Brock woke up slowly, his body stiff and oddly floaty. "Brock? Hey, you awake?" He heard and he grimaced, turning his head as he blinked slowly.
Tyler sat next to him in an arm sling, bruising and burns all across his neck, shoulders and arms. Brock realised they were in a hospital, himself hooked up to several monitors and an IV in his arm.
"What happened?" He whispered, his throat extremely dry. "The rig exploded. Apparently the lighting rod had broken during the last storm and no one bothered saying anything, which is why it went for the drills. We lost 5 workers, Mike one of them," he said calmly, his jaw clenched as he helped Brock take a drink of water.
"Mike's dead?" Brock whispered horrified, Tyler nodding as he sat back with a wince. "It's been about 6 days, you hit your head really hard and they had to medically induce a coma to see if the swelling on your brain would go down. About 60% of your body is covered with burns, and your hands are fucked from the electrical shock," Tyler said, his voice gentle even as his words were blunt.
"How- how fucked?" Brock asked, looking down at the bandages thick around his fingers. "Your fingers and palms were nearly shredded with third degree burns, they had to do a skin graft. You probably won't have any feeling in your palms for a while," he said quietly and Brock gritted his teeth.
"So, that's it. I can't ever work the drill again," he said quietly and Tyler shook his head. "No, the bosses are impressed actually. They said because of you, the fatalities were next to non existent. The control guys explained everything they'd seen, and the bosses want you to come back, even if only as supervision," he said and Brock clenched his jaw.
"I like the physical work. I like being able to do things with my hands, to be able to help," he said quietly and Tyler shrugged, looking down. "It's better than nothing," he said and Brock nodded with a sigh.
"The others want to see you. Jon was admitted too, he broke his arm and some ribs when he was flung off the boat, one nearly piercing his lung, but everyone else mostly just had burns, bruising or a few superficial cuts," Tyler said and Brock nodded.
"And- and our other friends? Have you seen them?" He asked and Tyler shook his head. "Chrissy did, she got ahold of Scotty and let him know what had happened. She said it took a lot of convincing to make sure Brian didn't storm up in here, you really made an impression on him," Tyler teased and Brock flushed.
"I don't know what you're talking about, he's just my friend," he mumbled and Tyler smirked. Brock rolled his eyes at him and shifted a bit uncomfortably, his body aching.
"The others will be coming soon, I'll call the doctor," Tyler said, Brock nodding as he leaned his head back. "Oh, check your bag," he said, gesturing at the items bag next to Brock on the table.
Brock reached over and hooked the bag handles over his fingers, wincing at the ache as he pulled it to him. He carefully dug through it, sorting through his clothes, which were destroyed, his phone, wallet, and oh!
"You saved them?" Brock said brightly, carefully picking up the sand dollar and the dry braided seaweed pendant with one of Brian's scales he'd had given him to let him know when Brock was at the beach.
"I did, I know that's why you went to your locker, and it's good to have," Tyler said with a nod and Brock smiled faintly at him, carefully putting them into the bag again and setting it aside.
The doctor walked in, clipboard in his hand. He smiled brightly at Brock, the latter nodding at him.
"It's nice to see you awake Mr. Barrus, how are you feeling?" He asked and Brock shrugged with a wince. "Sore, bit dizzy, but everything clear and works fine that I know of," he answered and the doctor nodded.
He started running Brock through a series of verbal and motion tests, Brock gritting his teeth as he followed them. "Everything looks fine. Did your friend explain about your hands?" He asked and Brock nodded, clenching his jaw.
"He did. He said there'd be limited feeling in them?" He asked and the doctor nodded. "The types of burns you had weren't just surface, the electrical current you felt burned the nerves in almost all of your hands. He said you were touching a metal object when the lightning struck?" He asked and Brock nodded, sighing.
"My friend and I were trying to seal a crack in the oil drill when the lightning struck, I didn't move my hands in time," he said and the doctor nodded.
"The electrical current fried most of the nerves in your hands up to your wrists, and the fire and oil caused your skin to be mostly burnt off. We did have to do a skin graft, we took some from your hip where there was the least amount of damage. You've got burns covering most of your back, arms, neck and legs, but those were only first or second degree burns. Your hands, wrists and back of your neck was the worst with the third degree," he explained and Brock nodded, frowning.
"We're going to keep you for observation for at least 3 or 4 days, to make sure no infection settles into the burns, that's the trickiest part of skin grafts and third degree burns. We'll need to keep you hydrated and monitor your brain, the swelling has gone down but we want to make sure there's no bleeding," he said and Brock made a face as he nodded.
The doctor chuckled and said, "I understand. But it's for the best. Your friends can come visit, as well as family. Your friend here was listed as your emergency contact, which is why he's already here."
Brock nodded, teeth clenched. "I don't have any other family, Tyler's my brother in every important way," he said quietly and the doctor just nodded.
"Understandable. Now, nurses will be coming in every hour today, but tomorrow we can lower the amount of times to every meal as long as everything goes well today," he said and Brock nodded.
"I'll have a nurse bring you some food here in a minute, first meal will have to be bland foods until we see if you can stomach food. If you handle it fine, you can order dinner in tonight," the doctor said and Brock made a face but nodded.
Tyler chuckled and patted his arm carefully. "Don't worry Brock, if everything is fine I'll make sure to bring you some chicken," he said amused and Brock rolled his eyes at him.
"Right, I'll be back before my shift ends, just relax and I'm sure everything will be fine," he said cheerfully, Brock nodding. "Thank you," he said and the doctor nodded, smiling as he left.
"Can someone get a message to Brian for me?" Brock asked Tyler softly and Tyler tilted his head. "Well, we're in Houston, it's not too far from the beach. Our friends will be here soon, I've already texted them, I'm sure one of them will get him a message. I'm not technically allowed to leave, I was just allowed to come here since I was your emergency contact and they were waking you today," he said and Brock nodded.
"When did you make me your emergency contact?" Tyler asked confused and Brock shrugged. "About 6 years ago, when I broke my collarbone and no one was allowed to come in because I had no one alive. You were my first choice," he said and Tyler blinked.
"Oh," he said, face flushed embarrassed. Brock chuckled, patting his hand. "You're my closest friend, Tyler, and longest. Of course I'd want you to be the one to know if anything happened to me," he said and Tyler nodded, looking awkwardly gruff.
"Well, thanks. You're the one I'd want there too," he mumbled and Brock smiled amused at him. "Why don't you go see where Jon is and the others?" He asked, giving the other an escape.
Tyler took it quickly, nodding as he stood carefully and walked out. Brock rolled his eyes and settled back against the pillows, looking out the window to the far distance. He knew he wouldn't be able to see the ocean from here, but he couldn't help but imagine it.
It was about an hour later that Tyler returned with Jon in a wheelchair, the smaller man grumbling. But Brock noticed his entire left leg wrapped in bandages, his shoulder and arm in a splint and sling.
"You're fucking awake, thank god," Jon sighed, Tyler moving him to sit by the bedside. Brock wondered how Tyler was able to maneuver the chair so well with only one arm, as Tyler's arm was also in a sling, but Tyler was a mystery.
"I'm awake, how are you doing? What happened to your leg? Tyler told me you broke your arm and some ribs," Brock asked worriedly, using his elbows to push himself upright a bit better.
"Skinned it when I got blasted, it got caught on the railing and about 4 inches of my calf was torn, almost degloved. I had to get surgery to repair the muscles and it's still very weak," he said and Brock grimaced in sympathy.
"I heard about your hands," Jon said softly and Brock sighed. "There's no way around it, I probably won't be able to do much heavy lifting ever again. But I'm alive, yeah? I'm okay," he said, forcing optimism into his voice.
Jon nodded sadly, smiling faintly at him as he settled carefully back in his seat. His eyes trailed the room, landing on the cup of water Brock had beside his bed.
He tilted his head and a single stream lifted from the glass, spinning into a spiral before settling back down in the glass. "Show off," Tyler grumbled and Jon grinned at him.
"Mines flashy, Marcel too, he's got water manipulation. Chrissy is a shapeshifter if you can believe, she can turn into any type of aquatic animal, it's so cool. She turned into a crab when we were last with- with the others.
"Lui can mimic any aquatic animal sound, frequencies and all that shit, it's freaky as hell. Anthony has that sonar thing, he clicks his tongue and he can see everything. And John's like a compass map thing, he can't ever get lost while in the ocean," he said excitedly, Brock and Tyler raising eyebrows.
"Wait, Brian said they all have an extra ability outside the usual. And I watched Brian heal Smiity's back that day after we got them free from the net," Brock said slowly, that memory coming full force to him.
Jon's eyes widened as Tyler gasped. "You think he can heal us?" Tyler asked and Brock shrugged, refusing to hope. "I- I can ask. It'll be a little, doctor refuses to let me leave for at least a few days," he said and Tyler tilted his head.
"Marcel and Chrissy have the least amount of injuries, mostly superficial. I can see if they can go find them, maybe bring them here? I know Brian is dying to see you, and Evan with Jon," he said and Jon smirked at him.
"And Daithi with you," he teased and Tyler frowned, cheeks flushing slowly. Brock laughed, shaking his head. "Call them here," he said and Tyler nodded, pulling his phone out.
A quick convo later Tyler hung up and said, "Everyone's coming. Apparently Scotty has already been in contact with Chrissy yesterday, she's got some news."
Brock tilted his head curiously, Tyler shrugging in answer. Brock rolled his eyes and Tyler smirked, making Brock sigh. "I swear I hate it when you two do that," Jon grumbled, the two looking at him curiously.
"The weird mind reading shit, you two are so similarly weird, you guys always understand each other," he explained, waving a hand at them.
Brock chuckled, Tyler rolling his eyes. "We learned to read each other that first year, it was during the worst hurricane season we'd ever had. So we did a lot of facial expressions and miming to talk to each other since we often couldn't hear each other," Tyler explained and Brock nodded.
"Crazy," Jon just mumbled and Brock rolled his eyes again. A few minutes later the door opened and Chrissy, Anthony, Lui, Marcel and John walked in, all of them brightening up at the sight of the Brock sitting up.
They all gave him gentle hugs one by one, stepping back as Chrissy leaned against the wall, smiling brightly. "Tyler said you had news?" Brock asked and Chrissy nodded.
"Brian said they found a cave not too far from shore, they can sit in there for however long it takes for their tails to turn into legs and if one of us go get them with a boat, they can come see you. Brian wants to see if he can heal you three, he's already healed me and Marcel since we were the ones who could see them with everyone else injured," she said and Brock gasped.
"He's coming here?" He hissed and Chrissy smirked, nodding. "He is. So you better do something about that hair, we're going to go get them tomorrow," she said amused and Brock touched his hair with a bandaged finger, grimacing.
"I need a shower, I still smell like oil and salt water," he complained and Jon rolled his eyes. "A nurse will come get you to help you shower tonight, you'll be fine," he said amused and Brock huffed.
"God you're such a girl," Tyler said amused and Chrissy raised an eyebrow at him. "Daithi, Evan, Scotty, Kris and Smiity are coming too," she said and Tyler straightened, face blushing pink.
Brock laughed loudly, Tyler flushing darker as Jon joined in. "Oh fuck off," he grumbled and Brock rolled his eyes.
A nurse walked in, pausing as she took in everyone in the room. "Oh hello," she said cheerfully, moving easily around the group to stand next to Brock. "I'm just here to do some quick vitals and a brain scan, we're trying to make sure there's no bleeding on Mr. Barrus' brain."
Brocks friends gave him a startled look, Brock shrugging as she started the basic vitals. Temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, the like. She pressed a couple sticky scanners to Brock's temples, pressing a button.
"Any headaches or dizziness?" She asked and Brock shook his head, watching the numbers flashing across the screen. "Any weird pressure, tickling, itching?" He shook his head again and she nodded, noting something down.
"Everything looks good for now. I'll make a note for the next nurse, and she'll be in for some blood work. But she can take that from your IV, we need to check hemoglobin levels and white cell count to make sure there's no infections settling in or any internal bleeding," she said brightly and Brock nodded, making a face.
She chuckled and nodded goodbye to the others as she left, Brock sighing. "It's going to be difficult to explain once Brian heals everything," he commented and Chrissy shrugged.
"Maybe we can see if we can push for an early release. They technically can't keep you here, and we can go to the hotel we're all staying at. It'd be safer for the others," she said and Brock shrugged.
"I could insist, yeah," he said slowly and Jon nodded. "It'd probably be better," he said and Brock nodded. "Okay, I'll ask for release tomorrow morning, I'd rather be here tonight in case something does happen," he said and Tyler nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, I'm going to go get us all some dinner. Does Cici's pizza sound good? I can get pizza, pasta and chicken from there, along with those fucking amazing cinnamon rolls and brownies," he said and Brock brightened.
"Yes please, take 30 from my wallet to help pay," he said, nodding at the bag beside him. Tyler nodded, grabbing his wallet and some cash. Everyone else handed over some cash, Jon saying, "Whatevers left over, just use as a tip. Should we text what kinds of pizza and pasta? I'm assuming the wings are for Brock."
Tyler nodded, pocketing the cash. "Yeah, just text what you want. The wings are for Brock, yeah, but I know he's going to want a pepperoni pizza too," he said and Brock grinned at him.
"Oh me too!" Jon said cheerfully and Tyler chuckled. "Just text, I'll be back soon," he said amused as he left.
Brock tilted his head, frowning slightly. "Wait, he hasn't been discharged, is he going to get in trouble for leaving?" He asked and Jon grinned.
"He's been doing this all week, the nurses gave up trying to keep him. As long as he comes back within a couple hours and doesn't leave after 10pm, they let him do whatever. You should have seen the fight he gave after he woke up on the second day, I think Anthony and John had to full on restrain him to get him to give up," he said and the two mentioned rolled their eyes.
"I was about to get the damn anesthetic myself, stupid bitch wouldn't calm down," John grumbled and Brock chuckled. "You should have just told him to quit being a whiny bitch and lay down, that usually gets him to shut up pretty quick when he's sick or hurt," he said and John made a face.
"That's it? Really? I threatened him with castration and didn't work," he complained and Brock shrugged. "That's because he knows you won't actually do it. Now if I told him I'd stick a knife in his balls, he'd listen. Because I've actively held a knife to his balls before with no hesitation," he said cheerfully and the whole group stared at him shocked.
"When was this?" Jon demanded and Brock shrugged, tilting his head as he thought. "About a year after we'd met, he was dealing with the flu and being a complete ass about it. Because he was my partner, it was down to me to take care of him and after about 3 hours I was tired of his complaining. So I picked up my pocket knife, sliced his jeans open and held them to his balls. He doesn't fight with me much anymore," he said amused and they all shook his head incredulous.
"Of course, he doesn't know I actually would do that to him, especially now. Back then we'd only known each other max maybe a few months. I'd stab him with a pencil, but I wouldn't hurt him otherwise," he said satisfied and Chrissy laughed.
"Fuck, I forgot you're a bit insane, it's hard to remember when you're such a sweetheart half the time," she said amused and Brock winked at her.
As his friends laughed, Brock looked out the window. He deeply hoped Brian would be able to help tomorrow, because what was he supposed to do with his life if he couldn't work?
Idk where to end this, so imma end it here lmao. Short, filler chapter, but more fun next chapter! Yep. Fun. Lol see you next time! Kisses!!
~Banana