Stealth. (FtM Karl)

:') haha

Recap: Karl is binding with ace bandages, during 3rd period with George, he suddenly feels the effects of unsafe binding, and after struggling to breath and stay stood up, he ends up collapsing from a mix of panic and tightness of chest.
George panics, and tells someone to get a teacher, after a nurse arrives she says they've had a student in a smile at situation before and knew what was going on.
George then messages Bad saying to 'come to medical asap'.

Trigger warning:
-Mentions of unsafe binding

George's pov:
The lady came back into the sort-of waiting room, it was just a second half of the medical room where a lot of the supplies were kept along with a couple chairs, it's clear it wasn't intended to have more than three maybe four students in at once with injuries, and there was only 3 chairs.

Bad entered the room, "what the muffin, happened?? Are you okay, George??" He asked, out of breath.
'Must have ran here.'
"Hello, Darryl. Please, sit" the nurse spoke up, Bad sat down next to me, "George brought your friend Karl in a short while ago."

Bads eyes widened, "what happened?" He questioned.

She cleared her throat, "well, I'm sure you remember last year when you... when your brought your friend in here?" She hinted, directed at Bad, he processed for a few moments before gasping slightly.
I didn't understand what was happening, his reaction didn't make anything better.
"But he will be fine, it's not as sever, he didn't break anything." She smiled softly.

'Break anything???? Break what????'

"I-I don't understand? What happened?" I asked.

She looked at Bad then back at me, "I think your friends will need to explain it to you themselves as it's not really my place to say. But don't worry, rest assured, Karl will be just fine. As far as we can tell, he doesn't need to go to the hospital or anything, but he will need to rest for a while." And with that she left back to the room Karl was in.

I looked at Bad, he seemed... relieved?

"Dude, what the hell aren't you telling me?!" I asked.
"I can't say, that's something Karl will need to do himself."
"How come you know then?"
"Because my friend went through the same thing last year, luckily Karl's isn't as bad, otherwise he probably would be in hospital right now."

Those words shocked me.
It sounded bad, how come Bad knows and I don't?

Karl's pov:

I woke up to an aching pain, the bed felt unfamiliar. 'Where the hell am I?' I asked, I opened my eyes slowly, adjusting to the bright lights of the room, I tried to sit up, I winced at the pain in my chest.
I reached to see why only to feel a familiar part of my body that I despised so much, I quickly whipped my hand away, pretending I felt nothing.
I immediately realised that this wasn't my room, I'd never been here before... right?
'What the honk????' I started to panic.

"Hey, it's okay." I felt a hand on my shoulder, a kind looking lady in... nurse uniform? Was standing next to me.
"U-um hello." I cleared my throat, "um. Where am I?"
"This is the medical room. You collapsed, and your friend George helped bring you here."
"W-wait I..."

'Nonononono god this is so embarrassing' I panicked, 'wait, I'm still in school and I have no binder, did they take my ace bandages??'

"Karl, it's okay, calm down." She soothed, "we had to take the ace bandages off you, they were what caused you to collapse. Ace bandages are created to slowly tighten over time, and so by doing that? Your chest became too restricted."
She explained, "fortunately, we've had someone come in for the same reasons, but their ribs broke from it. You're very lucky, and especially lucky that your friend was there with you." She smiled.

"Thank you..." I thanked, still shaken by the news.

"No problem, is it okay if they come in? I wanted to ask your permission first since this is a very personal thing you're going through." She explained.
"Thanks... but I..." I paused, I didn't want them to see me, but I didn't want them to worry.
I sighed, "please let them in."

"Do they know?" She asked. I shook my head. "Oh. I'm sorry." She apologised, "I wasn't sure, but I told Darryl just incase, he has a friend who went through the same thing." She frowned, "I'm very sorry, they were really worried..."

'Is she referring to Fundy maybe?'

"No... it's okay, you were just trying to make them feel less worried, thank you."

It was silence for a moment.

"Can you sit up?" She asked, I sat up, she passed me a spare pillow, "here, hug this, nobody will see anything." She smiled, I was still wearing my shirt of course, she meant that now, no noticeable shape would be seen.
"Here's a glass of water and a lolly, I'll go and get your friends." She left.

'Oh my god she's so nice' I almost teared up, she made me feel so comfortable.

Not long after, George and Darryl entered the room, Bad immediately hugged me, "Karl! Oh my god I was so worried!" He whined, "you muffin head, I can't believe you did something so stupid!" He scolded, giving me a soft slap in the back of the head.

"I know I know, im sorry" I apologised, though I couldn't hide my smile, nodody had ever cared about me like this before, worried about me.
It felt nice.

I looked at George, he looked... guilty?
"Hey? George you okay?"

"You're seriously asking me that right now? You're the one in the bed." He chuckled, I could see how his eyes were glassy, "I was so sad you would like die or something, dude" he confessed, "and I couldn't do anything, I froze up"

"Dude, the nurse told me you're literally the reason I still have 12 still-whole ribs" I laughed, trying my best to lighten the mood.
I could still tell George was upset, "it's okay, George, this is my own fault. I made a stupid decision and now I'm paying for it."

"Does this have to do with anything that happened last night?" He asked.

I thought for a moment, "in a way, yes. I'll tell you another time, I promise I will. Just not right now." I replied.
He nodded, I could see the tears in his eyes, he was probably just as scared as I was, and he is now the only one in this room m uninformed about the whole thing.

The pillow stayed on my chest and I summoned him closer, "come here" I beckoned, he wrapped his arms around my neck and hugged me as I hugged back.
The cure for all sadness if you don't mind physical contact.

"Thank you" I spoke, realising I hadn't said it earlier.
"I mean we're friends right? I was just doing what anyone would." He hugged a little tighter.

'Friends?' I smiled, "yeah. Yeah I guess so."