"There is one good thing about reaching the bottom. When you get there, there's nothing left to do but fight your way back up or die." -Eddie Guerrero
Joey opened his tired emerald eyes to the worried face of his mother hovering right above him, her hands already pawing every inch of his body as she wailed disapprovingly.
"Oh my God! Baby! What were you thinking about being outside for that long? Didn't you see the forecast? You came back soaked, completely soaked! And I could have lost you! I could've become one of those childless mothers! The ones you see on Dateline who get nothing but pity looks and end up on less than five minute news reports! Did you not think about me at all? And after everything I've done for you! Why did you do this to me? Why Joey!"
"I'm sorry, mom." Joey blundered looking down at the sterile sheets covering his aching body, "I didn't mean to make you worry. I just wanted to go out for a little."
"A little! A little?" She hollered in her shrill voice, "A little is opening your window! A little is sitting in the waiting room!"
Planting herself onto the bed and dragging her son towards her ample chest she ranted, "Joseph what you did was not 'a little'! You completely went off the campus! What if I never saw you again? What would I do!"
Squished into the uncomfortably warm flesh of his mother Joey mumbled, "But I'm okay now!"
"Barely!" The woman scolded as she squeezed the life out of her child further, ignoring the bluish flush spreading over his cheeks, "I almost lost you!"
"S-sorry… mom! Can't… breathe!" The boy choked out as black spots appeared in his vision.
"Oh! Apologies dear."
His mother released him. And Joey took long heaving breaths, his fist grasping at his shirt as he rapidly exhaled. The boy panted, his dizziness faded away as he quietly asked, "Where's Elliot?"
"Who?" His mom said as she smoothed the wrinkles on her skirt.
"The kid who brought me to the hospital? I wanna thank him for helping me get here. He really did save my life."
A purse clattered to the ground, its contents spilling all over the floor as Joey's mother's hands froze, still in the same pose to when the bag was in her arms.
"Uh mom?" Joey whimpered as a twinge of fear ran down his spine, "Are you okay?"
Shaking her head as she came back to the present, the woman creepily grinned at her son before stepping over the fallen items.
"Oh him. He's in the next room over, but you really shouldn't concern yourself with him. He's perfectly fine."
"I still want to thank him though." Joey meekly voiced as his mother's frazzled expression bore into him, "It's the least… I… can do?"
"Fine. Wonderful." She squeaked out, clasping her hands together aggressively, "Let's just go right now! Best to get it over with quickly."
Awkwardly nodding, her son timidly got dressed back into his normal clothing pulling the IV pole with him as he followed his mother out in the hall.
"Shiiiiiit."
His skull felt like he'd been sniped, blurry shapes floating in his eyes as he blinked rapidly. Lifting his arm to shield his dried out face from the fluorescent lights above, a plastic tube smacked him right in the nose causing the teen to momentarily sputter.
Plastic tube? What the-
Elliot groaned as he dragged his hands over his face. He was in a fucking hospital! And to top it off some creepy ass nurse had injected him, with whatever drugs they were using nowadays, straight into the crook of his elbow. What happened to having consent?
Pushing himself up the shaggy haired boy leaned over to examine the rest of himself only to let out a sigh of relief when his clothes had not been removed; at least he still had his dignity.
A knock on the door grabbed his attention as a familiar curly haired head peeked inside.
It was the pretty little brat from earlier coming in with his baby portioned body. What was his name again Jimmy, Johnny, ... uh Dave?
"Hi again it's me Joey!" The kid cheerfully waved.
Joey, yeah he totally knew that.
"Hey."
Tiny Tim #2 shuffled nervously as he entered Elliot's room slowly dragging his- hold up were those bunny slippers?- across the floor.
"Do you want to talk?" The cherubic demon, who got him into this mess, asked, fluttering those unnaturally long eyelashes of his, "I was wondering if I could talk to you."
"No."
Sweet Jesus, he just couldn't get a break.
"Oh okay." The other said, his crestfallen face looked ridiculously dejected as the boy turned to grab his pole and return to wherever he came from.
"See baby," A shrieking voice echoed from the hallway, "He's fine. You don't need to be worried about people like him."
Whoever was in that hall sounded like a bitch.
Not thinking, he called after the leaving kid, "Hey wait!"
Joey's brightening expression spun back towards him.
"Yes?" He gasped with a hopeful smile.
Gulping Elliot mumbled while scratching his arm, "I've never been in a hospital alone before, and I could use… some company?"
Before he could retract his words Goldie Locks called out to the woman outside,"Mom, I'll see you later! Elliot wants to hang out!"
"Joey!-"
Ignoring his mother the kid bounced up to the seated teen nearly scaring the shit out of Elliot from the sheer joy he was radiating. Joey jumped thankfully next to his lap with the squeaking pole behind him sliding unevenly, almost launching into the wall.
"Since you asked me to stay, do you want me to tell you about this place? Because I'm kinda a constant resident here, and I know everything here! So you can just consider me your expert guide! You see this hospital has a total of eight departments, each one in a specialized-"
Right, he forgot that this kid was a fucking chatterbox.
"-Don't eat the green jello, it tastes like burnt plastic. Every time I see it I gag. Oh! And if you have to pee-"
It was far into the moon's reign, the winds howling through the well kept trees, as the mid-night bypassers pulled out their umbrellas in preparation for the next pissing storm to swoop in, dousing the city below. Elliot looked vacantly through the droplet covered glass, still trapped in the four walled prison of a hospital, unable to be released without proper guardianship. He was exhausted, he was hungry, and his urge to break out this shithole was driving him insane.
Slapping his cheeks to fight off the desire to prank call one of the nurses again (the last time ending with some stupid broad lecturing him on good manners) he instead shuffled out of bed and headed to the wash room to go take a leak, when a whine echoed from next door.
Usually the roughed up boy would have ignored it, except the noise was coming from his little chirpy bird of a neighbor. And as much as he didn't want to screw with his reputation he couldn't stop the inkling of concern fluttering inside of him. Hesitantly sticking his neck out to check for the hall monitors Elliot saw the coast was cleared as he tiptoed to peek inside Joey's room.
Scanning his eyes over to the bed the teen's jaw dropped.
Fuck, that kid was hooked like a car battery, with wires raveled all over the smaller boy's body. He looked even worse than the back of automated toys when they were cut open to reveal all their inner tech.
Joey let out another groan as the screens beside him beeped, showing endless graphs and numbers calculating his vitals.
"Psst! Hey Blondie!" Elliot whispered as he slid across the floor to the other's sleeping form, "Hey, you okay?"
Moaning the floppy haired boy rolled onto his side, opening one of his jeweled eyes at the teen.
"Huh? Elliiiii?" The outlet lookalike slurred.
"Yeah, that's me twerp."
"Ohhhh good." Joey mumbled, occasionally wincing, "I'm glad it's you."
That was news to him.
Elliot, shocked, asked, "You're glad to see me?"
The bedridden boy tiredly gazed at him and said, "Uh huh. I like you a lot, and you're not my mom."
Yawning he continued, "She's weird, and thinks you're a bad influence on me."
"Well, she's not wrong." Elliot interjected as his heart began to pump faster. Guilt began to swirl inside of him. Of course the kid's mom wouldn't like him, but then again once he got out of here, he would never have to worry about the prissy bitch again.
"But I like you no matter what."
Taken aback Elliot felt his face grow warm.
"What?"
"I like you Elliot. You make me feel happy." Joey muttered with a soft smile gracing his adorable messy appearance.
As the other soon fell back asleep, Elliot laid his head right next to the unconscious boy.
"You make me feel… happy too."
Maybe he would stick around just a while longer.
It had been one week since Elliot had carried Joey to the hospital, and within that time the spark between the two boys grew into a forest fire burning deep into their hearts. At first it was the simple things that grabbed the moody teen's attention, like how the pipsqueak counted each chew before he swallowed, or the fact that the kid curled the tips of his hair with his fingers whenever he was thinking too hard.
It wasn't much to notice, but for some odd reason Elliot's mind only flashed images of Joey daily, and even when he closed his eyes the cute whiny face appeared in his night time movies. It was like he couldn't get away from the brat, each time he saw him the pull to cuddle the fluffball increased. And it was terrifying, but at the same time also wonderfully addictive.
For Joey the last week was like a fairytale adventure, where he was rescued by his knight in clothing-drive armor. Every morning he woke up he would drag himself over to his boyfriend's room waddling with his bunny slippers, and crawl into the bed, only to sadistically enjoy the freaked out expression Elliot made as his sleep deprived mind tried to clarify that he did nothing inappropriate. Unfortunately, for the older teen each time Joey appeared in his cot he'd have the same mini episode about the state of his salute before kicking out the cackling munchkin to go get properly dressed.
"Hey Elliot?"
It was cloudy outside, the sun barely visible from its hiding spot behind the floating cotton balls of vapor within the atmosphere.
"Hmm?"
"Do you think we'll be together forever?" Joey wondered as he stroked the long wavy locks of inks circulating the older teen's head.
"Of course we will." Elliot responded, placing his hands on top of the other.
The gentle blond pursed his lips tenderly as he whimpered softly, "But w-what if something happens to me? What if I lose you? Because I'm sick."
"And I'm an asshole, but everything changes. People get better all the time. Plus doctors aren't dipshits now." Swallowing hard, he continued, "You'll be fine. Trust me."
"I trust you," Joey murmured with uncertainty, his heart feeling heavy as he cupped Elliot's chin before kissing the tip of his nose.
"Love you, buttercup."
His boyfriend blushed, "Yeah yeah, I love you too."
A few moments of quietness filled the air before the rugged teen opened his mouth in confusion.
"Wait, you didn't say anything about me 'not' being an asshole."
"Lying to you would be wrong."
"You prick… can't believe I fucking love you."