^~Milo's POV~^
"El, hold on okay? I've got you, just hold on,"
I hold El's cold yellow tinted hand in mine as we ride the ambulance to the hospital. EMT's surrounded him with all sorts of electrodes, poking and prodding my sweet unconscious El. I just wanted to tell them all to go away and leave him alone, but once they unbutton his dress shirt, I knew that was no longer possible.
"Oh...El,"
I can only whisper his name in shock as I see Eli's bare chest for the first time. I was calm before but now I was in a state of panic with a wave of guilt washing over me.
How did I not see this before?
Every single bone on Eli's skinny body was protruding through his milky white skin, now turned a shade of light yellow. His hip bones looked like they could poke through his thin skin at any moment and I cover my mouth in shock. Wesley sits next to me in silent support as I tell the EMT's all the information I know about El.
They quickly band me with a rubber bracelet coded to El, so I would be able to find him since he was going straight into the intensive care unit. They said the best thing I could do was wait with his parents while they assess the damage done by his anorexia nervosa. I give El's hand a gentle squeeze and he gives a limp squeeze back just as they take him away from me and into the hospital.
As soon as we exit the emergency vehicle, everything hits me all at once and I spot a few bushes in the corner. Darting towards them, I make it just in time as the vomit that was resting in the pit of my stomach comes out. I can feel Wesley's reassuring hand on my back as I throw up out of pure guilt and fear mingle together to form one disgusting feeling I had no name for.
"It's not your fault Mr. Evans. He hid it well." Wesley reassures me once the bile turns to dry heaving and I finally stop.
Leaning against the cool brick wall of the hospital bay, not giving a shit about anyone who walks past me and saw me like this. But Wesley clearly did and he did his best to hide me with his tall muscular physique compared to my scrawny one. I close my eyes and for the first time, in a very long time, I pray.
I grew up in a strictly religious household, but I believe God must accept me for who I am in his kind loving heart.
But I ask him to put me aside. That this prayer wasn't for me but for my best friend who could also be my soul companion in life. I love him or her or them, and nothing would ever change that. Even though he said those nasty things to me today, it didn't for a second change the way I feel about him.
I love El.
And a love like ours is far too precious to be tossed away on the occasion of such meaningless words meant to push me away.
But I need him to live in order for me to tell him that.
So please god, make a little exception and let him live.
"Milo?"
I wipe my lips on my sleeve and turn around to find warm loving arms wrapped around me. I find myself frozen in place as Mika holds me close, like he would hold his own child, and the love practically radiates off his small body.
A love I had been missing for a very long time.
His coconut scent was soothing to my soul as he held me tight.
It reminded me of my mother's hugs before.
Before I was disowned and kicked out of the house for being her son instead of her boyish daughter.
"Oh sweetheart, come on, let's go inside and check on him and Wesley can you grab him something to drink, like Gatorade? I don't want him fainting on us too," Mika says in this sweet angelic voice as he rubs my back.
I didn't realize I was actually sobbing until now.
***
Mika keeps a close eye on me as I guzzle down a whole bottle of purple Gatorade, suddenly exhausted by the whole situation. We were all waiting in the same private waiting room to hear some news about El's condition.
Pierce had his arm wrapped around Matthias, Thomas was surrounded by his mom and dad, but Mika sat next to me in the silence. Our quiet only momentarily interrupted by the gentle sniffle from Matty every now and then, but I can't imagine what the twin must be going through.
The door finally opens and a doctor walks in with a solemn face. Everyone starts to brace for the bad news and I sat alone until Mika pulled me close so he could keep us together.
"We were able to bring Elias Grayson back to a stable condition, but his organs are very weak and some were damaged beyond repair. We had to remove one of his kidneys and his appendix. His liver had started to fail but we managed to bring it back. He's now in the ICU, undergoing intense nutrient regiment to get his body to a state where it can start repairing itself," The doctor announces and we all sigh a breath of relief.
"But he's not out of the woods just yet. He should be conscious within the next hour and we will come and get you once he is and we've moved him out of the ICU to a general room," The doctor says and takes his leave. Thomas and his parents huddle together in smiles and Pierce and Matty hug it out. Mika however, turns his full attention to me instead of his family.
"Milo, do you have parents we can call? I don't like the thought of you being here alone under such a stressful situation," He says but I shake my head.
"No, I don't have a blood-related family, not anymore. My dad died when I little and my mother recently kicked me out of the family so I guess It's just little Ol' me," I sigh and sit back in the uncomfortable seat.
"What the fuck? Why would your mother do that? I've seen nothing but a sweet, humble, and respectful young man who any other parent would be proud to call their son. Is she mentally ill or something?" He asks and I shake my head, smiling slightly at the amount of passion he was quaking with as he complimented me.
"Thank you, sir, but she still thinks I'm her daughter is all," I explain and his face twisted from one of anger to pure rage.
"What! Who the fuck cares, you're still her child! When I gave birth to my two boys, all I ever asked was for them to be healthy. I didn't care about their gender or how they choose to live their lives. That's up to them and I love and support them no matter what. God, I hate that, just because it's you Milo and you deserve so much better," He says and cast his arm around my shoulder.
"But that's okay, because you can be a part of this family now. Right, Pierce?" He turns to his husband who raises his left brow in suspicion.
"What are we doing?" he asks and Mika grunts.
"We are adopting Milo as our own. Maybe not legally cause he's eighteen now, but unofficially he's our son now. Matty, this is your brother now." Mika fights for me and I almost tear up at just the sight of his passion and seeing how much he cares about someone as insignificant as me.
"We can't adopt him," Matty protests and Pierce says nothing which kind of intimidates me.
"I'm sorry, was I asking for your opinion?" Mika fires back and Matty scowls.
"No, but we can't adopt him because Eli is in love with him and that would be borderline incestuous," Matty spits out and Pierce eyes me harder.
"I knew it," Pierce says under his breath and my joy turns to fear and disappointment. I was being rejected.
Again.
"I don't care, Eli can love him but this means we will treat him like family. Our house will be your house Milo and we will care about you and love you like your mother should have. She's going to regret the day she kicked you out of that house because you are going to morph into this fine young man and she can't claim jack shit because she had her chance. And now we have ours, RIGHT PIERCE," Mika growls his husband's name and Pierce quickly obeys. Well, I guess this is the first rule of my new family, what Mika says goes.
Got it.
"Right on, welcome to our family Milo," he says sincerely with a small heartfelt smile, erasing his look of hatred from earlier.
"Thank you guys, but this isn't-"
"I don't want to hear it, young man, you are a part of our family and that's final," Mika quickly shoots down my guilt-ridden protest and I can't help but giggle slightly. I hug him from the side before standing up. Deciding to take a breather outside and let Pierce and Mika argue about me while I wasn't in the room.
I stop at the vending machine to pick up a bag of skittles when a pair of arms run around my waist.
Fuck, not now.
"Oh, Milo! Are you okay! I came as soon as I saw the ambulances at the concert! I was so worried about you baby!" Emily shouts in my ear, with deafening shrieks and I turn around to wrap my arms around her.
"I'm fine," I quickly reassure her and she pulls away just enough for me to see the tears dripping down her face.
"What happened then?" She sniffles and I let out a long sigh, still feeling like we were just close friends instead of lovers.
"Elias fainted and now he's in intensive care for being anorexic," I tell her the truth and her eyes open wide.
"Oh thank god, so you're saying that bitch is near death? I hope he goes peacefully," Emily says and I quickly shove her away from me in disbelief over whatever shit just word vomited from her mouth.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I ask and she rolls her eyes.
"Oh baby! He was trying to break us apart!" She pouts and I still stood in shock until she continues.
"He was playing games with you but I stopped him. Remember your friend? The yellow sunshine trans girl you mentored? Well, I met up with her and it turned out to be Eli. The man had the nerve to show up looking like a girl too, faking being transgender just to get close to you. He looked like a hot mess, fucking disgusting prick," She huffs and nausea builds up in my stomach again.
"So you're saying you met up with yellow hello and it was Eli?" I ask and she nods.
"I wanted to tell you sooner but he promised to stop so I gave him a chance cause I'm such a good girlfriend," She giggles and I was so enraged that I had to grip my own fist to keep myself from hitting her.
El was yellow hello this entire time.
El is the transgender girl who came to me for help and I didn't even know it was her.
Holy Shit.
"Babe?" Emily tilts her head in confusion and I yank at the tie on her costume school uniform and pull her close to my face.
"You stay the fuck away from El, you hear me? And stay away from me, Thomas, and Matty. I never want to see your disgusting face again," I growl and the tears pour down her face as I let her go and push her so hard she falls to the floor.
"MILO! THERE'S AN EMERGENCY!"
Matthias runs down the hall and grabs my arm, not thinking twice about Emily's shriveled body now crying on the floor.
"One second," I stop him and turn to Wesley.
"Make sure she's escorted out of here and put her on a list of some sort for people I never want near me or my fellow band members again. That bitch is the reason why Eli is in the hospital," I explain and Agent Anderson nods in understanding.
"She what?" Matty turns to me, hearing the conversation and I shake my head.
"It's too complicated to explain right now but she threatened El. Tell me what's wrong?" I ask and Matty's watery eyes say it all.
"It's Eli, both of his kidneys gave out and they need a donor by my parent's aren't a match so they're looking for people to test. I was hoping you would be one of them," Eli explains, but I needed no time to think about it.
"Of course I will," I agree and he pulls me back into the room where doctors were pricking our blood and testing it right there with a small handheld machine. Matty goes next and they prick his finger.
Within seconds the doctors shake their heads and move on to Thomas, who get the same response. Everyone was on edge as the number of people in the room runs low and I hold out my finger. The doctor walks up to me and takes the measurement.
Finally, a smile reaches the doctors stern face and he looks into my eyes.
"You're a match,"