A couple hours passed by and Foggy accomplished nothing more than wearing a nervous line into the floor of the hospital waiting room from his pacing. A few of the nurses working the counter glanced at him questioningly but otherwise didn't bother him.
Finally after what felt like an eternity, but in reality was less than three hours, a doctor came out looking for the friends or family of Matthew Murdock.
"That's me. I'm his roommate." Foggy had to stop himself from raising his hand like a dork.
"Follow me Mr.-?"
"Uh, Nelson. Foggy Nelson."
"Good evening Mr. Nelson, my name is Dr. Curiens, I am the physician attending to Mr. Murdock." The elderly man relayed, eyes gentle and voice soft.
"Yeah, how is he doc?" Foggy asked nervously.
"Tired and a little oxygen deprived but otherwise fine. He's resting now, I can take you to his room if you'd like. We do have a few more tests we have to run, and I'll have to ask you to leave the room when those happen because you are not of familial relation to the patient but otherwise you can stay as long as you'd like."
"I understand, and thanks, it means a lot."
The man led Foggy down a couple long hallways with a few twists and turns, and Foggy knew he wouldn't be able to find an exit without assistance before they finally stopped in front of a room. The lights were off, and there was no sound emitting from it save the beep of machinery Foggy could hear.
"Doc, he's gonna be okay, right?" Foggy asked, nervous trepidation halting his entrance into the room.
"He's completely out of the woods for now. Unfortunately we have yet to identify what it was that caused Mr. Murdock's severe allergic reaction. That's what the other tests are for, hopefully we'll be able to figure it out quickly."
"Okay, that's good." Foggy nodded, assuring himself.
"Go see your friend son, I have a feeling he wants you in there more than he was letting on."
Foggy smiled up at the elder gentleman, "Typical Matt. Thank you doctor."
When Foggy walked through the door he really couldn't see a thing, the heart monitor emitted a bit of light but not nearly enough to see by, and the measly moonlight streaming through the window did nothing to help. "Hey buddy." He called softly, not wanting to startle Matt if he was sleeping or not paying attention.
"Hey." Matt replied hoarsely.
"Dude, you sound terrible."
"Feel kinda terrible too."
Foggy sighed, shuffling his way to the chair he knew was sitting near the bed. He nearly fell three times before he actually found it but he didn't want to disturb the atmosphere of the room by turning on the lights. "I heard they don't know what caused it."
"Nope, not yet. They've done a couple allergy tests already, based on what I told them, but so far nothing's come up."
"Weird. And you've never had anything like that happen before?"
"No." Matt shook his head. "I mean, dust makes me sneeze and cat fur makes my eyes itch but I've never had anything that bad before."
From the way he trailed off Foggy guessed Matt was currently reliving what had happened on the floor of their kitchen earlier that night. It was hard for him not to dwell on it, and he got shivers every time he did. He couldn't imagine what Matt must have been going through.
"You okay?" He questioned softly.
"Yeah." Matt answered immediately, although the slight quiver to his voice spoke otherwise. "You?"
"Honestly, I'm still a little freaked out."
"Me too."
The room lapsed into silence, but it was a comfortable one. They were both content to just sit in one another's presence, it was enough for the moment.
Unfortunately it was soon broken by a nurse walking in and flipping the lights on. "Oh, sorry." He said upon noticing Foggy. "Didn't know anyone was in here."
"Yeah, my bad. I didn't feel like turning the lights on."
"No problem man. I do need you to leave for a moment though, I've got another set of allergy tests to run."
Matt sighed deeply and the man genuinely looked apologetic. "Hopefully this will be the last one."
"And if it's not?" Matt questioned softly.
"Then we're back to square one." The nurse replied honestly.
"I'll be right outside Matt." Foggy said, patting his friend on the knee before he left. True to his word Foggy waited right outside the door, not bothering to try and find a place to sit.
It was a few moments later when the nurse came out and glanced around. "Don't let him scratch if anything starts to itch, alright? It'll skew the results."
"What are you testing for now?" Foggy asked.
"Allergies to spices. It's about all we've got left. I'll be back in a little while to take down the results and clean up. You can go in for now."
Foggy nodded his thanks before ducking back into the room. Matt was sitting up on his bed, face screwed up in discomfort. His right arm was extended in front of him with different squares, one seemed a bit redder than the others.
"Does it hurt?" Foggy questioned as he sat down in the chair once again.
"It's more uncomfortable than anything else." Matt responded.
"So." Foggy began, but didn't really know what else to say.
"So." Matt said with a sigh. He seemed to be doing a lot of that, Foggy could only imagine he was tired.
"Damn, I know you can't see it but your arm is really red!" Foggy commented suddenly, taking in the ever growing red bump in one of the squares.
"Believe me I can feel it. It itches something awful."
"No scratching!"
"Foggy, I know. Unlike some people I have self-control."
"What people? Was that pointy comment aimed at me?" Foggy sounded affronted. "Why must you always pick on me? If I didn't know any better I'd say you didn't love me."
"Good thing you know better." Matt replied with a grin.
Foggy was thankful that the nurse entered just then because he didn't have a good retort on hand.
"Okay Mr. Murdock, that should be enough time. I'll take down the results and then Dr. Curiens will be back in to talk with you."
"Alright, you don't have to make Foggy leave, I'm okay if he stays in here."
"That's fine for now, but he'll have to leave when the doctor comes in."
Matt simply nodded, extending his arm in the direction of the nurse's voice. The young man jotted down some information, his face not giving Foggy any hints if what he saw was good or not. Then the man swabbed Matt's arm with some wet cloth and Matt's whole body seemed to relax. "Much better, believe me I know. I just had an allergy test not that long ago. They're hell."
"You bet they are. Whatever you just used works like magic though."
The nurse chuckled, "That it does. Dr. Curiens will be in in just a moment."
"Thank you." Matt said as the man left. "I really hope they figured it out this time."
Foggy nodded with a soft sigh, "Me too."
True to the nurse's words Dr. Curiens walked back into the room not too long after the nurse had left. "Alright Mr. Murdock, I've got some information for you."
"Foggy? Don't be afraid to go get some food or something, I realize I kinda ruined supper."
"I wouldn't say ruined." Foggy tried to reassure.
"I keeled over before we'd barely even started eating, I'd say that qualifies as pretty ruined. Go, I'll fill you in when you get back."
As if to back up Matt's point Foggy's stomach released a loud growl, making the man in question blush. "Alright, I'll head down to the cafeteria. Be back in a bit." Foggy said with a warm smile in Matt's direction.
"Oh, Mr. Nelson," the doctor called to his retreating form. "I'd stay away from the tuna if I were you, it can be a bit questionable this late."
"Thanks doc, I will be sure to do that!"
Once Foggy was out of the room Matt leaned forward slightly, "So? What am I allergic to?"
"Well according to the allergy test Mr. Murdock, you are reacting to a spice called coriander. It's a fairly rare allergy, and usually doesn't cause this severe of a reaction."
"Lucky me I guess." Matt mumbled tiredly, leaning back onto his pillows.
The doctor chuckled softly before continuing. "Obviously you should try to avoid the spice whenever possible. It is used in a lot of Indian recipes, so no more of that. I will be giving you an epinephrine injection to keep on your person at all times in case of emergencies though."
"Can I get two of those actually?" Matt asked tentatively. "My roommate will want one, this whole thing kinda freaked him out."
"Of course."
"Thank you doctor. When can I get outta here?"
"Mr. Murdock, you experienced a severe allergic reaction in which your throat swelled almost completely closed. You need to stay at least the night for oxygen and observation, and I would recommend staying tomorrow afternoon as well, although if no complications arise this evening I cannot force you to stay."
Matt's whole demeanor changed, his shoulders slumping and kind smile fading. "Alright. Can Foggy come back now?" He asked quietly, almost childishly.
"Of course Mr. Murdock. I'll send him right in." Dr. Curiens smiled gently although he knew his patient couldn't see it. It made him feel just a little better about the whole scenario. When the elderly man exited the room he wasn't surprised to find Murdock's friend standing just outside the door, having not actually gone to get food. Matt had seemed to have been aware of his presence as well.
"All done?" The boy asked almost eagerly.
"All done." Dr. Curiens replied with a tired sigh. "He's asking for you. I did tell him he'd have to spend the night; he seemed pretty upset by that fact."
"Yeah, he's got a thing with hospitals. I'll stay with him, we'll be fine."
"Of that I'm sure. You both seem like incredibly strong individuals. Don't let anything come between your friendship Mr. Nelson, it seems like a pretty amazing one."
Foggy beamed, "That it is doctor."
"A nurse will be in to check on Mr. Murdock periodically throughout the night, have a pleasant rest of your evening."
"You as well, thanks for everything."
"No problem at all son."
With one more smile and a wave Foggy turned and walked back into the room. "So? What's the news?"
Matt just shrugged, a frown set firmly in place.
"Come on, don't you dare make me guess. I really don't know that many spices!" Foggy whined.
"It's called coriander, it's-" Matt paused a moment, unsure if he should continue or not. He knew what he was going to say would make Foggy feel bad, and he really hated it when Foggy felt bad. "It's a common ingredient used in Indian recipes."
Foggy simply nodded, "Yeah I kinda figured the Indian food was to blame. Listen, I'm sorry man-"
"No, Foggy stop. It's not your fault."
"It was my idea to order it!" Foggy protested.
"And I was completely on board. I wanted to try it," Matt paused a moment then smacked his friend lightly on the leg, "Hey, you said my first taste would be memorable, I don't think I could ever forget this!"
Foggy snickered, barely holding back a snort of disbelief. "I suppose. And I got to call 911, I've never done that before."
"See, new life experiences for both of us! Now shut up and let me sleep."
"You're grumpy when you're in the hospital."
"Dude, I've been poked and prodded for the better part of three hours. I'm tired and I wanna sleep. You should really go get some food."
"Maybe later, I'm gonna catch some z's too."
Matt smiled, he was happy Foggy would be staying in the room with him, even if he refused to make Foggy aware of that fact. Content to let the warmth emanating from his friend lull him to sleep.
And Foggy, reassured by the gentle beep of Matt's heart monitor, was content to doze off as well, overall quite pleased with the way the day had ended.
A/N: Nothing like ending with a load of fluff. I hope you all enjoyed this, but I am in no way a doctor, and everything I found about allergic reactions and anaphylaxis was found off different websites, so hopefully my information is accurate! I'm toying with the idea of writing one more little follow up chapter to this, I really like the idea of Foggy going and finding the 911 operator and thanking her, let me know if that's something you'd be interested in reading! But as far as actual chapters go, I don't have anything else typed up. I have three different Christmas chapters I still have to do, another one involving Foggy's cousins, and one involving a dog. Let me know what you'd be interested in reading next and I'll get to work on it ASAP! Until next time, pleasant thoughts and experiences all around!
~Spring