Sweet Shop Sweethearts

The Hospital - Chapter Nine

I'm alive!!! Yaaaaay!
Jesus, it's been a long time since I've updated this. I'm so sorry to anyone and everyone I kept waiting, I don't know when this will next get updated, but believe me, I will try!
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Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
"... Berwald?"
In the chair by the bedside, the man stirred at the sound of his name. He sat up, pushing his glasses a little further up his nose. It had been another sleepless night at his fiancé's side, clutching his hand as if it was the last thing tying him down to reality. Berwald's mind was like a ship, tossed on stormy arctic waters. Tino was his anchor.

"Berwald?"
The faint voice repeated. Berwald did not seem to hear. He stood up, turning to face his betrothed, who was sitting up.
He was sitting up. Tino, with his bruised body and broken nose and trembling hands and beautiful, bloodshot eyes, was sitting up. "Berwald." He said, with more conviction this time. The man winced, hearing the raspy, grating sound which came out as not much more than a whisper. His lover, this broken man, was reaching for his hand again. All of a sudden, he was trying to move, trying to get up, to reach him, saying his name again-

Berwald woke with a start. The beep of the hear monitor continued in its monotony, a vaguely comforting reminder that he wasn't alone in the room. On the whitewashed wall, the clock ticked out of time, the second hand jamming at seven seconds past the minute and sticking there, ticking irregularly as he turned his focus to Tino. When he slept, Berwald could never seem to take his eyes off of him. Even with the purple bruises flowering under his eyes, and the cut which was just starting to heal on his forehead, there was something about the little curl in his eyelashes, or the way his fair hair fell across one eye, that was undeniably beautiful. He brushed his hair aside with a soft, loving smile.

Berwald loved him, that was for sure. That's why, on their annual visit to Tino's parents back in Helsinki, he had taken his father aside and asked him quietly if he could marry his son. That's why on New Year's Eve, as they watched the fireworks exploding into splinters of colour and light, he got down on one knee and asked him to marry him. That's why they had spent the past three months organising and planning every last detail of their wedding in excruciating detail, for want of a better excuse to spend every waking moment together. That's why he sat here, in this hospital room, with him.

He closed his eyes. The fluorescent light on the ceiling hummed, flickering. What little natural light that entered the room was cut off by the blinds. It was still far too bright for him to try and sleep again. The feelings of cold, sickening dread that had haunted him had dissipated into a hollow numbness which gnawed at his insides like a scavenging wolf. Here, in this room, with Tino lying silent beside him, Berwald couldn't have felt more alone.

The Swede stood up, pushing his glasses further up his nose. He was hungry, and couldn't bear spending another seven hours in the uncomfortable chair before he passed out again. Brushing his fiancé's hair back again, he planted a careful kiss to his forehead, before turning towards the hallway. Just as he opened the door to leave, he shot one last glance at the man in the bed, before going down to the cafe to buy a coffee.

Meanwhile, back in the room, Tino's heart monitor began to fluctuate, the rhythm of the beating muscle growing stronger. Hope, consciousness, he was bound to wake if only he had the strength-

Awareness returned.

Using all of the energy he could muster, Tino forced himself to open his eyes.

"... Berwald?"