Tails! You receive a trick. (Well after reading, it almost came out as both.)
Heres Zephyr dealing with his Potts
Waking up was hell. It always was.
Zephyr awoke one morning, same as any really— and just laid there on his back, taking deep steady breaths, trying to decipher if todays pain would be worse than other days, worse than the days where he couldn’t walk and even breathing made his spine writhe in agony.
Some days he had to get help from the others. He hated it, Zeph hated relying on everyone else. During shows he knew people judged him, wondered why the ghoul never stood.
But today was not a day for self pity, he sat up, bracing the edge of the bed and tested how his legs felt, swinging them over.
Zephyr grimaced as he stood expecting to have to sit back down. But when the pain didn’t force him down, he sighed with relief.
After putting on and fastening his back brace, Zephyr got dressed, walking to the den to meet the others.
Ifrit was sitting at a bar, stirring dark coffee, staring outside at the winter morning. His attention immediately turned to Zephyr as he walked in, leaning against the bar as he sat down next to the fire ghoul.
Ifrit slid the cup of coffee to zephyr and walked around the bar to fix another as he gave his up.
“You probably need it more than me, Zeph. How you feelin today?”
The air ghoul smiled softly, “Thanks, and- Better… Although this cold weather has me real stiff.”
Ifrit snorted “Oh yeah, Zeph you feelin”-
“Oh shut up, you know what I mean.”
With a sigh Ifrit continued, “Alright alright… But seriously if it gets bad just tell me… okay? You know I got the magic touch.”
Zephyr knew what he meant, on mornings where the cool air had his bones tight and locked up, Ifrit always offered his fire abilities to soothe some of those cold aches that plagued Zeph all winter.
A while later, after the two of them chatted, having a run in with other ghouls like Aether or Swiss who were more recently retired from touring— Zephyr decided to give his back a break, lying down on a couch. His eyes drifted shut, but the internal grinding of frozen joints kept him awake.
The slightly spooked air ghoul grimaced and opened his eyes to Ifrit who walked around to where he was laid on the couch. A warm clawed hand reached out and rested on Zephyrs cheek as he leaned into the sensation that came from the fire ghoul.
“Dont worry, Zeph. I got you.”
And as warm hands trailed his body and the heat seeped into aching bones, Zephyr sighed with relief.