Listen (Patrick Stump / Fall Out Boy Fanfic)

Chapter 35 - The Sounds of This Small Town

Update: I've added a video that is a compilation of deaf people hearing for the first time. It's a beautiful video, and it features the same, or similar cochlear implants that Aria receives in the story. Enjoy!

Aria's Point of View

Today was the last morning. The last morning I would wake up and not hear a thing. The last morning I would wake up with my fiancé. The last morning I would see a smile consume him, and wonder what the laughter coming from that smile sounded like.

He was smiling at me like that now, his laughter shaking him and the bed we were tangled up in. It was six in the morning, and Meagan was already on her way to get me. He was laughing because he also knew that this was the last morning, and he was happy. After tomorrow, I would wake up and hear his morning voice beside me. I wouldn't wake up next to my fiancé, but my husband. And finally, I would hear the laughter that was so contagious, even just seeing it made me laugh with him. I moved closer to him, burying my face against his chest and clutching at his shirt. He rested his head just over mine, so that his neck was pressed against my forehead. He was speaking, I could feel it, but I only held tighter to his shirt.

Meagan and Pete were picking me up today so I could stay with them for the night before the wedding. They were taking me into the hospital today to have my implants turned on, and I was going to spend a majority of the afternoon with a therapist, who would help me get used to speaking again. Meagan was insistent that I wouldn't need much therapy, as was Patrick, but I wanted help learning to read my vows for tomorrow. I wanted it to be perfect.

I took a deep breath and sighed as I felt Patrick's lips press against the top of my head. I looked up at him and he bit his lip, looking at me like I was most amazing thing he'd ever seen. I loved when he looked at me like that. I smirked and scooted up to kiss him, my lips barely ghosting over his, until he reached up and pushed his fingers into my hair to pull me closer. I hummed softly, feeling my own voice vibrating, and I shivered at the thought that I would hear myself again in just a few hours. When I finally pulled away from him, Patrick frowned slightly and pulled his hand from my hair. "We have to get up," he signed.

I smiled, still awed by how quickly he had learned sign language for me. We haven't even been together for a full year, but you'd never know that Patrick had only just recently learned the language. I wondered briefly how long he had spent pouring over those sign language books he had bought months ago. "I don't want to leave you," I signed back, pouting at him playfully. He only smiled and pressed a chaste kiss to my pouting lips.

"I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning. I'll be the one in a tux, by the altar."

I giggled at him and playfully pushed him by his shoulder, making him laugh again as well. "You'd better be at that altar," I teased, pressing my left hand to his chest. My diamond ring caught the light pouring in from the window and I couldn't help the smile on my face.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he promised, kissing me once more before finally getting up. I sat up and watched him as he shuffled across the room. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and his Batman pajama pants, and his hair was sticking up all over the place. He retrieved his glasses from the bedside table and slid them on, pushing them up in the middle, and then he walked over to my side of the bed and reached a hand out to me. I smiled and took his hand, letting him pull me to my feet and wrap his arms around my waist. He kissed me yet again, as if he couldn't get enough before we had to part, and finally, we were interrupted by the doorbell. Patrick groaned, visibly sagging his shoulders and dropping his head back dramatically. I giggled and pulled him towards the door by his hand, pushing him into the hallway and gesturing or him to go answer the door. He did as I asked, though not without glancing back at me a few times as I went back into the bedroom to change.