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“I’m fine, David,” Patrick said, gritting his teeth.
“No. You aren’t,” David retorted with a little huff. He had been carefully watching his husband's face for years now. He knew all his tells. The small twitch around his eye. The effort that went into his words. It was actually kind of insulting that he thought he could pretend in front of David. If he wasn’t one hundred percent sure he was right he might take time to be annoyed at Patrick, but now was not the time.
Patrick Brewer was not okay.
“Let's get back to the hotel and if I still feel awful when I wake up…” Patrick started and David had to harrumph. Patrick might have been a stubborn man, but he knew who he married.
“No. I’m taking you to a hospital,” David said with a raised eyebrow, daring Patrick to keep arguing.
“I’m fine, David,” Patrick insisted, took one step and winced as he bent forward slightly.
David rolled his eyes and held out his hand. “Car keys, please.”
“I can drive,” Patrick said, however, there was definitely less conviction in his words.
“Patrick. Give me. The keys.”
“Fine,” Patrick said, and as he stood up straight to fish them out of his pockets, he sucked in air quickly through his teeth.
Honestly, if Patrick died today, it would be his own fault.
Once they were settled in the car David searched for local hospitals. He knew that Patrick was trying not to ruin their vacation. They hadn’t had a holiday since their honeymoon, that wasn’t visiting David’s parents in L.A. or Alexis in New York. Heading to Montreal just to spend time together had been a pipe dream. Patrick wanted to see some live music, and David wanted to eat and shop and pretend he was in Paris. And now two days into their week off, Patrick was turning green in the car next to him. I mean, he was a little annoyed, but he was more worried than anything else. If his stoic husband was turning green, something was definitely wrong.
“Look if there is nothing wrong, we will make our dinner reservation. I’d just feel better if we get it checked out. The worst thing that could happen is we waste a few hours. But we know, you know?” David tried to stay calm, but honestly, Patrick was starting to worry him.
“Fine,” Patrick said resigned.
“You are the worst patient, Patrick Brewer,” David mumbled to himself.
He loved his husband very much but he knew that Patrick liked to be the one fixing problems, not the one being fixed. Luckily there was a hospital only fifteen minutes away. He was especially relieved about it when Patrick started groaning and clutching his stomach seven minutes into the trip.
“I’m going to be sick,” Patrick moaned and David quickly found a place to pull over. Patrick opened the door of their car and vomited into the gutter. Ew.
David pulled out the wet wipes from the centre console and the hand sanitiser, before grabbing his bag from the floor of the back seat and found a bottle of water.
Once Patrick leaned back into his seat, David handed him the items he needed and once Patrick settled, he looked at David and he could see the fear in Patrick’s eyes.
“Don’t worry, I’m getting you there. Close the door,” David ordered.
He wasn’t going to panic. He was going to do this. Patrick would definitely be okay. He just needed to get him to the hospital.
***
David had no idea why he ended up watching TikTok viral videos, but it had been 4 hours since they arrived at the hospital and taken Patrick straight in for emergency surgery. He needed a distraction and it was working, because when the nurse with blue scrubs and pink hair tapped him on the shoulder, he jumped like he had just been confronted by an anthropomorphic human-sized moth.
“Sorry sweetheart,” they said softly, and smiled gently at him. “He’s awake.”
“Thank fuck,” He breathed out and was about to apologise but they just smiled and told him to follow them.
“Now he is still under the effects of the anaesthesia, so he’s not fully with it, but he’s asking for his clever and beautiful husband, so I figure that’s you,” the nurse said and smiled over their shoulder, before pushing on the door.
“Well, I’m the only husband he has, so hopefully, yes,” David softened. He was talking which meant he was okay.
“In here,” they opened the door and he followed them into the room.
“David! See Jo, I told you he was beautiful, didn’t I?” Patrick said to the nurse.
“You weren’t wrong, Patrick,” they replied, giving David a wink. “Now, I need you to rest. David can stay in here with you, but only if you promise to rest. David, the doctor will be in soon to walk you through everything, but we will keep him overnight and we want him to eat in the morning before he leaves.”
“Thank you, Jo,” David said before the nurse left the room.
“You’re so smart, David. Just imagine! If you didn’t make me go to the hospital, I could be dead!”
David pulled the chair across to the bed and grabbed onto the arm that didn’t have a cannula attached. “Don’t talk like that. I don’t want to even think about it.”
“But my appendix burst! You knew!”
“I didn’t…” he shook his head. He knew there was no point getting bogged down in the details in the details when Patrick was off his head. “I’m just glad you are okay. You feel okay, yeah?”
“Yes,” Patrick said. “Feel good. Pretty happy actually.”
“I think that’s the morphine,” David smiled indulgently at his husband.
“Maybe. Maybe it’s just because I have the smartest husband,” Patrick smiled and squeezed David’s hand, and then he sighed and let his eyelids close.
David huffed out a laugh and lifted Patrick’s hand to kiss it. Patrick made a contented noise and seemed to drift off. David couldn’t even think about what he would do if Patrick wasn’t okay. He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, sending a prayer out to whoever was listening that they would both be around for each other to make things okay for many years to come.