"He's doing fine and will be back in his room in about half an hour where you can visit him."
Tyler sighed, rubbing his eyes with his palms. "Thank you," He said quietly. He was worn out. It was 4am and he was most definitely not prepared for this, not prepared for this level of complete stupidity that landed his boyfriend in the hospital.
The nurse asked if Tyler knew how this happened to Josh and he refrained from rolling his eyes because yes, unfortunately he did.
-
Josh had an amazingly genius idea that he would give back-flips around the house a try. At first, this resulted in two broken picture frames, a hole in the living room wall that was at just the right level that you would never be able to hide it well, and a fair share of bruises on the two of them. Tyler admittedly couldn't stand it after a week and asked Josh to quit it before any worse damage was caused.
But to a stubborn Josh, 'quit it' means 'just do it when I'm asleep or not around'. And he got away with it after awhile, using the late hours of the night in the basement when he couldn't sleep to continue his stupid back-flips.
It was almost 1am and Josh was too antsy to wait and check if Tyler was asleep or not, since he was going to try a double back-flip this time. He rubbed his hands together and took a deep breath, checking around the basement to see if there was anything within kicking distance, and there didn't seem to be. He lifted his arms above his head and slightly bent his knees, trying to suppress his giant excited grin because Josh had to focus. He swung his arms around a few times for momentum, finally jumping up and tightening his muscles, tucking his entire bod and before he knew it he was jumping again, tucking again, and- and crashing into his old drum set. He hoped that snapping noise was a drumstick breaking.
He swore to god that it was far away enough that it wouldn't have been a problem but he had no time to consider his skewed perception of distance as he noted his left arm immediately taking a blueish hue. For a minute all he could do was stare at in in shock before he felt it and boy, did it fucking hurt. He didn't know whether to laugh or sob, so he choked out a little bit of both, not caring if he sounded crazy. "Tyler!" Josh shouted, praying he hadn't knocked out for the night. His arm now was almost swollen to twice it's size and he couldn't see with all the dumb tears in his eyes. "Tyler!" His voice cracked a little and he groaned, backing himself up against a wall.
After a good agonizing minute he heard the basement door slam open and the sound of Tyler quickly running down the stairs. "Josh, what's going on?" His voice was all high and squeaky as it always was when he was stressed and Josh would laugh if it didn't feel like someone was stabbing and twisting his arm at the moment.
"I think I broke my arm," Josh said, his voice wobbling and tears still going down his face.
"If it was from doing back-flips I swear, Josh-"
"This hurts, please Tyler, we'll talk later," Josh cut Tyler off, letting out another sob. This was stupid and unbearable and fuck back-flips.
-
After awhile Tyler was informed that Josh had managed to break his arm in two places including his wrist, and had to get titanium rods and pins to hold the mess together. Obviously, from the paled look on Tyler's face he hadn't heard about metal being used a whole lot for broken arms, but the nurse assured him that he was doing fine and was coming to in the recovery room, in fact.
Tyler got to the room as fast as he could without bumping into anyone and wanted to smile and cry all at once when he saw Josh. He was an idiot and Tyler was still pissed, but he still somehow looked almost ethereal even with his sweat-clad hair plastered to his forehead. His eyes were half closed and watched Tyler quietly as he made his way over to the bed.
"How are you feeling?" Tyler kept his voice quiet and soft and pushed back the man's red hair.
"I'm just..." His rolled his head to face Tyler, mouth slightly parted. "Oh wow." His voice sounded scratchy and slurred.
"What is it, Jish? Do you need water?" Tyler took Josh's hand and ran his thumb over the top.
"Did the doctor send you?" Josh croaked. "Oh man, you're a sight for sore eyes."
Tyler felt his cheeks heat up, and he smiled. "You think so?"
"Mm, know so. Must be a, a fuckin' model or something, huh?" Josh was staring at Tyler in awe now.
"Nope, I'm not. I'm gonna call down the nurse to get you some water, do you think you can hold down crackers too or is your stomach upset?"
"Just water." Josh went quiet as Tyler stood up. "Wait, wait. Don't go." His voice was so sore and it made Tyler's heart break.
"I'm not, don't worry. I'm just gonna press this button right here and it'll call the nurse, okay?" Tyler pressed the button and quickly sat down, scooting his chair closer to the bedside.
"Mhm," Josh hummed. "Who are you? What's your name?"
Tyler held back a laugh from Josh's drowsiness. "My name's Tyler. I'm your boyfriend."
Josh's eyes grew wide. "You're my boyfriend? Holy shit..." He paused for a second. "Damn..." He closed his eyes, resting his uninjured arm over his eyes for a second before the arm flopped down onto the bed again. "How long?"
"Awhile," Tyler giggled. The smile and fascination that was across Josh's face was priceless.
"Oh man... Oh wow, this is awesome. Have we kissed yet?"
Tyler couldn't help but laugh now. "Definitely." The nurse had walked in now, handing Tyler the cup and checking in on how Josh was doing. "It's normal that he doesn't really recognize me, right?" The nurse informed him that yes, this was harmless and was not going to turn into The Vow, much to his relief.
After the nurse left, Tyler held the cup to Josh's lips, but Josh made no effort to move. "C'mon, just drink a little bit so your throat can feel better."
"I'm trying, but I'm all stuck, baby, I'm all..." Josh mumbled, his eyes closed. His eyes snapped open again. "Do we call each other baby?"
Tyler broke into a huge grin, nodding. "Drink your water, c'mon." After a tiny drink, Josh turned his head away from the cup and Tyler rolled his eyes, setting the cup on the table. Maybe after he's a bit more coherent.
"Fuck, I hit the jackpot." Josh's voice was starting to crack from the soreness. "Most gorgeous guy I've ever seen." He was staring at Tyler once again, and reached out with his other arm. "Lemme see your face."
Tyler leaned in close, tempted to kiss him. "Hm?"
"Your face is so great... Turn around, lemme-"
"Josh!" Tyler's cheeks flared up again.
"I don't even have to look, I already know." Josh laughed, but it turned into a groan. "My arm hurts, and my throat hurts, everything hurts."
"I'm sorry baby, the pain meds will kick in soon though, I promise." Tyler was running his hand through Josh's hair and pushing down the 'oh my god I'm so in love' feeling, unable to wpie the huge smile on his face. "I love you, Josh."
"I love you more," Josh said groggily, seeming to be falling back asleep.
After a few minutes of silence, Tyler leaned in and kissed Josh's forehead. "I don't think that's possible," He whispered.
And Josh might've smiled a teeny bit.
