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As Tsukishima sits outside the x-ray room, Kageyama’s hands on his shoulders, Hinata and Yachi rapidly pacing around in front of him, and his own free, non-broken hand clasped in Tadashi’s, he regrets every life decision he’s ever made that has led him to this point.
The day had, honestly, started off well enough, The sun had risen above mountains and trees, unobstructed by clouds, and birds had chirped quietly in waking just outside of the blondes window. Tsukishima was able to eat a pretty substantial breakfast before heading to morning practice, and Ennoshita had taken pity on him when he said he had a math test first session, so he had been able to skip a solid chunk of training to instead revise over his notes with Tadashi.
“This test shouldn’t be too hard…” He had murmured to himself as he closed his books that morning. “It’s literally geometry.”
What a fool he had been sixteen hours ago.
The sound of the idiot parade’s voices assaulted his ears as he walked to class, probably babbling about volleyball strategies again, but instead of snapping at them like he usually would, he had decided to just tune them out, it’s not like he had to listen to them scream at eight o’clock in the morning if he didn’t want to.
All things considered, Tsukishima Kei had thought his day wasn’t going to be that bad.
To reiterate, he was a fool.
All hope for a good day was immediately washed away the moment he opened the test booklet.
It’s geometry. He thought. This isn’t hard- why can’t I understand it-?
He blinked, and stared blankly down at the paper. It’s not like he expected the test to be a breeze- (He did, It was geometry. Even the King can wrap his head around geometry.) But he didn’t expect it to be very hard.
He didn’t expect to not be able to understand half of the terms on the first page.
Next to him, Tadashi must have noticed his change in demeanor, because the boy sent him a series of worried looks as he scrawled down answers on his own paper.
He was studying for hours last night, for fucks sake, and he had been revising over his notes literally half an hour ago, what happened?
It was a safe bet to say that Tsukishima probably hadn't done brilliantly in the test. He had had to bullshit half of the paper, and everytime he came across a question he didn’t know how to answer, a hard to swallow lump on his throat seemed to grow.
“…God, Tsukki, are you okay? You looked like you were about to throw up in there-“ Yamaguchi said as they left the classroom to meet up with Hinata, Yachi and Kageyama for lunch.
Very obviously not, Tadashi. He wanted to say. I just failed a test for what might be the first time in my life, and I swear to god if one more thing goes wrong I'm going to start crying.
Instead he sucked in a breath, and went with:
“Yeah, The test was just a little harder than I expected. All good.”
The boy’s shoulders dropped, and he let out a groan. “ Right??? I swear that at least two thirds of the stuff on the paper was stuff we hadn’t done in class, like holy shit-”
Tsukishima nodded along as he rambled, managing to calm his racing thoughts down enough to properly listen to his best friend.
What? He can be polite. (sometimes)
“It’s so stupid- hey, where’s your lunch, Tsukki-?”
Tsukishima froze.
No fucking way. I did not forget my lunch. Holy shit.
“I... forgot it.” He concluded, staring dumbfoundedly down at the boy next to him.
“...You mean like, in the classroom?”
There were a few seconds of silence, before Tsukishima answered.
“...No. I mean like, at home.”
Tadashi let out a sigh. “Tsukki.”
“ Tadashi .”
“We’re second years, you’re not supposed to be forgetting your lunch.”
“Ugh, I know, whatever.” Tsukishima groaned, taking off his glasses to rub at his temple. “Guess my morning wasn’t as good as I-”
“Hey! Watch where you’re walking man-!”
Tsukishima stumbled back ever-so-slightly as he was crashed into, and he stared in mounting horror as the glasses he was previously holding-
slowly.
fell.
to the floor.
There was a tiny cracking sound as glass hit tile.
“… Tsukki.”
“Oh my god.”
This is not happening.
“...Tsukki-?”
I am going to-
“ Tsukishima , I dunno what you’re thinking but you look like you’re going to commit a murder.” Tadashi bent down to inspect the very-smashed glasses on the floor. “Jeez- Look at this, both the frames are destroyed- “
“I promise I would look at them if I could, Tadashi, but in case you forgot I can't actually see without my glasses. ”
“…oh. yeah, sorry man, haha.”
Tsukishima sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to calm his breathing. “I don’t have a spare pair at school, but my sports ones are in the club rooms.” The club rooms, yes, but-
“The club rooms are locked, so we need the key, but, oh no-“
“Oh god-“ He groaned. “Tanaka has the key, doesn’t he? Forget it, I’d rather be blind.”
“Dude, you can’t even see-“
“I’d rather not be able to see anything than get picked on by that asshole for the rest of the week.”
“You shouldn’t call him an asshole, he’s our vice captain after all, plus, he wouldn’t make fun of you, he's not, y’know, you .”
Ouch. Tsukishima snorted. “Please, he’s been waiting for me to break my glasses for almost two years, he and Nishinoya would go insane.”
“…If you acted really upset about it then he wouldn’t make fun of you?”
Tsukishima rolled his eyes, playfully shoving the boy next to him before squatting down to pick up his smashed glasses, or at least, the extremely blurry shape that looks vaguely like his glasses.
“What, do you think I should start fake-crying in front of him so that he doesn’t laugh at my stupidity?”
“...Yes?”
He snorted again, before sighing. One lens of his glasses had been smashed entirely, leaving only an empty frame, while the other was practically shattered, and when put up to his eye showed him only a distorted image of the world around him.
“I can’t believe lino floors can inflict this much damage onto a pair of glasses.”
Next to him, Tadashi made what looked like a shrugging motion. “Last year Hinata broke his phone screen when he dropped it on the carpet of a mattress store?”
“...At least this isn’t as embarrassing as that.” he sighed, placing a hand on Tadashi’s shoulder. “Take me to the roof, if we’re meeting up with the idiot parade then it’s going to be somewhere I don’t have to be embarrassed about them, too.”
“Jeez, whatever you say, Tsukki.” he laughed. “You’re sure you don’t want to get the spare glasses?”
“Positive.” he groaned, gently urging the boy forward. “Now let’s go. ”
-
It didn’t take too long for them to get to the roof, and even with his blurry vision, Tsukishima could appreciate the vast blueness of the sky above them. If he hadn’t broken his glasses his day might’ve turned around.
Lmao, he thought.
“I just texted Hinata, they should be up in a sec.”
Tsukishima hummed in response, and continued staring up at the sky, squinting at the dark shapes (probably birds.) that flew above, his expression remaining neutral.
“Why is Tsukishima looking at the sky? Is he trying to have one of those teen-drama protagonist moments?”
He scowled, and turned to look at the trio pushing open the doors to the roof. “Hello to you too, Hinata, my day has been wonderful, thank you for asking. How about you?”
Hinata rolled his eyes, and let out a groan as he and his mess of orange hair plopped himself down next to Tadashi. “ Hello , Tsukishima, my day’s been great, where are your glasses?”
Tadashi started giggling, and Tsukishima had to hold back the urge to strangle him.
“I… dropped them.”
“Dropped them? That doesn’t explain why you’re not- oh. ”
“Oh my god, Tsukishima, did you break your glasses?!” Yachi gasped, squatting down on the other side of Tadashi, and signaling for Kageyama to take the spot on the ground next to Tsukishima. “I thought this was never going to happen.”
“You see, Tadashi? They’re making a big deal out of this. I hate all of you.”
“No you don’t.” Kageyama hummed as he plopped down next to him, close enough so that their knees were touching.
“Yes, I very much do.” He groaned, leaning back against the fence. “I would jump off this roof if I could.”
“If you did we wouldn’t have you for volleyball.” Kageyama deadpanned, and gently patted his thigh while sliding him half a sandwich. “There there, eat this, you have no lunch with you.”
Tsukishima eyed the contents of the sandwich, before turning and raising an eyebrow.
“...this is a chicken sandwich.”
“Yeah? It’s leftovers.”
“...I’m a vegetarian, Kageyama.”
“Oh.”
“Jesus christ.” He sighed, shoving the sandwich in Hinata’s general direction, who made a noise of excitement before biting the sandwich (While it was still in Tsukishima’s hand.) and pulled it away with his teeth.
“You are the most disgusting person I've ever met.” Kei grimaced, reaching over to Kageyama’s lunchbox and grabbing what he assumed was an apple. After close inspection, he decided it was suitable enough to eat. “Can we move on from the broken glasses conversation?”
“No, we can’t.” Yachi hummed, resting her elbows on her knees, and resting her chin on her hands. “How’d you break them?”
Tsukishima groaned, and Tadashi chuckled.
“He bumped into someone in the hallway and they just kinda smashed on the ground.” Tadashi grinned, thankfully sparing Tsukishima from having to explain himself.
“That’s rough, but don’t you have your sports ones in the club room? Why didn’t you go get them?”
“…Tanaka has the keys, and Tsukki’s being a baby.”
“Yeesh, Tanaka? If I was Tsukishima I wouldn’t go get them either. He’d be so mean about it.”
Tsukishima smirked in what he assumed was Tadashi’s direction. “See? Yachi gets it.
“Ugh, whatever, Hinata, stop eating next to my ear.”
Hinata squeaked, quickly swallowing his food and giggling. “Sorry.”
“Manners, dude.”
“You’re one to talk, Kageyama!”
Tsukishima sighed, crossing his arms and pulling his legs into a crossed position. “At least I didn’t smash my phone on a mattress store carpet-”
Hinata gasped, and Tsukishima only narrowly avoided being hit by a flying spoon.
“Who told you! The only person who knew was- Yamaguchi!”
The roof erupted into chaos as Tadashi’s giggling morphed into a stream of in-genuine apologies, and Yachi and Kageyamas voices only grew louder when Hinata screamed at them to Stop laughing! It’s not that funny!.
Tsukishima smiled, running a hand through his hair.
Only a few hours left. He thought. Then I can go home and rest.
A foolish state of mind. Really, he may as well have been crowned the court jester.
—
Practice matches. The bane of Tsukishima Kei’s existence.
Sure, after his epic, amazing, show-stopping Wakatoshi block in the middle of his first year, he had grown to actually enjoy the fine sport of volleyball. But having to play it for three hours straight? In a fake match against these idiots? Not exactly Tsukishima’s idea of a good time.
Especially when he realizes that his sports glasses are the wrong prescription, and just enough so that his depth perception is a little bit skewed.
At least I can see again. He had thought as he placed the glasses over his eyes in the club rooms. Only three hours of practice.
Sure. Only three hours of practice. Whatever you want to believe.
Chanceball, over the net, received- Shit. He could have received that better. After two hours of almost continuous practice, he could feel his muscles slowing down, and the familiar exhaustion-induced headache slipping into the front of his skull.
Received by Ennoshita, To Kageyama, Kageyama sets to Hinata, Time to block, Jump, and-
Tsukishima immediately reached to clutch at his wrist as the ball deflected off his hand, and he stumbled forward as he landed back on the gym floor.
fuck, Fuck, FUCK-
“C’mon Tsukishima, If you want to get better at blocking you’re going to have to- Oh, shit, are you alright-?”
He let out a hiss of pain, bending over and pressing his wrist to his stomach.
This cannot be fucking happening-
“Hey, Tsukishima? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“You- you and your fucking spikes-”
“Tsukishima?”
Tsukishima blinked rapidly in an attempt to dissipate the tears quickly forming in his eyes, and he choked back a sob as somebody grabbed his wrist, pulling him back up to eye level.
“Oi, Tsukishima, what- Oh fuck- ”
The person, Kageyama, as it turns out, gently pulled his hand towards him, grimacing.
“Hey, coach, we need you over here!” He yelled, waving over the two adults, and muttering something to Tadashi in the process. “Tsukishima, I need you to breathe.”
Tsukishima scowled. “If I wasn’t breathing I'd be dead, king. ”
“You know what I fucking mean.” He snapped. “You’re hyperventilating. In for four, out for five, got that?”
Tsukishima took a sharp inhale, he hadn’t even noticed he was hyperventilating in the first place. Exhale.
“Good, good…”
“Kageyama? What’s wrong with Tsukishima?” Hinata faltered, his orange hair appearing on the edge of Tsukishima’s vision before getting pulled out of the way by Tadashi.
“He’s-”
“Kageyama, Tsukishima, what’s going on?”
Tsukishima glared up at the coach, ignoring the fact that his wrist was still in Kageyama's grasp in favor of stepping backwards in an attempt to not be completely overshadowed by the adult.
“You tell me, coa- fuck- ” He hissed, switching his gaze over from Ukai over to Kageyama, scowling. “What the hell was that for?!”
Kageyama glared back, turning to face their coach.
“His wrist is broken.”
Tsukishima froze, and if he was more aware of his surroundings, he would see the entire gym freeze with him.
“…What?”
“...His wrist is broken, you heard me, right?”
Ukai looked like somebody had stabbed him with a rusty kitchen knife, and next to him, Takeda seemed to be close to fainting, but he nodded,“...Yeah, I heard you, Tsukishima? Kid? We need to call your parents.”
Tsukishima’s eyes stung with tears, the pain from his wrist felt both sharp and dull at the same time, and he could feel everybody in the gym staring at him.
“They’re , fuck, out of town for my brothers work, they won’t be back until Sunday. Just take me home, or something.”
Tadashi frowned. “But Tsukki-”
“I said.” Tsukishima hiccupped. “Just take me fucking-”
He felt a hand gently begin to rub circles on his back, and he was about to turn to snap at whoever it was before they began gently guiding him towards the gym exit.
“We’re taking you to the hospital.” Kageyama muttered, the hand once on his wrist moving to grip his shoulder. “If you don’t go now it’ll take ages to heal, and everything will suck for longer. Got it?”
“I-”
“Tsukishima.”
He felt the anger around him dissipating, instead giving way to a wave of anxiety.
“...Okay.”
“Good. Yamaguchi?” He looked back at Tadashi, who looked like he was about to have a stroke.
“On it, I’ll call his parents.”
“I’ll get his stuff!” Hinata chimed in, racing past them, out of the club doors and up the steps to the club room.
Tsukishima paused, glaring at Kageyama. “Are we taking fucking everyone with us?”
Kageyama hesitated, before he smiled. “Yep, Yachi? Get up the maps to the hospital, we’re taking Ukai’s truck and he probably doesn't know how to get there.”
He snorted, before wincing as he accidentally moved his wrist.
“...This is gonna suck.”
Kageyama hummed, giving his shoulder an uncharacteristically reassuring squeeze.
“Just a little.”
As Tsukishima was guided to Coach Ukai’s van, the sports glasses were lifted from his head, and he stopped paying attention.
He could remember the feeling of numbness creeping up his arm, traveling though his bones and spreading into his bloodstream. The directions blaring from Yachi’s phone mixed with Tadashi’s anxious phone-chatter and Hinata’s nervous conversation so heavily that he couldn’t make out any individual words.
He could remember the throbbing pain in his wrist, the silent tears he blinked away as a pair of headphones was placed on his head, and the soft lo-fi that began traveling through his ears/
He thinks the van made a stop once. Somewhere he couldn’t remember, where a car door was opened and somebody ran into a house, before sprinting back out again and waving something around in their hands. He knew it wasn’t Kageyama, because the hand rubbing circles into his back never disappeared, and it wasn’t Hinata, because the red of his hair was a constant in his ever-blurry vision.
It was probably Tadashi, and he was probably running into his house to retrieve his medicare information and spare pair of glasses, because before he knew it, he was sitting in a hospital chair, surrounded by four teenagers and a doctor, with Indiana Jones playing on one of the hospital TV’s.
Raiders of the Lost Ark , to be exact.
“-X-rays done.”
He blinked, shaking his head as the doctor looked at him expectantly. “Er, Pardon?’
“You’ll need to get some X-rays done, just to confirm, Tsukishma. But unfortunately, your wrist is most likely broken. Must have been one powerful spike.”
Next to him, Hinata paled, and Kageyama, who was sharing the only other free chair with Tadashi, clenched his fists so hard his knuckles went white.
He breathed, glancing at their expressions and turning back to the doctor, waving his non injured hand in feigned nonchalance. “Eh, I just caught it wrong.”
The doctor raised an eyebrow, and stood from his chair. “Well, whatever happened, It doesn’t matter now. Follow me to the X-ray ward.”
Tsukishima stood up, making sure to not move his wrist too awkwardly as he started out the door, and raised an eyebrow when Kagyama nudged him with his elbow.
“...Did you really block the spike wrong?” He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
Tsukishima hummed. “Of course I did. You think I'd be used to your freaky quick attacks by now, right?”
Kageyama took a breath, and Tsukishima was sure he could see some of the tension seep from his shoulders.
“...Yeah. Okay. I’m sorry, still. I think I freaked you out a little bit back at the gym.”
He snorted, and lightly bumped the setter with his shoulder. “I was being a dick, and I’m starting to believe things would’ve been much worse if you had just let me go home. Don’t worry about it, Kageyama, Thankyou.”
Kageyama grinned, and he lifted his hand to lightly squeeze Tsukishima’s shoulder.
If the blond wasn’t so focused on keeping his wrist stable, he probably would've noticed the way the setter chewed anxiously at his bottom lip, and the light pink tint settling on the tips of his ears. He probably also would’ve noticed the way he opened his mouth to say something else, before he cleared his throat and remained silent.
Oh well, This is a clear example of a situation Tsukishima is going to deal with later.
“Hey, Kageyama.” Tadashi hummed, pushing his way in between the two taller boys and taking a moment to grin at both of them. “Can I talk to Tsukishima?”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Kageyama shrugged, and Tsukishima raised an eyebrow as the setter scooted away to engage in the adjacent conversation between Hinata and Yachi.
“...What’s up, Tadashi?” He hummed, glancing down at his friend as they turned the corner towards the X-ray ward. “Everything okay?”
Tadashi frowned, and averted his gaze towards the corridor in front of them. “That’s what I was going to ask you. Are you okay? You look like you’re about to burst into tears.”
He paused, before gulping. “...I can barely breathe, I think I’m having an anxiety attack.”
Tadashi’s eyes snapped up, and the look of concern on his face only grew as he watched the blonds chest rise and fall in uneven breaths.
“Oh, shit, I don’t-”
“It’s okay. I’m not- I just need to get out of the hospital. The headphones helped. Thank you for that.”
The concern did not completely fade from the green haired boy’s face, but when Tsukishima lifted his good hand to ruffle his hair, he seemed to relax, almost exactly like Kagyama only a few moments prior.
“Goodness gracious.” He joked, attempting to squish down any overwhelming feelings of panic so as not to freak out in front of the doctor. “I think you guys are more worried about my wrist than I am, and it’s my wrist.”
“That’s because we are!” Hinata groaned, whipping his head around in exasperation, and not even pretending to have not been eavesdropping. “You're not going to be able to play volleyball for months!”
Tsukishima frowned. He hadn’t thought about that.
“It’s… It’s okay, Hinata. I can still serve, and If my presence is oh-so-missed, I can always come to practice anyway.”
The red head sighed, and drifted from his position on the edge of the group to gently bump Tsukishima’s shoulder with his head.
“It won’t be the same. And if you keep acting like you are now then it definitely won’t be the same! You’re being so… tolerant with us. It’s weird.”
“What? Do you want me to degrade you? That’s very masochistic of you, Hinata. Just enjoy the peace while it lasts.”
“Nevermind, you’re such an asshole.” Hinata rolled his eyes.
Tsukishima grinned at the cackling responses from his friends, but grimaced as the doctor stopped in front of a door to the side of the hallway.
“Unfortunately, the rest of you are going to have to wait out here for your friend, but Tsukishima, please come through.”
The disappointed reactions of his friends made Tsukishima’s brow furrow in light distress, but nevertheless, he followed the doctor into the bleak looking x-ray room.
He wasn’t sure what he expected the room to look like, as he had never had an x-ray done before, but he wasn’t expecting it to look so… depressing.
(In his defense, he wasn’t expecting many things to happen that day.)
The quietness of the X-ray room was too loud for his liking, and the doctor's brief explanations of where to sit and how to place his arm were lost on him as his mind began to wander.
Hinata was right, he wouldn’t be able to play volleyball for a while, and even when he was allowed back he would be rusty, and out of practice.
Tsukishima Kei is not so cynical as to believe that a simple broken bone is enough to ruin his volleyball career entirely, hell, American athletes write essays about their return to their sports after injuries for their college applications.
So no, this is not the end for him.
But even though he knows, it doesn’t stop the little pinpricks of tears forming in his eyes at the sheer embarrassment waiting for him at the end of the recovery process.
-
The x-ray did not last long enough for the tears to finish rolling down his cheeks, so when he exited the room to face the huddle of worried second years, he watched in despondent shame as his friends stared at the fresh tear tracks dripping down his face.
“The uh, X-rays done. The doctor said we just have to wait for the results and a temporary cast-“
“…Tsukishima, are you crying?”
He swallowed thickly, but before he could open his mouth to respond, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his waist and squeezed.
“We’re not judging you, I promise.” Kageyama murmured, burying his head in his shoulder. “Hinata was practically sobbing out of guilt on the way here.”
“I-“ Tsukishima choked as two more bodies crashed into the embrace, neither of them reaching the height of his chin.
“Can confirm.” Yachi giggled, her face pressed up against his shoulder. “It was literally the most tears I've ever seen from him, and I was there when he watched Your Name for the first time. ”
Hinata sniffled, only continuing to squeeze the group hug even harder.
“I did not cry while watching Your Name, and I wasn’t sobbing earlier!”
“You were, dude.” Tadashi snorted, gently inserting himself into the group, and grinning at Tsukishima in knowing. “There are tear stains on your shirt.”
Tsukishima was frozen, constricted, even, within the group of teens.
His arms were trapped against his side, and despite the attempts of avoiding his broken wrist, he was being practically squished to death from all directions. There was nothing objectively groundbreaking about the embrace, Hinata was squeezing him too tightly, and Yachi was uncomfortably pressed up against his side. Tadashi was barely touching him, being on the edge of the hug, and Kageyama’s hair smelled weirdly like coconuts.
No, there was nothing special about the second year's group hug.
So why did Tsukishima's silent tears turn into light hiccups? And why did those hiccups gradually turn into full blown sobs, as his head dropped forward to rest on Kageyama’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” He tried to raise a hand to wipe at the tears streaming down his face, but since his arms were trapped, he had to settle for licking at the tears dripping down to his lips. “I’m not usually so- um- emotional? I don’t know why-”
“Jesus, Tsukishima.” Tadashi sighed, breaking away from the embrace to lead the group over to the line of waiting chairs. “You never need to explain yourself to us. It’s okay.”
He didn’t respond, but the gentle chorus of agreement brought a smile to lips amidst the tears.
—
The hospital chairs are not comfortable, especially when you’ve been sitting in one for over three hours, but after a while, you kind of get used to the hard plastic digging into your back, and the too-low arm rests stabbing you in the sides.
Or at least that’s what Tsukishima thinks, anyway.
Apparently, all he needs is a cast, and then he’s out of here until he can get a new, stronger one put on in about a week. He’s been waiting on the temporary cast now for almost two hours, however, and the hospital waiting room is getting rather boring to stare at.
Despite how much he hates to admit it, he’s rather glad he’s not alone. Hinata hasn’t stopped talking in at least half an hour, and despite how tired he looks, his conversion is still animated and full of non-stop pacing. Yachi is pacing too, but most of her words are complaints about how boring Indiana jones; Raiders of the Lost Ark is. (Tsukishima has to agree, The hospital TVs are playing it for the third fucking time.)
Tsukishima’s non-broken hand is clasped in Tadashi’s, the other boy adamantly refusing to let go, despite how desperately his eyes seemed to want to close, and even as he slowly drifted off into sleep, he hadn’t let go of the blond’s hand.
Kageyama’s arms are draped over his shoulder. He had taken to amusing himself by wandering around the waiting room, and reading all of the disease warning signs. When he had run out of posters to read, he had walked quietly back to the group and rested his head on Tsukishima's Upper arm, draping his arms across his shoulders and almost instantly drifting out of consciousness.
It was a miracle that any of his friends had even stayed in the first place. Ukai’s vague threats about getting home for a good night's sleep, and leaving the care of Tsukishima in his own hands had been lost on them, so the coach had eventually given up. (He was sitting in the corner of the room, reading the outdated newspapers and every now and then slinking outside for a smoke break. He was their only adult supervision.)
Tsukishima sighed, glancing down the hall for any sign of the doctor, and raising his eyebrows in tired excitement when he saw him turn the corner towards them.
I can go home soon. He thought, lightly nudging his friends awake. The day’s almost over.
“This is not how I pictured this day going...” He murmured, earning him a weak chuckle from Kageyama as he stood to face the doctor. “Breaking a bone is exhausting.”
For the first time that day, Tsukishima’s thoughts were not as foolish as they could be. Sure, it would be another hour before he was able to crash into his mattress and sleep for the next two days, but considering the events of the last twelve hours, he was thankful he was able to get home at all.