[FIN] Music to My Ears

[TawnyAngel]

OhGodwhywasAbelphoninghim?

This was good right? Had to be. Everything had been going well, right?

Taavi swiped the screen to answer and raised the phone to his ear. "Abel! You're phoning me? Is everything... good?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Even Taavi's slightly worried-sounding voice didn't make him miss a beat. "Great!" He replied brightly, unable or unwilling to keep the excitement out of his tones. "They're waking him up! ...or, well, they're taking the tube out and I think they're putting smaller ones in his nose, but they'll wake him up after!" It would take several hours before he was more conscious and alert but still!  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh thank Arceus." Taavi sat down heavily on the grass, rubbed his face with his free hand and waved at his pokemon to keep up with their training exercises. "That's great Abel! Do you want me to come over?" Perhaps Abel would prefer to be alone at first, he'd definitely understand if he would.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I know," Abel said with feeling, and not for the first time a sense of immense relief washed over him. Zevran was alright; he'd be awake soon. There'd be a lot more depressing, sad moments to come, but his heart would ache for them later. It was far too uplifted right now with the knowledge his boyfriend was okay.

Taavi's question gave him pause and he hummed thoughtfully for a brief moment. "If you want to, I'm sure he'd like to see you. They keep telling me he'll wake up really slowly, and it'll take him a few hours before he'll really actually be awake enough to talk... and before that there'll probably be some weird conversations." A pause. "I'm gonna guess they'll mostly be in Spanish."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah, that seems like a safe bet," Taavi agreed, frowning as he recalled Abel telling him about that bit; Zev had been speaking slurred, thickly accented English by the time they'd got back. "Um. I..." He didn't want to do the wrong thing, either invade or fail to be there when he should. "I don't know what's best," he admitted after a pause. "Maybe... maybe I should let him get his head straight a bit before I visit? In case... Well I was just thinking about, you know, some of the things you said? There might be stuff he wouldn't usually say in front of me and... What do you think?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well that... That wasn't something he had an answer for, nor was it something he'd really expected. A soft frown stole over his face as he considered. "I don't know what's best either," he replied honestly with a slight shrug, not that his best friend would see it. "I don't think he'd say anything bad, really, just... I guess I'm more or less expecting something like - ah - last time he was super out of it. Honestly when he comes to he'll probably be more worried about what you'll think of him, of whatever he said while he was out of it. I really have no idea what he'll say or anything, but I do know that you're his friend, and you should come see him if you can at some point. Probably sooner rather than later. Even if he does end up saying something he wouldn't normally say in front of you, I'm sure he'd appreciate you being there for him."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah," Taavi agreed, mostly as a holding word while he thought. "Okay," he continued after a pause, "I think... I think I'll come over. It'll be a bit before he wakes up, I can keep you company. I can always step out of the room if you guys want some time alone right? Does that sound okay?" If they were pretty much the only people Zev had then they should probably all be there, well as many of them as were allowed in the room anyway and the other pokemon could visit later.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel waited patiently while his best friend worked through his thoughts internally, curious what he'd say... and the result made him smile softly. "Okay. I think that's a good idea. Sounds perfect."

Another pause.

"Ah... Thanks. For coming to be with him, I mean."  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi smiled and rubbed Swift's ears as the Ninetales padded over to him. "You don't need to thank me for that Abel, I want to be there. I just... want to make sure that I'm not doing something wrong, you know? But I think I'd rather risk that than not be with you guys. Uh. So. We'll finish up here quickly and then I'll come find you in the ICU okay?" The sooner Zev was out of there and on a normal ward, and then back home the happier he'd be. He'd seen far too much of hospitals over the last year.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No, I know," he assured his brother, a soft smile playing on his face and coming through his words. "You're not doing anything wrong though, don't worry. Alright, I'll see you when you get here then," the blond finished, though left it at that in case Taavi had anything else he wanted to add.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah, see you soon. Um. And thanks for the reassurance. Later Abel!" After a moment of hesitation Taavi hung up and then got to his feet. "Alright guys let's wrap up, good job!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"No problem. See you," he finished, smiling, then hung up the phone at more or less the same time Taavi did. It didn't take him long to regain his previous brightness and excitement as he shut off his phone again and pocketed it once more before heading back into the ICU to await the moment he'd be allowed back in with his boyfriend. He'd wake up soon!  

[TawnyAngel]

When Abel returned he was directed to the little waiting room with the assurance that he shouldn't have to wait too much longer. There were five other people in the room; a pair who might have been siblings or might have been a couple speaking quietly to one another, and an older man with two girls who looked to be in their early teens who sat in silence.

After about ten minutes Summer opened the door and smiled at Abel. "Abel, would you come along with me? We're all done now."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When directed to the room to wait, Abel headed into it quietly to sit and do as bid. On some level he registered the fact the five others had plights of their own, worries over loved ones, and on that level he did hope everything worked out okay for them. That level was far below what was in the forefront of his thoughts however, and it was all he could do to remain quietly sitting still waiting for someone to fetch him.

Summer did so after a little while and the blond beamed at her as he promptly stood to follow her out. "Awesome, thank you. How'd it go -- everything okay?" She probably wouldn't be smiling like that if anything had gone wrong and might've started with it, so he assumed everything was fine but he couldn't help but ask anyway.  

[TawnyAngel]

"No problems," Summer confirmed as they headed down towards Zevran's room. "No damage to the alveoli from the ventilator we can detect, no sign of pneumonia, or ARDS; he's a model patient! Everything was looking pretty good so we've gone with the nasal canula, which will make it easier for y'all to talk when he comes around." Summer opened the door, stepped inside, and held oit for Abel. Once he'd entered too she gestured to Zevran; now that he didn't have a tube going into his throat he looked more as if he was merely sleeping, though he was still very pale. "He'll be starting to come around now, but slowly. He probably won't start reacting to anything you're saying for a while yet but talking to him is good, and holding his hand. Not that I think you need telling to do that!"