Soooo, apparently I should update this story. If you people are a little antsy that I don't update as much as you'd like, you're more than welcome to actually pay me to do it. I do commissions for art, I'm more than willing to do it for fanfiction as well. Give me some incentive here people, I'm a poor college student for Christ's sake!
Simplicity and its Faults
Chapter Four
John was shaken awake rudely by the same nurse that liked to rip out his skin and hair. "Mr. McClane. Mr McClane! You need to wake up!" the nurse's eyes were unnaturally wide.
"What, What!?" he grumped unhappily and looked around blearily. His eyes naturally set upon the young charge in the bed over.
"Is Matt alright!? Is he dying?" John asked quickly, heart beginning to race.
"What? No, no! It's not about him, but….you…you're a cop right?" the nurse bit at her nail, looking around with her stressed out eyes.
"Yeah, why?" John felt his very bones ache in response to the relief. He didn't understand quite why he felt so happy about the good news, but he didn't want to think about that at this moment in time.
"Well, I just heard an explosion. What should I do!?" she cringed, looking towards the one small window in the room.
"An explosion? You should call 911 then. Not wake up a recovering cop who can't walk." John stared at her as if she were an alien. Really, who would even think to wake up the ward of a hospital when something as big as explosion could get them panicking and hurt themselves even more.
"Oh, yes. Yes I will!" the nurse flipped out a pink small rectangular shape. Flicking it open, she made the familiar 9-1-1 punchs with her manicured nail.
"Hello? Police department?" her voice faded as she walked into the other part of the room.
"Damn." John felt his tendons pull and stretch as his tired body protested the rude wake up call in the middle of the night.
"Wait-a-minute…" John looked to the watch on his arm. Cursing the heavens, John made a foul comment about the stupidity of the nurse. It was three in the freakin' morning and she was hearing explosions.
"Explosions? Couldn't that be serious?" John heard a small and familiar voice.
"It's nothing. Someone probably dropped something heavy upstairs." John reassured Matt.
"I guess. Still, it's interesting enough to wake up." Matt yawned groggily.
"Why? You should be sleeping." The older man glared at the younger.
"Meh, I can go for days on as little as four hours of sleep for at least two weeks." Matt shrugged.
"Why in God's name would you want to do that?" John asked, almost aghast at the very idea.
"Hello? College finals? They literally suck the life right out of your body." Matt shook his head in disgust.
"You? Studying for a final? I can hardly believe that." John made a rude sound with his mouth.
"Oh, I wasn't studying. I was uploading the cheat sheets to other students who were 'studying'. I made bank off of that." Matt said smugly, settling into his sheets with a cocky grin.
"You sneaky little bastard. You know that's illegal." John laughed, giving the other a fake scowl.
"Yeah, but you love me to much to care don'cha?" Matt stuck his tongue out at the other.
"Cheeky lil'shit." John laughed at the other's antics. His heart had stuttered to a halt when the other mentioned 'love'. His lungs seemed to small and his stomach seemed to disappear.
It was an innocuous statement in itself but when Matt smiled and said that, John felt his very being twist into parts. This was not a normal thing to happen. Not in the slightest. These thoughts were not simple and he hated the fact that he would have to really buckle down and figure his shit out but not now. Not when Matt was laughing at him and calling him a grouch.
"Well, I am going to try and get some sleep." John turned over with a grunt of stinging pain. He wanted to sort out these strange thoughts and get them stowed safely away by the time morning came. He was up for a physical then and might be allowed to walk around freely if he did well.
"Alright you old man." Matt chuckled to himself and proceeded to clink around getting his ipod out with his earphones. He was probably going to listen to more of his noise-music and play solitaire if John knew the kid as well as he knew he did.
John lay there in the semi-darkness, listening to the low hum of music coming from the other side of the room and the rhythmic soft clicking of the other pressing the middle button and scrolling through the cards. John could all but see the hands skimming the small metal device, fingernails chewed carelessly, cuticles barely there, skin tight and young. He didn't understand why he could imagine it all so clearly, he just wanted to erase it from his mind. The last time he'd felt like he could memorize a person like this was his daughter when he first held her. She was so small and perfect. The warm feeling that filled him then was different than the stuttering heat that simmered and flared deep in his chest.
His daughter brought out a fierce protective streak in him, causing him to make a few rash decisions. What Matt pulled from the grizzled man was something he had no name for. Something deeper and more primal. Not more powerful than his love for his daughter or the respect for his ex-wife, but something different. John had categories for everything. Family, Friends, Higher Ups, Lower Downs, Equals, Strangers, and so on and so forth. Matt didn't fit in any where to John. He couldn't see the other as family, he was to much of a brat. He wasn't a friend, nor was he work relate. Well, not in an employee sense. He wasn't a stranger, he wasn't anything. Matt didn't have a category and that just messed with John. What was Matt to him? What did the man mean to him?
"Hnph." John snorted loudly and closed his eyes. He didn't want to care this night.
Matt stole a glance over to the older man who was trying to sleep. He was such a kill-joy. It was part of his charm but it still confused Matt. Who could ever be so grumpy all the time? HE was the one with a mangled leg along with other scrapes and bruises! Yeah, he was shot through a lot more tissue but come ON!
The brunette cracked his neck while still staring down at his ipod. John was the type of guy who picked on Matt for his interests and such. The school yard fights with bullies who would take his tech and grind their dirty boots into it while Matt would cry and scream for them to stop. Matt frowned grimly.
He hated school.
The reason he was so intelligent wasn't just a gift, it was something he worked on all the time. He passed all the tests with flying colours so he could just not come to school some days. When he was covered in bruises and cuts from the others, he would just stay home, wrapped in his covers. Trying to hide away from the world, Matt shut out everyone so they couldn't find him.
Shaking off the depression that was settling around him like a large snake, Matt refocused on his game. Seeing that it said "Game Won!" he started another round. Old stories were meant for the past. He didn't have time to deal with old hurts and past regrets.
Matt settled down into his bed more firmly. He grimaced as his iPod flickered. He'd have to check the hardrive again. He'd replaced the iPod nano's hard drive with something of his own creation to boost the power a bit more. It wasn't exactly an iPhone but that was what he was going to mess with next. He wanted to install a few new accessories to the iPhone but his text was the nano. His nano could now care 20 gigs of music, pictures, and whatever junk he felt like. The screen was tiny but he could deal with that. Contacts came in helpful when you were constantly looking at small lettering.
A new song started and Matt busied himself with tapping away at the nano, winning every game with small taps and round about movements with his thumb. He was bored and he wasn't learning. The man liked to learn constantly which is why he usually had the TV on and it was usually set onto the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, Animal Planet, or Discovery Health. He enjoyed the background sound as well as the information streaming through him.
Hearing a grunt, Matt looked up to see John shift a bit in his bed and settle down again. Sometimes, the man looked like an overgrown grizzly. Angry looking but fuzzy no matter what. The right person could hug and squeeze them but any one else would be ripped to shreds. Thinking of that, Matt wondered why he wasn't a pile of mush yet. The man had some real restraint when it came down to it. Matt would have freaked out during the kidnapping session and would have tried reasoning with the other to release all of them for money or what not.
John had kept level headed and even shot himself to kill the 'bad guy'. He was a hero in Matt's eyes. Matt smiled softly at the grizzly. He wasn't so bad.
"Hurry hurry! We have to get a blood transfusion! He's B+ Doctor," the young man heard from down the hallway. He could hear the squeaking wheels to a gurney and the frantic tap tap tap of a pair of expensive leather shoes. He could hear nurses murmuring as the bed was pushed into the ward next to his.
"Yes nurse, please prepare the IV. I'll start with the stitches." The doctor's voice commanded over the softer female nurses.
"I don't need this! My car! Is it alright? It's not hurt, is it!?" A voice asked frantically and a bit too loudly. It was a sign that there might be some damage to his ear drums, Matt thought offhandedly.
"Son, we have to patch you up first. You'll be in the hospital for at least a few days, sit down now." The Doctor scolded what sounded like a teenager.
Another pair of voices spoke up from the hallway just outside of Matt and John's doorway.
"Honey, he'll be alright. It was just a minor car crash. Don't worry!" Matt heard an older man's voice soothe another.
"Oh, but the blood! There's so much!" A shrill cry started into hysterics.
"Most of it was just gas. Don't worry Judy, he'll be fine. He was even asking about his car, can you believe it! He was asking if the car was 'hurt' Judy. He'll be fine if he can be worried about that hunk of metal." The man said in a matter of fact tone.
"I know, but..." The woman's voice dissolved into tears and nonsensical words.
Matt tried to peer into the hallway to see the speakers. Parents. It was the basis of a home and of a family. A pair of people who wanted to raise children together. A pair of people who wanted something more in their lives than just a home and a relationship. Matt smiled grimly as he remembered his own family and family home. So long ago it seemed. He couldn't remember when he smiled to big or when he had laughed so hard and so honestly.
Matt's face fell as he remembered home. His home. It was gone. All of his stuff, his priceless treasures. Models, collectibles, DVDs, computer tech, games, game tech, everything was gone. His world was nothing. He didn't even have an ID. No insurance information, no car (not like he had one to start with, but still.), no money. Matt would have to start from scratch.
Wincing and letting his arms drop slowly, Matt stared blankly into the space above his bed. What would he do? He could bunk with a buddy but being so closely watched by the police probably wasn't going to get him too far. He couldn't afford a hotel much less an apartment, nor could he think of going homeless. Eye lids closing even slower, Matt realized the tough decision he was going to have to make. His parents weren't alive anymore and he hadn't spoken to his sister in over ten years.
Where would he live?
Where would he go?
Matt felt his muscles do lax as sleep started to overtake him. Dread filling him, Matt felt the nightmares start.