Hi guys, you might have seen this fic on tumblr or other places, but ever since this site finally got a section for MML fanfiction, I wanted to post it here too. This is a two-part series, I hope you like it.

For future readers: This whole story was written when MML just came out, so if anything doesn't fit with the newer episodes, that is why.

Chapter 1: Zack's First Broken Arm

A run away bulldozer, a short cliff and some spiky bushes at the bottom to catch his fall. In all honesty, Zack was lucky he only came away with a broken arm.

It had been the most painful experience of Zack's life, and now he was stuck with this cast for six to eight weeks. In the back of his mind, Zack always knew this was coming. He had chosen to be Milo's friend and he saw how often Milo got hurt. Zack just never fully believed it would happen to him, or that it would be so painful.

The door opened to his hospital room, and a spunky redhead walked inside.

"Melissa!" Zack greeted happily. It was nice to see someone other than nurses and doctors for a change. His parents had been there, but they left for a few hours and would be back soon with his Gameboy so he wouldn't be completely bored.

"Hey, Zack. How are you feeling?"

"Like my arm is broken, so not great," he answered honestly. He really wished the nurses would give him another dose of that pain medication.

Melissa frowned. "Yeah, that was a pretty bad fall. I'm glad it wasn't worse."

"Me too."

"Milo will be here in a minute," Melissa said. "He had some trouble with… well, you know how it is."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I get it. I'm just glad to have some visitors. I was getting pretty bored in here."

To Zack's surprise, Melissa pulled herself up to sit on his bed, her feet still hanging over the edge.

"Listen, Zack, I wanted to talk to you about something before Milo gets here."

Zack decided he didn't like her serious voice, it made him nervous. "Uhh, okay? What is it?"

"I'm just going to get straight to the point: Are you planning to stop hanging out with Milo and me?"

Zack stared. "What?"

Melissa sighed. "It's not a hard question. You got a broken arm because you were hanging out with Milo. It's possible that it will happen again, and maybe it will be worse next time. We won't think less of you if you decided that you can't hang out with us anymore."

Zack raised a confused eyebrow at her. "Yes you will."

She smirked. "Okay, maybe I will, but you know Milo wont. He understands more than anyone how hard it can be to deal with Murphy's law. He's… used to not having a lot of close friends. He won't take it personally. Plus, you will still see us at school."

Zack shook his head. "But that's not what I want."

"But you also don't want another broken arm."

Zack hesitated. "No, I don't want that either."

There was an awkward silence between them as Zack looked down at his cast.

"Do you really think this will happen again?" he asked fearfully. "How many times have you gotten hurt?"

Melissa shrugged. "Gotten hurt? Plenty of times. Gotten seriously injured? Three or four. Usually it's only Milo that gets badly hurt, but anything that can go wrong…"

"Right," Zack said, swallowing a lump in his throat. "I get it."

"It's okay, Zack. Milo will understand-"

"I'm not abandoning him," Zack snapped angrily.

Melissa's eyes widened at the harshness of his voice.

"And I don't know why you think I will!" He glared at her. "Why are you trying to get rid of me? I thought we were friends too."

"We are friends," Melissa said sternly. "And that's why I need to make sure you're not just sticking around because of misguided loyalty or some stupid feelings of obligation. If you hang around Milo, it's because you want to and because you think he's worth the risks."

"I do want to-"

Melissa leaned forward until she was right in his face, and Zack felt himself lean back into his pillows. "If this happens again, if you get hurt because of Murphy's law, then you can't blame Milo-"

"I don't-"

"If you stick around, it's your own choice," Melissa interrupted before he could finish. "You can't blame him, not even a tiny bit, because he will know. He will be able to tell if you're starting to resent him. Then Milo will be unhappy, and you will be unhappy." Melissa pointed her index finger directly at his face and he had to cross his eyes to look at it. "And I hate it when my friends are unhappy. That includes you, Zack."

Melissa pulled away, giving him some space to breathe.

"I like you," Melissa admitted. "I think you're braver than you give yourself credit for and you keep us both grounded, but I don't want you to hang out with us because you feel like you have to. That's not what friendship is."

Zack let out a breath. "Yeah, I think I get what you're trying to say."

"You've lasted longer with us than anyone else has," Melissa continued. "And Milo thinks you're going to stop hanging out with us now. Most people don't stick around past the broken limb stage. So, if you want to leave, now is the best time, since he's already expecting it."

The door to the hospital room opened and the two kid's heads snapped around to see a disheveled Milo enter the room. He was still breathing hard, obviously still recovering from the last thing Murphy's law threw at him.

"Zack!" Milo shouted. His eyebrows knotted up in worry, but a large grin stretched across his face, as if seeing Zack was the highlight of his day. "I'm so sorry, Zack. Are you okay?"

Any complaint that Zack had about the pain in his arm dissolved in an instant when he saw how guilty Milo looked. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's not so bad here and the nurses give me all the free ice cream I want."

"Milo requested you get put in the Murphy Suite," Melissa explained. "It's probably the best room in the entire hospital."

"I'm really sorry this happened," Milo apologized again. "I don't know what to say."

"It's not your fault," Zack assured him, but the guilt was still clinging to Milo's face as the boy shoved his hands in his pockets. It wasn't often that Milo was without his cheery demeanor. It was in this moment that Zack noticed another thing off about his friend. Milo hadn't moved more than a few feet away from the door he entered, leaving a whole room between them.

"I know it's not technically my fault, but it did still happen because of me," Milo explained. "But don't worry, I'm sure you will get better before you know it! And everyone will want to sign your cast, so there's a silver lining."

Zack smiled. There was the optimistic friend he knew.

"And don't worry, Zack, I totally understand. Me and Melissa will miss hanging out with you at lunch and after school, but we will still see each other all the time!"

"Huh?" Zack glanced at Melissa who was watching him with an unreadable expression. He looked back at Milo. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't want you to break anything else, and that will probably happen again if we keep hanging out."

There was a pause between them as Zack studied his friend's face.

"Yeah, it might," Zack agreed at last. "Is that the reason why you're all the way over there?"

Milo chuckled uncomfortably. "Just in case. I don't want to be responsible for you getting hurt twice in the same day."

"So this is the plan now, huh?" Zack asked indignantly. He was surprised by his own anger, but he didn't like Milo making his decisions for him. "You're just going to be friends with me from ten feet away, just like you do with the other kids?"

Milo blink at him. "Well, yeah… I don't want that to happen again." Milo motioned to Zack's arm. "And I'm sure you don't either."

Zack growled to himself as he swung his feet over the edge of his bed, causing Melissa to stand up in order to get out of his way. Using his good hand, Zack pushed himself to his feet.

"Zack, what are you doing?" Milo asked worriedly. "You should lie down!"

Zack crossed the room until he was right in front of Milo. Milo took a step back in surprise.

Without hesitation, Zack clasped his good hand over Milo's shoulder.

"That plan sucks, man." Zack couldn't help but grin at Milo's shocked face. "And seriously, a broken arm, Milo? You're going to have to try harder than that if you're trying to get rid of me."

Milo finally managed to pull himself from his stupor. "Zack, you don't have to-"

"I'm not your friend because I have to," Zack said, thinking back to Melissa's speech. "I'm your friend because I want to be. To be honest, I was really worried about moving here," Zack admitted in embarrassment. "I was worried I wouldn't make any friends because everyone would already know each other and I would just be left out. But you included me in everything, even though you barely knew me. I can't believe I was lucky enough to meet my best friends on my first day."

"Zack, you're my best friend too, but-" Milo protested weakly.

"Milo, stuff happens," Zack interrupted him before Milo could protest any further. "People get hurt, but if I lived my life in fear of something bad happening, then I would never do anything. If I get hurt again, then whatever, I get hurt again," Zack shrugged. "That doesn't mean it will be your fault. I'm choosing to hang around you. That's my choice."

Milo just stared at him, dumbfounded. Then, Milo seemed to disappear from view as Zack felt something warm crash into him, almost knocking him over. Milo clung to him, giving him the tightest hug he had ever received.

Zack chuckled and hugged his friend back with one arm. Milo had tried to pretend that he was okay with Zack distancing himself from him, but this crushing hug proved otherwise. Even though Milo would never admit it, and even though Milo liked his "condition" for the most part, Zack was sure he was tired of losing people.

Zack was surprised to feel another arm around him as Melissa joined the hug. After a moment, Zack pulled away to get a good look at her face, and she nodded at him approvingly.

He smiled back.

Melissa's arms were hooked over the two boy's shoulders, keeping them all together.

"Looks like we're stuck with each other then," Melissa said with a laugh, knocking her head lightly against theirs. "Now come on, best friend privilege says that we get to sign Zack's cast first!"

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