𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝜊𝑛¹

he's stuborn but so are you

It was about a 25-minute drive to the hospital and I'd sat in the back of the ambulance with him the entire time. I had tried to make jokes to cheer him up and he'd laughed at each one, though it was clear he was just trying to stop me worrying. It didn't work.

When we got there I convinced the doctor to let me go in the room as he got checked out, I suggested he was prone to panic attacks and I could calm him down. They brought it, Kevin gave me a look but didn't argue.

So he's sitting there, in the middle of the room, swinging his legs. His shirt is sat folded beside him as the doctor pokes and prods at his bare shoulders. He looks uncomfortable, though I don't blame him.

I didn't realise how skinny he was before now, but he wasn't underweight, his stomach flat, slightly toned. Up until now, I'd only seen him wearing shirts that were slightly too baggy, they didn't really show off his body too well.

Much to Kevin's frustration, the doctor told him to rest.
Despite the annoyance on his face, he represses the urge to rant about how much of a waste of time the whole thing is as the doctor checks the progress of his other shoulder.

"How has it been, since the accident?" Kevin had explained his injuries when we first got here, with prompt from me.

Kevin's eyebrow raised, "Oh, erm, it's not been bad," he replies a little awkwardly, "it's a little stiff sometimes but I've got most my mobility back, it's just, it decides not to cooperate when I hold it in awkward positions sometimes you know?"  He looks up at the doctor politely, who asks him to move his arm to certain positions. He does so without much trouble.

"We could talk about surgery to see if we could do anything with your left shoulder, but other than that it'll just take time, if it was the bone that'd been damaged there would be more that we could do but..."

"Then I'll wait, " Kevin smiled, though he puts less effort into pretending to be polite this time, "Is that all?"

"We'll do an X-ray just in case before you leave, but other than that yes, " The doctor glances back at me, "I'll give you a minute." He speaks politely before exiting the room.

It's the first time Kevin looks at me since we got here, I walk over so I'm stood in front of him, "I'm glad you came."

"Right, even if they haven't done shit."

"It was still worth it to get checked out Kevin."

He smiled, not in the mood to argue.

The doctor comes back, they do an X-ray and the final verdict is, as we already knew, "there's no new damage to the bone though the ligaments had torn where they had tried to heal, no heavy lifting, nothing strenuous, " he implied no sex while looking at me, Kevin's eyes widened, I blushed, "do you have someone who can look after you for a while?"

Kevin lifted his head, thinking for a second, "I can." I state before he gets the chance to reply. He pulls a face at me, but the doctor nods.

"Well, in that case, I should probably be talking to you, " he turned to look at me, "don't let him drive until his next check-up, I recommend checking on him at a few points during the night to make sure he's not lying on his side. If he wakes up in pain I'd also recommend rubbing the muscle to try and relieve tension,"
Kevin pulls a face at all the information, clearly not planning on following it,  "we'll prescribe him some painkillers, come back in 2 to 3 weeks and we'll see how he's getting on."

I nod, we get the pills and leave, we get a taxi back, which Kevin insists he'll pay me back for. It's one of the only things he says on the drive home.

He pauses as we reach my apartment door and I turn to face him, "well I'd see you later, I'll call you if I need anything?" He smiles awkwardly.

"What? No. I'm looking after you!" I declare, stepping back toward him.

"You don't have to do that." He mumbles.

"I do Kevin, this wouldn't have happened if I didn't ask you to come to see me last night."

"Fine, " he huffs, "but if you're forcing me to live with you can we at least stay in my apartment?"

"Why yours?"

"Because I'm in no state to look after you if your ex comes back to collect his stuff."

"Aw, you want to look after me? Such a gentleman." I joked.

"All I need now is a fedora."

"Oh please God no."

He laughs as we make our way to his apartment, he unlocks the door and steps aside to let me in first, "M'lady...just imagine I'm tipping a fedora."

I shake my head with a laugh as I walk in, the layout is the same as mine, though his decor is fundamentally more Kevin.

He gave me a quick tour of his apartment, his office seemed to be a pride point for him, a shelf of consoles and other gaming equipment to the side by his desk, a green screen sat behind a comfortable looking chair and an elaborate desk set up. There was another green screen on the wall closest to the door . The only slightly concerning thing was the framed picture of his murderous sim on the wall, I decided not to comment.  I quickly realised he only had one bedroom, his office sitting where his spare room would he and I sigh. He won't be sleeping on the couch in his condition, which means I'll have to.

We order take out, he was craving Thai food apparently and it was good, while we were eating he threw on a horror film and grabbed us a blanket. His couch was a lot longer - and comfier - than mine so we weren't pressed together. There was a comfortable distance between us though we were still close enough together to share the blanket.

"What a little shit!" Kevin yells as the murderer kills a other character, "he was my favourite you can't do that!"

He, in fact, comments on every part of the movie, it was likely his default setting after doing youtube for so long. It didn't bother me much, it was cute the way his face scrunched up everytime something happened he didn't agree with.

"He could've caught her then, what the heck, fecking eejit, he calls himself a murderer? Pfft, I could do better." I can't help but laugh at most his comments, he was after all a genuinely funny guy, he made the film a lot less scary too, which I was grateful for.

I'm not exactly sure about how it happened but at one point during the movie I screamed, pulling a laugh from Kevin before he pulled me against him, promising to "protect me".

It felt a little weird at first, being pressed up against his body, though he didn't seem bothered and he was warm. His arm slipped over my shoulder as he squeezed me tighter the next time I jumped. He managed to hold back his laughter that time too.

It wasn't suprising when I began to fall tired, locked in his warm embrace and he didn't seem to mind when my head rested on his good shoulder, or when my eyes began to flicker shut. I figured, if he didn't seem to mind, I shouldn't either.