Don't Come Back For Me

Hospital.

       Beeps. Lots of them. Super annoying. 

       Prying your eyes open, you grimaced at the white room. It was disgusting and bright, in need of a touch up. "I'm in a fucking hospital," you grumbled, peering around.

       "Nice to see you noticed, kid." You jumped, hearing a mumbled apology as you turned your head. Rick was sitting in chair, absolutely exhausted in appearance. "You look like death," you mumbled. Rick chuckled, yawning as he sat up in his seat. "Just tired. Don't freak out like they do in those crappy movies, but you've been in here for a while." 

       You rolled your eyes, "Hit me. How long? I'm fine with a few days, but I will freak if it's been longer. That'll be a buncha bullshit, you know what I'm saying? Lay it on me."

       Rick chuckled, "Just three days. You passed out and I had to drive your truck to get here. They said a lotta shit was ruptured and asked if you fought the Incredible Hulk. I just said that was pretty close." Rick chuckled, yawning again.

        "Did they keep me out on purpose, or was it one of those 'hey you passed out for three days in the hospital due to injuries' deals?" Rick ran a hand down his face, "They gave you a lotta sleeping shit. They said they were surprised your body didn't shut down. Kept you out of it for a bit. I kinda slept here, like the creepy boss I am."

       "Doesn't look like you slept much. You need to catch some Z's, and somma deez.... nuts." You laughed, finding it easier to do so when your body wasn't bitching at you.

       "Nice to see you can still take a beating and come out laughing, (Y/N)." Rick chuckled lightly, yawning. When he stopped, he looked towards the ground like something was really bothering him. "You okay?" He looked up at you, furrowing his brow slightly. "You just look really worried, is all. Wondering what was up."

       "I'm alright, just... tired, is all." He changed his clothes. "Did you portal, or change then take me to the hospital?" You laughed.

       "Portal," he explained. He wasn't as fun right now, much more depressed and thoughtful than you remembered. 

        Before you could ask what was up, a nurse walked in. "Oh, good, you're up! We were beginning to think we'd have to try harder." She laughed, "The doctor wants you to know you're alright, and that we will only keep you here for another two hours, just to be sure you're all better."

        As soon as she walked out, you gaped at Rick, "You said ruptured, they said all good. What the fuck?"

       "I said I had to drive your truck, I never said I took you to a normal hospital. There's lots of these located here, just nobody really knows about them. Super advanced." You shut your mouth after a moment, pouting momentarily, "Gonna be a long ass two hours."

       It hadn't been, actually. The time passed relatively quickly and you were driving home, Rick almost falling asleep in the passengers seat. You turned on your GPS to find that you were about a good half hour from his house, but roughly fifteen minutes from your home. You decided to take Rick to your house and save him that extra fifteen minutes, just to let him sleep. The hospital had sent you home in a different outfit, not saying what they'd done with Rick's pajama bottoms.

        When you got to your apartment, Rick followed you up the stairs with no argument. He had actually said it was better than trying to sleep with loud ass kids running around. You chuckled and promised to keep your video games on mute.

       As soon as you wandered in, Rick ran to use your restroom. You grabbed a few drinks and some gummies, pouring several packets into a bowl. This was your normal gaming ritual.

       You set the items on an end table and hooked up your DreamCast system, inserting Unreal Tournament and grabbing your controller. You had already started a level, kicking ass, when Rick stumbled out of the bathroom, nearly passing out from the fatigue.

       "You can use my bed, if you want. I'm not gonna make you sleep on the couch." He either didn't register the statement, or he just didn't care anymore. He moved to the couch and crawled onto it, clumsily kicking his shoes off. He sat near you for a moment and shrugged out of his lab coat before laying his head in your lap with no warning or reason. You just shrugged, not even bothered, as he slept and you played your game, silently cursing when you lost of cheering when you won.

       Occasionally he would mumble something in his sleep, and you could've sworn you'd heard your name several times, but he kept snoozing. You played several rounds of your game, slowly draining your snack supply. You were down to about 1/3 of your gummies and two cans of soda left. At one point, Rick shifted in his sleep, essentially punching you in the dingly-dangly-diddly-ding-dong. You cried out softly, biting your tongue. He was like a toddler, running up and head butting you because it's all they can reach.

        You dropped your controller, whispering "FuckFuckFuckFuckFuck," over and over again. Rick grumbled softly as you bit your tongue harder, trying to trade one bout of pain out for another. You reached down slowly and grabbed your controller again, trying not to shout as you continued to play, the pain, thankfully, gradually subsiding. 

        Somehow, during your gaming, Rick had moved and was now half on your lap, curled like a cat. That brought a smile to your face as you reached down and played with his hair for a moment, watching him curl tighter before relaxing. In some ways, he really was like a cat. That was great.

       A quick glance at your phone told you it was now 3AM, and that you'd played longer than you intended. However, your three day nap, as you'd like to put it, kept you from sleeping. Well, that and your sugary snacks. With a sigh, you grabbed the tv remote and switched it over to cable, promising to shut the game system off once Rick woke up. You turned the volume down and the subtitles on, switching the channel over to Cartoon Network. The Amazing World Of Gumball was on, so you figured you'd watch it. Before you'd tuned in completely, you took a quick photo of this moment, smiling behind a sleeping Rick. You grinned and tucked your phone away, proud of that photo.

      The rest of the night, you watched Cartoon Network with a few more punches to the donger. Poor little thing.