Work Text:
Chapter Seven
It wasn't what I saw first that alerted me to my location, but rather what I heard: the beeping of a heart monitor. My body felt like lead, and it seemed to take all of my strength to just open my eyes. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but once they did I saw I was in the hospital, and hunched over in a chair at my side was the sleeping blonde who I seemed to be finding myself waking up next to more and more lately. I hoarsely tried to speak, though it was mostly drowned out by the oxygen mask over my face. To my surprise, it was my mom who noticed first that I was awake. She'd walked back into the room with a tray of cafeteria food when I slowly turned my head towards the movement in my peripheral vision. Out of shock, she dropped the tray of food with a stifled cry. She called for a nurse as she shakily knelt down to pick up the mess she'd just made, and two nurses appeared around the corner. One rushed into the room and called for the doctor, announcing that I'd woken up, while the other helped pick my mother up off the floor and consoled her. The nurse that rushed in made quick work of removing the oxygen mask from my face as she asked how I was feeling. All the commotion had awoken Kenny as I weakly answered the nurse, “Where am I...?”
She smiled at me as she checked my vitals on the machines above me, “You're at the hospital. You were involved in a very bad accident.”
“How long have I been here for?” my muscles ached as though I hadn't moved for days, and I felt the heaviness in my body shift to pain and nausea. The nurse, Joy, answered again as the other nurse got my mom settled into the chair in the corner, “It's been about three weeks since the accident. A rescue team pulled you from the rubble of a collapsed building, and you fell unconscious in the ambulance here.”
I turned my head to turn to Kenny as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. When he saw my face he appeared to get choked up. “Your friend here's been by your side practically non stop since you were brought in,” Joy spoke with a soft smile, “You're incredibly lucky to have him.”
“Yeah... lucky...” I responded with a weak smile. I felt a slight burn in my arm before the pain in my limbs seemed to just wash away. “There you go,” Nurse Joy said behind me, “I just got your morphine drip set up for you. I'm sure you're incredibly sore, having nearly an entire building come down on top of you.”
She chuckled and placed a small remote next to my left hand, “If the pain starts to get to be too much, just press this button and it'll activate your drip.”
The nurses left to go retrieve the doctor and I was left alone in the room with my mother and Kenny – both of whom were crying tears of relief. The silence was eventually broken by my mother, “Lucien... I'm so happy you're awake. They weren't sure if you would ever wake up.”
I glanced over at her, still feeling too weak to physically move my body, though the pain had subsided thankfully. “'M just glad you're okay,” I spoke, my voice feeling particularly dry and raspy. Kenny looked like he remembered something and materialized a cup of water from somewhere next to me. He held the straw up to my mouth and encouraged me to drink, “It's just water, I promise. Oxygen masks tend to dry out your throat something fierce.”
I took a sip, and holy shit Kenny was right. The cool water sliding down my throat was the best feeling ever in that moment and I couldn't stop a whimper from leaving my body. Kenny chuckled, “That good, huh?”
My mom pulled her chair over to sit next to Kenny at my side, “My sweet, precious boy... You saved us. You have no idea how proud I am of you.”
She gripped my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as tears formed in her eyes again. Obviously she'd been distraught over the idea of losing her only child, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. She lowered her voice before speaking again, “Promise me you won't hide anything like this from me again, okay?”
I glanced between her and Kenny; he'd obviously told her about my control problems, though I couldn't exactly blame him. After what had happened, I'd be looking for an explanation, too. I weakly squeezed her hand back in a silent promise. Just then, the doctor walked back in and started discussing things with my mom and I. Kenny took the opportunity to step out to use the bathroom. I was told I'd been in a coma for three weeks, and thankfully I'd only suffered minor trauma: a few bruised ribs, quite a few cuts and bruises, and what looked like electricity burns on my arms. “It's not too out of the ordinary,” the doctor explained, “since you were found in the rubble near a busted water main and several exposed electric wires. You're very lucky to have gotten this little damage, let alone to have walked away at all. We'll be keeping you here for the rest of the day for observation, but if all checks out we'll be able to get you out of here in the morning.”
He spoke with my mom about pain killer options, and before he left, he helped set the bed so I could sit up properly. “The stiffness will go away on its own,” he stated, “oh and here, there aren't any diet restrictions for you, but just remember that your stomach might be a little bit sensitive due to the medication. But I would highly suggest eating something soon with the medication you're on at this moment.”
He left a cafeteria menu on my bedside tray before he walked out, shutting the door behind him. My mom helped me pick out something on the menu for me to eat and she offered to go get it for me. She handed me my phone, and gave me a kiss on the forehead before she left. As soon as I was alone I realized I needed to pee, very, very badly. I looked around the room, and thankfully there was a bathroom in my room. But that still meant I had to get up and walk to it. I carefully pushed my tray back out of the way. I swung my legs over the edge, but the painkillers made me whoozy and I felt a rush hit my head as I tried to stand. I braced myself against the side of my bed as I attempted to gain my bearings. Just then, I heard a light tapping at the door as Kenny walked into the room. He almost jumped to my side as he asked, “Woah, you okay? Hold on, I got you.”
He reached out to steady me, but I held my hand out to stop him, “No, I-I think I got this. I just have to pee.”
I felt the embarrassment creep up onto my cheeks when he took in what I said. It grew quiet between us before he asked, “Can you walk?”
I nodded softly, “I think I can, I just got kind of lightheaded.”
He placed his muffin on the table tray and offered me a hand again. “I'm not gonna force you, but I don't want you to hurt yourself. Do you want some help walking over there at least?” He smirked before he finished, “I promise I won't look~.”
I felt my face heat up and I tried to hide the fact that I was getting flustered so easily. After a moment, I felt the dizziness returning and caved, “Okay, yeah, can you help me?”
He smiled and came over to my side, helping me stand. Once on my feet, it wasn't so bad, but I still felt like my bones were made of jello. Kenny helped me over to the bathroom, and just like he promised, he didn't watch. I walked over to the sink and washed my hands. I splashed some water onto my face to try and cool my warm skin and hissed as the water hit my face. Looking in the mirror, I saw all the small cuts and scrapes that littered my cheeks and forehead. That was certainly a first. Kenny helped me get back into the bed and told me that he'd texted a few people that'd been worried about me. Apparently while I'd been out Kyle and Stan had stopped by; Stan had sucked up his phobia of hospitals just to check on me. I wasn't sure why I felt so touched, but it was nice to hear that my old friends did still care about me. I looked over my phone and saw that while I'd been out I'd gotten several texts from Craig, Tweek, Wendy, and several others. Jimmy had sent me a photo of everyone dressed in silly “adult” versions of our superhero outfits we used to wear as kids and captioned it Get Well Soon, Buttwhole! Signed, the Freedom Pals. I smiled at the picture and felt my eyes tear up. Kenny rubbed my back, asking if I was okay. I nodded and showed him the photo and he smiled wide, “Heh, those assholes. They all were really worried about you.”
I shook my head, trying to clear the tears forming in my eyes but relief and a mixture of so many indistinguishable emotions were swirling through my chest and making it feel almost hard to breathe. “I didn't think they cared about me anymore,” I finally managed to squeak out.
Kenny brought me in for a hug and reassured me, “They very much so care about you. Everyone thought that you didn't want anything to do with them after a while.”
He released me from his embrace and I chuckled at the situation I had unknowingly put myself in, “I guess I can't really blame anyone other than myself for that.”
“Well, you could blame your father,” my mother walked into the room carrying two trays full of food, “I wasn't sure what you'd want Kenny, but I bought a little something for all of us. And don't worry about it, it's my treat.”
Kenny's eyes grew big as I swear he made a mental note to devote his entire life to my mom and he took one of the hamburgers from the trays in her hands. I took the second plate from her and mused, “What do you mean, blame dad?”
She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, “We both know he can be rather...difficult, for lack of a better word. I'm so sorry I couldn't get him to stop punishing you sooner. You deserved a better childhood than your bedroom.”
“Mom, please, I don't blame you or dad,” a twinge of guilt hit me; I most definitely blamed my father on some level deep down, “I especially don't resent you for anything that's happened.”
“Oh but you should, honey. Lucien, look, I need to speak to you about something. You're father he's...”
“He's not dead is he?” I asked, unsure of how to process that kind of information. She put her hands up in defense, “No, no, no, nothing like that Lucien. Your father, he got offered a job in New York last week.”
I felt my heart drop. New York? I didn't want to go to New York. I didn't want to leave Kenny. No, she couldn't do this to me- “I'm not making you move again,” she interrupted my chain of thoughts. “You're father and I have agreed it'd be for the best if he got away for a while. He accepted the job, and he left yesterday for New York.”
“Let me get this straight, Dad's going to be living in New York? And we're...”
“Going to be staying right here in South Park. I didn't think it would be fair to force you to move, even if you've just finished high school. I know you had you're heart set on one of the nearby colleges, and I don't want you to lose touch with any of your friends,” she smiled reassuringly at me. I couldn't stop the laugh of relief that I let out and I subconsciously grabbed Kenny's hand. “Mom,” I spoke after a moment, “you have no idea how happy and relieved you just made me.”
She chuckled and took a bite of her sandwich, “Plus, and this stays between us, but I was getting tired of your father's paranoia. I think we both could use the much needed break.”
We all finished our food and I immediately felt the lightheadedness vanish. “Feel better?” Kenny inquired, rubbing small circles into the back of my hand. I smiled at him, “Yeah, much better.”
My phone chimed next to me, and I saw that Wendy had texted me:
Wendy Hey :)
Wendy Heard you were awake, New Kid <3
Wendy Gald you're back to the world of the living. If you're up for company, I've got the guys and they said they'd love to come see you
Delivered
I smiled at the text and quickly responded:
Lucien Yeah, I think I could handle that.
Delivered
She responded after a moment and said they'd be right over and I set my phone off to the side. I looked over at my mom as a much more daunting subject began to weigh on my thoughts. “Mom,” I asked, “how did... what does everyone think happened?”
She sighed, not sure for a moment how to explain it. “I spoke with the mayor. It didn't come as a surprise when she was willing to sweep this under the rug. The cities official stance is that due to poor structuring, decay, and general wear and tear, a horrible accident happened as students and families were exiting the auditorium after graduation. There were five injured, four family friends died of their injuries and one student was currently hospitalized and in a coma. No one outside of South Park knows of what happened.”
I nodded slowly, taking in what she'd said, “And what about that government agent? What happened to him?”
She shrugged, “No one knows. What was believed to be their vehicle was still parked outside, but no one saw if he left. He wasn't there when the paramedics and police were questioning people.”
Kenny chimed in, a dark husk to his voice, “I wouldn't worry about him. I doubt he'll be coming after you anytime soon.”
I knew better than to question Kenny when he got that look in his eye. If I knew him as well as I felt I did, Mysterion might've been looking out for me. And I wasn't about to get upset over that. Instead, I just whispered thanks to him, which to my surprise, caused him to blush. His phone went off in his lap and distracted him from whatever dirty thoughts were no doubt starting to form in his mind, and he announced that Stan and them were here. He texted which room number I was in and we waited for them to come up. It didn't take long, and no sooner were they at the door did Wendy rush over to give me the biggest bear hug in the history of bear hugs. I had to tap out after a second because fuck did that hurt my ribs, and she stepped back clearing her throat. She playfully “punched” my arm, “Don't scare me like that again, Lucien.”
Tweek piped up from the doorway, “Y-yeah! We thought, gah, something bad had happened to you!”
I saw Stan roll his eyes, “As if an entire building falling on you wasn't 'bad'.”
Kyle elbowed him in the side to get him to stop being sarcastic before exclaiming how genuinely relieved they all were. Craig, Tweek, Stan, Wendy, and Kyle walked into my room and took seats around my bed in the available chairs, though Craig and Tweek had opted to stand so everyone had chairs. My mom smiled seeing all of my old friends and got an idea, “I'm going to go head back to the house for a bit. Get some clean clothes and all that. I'll leave you all to catch up.”
She gave me a kiss to the top of my head before she left for the night, saying she'd be back to pick me up in the morning. Craig took her chair and had Tweek sit on his lap, which he did after protesting for a moment out of embarrassment. Everyone sat around chatting with me for several hours, catching me up to date on the gossip among friends. Craig and Tweek were soon going to be moving into an apartment together in Denver to attend college there, and Kyle had gotten accepted to the local community college. The thing that surprised me the most, however, was hearing that they weren't all that surprised when they saw what I had done. In fact, they all admitted they were surprised I hadn't frozen or electrocuted Cartman yet for his taunting and bullying attempts.
After a while, a nurse poked her head in to inform us that visiting hours were over and everyone said goodbye before leaving. Everyone except Kenny. He stayed with me all night, and honestly I was relieved. I absolutely hated hospitals and I didn't think I'd be able to take being alone even if it was just for one night. We played a couple different card games, and at one point he even taught me how to play texas hold em. All in all, it was pretty nice given the circumstances. I couldn't quite tell at what point I fell asleep, but the next thing I knew it was the morning, and my mother was there to happily inform me that the doctors were letting me leave. She'd brought me some fresh clothes, and had even grabbed some of my clothes for Kenny to wear. He changed in the bathroom while the nurses unhooked me from my IV's and the machines, and then it was my turn to go change. When I came out the doctor was waiting to inform me the release forms had been completed. He handed me a prescription for pain killers and with that, my mom drove us back to my place.