Chapter Text
He locked his bike to the bike rack. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦... He thought to himself.
He grabbed his phone from his backpack. He sighed, then looked through his recent messages. The last one he received was from Vanessa. 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. It read.
He typed on his keyboard. 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘯? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳? His text read. He clicked send.
He made sure his bike was attached securely. Last thing he wanted was his bike to be stolen. He quickly texted his mom, telling her he was at a sleepover at Gregory's.
Of course that was a lie, but what was he supposed to say? “Oh, someone i don't know at all is in the hospital, but since they're Gregory's friend I'm just gonna be there to make sure everything is okay.“
While it wasn't an 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 sentence, there's no way his mom would allow him to do that. He continued to ramble on about his mother in his head until a noise distracted him.
His phone had just gone off. He checked his text. Vanessa had given him the room and floor. 𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵. He thought.
He picked up his backpack and threw it over his shoulder, and then entered the hospital.
….
Gregory looked down on his tablet. How was he supposed to focus on drawing when his best friend was in a hospital bed, right in front of him?
He looked at her face. He noticed the patched up cuts, and how her face moved, as well as the cuts, with every breath.
𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. Gregory thought. Despite she pain she must be feeling, she was sleeping calmly. Well, maybe the pain meds had something to do with it. But that didn't change the fact she and her body were battling.
Gregory took off his headphones. It was hard to listen to music when what he was listening to was a playlist made by the person in the hospital bed.
He looked over to Vanessa, who had just texted something, who now was going back to reading whatever she was reading on her phone.
While he was crurious to ask what she was reading, he decided not to. He decided that she should just read whatever she was reading. He didn't want to bother her.
He started fidgeting with the zipper on his bag, liking the sound as well as the motion. It distracted him..
After a minute of doing that, he felt the silence bearing, decided to put his headphones back on.
Well, he was about to put them on, until he realized how boring they looked. He took his cheap, yet good quality paint pens out of his bag.
He began to open the container, until he heard a knock on the door frame.
He swiftly looked over, and spotted who it was.
”Tony?“ He asked. ”What're you doing here?“ he finished, confused as to why he was here.
Tony looked into Gregory's eyes. He made Gregory squirm, he didn't know why, but it did. But the eye contact didn't last long.
Tony looked over to Vanessa with a slightly bothered expression, which Vanessa read as “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨?!“. Vanessa shot back a slightly embarrased look, which Tony could read as “𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵!“.
Tony sighed.
𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺?!? Gregory thought after seeing Tony and Vanessa seemingly communicate silently.
He watched as Tony looked over to him.
”I'm here because I wanted to keep you company.“ Tony said comfortably. ”I know how much of a wreck you can be when it come to you and your friends getting hurt.“ He stated.
Tony looked over to Cassie in the hospital bed. ”And… Now one is in the hospital….“ Tony muttered.
Things stayed silent for a minute until he pulled a thermos out of his bag and pushed it Gregory's way.
”It's hot chocolate. I know how much it can calm you down despite the insane amount of sugar. Take it, please.“ Tony muttered.
Gregory's eyes widened. ”You…. You remembered?“ he asked him, shocked despite the fact he's mentioned this many times.
Tony tilted his head slightly to the right. “Of course i remembered. It was one of the first things you mentioned after…. After i located you.” he replied, deliberately wording it.
Vanessa noticed his wording, and the fact he tried to make it seem less stalker-like than it was.
She laughed at him. “What…?“ Tony asked sheepishly.
“You're such a stalker.“ She said to him bluntly, resting her head in her hands.
Tony's eyes widened. “What?!?!“ he exclaimed, sounding suddenly very panicked. “It-! It was 𝘯𝘰𝘵 stalking!!! I-! I simply- I just- oh screw you!!” he stuttered, very flustered.
As Tony looked at Vanessa, then Gregory back and forth, Gregory began wheezing, doubling over in his chair.
“Oh-! Oh my god! She's not wrong though-!“ he managed to utter between laughs.
Tony looked at Gregory laughing, he then realizes what the purpose of Vanessa's comment was.
Oh. She just wanted Gregory to smile.
A small smile formed on Tony's face, as well as a small blush formed on his face.
He scoffed. “I am going to find a chair…” he muttered, then left the room.
Gregory looked to Vanessa. “Thank you… i know what you were doing back there, and it worked. I needed that…” he said to her softly. “And honestly? I think you did too.“ he added with a smile.
Hearing his words, Vanessa looks up from her kindle. “Yeah. You're right bud… i really did.“ she admits to him.
She let's out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, some of the tension of everything rolling off her shoulders.
Gregory, who is currently deep in thought, doesn't notice.
A few minutes pass, it's quiet. But, it isn't the deep, suffocating silence that was previously in the room. Still, it's not exactly comfortable, but it doesn't feel like it's eating them alive.
The door to the room opens. “There's no chairs. At all.“ Tony mutters, unimpressed. He sighs dramatically.
He sits down on the ground beside Gregory's chair.
“I got news from one of the nurses… Cassie's stable. But… she's probably going to be in a coma for at least three months.“ he says in a soft yet serious tone.
The rest of the room freezes. The silence once again feels heavy. Except now, it feels like all the weight is on Gregory's shoulders.
”It's my fault.“ he says blankly, as if he's emotionless.
Both Vanessa and Tony's head turn to him immediately, faces full of both worry, and understanding.
“Gregory, listen to me, and listen as clearly as you can.“ Tony says sternly, knowing his mind is in another place.
Gregory slowly turns his head to him. He's barely listening.
Tony places a hand on his thigh so he has an anchor. ”What happened was. Not. Your. Fault. You hear me? And it wasn't her's either. The past already happened, focus on the now and how to make the future the best you can.“ he tells him.
"God i sounded like a therapist..." Tony muttered.
That breaks Gregory, bringing him back to, as Tony put it, the now.
His breath hitches, he doubles over in the seat. All the noise you can hear from him are deep breaths of his quiet sobs.
Vanessa stands up immediately. She moves her chair so it's touching Gregory's.
She wraps arm around his shoulder, giving him a close anchor, but not taking up all of his space.
Tony and Vanessa, they both know this feeling of heartbreak and desperation, the feeling that there was something more you could've done, something you could've avoided.
They don't say anything because they know exactly how hopeless and guilty you feel in these moments. The weight crushing you in.
Crushing you in on all sides.
The most that they can do is be there, to help, support, and talk. That is, if he wants to talk.
They expect he doesn't want to. And that ends up being the case.
Gregory's sobs eventually slow, but they're replaced by a crushing guilt. The sense that all of this was his fault despite what Tony said. What Vanessa said. He just can't shake the feeling.
His head is rushing and screaming with questions. All he hears is the heart monitor.
Through his panic, for a split second he swore he heard the monitor stop, signaling she was dead.
𝘉𝘌𝘊𝘈𝘜𝘚𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘠𝘖𝘜! His thoughts screamed to him.
His head shot up, looking immediately at the heart monitor, he's hyperventilating in sheer, pure
panic.
He sees it's still going. A wave of relief washes over him, but that sense of safety is quickly gone after seeing her casts, bandages, oxygen mask. She's here, in pain.
𝘉𝘌𝘊𝘈𝘜𝘚𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘠𝘖𝘜! His thoughts screamed to him, even louder than the last time.
He starts thinking about the pain she's enduring. And the fact she probably hates him. For the elevator. Going missing. everything.
“Why do i ruin the lives of everyone i care about…?“ he asks in an honest tone between cries, head in his hands.
The worst part is he believes his words.