Reversal of Fortune [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

I woke to warmth.

Comfort.

It took me a moment to realize what it was too. I had almost forgotten what it was like. And when I realized what it was, I basked in it. I felt warm heavy heated blankets piled on top of me. Whatever was being fed through my IV was incredible and I was numb to any pain. The only reason I'd woken up was due to hunger pains gnawing at my stomach.

My eyes flickered open slowly and I found myself staring up at a white ceiling with little swirly designs in the paint. I cocked my head at it for a moment, then turned my head and froze.

My room was crowded.

Sitting in the chair to my left was Yiuwa. He was fast asleep, slumped down in the seat, one hand on the bed, the other tucked under his chin, with his elbow resting on the arm rest. He was wearing a battlesuit as well. Taking up the whole sofa beside him was Simon with a thin knit blanket laid over him and a pillow tucked under his head as he snored away, like this was his new crib. At the foot of my bed, Viviana was slumped over with her head resting on a pillow, a thick fur coat draped over her as she slept.

I soaked in the moment, wondering why the hell they thought they could gang up in my room like this. I shook my head at them, then looked down at myself. My arm was in a thin web-like cast, matching the one on my leg that was hoisted up by a pulley system. I was dressed in a thin hospital gown, but didn't really notice that considering I was under what appeared to be a weighted blanket and a heated one beneath it. I tilted my head to look up at the IV, watching the droplets fall down steadily.

I felt strange, the longer I laid there.

I kept expecting to wake up and find that none of this was real. In fact, the idea of closing my eyes and waking up was unnerving, so I decided against going back to sleep. I just watched everyone sleeping around me. A glance at the windows told me it was nighttime. The curtains had been pulled shut, but little strips of blackness peeked through with flashes of light from the city.

The door to the room opened and I snapped my eyes to see Hades walking in, looking down at a tablet with a phone balanced on his shoulder against his ear. He wasn't paying immediate attention to me, so I shut my eyes and feigned sleep. At the same time, it sounded like Yiuwa was stirring in the chair.

"What's going on?" Yiuwa asked sleepily, his voice husky and warm.

"Just people being idiots at my lab," Hades answered dryly, "They say they lost Rowan's blood sample, which is bullshit, you don't just lose a vial of blood. Fucking idiot. See, this is why I told Lucifer assistants were fucking useless, especially fresh grad students who think so much as farting will piss me off."

"With the way you're reacting over their loss of a blood sample, I can't imagine why," came Simon's groggy grumble from the sofa.

"Farting doesn't piss me off. Losing a vial of blood that belongs to the asshole who gave me these eyes pisses me off," Hades answered in a clipped tone. My heart sank at that. I resisted the urge to wake up, simply laid there quietly, unmoving when I heard Viviana sigh.

"He didn't do it on purpose, I'm sure," she murmured, not sounding very sleepy. My stomach knotted briefly at that. Viviana could've been pretending to be asleep too, to see how I was doing, to see how I would react. Thankfully, she didn't call me out on faking.

"Oh yeah, no," Hades agreed dryly, "I also have accidentally cursed a few people in my lifetime."

"Not a curse," Viviana answered smoothly, shifting on the bed and making it dip as she sat up, "A curse would indicate something unfortunate. If anything, I would say your eyes have done you a great deal of help."