Long Away

Chapter 71

The following days came with a dull routine of checkups, sleep, terrible food, more checkups, and Rami stopping by when his schedule allowed it. All the while Ben was stuck in his almost entirely white room. It was maddening. Four days ago, Rami had told him about everything that went on while he was blacked out. He'd had a lot of time to think about it since then, but it seemed impossible to process. Ben was still half expecting a camera team to step out at any moment to tell him this was all an elaborate prank. For the past hour or so, Ben had been playing with this thought, just to kill some time. This would be a very strange concept for a reality show. Maybe he could write a movie script about something like that.

Somebody knocked on the door.
"Come in," he answered. It was Dr. Speyer, who had taken over his care after Dr. Hidgens spontaneosly quit his job, or so Ben was told. He had a feeling the hospital was trying to cover up the legal consequences the man had to face. Not that he cared much. In a way, he was almost grateful, even for what Gwilym did. Besides the whole thing with Joe of course. He could get fucked for that. But Ben had never been happier than in his coma. And he doubted he would ever get to feel that way again.

The bright smile on the doctor's face felt almost taunting.
"Good morning, Mr. Jones! I have good news for you."
He looked up with little interest.
"You will be released from our ward today. You'll only have to stay on a different ward for one more night for observation, and if there are no new problems coming up, you get to go home."
"Ah." Home. Right. There was this small house he had been renting before all this. For a second he wondered if anyone had gone and watered his plants, then he realized he didn't care. The house would be an empty and lonely place when he returned. Roger wouldn't be waiting for him. Brian wouldn't come over after band practice. Freddie wouldn't drunkenly ring him up in the middle of the night, with Deaky trying to get him off the phone. Nothing would feel like home. Perhaps never again.

"Can you at least pretend to be excited? I thought you were a good actor?", the doctor teased him. Ben slightly lifted a fist into the air.
"Hurray."
"Hm. I think you need to practise that again. Anyway, do you have any questions or concerns before we transfer you?"
"No, not really."
"Good. Then I'll be right back." She closed the door behind herself, and Ben let his head sink back into the pillow. What was he even supposed to do outside of the hospital? There was nothing he looked forward to, nothing he missed, except for what he couldn't have.

The doctor wasn't "right back", but Ben didn't care. He spent the next hour and a half staring at the ceiling, before she returned with two nurses to cart him over to his new room. They tried to make conversation, and Ben did his best to follow along, but it was too draining to pay attention to everything they were saying. Something about the guy he would be sharing a room with. If he missed anything important, he would deal with it later.

Dr. Speyer held the door open, so the nurses could manouvre his bed inside.
"And here we are!", one of them said.
Ben's eyes darted towards the man who was already in the room. His heart fluttered. He was a lot thinner than he remembered, and his ginger hair was a bit messy from lying in bed all day, but it was undoubtedly Joe. 
"Ben!" A wide smile spread across his face. His eyes were sparkling with tears he couldn't contain. The sting in Ben's chest when he saw the way he looked at him took his breath away. Or rather the realization it came with. Ben knew this face, this look overflowing with love. He had seen it every time he gazed into the eyes of his darling Roger. Except now, he remembered where he really knew it from, the reference his mind had taken to create this perfect fantasy.
"Joe..."

Ben couldn't take his eyes off of him while the nurses positioned their beds next to each other.
"So, that would be it for now, unless you have any more questions?" The doctor asked, but Ben was already shaking his head before she could finish her sentence.
"No, I'm good," he said, trying to keep his cool. He could tell by her smirk that it wasn't working.
"Well then, one of my colleagues will check in with you in a bit. And with you too, Mr. Mazzello. Assuming nothing new comes up, you will both be released tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me," Joe said.
"I'll leave you to it then. Goodbye gentlemen."
"Uh, weren't we supposed to d-", a nurse began, but was interrupted by the doctor.
"That can wait, right now these two should get a chance to rest. Come on, move along."
Finally, Ben was alone with Joe. He turned to him with a smug grin.
"Hey, buddy."
Joe laughed, wiping away his tears.
"Hi."

***

Hey guys!

This took unnecessarily long, but here you finally have it. The last chapter. For now? There might be some bonus content coming at some point, but I can't make any promises.
As for the other story I announced, I am still planning to upload it, but writing has become a massive struggle for me again and more of a chore than something I do for fun. So it wouldn't be smart to promise anything here either, except that I'll try.

Thanks to everyone who made it all the way here with me! It really means a lot that people liked my writing, even if the quality wasn't consistent throughout every chapter.

On that note, happy holidays to everyone celebrating, and hopefully I'll be back next year with something new!

Tay