"A Sanctuary Safe and Strong"(Marianas Trench)

Chapter 38

Josh followed the appropriate signs and arrows through the maze of hallways that brought him back to the same waiting room he'd first somewhat reluctantly dragged himself into approximately five and a half hours earlier. Matt was reclined back in a wooden chair with a bright blue fabric cushion and holding a magazine in his hands. He was frowning at some article he seemed to be reading. "Dude!" the singer said, jerking the brunet out of his own little world. He walked up to the row of seats and gently dropped down into the chair next to Matt. 

The guitarist set his magazine down onto the table next to him and uncrossed his legs, dropping his foot to the floor. Smiling, he leaned forward a bit. "Hey! It's about damn time. I thought you died...um... I thought...nevermind." 

The blond crossed his own legs and twisted his body slightly sideways in the chair. He ignored Matt's somewhat poorly worded attempt at a joke that came all too soon. "Can't get rid of me that fuckin' easily, it seems," he deadpanned. "I guess I don't have to call you to come pick me up?" 

"Why would you have to do that?" Matt raised an eyebrow and sat up a little straighter. "I've been here since I dropped you off." 

Now it was Josh's turn to raise his own eyebrows in surprise. No way in the world had he expected the younger man to waste an entire day waiting around for him when Matt could have been doing something way more productive with his life. "You're telling me you fuckin' waited here this whole time?" 

"Sure. Why not?" The brunet shrugged nonchalantly, as though he had nothing better to do. 

Josh automatically felt a smile tug at his lips, even as new guilt gnawed at him. Matt was once again going way above and beyond what he should be doing, even though Josh's talk with Britt told him that he really needed to be okay with relying on the help his friends were willing to give him, whether they knew how much he needed it or not. "You could have done anything else. You didn't need to waste time here." 

"But I did. And that means I'm here to drive you back home, so, problem solved. Ready to get outta here?" the guitar player asked, gripping the arms of the seat to stand. 

The singer eased himself to his feet, tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans, still feeling strange about having the use of his right arm back. "More than you know." 

"So, how'd it go?" Matt followed Josh through the lobby and toward the hospital doors that lead into the parking garage, hanging back to hold the door for a small group of people who were entering the building. 

Josh paused in his steps, allowing Matt to catch up and walk beside him instead of a pace or two behind. "It...went." He was purposely choosing not to talk about his conversation with Britt. Matt had seen him fall apart that first night home, but the guitarist was blissfully unaware of every other meltdown or exactly how bad that first time really was, and Josh wanted to keep it that way, at least for now. 

The brunet unlocked the passenger door and the singer angled himself down into the seat while Matt walked around the car and keyed himself into the driver's side. Starting the car, he cranked the heat on to combat the drastic temperature change that had occurred over the course of time they'd spent in the building. 

"'It went'," Matt repeated. "What exactly does that mean? Good or bad?" 

Josh waited until Matt was out of the parking garage and pulling into traffic before elaborating, but only slightly. "It went fine." The recheck x-rays looked fine, according to his doctor. The sutures came out without a problem. The physical therapy appointment was tough, but not too awful. There wasn't much more to say. "I'm kinda sore, but I guess that happens when someone tries to rip your fuckin' arm off. Gotta go back on Monday," he concluded, yawning and resting back against the seat, subconsciously still babying his recently injured arm by holding it against his stomach.