Writer: Sabaku No Kel
Fandom: Hellboy
Pairing: Hellboy x John Myers
Title: Blind part 4
Words: 1671
Rating: Overall rating M (This chapter T)
Warning: mentions of wounds/stitches for the faint of heart but nothing else really
Disclaimer: I don't own Hellboy or it's characters and do not make any money out of writing this.
AN1: Hello lovelies! Now I'm sorta in a hurry as I have to go back to work in 15 minutes or so since one of our girls broke her legs and now I have to take her shift because we are severely understaffed at the moment, the thing is I've been up all night trying to finish this so that I could bring this to you all in one part but then my boss called and now I don't have enough time to finish this fic anymore. I have about 4+ pages written so you'll either get that when I finish it or next week, I haven't decided yet. Enjoy!
000 Blind pt 4. 000
After Abe gave him a thorough check up he finally got the full story of what had happened after a bunch of glass got blown into his face. Apparently it had taken Abe and three other doctor's over six hours to remove most of the glass embedded in his skin (some had been too small or too deep in to be removed without risk of killing him) and then another two to make sure he stayed alive. After the surgery he had been unconscious for four days, where they kept him alive through a breather in his throat for the first two days, an I.V. drip that had been removed mere hours before he'd woken up as well as various other machines in many different places in his body.
They had to give him stitches of course, a
lot of stitches, fifty-two on his chest alone and thirty-seven on his face though the cuts around his eyes couldn't be stitched back together because there was too much damage. Other than his possibly permanent blindness and the scars he would keep there was not much other internal damage as none of the glass shards had been big enough to badly damage any of his internal organs so at least that could be considered some kind of good news.
After Abe had declared him as healthy as he could be in his current situation the bandages had been changed. He also drank more water but wasn't allowed to have food just yet.
Despite the fact that he'd been unconscious for over four days he was still tired though so after Abe left again he simply went back to sleep.
He had no idea how much later it was when he woke up again but at least this time when he woke up he wasn't alone, the sound of rustling movement a clear give-away that another person was in the room with him somewhere. He strained his ears and found that the sound was coming from a little to the left of him, not too far away, and, going by the light hint of flowery perfume in the air, he found it safe to assume that his mystery guest was female.
Since there was really only one woman who he was close to who had access to the BPRD he decided to call out. "Liz?" He prompted, instantly awake as he heard something clatter to the ground followed by a womanly yelp.
There was a flurry of movement, which he assumed was he sound of someone turning around, followed by a stomp of high heels on the linoleum floor. "God, John, you scared the living
bejeezus out of me." Liz half yelled, half laughed in a breathy way before he suddenly found himself with a (carefully thrown) armful of womanly curves. He hugged his friend back, the both of them careful about his still healing wounds, until they both had their fill of mushiness and pulled back.
"Sorry, couldn't exactly see what you were doing." John apologized for startling the firestarter but Liz slapped his arm in a playful manner, moving off of him so that he could sit up as she positioned herself in the 'guest' chair.
"It's okay, if I hadn't been sneaking around in here then you wouldn't have startled me either." Liz said, as she propped up the pillow behind him and scooted her chair a bit closer. "I just thought I would set up some stuff for you as a surprise while you were still sleeping but I guess my plan failed."
"Stuff? What kind of stuff?" John asked, curious.
There were more rustling sounds before something obviously solid plastic was set on a nearby surface, probably a little bedside cabinet he didn't know he had. "I brought my old radio/CD-player combo so it wouldn't be so quiet in here all the time-" More rustling as another object was set down. "-chocolates with caramel filling, your favorite-" She added, an unseen smile to her voice. "-and, of course, a nice cup of coffee because God knows you could use one right now." Liz ticked the last item off her list as she handed said cup of coffee to him carefully.
"You are a
saint." John declared, and meaning it too, as he inhaled the delicious aroma of caffeine. He set the cup to his lips and took a sip, moaning in a way that must have been more than slightly obscene as the flavor hit his tongue. So far he'd only had water to drink but he was sure it was fine to have some coffee, Liz wouldn't have given it to him without consulting Abe about it first and if she hadn't, well, that was just fine too, he wouldn't so much mind death by coffee.
"I know." Liz said as John smiled over the rim of his cup, the slight twitch of his lips natural again for the first time in what felt like forever.
- Intermission -
Over the course of the next three days John got a surprising amount of visitors, as well as a surprising amount of get-well-soon gifts. Musical cards from just about every agent he'd ever worked with were tacked to the walls, Abe came by to bring him some audio books as well as a guide on Braille and Liz had some of his favorite music burned to CDs for him to listen to. Even Manning came to see him and though it was only to reassure him that he wouldn't be losing his job any time soon John was still glad the Director came to visit.
The most surprising gift came from Hellboy though, who, despite the fact that John still couldn't see anything, acted suspiciously like he was hiding something. The agent didn't find out what exactly that something was though until half an hour into what had come to be their daily visits when the demon unceremoniously deposited said gift in his lap. The gift, he had learned after a few seconds of trying to feel the general shape out with his fingers, was a cane. Not just any cane though, it was one that had apparently belonged to the late professor once if the initials T. B. engraved in the wood of the handle were anything to go by.
"You can use it until your eyesight comes back, I know it's not one of those white sticks blind people generally use but it's better than nothing, right?" Hellboy had said after John had turned to him, eyebrows just peeking over the edge of his bandages in question.
He didn't know what to say.
It was touching, really. Hellboy was giving him something that could help him in so many ways, something that had once been part of both his and his father's life. Still, John felt torn.
It was easy, living the way he did now, still recovering from his injuries. It made it easier to believe all of this was just temporary.
Things wouldn't stay this way though, it was only a matter of time before Abe deemed him well enough to leave his bed. John was sure his eyesight wouldn't be back by then, if it ever were to return at all. He'd have to adjust to life without sight, would have to learn to do things differently.
He would have to accept his blindness as a reality, not some nasty dream he had yet to wake up from.
It was a scary thought, one he wasn't sure he could handle despite the amount of time he'd had to come to terms with this. Every time he was actually awake he tried
not to think about the loss of his eyesight though.
He couldn't keep denying the blatantly obvious forever though.
John didn't know how long he'd been lost in thought but when he felt one of Hellboy's hands around his own, which were unconsciously clenched into fists around the wood of the cane, he realized it must have been too long.
"You okay, kid?" The demon asked, a hint of worry to his voice. John didn't want his charge to worry about him though as he'd caused his friends and loved ones more than their fair share of worry over these past few days already.
Besides it was still his job to worry about Hellboy, not the other way around.
"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. Just lost in thought, I guess." John said as he eased his grip on the cane some, hoping the smile he was faking didn't come across as such. He didn't like lying to Hellboy but this was his burden to bear, something he had to deal with on his own.
"You don't have to use it if you don't want to but I thought it might be useful and all for when you're finally allowed out of bed again and don't want to bump into the first wall you come across." The demon said, tone light and again John could just picture the shrug that was more than likely attached to that statement. The agent knew Hellboy would find some way to blame himself for making him feel bad though if John were to say he didn't like the gift, not that that was true either, he just didn't like the thoughts and feelings he'd been avoiding the cane evoked within him.
Hellboy didn't have to know about that though.
"It's really nothing, HB." John reassured his charge. "I was just wondering what I did in my past life to get such a thoughtful boyfriend, is all." The agent said and though he hadn't exactly been thinking that in the moment he'd thought it often enough for it not to be a complete lie.
Hellboy chuckled. "I don't know but it must have been something pretty amazing." The demon joked as their conversation strayed to lighter subjects from there on out, John laughing in all the right moments as the cane sat heavily in his lap.
000 Blind pt 4. 000
AN2: I know it's short but the other part isn't finished yet and I didn't want to give you a piece that just cuts off in the middle of nowhere. Stay tuned for the next part which will (hopefully) be the final part! Btw, next chapter will be full of angst as I figured that's normal for John after what he went through so mentally prepare yourself for that!
~~~Read long and prosper,
Sabaku No Kel~~
