Chapter Text
Rust was asleep in the car within minutes, so Doc, Tesla, and Zero_one had a debrief while Armstrong drove.
They might take him back to the inpatient side again, Zero. I wouldn't put it past them, considering what happened the last time his dad did this. I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves here. Tesla gave Zero a look.
"Yeah. I'm hoping they don't, I don't think he'd take it well," Zero whispered. Green hair fell on his shoulder as Rust's breathing quickened. Zero caressed his partner's head in an effort to calm him down. Rust's eyes fluttered open, a soft sigh escaping him. "Go back to sleep, angel. We've got about fifteen minutes until we get there, mkay?" Zero combed his hands through Rust's hair as he let out a squeaky grumble and closed his eyes. Rust was asleep within seconds.
"Kid, is he asleep?" Doc asked.
'Yeah, he's out. I don't think he's supposed to be this cold, though. Like, his hands are ice cubes, Doc. And they're thin. I just…" Zero trailed off.
"That's what we're figuring out, Z. Either he isn't eating because of his dad or he isn't eating because of himself, and I'm not a fan of either option. I'd prefer the first but we can manage the second. Tesla, did you get a chance to ask about his arms yet or was he dodging those questions?" Armstrong glanced over at Tesla as he spoke.
Tesla shook his head. No, I didn't get the chance to ask. Some look infected, some are healing okay, and a few were open. I think most of them were fresh, though, so we'll have to Rust-proof the house when we get back. I can work on that while you distract him, but he also may not bat an eye if you do it, Armstrong. The biggest thing is his bag, though. If you can grab that before we get too settled, that'd be great. I have a feeling we'll be here a while and the hospital will probably kick some of us out, so if you want me to get the house ready I can do that.
"Yeah, I can do that. Z, can you nudge Rust awake? We're here," Armstrong called softly to the two resting figures in the backseat.
"Wuh… huh? Oh, yeah. Rust, my love, we're here." Zero yawned, jaw popping as he did. Rust stretched and started coughing, a bit of blood spotting his hand that he quickly rubbed onto his pants.
"Star, look at me."
Rust looked at Zero, eyes darting to the car door.
"Did you just cough up blood? Because, if you did, we need to know. We are not mad. We are worried." Zero's head leaned in slightly as he shifted his body to cover the car door. Armstrong fought the urge to whip his head around, Tesla didn't even try to not look frightened, and Doc put his head in his hands.
"It's not a big deal, it's just a little bit of blood," Rust dismissed with a wave of his hand.
Go get someone right now, please. Tesla smacked Armstrong on the shoulder and the tall man got out of the car. He bolted towards the doors when he was out of Rust's line of sight, and yelled for a nurse. One ran from behind the nurses station to grab a wheelchair and began following Armstrong to the car.
"Rust, you are about to become very popular," Doc said.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Rust looked at Doc, confused.
"You're getting special treatment, kid. I think Armstrong just went to grab a nurse."
"Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm going to be helping with your intake today. I see you have a preferred name in our system. Rust, right?" The nurse sat down on a stool and started unwrapping the blood pressure cuff. Rust nodded and she continued. "Alright, Rust. You've got a bit of a party in here, could someone let me know what's going on today? Your blood pressure is a lower than I'd like, so I'd like to get a doctor in here, that way we can get you back."
Doc cleared his throat. "Rust got kicked out of his dad's about three hours ago, Tesla over there picked him up from the gas station and brought him back to our place, but Rust had some apprehension towards being seen in the ED tonight. There was some headbanging going on and some other concerns, but those are pretty low on our list. So far, I'm thinking a fractured wrist, something is up with his ribs and maybe his lungs, and at least a mild concussion. He's been breathing a little funny, I think he's favoring his right side more. He's been coughing up some blood, but we don't know how long," he explained.
"Alright, Rust. You've got four people with ya, but we can really only have one to two at a time back with you. However, I'll let you all back while we get you settled," Sarah said gently. Rust nodded as the group of them left the small room and got taken to a room that felt too bright, too noisy, and too clean. He shivered as he changed into the hospital gown. His ribs were more visible than ever, his skin littered in more bruises than expected. His chest was a galaxy of purples and blues, older bruises turning to dapples of greens. Tesla muffled a pained noise while Zero and Doc shared a look that read I am going to murder Rust's dad. Armstrong held Rust's hand while the nurse slid an IV in.
"What I'm doing right now, Rust, is I am getting an IV set up with some fluids so you feel less crummy, okay?"
Rust shook his head. "I don't want it. It's stuff I don't need, right? Like, will it make me… y'know."
The nurse looked at him, an unreadable expression flitted across her face. "This is saline, it's a mix of salt and water so you don't get any more dehydrated than you already are. You'll need this while we get you ready for a few tests so we get the best outcome, okay? That way you don't spend any more time here than you need."
"Knock knock!" A balding man opened the sliding door and popped his head in. "I'm Doctor Kipling, are you Rust?" He was on the shorter side with smile lines at his eyes. He gave Rust a warm smile and sat down on a chair. "Hi, Rust. It's good to meet you, though not under these circumstances. I know you've told Sarah what's going on, but would you mind telling me what's going on? If that's too much, I'm sure one of your friends can let me know."
Rust looked at Doc with a pitiful expression. Doc sighed and explained as Dr. Kipling took notes.
"Well, Rust, that is quite a night you've had. I'm going to —" the doctor was cut off by Rust coughing profusely, blood dripping down his chin. Zero grabbed tissues and wiped his partner's mouth gently.
Sarah moved to hold the stethoscope to Rust's left side, his right, and then his left again. "Hey, Dr. Kipling, can you come listen to him really quick?"
Dr. Kipling nodded at Sarah and pulled out his stethoscope. "Rust, I'm going to take a quick listen alright?" He moved the stethoscope the same way as the nurse had done. "Sarah, I'm not hearing equal breath sounds bilaterally. I'm going to order a chest and wrist x-ray." Sarah nodded as Dr. Kipling left the room. Armstrong looked at the closed door with alarm.
"Is everything okay?"
"We'll find out in a bit. Dr. Kipling wants to get him a chest x-ray ASAP, so he went to go make a call. We'll also see if he has anything going on with his ribs since there's some significant bruising there. While he's out getting the x-ray, I'll need a history since his is pretty incomplete. Would one of you be willing to stay back and give me some details?" Zero raised his hand and Sarah smiled at him. "Great, thank you. What's your name?"
"Zero_one, I just use Zero or Z most often," Zero replied.
"Thank you, Zero. Rust, they're going to wheel you over to the x-ray machine in a minute here. You need anything before you go? I can get you a blanket or two if you'd like."
Rust shook his head no a bit too abruptly and started to cough. By the time he was done, his lips were red and his hand was no better. He sniffled a little as Tesla started to wipe his hand and face off. Rust shivered as Sarah left to grab a blanket. The room was cold with bright flourescent lights that hummed slightly, bright white walls, and flooring that wouldn't look out of place behind a bowling counter. It was, all in all, a hospital room that was uncomfortable at best. A warm blanket was draped over Rust's frail body and a different nurse came to take Rust back to get his x-rays. The two left the room and Tesla fell into a chair, head in his hands.
"You okay over there?" Zero asked Tesla.
He shook his head and signed back, Rust looks worse than the last time. I knew he was skinny from his face, but he looks like a corpse. I don't really know what to do at this point, I know we're safety-proofing the whole house when we go home, but it's looking like Rust is staying here for a while. How serious is the lung thing?
Sarah watched the whole conversation with sad eyes. Rust's support system was evident, but the fact that he had gotten this injured was clearly weighing on the other four in the room. She slipped out of the room as quietly as she could.
"…okay, but we'll have to make sure he's eating when he comes home. I mean, worst comes to worst they're going to hospitalize him, Z."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, okay! I don't want to think about it right now." Zero had tears in his eyes as he yelled at Doc.
"Sorry to interrupt, y'all." Dr. Kipling knocked on the door as he opened it. "I've got some paperwork here, it's just some information on what we'll be doing tonight. I know Rust is over eighteen, but I do need to ask, are any of you legal guardians?"
Tesla shook his head. No, none of us are legal guardians.
Zero moved to translate, but Dr. Kipling shook his head and moved to sign back.
I can hear, by the way. I'm not deaf. Tesla laughed slightly and smiled.
Dr. Kipling scooted over to the computer on a wheeled stool. "Ah, that's me told then. So, to get some diagnostics out of the way, Rust has a partial pneumothorax as we suspected. He's got two broken ribs as well, which we can address after his lung recovers. We're going to need to place a chest tube in his left side, and he'll need to stay here for a few days to make sure the air is drained in full. He'll be getting a feeding tube placed if he doesn't eat anything in the next 8 hours, which will put us at about 5am. If he does eat anything between now and 5am, he'll be monitored for a while after eating. I caught a bit of your conversation as I came in, does Rust have a history of this behavior?" he asked.
"Yeah, he's had kind of a rough go of it. He's been in and out of therapy, but his dad really sucks and didn't do much to keep him in sessions, so he got dropped a lot. He hasn't been this bad in a while though, he looks worse than he did last time he went to the hospital," Zero spoke up quietly. "He's been in the hospital before, but it was really bad and it didn't do much for him. He got worse after he left and Armstrong picked up the pieces for that one."
The doctor turned towards Armstrong. "Now, I'm not a part of the psych team, but I can put in an order for a psych evaluation when he's on a better path with his lung." His pager buzzed. "Oh, looks like they're coming back for the chest tube placement, so I will have to ask the four of you to leave the room when they're back. You can come back in when it's placed, but we don't want two emergencies." He finished writing down notes and started to move things out of the way.
"Knock knock!" A nurse with red hair tied into a cap popped her head into the room, followed by Sarah. "Heya! I'm Katelyn, I'll be helping Rust out here with a chest tube. If you four wouldn't mind bouncin' out for me, that'd be great," she said with a smile. Sarah hooked rust back up to the monitors as Dr. Kipling grabbed a few supplies from the drawers.
"Wait," Rust called out. "Can one of them stay? Please. I don't want to… I don't…" his voice broke at the edges.
"I'm sorry, Rust. We can't have them stay here since we're doing something pretty squeamish and I don't want to get another medical emergency in here, okay? They can come right back when we're done, though, I promise. Visiting hours end in about 30 minutes, but they can stay an extra 30, alright? You've been through quite the ordeal tonight." Dr. Kipling said. The four other men in the room left, all giving rust a wave as they stood outside. "Now, Rust, I'm going to give you some local anesthetic. It'll burn or sting when it goes in, but it'll numb up pretty quick, okay? We'll test the numbness of the area before putting it in as well."
Rust sniffled and squeezed his eyes shut as the doctor started to clean his skin. "Can someone hold my hand? I'm scared."
Katelyn bustled over to Rust's right side and grabbed his outstretched hand. "Now, Rust. Would you like a distraction while we do this?"
"Yes, please." Rust yelped as the needle went into his side. "Ow, that fucking hurts!"
"Sorry, Rust. It'll be over in a minute, okay?" Dr. Kipling said.
"So, Rust. Would you like to hear about my cat, Orpheus Microwave Corolla, or building an IKEA bed wrong and finding out at the very end?" Katelyn asked.
"Cat, please."
"Alrighty! So, I have this orange cat named Orpheus Microwave Corolla. He was pulled out of a Corolla during a final, and I took him home after my friends took him to the vet. Well, we gave him a bath in my kitchen sink and he looked like a wet little chicken. He's very orange, y'see, and everyone said we look alike, but I think it's just because he's an orange cat and I'm ginger," she chuckled.
"Sorry to interrupt, Katelyn, I've just gotta ask Rust a quick question. Rust, can you feel this?" Dr. Kipling poked rust's side with a needle.
"No, I can't," Rust said with a shake of his head.
"Great. Sarah, can you prep everything for me?"
Rust turned his head towards Katelyn, tears welling in his eyes.
"So, Mr. Microwave Corolla rolls around in my sink for a bit, we get him in a sock on a heating pad, and as it turns out, he is a single pound. He's probably more like five, now, but we had a party when he got to one kilogram. Anyways, he's about 16 weeks old now and he's so big! right now, he's probably terrorizing my blanket, he's been attacking that as of late."
Dr. Kipling smiled as Katelyn talked at length about her cat. It kept Rust calm while he cut into Rust's side and slid the chest tube in. He cleaned up the area as he positioned the tube in the right spot. Rust grimaced slightly, causing Dr. Kipling to jerk his head up.
"Rust, you okay?"
"Yeah, it just feels weird."
"Ah, that's okay. We'll be done soon, alright?"
"'mkay."
Dr. Kipling bandaged up the incision, hooked up the atrium, and wiped everything down. Sarah left the room and Katelyn sat down on a chair next to Rust.
"Rust, we are all done for now. Now, I do have a few things to tell you about your next steps. You'll be moved up to the PCU, the progressive care unit, so they can monitor you up there. You'll be taken there tomorrow morning, you friends can visit tomorrow morning at 10am. However, you also have a pretty nasty concussion, so you'll be woken up about every hour or so tonight to make sure you're doing okay. It'll be a pretty rough night, but if you're okay with visitors while you're sleeping, let Sarah or Katelyn know before morning. You also will be getting some dinner in a little bit. I'd like you to try some of it, if you aren't eating anything in the next while, we'll have to put in a feeding tube so you can heal faster. I've ordered some antibiotics for you since some of those cuts on your arms are pretty infected. Sarah is going to grab some medicinal wraps so we can keep those clean and tidy, and the psych team will come see you when you improve physically, okay?" Dr. Kipling said. His words were matter-of-fact but his tone was gentle. "Do you have any questions for me?"
Rust let out a shaky breath. Tears slipped out of his eyes as he balled his hands into his eyes. "I don't want dinner. I'm not hungry." Dr. Kipling looked at Rust with a strange look, vaguely concerned but it was wiped away with a second glance. "Also, can't someone stay with me tonight? I don't want to be completely alone all night, that sounds like torture. Can't Armstrong or Tesla stay? Doc has work tomorrow and Zero'll just worry all night if he gets the chance. I just want someone with me."
"Someone can stay with you tonight, but once you're in the PCU they'll have to go home every night. I'm sorry, Rust."
"It's fine."
"If you need anything, there'll be nurses coming in and out. When's the last time you ate, Rust?"
Rust hummed to himself before answering. "I ate a few bites of pizza for dinner." He fidgeted with the bandages they had put on his forearms, his eyes watering slightly when he pulled at his irritated skin.
"Okay, that's great. I'll go let your people know they can come back in, but three will have to go home in about thirty minutes." The doctor left the room. Rust could see him talking to his family, but all he could make out was Tesla's side of the conversation. He turned his head and mindlessly picked at old scabs on his arms.
"Hey, kid. Armstrong, Zero, and I are all going to go home tonight. Tesla's gonna stay here with you, okay?" Doc brushed Rust's hair out of his eyes as Rust nodded. His eyes started to close and his breathing started to slow. Zero gave his forehead a kiss as he left, and Rust drifted off to a fitful sleep.