Archive of Our Own

Getting stabbed in the eye definitely wasn’t on Avery’s todo list when they had visited Derek’s apartment the other night, and lonely nights at the hospital also weren’t exactly on the agenda but either way both were his reality. Derek made it bearable, the previous night he had stayed on video call till he’d fallen asleep and this morning he had come to the hospital before visiting hours and waited until they started so he could immediately see him. Avery knew those things were more related to Derek’s loneliness then his own but they made him happy none the less.

As it currently stood Avery sat up slightly, letting his back rest against the few pillows the hospital provided while Derek sat beside him, legs dangling off the bed as he stared at Avery with a stupid giddy smile. Part of him couldn’t fully understand what made Derek so happy everytime he saw him but also he wouldn’t be shocked if his face was starting to look similar around Derek. 

He was quite fortunate that they hadn’t hooked him up to a heart rate monitor, even just being around Derek made his heart flutter and it most certainly didn’t help when the aforementioned man had kissed him on the forehead first thing in the morning, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was told that he had gone into anaphylactic shock in that moment. Derek had no right to be that pretty and kind, not to mention his brains, it felt as if God had taken all of his best parts and sent them to Avery in the form of a knight in shining armor.

“Derek?” Following Avery’s soft voice Derek might have snapped to attention if it wasn’t already completely on Avery.

Derek replied with the gentle tone one might usually save for a venerated pet, “what is it?” 

“Could you pull me up?” You could hear Avery’s smile though the way he carried his voice, and it wasn’t as if Avery wasn’t perfectly capable of pulling himself up but he allowed himself small moments of greed and it wasn’t as if Derek wouldn’t happily oblige. Derek’s already impossibly wide smile seemed to grow that much bigger as we carefully wormed his arms between Avery and the pillows he was resting on and slowly pulled him up. Avery let himself be dragged along before falling into Derek’s chest. 

Despite Derek’s rather cold demeanor towards others he was always so warm around Avery, both in personality and actual body temperature. It would’ve been fair by anyone's account to call the hospital cold if not down right freezing and Derek’s chest felt like sitting by a warm fireplace on Christmas bundled in blankets and surrounded by everything he loved. Avery wasn’t an actual slime outside of his Minecraft skin but he could still feel himself completely melting into Derek’s every touch. He had really missed Derek’s hugs even if this wasn’t fully a hug yet, he’d probably just let himself fall asleep here if he hadn’t just woken up a couple of hours ago. 

Derek slowly loosened his arms and yet Avery stayed pressed against his chest with his eyes closed, softly breathing.

Derek lowered his voice lacing it with all the care he had for Avery, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, just resting,” Avery mumbled, his voice half pressed into Derek’s chest.

“Okay,” Derek paused for a moment letting Avery fully settle his weight against his chest before bringing his unbandaged hand to wrap around his back. He had brought a small bag with him to the visit and made sure to grab Avery’s hair brush from the apartment as the hospital hadn’t provided one and Avery had previously mentioned that using any non curl brush hurt. Derek used his led to hook around the strap of the bag, pulling it up without disturbing Avery. 

Once he pulled the brush out and set the bag back down with his injured hand and slowly started coming through Avery’s hair. Avery had the type of thick blond hair that would make anyone jealous if they weren’t the one taking care of it, it was so soft and fluffy when brushed out but even doing that could take upwards of half an hour some mornings.

 Slowly Derek worked his way though his friend's hair, taking each section with the appropriate care to not yank any of Avery’s hair out. He’d hurt Avery enough, he was at the very least part of why he was here after all so it became the bare minimum for him to take care of Avery like this—whatever makes him happy. 

Avery had one of those soft content smiles and even if Derek couldn’t feel it because of the position, he felt it. The minute drifted by in a dreamy way, keeping the two almost idealistic happy no matter how horrifying the rest of their surroundings had been these last two weeks. As Derek finished brushing though the knots in the others hair he shifted to just running his hand through the loose strands. It was soft on his fingertips in an almost soothing manner. Avery flinched slightly when Derek’s hand had grazed the nape of his neck but he hadn’t voiced any complaints. 

After a few minutes of mindlessly playing with his roommate’s hair Derek divided it into three sections and carefully started braiding it into a neat thigh braid to stop his hair from tangling more. 

“Avery I finished your hair.”

“Thabk yuo, ti feelsd nicr” 

If Derek had any he would’ve liked to put some flowers in the other's hair but doing that would’ve meant leaving him and that was in no means an option. Derek was awfully content with spending the rest of the day like this, it allowed him to slip away from the cruel nightmare that when visiting hours end, he’d be alone in that apartment again. But for now they were together, and now may as well be an eternity, for as long as they were together part of him just knew everything would work out. 

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