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You didn’t know what happened. One second you were beaming, hair wild and free, soaking up the feeling of the wind whipping your jacket as you flew down the mountain on your teal skis. The next, you were groggily peeling your eyes open to a blinding yellow-white light. you softly groan and shut your eyes tightly. You didn’t want to open them just yet. With your eyes screwed shut, you begin to come round to the bone aching pains scattered across your body. The biggest spots of pain seemed to be your right leg and your left arm but as you slowly inhaled, trying to calm your rising panic, you felt a sharp pain in your ribs and gasp.
“Y/n?” a deep soothing voice questioned from somewhere off to your side.
You gathered the strength to open one eye, flinching at the light. You drag your open eye in the direction of the voice and find Matt sitting in a cushioned beige chair. You see tears welling in his blank stare and the rest of his features convey such intense relief that you immediately want to apologize profusely for being the source of his anxiety. At least you assumed you were the cause, since in the last few moments you had slowly realized that you were laying in a hospital bed, leg elevated, arm in a sling, and several IVs connecting you to a few machines that beeped much too loud for the headache you were beginning to nurse.
“Hi Matt” you croaked sheepishly.
A relieved giggle escaped his lips. You tried to quirk and eyebrow in surprise, he’s never made that noise before, but the motion causes your headache to sharply flare so you will your face to return to its resting expression to minimize the dull throbbing behind your eyes and in each of your temples. Matt must’ve sensed your discomfort, although he of course couldn’t see the cause, because he rose from the chair and made his way to beside your head, starting to comb his fingers through your tangled hair, soothing and gentle. You close your eyes and lean into his comforting touch.
He leans down to kiss your hairline after several moments of raking his calloused hands through your hair. You feel his lips move against your skin as he whispers into you “I'm so sorry Y/n”
You pull away from his touch quickly, quietly yelping at the pain the sudden motion caused but ignoring it to say, “Matthew what the hell are you sorry for?” Your voice is raw and exhausted, the injuries and fatigue starting to get to you, but refusing to let Matt take responsibility for something that was in no way his fault.
“I couldn’t even- I can’t even- you got hurt on a SKI SLOPE” his voice rising in frustration and disappointment and exasperation.
“How in the world am I supposed to keep you safe if you end up like this while we were on vacation?”
You close your eyes and sigh. This will be a battle you will have to fight with Matt every second of every day. But you didn’t care. You loved all of him with everything you were. And you would help him overcome this twisted thought process or die trying. And knowing Matt, he would never let the latter happen.
“Matt,” you start gently, voice barely above a whisper “People get hurt skiing. There’s a risk to the sport and I wasn’t paying attention and going too fast. This is not your fault”
You pause for a moment, gasping for breath and flinching when those gasps caused flares of pain to shoot from your rips and stretch down your whole torso. The pain sends your vision reeling, the room beginning to spin and black spots dancing in front of your eyes. Matt’s face flinches with you and his warm hands travel down from you hair to your rips, barely ghosting the skin, rubbing soft circles, trying to distract from the piercing pain.
Before you could continue with your rant about how Matt doesn’t need to protect you and no one can make it through life completely unharmed no matter how much their boyfriend tries to shield them, a nurse bursts in through the hospital room door.
“Sorry to interrupt but Y/n’s vitals indicate distress and she needs to rest as much as possible for these injuries to heal.”
Matt bows his head, guilty that he had any contribution to your recent spikes in pain and blankly glances at you, the creases in his forehead conveying a silent “sorry” and the slight frown in his perfect mouth suggesting a “talk about this later”
You nod your head just barely, eyes closing in heavy fatigue before realizing that he couldn’t see your confirmation. You open your mouth to say something to him, but he must’ve sensed your body language or your exhaustion because he gives your hand a soft squeeze and moves to the other side of the bed to make room for the nurse coming to check on your IVs.
The nurse slowly injects a clear thick liquid into one of the tubes wrapping around your arms and you slowly begin to feel warm and heavy all over, the dull throbs all over your body fading into the background until they were completely silent and your head felt as though it were wispy and floating.
The nurse padded over to Matt and whispered “We have her on a pretty high dose of pain meds. Her injuries are hurting her like hell and she needs to minimize any sort of strain in order to heal. Keeping her calm and comfortable is the most important thing for the next couple of days.”
Matt nods and glances towards you with a look of longing and guilt.
The nurse walks towards the door, reaching the threshold before turning back to Matt and quietly saying “Oh, and she might be a bit loopy but that’s completely normal.”
Matt gives the nurses general direction and tight smile and doesn’t relax until he hears the click of your rooms door closing.
You turn your head towards Matt, feeling like you’re moving through syrup.
Matt starts to card his fingers through your hair once more and whispers “How are you feeling baby”
You peel your eyes open slowly, so slowly, and thickly say “Sleepy”
Matt chuckles and kisses your temple.
“My bones feel heavy but you make my heart flutter” you slur, your lips quirking into a dopey smile. “But you already know that because of your superpowers.”
Matt’s eyebrows raise and the creases appear by the corners of his eyes as he smiles and chuckles again. "You really are loopy aren’t you”
Your eyes close again, lulled shut by matt’s gentle strokes in your h/c strands and his velvety voice.
“'m not loopy” you pout.
“Mhmm ok sweetheart” Matt responds, his words dripping with soft adoration and the playful lightness you’ve come to adore, especially when it’s you that brings it out of his normally solemn exterior.
You huff a sigh and are surprised to find it doesn’t send pain radiating from your ribs. Now that you think about it, actually it’s becoming harder and harder for you to feel anything but Matt’s warm hands, peppering soft touches on your head, your torso, your unslung arm. You allow your body to sink further into the white hospital sheets, everything becoming impossibly heavier and your thoughts becoming harder to organize.
Matt realizes you’re fighting unconsciousness and leans down to whisper in your ear “It’s ok sweetheart. Let yourself rest. I’ll be here when you come to”
You try to turn towards his voice but the darkness already has a firm grip on you and you can’t bring yourself to move through that thick syrup surrounding every inch of your exhausted form.
You gather your remaining strength and softly plead, “Lay w’th me Matty?”
Matt’s whole body melts at your request. He squeezes the ends of your fingers and slides onto the bed next to your body. Whispering "shhh" into your temple as you involuntarily moan a little at the shift in position. Everything feels far away and spinning except for Matt’s warm pressure right beside you.
The last thing you remember before slipping into a dreamless unconsciousness is Matt’s lean, strong form surrounding, pressing up against, protecting your whole being.