All Fucked Up//Jahren ff

Chapter 19

*3 months later, smut warning*

"Ahren." Joel sings as he walks through the ICU doors.

"Hiii!" Ahren squeals, after not seeing his husband for weeks; he was home taking care of Bel.

"I brought you something." Joel smiles and hands Ahren a bouquet of flowers. "I figured you'd want them, we haven't seen each other in forever."

Ahren takes them gladly, smelling their fresh and watery aromas, then placing the clear vase on the bedside table.

"I have news for you." Joel smiles and sits on the end of the bed, taking Ahren's warm hand in his.

"Yeah? What's that?" Ahren asks, sitting up.

"I talked to the doctor, he said you could come home today! He said your recovery was way faster than usual and you made lots of progress fast."

"Agh. Finally I can get out of this place. I've missed you and Bel so much." Ahren extends his arms to pull Joel into a hug, a long one, one that both Ahren and Joel had been longing for for a while now.

"Well, let's get going. Bel's at home and she made spaghetti." Joel says.

Ahren's mouth watered at the thought of having a good dinner, instead of the food at the hospital.

---

"Be-el! I'm ho-ome!" Ahren sings as he falls onto the comfortable couch.

"Hi!" Bel squeezes Ahren after running into the front room. "Oh Ahren, I'm so glad you're back to normal."

"I'm glad to be back here. Ugh, it smells so good in here and- Bel! You're belly is starting to show!" Ahren squeals, pulling away from her and admiring her belly.

"Yeah, he's getting big now." She smiles, holding her tiny, fragile baby growing inside her body.

"He?" Ahren says.

"Oh, Joel, we forgot to tell him." Bel exchanges looks with Joel. "We got the gender results, and it's a boy."

"When?" Ahren asks, focused on the new exciting news about the baby.

"Last week, maybe. Two weeks?" Joel says.

"I can't believe you guys didn't visit me or call me to tell me!" Ahren throws his hands up, but not angry, just disappointed that he didn't hear sooner.

"Sorry, it was just an in that moment thing." Joel says and kisses Ahren's forehead.

"Can I take a shower?" Ahren asks, way off topic, but he didn't want to wait any longer to get all remnants of the hospital off of him, especially the all too familiar smell of cleanliness that took over the hospital.

"Of course you can take a fucking shower, Ahren." Joel laughs.

"Sorry. I'm used to having to ask for permission to do things in the hospital." Ahren smirks, happy to be home.

Ahren runs up the staircase into his room to grab clothes for a shower. He smells his room, the sweet smell of Joel's cologne and the bitter scent of cigarettes filling his nostrils, sending comforting waves all over Ahren's body. This was home.

He took his clothes to the bathroom and ran a hot shower. Ahren looked himself in the mirror. He saw a man that he was happy with. No matter the bad things that had happened in the past, he was happy with who he was. Ahren loved himself, and he knew he was loved. Ahren looked his scars up and down, the ones lining his arms he had made from year 10. For once, he wasn't ashamed of them. Ahren was proud of himself for not having made those hurtful cuts to himself in years.