Sick (Peterick AU)

Tongue Tied and Terrified

Lol so I've legitimately been calling this the Shitfest™ since I started it.
•L9B•

~~~

There's never much to do in this hospital, that's why you see so many patients roaming the halls like zombies. I do the same now, walking around with my portable IV, nowhere to be and nothing to do.

After a while, I come to an empty waiting room. It's kind of cramped, and perfect for me to get away from everything else for a bit. I sit in the plush chair closest to the window and stare outside. As far as I can tell, I'm eight or nine floors up. Just a guess, though.

I hear someone come up behind me. I slowly turn, unsure of my sore back. To my delight, I see Pete.

"Hi," he croaks. He seems almost scared of me.

"Hey," I smile, trying to get him to warm up to me. "How are you?"

"Uh, I could be better," he laughs a bit as he says this. I see where he's coming from. I huff a sort of laugh.

"Yeah, me too." I look out the window again and he sits in a chair across from me.

"What are you looking at," he questions, curiosity sparking in his eyes.

"Nothing, really," I say. "Just the cars and the trees."

"Cool."

There was sort of an awkward silence, neither of us really knowing how to start up a conversation.

My stomach growls and I realize just how hungry I am. "Oh jeez," I mutter absently.

"Hmm," Pete hummed. I look up.

"Oh, I'm kind of hungry."

Pete adopts a mischievous look in his eyes, and pulls out two dollars from his pants pocket. "What do you want?"

He smiles at me, which causes me to giggle. I assume this means we're both not allowed to have candy.

"Snickers?" I suggest. Candy doesn't necessarily hurt me, but too much sugar can make me hyper, which will cause me to cough more often than usual.

As he goes to get my Snickers, I watch out the window again. I see birds fly past, and cars rolling in and out of the parking lot. I look up to see that the sky has been set ablaze, along with the setting sun.

"Beautiful, isn't it," Pete admires, suddenly behind me.

"Yeah."

"Here's your, uh, Snickers."

I look up at him as I accept the candy bar. "Thank you." He nods and sits across from me again.

We settle into another silence as we eat and watch the sun set, this one longer than the first.

I want to ask him something, but I don't really know how to word it. It's been bugging me for a few days now. I hope I don't seem too nosy to ask this, I guess it'll be okay, though. God I over think things.

"So, uh," I start, unsure of where to go with the sentence. "Where were you going, the other day when you bumped into that guy?" Nice. Very descriptive, Patrick.

"Uh," he thinks for a moment. "Oh! I was going to get a blood test. I kind of lost track of time while I was eating and I was almost late for it."

"What was the test for?" I'm interested now.

"It was to check my iron levels. I have anemia. It basically means my blood cell count is a lot less than other people's."

"Oh."

"Yeah, it's not that bad, really. I just need a lot of blood transfusions, and I have to take a vitamin. It could be worse."

"Hmph. Yeah, it could be."

"What about you? Why are you here?" I think for a moment, trying to find the best way to word it.

"I have COPD," I tell him, suddenly remembering something else. "And an iron deficiency."

"Oh, like me."

"Yeah, I guess. Except they use an IV for me," I gesture towards the bag filled with clear liquid above my head.

He nods. "So how did you get it? The COPD, I mean."

"Both my parents smoked. Or well, they smoke, and lemme tell you, secondhand smoke sucks."

"Yeah, no kidding." As if on cue, I feel a tightness in my chest. I brace myself to start coughing. Pete freezes; its as though he can tell what's happening.

The world goes blurry and watery as I cough, and I don't see Pete anymore. My head begins to pound. I feel like I might cough up a lung or two.

Suddenly I feel something on my back. A hand, I think. I'm still coughing, but it's better than it was a minute ago.

When I finally calm down, I see Ryan eyeing his watch, timing the attack since he got here. He looks up and smiles. I try to return it, but I'm not entirely sure anything happens on my face.

Next, I see Pete standing just behind Ryan. He looks really pale and out of breath. I recognize the look; it comes along with the iron deficiency.
Ryan turns to Pete.

"Thank you so much," he breathes, sounding out of breath himself. Pete nods in response, and Ryan helps me up. "We're gonna go back to your room now, okay?"

He directs this toward me, but Pete nods as well, waving a goodbye accompanied by a smile. He's then disappearing down the hallway, opposite of where Ryan takes me.

We walk for a few minutes, and I'm slowly gaining my strength back, but god am I tired. I feel like just dropping, but I don't want to force Ryan to carry me the rest of the way. Especially with the IV.

By the time we reach my room, I'm shivering like crazy; I'm ready to pass out.

Ryan helps me up onto my bed. He has another nurse from the hallway bring in a new, warm blanket. I curl into a fetal position on my bed, shaking as Ryan fixes and adds something to my IV.

As soon as the other nurse comes back in, Ryan rushes to her and almost frantically places the blanket on me. I can feel the heat seep through me. Bless.

My eyelids are dropping heavily and while Ryan says thank you to the girl, I'm fighting to keep them open. He sits next to me where I'm huddled up under the heated cover.

"Its okay, you can sleep," he whispers in a soothing tone. I know, I'm thinking. I wish I could tell him this, but I'm far too weak and exhausted. Ryan starts stroking my hair, calming me immensely.

I just can't believe what's happened to me. I'm the aftermath of my parents' bad decisions, and neither of them even care to do anymore than pay for the hospital stay. Even then, its only because they don't want to deal with me.

I hate this. I hate my disgusting lungs. I hate my parents. I hate this stupid IV. I hate this hospital. I... I just want to sleep.

So I do.

Ryan is the last thing I see or feel for the night.

~~~

Wowow so it looks like these chapters are gonna be kind of short but I'm updating quickly, so
＼（〇_ｏ）／

Again, hope you enjoyed.

stay safe and stay street ✌