Look After You

The Hospital

     Apparently, Ryan had a ruptured artery.

      The main one in his right shoulder, to be exact. An extremely important one that carried blood and oxygen to his arms as well as his head, neck, and lungs. It hadn't been completely torn, but there was certainly a notable tear that caused blood to spurt from his wound like a sprinkler without him even noticing. It was only natural that he went into shock after a wound like that, though it definitely should've happened much sooner than it did. Adrenaline truly was a powerful thing. It could move mountains and break diamonds. The doctor chuckled when he said that to Ryan. Everything about him bounced, from his grey mustache and wrinkled face to the white coat draped over his shoulders. His laugh echoed throughout the tiny hospital room, knocking into the heart monitor he was hooked up to and the IV that was keeping him awake.

     Ryan didn't remember laughing along with him.

     Aside from the repairs to the torn muscle and artery, he was also forced to undergo a blood transfusion to survive. According to the doctor, it was a miracle that he was still able to use his arm. If he had to wait just ten more minutes, the entire limb would've been amputated. He was lucky, so very lucky, to have it sitting in a sling instead. A blue one to match the paper gown that he had been placed in. Ryan didn't feel lucky. Luke seemed to know that too once he picked up on the silence that had filled the room from the chair by his bed. After the initial hugs and tears that naturally came when he opened up his eyes to white walls and sterile air, he had been physically incapable of keeping his fingers from his good hand. Luke squeezed it when the doctor made that comment and urged him to keep reading the chart in his hands.

     Ryan also had a concussion. A mild one that didn't require anything but a thick bandage on the side of his head and some painkillers. Which, fortunately, he was on a lot of. He probably wouldn't even feel the thumping migraine that most patients felt after getting that kind of bump to the head. He'd just feel a little confusion, a little disorientation. There'd be a haze around his memories while his brain recovered from the trauma, but, hopefully, it would fade away with time. Luke squeezed his hand again.

     "Where's Bo?"

     They were the only two words that Ryan said to the doctor.

     The wrinkles on his face became a bit more noticeable. It was like his question had aged him in an instant. Ryan nearly threw up all over his hospital bed.

     "Well, I'll be honest with you. Mr. Cooper—His Majesty, I suppose—isn't exactly my patient. However, news spreads fast when you have a king in your hospital." Another chuckle, this one far more forced than the last one. "I've heard that he's in the ICU until his condition stabilizes. Of course, the ICU means no visitors aside from immediate family so...."

     But Ryan was immediate family.

     The doctor said a few more things before he left the room, standard words that Ryan couldn't hear over the sound of that heart monitor. The room was quiet for a minute, and at that moment, all he could do was listen to the sound of his brother breathing. He really thought he'd never be able to hear that sound again. A new wave of appreciation for it crashed into him.

     Luke gently cleared his throat.

     "Ryan, I know you're going through a lot right now, but can I ask you something?"

     Ryan stared at the door to the small bathroom inside of his room.

     "W-What... what happened?"

     The police asked him that same question.

     They filed into the room before Ryan could even scrape together a proper lie for his brother. They flashed their shiny badges, each one blinding him further and further until he had to stare out the window just to rest his eyes. He could see birds sitting on a branch outside. A couple of the officers weren't officers at all, Ryan noticed when he was finally able to face them all again. They were actually members of Bo's team of security guards. He recognized them by their hands, the same ones that wrapped him in chains and dragged him down to the bowels of the castle weekly. They didn't look happy with him. Ryan found it hard to care.

     The best answer he had for their questions was silence.

     They had a lot of them too. From an outside perspective, he could see how bad this looked. Especially in the eyes of the guards, who only knew him as the assassin who was oddly determined to rid the world of their king. Without Bo to tell him how much of the situation to reveal, he just decided not to say anything about it. The most that he did was meekly whisper that he had forgotten everything, what with his concussion being so terribly painful and all, and that was only after being threatened by one of the guards.

     He clung to that excuse like a security blanket for four days straight.

     Even after the police and the guards left him alone, Luke still had his wide eyes on him. Waiting for the lie to grow stale and the words to glaze his lips, too concerned to simply leave him to decompose in his own head. Ryan stuck to that story whenever he opened up his mouth, which wasn't too often. Luke tried to talk to him constantly, but Ryan couldn't bring himself to respond.

     He spent most of his time staring out the window or down at the paper sheets covering his body. He never let go of his hand. Whenever a nurse came in to replace the empty bag of saline solution that was dangling from his IV with a fresh, full one, he barely noticed. Nurses also delivered trays of food around the clock, but for the first time in a long time, he wasn't hungry.

     After four days of sitting in the same position, Ryan asked Luke to get him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

     "Ryan, this is a hospital. You know you can't smoke here, right?"

     "What if I said please?"

     "Then I'd tell you again that this is a hospital. You aren't allowed to smoke here...."

     He ran a hand through his hair. "Lukie, it's been days. I genuinely don't think I can go any longer without one."

     He frowned.

     "Can you please do this for me? I wouldn't ask you to leave me if I didn't feel like it was important. Come on, I won't ask you for anything else ever again."

     "I don't want you to stop asking me for stuff." He sighed. "Fine, I'll go. I just really didn't feel like dealing with that crowd outside...."

     Ryan sat up a bit. "Crowd?"

     "You didn't know?" Luke didn't wait for his brother to state the obvious. "There was a crowd of reporters and paparazzi outside the front of the hospital when I showed up. I doubt that they ever left. I guess they heard the news that a king was here and wanted to find out what happened. I guess that makes two of us, huh?"

     Ryan looked away. Luke did too.

     "S-Sorry." He finally said as he stood up from his chair. "I'll go get your cigarettes, okay?"

     "Okay. Thanks, Lukie."

     He hesitated before tugging his hand away. Ryan felt the difference immediately, realizing that there was nothing special about his fingers unless Luke's were in between them. He waved as he left. He opened his mouth to tell him to be safe but sound only came out once the door had been pulled shut.

     Ryan took a breath. It didn't take long for him to start feeling lonely. He hoped Luke came back with those cigarettes soon.