"Too fucking early..." he barely croaked, his throat raw from the tubes.

Larry smiled up at Sal, thankful that he was still alive to see his gorgeous face once again, even if it was just his prosthetic. He started to cry, realised what he had done,

"Sal...I'm so s-"

Sal put a finger to Larry's lips, shushing him. He shook his head as Larry went to speak again.

"I know, babe... I know..."

Sal stood up, replaced his prosthetic and walked out the room to find some doctors or nurses now that Larry had woken up. Larry tried to sit up but was too weak, he pulled all the monitors off him, causing them to flatline. Sal ran back to Larry's room hearing the alarms going off, a doctor and a couple nurses followed him. Sal sighed as he saw Larry was ok, he walked over to his bed and playfully punched him in the arm,

"You fuck nugget! You need to stop scaring the shit out of me, you dick nozzle!"

Larry burst out laughing, the doctors beside him gave a slight chuckle too,

"Really? Dick nozzle is the best you could come up with?"

Sal started to chuckle himself, realising how stupid he sounded. Some more footsteps came down the squeaky corridor, they sped up as they got closer to the room. Lisa burst into Larry's room with a carrier bag of food from the shop downstairs. She looked at the bed, seeing Larry's beaming face, well as 'beaming' as it could be anyway. She dropped the bag and ran to hug her son, her eyes watering with tears,

"Larry Johnson! Don't you dare leave me again, you are grounded mister!"

Larry smiled and hugged her back,

"Oh come on! How long am I grounded for, and does being in the hospital count as grounded too?"

Lisa just laughed as she straightened herself up, wiping tears from here eyes, she shook her head and turned to the doctors,

"Right, now that everyone's here, and conscious, we still need to do a few more test on Mr. Johnson, make sure his system is clear of dangerous drugs but then, we should be able to discharge you." He turned to Larry, "Do you want to get started now, or in a couple hours when your strength is back?"

Larry struggled to sit up but just managed to, he smiled at the doctor,

"Now if it lets me get out of here faster!"

Lisa put her hands on Sal's shoulders, pulling him towards the door to give Larry and the doctors some privacy. Lisa fell to her knees and hugged Sal, she started to cry again,

"I-I thought he w-was..."

She couldn't even finish her sentence before choking up, sobbing even harder into Sal's shoulder. Sal wasn't quite sure what to do. He hugged Lisa, putting a hand on her back, rubbing it in comfort. He sighed,

"I know mum...but he's still here, that's all that matters, right? We can deal with everything else as long as he's alive..."

Lisa took a big sniff and stood up, drying her face with her sleeve,

"I'm sorry, Sal. I shouldn't be putting this onto you... anyway, why don't we eat?"

Sal looked up and Lisa and nodded. They sat down on the horrible waiting room chairs outside Larry's room, waiting for Larry to finish his tests.

After about 30-40 mins, the doctors emerged from Larry's room, holding numerous pieces of paper with his test results on. The doctor approached Lisa and Sal as they were munching on some ham sandwiches Lisa had bought. They both sat up, eagerly waiting for the results.

"Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Fisher. Larry has flushed all the drugs from his system, he has a few mobility problems but they will fade in a few days as he gets his strength back. Just let me file this paperwork and you are free to take him home."

The doctor smiled and nodded before walking off. Lisa and Sal looked at each other before getting up and going back into Larry's room. Larry was sat upright on his bed, all the tubes and needles had been removed from his skin, leaving little bruises. He had put on a pair of joggers and one of his many SF shirts, his legs were dangling off the side of the bed. He looked like himself again.

"Hey dude, doc said I can go home, right?"

Sal nodded, he flung his arms around Larry, happy that he finally looked like the Larry he'd fallen in love with. Larry winced,

"Woah dude, not too tight, it still hurts..."

Sal let go of Larry, giving him an apologetic look through his mask, but Larry understood. Sal took at step back and looked Larry up and down, he sat next him on the uncomfortable hospital bed. Larry's hair was sticking up like a birds nest, Sal couldn't help but laugh,

"Lar, we gotta sort your hair man, you look ridiculous. Can I do it?"

Sal pulled a hairbrush from a bag next to the bed and started to brush Larry's hair without even waiting for an answer.

"Dude! Since when did I become a Disney princess?"

"When you woke from true loves kiss..."

Both the boys fell about laughing, Larry went red in the face from embarrassment, he knew Sal was never gonna let that go.

"I didn't exactly get the choice to wake up when you kissed me! I just did..."

"I know dude, don't be so serious!"

Larry looked embarrassed and looked away as Sal continued to brush his hair, occasionally yelping in pain as Sal hit a few knots in his hair. Once his brown silky locks were flowing down his shoulders again, Sal sat back, admiring his work. Larry flipped his hair dramatically,

"Loreal!"

"Maybe it's Maybelline!"

The room filled with laughter, Larry flopped back onto his bed thinking about what he had done, he shortly burst into tears. Sal panicked, he thought Larry was hurt,

"Larry? Larry, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?"

Larry looked up at Sal and shook his head,

"It's not that babe," he held Sal's hand, "I-I just cant believe that I tried to give this up, you make me so happy when I'm with you... and I just don't know why..."

He sat up and put his head on Sal's chest, crying into his shirt. Sal put his arms around his lover and tried to comfort him,

"It's ok Larry, we will get through this, ok? I will help you with anything, we will get through whatever this is ok?"

Larry nodded, his head still against Sal's body. Sal just sat rubbing Larry's head, starting to cry himself.

"Why don't we do this when we get home Lar? It's a bit more...private. Wait, here's the doctor now anyway."

Larry sat up and wiped his eyes, the doctor entered the room,

"Sorry for intruding, but Mr. Johnson, you are officially discharged from the hospital, just sign here and you are free to leave."

Larry took the papers from the doctor and signed them. He tried to stand but wobbled a little and had to sit back down. Sal looked concerned but the doctor quickly explained,

"His body will be weak for a few days, don't worry, we can wheel him to your vehicle in a wheelchair. Any problem and you can come straight back."

Sal nodded at the doctor as he left the room and fetched a wheelchair. Larry got up, clinging to Sal for support as he took the couple of steps towards the wheelchair. He landed in the wheelchair with a thud, he laughed as he was quickly wheeled away, leaving Sal to retrieve his bags.

After the short car journey home, it came to the tricky ordeal of getting Larry out of the car and into the house. In the end, he had Lisa holding him up but one arm and Sal holding him by his other. They carefully managed to get Larry into the basement and onto his bed. Lisa went for a lie down, she was exhausted from the lack of sleep and carrying Larry just a few moments before. Sal lay down next to Larry, trying to be the big spoon for once to show Larry he was safe but it just felt so uncomfortable. Larry pushed Sal onto his other side and spooned up next to him,

"Ah, much better"

He said, burying his face into Sal's neck. Sal carefully took off his mask and placed it on the bedpost.

"Larry?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"I-I love you..."

Larry chuckled, "Love you too, baby blue. Come on, you haven't slept properly in ages, lets take a nap."

Sal nodded and shuffled backwards, making sure he was fully wrapped by Larry's arms. The mere fact that he could feel Larry breathing was enough to comfort him, he quickly fell asleep in Larry's arms, thinking how lucky he was to have Larry still there...

Awww... Now I gotta think of a new storyline... shit... .