Comfort

I'm at the hospital

Jack woke up.

Well, that's not it. Waking up requires sleeping.

Jack came too.

He wasn't sure where he was, but he was warm. His head was fuzzy and his arm felt weird almost bulky. Though he wasn't sure where he was he didn't open his eyes. He felt like he was floating and wanted to enjoy that feeling for just a while longer.

It wasn't long before his curiosity got the best of him though, and his eyes slowly opened. The light of the room was dim, which Jack was thankful for, but it was still bright enough for him to see. From what he could tell there was a small television mounted on the wall, a heavy looking door shut tightly, cream colored walls with a railing going all the way around the room, a window to his right, and a table to his left. A hospital.

How did he get to a hospital?

Jack couldn't quite connect the dots. He remembered yelling, and then pain in his hand followed by his head. After that something cold, and loud thudding noises against the ground followed by yelling. Then he heard nothing. It was blank. He tried his hardest to remember what happened but there was nothing. He decided it was best if he backtracked even further.

Jack was on a mission. Something about delivering files to Ganghak for Union work so that Jimmy didn't have to. He was stressed as of late and he wanted to make sure his friend had a break. So off he went. The transfer went smoothly, he remembered only having to deal with Hwangmo, so it was much easier than having to discuss this with Wolf. After that, he had a smoke, he really should quit, and he started his way back. He remembered bumping into someone on accident and apologizing before a hand was wrapped around his shirt collar. He remembers stumbling over his feet trying to keep up with mystery person. He remembers yelling followed by a hit to the face and a lot of anger. He swung back, of course, which would explain the pain in his hand and the right continue. Considering he was laying in a hospital bed struggling to remember, he figured it didn't end in his favor. He sighed. He truly hated loosing.

Jack sat up, wincing a bit as he got comfortable, and tried to assess his injuries. His hand was wrapped around the knuckles, probably split them, and bruising peeking underneath the white bandages. His face felt puffy, but neither of his eyes were swollen shut do he deducted there were no hits directly to his eye. His nose felt weird, and hurt to touch, broken most likely, and he could only smell the metallic bits of blood still left there. His lips were cracked and when he tried to move them they only split more. Overall, Jack figured he could've been in worse shape and his injuries weren't hospital level. Yet, he was still here. Why was that?

As he pondered a nurse came in, eyes glued to his clipboard held in a delicate hand. The mask over his face confused Jack, he wasn't dealing with patients right that moment, as did his bright red hair which got darker and dark the closer to his roots it got. They looked nothing like a doctor and more like a delinquent teenager. After standing in the room for a moment, not bothering to look up and check the beaten boy sitting in bed, he walked up to the bed, dig a gloved hand into his pocket, and pulled out a phone. Specifically, Jack's phone which they placed on the table in front of them. It was then they looked up from the sheets of paper to assess Jack.

"Good evening," They looked back at the clipboard, "Jack Kang. Do you know why you're here?"

"I, uh, got beat up?" Jack's voice was raspy as he answered the question, unsure if that was the right response.

"It would appear that you have... some old couple saw you lying in an ally and called an ambulance. Your injuries aren't all that severe and you don't have a concussion or anything though your nose is broken. You should be good for release before the night is over." The nurse looked at him. "That sound good to you, Kid?"

"Yeah." This nurse was weirding Jack out. He wasn't acting like any nurse he had dealt with before.

"Good." He took one last look at the papers, lifting one up to look at the one under it, before turning to the door. "I'll be back in about 5 minutes. If there is anyone you need to call to pick you up I suggest doing that. Oh, and I'm Dr. Knight, but you can call me Scarlett. Never been one for formalities. If something goes wrong in the short time I'm not here, press the 'call for doctor' button on the remote next to your phone."

With that, Scarlett was out the door. Jack stared at the door for a moment before concluding this doctor was a weirdo and that he should probably have someone come pick him up. Reaching for his phone, he finally noticed his arm had been wrapped tightly in the same clean, white bandages as his knuckles. At the sight he panicked before recalling that he could leave soon and it couldn't be that serious. He would worry about it after letting Jimmy know that he took care of the files.

At the thought of Jimmy, Jack figured he should talk to his friend at some point today and grabbed his phone. Upon looking at the lock screen, he found multiple missed calls from said school head and many messages all ranging from 'where are you,' 'are you okay,' and 'pick up the damn phone.' With a sigh, Jack unlocked his phone, deleted the notifications, and called Jimmy.

It took only to the first ring for Jimmy to pick up. "Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to reach you for 2 and a half hours! One of the boys said you went to Ganghak. Is that true?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck. Where are you now?" A rustling sound was heard. "I'll come pick you up."

"I'm at the hospital."

It was quiet for a moment and that scared Jack. When Jimmy was quiet he was shocked, and when Jimmy was shocked something bad always followed.

"I know damn well I did not just hear those words come out of your mouth." Jimmys voice was a low growl when he finally decided to speak.

"Then I'm assuming you don't want me to repeat them?" Jack's voice was small. Jimmy was truly a great friend, but he didn't want to deal with him when he went ballistic.

"I'll kill that purple haired freak, you hear me?" Jimmy was yelling almost immediately. "Bet you didn't even do anything wrong and that psycho was just bored! Mother fu-"

"It wasn't Wolf... to be honest, I'm not sure who it was." Jack sighed, placing his hands on the bridge of his nose before wincing at the forgotten pain. "I lost, someone saw before I woke up and called an ambulance. I'm fine."

"Jack... you sure? How long do you have to stay?" Jimmy's voice softened. "I'm not sure when visiting hours end, but I could-"

"Doctor said I'll be released today. Don't know when though." Jack replied.

"Oh... oh that's good. I can come pick you up then?"

Jack smiled. "Yeah, though I don't know how long you'll be waiting."

"Don't care. Texting when you're out, okay?" Jimmy said, smile evident in his voice.

"Ah, yeah okay."

The two hung up as Jack sunk back into the pillows. It had been much longer than five minutes since the doctor left, but he didn't mind. It gave him more time to talk to Jimmy. Dispite being a bit difficult at times, he really was a good friend.