luckily, the bus stop isn’t very far away, but Kris decides to grab his cane anyway, since he will have to do some walking at school. He puts the “working - do not pet” vest on Lena, and together they leave the house.
~~~
His first class of the day is mathematics, not his favourite subject, but at least the teacher is nice. They always let Kris into their classroom early, so he can get his usual seat and rest from the walk over to the classroom.
Once he is sitting down next to the window with Lena safely by his side, his teacher comes up to him. “I’m sorry for not giving you an earlier warning, but a new student is joining our class today. They follow pretty much the same classes as you do, and they need to use the lift too. Would you mind showing them around the building today? Oh, and could they sit next to you?” Kris considers it for a second. He usually works on his own, since his other friends don’t have the same classes on Monday, but the semester has only just started, so he doesn’t really have much work to do.
“Sure, I think that’s fine”, he decides.
A few minutes later, the rest of the class comes into the room. With them comes the so-called “new kid” who looks incredibly cool. They have long black hair which partially covers their face– oh my god, they’ve got a nose piercing– and they’re wearing a mostly black outfit. They’re in a wheelchair, which explains why they need to use the lift, and they’ve got their bag on their lap. The teacher points them in Kris’ direction. The teacher walks with them and moves the chair that was next to Kris over to the back of the classroom.
“Kris, this is Jan, they’re new here. Jan, this is Kris, he’ll be showing you around today.”
Jan nods at Kris and pulls out their notebook, before putting their bag down on the floor. “Hi, I hope you’re not allergic to dogs?” Kris starts. Jan looks at him and, sounding confused, says: “Hello. Why are dogs relevant?” Kris snorts and points at Lena, who’s still lying on the floor. “Ah, I see, no, I’m not allergic”, Jan says. “Anyway, just to get it out of the way: yes, I’m in a wheelchair, yes, I’m young, no, I’m not faking it, and no, I am not paralysed, I can walk sometimes, just not now”, Jan rants. Kris nods, “Seems like you get about the same comments I get.” Jan raises their eyebrows questioningly.
“Oh, I have chronic pain in my back, and my legs hate me. So I use a cane on most days, though I do sometimes use a wheelchair too. Most people tell me shit like: “You’re way too young for that”” Kris explains. Jan smiles at him and is about to respond when the teacher starts the lesson.
~~~
The rest of the day, Jan follows Kris around, resembling Lena when she was still a puppy. At lunchtime, Kris introduces Jan to his friends, “Guys, meet Jan, they’re new here, I’m showing them around today.” Bojan smiles brightly at Jan, “Hi, I’m Bojan, and this is Martin. We both use he/him pronouns, what about you?” Jan smiles, clearly surprised that Bojan included their pronouns in his introduction. “I’m Jan, I use they/them pronouns, though I’m not completely sure yet.” Martin nods, “That’s fine, let us know if anything changes, okay?”