Fantasy A Remembrance amongst Equals by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Troy Equals was lying on his bed in his darkened room and groaned, clutching the left side of the top of his head. Pain pulsed through the entire left side of his head and down the back of his neck as he shifted position again. He'd tried laying on his right side, but that made the pain that had spread to his neck worse, and the left side just pressed his head into the pillow, worsening that as well. Lying on his back with a neck pillow lifting his neck up from the pillow seemed to be the best compromise that the pain would allow.

The door cracked open and Julie stepped inside. The light didn't aggravate his headache, but his eyes had adjusted to the dark, and he rolled onto his left side away from it, instantly regretting the decision as his left ear touched the pillow and he gave another gasp of pain before rolling back to the central position. Julie made a small frown at the sight of her best friend in agony, but quickly changed it to a smile as she approached his side of the bed with the tray.

"Hey, boy," she said softly as she set the tray on his nightstand with the icepack being the closest item to him and opened the can of Coke, pouring a glass. Troy's hand shot out for the ice pack and he set it under the left side of his head. The bottle of ibuprofen was his next target, and as he was fiddling with the childproof cap, he registered that Julie had spoken to him.

"Hey, girl," he responded, fishing two of the pills from the bottle. Julie held out the glass for him and he swallowed the two pills, chasing them with a drink of soda. While he did so, she grabbed the bag of M&Ms and opened it, taking a few for herself before handing the rest to him. He gave her back the glass, popped a couple of M&Ms in his mouth, and leaned forward for another sip of the Coke before handing her back the candy. She took a sip as well before returning both items to the tray. "Thanks."

"Always happy to help, Master." Julie said as she opened the saltines and set them next to the bowl of soup that was still too hot to eat. Their shared fascination with mind control from an early age had been such a big part of their lives that long before they'd been a couple, they'd taken to calling each other Master and Mistress as pet names.

"Did you look it up, Mistress," he asked.

"No, Troilus, I did NOT Google how to safely drill a hole in your head," she said with a small laugh. Hearing her laugh caused him to smile through the pain.

"Trepanning is humanity's oldest form of surgery. Someone's probably posted detailed instructions..." She cut him off.

"I already have to explain the Master/Mistress thing to people whenever we do it in public, hon. And trust me, you don't want something on your head that people are always asking about." Julie's hair was unusual, in that it was a dark brown from her roots to about four inches, where it turned a buttery blonde. It had been that combination of colors since infancy, and doctors had been unable to provide any explanation for it.

"I just tell them my Sunflower's a complicated lady," he replied. She gave him a playful punch before remembering that he was in pain, and an apologetic look appeared on her face. He hadn't noticed, and shifted the ice pack to where the pain was flaring up the most. "So who's here?"

"Claire's giving Susan and Rachel a yoga lesson," she answered. Claire had owned a yoga studio when they met her. With Troy's financial and business advice, she now owned a chain of four "Inner Claire-ity" yoga studios around the Tacoma and south of Seattle areas.

"It's cool if you want to go join them," Troy said, reaching for a couple more M&Ms and another sip of Coke, trying and failing not to wince in front of her. "This is sort of my plan for the day." Julie took the glass from him, finished it, and then refilled it with the rest of the can.

"Nah, they're really just doing yoga. Nothing fun yet. Besides, I made a deal with that priest guy, ya know: Richer, poorer, sickness, health, better, worse; this'd be that third one."

"There's gotta be a loophole for three hot chicks getting all bendy and sweaty in our living room," Troy responded, shifting the ice pack again to concentrate on another area as the ibuprofen began doing its job.

"Actually," Julie said, getting up and walking into Troy's private bathroom off the bedroom; her own being on the opposite wall. "Susan had a pretty good idea for something that might help. I feel kinda dumb for not thinking of it myself. This isn't part of it, but it'll help." She returned with a white tablet and held it out for him, picking up the glass of Coke with her other hand. Troy looked at the tablet that he knew to be Percocet in her hand and was about to protest before she pushed it closer to his mouth.