[Jaykobell]

Zsolt was relieved when Confusion finally agreed to stand by and rest. "Great!" It would give the guy some time to cool down. That always did someone good. "Hmm," he mumbled to himself as he started looking for a nice, comfortable little place. "How about..."

That had been the plan, anyway. But then he heard it: he heard that wretched sound of puking. Man, wasn't he used to that sound by now. And yet, it never meant anything good. If anything, it was a sign of something very wrong.

"H-hey!" he gasped as he reached to hold Confusion's shoulders. "What's wrong?" What a rhetorical question: a lot of things were wrong. And they were probably things Zsolt really couldn't handle on his own: not with the material he had on hand.

"I'm calling an ambulance," he said, reaching for his phone in his pocket. No matter Confusion's protests, this was the best thing to do. Then, they could do proper x-rays on his chest and the rest of his body. "I need to get you checked out." And while the ambulance brought Confusion to the hospital, Zsolt could go get his car and join them shortly after.

[MythicDusk]

Confusion waved his hand uselessly, letting it hang in the air for a second before it fell heavily to his knee as he doubled over again, retching into the already small puddle he had formed.

"Im-"

He couldn't finish his sentence before another wave hit him. The smell wasn't helping anything.

"I'm fine. It's just the pain, I swear. I'll be fine."

Honestly, he didn't know that. He didn't know if he would die in the next thirty minutes and a dark, deep part of him didn't even care.

He knew throwing up his lunch because of pain wasn't exactly the healthiest thing. Maybe he was just being stubborn. He was pretty sure he was just being stubborn.

[Jaykobell]

His gentle, calm demeanor was replaced with something that instead opted for hard, immediate action. "I'm calling an ambulance," Zsolt insisted, and he started dialing the number on his phone. "This isn't good at all. They must've hit you something bad." All it took was a single punch aimed at just the right spot. And for all they knew, Confusion had been hit with such a punch without them even knowing.

"For now, I just need you to stay with me," he instructed, and so far, Confusion had done a good job of that.

He called up the emergency services. From the sound of his voice, he knew the folks at the other end. But of course he did: he was a nurse. He knew a good number of paramedics and doctors all around town, needless to say. As he explained the situation on the phone, he said that he would join the paramedics and Confusion to the hospital on his own. He would go get his car, and he would drive up to the hospital right away.

But for now, someone needed to come and get Confusion so they could bring him somewhere safe.

[MythicDusk]

"I'll be fine." His voice was practically a snarl. He could feel the blood on his teeth as he pulled his lips back, baring them to Zsolt. He wasn't sure why he was being so aggressive in his denial of help. Maybe he wanted to finally die.

Maybe he was just that fed up of all of this.

When he saw that Zsolt was still going to call for aid, he let his shoulders sag. Let himself be a little weaker. Let himself whimper in the pain that shuddered through him in arcs of electricity. He wanted to apologise, to apologise for the trouble, for the aggression, for the hurt he would undoubtedly cause this man.

He wanted to apologise to the world.

[Jaykobell]

The snarl out of Confusion hadn't deterred Zsolt from continuing the call. After a number of minutes, an ambulance arrived, and they made sure to settle Confusion in the back as comfortably as possible. While they drove back to the hospital, Zsolt went his separate way, to go get his car.

While he had caught up relatively quickly, Zsolt had to wait until the staff was done with tests before he could check on Confusion again. He had given a basic description of the symptoms he had seen at first glance, and that alone had given the paramedics a sort of lead on how to take care of Confusion. The tests, fortunately, were rather fast; and so was getting a room.

Having called as a bystander, Zsolt had had no involvement in all the tests, nor what the staff had done. He trusted that his coworkers had taken good care of Confusion, though.

"Hey!" he said as he slipped inside the room once he had been given the okay to visit Confusion. "How are you feeling?"

[MythicDusk]

Confusion grunted at Zsolt. It was all he could really do. He had a needle in his arm because he was apparently dehydrated, a nurse checking up on him every, what felt like, five minutes. There was a reason he didn't want to go to the hospital. He didn't want to deal with... With this.

Slowly, he let his shoulders fall and he let out a soft sigh. His red eyes were tired, he looked sunken, thin. He looked suddenly so, so weak. He shifted in the bed, vaguely uncomfortable before he pushed his hair from his face.

"There's apparently a lot of malnutrition going on with me. And they want to make sure nothing was badly broken in my chest. Apparently I've got two broken ribs and a couple cracked." He shrugged carefully, wincing as he did. "And a broken clavicle."

[Jaykobell]

Zsolt was aware that those beds weren't the best, so he couldn't blame Confusion for being tired and uncomfortable, or shifting positions often. With those things plugged into him, it made the situation even more uncomfortable, too.

"Yikes!" he said as he brought a hand to his mouth, and bit his bottom lip. "That's awful! I'm glad I got you here: that's not something I could have fixed with my basic first aid kit, even if I'd tried." It had been a stroke of luck, then, for Zsolt to have found Confusion when he did.

With the situation, he tried to make things a little bit more light-hearted. "Hope my coworkers didn't rough you up too much for those tests," he said with a chuckle. "Did they give you something to control the pain?" he asked as he passively looked over the things in the room.

[MythicDusk]

He made a non-commital noise at Zsolt's mention of hoping the staff didn't hurt him during the tests. Of course it was going to hurt. They poked and prodded every bruise and scrape to make sure nothing else was broken. Though, he had to admit, he didn't help anything by being stubborn and not telling them where he hurt.

He was a 'problem patient' as they called it.

"They gave me some painkillers." He nodded vaguely, it was probably the reason he felt like his head was packed with cotton. The painkillers were slowing everything down to a crawl. He could barely find the effort to lift his head. Instead, he just lay there and watched Zsolt.

"You didn't have to do this, you know." He grumbled out, looking to the blankets on the hospital bed.

[Jaykobell]

Zsolt nodded knowingly when Confusion confirmed he had been given painkillers. The nurse would have been surprised to hear otherwise, really, considering Confusion's injuries. The man wasn't out of the woods, by far. "Good," he said passively as he looked over all the things plugged up in the patient. It was always a little sad, but Zsolt stopped dwelling on it by reminding himself that it was for the best.

His attention and his eyes were brought back to Confusion when he spoke again. "Oh, of course not," Zsolt agreed, but he smiled, "but I wanted to. That's why I love being a nurse despite everything. I don't like seeing people hurt, you know?" He chuckled a little bit.

"And I'm not done, either," he pointed out. "You're not out of the woods at all. We'll see each other a lot, yet." And that was a good thing: he did enjoy building relationships with his patients.

[MythicDusk]

Confusion found himself nearly groaning at the prospect. Not at seeing more of Zsolt. He was fine. But at the fact that he would have to spend even longer in this damn room with needles in his arms.

Wait, did he just say Zsolt was fine?

That was a huge compliment by his standards.

It was probably the painkillers. Yeah, it had to be the painkillers. Everyone had to work to be liked by him. Its why not many people were liked by him. There was no way a cute face and a gentle attitude could have ticked his boxes so fast-

Did he just call Zsolt cute?

"I guess thats fine, if its you." Confusion sighed, resting his heavy head back. He probably said that out loud, but everything was very slow and weighty. He was also pretty sure that he was going to swallow his tongue.

[Jaykobell]

Considering his profession, Zsolt got sweet words and kind compliments a lot. After a while, he had grown to attribute those comments to come from a place of platonic respect. In a world were gratitude could so easily be mistaken for sexual tension or desire, he had quickly learned to rewire his brain.

And so, Confusion's comment got the same treatment, going right over Zsolt's head. "Well, that's good development!" he said with a chuckle. It did make his job a whole lot easier when patients cooperated.

"Take it easy, now," he added, as he slowly started making his way out of Confusion's room. He had been patched up for now, so there was nothing more for Zsolt to do in that moment. "I'll check up on you later!"

Words he would definitely live up to for the next little while, as Confusion recovered from his injuries.

For the most part, Zsolt's job was to take care of Confusion on a basic level: bringing him his food, changing the sheets if necessary, and overall just answering to Confusion's calls whenever the patient needed something. He would double-check the medication and the dosage, and he would handle giving those meds to Confusion as well. The usual work expected out of a nurse.

And that, up until Confusion was well enough to be discharged from the hospital.

That day changed little for Zsolt, as he visited Confusion for what would probably be the last time. "Hey, Confusion!" he greeted with his usual smile and soft voice. "I just heard! Happy to be going back home, finally?"

[Wild Pet Found]

[MythicDusk]

Confusion chuckled gently, smiling at Zsolt as he entered, his shoulders relaxing at the soft voice he had heard so often as he carefully buttoned up his shirt. "I've told you a thousand times now, Zsolt. Call me Connie." His voice had lost its hard, angry edge. It mellowed to a soft, almost caring tone.

He paused for a moment, straightening his cuffs and taking a deep breath. "This may be improper, but is there any chance we could meet for lunch at some point? I like to think of you as a friend, and I would like to keep in touch with my friends." He gave a slight smile, a soft quirk of the lips, something only Zsolt had seen in the past while.

[Jaykobell]

It was fascinating how much Confusion had softened up during his stay at the hospital. Whether his more aggressive side had been as a result of the pain or the circumstances, Zsolt didn't know. It was nice, though, to know that Confusion felt much better.

Zsolt chuckled back. "Heh. I know, but I have to keep up the front." If the doctors or some of the nurses picked up on Zsolt being buddy-buddy with a patient, rumors might start floating around. He always had to be mindful of those things: even a professional hospital wasn't immune to petty rumors and jealousy among staff.

Confusion's next string of words, though, left Zsolt a little surprised, enough so that he just stared at his patient for a moment. "I mean..." he said at first, pausing for a moment to give it some thought. "I don't see why not, I guess?" His smile turned sheepish. He didn't mean anything by it, it was just-

"Sorry, it's just a bit touchy," he admitted to Confusion. "I mean, medical staff really shouldn't get too friendly with their patients... but since your stay here is over, you won't be considered my patient anymore, so it's fine." He nodded, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. "You wanna trade phone numbers? We could text."

[MythicDusk]

Confusion couldn't help his smile at Zsolt's agreement to keep in touch. It wasn't the broad grins he had seen some others wear. It was a slow, sullen quirk of his lips. He dug a hand into his jeans, drawing out his phone and handing it over to Zsolt to type his number in while he finished getting dressed. Mainly, by buttoning up the last of his shirt and pulling on a sweater.

"I promise, if I end up back in here, I won't tell anyone of our affiliation." His tone was dry, but not weighted, like it was when they had first met. For those who didn't know Confusion, they may have mistaken it for seriousness. He hoped Zsolt knew him enough to know when he was joking by now.

[Jaykobell]

Zsolt happily took the phone, inputting his coordinates in it. His cell number for texting, his name, of course, and his email, just for good measure. Sometimes emailing proved to be better than texting.

He chuckled at Confusion's words. "I mean, nothing wrong with being friends with your patients," Zsolt assured him. "It's just, you know... power imbalance and stuff. Stories of doctors abusing patients that way. The likes." He understood why it was a thing, although it was a little stressful at times. Some hospitals were quick to punish that, even if there were barely any kind of relationship at all.

"Never mind, though," Zsolt assured Confusion as he returned the phone to its rightful owner. "It's all good! I wouldn't mind hanging out some time. I'm busy a lot though," he chuckled. "But I'll let you know if I can't make it or whatever."