Jake wakes up with a splitting headache, feeling almost as if he just experienced multiple deaths. A combination of stinging and throbbing pain from what must have been glass shards and the subsequent head trauma are at the forefront of his mind.
His heart monitor picks up as he's reminded of the last time they were in the hospital.. He should've fucking listened to his friend and not used that Ouija board. Something was very wrong with that house.. He doesn't even know what to do with the footage that was running during that whole ordeal.. how is he supposed to edit that?
He isn't even sure where their stuff is but he knows for a fact that they aren't going back there.
Where's Johnnie..? Nurses arrive quickly, letting him know that he has a 'Grade 3' or 'high grade' concussion. Just fuckin' great, he doesn't really need brain damage but that's an amazing bonus isn't it? Fucking great. This is definitely some sort of karma.
After the nurse leaves, stating that he's gonna have to stay in the vicinity for a while for them to monitor his vitals, he swings the plastic divider open to look out at the room.
Johnnie's slumped across a shitty hospital chair, fried and blackened hair on end from recent struggles pertaining to a certain haunted house. His frame looks so small on the white plastic, Jake wants to hold him.
Okay, that's a very gay thought.
The roles are reversed from their last hospitalization and an odd sense of inverse deja vu washes over the taller man, is that even a thing? It should be. If not he just invented it.
Johnnie grumbles and curles up so that his face is towards the wall to hide from harsh sterile lights in a position that looks amazingly uncomfortable, Jake is almost impressed.
He laughs quietly as the smaller man continues to twist and turn on the small furniture (the chair can barely be considered such but bygones).. and Johnnie eventually opens his eyes, moaning about the uncomfortable lighting situation. His rubs his face with a very bandaged hand.
"Did you try to punch a ghost.." He gestures to the injury and Johnnie just looks at hin for a second, confused.
"Oh! Yeah, I fought glass.." It's a lame joke but Jake doesn't say that, maybe he's gone soft.
"That didn't happen when the.. yaknow." He's talking about the very recent explosion that they endured - not wanting to directly mention it for some unexplainable reason - and the other man seems to get it. He would absolutely remember if something had happened to his friend's hand. Especially something that needed so much medical attention.
"Hey, waitwaitwait, we aren't not gonna acknowledge this!!" Johnnie starts using the most roundabout phrasing possible accidentally, "I thought you were gonna die, you fucker!"
The emo man practically yells the sentance and Jake chuckles because what else is he supposed to do,
"Sorry about that.."
"Sorry??"
"Yeah, the whole Ouija thing was kinda a dick move."
Johnnie looks suprised at the apology but his expression softens quickly ever so slightly,
"It's fine, dumbass. Sorry for leaving you down there by the way.. I didn't know anything was wrong, I was just so.." He's sitting beside Jake on the hospital bed by now, so close as he trails off. Jake finds it kinda funny that they can't get through a serious conversation without calling eachother insults (they're more 'pet names' than anything at this point...).
He actually finds it endearing and that thought isn't buried as deeply as it should be..
Memories fly through his mind unwarranted, the smaller's misty disassociated expression, the fear that came with him leaving. The darkness. Fuck, this is heavy.
"Don't apologize for that. Seriously though, the hell happened to your hand?" He isn't gonna let Johnnie deflect the question away, it's his fault that his friend got hurt once again and he thinks the guilt might start eating him alive..
"It's nothing, really. Just a stupid lil cut." Jake doesn't understand why his friend is embarrassed by this and raises an eyebrow.
"Uh huh.?" He gestures for the other to go on.
"I thought you were gonna die..." Johnnie leans on him slightly and he basks in the contact. What's that supposed to mean..? The smallers eyes lose focus just a little bit, probably mentally going back to the other night.
"... You were laying on the glass and I was just so scared." His voice wavers a little and Jake knows that Johnnie hates himself a little for the display of emotion, he hates that his friend feels like natural emotions are a weakness. The other man doesn't deserve the anguish.
"And yeah.." Johnnie trails off, "I moved it. Naturally." He tries to make the same motion as he had that night and winces almost indiscernibly. Jake gently grabs his wrist in a silent request to stop him from flexing his fingers any more, he isn't sure what to say about the admission and Johnnie gives him that deer in headlights look. He's never quite sure if the overtly surprised expression is a joke or not..
He rubs soothing motions against the smallers' wrist with his thumb while lowering it to the bed and the emo shoots him a confused look but doesn't protest.
"Shit.. I'm sorry Johnnie."
Johnnie rolls his eyes jokingly, clearly not knowing how or just not wanting to respond.
"Enough of this sappy shit, have you tried your jello yet? It's been sitting there for hours and is probably lukewarm by now." Interesting way to break the silence but Jake'll take it.
-
"Mmm jello shots, my favorite." Jake slugs the whole thing and one gulp and proceeds to make happy noises, telling Johnnie that he's gotta try it,
"I'd slap that on a bitches ass for sure." He continues, proud of his statement as always - giving it the highest endorsement he could possibly give a food item.
The shorter man takes a few bites (Jake judges him harshly for biting the jello and Johnnie responds defensively that it's a very normal thing to do) then gags violently,
"Fuck, that's literally just sugar."He wheezes and Jake gives him an 'are you dumb' look,
"Yeah, that's kinda the point.." He's got that stupid inflection that he uses in videos when bullying Johnnie and the shorter man's happy to finally be back to some semblance of normal.
Johnnie makes some more retching sounds and Jake whacks his shoulder, complaining about how he just wasted a perfectly good jello cup on a 'dumb bitch'.
"Okay, now you've gotta get me more hospital jello."
"The fuck, I don't" Johnnie replies, mildly offended.
"Yaknow, when I was little, I used to try to fake getting hurt for the jello.." Jake sounds very proud of the fact,
"...It never really worked."
"Yeah, I kinda figured."
"Hey, fuck off!"
-
Over the course of the next few hours, Jake routinely sneaks out of his bed to hoard hospital jello while Johnnie watches - laughing at the ridiculousness of watching a grown man with a hospital gown shuffle down the hallways to raid empty rooms.
"You know.. hospital jello's for people who can't eat normal foods, right..?"
"I'M A GROWING MAN JOHNNIE" It's a slightly random statement and the shorter just chuckles, giving in to the chaos.
Eventually they run out of empty rooms and at this point, it's the only thing that Jake's been eating so Johnnie finally gives in to helping the cause.
"Okay, I'll help but you've gotta be the one to manipulate the nurse."
"Fuck yeah!!"
They guilt trip a poor student nurse into handing over a whole stash of the sugary foods (only around five cups but it's a win in their eyes) and talk about stupid shit until Jake is discharged from the hospital with an extensive list of how to treat his concussion.
-
In the Uber home, Johnnie just can't help but ask the question that's been eating away at him for hours,
"..So why didn't you ever just tell your mom to get jello at the grocery store when you were younger..?"
He's leaning on Jake's shoulder, watching TikToks because the distance back to their apartment is surprisingly long.
".....It's not the same.." Jake replies in a way that tells the smaller man that his friend knows he's gonna get bullied for the statement. He laughs against him incredulously.
"It comes from a box, it's literally the same thing!"
"No, I'm sure they put minerals or some shit in the good stuff." Johnnie's wheezing slightly into his shoulder - that's so stupid.
"You're such a dumbass."
"Hey, no you are you dickface!"
-
They're laying on the couch, basking in the comfort of their own home with microwave chicken nuggets. Jake is trying to sleep through the movie they're currently watching and Johnnie's letting him - they're both afraid to admit that they're scared to sleep in their respective rooms because of recent events.
They give in to the tempation to sleep next to eachother - to maintain that one comfort - for just this night.
Johnnie breaks the comfortable silence before his friend can fully fall asleep,
"You still owe me that Sugar Daddy video." It's whispered as he doesn't want to distrub the peaceful atmosphere of the night air.
"Sure thing, boobear" Johnnie cringes at the nickname being used outside of a video and flicks Jake but doesn't say anything.
He munches on an over-microwaved chicken nugget (usually he has the microwave time down to a science but other things have been on his mind lately) and tries not to think of the connotations of the taller man falling asleep against him again.
It's getting harder to ignore.
-
SOME FLUFF N SHIT
as always - pleASE POINT OUT ANY MISTAKES!! and comment/vote if u like<33
i appreciate yall's support smm