Danny lay unconscious on the hospital bed after a long and difficult operation. Jake sat quietly by his side, simply watching him sleep. He had been out for almost twelve hours now and he was due to wake soon. They had discovered in the ambulance on the way to the hospital that Danny had indeed broken both of his arms and the left arm, which was the one he’d broken when diving out of the way of the truck, needed a metal plate in it. However, in the end, this turned out not to be the biggest worry. All of that kicking had left Danny with a punctured lung. That’s where all of the bleeding must have come from. It had been caused by a broken rib which had actually completely snapped under the sheer force of the beating. This was the main reason why they needed to operate fast, and why the operation was so difficult and risky. There was a chance that if the operation was unsuccessful, Danny may even have lost his life! It was also the main reason why Danny would never want to see or hear from his father ever again! Thankfully, the operation had gone very well and now they were just waiting for Danny to wake up after the heavy anaesthetic drugs had worn off. He was likely to still be in a lot of pain and Jake was worried about what was going to happen once he woke up. However, whatever happened, he wanted to be there when it did.
Jake was exhausted, he needed nothing more than a good night’s sleep. His whole life was a mess recently. The madness that had gone on had left him feeling deflated and worn out. He was beginning to wonder how much longer he could stay awake. His head was still hurting from the nasty blow he had received the night before. Still, he cared so much about Danny that no matter how he felt, he was going to stay up so he could be there for Danny when he woke up. Jake was sure that Danny was going to be in a lot of pain and that he would need someone there to comfort him and offer him moral support. To Jake, this was far more important than how tired he felt or how much his head hurt. He loved Danny and felt that he would do anything for him.
Another half hour or so passed and still, there was no sign of Danny waking up. Jake was now getting increasingly disturbed by the lack of movement. He stood up from the comfortable, worn brown leather chair and walked nervously over to the window which sat at the other end of the dull, uninteresting, plain white hospital room. Leaning on the window ledge with both hands, he looked down at the people below. The people were simply living their lives, just doing what they had to do to get by. The hospital was close to the town centre. This meant that the people below were not all there on hospital related business, they were just normal everyday people doing normal everyday things. Jake saw many different things going on. Everyone down on that street had something different going on. There were mothers with their young children carrying bags of shopping, teenagers just hanging around chatting to each other and messing around having fun, old ladies popping to the bank or the post office to collect their pensions. The thing they all had in common was that they were all just getting on with their `normal` lives. Gazing down thoughtfully, Jake contemplated recent events in his own life. He considered how `un-normal` his and Danny’s lives had been recently. He wondered if life would ever be `normal` for them. But then he thought to himself, what is `normal`? Is there any such thing? Everybody’s different right? So how can `normal` even exist?
Jake turned his head away from the window to glance back at Danny. Even though he was unconscious and in a very bad way, he still looked cute. His chiselled facial features were highlighted by the overhead lighting. He really was one seriously gorgeous boy! Jake so badly wanted to tell him how much he loved him and how badly he needed him. He walked back over to the small bed and knelt by his lover’s side resting his folded arms on the side of the bed. He placed his head on his own arms and looked up at Danny’s bright young face. He watched his dry lips as they got ever so slightly wider and then narrower again as Danny heavily drew in air and then exhaled it all out again. He hadn’t seen Danny awake since the incident the night before with his dad. He was so desperate to speak to him, or even just look into his beautiful eyes. It seemed like such a long time since he had seen those big brown eyes and he was desperate, almost to the point where he wanted to grab Danny and shake him until he woke. But he knew he couldn’t. All he could do was wait. Jake hated it!
“Is he still out?” said one of the nurses to Jake as she stood in the doorway of the small white room watching him, the light pouring in from the well lit corridor.
“Yeah” Jake sighed, “is that normal?”
“That he is still asleep you mean?” she questioned.
“Yeah” Jake nodded in agreement.
“Well it depends on the patient, some wake up really early, some later. It’s just one of those things but listen, don’t worry! He’ll wake up in his own time and everything will be just fine, you’ll see”.
“I hope so” he answered glumly.
Jake felt comforted by what she had said and he smiled at the kind lady before she returned the friendly smile and returned to her job, leaving the doorway and heading back into the bright corridor. Then, remarkably, Jake noticed the first sign of Danny’s return to reality. Jake felt elated and excited when he saw Danny’s hand twitch, lifting up off of the white sheet and then returning to its original position. Jake leapt up onto his feet before placing his hand gently on top of Danny’s. Danny’s hand twitched again at his touch.
“Danny?” Jake whispered softly, curious to see if he would get a response.
Danny’s hand moved again, but this time it slowly rotated, flipping over, placing it on top of Jake’s hand. This told Jake that Danny was conscious again, but his eyes remained closed. Jake wondered why he didn’t open them, he was slightly concerned that he was clearly conscious and yet unable to talk or open his eyes. His concern grew with every passing second and his heart beat began to rise. Jake nervously watched his lover and best friend’s face with heavy concentration as Danny’s mouth slowly opened again.
“Jake” was what softly emerged from his dry weak lips.
The tone was gentle and quiet and it was hardly a ground breaking statement, but it was enough!
“Danny! Oh Danny, I’m so happy your awake.” Jake said elated as he massaged his lover’s hand with his own before alerting the nurses by pressing the `attention` button on the panel beside the bed.
The kind nurse from earlier immediately re-appeared in the doorway and entered the room with haste.
“What can I do?” she asked quickly.
“He’s awake.” Jake responded, joy in his voice.
“Alright, I will inform the doctor right away. I told you everything would be fine” she said with a smile.
“Thank you so much for your help” Jake said gratefully.
“Aww that’s ok, it’s all part of the job” the friendly nurse replied.
Then, at last, it happened. The moment which Jake had been waiting for all day! Danny’s eye’s slowly widened revealing the bright, beauty of those bewildering brown orbs. Jake’s smile said it all, he was the happiest he had ever been, just to see those beautiful eyes again. That one simple, wonderful sight made him feel like the happiest man on earth. Danny was in pain, but even so, seeing the huge smile on Jake’s face after his eyes had adjusted to the light, put a grin on his own face. Danny’s lips opened again but this time he managed to say something more substantial;
“I love you Jake”.
There was a short pause.
“I love you Danny”.
The emotion in Jake’s voice told Danny that he really meant what he said. A single tear drop fell from the corner of Jake’s deep blue eye, like a drop of water from a deep blue ocean. It rolled down his smooth cheek as he leant over and very gently placed his head on Danny’s left shoulder. Danny too was moved to tears and he turned his head to softly kiss the man he loved on his neck. It was a moment which they would both cherish for the rest of their lives. There was magic in the air and no amount of tiredness, pain or suffering could have ruined the moment!
***
A few days later, Danny was sat up in the hospital bed speaking with the nurse about the pain killers he was taking. The nurse told him that his progress was astounding and that she thought he was ready to reduce the dosage which he needed to take. At that moment, Jake came bursting into the room with the biggest smile stretching across his gorgeous face.
“What are you so happy about?” Danny questioned, grinning foolishly at his lover.
“I have some good news” Jake replied vibrantly.
“Oh yes?” Danny responded intrigued as the nurse left the room.
“Yeah baby!” he had such a cute grin.
There was a slight pause as they both smiled stupidly at each other.
“Well? … Go on then!” Danny chuckled.
“Well I have just been speaking to your doctor, you know the guy who is in charge of all the patients in this part of the hospital?”
“Yeah I know of him why?” Danny answered eager to hear the good news.
“Well he was telling me how amazed he is at how quickly you’re recovering from the operation. He said he’s never seen anything like it! He…”
“Jake!” Danny interrupted with a bit of a giggle, “What are you trying to tell me?”
“You’re allowed to go home baby!”
Danny smiled broadly back at Jake, overjoyed with the news, but then, the smile disappeared as he gloomily asked; “where is home?”
Danny hadn’t heard from his dad since the night he and Jake had been caught making out in front of a movie. That suited Danny just fine, as far as he was concerned, it was fine if he never heard from that horrible, evil animal ever again! He hated that man, no matter how hard he tried, he knew that he could never forgive him for what he had done! His own father meant nothing to him anymore! If he could do something like this to him, then he didn’t even deserve to be thought about! However, now that he had lost contact with his dad, he had also lost his home, along with the rest of his family. His father had always very much been the head of the family and what he wanted everyone to do was what everyone would do! It was strict, hard at times but everyone always went along with it because of the power which he had over them. They were scared of him. Of course in front of other people, he didn’t act like that at all. Jake for example, in all the years he had known him, would never have thought of him as that kind of man. Danny had tried to tell Jake that his father wouldn’t understand the fact that he was gay, but because Jake didn’t know what kind of man he really was, Jake didn’t understand what Danny was talking about. That’s why they had fallen out with each other after their experience at the abandoned farm. That’s why Danny had run away from Jake, and that’s why he had broken his arm diving out of the way of the truck! Basically, in one way or another, all of the recent bad events were his dad’s fault! Danny knew that his father would probably not want any member of the family to be involved with him after what happened. This made him sad, but it was just something which he was going to have to get used to. Then, the element of sadness faded and was replaced with joy and warmth as Jake spoke;
“Don’t be stupid Danny, you know that I didn’t mean that! I would never expect you to go back there after what that monster did to you! If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t even be here right now! You are moving in with me at my parent’s house.”
“What? Really?” Danny asked a little taken back by the statement. “Are you sure? I don’t want to be a pain. I mean, what do your parents think? I bet they…”
“Danny relax! I’ve already spoken with them about it and there is plenty of space. You are practically part of the family anyway! Everything is sorted. They know about us and they’re fine with everything. It’s totally fine! I’ve even arranged for us to get your stuff from your dad’s house. It’s gonna be alright I promise! Maybe one day soon, we can even get our own place!” he smiled, and kissed Danny passionately on the lips.
“Oh my god, this is a surprise! I hadn’t even thought about this yet. Thank you Jake, I really mean it! You have been so kind and thoughtful. I don’t know what I would have done without you. I’m gonna have to do something pretty special to make it up to you!” he laughed.
“Danny really, it’s fine! I will always be here for you and you know it!”
“So when can we go?” Danny asked a little startled at how sudden this had been.
“As soon as you’re ready baby!”.
“Wow,” Danny remarked, “I can’t believe it, I love you so much Jake!”.
“I love you too baby” Jake winked.
That wink was becoming something of a trademark of his. It always sent a shiver up Danny’s spine. He just couldn’t get enough of it and Jake knew it!
“Fuck I wanna kiss you!” Danny stated in a seductive tone.
“Just a kiss?” Jake asked sarcastically, “Is that all I get for all that you’ve put me through?”
“You’re such a big fool!” Danny giggled, “We’ll have to wait and see what we get up to when we get home. Maybe I can thank you in some other way!”
This time, it was Danny’s turn to wink at Jake and Jake found that it made him just as crazy as it made Danny when he did it. They smiled at each other and lost themselves in the depths of each other’s eyes like they always did.
“I guess something good did come out of all this shit after all” Danny suggested.
“Yeah?” Jake asked, “What’s that?”
“We get to live together…”
“Yep”
“And sleep together…”
“Yep”
“In the same bed, every night!” Danny hinted suggestively.
Jake responded with another loving kiss and said with a laugh; “I guess this officially makes us boyfriends!”. Danny laughed back before Jake continued; “come on boyfriend, let’s go home!”
THE END.
***
Thank you so much for reading “Help!”. I loved writing it, and I really hope you have had fun reading it. Thank you for your comments, votes and feedback and thank you ever so much for your interest and support, I really appreciate it. Thank you very much and I will speak to you again soon. 🙂